What any good Venus Campaign Needs

[Alfrik]

Swamp, lots and lots of swampy areas.  I used a 2 foot by 4 foot florescent Light cover sheet of textured plastic and converted about 95% to random sized pieces, rounded the edges off, hit with spray paints and started flocking the edges. Tonight I start filling in floating plants, grassy hummocks and the like scattered about. I think our GM will be using nearly all of the pieces each battle.... probably with random speed reduction per area, after you encounter it... he was very cryptic about exact details.

This shot shows the basic grassed edges approach, the insides and edge will get lots of Low bits of vegetation as I plan to stack them one on top of the other for storage and transport.

Here's another shot before grassing was done. http://armoredink.blogspot.com/2011/03/venus-terrain-update.html

[Chairface]

Lovely looking terrain Alfrik. Nicely done.

[magokiron]

Simple, ingenious, good looking and cheap.

certainly you have a winner.

I may try that myself too.

Thanks for sharing.

[Alfrik]

Finished several sections of Swamp pieces. I kept the amount of foliage down to a minimum to facilitate placement of troops stands that will be placed on and around them yet blend in with some of my filler jungle pieces.  Nothing like a deadline to get the work done.

[Traveler Man]

Very effective!

[The_Beast]

Once again, my enmity, pure jealousy of course, rises in a 'me too.' 

I do wonder about your experience working with the plastic, which I assume is acrylic. Damn brittle, and when it cracks, the cracks spread almost uncontrollably.

Doug

[Froggy the Great]

Could you give more details on painting, please?

[Alfrik]

Spray Paint Can Colors;  Light Green, Dark Blue, Dark Brown and Light Blue.  I laid each piece on top of cardboard, then sprayed most all of it with Dark Blue, then shot spots of dark brown here and there. Next I held the Light Blue up high and shot at/over the piece very briefly to more Fog it than paint it.  Last step was to take the Light Green and spray about 3 inches up from the surface, once all they way around the edge only. I did not try for full coverage with the Dark Blue spaying, anything I missed I just shot with one of the other colors, again with out trying to make sure I got them all.

Spread the PVA glue around the edge and some random smears here and there in the center areas, cover with lots of flock, and finally pressed down hard on all the flock piles to press it into the glue. I find this final step gives a much fuller coverage and longer lasting amount to the grassy area.

Jungle bits are just hot glued, mostly to the plastic painted surfaces. I will put up a shot of the collection of bases shortly, they pretty well cover the top of a Card table, so should give our typical 5x9 battle area plenty of mud areas to curse at.

[Alfrik]

Here's the photo of all the pieces:

they are sitting on a standard card table in the picture, oh 3 feet by 3 feet.

[Ray Rivers]

 

Nice swamps!

Dunno... but I always have trouble getting motivated doing terrain.  It was so much easier long ago when you just cut out a bit of felt.

 

[Plynkes]

I hear you, brother. I hate making and painting the stuff, and buy ready-to-use terrain whenever I can. It's a little luxury I allow myself.

It was so much easier long ago when you just cut out a bit of felt.

Nothing wrong with a good old-fashioned "Golf Course" layout.


To celebrate that look I'm planning to make some bunkers and greens and have one of our golf course fights on an actual golf course sometime.  


That swamp looks great. Nice one.

[Alfrik]

As a side note, to those brave souls that will soon be slogging through these very swamps, Kaptain Kneemo's reporter prepared the following article about his retinue of stalwart characters;

* * * A Flash Report from the Greystone Space Station orbiting Venus * * *



The mysterious and intrepid Kaptain Kneemo late of Poland, the Orange Republik
and Siam, and many parts unknown, made a spectacular appearance to introduce his
staff at today's luncheon. Resplendent in his Polish Naval Dress Uniform, the
good Kaptain took advantage of the presence of this reporter as well as the rest
of the off-world news team to showcase the men and woman he brought with him to
fight the evil and corrupt British Empire here on Venus. After a brief speech
about the need to crush the British Imperialists and their campaign to enslave
Venus, he turned the floor over to his Aide de Camp Jatinder Aloysius Carnehan.
A man of obviously mixed blood with excellent English skills, Kaptain Kneemo
calls him Peachy for some reason. Reportedly he is a pagan from Kaffiristan, but
an eminently civilized one.

First in line is his discovery officer, a renowned frontier scout at home on the
river, in the mountains or in the jungles of South America, Major Tristan Pitt,
late of the Chilean Army. American by birth, handsome by heritage, the roughly
hewn but innately charming Major Pitt has led a life of adventure, including a
2000 mile trek hunting dangerous fugitives from Helena, Montana deep into
Mexico. Having an unerring sense of direction back home, it remains to be seen
if he can translate that skill into mapping the largely unknown Venusian
terrain, or if his skill as a polyglot will serve him well in learning the many
native tongues spoken by the varied civilizations of Venus.

Colonel Augustus Retief, a retired Boer commander, known to have the best
disciplined and most successful command in the rearguard battles of the great
trek north will be the Kaptain's second in command. His famous inspirational
leadership and pattern of success in all past campaigns should serve the
expedition well. At a full two meters tall, he will be hard to miss (except
hopefully by the enemy marksmen) as he directs his command into action against
the British and their allies.

Lt. Colonel H. B. Finn will command the mechanical cavalry division of Kaptain
Kneemo's small but talented army. The Lt. Colonel is known for his selfless
loyalty and dedication, no matter the cost. His horsemanship is superb, and his
brilliant analytical mind adapts rapidly to the chaos of the battlefield. Also
known for his strong anti-slavery stance, he has vowed to help Kaptain Kneemo
free any sentient people bound to slavery under any guise by the Empirical
British.

The Third Division, some equipped with the revolutionary electric powered
flechette pistols and boasting five companies of robotic Infantry will be
commanded by Doctor Major Cornelius Clausewitz-Bergstein, a German Nobleman of
superior breeding and education. The robot soldiers are his design, manufactured
by his partners in Austria. Major C-B was retired from the Austrian Army for
taking chances far beyond those considered sane, even though he is said never
lost a battle.


Exploring areas considered too dangerous for human habitation will be Captain
Patricia Hazzard, late of the Hawaiian Islands. The daughter of Norwegian
refugees, the 1.87 Meter tall blonde golden tanned Amazon-like beauty has
recently returned from exploring parts of southeast Asia previously unknown to
the western world, her pamphlet on the wonders of Nepal and her partial ascent
of Mount Olympus is still on the New York Times best seller list. Known for her
linguistic skills, she hopes to be the first to communicate with civilizations
yet unknown to the Children of Terra. Her hatred of the Raj, having seen British
troops massacre whole villages in the Punjab, is seen as obsessive by some,
though the good Kaptain says he values that in an associate.



A surprise last minute addition to the team is the dashing recently retired
Portuguese Diplomat Ricardo Roarke. Drifting in from his latest assignment at
the Royal Court in Moscow, Ambassador Roarke announced he would leave his Island
home in the Azores for this fantastic adventure with the mysterious Kaptain
Kneemo. Celebrated for his skill in the kitchen, as a vintner, and on the
ballroom floor, this well-rounded public servant should not only be able to
communicate well with the other ambassadors, but improve the morale of the
Kaptain's army.

Yours in service to the World Free Press, Ole Jameson of the New York Daily
Globe.

(*side note is that Ole Jameson is Aka Kevin Fury)

[Bullshott]

I do like these. Simple technique but you have created some nice-looking and functional terrain.

[Gluteus Maximus]

Those swamps are great Alfrik! Nice idea to use that plastic. Just what I need to model the Nile 

[isaanmini]

excellent work Alfrik.
I really like the background work that you have put into the story.
regards
Barry