Tuesday 27 August 2013

Armies on Parade board - Ferron Proxima in full 3D...pt2

You can see the extra rocks/stones/gravel have been added to the 'cliff edge' I probably could have blended that in a bit better but I'm on a roll now so I may be cutting a few corners in my eagerness to get it done but once again it's the figures that's more important for me in this not the base.


Once again the colours are all over the place but I added on a black wash. A 'satin' acrylic emulsion paint was used. I've had this tub for 12+ years, since our back bedroom was my 'office' and it was painted yellow with black skirting boards. Funnily enough the tub wasn't sealed properly and it's now the consistency of tar with a tiny bit of mold growing on it. Still, two or three dips of the paint brush, some water and a blob of PVA and it made a nice wash. I probably could have done with more PVA in the mix, in both this and the original red colouring. The scatter sawdust is extremely hard and rough and a thicker coating of PVA might have made it more 'plasticy'.


As you can see I added in some pseudo cracks and shading. I'll be adding some highlights so I'll be able to paint on some more texture effects for variety. This was about another half an hour of effort.


I wanted to see what the Bastion looked like on the red as is. I really liked the colour [although I appreciate what shade it actually is hasn't been conveyed in these pictures] part of me didn't want to add any further highlights [like when you do a wash on a figure and it looks pretty good, but you know highlights would make it awesome but you still don't want to commit to it] but this test made it clear Red Planet Basing didn't match up to the current finish - it needed the highlights.


So I put some Vermillion into a tub and went at it with a big brush being very careful with the drybrush trying not to get streaks. There's quite a big blob 'error' in one spot. But I then mixed in my Pumpkin craft acrylic and accentuated some on the areas/edges/cracks etc. just to get a bit more random texture going on. And I'm pretty darn chuffed and glad I didn't stop at the black wash.


Of course it is not Ferron Proxima without the Bonewhite Wraithbone shards littering the surface. Now I wasn't about to manually pick out individual stones as I normally do so I mixed some water with the paint and flicked spots on. If I'm honest I needed more practice before committing to the final board. I think I loaded too much paint and had it too thin. There's also 'directionality' to the spatter, as CSI would say although I'm sure I can convey the same sentiment if I say there is 'a direction to the spatter'. I can rationalise that too as maybe it's come from the direction of the source of the Wraithbone!?


Ultimately I realised the size and amount of spots isn't an issue in this case as there will be a lot of figures on the board and that will cover up a significant amount of those 'shards'. If I were to do proper gaming boards I may well be more careful with my spatter.


And that as we say is that! Another hour of painting and 2.5hours total time so far and I'm pretty much finished. I may add some yellow flock in places and I'm considering a backdrop to 'frame the board' but the job's 99% complete. I did a quick test fit with the Bastion, Spore pods, some Warriors, Aegis and Genestealers and the board matches their bases beautifully. Before the Armies on Parade Day I'll spend some time considering how best to position everything and take some pics so I know how to set it up on the day and I'll share them here but right now I'm super chuffed and excited.

4 comments:

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    1. Cheers GSI, the few bits I've put on it make the whole thing look a lot better too. Can't wait for Parade day now.

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  2. Dave they look amazing, it's a shame you never let me come round to your house for a game :)

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    1. Ha, ha, cheeky sod ;) Well my 2'x2' board would make a very quick game. Alternatively my 5'x3' gaming mat on my kitchen table would be better but still a bit 'intimate'. I will get a board done eventually, promise.

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