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I want to create a kind of arid grassland which is kind of a cross between the two pictures below:
and this
Now, I want it to be playable, which means I don't want to have to lay troops down in an inch of grass etc during play, which means that I will want to have areas of dusty dirt, short grass (only a few mm), regular length static grass, the odd bit of medium length grass (1-2cm) and rare bit of longer grass (2+ cm).
I also want it to stay on the board/bases without too much trouble and to be durable enough to be stored, played on/with/etc without shedding loads of grass all over the place.
I also want it to be relatively easy to apply (I seem to have lots of trouble adding long grass to things for some reason).
Now, I have several arid style GaleForce 9 grasses (2 regular length arid grasses, one with bits of planty looking stuff in and 1 long golden/arid field grass pack). Those are the kinds of colours I am looking for the majority of the grass on the board, but I also want to mix in a few more earthy brown grasses and the odd bit of green.
So, what I would like to know is:
1) How to fix grass in place on large areas so that it does not come off
2) Any easy ways of adding a few strands to a few tufts of medium/long grass to the board?
3) Any pre-made grass sets for arid settings? (I've seen a few premade "tuft" sets with sticky pads on the bottom for creating grassy boards, but they have all been for green grass)
4) Any recomendations on short (a few mm length) grasses?
5) Any tips on building up grassy areas to look natural?
6) How to seal the grass on the board so that it does not gradually wear off (can you spray mat sealer on it for example?)
7) General colour advice for the browns, greens (and brands of grass to represent these) and anything else that I can mix in which will make the grassland look better.
Watch this vid,
Has some good ideas half way through
Its hard to be awesome, when your playing with little plastic men. Welcome to Fantasy 40k
If you think your important, in the great scheme of things. Do the water test.
Put your hands in a bucket of warm water,
then pull them out fast. The size of the hole shows how important you are.
I think we should roll some dice, to see if we should roll some dice, To decide if all this dice rolling is good for the game.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2010/08/03 23:20:10
Check out my gallery here Also I've started taking photos to use as reference for weathering which can be found here. Please send me your photos so they can be found all in one place!!
2010/08/04 00:02:40
Subject: Re:Creating a grassland - some questions.
Its hard to be awesome, when your playing with little plastic men. Welcome to Fantasy 40k
If you think your important, in the great scheme of things. Do the water test.
Put your hands in a bucket of warm water,
then pull them out fast. The size of the hole shows how important you are.
I think we should roll some dice, to see if we should roll some dice, To decide if all this dice rolling is good for the game.
I agree, watch the Beats Of War video. Everything you need to know is there. Also are you going for a Citadel Battle Board? They are epic and break down for storage. I have to get one because of space limitations and a deal with my wife. Can't wait to see what you come up with!!
Hey guys - I've already got field grass from GF9, so that is taken care of.
Thanks for the link to the army painter tufts though loki. I'm going to send my wife out today to the big hobby shop the next town over to have a look for some grassy tufts now I know they are a bit more common than I thought.
I'll also try using a filler/sand/etc mix in small dabs to form the basis of long grass clumps. At the moment I glue them to a thin strip of card/paper, then use the paper's stability to stick it to the board/base.
@ madmarty - I don't have a board yet (I have one in storage which I was working on but it is nowhere near finished). I'm going to try and swap it for a RoB board at Christmas - mainly because of storage, but also because the board I was building was using really cheap foam which is a pain to work with and just is rubbish in general
I've just finished an arid ROB board for my shop.
I have used woodland scenics long grass and 'Blended Turf, Earth Blend' flock very sparingly as this has to stand up to the rigours of gaming every day.
A lttle goes along way imo and will create minimal problems when gaming.
Most of the colour comes from the paintwork which is a bestial brown type colour followed by an ochre drybrush.
Here's a few pics for inspiration. I'll try to answer any questions that you have.
A homemade board in 3 sections for storage for about 30$. No grass on it directly that is saved for the area terrain and hills etc using Woodland Scenics stuff.
As Caddock said, I recommend you not put any grass on the board itself. Maybe use some flock on the board, but if you do, make sure you spray it with some sealer or watered down PVA glue to keep it in place. Use your static grass to make a bunch of scatter terrain pieces. This will allow you to change the configuration and it should be more durable in the long run.
6,000 Come to the Nova Open, the best miniature wargaming convention in the East: http://www.novaopen.com/
Hey guys, thanks for the comments (especially Alex - your board looks great).
I will probably be adding grasses etc to areas without much traffic (near cliffs, etc).
A good tip on adding grasses to area terrain - I'd been contemplating doing something like that but was not sure how I was going to achieve it.
As for just painting the board - is it sufficiently textured that you can do it without using much sand/grit/etc? Or will it add a lot to use some sand and grit to give some depth and variation to the texture?
For what its worth I much prefer having a flat board with just some light texture (sand or sawdust) and then have all the features, hills, and whatnot be separate terrain bitz.
The advantage is that you can rearrange the board any way you like. Whereas with the RoB or presculpted boards, you are limited to certain layouts. That said, pre-sculpted boards do give a more realistic look, so if that is the goal, you should consider it.
If you go the plain board route, you'll want some grit for texture. I just made a cityfight board with sand as the grit and a grassland board with sawdust as the texture (it looks more organic than sand).
Here are some pics from the tests I did before painting my table:
This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2010/08/04 19:03:55
6,000 Come to the Nova Open, the best miniature wargaming convention in the East: http://www.novaopen.com/
2010/08/04 19:07:00
Subject: Re:Creating a grassland - some questions.
I've just remembered something that must have been stored at the back of my vast brain
I'd heard/read that some wargamers use 'Funfur' or 'Teddybear fur' for their long grasses.
It's, apparently, possible so cut swathes in varying lengths with hairclippers or scissors and add colour with an airbrush, dyes and inks.
I've never tried it myself but it sounds like it should/could work.
I might have a bit of an experiment at some point!
Oli: Can I be an orc?
Everyone: No.
Oli: But it fits through the doors, Look!
Alex Kolodotschko wrote:I've just remembered something that must have been stored at the back of my vast brain
I'd heard/read that some wargamers use 'Funfur' or 'Teddybear fur' for their long grasses.
It's, apparently, possible so cut swathes in varying lengths with hairclippers or scissors and add colour with an airbrush, dyes and inks.
I've never tried it myself but it sounds like it should/could work.
I might have a bit of an experiment at some point!
This sounds a bit sadistic to me. I don't know about this method!!!
and this 
6,000 