Desert Board - another update (13/01/12)

[Eric the Shed]

If I only had half your free time.  Outstanding build.  My only niggle would be for you to add some talus and sand to the bottom of the escarpments.  Small niggle since you nailed the colors, textures and managed to make building a modular board look far easier than it is.  Kudos to you sir.
Snitchy sends.

Guess what this still has to be added....

[FifteensAway]

Quite impressive and love the color choices.  Oh, and, yes, bark is easy to find at pet shops here in the states - reptile section; only problem is to acquire the volume you did would pay for a quite sizable and impressive 28 mm army, professionally painted!

One change I'd make for my tastes is a purpose painted canvas ground cloth instead of those modular pieces but I would add 'flavor' pieces to go on top to provide similar variety to what you've done.  Just looses all those seems between the pieces - though you can certainly tone those down during games with a bit of scatter on top of them.

Nice.

[FramFramson]

These sure have come along. I've finally picked up some cork myself, as I'm sure I have to make cliffsides of my own at some point.

[Eric the Shed]

Thanks for all the great comments guys

But I'd like to address Fifteens away comment specifically

Quite impressive and love the color choices.  Oh, and, yes, bark is easy to find at pet shops here in the states - reptile section; only problem is to acquire the volume you did would pay for a quite sizable and impressive 28 mm army, professionally painted!

One change I'd make for my tastes is a purpose painted canvas ground cloth instead of those modular pieces but I would add 'flavor' pieces to go on top to provide similar variety to what you've done.  Just looses all those seems between the pieces - though you can certainly tone those down during games with a bit of scatter on top of them.

I went through some personal debate on the boards issue versus a base cloth. In the end I settled on the boards for a number of reasons.

Firstly the pieces I have built (the cliffs ) are extremely heavy and on anything lighter warpage of their boards might be an issue

Secondly the boards do allow multiple layouts as well as the unique ability of sliding them to the left/right/front & back as a game develops

Thirdly I plan to create some 'lower' boards which will then be built up to form oasis, rods and a river bank.

At the moment the seams are quite obvious but once I have 'fitted' these and cleaned down the excess paint/glue/sand from the edges they should disappear somewhat. The addition of palm trees, scrub etc will make a difference.

Some more piccies will appear soon as I have just created some sand banks/mounds etc

Once again thanks

 

[FramFramson]

Oh by the by, I don't know about you folks, but in Toronto there is actually a cork wholesaler (it's way out in the suburbs). I got 4.5 pounds of cork bark for $55 (four big pieces, probably totally about three square feet total, plus a narrow tube for tight corners or spurs).

Normally they just sell closed 20 pound boxes, but they very kindly let me pick some pieces out since I wanted less and they do sell per pound if you ask nicely (which was also good because a lot of the stock they had on hand had the wrong sort of look).

This was the place: http://www.jelinek.com/ They also do online orders, though I expect in Europe you're better off ordering from a Portuguese company or something.

[FifteensAway]

Eric,

My comments weren't meant as a critique of what you are doing, just the way I'd go versus how you've gone.  What you are doing is great and inspiring - as others have said.  And your way does allow for subterranean features, as it were.  I use artist's canvas for my cloths and it is plenty sturdy to handle my hills which are made of 1/2" plywood coasted with sand before painting and the biggest pieces are pretty heavy, relatively speaking, so the weight objection can be accounted for by those using cloths. 

And, as an aside, for years I went for more naturalistic slopes on hills and then finally caved in and decided to use "wedding cake" hills because they are just so much more playable - but I do have portions that are inaccessible.  In a game a couple of weeks ago one player stymied himself by climbing the backside of a hill with part of his command only to find he couldn't descent the cliff on the other side.  He was frustrated.  I loved it.  True fog of war stuff.

Keep up the great work.

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

This is fantastic scenery (and I'm going to have to steal emulate your techniques) and it fits in so well with the pyramid and temple. Really looking forward to seeing your Indiana Jones games when it transpires. 

[Eric the Shed]

thanks for all the great comments...

Currently putting the finishing touches to the oasis...hopefully this will be posted tomorrow

[Eric the Shed]

The Desert boards and Egyptian temple complex are now complete including the new oasis...

LOTS of photos on the blog

http://shedwars.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/desert-boards-finally-complete.html



Cheers

[NurgleHH]

Wonderful Giles! Great work.

[Furt]

That looks bloody brilliant! 

What a great board for SO many occasions.

[Elk101]

That really is something else! Nice work.

[Rob_bresnen]

Top marks!

[Constable Bertrand]

Eric I believe you have a winner there sir. I mean look at this?!



That looks like a scene from an Indiana movie. Top shelf old chap.

So, will you be doing modular tomb boards for the intrepid adventurers? Will you be putting together a small room with many chalaces and a decrepit old templar? A room full of golden treasures?  so many possibilities Eric.

Cheers
Matt.

[Hu Rhu]

That's a fantastic board.  Some great ideas for my desert boards which I will be stealing borrowing.     Great cliffs and temple entrance.