Terrain Board (Image Heavy)

[gamer Mac]

looking good Andy.
My only comment would be that the long grass/reeds look a bit lonely
Maybe bulk them out a bit or add different sized stuff?

[Andym]

Cracking Andy! That's going to be great when you do the river!

[oldskoolrebel]

I like that a lot   

You're right about the bushes at the bottom of the hill, try google imaging for 'English common land' and you might get some good ideas for the placement of foliage etc.

A little bit of colour variation for the grass would be good as well 

cheers

James

Oops sorry Jim didn't see your post,

Yeah I think I got too involved in 'micro-placement' of bushes rather than looking at the whole picture!

Interesting point about the use of additional colours of grass/turf. I'll have a wee look at Antenocities and see what jumps out at me.

Also the google search of English Common land has thrown up plenty of examples. My original inspiration was:

Really coming together now Andy 

Cheers Richard!

looking good Andy.
My only comment would be that the long grass/reeds look a bit lonely
Maybe bulk them out a bit or add different sized stuff?

It does a bit, doesn't it?

More bushes, different coloured grass or what?

Cracking Andy! That's going to be great when you do the river!

Thank you,

To be honest I've still not decided on a colour yet or psyched myself up to try... Maybe this weekend's Vietnam gaming will inspire me!

Cheers
Andy

[oldskoolrebel]

Almost a month later, and I still haven't finished this project!

I've finally built up my nerve and started to paint the rivers. The following pictures show the still wet paint on the rivers (It's not been varnished yet, honestly!) Before I start varnishing I was wanting some advice on the river. How do they seem to everyone? I'm quite happy with it so far, although I'm planning on adding very light green lines at the inside bends etc to simulate the fast flowing river.




Also how suitable is this varnish for the river?
Clicky



Cheers
Andy

[Malamute]

Hey Andy, its looking good to me and that varnish should do the job. The more layers you put on the better it will be so perhaps look at quick drying ones to.
Perhaps as you say some lighter patches around the bends of the river where silt would build up to repesent shallower waters.

[gamer Mac]

Looking good to me
The varnish will finish it off nicely.

[Ettrick]

In these images, you might also add a bit of rocky colour just under the surface in the narrows between the two prominences.

If you use gel medium of the clear gloss variety you can get some good ripples and depth to the look.  A half pint (or close to that) is probably only two to three times the cost of a pot of GW paint pots.

[Thunderchicken]

Looking good Andy! Very impressive! The only advice I'd give with the river is lighter shading to give it some depth as Malamute pointed out. Have you thought about reeds or other flora you might find growing at the rivers edge? 

[Bako]

It's simply elegant how much a difference flock material can make between fertile land and an arid wasteland.

[oldskoolrebel]

Thanks all for the advice, I had to redo the river as it dried too dark. However I did manage to buy some quick dry varnish, so hopefully I'll get a chance to put some on later tonight.

With my brushes pretty much dying on me I cannot paint any more miniatures, although I have put in n order with wayland games for some Army Builder brushes. Hopefully they'll arrive soon!

Instead of painting I've been trying to sort out some scenery. A little while ago I bought two ruined Hovels from Malamute, and Today I managed to get around to tidying one using my dremel and the engraving tool. Some of the most effective terrain pieces 'tell a story' and that's what I'm aiming to do with mine. So rather than starting another thread I'm going to post it here.



I hope to post more later.

Cheers
Andy

[oldskoolrebel]

Sorry Double-post heaven (or hell  )

I managed to get the first coat of varnish on both board sections tonight; thanks to Nick's recommendation I bought the 1hr dry stuff. I'm planning on layering multiple coats tomorrow; can anyone give me an idea of how many I'll need? My plan is to start at 9 and then add an additional coat every hour until about 3. So about 7 coats including the original tonight. Will I need more? I know that Silent Invader poured a couple of mms of varnish on his river. 

I also took a couple of photographs of my attempts at the ford. The varnish isn't dry in these. I painted over the entire ford with the lightest green that appeared in my river (sadly loosing all the work I'd done on it) and then dry brushed the basic ground colours, after this I stippled on white- in an attempt to show foam. Finally I carefully drybrushed (if you can say that!) the colour selection that I used for loose stones/scree. I'm hopeful that with a few more layers of varnish this will really look good!





Hopefully it won't be too long before I'm playing a game on it!

Cheers
Andy

[Malamute]

Its looking really, really good now.

 I like the fact you can hide the base of the house behind the stone wall.

 I reckon ten coats of varnish will give you the depth you need, but hey do as many as you can.

[Andym]

Good stuff! Just watch that your coats of varnish are dry before you start the next one. Maybe even take more time between coats. It'd be a shame for something bad to happen at this late stage!

[Silent Invader]

Looking great!   

I echo all that has been said re varnish - caution is your watch word.  Resist all temptation to pour a little deeper than the last time!    As well as taking longer (seemingly forever) to cure, thicker layers of acrylic varnish will also crack - though the cracks can be filled with more varnish which leaves quite a nice 'flow' effect (though it'll be about 6 months before its cured beneath).

[Damas]

Also remember to minimise the dust between the layers of varnish.  So after each layer has dried, wipe with a damp lint-free cloth.