Re: Useful Mason-ry... Now with added Gothic!

[Mr. Peabody]

A tip of the hat to Mason for his inspiring terrain work. His generous and richly detailed WIP posts make it easy for an amateur to attempt to replicate his techniques.

Sitting in my stash for years, a pile of Italeri 'Stone Wall' sprues had been gathering dust... On my gaming table a selection of Pegasus 'Gothic Rubble' pieces had been standing out like sore thumbs; their pre-paint 'Grimdark' charm clashing with my warm, earth toned terrain... The time had come to turn these both into "Mason-ry"  

A good game of Strange Aeons is made even better when there is plenty of useful terrain providing cover and opportunities to move. While we often focus on characters, creatures and objectives, making some good scatter terrain that sets the scene is always worth the effort.
Huge bonus with the two sets of 'useful terrain' featured here: they both have loads of character and are equally at home with 20mm or 28mm minis.

The Italeri 1/72 Stone Wall set looks a bit over scale to me, a trait I associate with all the Italeri gaming terrain kits... Regardless, they tell a good story and paint up well enough.












I have always liked these Pegasus rubble sets. They are quality pre-painted resin pieces with loads of character. Repainted with a sandstone-like finish they are a bit less Grimdark.

[Van-Helsing]

LOVELY!

[Uncle Mike]

Good stuff Peabody. I like those walls.

[EndTransmission]

Those walls do look great

[gary42]

Nice!  Neither grim nor dark!

[Mason]

So that is what you were up to.
 

Nice work, mate.
They look gorgeous.
 

I had been eyeing up those rubble bits for a while, as they would (rather obviously... ) go well with my church.

Gonna have to check out those walls too, now.
Two things, though...

1. Is that a single set?
2. Any chance of a piccie with a 28mm figure so that we can see just how big they are?
 

[Hitman]

Mr. Peabody;
Your terrain looks fantastic. So now I have a couple of questions for you.
1) Could you point out Mason`s terrain tutorial
2) How did you paint the Gothic terrain as I have a few sets and would like to touch them up a bit and yours are quite inspiring.
Thanks in advance.
Regards,
Hitman
 

[Mason]

Mr. Peabody;
Your terrain looks fantastic. So now I have a couple of questions for you.
1) Could you point out Mason`s terrain tutorial
2) How did you paint the Gothic terrain as I have a few sets and would like to touch them up a bit and yours are quite inspiring.
Thanks in advance.
Regards,
Hitman
 

I believe that he means this:

Of course. I am glad you like them.
Its quite simple really, mostly just drybrushing.
A LOT of drybrushing!
For buildings of this size I use a huge cheap stiff-bristled brush.
I guess a standard large brush would do, but as this brush cost next to nothing and it is pretty tough I have persisted with it

First, everything is painted in Burnt Umber acrylic craft paint. Again, this is because it is cheap. It would cost a fortune to coat something of this size in Vallejo or GW paints.

The stone areas have been progressively drybrushed with the following stages;

1.Burnt Umber craft paint and GW Tau Sept Ochre 1:1
2.Tau Sept Ochre.
3.Tau Sept Ochre and GW Iyanden Darksun 1:1
4. Iyanden Darksun.
5, Iyanden Darksun and Vallejo Foundation White 1:1
6. Final drybrush of Foundation White.

The main thing is to make the layers as gradual as possible. The first layer of drybrushing is done quite heavily to brighten up the model to achieve a lighter effect, but after this initial drybrush try to keep it gradual and be patient. It may seem tedious but I find it is worth it.
This takes a long time, but I usually do these stages while watching TV to avoid going stir-crazy!
(The other, smaller sections of the church that I have,not posted yet were done with less layers and it shows! They appear much lighter, and not as good IMO).

Once the drybrushing is complete I then added various GW washes for weathering.
For this building and colour scheme I used Thraka Green, Ogryn Flesh and tied them together with watered down Badab Black.
I find, when doing the washes, that a few thin layers is much better than one thick.
The washes tend to flow downwards quite nicely and are then drawn back upwards when they pool to create the rising damp effect.
The floors are simply painted Burnt Umber and then drybrushed Foundation White with a stippling motion.

The wood is painted Burnt Umber at the same time as the stonework, but only received the first two layers of drybrushing.
Then liberally washed with all the brownish shades from the GW wash range, with Sepia being the predominant colour. The others used mainly to create a little variation. More variation was used on the walkways and the three levels on the main wall scaffolding to give the impression of wood scavenged from a variety of sources.

The window frames were then given a couple of washes of Ogryn flesh to seperate them from the stone walls.

Finally they are finished off  with sand, gravel, static grass on the bases and Woodland Scenic Underbrush for the vines.
A few posters added and the metal areas (lanterns etc.) painted with Black wash.

That is pretty much it.

I used the same process to paint the graveyard for the church in this thread;
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=30663.0

Hope that is what you were looking for.

The GW paints were soon disposed of as they were costing a fortune and were replaced with Windsor and Newton Yellow Ochre and White over a cheap Burnt Umber acrylic undercoat.

For more info you will have to refer to the thread, but most of the info you seek is near the begining so should be easy enough to find...

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=30667.15

[Mr. Peabody]

Aye, that's the one... Thank you Mason.

I used Golden Fluid Acrylics, but that had more to do with what's sitting in my paint bin waiting to be used up. Use what's handy!

The washes at the end really tie it all together and add interest, so don't skip these! I used oil paints, but any suitable wash will work, it's not rocket science.

Given that this is a six or seven step process, it's worthwhile to do it in volume if possible. I did all these pieces at the same time. But this approach is well suited to mass production and the pay-off is a collection of pieces that works well together.

[Mr. Peabody]

So that is what you were up to.
 

Indeed! Really appreciate the leg-up. So happy with the results. To be honest, I had a very real dread of protracted dry-brushing sessions, but the Krappefort look is a winner and I'm now a well adjusted hobbyist.

1. Is that a single set?

This is both of the Pegasus Gothic Rubble sets, #5216 'Gothic Rubble I' and #5219 'Gothic Rubble II'

2. Any chance of a piccie with a 28mm figure so that we can see just how big they are? 

Shhh... be vewy, vewy quiet, we are hunting dinosaurs....

A ruined church / chapel in 28, but a collapsed cathedral in 1/72... Very useful terrain.

[Mason]

Indeed! Really appreciate the leg-up. So happy with the results. To be honest, I had a very real dread of protracted dry-brushing sessions, but the Krappefort look is a winner and I'm now a well adjusted hobbyist.

Glad to be of help.
 

This is both of the Pegasus Gothic Rubble sets, #5216 'Gothic Rubble I' and #5219 'Gothic Rubble II'
 
Shhh... be vewy, vewy quiet, we are hunting dinosaurs....

 

I meant a shot of the 1:72 stuff with a miniature....D'Oh!

I should have been clearer about what I was asking.....sorry, mate.


(Although that piccie certainly made me laugh  ).

[Mr. Peabody]

Getting ready for home-theatre night, everything is put away now, but I look forward to digging out some of my 1/72 Soviets and taking some demonstrative photographs. 

[Mason]

Getting ready for home-theatre night, everything is put away now, but I look forward to digging out some of my 1/72 Soviets and taking some demonstrative photographs. 

I had better try that again.....

the 1:72 walls alongside a 28mm miniature....

...I am being very stupid today.
Please forgive me.

 

[Mr. Peabody]

No, you were clear, I just failed to parse the instruction set.    And I was thinking, "gosh, is Mason going to start gaming in 1/72 now as well!!?" 

Regardless, I'll put those elements together asap.

[Mason]

Cheers, mate!
 

"gosh, is Mason going to start gaming in 1/72 now as well!!?"  

The answer to that is: Never!
I couldnt see the buggers to paint 'em!