Sunday 22 April 2012

Making your own 40k scenery - part 2

Couple of quick updates before the main part of the post:

  • I've written a guest post on Mywargame reviewing the really nice Mizuchi miniature I got recently.  I'll blog the finished job soon as he's all but finished now (assuming the varnish I just applied doesn't ruin it).
  • Played a game of Warhammer Fantasy, Tomb Kings vs. my Vampires.  Ended up a fairly convincing win even though my general fell to the curse of the Tomb Prince.  Luck was very much with me at several key points and I still made several "I should know better" mistakes, so all in all a fun game (thanks Rob) with some good take homes.

So back to the scenery...

I've been casting up extra blocks on and off for months and having ideas about making a big fortification of some kind.  I've looked through the planet strike rules and fancied having a go at some point so this was partly driving me, but I'd also been given a nice big Imperial double door by my brother that I wanted to stick on to something.

A few weeks ago I decided I would see if I could build something in a week, just in time for a scenario game I was hosting for some friends.  You can have a look at the scenario here if you wish.

The idea was that this bigger fortification should be usable on its own, but also look in keeping with the bunkers I'd already made, so a line of fortifications could be put together that looked quite nice.  With this in mind I used the design of the bunkers as the template to construct a much larger building, with 2 floors.

There's a few challenges with a building of this size made of plaster of paris that's going to be used for gaming rather than just display.

  1. It needs to be strong enough to support its own weight plus that of miniatures.
  2. It needs to have access points for miniatures to enter/exit the structure and also ideally to see out from for line of sight while shooting.
  3. It needs to be of a size that I can store it safely somewhere.
So here's what I did:

This is the ground floor.  It's pretty large, each of those tiles holds a 40k miniature easily.
Using the bunker walls as a design starting point (especially the window slots) I started dry assembling a front wall that included the big double doors.  The doors were a bit higher than I wanted the entire structure to be so they influenced the shape of the front quite a lot as you'll see on later pictures.  Once I had an idea of the size of the front I quickly dry built walls for the side and rear to make sure I had enough bricks - it was looking good so I started designing the side and rear walls in more detail.  I wanted a rear entrance that was recessed hence the 'C' shape design.  It also saved me tiles as it was looking very tight for that particular brick type.
The 1st floor, the centre section is mostly enclosed, the sides sheltered and the front exposed.
Having worked out the rough footprint of the ground floor, I started planning the 1st floor.  This I wanted to have a command bunker section, but be overall smaller than the ground floor so I wasn't building a tower block.  I also took a very simple shortcut in terms of access between floors - I didn't worry about it.  I did leave a hole in one of the sections to suggest that there's different hatches to allow for this.
The roof!  I ran out of tiles at this point so it was brownie blocks to the rescue!
The roof was more complex than I first thought.  Having now designed the ground and 1st floors in detail, I was running seriously low on bricks.  I did have a pile of brownie bricks spare, but they aren't quite the same dimensions as the Hirst moulds.  I found a combination that almost worked and then did some trimming with a knife and filling with wooden stirrers.
Front view with all levels assembled
So having worked out the overall design I started sticking the various sections together with PVA.  I generally started by making lots of subsections that were very similar to the walls of the original bunkers.  The plan was that rather than trying to build it all in one go and discover there was a fault in one brick that compromised the entire thing, at most this would affect a small section and hopefully could be compensated for when I assembled the sections.

Rear view and a sneaky sandbag lizard
Due to the size of the structure I needed a sturdy base and also decided to base the 1st floor as well.  The Hirst power station I've already built does have a large roof without a base, but this was going to be larger and heavier than that so I didn't want to risk it.  Both the ground and first floors were constructed before gluing them to their bases, again to avoid any defects in the bricks affecting the overall shape.  The ground base is mounting card, the 1st floor some plasti-card.
Side view, gives an idea of how the front is offset   
Like the bunkers and power station before it, all the touch points between floors have had a generous coating of PVA after painting to try and reduce wear and tear due to in game moving of the sections.  This is especially likely near the front door arch as its a fair tight fit.
The finished product - not 100% on the base but there's so many other things to  paint
After coating it in gesso primer, I painted it in a series of GW paints, starting with a foundation (now base) paint that goes a long way even when diluted.  I had a suitably large Aquilla left from the 40k basing kit to mimic the motif from the bunker so I added that to the 1st floor bunker.
The bastion laid out with my walls and bunkers.  Looks ok to me, need more walls!
Finally here's the "bastion" lined up with my other fortifications.  I think as a defence line it looks quite good and certainly fills a big part of a gaming table.

Sunday 15 April 2012

Making your own 40k scenery - part 1

After a very long break (over 10 years) I decided to start collecting and playing 40k again a couple of years ago.  I'll cover my army(-ies) in future posts, these next few posts are about the scenery I've been making.

The second coming of my Dark Angels!
I covered my simple table set up and simple roads on mywargame yonks ago, so there's the links.

After a table and roads, buildings were next on the list.  I looked into an 'easy' way to make lots of my own 40k scenery.  There's lots of companies out there that sell excellent stuff so to be 'easy' it needed to be quick and cheaper than buying these kits.  I've had mixed success, time being the big issue so pre-made kits are becoming more appealing so I can spend my time painting and playing, but still, I started documenting my efforts but never posted a blog covering them.  I have also bought a number of kits that I might post about at some point as well - some are very deserving of praise.

The route I went down initially then was moulding my own pieces to construct various buildings.  After some web surfing I found the really excellent Hirst Arts site.  After reading up on the materials needed and techniques involved I thought 'I can do that' and then had to decide what mould(s) to buy.  Realistically the moulds are quite expensive so I was going to have to either make a LOT of scenery to justify the cost or find one mould that would do a lot of work.

I decided that mould 300 - 'Station builder' would do a lot for me - the example structures alone would be a good start.
Not the most exciting picture, sorry
So I ordered my mould and then went about collecting the other materials I would need.  Again the Hirst site has a lot of information about how best to set yourself up so I wont go into a lot of detail.  Key thing I found that was apart from the plaster of paris, all of the tools I needed I managed to pick up from Poundland so it cost me very little.  I've cast from the mould over 40 times (I didn't count, I can work it out from the Hirst instructions!) and all of my kit is still fine so no problem there.

One thing I did discover was that I tended to mix a bit too much plaster each time to ensure I had enough to fill the entire mould.  My wife on an inspired shopping trip solved this issue - 
Lakeland's finest
Yes, brownie moulds.  I simply pour the spare plaster into this mould and now have a collection of large blocks for use in future projects.  They aren't quite the same dimensions as the Hirst blocks, but they are close and I have managed to find several uses for them.

So armed with a pile of blocks and instructions on how to use them I went ahead and built a bunch of things.  I've been using PVA to glue it together (the Hirst site recommends all sorts of things, largely of an American flavour) and base coating the structures with Gesso Primer to both seal the surface and give it some 'tooth' so the subsequent paints don't come off so easily.  I recommend basing the structures - I've been using mounting card (I have a large supply hanging around).
Bunker in progress, with a Dark Angel marine for scale
Mostly finished bunker (base needs finishing)
The bunker was my first building and I liked it so much I made two in the end.  I've added the Imperial Aquila from the 40k basing kit to the front and a few spare bits to the base for flavour.
STATION
I also made a power station, a significantly bigger model than the bunker which has seen a lot of use in many battles as its a good size for breaking up a battlefield.  Like the bunkers the roof is removable so if you wish you can put figures inside.  I've coated the surfaces that meet with PVA to help with wear and tear. Also like the bunkers, this isn't quite finished...
Wot no caption?
I've also made a few walls, making use of the 'brownie' blocks - with added battle damage.  Very easy to do with plaster of paris - a knife, drill, scissors or even determined finger nail will add some effective looking battle damage to the material.

Well that's the end of part I - part II will cover the latest building I've built, this time of my own design and the scenario that inspired it.

Wednesday 11 April 2012

Grave News!

Its been a few weeks since I posted, been very busy.

  • Played some more Malifaux, against Lady Justice Guild and managed a reasonable draw - might have even squeaked a narrow win if the game had carried on for a turn or two more.
  • Played some WAB - another terrible game for the Macedonians.  The new (to me anyway) rules make my phalanxes even less mobile than before.  Time to try the cavalry again in my next game.
  • Wrote up a 40k scenario and had to frantically build some scenery for it.  I've had this in the back of my mind for some time.  I 'GMed' the game, with Orks facing Eldar.  I'll do a post on this and the scenery shortly.
  • Been playing a lot of Risk Legacy over the Easter weekend.  Its a very interesting idea, the basic Risk board and armies take on different characters over a series of quite quick (by Risk standards) games. I can't go into much detail without spoiling the fun - a lot of the game's enjoyment comes from elements that are only revealed after certain things happen.  We laughed a lot over these games and there's still more to unlock in the future.

Enough excuses - I was hoping to have something to post about a week ago, but finally a project on my hobby table has been finished.  I've been working on the Garden of Morr set on and off for a month or two and am pleased to have got it table top ready and have had a small skirmish through the creepy architecture (Malifaux).  Its a great set that I can use for Warhammer, Mordheim and Malifaux easily, I'm sure other games too.

I've done a quick guide to the stone effect I used - credit to Brian for the recipe (possibly obsolete now thanks to the new GW paints!)

First, over a black undercoat use Adeptus Battlegrey foundation
Second, wash the all the recesses (however slight) with Badab Black 
Third drybrush generously with Codex Grey
Lastly drybrush more carefully with Astronomicon Grey

Here's a shot of all the pieces
Close up on the Gate and stone walls
Various mausoleums and a statue