Oathmark at Salute 2023.

[nicknorthstar]

Remember a time, many years ago, when the idea of a Global Pandemic was just a science-fiction nightmare. 
Well back in those heady days, I was planning to do a demonstration game of the Fantasy Wargame 'Oathmark' that was due to be released from Osprey Games. I had all the figures painted, the terrain built, and I was going to take it to Salute 2020 to be there for the launch of the book.
Then lock down happened............

 Anyway, times have changed for the better, Salute 2023 is on, and I've dusted off the terrain and I'm getting ready to take it along in April.

The original idea was to do a game that was a nod to the Battle of Azanulbizar. Link: https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Battle_of_Azanulbizar
It wasn't to be a Tolkien recreation, but a homage to it.
The terrain needed 4 elements. An Oak wood, Mountain sides, a mirror lake and a mine entrance. I worked with David of TM Terrain to see how we could create that on the tabletop.
I was keen to use a battle mat rather than terrain boards. I concede boards look better, but the difference in the ease of transport is massive, so I wanted terrain that placed on a battle mat.

The mat was an old GW grass mat. We got two, one for the base of the terrain, the other to cut up for the other terrain pieces. There's an opinion at North Star the green is a bit garish, it might get worked on before April.

The mountain side is a piece of shaped foam put under the mat. The Oak Wood is a set of commercial trees David based and set into a 'wooded area' base. The back door of Moria David scratch built onto a mountain side, with a winding road up to it (each corner had a standing stone on it). The lake David actually got a piece of mirror glass and edged it with a lake-shore, shaped to run along the edge of the board. There's a standing stone to stand at one end of it.

The pictures below show the tabletop from two angles, and then a close up of the Back Door.

[FunkyBrush]

Great looking table! Good that it will finally see some action.

[Dags]

There's an opinion at North Star the green is a bit garish, it might get worked on before April

I'd definitely tone it down but then I've never like that green.

Otherwise looks ace 

[OSHIROmodels]

Looks good 

Couple of wafts with some dark green and mid brown sprays would sort out the green.

[Malamute]

Excellent idea, looking forward to seeing it at Salute 

[nicknorthstar]

I like the green, but I'll bow to others opinions, as long as they do the work.

WE couldn't resist having a game of Oathmark on it of course. We used smaller armies than we'll have at Salute. Matt commanded the Dwarves, and led by Thorin they smashed all the Goblin (led by Rich) opposition out of the way.

[nicknorthstar]

We'll have a few more Dwarves at Salute

[Pattus Magnus]

The dwarf army looks pretty imposing to me! Close to 200 figures in the last pic…. The whole set up is great.

[Mr. White]

I like the green, but I'll bow to others opinions, as long as they do the work.

Me too!
I have this same citadel grass mat and flat out love it. I'd like to get a second one. It has a bit of charm to it that I fondly appreciate.

Models and table look fantastic and that mat is gonna host a good time. Have fun!

[LouieN]

It is an Epic setup long in the making. 

[Daeothar]

Very nice, almost nostalgic, setup! 

I made my first table with a GW mat, and that was mainly for 40K! I did go over it eventually with loads of different spraypaints, and even created some crater-like features, using only those spraypaints (and maybe some sand as well? can't remember).

If I recall correctly, I used a pale yellow, light brown, dark brown and black and grey (last two for the craters) to embellish the mat.

Mind; it was glued down, and was to be used for every setting and system. It's still a bit garishly green though, even 15 years down the line, but with just a few spots here and there to break the monotony...

[Grumpy Gnome]

Loving it! 👍

[sir_shvantselot]

Looks like it’ll be a fantastic game.

[nicknorthstar]

++UPDATE++

So Oathmark designer Michael Anderson is joining us at Salute next week, and my 'Citadel grass Mat' aesthetic wasn't to his taste. So I said 'you fix it then'.

And he did:

[Dags]

Much better  (for me snyway!)