Hirst Arts Ruins

A quick look at the first pieces I made with Hirst Arts Silicon Molds. The Molds Are fantastic, so versatile, I bought one from ID Gaming in St Helens when they were clearing out some old stock, it was the Gothic Bridge mold, and it has some nice bits to it, enough to get me hooked on casting. Here's a couple of pieces I made a while ago, although the second one was only painted last week, 2 years after making it. Artizan WW2 Para included for a sense of scale. They are based on old CDs and could be used for many different game genres.

I will probably make a few more, as they are dead easy to do, and use up leftover and badly cast blocks. I think they are pretty effective.

European Farm

As promised, a look at some of my scenery.

Most of what I have been painting these last few years has been 28mm WW2 so I will start with a look at scenery that matches.

First up is the Farmhouse.

Its a direct copy of the one in the Rules of Engagement Rulebook, (my favourite WW2 rules set)

A thick cardboard base with popsicle stick weatherboards and tile grout rendering on top. Match stick door and window frames, a carved polystyrene chimney and cereal packet tiles on the roof (which is removeable). I still have some final painting to do, like the whole roof, but overall I am quite pleased with it. I had never tried rendering or weatherboards before and it came out ok. I will have a go at some out buildings at some point in the future to turn it into a proper little farm.

Ive made a few sections of hedges as well. These are based on examples I saw on the Terragenisis Web site. They are made from green pot scourers cut to size, based on hardboard, roughed up a bit and drybrushed with a bit of yellow. They are not fantastic, but are very cheap and quick to make, and break up the flat plain of the gaming board providing much needed cover for the troops.

Heres a close up with an Artizan US Para included for scale.

Ive made a few sections with trees included, some with rocks, and, as you can see, a couple of corner sections. I think I still need a few more sections, one with a gate, maybe some fence sections, and definatly more corners, and maybe a couple of T sections......

There are a few tree bases to put down, based on old CDs, they are just Woodland Scenics Tree Armitures glued on, the base covered with grout, painted and the clumpy tree stuff glued on. They look OK, and are quite economical, you get a lot of armitures in a bag.......

Ive got a couple of just trees, and have started to make some tree and rock combos.

While on holiday last year I noticed some type of lichen growing on the trees next to my tent, so I grabbed a couple of handfulls, dried it out when I got home and mounted it on some thick card. A bit of flock and some Woodland Scenics clump foliage and I have some scrubby cover to drop around the place. They look darker in colour in real life than in the photos, but are probably a bit too pale to fit in well with this particular table layout, but they cost me almost nothing so they cant be too bad.

While doing some work in the garden the other week, I noticed a different type of Lichen growing on the trees down the back. I grabbed some and will have a go making a few more bases. Its a different texture and colour so will add more variety.

Heres all of it laid out.

 

It still needs a lot more cover, too much open killing ground at the moment, but I think it doesnt look too bad.

Where to Start.......

So I had a look around my hobby area for some inspiration as to where to start, and I can honestly say that there was too much to choose from, most of it not so great. So I thought I would start with my Gaming Board and some Scenery, as there are some complete pieces and they don't look too bad (in my humble opinion!)I don't have a lot of room to play with so my board is 90cm x 90cm (approx 3ft x 3ft). I like skirmish games so this petite table is fine for me.
Its 6mm MDF with pine battens glued and screwed around the edges underneath to stop it from warping. The edges are painted with a dark brown paint I bought in a tester pot from the hardware shop. I purchased a flocked mat from the local model shop and glued it to the top surface, it dropped flock something wicked, but I was expecting it and caught it on some newspaper, I now have a small tub of perfectly matching flock! The Mat was bigger and cheaper than GWs one, and just as good quality wise. My table is small so I used less than half of it for the table top, leaving lots left over to make some hills.

That's my box of modular hills on the left.

The hills are based on 6mm MDF with the slope edge cut at a 45deg angle with a jigsaw. I wanted them modular so they are made with similar measurements on the edges, either 30cm, 20cm or 10cm, it gives me a wide selection of layouts.

A section of polystyrene was then glued to the top. When it had set I trimmed it down with a hot wire cutter, a 90 deg angle on the sides and back, and continuing the 45deg angle on the slope side. I then "plastered" the edges of the hills with combination Tile Adhesive/Grout. This protects the edges and hides the polystyrene. A lick of paint to match the edge of the board, some more of my flock mat glued to the top and jobs done.

Ive got enough pieces to put together the layout you see on the right.
Having played around with different layouts I realise that I need to make a few more pieces.
I have enough to make nice valleys like this one but struggle to make a ridge line down the centre of the board, and I would like to have more, larger elevated sections.
I guess I will have to get out the jigsaw again sometime soon......

Here's another more simple layout.

In my next update I will dig out a few of the terrain pieces I have made, and maybe put them on the board to see what you think of it all put together.

This Blogging lark is quite therapeutic.....

From Humble Beginnings?

I have been thinking about an online record of my unfocused and intermittent hobby activities for a while now, a chance for some friends who no longer live down the road, to see what Ive been up to and what I am currently interested in.
You never know, it may encourage me to get a few things finished. The title of this Blog is really what this hobby is all about for me, too many shiny new toys, interesting rules, and scenery "brainwaves" distracting me......
Anyway, I hope to post reviews, pictures and general ramblings on a regular(ish) basis.....I wonder what I should choose as my first real post?