Static grass or grass mat for gaming board?

[Renaud]

I am planning to build a 60*90 cm board for standard 15mm or small 28mm games. I have already bought a nice an inexpensive wood board in an art shop. Next step is to add some texture and colours to it. What do you think would give the best results?

I had thought of two methods: 1. Glue small sand on the board, paint it brown then drybrush lighter, and then add more PVA and scatter static grass. 2. Directly glue yellow/green grass mat on the board.

What would you recommend?

[Dewbakuk]

The first way usually looks better, the second is a lot faster and is 'good enough'. Which is more important?

I would do it the first way.

[Renaud]

I wouldn't mind spending some more time to have a better effect. I am just wondering how to do make it beautiful and avoiding a messy look. So two questions:

1. when you have your textured ground, would you paint it with a large brush or would you use spray paints?

2. when it comes to add static grass, would you use something like static grass applicator, is it worth the effect? And would you mix different colours of grass for different parts of the board?

Thank you for all advice!

[Za Zjurman]

Hi Renaud,

If you go to your local DIY store, you could buy some structure paint. You can probably buy it in a dark brown color. Buy a large flat brush and some cheap waterbased paint in the lighter colors you want to use. Apply the structure paint with an old large brush in a stabbing manner (I hope you now what I mean). When the paint is dry just dry brush it using the large flat brush.



Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Za

[Elk101]

I've gone for a hybrid of the two; grass mat over the board and then different coloured static grass in patches with some areas of long grass and bare earth. It does the job for me compromising between look and available time.

[Renaud]

Hi Renaud,
Apply the structure paint with an old large brush in a stabbing manner (I hope you now what I mean). When the paint is dry just dry brush it using the large flat brush.

Thanks Za, it's a good advice, using textured paint would be quicker than adding sand.

I've gone for a hybrid of the two; grass mat over the board and then different coloured static grass in patches with some areas of long grass and bare earth. It does the job for me compromising between look and available time.

Elk101, do you have a picture of the finished result? How did you make the bare earth area? By cutting the grass mat?

[Elk101]

Yes, I just cut sections out and then add a pva and sand mix or cat litter for texture. I'm not home for a few days but I'll dig a tile out and take a photo when I get back. I've done a modular layout using 300mm x 300mm and 300mm x 600mm mdf tiles.

[Dewbakuk]

Most grass mats, the paper backed ones at least, lose adherence with water. A while back I put rut roads into one for somebody by wetting the area and then scraping it with a piece of plastic, the grass lifted straight off.

[Elk101]

I said I'd show an example of grass matting mixed with other media. It's a marsh so not a standard grass tile, but it conveys the approach.

[Pendrake]

I am planning to build a 60*90 cm board for standard 15mm or small 28mm games. I have already bought a nice an inexpensive wood board in an art shop. Next step is to add some texture and colours to it. What do you think would give the best results?

I had thought of two methods: 1. Glue small sand on the board, paint it brown then drybrush lighter, and then add more PVA and scatter static grass. 2. Directly glue yellow/green grass mat on the board.

What would you recommend?

I wouldn't mind spending some more time to have a better effect. I am just wondering how to do make it beautiful and avoiding a messy look. So two questions:

1. when you have your textured ground, would you paint it with a large brush or would you use spray paints?

2. when it comes to add static grass, would you use something like static grass applicator, is it worth the effect? And would you mix different colours of grass for different parts of the board?

Thank you for all advice!

I have a piece of cloth that is grass green with a fuzz texture on it. (It is NOT felt.) Got it from a cloth/haberdashery shop that specialized in furniture upholstering and drapery. It was only $30 US. (Poor little coed sales clerk got a little nervous when I asked for Goblin Green, but once we agreed that what I wanted was Apple Green she was on board and quite helpful.)

If you do use static grass/flock creating a mélange of three or four different colours/types always looks more real.

Some of the nicest gaming boards I have played on were done totally with paint. Blotting it on with a sponge brush, a sponge, or a scracth built applicator created from the foam out of a miniature's blister works better than brushing or spraying. You can blend colour, create soft edges, the foam creates a speckled random texture...  ...it works way better than spraying. When have you ever seen a natural landscape that looked sprayed on?

Spraying does work well for space gamers who want nebula backdrops for their spaceship models.

[sukhe_bator]

I have some grass mat offcuts given to me by a friend. Any ideas how I can utilise these to make some modular terrain? Ideally I'd like something a little more realistic than the GW terrain tutorials out there.

[Charlie_]

Rather than using sand to texture, I would reccomend using filler. Just buy a big bucket of the stuff from your local DIY store, costs next to nothing... Paint it on then stipple it roughly with an old brush. Doesn't look like much when drying, but once dried it gives a fantastic texture. Much easier than sand in my opinion, and looks better too.

Paint and drybrush a few layers, then a dark wash over the top. Then flock/grass of your choice.

These are two test boards I did using this method, I'm gonna go with the one on the left, which uses a blend of different flocks.



I got the filler idea from this fantastic youtube tutorial -

[AndrewBeasley]

One board I saw today was a 2x2 plywood base covered with lining mat from hanging baskets similar to coco fibre.

Other than needing a minor trim at the end it looked like flat static grass of a light green / grey colour and was very effective for a few minutes work.

A quick check on Google shows the railway guys have been using this for a while...