Archive for April, 2011

Quick Links: Pirates and Cowboys

Posted by chicagoterrainfactory in Terrain, web sites on April 28, 2011

A pair of hyper detailed gaming tables presented on the Dressing the Lines blog.  First a scratch built old West town then the biggest pirate battle you’ve every seen.


More photos and the back story of the town on Dressing the Lines.

UPDATE:  the builder of this western town has started a blog to provide additional details about his terrain building.  Colonel O’Truth’s Miniature Issues

A full Napoleonic town under navel assault. History and about a hundred photos at Wargames Society forums.

Advertisement

4 Comments

Secret Weapon Wash Review

Posted by chicagoterrainfactory in miniatures, painting, WAB, web sites on April 17, 2011

Secret Weapon Miniatures has a new line of washes. Well priced at $2.99 for a 20ml bottle, I picked up four bottles for a test run. Ideally, I would hope to find an inexpensive replacement for Delvan Mud by GW, but I would be satisfied with a product that could “dip” without the caustic side effects of wood stain.

The four washes purchased are:

  • Armour Wash – best candidate for the “dip”
  • Dark Sepia – possible flesh wash
  • Baby Poop – who can turn down a product with a name like that!
  • Stone – a soft color for terrain work

Secret Weapon Wash test

The test case is a unit of Romans. The figures start with a simple base coat & each had a liberal amount of wash applied by brush.

Results:

  • Devlan Mud – smooth as silk.  The gold standard for washes.
  • Armour Wash – heavy black lines created.  Pools left a hard edge after drying.  The shield shows off the large grain of the wash.
  • Dark Sepia – The heavy brown does a good job of a medium weight wash.
  • Sepia/Armour mix:  a 50/50 mix.  The result is still mostly black, I may try such a mix again at 1 part armour wash and 2 (or 3) parts Sepia.
  • Baby Poop:  the green color of the wash really shows on the shield.  Not what I’m looking for, but a good option for a green/yellow shades.
  • Stone:  a very mild color.  Needs to be based on whites.

Conclusions:

The washes tend to separate in the bottle & require a vigorous shaking before use.  None of these washes will challenge Devlan Mud as the champion of washes, but the Secret Weapon products will provide a better option to stains for volume army painting.

4 Comments

Adepticon – High Seas, Old West and Warmachine

Posted by chicagoterrainfactory in Terrain on April 10, 2011

One of the great things about Adepticon is how its a venue for all sorts of games that are not 40K.

High Seas had its own tournament this year.  My friend John created 5 custom tables each with its own mission.  Makes for a bit more work but the results are fabulous.

Old West returned for a 2nd year, this time under new management.  I was very impressed by both the event and the terrain created by Irv.  Card and printed paper make up the majority of this terrain project.  These techniques are so very different from the plaster and paint styles I normally work with – great to see such alternatives put to good use.

Privateer Press came to Adepticon and made a huge impact.  Corporate support is not quite Gen Con level, but its getting close.  Every swag bag at Adepticon contained a $50 box set for Warmachine.  The company shipped in 4 top end terrain tables for the event hall.  Staff and volunteers were everywhere.  They were even running micro demo tables at the front doors to the 40K hall.  GW are you paying attention?

,

1 Comment

Adepticon Malifaux terrain

Posted by chicagoterrainfactory in Hirst Arts, Terrain on April 7, 2011

One of my major projects for Adepticon was creating terrain for the new Malifaux tournaments. Its a fun game to create terrain for – a wide variety of archetypes are in play.

Hollow Halls is made up mostly from Manor House terrain kits. These kits are rather a chore to work with, detail is worn down from over casting the molds, pieces are large & heavy and instructions are non-existent. No wonder they were going cheap on Ebay.
Infestation is made from Hirst kits, building molds I made for Adepticon a few years back and a bit of sculpting.
Grey City is an old 40K table made from Hirst components.
Cairn Hills and Grave Yard are old fantasy tables made from pink foam and (once again) Hirst blocks.

,

Leave a comment

Adepticon: WAB team tournament armies

Posted by chicagoterrainfactory in miniatures, WAB on April 5, 2011

Army photos Adepticon 2011 team tournament.

1 Comment

Adepticon: WAB singles tournament armies

Posted by chicagoterrainfactory in painting, WAB on April 4, 2011

Army photos Adepticon 2011 singles tournament.

Leave a comment