1879 Battle of Charasiab at Colonial Barracks convention - updated Nov 21, 2015

[Arundel]

If one could read that officer's mind: "Heavens, beastly hot out today. Hmmm, wonder if any of the lads would see me if I took a quick dip? But then, what if some Afridi johnny came along? Dashed difficult, this!"

(It's looking great, Guru!)

[Atheling]

If one could read that officer's mind: "Heavens, beastly hot out today. Hmmm, wonder if any of the lads would see me if I took a quick dip? But then, what if some Afridi johnny came along? Dashed difficult, this!"

 

Darrell.

[Mad Guru]

Thanks for the continuing positive comments, everyone!

And a special thank you for that brilliant piece of "Additional Dialogue" Daryl -- and your approval of it, Darrell!

Made more progress on the 6'x2' Kabul River board this past weekend, as seen here...





Next up will be pouring a third layer of resin onto the swamp board, this one color-tinted with ink like the most recent river pours.

After that... well... I'll be virtually done, just some 3" wide latex caulk roads to make, base-coat and dry-brush.  Kind of hard to believe after having worked on this layout on and off for more than three years, but I'm very much looking forward to it!

[Atheling]

Thanks for the continuing positive comments, everyone!

And a special thank you for that brilliant piece of "Additional Dialogue" Daryl -- and your approval of it, Darrell!

Birds of a feather us, the two Darrell's/Daryl's that is 

Made more progress on the 6'x2' Kabul River board this past weekend, as seen here...





Next up will be pouring a third layer of resin onto the swamp board, this one color-tinted with ink like the most recent river pours.

After that... well... I'll be virtually done, just some 3" wide latex caulk roads to make, base-coat and dry-brush.  Kind of hard to believe after having worked on this layout on and off for more than three years, but I'm very much looking forward to it!

More excellent work- I really wish that you lived just around the corner from me!! I'd be there in a flash! Uninvited too!! 

That's my way of saying that your blog has served as inspiration for quite a few years now, even before I put brush to any NWF mini's

Darrell.

[Mad Guru]

Darrell... wow, that's very kind of you to say, and if you did live around the corner from me I'd be happy to actually provide an invitation, as I hope to do very soon for the other Daryl around these parts!

Just finished pouring a 1/8" layer of green-tinted resin into the Khairabad Swamp board.  Will take some pics in the morning after it has cured and hopefully post them some time after that.  Hoping my plan to play-test the Charasiab scenario later this month will come together.  I really hope Northstar and Artizan and Mike Owen will get around to releasing officers, NCOs and the odd piper for their kilted Highlanders some day soon, so I'll be able to field a unit of accurately uniformed and equipped 92nd Highlanders when I hopefully run this game at the Colonial Barracks V convention in early November...

[Atheling]

Darrell... wow, that's very kind of you to say, and if you did live around the corner from me I'd be happy to actually provide an invitation, as I hope to do very soon for the other Daryl around these parts!

And I'd be there in a flash

Really hope Northstar and Artizan and Mike Owen will get around to releasing officers, NCOs and the odd piper for their kilted Highlanders some day soon, so I'll be able to field a unit of accurately uniformed and equipped 92nd Highlanders when I hopefully run this game at the Colonial Barracks V convention in early November...

i hear you. I've got all sorts of incomplete units . In fact, I have only been able to kit one unit out with an officer and a NCO- could have done with a bugler too. No NCO's for the Highlanders or dressed in Poshteens really limits what can be done with the range at present.

Same goes for the Guides and the Afghan regulars.....

Darrell.

[Arundel]

The new boards are looking superb--though that's hardly a surprise by now. Just out of curiosity, does the resin, etc. have a strong smell? As it looks as though you do your project in the house I'd guess it doesn't--too badly at least--but would still be interested to hear how you've avoided being kicked out of doors by your better half. My own wife is a woman of infinite patience and culture, often overlooking the fact that our dining room table is covered with Abyssinian tribesmen, greenstuff, paints and reference books, but she draws the line at malodorous projects of any kind. I was told in no uncertain terms that my pipe smoking was a recreation for the porch and nowhere else by about, well, the second day of our married life, and I've been there ever since!

Splendid work, Guru, and keep posting your updates--they're hugely inspiring.

[Atheling]

The new boards are looking superb--though that's hardly a surprise by now. Just out of curiosity, does the resin, etc. have a strong smell? As it looks as though you do your project in the house I'd guess it doesn't--too badly at least--but would still be interested to hear how you've avoided being kicked out of doors by your better half. My own wife is a woman of infinite patience and culture, often overlooking the fact that our dining room table is covered with Abyssinian tribesmen, greenstuff, paints and reference books, but she draws the line at malodorous projects of any kind. I was told in no uncertain terms that my pipe smoking was a recreation for the porch and nowhere else by about, well, the second day of our married life, and I've been there ever since!

Superb Daryl..... surely the start of a novel?   

Splendid work, Guru, and keep posting your updates--they're hugely inspiring.

Certainly is, and possibly that inspiring that having now had a garage in over 11 months I may just have to dedicate the new garage to the sole purpose of making wargames terrain- no mean feat in the UK as most garages are quite small. Many not big enough to fit a decent sized car in!

Darrell.

[Mad Guru]

Dear Darrell & Daryl (AKA: the other Darrell!),

Well, first of all I am very happy to hear I may have inspired UK Darrell to turn his garage into a terrain workshop... but on the other hand I must sadly inform Pasadena Daryl that liquid resin does indeed come with a malodorous smell.  In fact, my own wonderful and amazing wife of many years has not been happy with me using it here in my home-office/war-room/terrain workshop.  In our previous house I did all my hobby stuff -- building, painting and gaming -- in the garage, but when we moved here, though this house is slightly bigger, it has less storage space throughout, so we wound up with much more stuff stashed in our garage, leaving little if any room for me to work.

The only hobby work I do in there is cutting wood and MDF or Masonite, and when I was building all my rocky wood-chip hills I did most of the hot-gluing of styrofoam and bark chips in there, at a very "cozy" (AKA: tiny) work-station I managed to keep clear, though it definitely would not have passed anything resembling an "Occupational Safety And Health" inspection!

In the lead-up to building my river and swamp boards I had planned on clearing out/cleaning up the garage BEFORE commencing to pour resin, or even to frame and fill the the boards themselves, but... as we all know, often the best-laid plans of mice and wargamers sometimes come to naught, and so I found myself opening all the windows and occassionally employing a box fan to help suck the lingering scent (AKA: stench) of curing resin out of my erstwhile office.  To be honest I barely smell it myself but my wife's nose has a very different response.  The truth is it's not that bad and it does go away so long as you can leave your windows and/or doors open, as those of us here in Southern California are almost always able to do.  You do need a "controlled" area to work with the resin, since once you pour it, it must remain in place for a minimum of 5 or 6 hours, someplace where no one will happen to bump into it and no leaves or insects will happen to "drop by".

Meanwhile I'm happy to report that last night I poured the first layer of color-tinted resin into the Khairabad Swamp board and here's a couple of pics showing the results...

[Marine0846]

Your terrain is so good.
Hard to put in words how good it is.
All I can say is:

[Atheling]

Your terrain is so good.
Hard to put in words how good it is.
All I can say is:

 

Darrell.

[Arundel]

Couldn't agree more!

Also, thank you for the information on the resin--I'd always wondered how you get away with it, you lucky devil. It's clear your wife is a woman with the true frontier spirit!

[Mad Guru]

My belated thanks for the continued positive responses.  I'm back with an update, having just put up a post on my blog about finishing the road system, which means I'm pretty much finished with the entire Charasiab terrain layout.  There are a couple of small things left to work on and one bigger thing -- a very tall mountainside for the North-East corner of the table -- but the truth is... there would be nothing wrong with playing the game on it as it now stands, which is a nice feeling.

Next I have to get a few play-tests of the scenario in before November, when I hope to take it on the road to the Colonial Barracks V convention in Metarie, Louisiana, just outside New Orleans.

For now, here's a few teaser pics and a link to my blog, where you'll find a few more -- and thanks in advance for your time if you choose to visit...



Kabul River on the Western edge of the battlefield...



Logar River and Khairabad Swamp on the Eastern edge of the battlefield...



LINK:

http://maiwandday.blogspot.com/2015/09/charasiab-battlefield-pretty-much-done.html

[Yggdrasil]

Wow. This gaming-table is awesome! 
Thanks for sharing it! 

I love those bark-made Stone elements (i might steal this idea for my old-west gaming-table) 

[Mad Guru]

Thanks, Yggdrasil.  In case you want some more detailed info on how I built those rocky hills using garden bark-chips, here's a link to my last painstakingly over-detailed tutorial on the subject:

http://maiwandday.blogspot.com/2014/04/building-last-rocky-wood-chip-hill-blow.html  

In my experience they do work well for "Old West" gaming.  I used one of the same hills for my 150th Anniversary BATTLE OF CAMERONE game, set in Mexico, and I've seen mountains that look very similar here in California and also in Texas, and seen photos of more of the same in Utah and South Dakota.