Confessions of a terrain board virgin

[Jeff965]

Well we've all wanted to do it, all those lovely terrain set ups we've seen on LAF has made us want to do it.
All the fellow wargamers saying how easy it is has made us want to do it, all the blogs and you tube videos show us how easy it is to do it.
So I'm doing it, I'm going to give this terrain board malarkey a whirl and you are quite welcome to follow my roaring success or epic failure as I go along.
Please feel free to chuck in bits of advice/abuse and feel free to learn from my mistakes/triumphs.
First up is mixing up a gloop of pva, paint and sand in an old pot and then brushing it on a 2'x2' terrain board from TSS. No preparing the tile with anything just brushing/pouring straight on, let's see where this gets me.
First lesson..... I'm going to need a lot of this gloop

[Damas]

For some reason, I can't picture you as a Virgin anything Jeff! 

Good luck on this foray. I'll be going this route soon. 

[Romark]

A good start,keep us updated,keen to see how you get on with this

[tomrommel1]

Go on show us more!

[oldskoolrebel]

Looking good Jeff.

What's the board made from? Foam?

Also the gloop looks spot on :-)

[Mason]

That looks like it has the potential to be a great Choccie Brownie!
 

Good luck with this, mate, I shall watch with interest.
 

(P.S. Dont let the missus see these pictures or she may whack you with that saucpan!)

[OSHIROmodels]

I would suggest that you stipple the goop before it drys 

cheers

James

[Vanvlak]

Oh dear, you've got the bag in the first pic upside down, I'm sure that's not right.
 

Funny, I'm just starting my own board (as opposed to removable scenery bits).
True to form I'm taking an opportunistic route, using a discarded architect's mode...

Looking forward to see more of this.

[Malamute]

Haven't you finished yet?
A good start and good advise from James about stippling the boards before the gloop dries. It adds a nice texture.

[oldskoolrebel]

I'd agree with James- it will stop vertical lines in the texture. Alternatively you could apply in random or circular motions

[Vagabond]

That looks like it has the potential to be a great Choccie Brownie!
 

If you cut it up you could mail us all a piece.

For the stippling a carrier bag scrunched up and dabbed onto the surface might do well. Although I suppose it's dried by now

Let us know how flat your board is when it's dry, if curved I have had some success by painting the reverse with PVA and sometimes that pulls it back flat, hopefully you won't need to do that. I have only used hardboard which is too thin and curves easily.

You probably have already seen it but I have been very impressed by Silent Invaders Game of Thrones board partly because it is just amazing but also he has managed to hide the joins between the boards somewhat by using electrostatic grass and so has a bit of a blured line between the boards, look on his blog, but I think he may have posted it on here. I got to it from a thread Cptn Blood did about a game they played on the boards I think at one of the BLAM's. But you probably know that as well.

Good luck with your project.

[Jeff965]

Looking good Jeff.

What's the board made from? Foam?

Also the gloop looks spot on :-)

It's a TSS tile Andy, it looks like white polystyrene covered in green flock like the one pictured below.

That looks like it has the potential to be a great Choccie Brownie!
 

Good luck with this, mate, I shall watch with interest.
 

(P.S. Dont let the missus see these pictures or she may whack you with that saucpan!)

I glooped this about midday, then my son turned up with his family for the Xmas weekend. I've been disappearing up my shed to stipple the board as it drys so I've been getting the evil eye from SWMBO already. I've tried in the past to explain to her how important my little projects are but to no avail sigh.

Hey Vagabond, yeh I'm aware of SI and the Cap'ns work they are the standards everybody try's to achieve (along with the Bibbles of course). Me I'm just dipping my toe in the water and seeing what I can achieve with the little resources and time I have. If I mess it up not to worry, I'll keep trying. If there's one thing LAF does for me it gets me to try different things I haven't tried before  

Anyhoo back to the stippling.

[Romark]

If there's one thing LAF does for me it gets me to try different things I haven't tried before 

Does that mean Star Wars games too? 

[Argonor]

Interesting approach. I usually cover my boards with slightly thinned PVA, then pour sand on and let dry, seal with PVA thinned to about the consistency of milk, let dry, then paint.

Your method skips some steps compared to that - the above method does not need stippling, though, gives a very coarse finish that is easy to drybrush.

I shall be following this with interest!  

[Jeff965]

Does that mean Star Wars games too? 

I just pre ordered Rougue one (don't tell Jimbibbly or Damas). I've heard it's a war film in a Sci Fi setting so that's my excuse

Interesting approach. I usually cover my boards with slightly thinned PVA, then pour sand on and let dry, seal with PVA thinned to about the consistency of milk, let dry, then paint.

Your method skips some steps compared to that - the above method does not need stippling, though, gives a very coarse finish that is easy to drybrush.

I shall be following this with interest! 

I may end up doing that, I thought I was being clever because if the board chipped at all I would only have the dark brown showing through. I'm thinking if this is crap I'll just chuck a coat of pva over this, then more sand and then paint that when its dry. We'll see....
Anyway back to the stippling....