Nerdfest's gaming board in a day! well it's nearly finished at least, I wanted to see how cheap and quickly I could produce a gaming terrain board on top of my table I went to my local Bunnings and bought 2 packs of cork tiles, a bag of filler powder and 3 cans of spray paint, a rust red, black and a sand colour, and it cost me $46 dollars.
So the first thing I did was grab my cork boards and snap a few to make some nice cracks and crevices, then glue them down in a configuration I thought would allow a few decent set ups on top of them and then scraped some more shallow lines in a few for detail.
Next I mixed up the filler powder with a liberal dollop of $1 Acrylic paint and wood glue and added some cork shavings from where I scratched in the detail and I also added a few handfuls of dirt right from the garden
it made a nice light brownish grey cement texture which I just plonked over the board and used my hands to smear it all over the board, it doesn't have to be thick since it's for texture but I pushed it towards the straight edges to blend them in. amazing how different it looks with just some coloured filler and grit looks!
next I used the black spraypaint to darken some lines and edges and give it a low shading from different angles.
now next up I wanted to have the board look similar to my bases on my Minotaurs so i went for a red rust colour and liberally coated the board.
the last part at this stage is where it comes together by lightly going over the board again but with the sand colour spray, it lets the red show through but makes it more natural.
so that's what i've done so far and it has only taken me about 1.5 hours to get to this point, next i'll make a wash with the black acrylic and darken parts then drybrush some more light details
I love the color choice I actually picked up some fine sand from the dollar store this morning which is about the same color. I've started looking in the dollar shop floral sections (and tchotchkes like sand and sea shells) for basing materials.
Thanks guys, yep only 1.5 hours so far! I spent another 20 minutes today with just black acrylic and water adding some depth to some parts, only a drybrush of light sand again and some water effects in areas just for fun even if it makes no geological sense! :-) I added a small pipe for just that eventuality.
hopefully it'll work as a board for everything I want, 40K. cityfight, Necromunda
Thanks guys, yep a pretty fast turnaround so far! I got inspired by working on the Armies on Parade boards, I thought 'hell, I can make my own just as easily' and I did :-) it'll look great with yellowish buildings on it. I'll probably finish it with some very basic work over the next few days and then I'll start on the terrain buildings and some scatter terrain while i'm finishing up the two rhinos and the landraider I started the other day.
A little bit of work on the Mino's vehicles, I got the main colour done on the hulls
I'll do the reds next and then re look at the main colour if it needs to be darker or more silver on edges. I also think I like the Greek head on the gunner suits the army I think.
Awww thanks guys i'm pretty pleased with the board myself! and if I even want to change it up it just needs a new paint job! plenty of scope for fun times ahead. The Mino vehicles are a funny thing, they look pretty ordinary and a bit too beaten in places but I started on the reds today and after the first 3 successive highlights it looks completely different now just that one higher quality spot colour and it's pop-o-rama
I'll show you guys soon but I had to nip off to work today
also in the pipeline is 3 little Admech style characters for RiTides and we've been talking about some more Dropfleet models but more ground assault this time which will be great fun to paint, i'll let him chime in on whats coming when he gets here.....
Automatically Appended Next Post: And a random question, is it possible to have an eldar army with just bikes and tanks and banshees?
I'd think so. I mean you can always do an auxiliary detachment. Even with a patrol detachment you'd only need one troop (could be 5 dire avengers) & one HQ... then you'd get 3 of each slot. If you're going to have 3 tanks or 3 units of banshees... add an HQ to each and you've got legal formations that actually get you 1 CP each.
Reds on the vehicles are done! looking good now, just need to do all the other parts now lenses, wings and Mino symbols and door details then tracks and the gunners head and they'll be all ready to roll onto the board!
the red really does pop against the metal, i'll do some minor weathering on the panels and then think about what to paint next for them!
Only 3 days until I have my 5 weeks off work! which means I'll be off to the U.S.A soon to get married and have a great time running amok and enjoying myself
Thanks guys, looking forward to my vacation, we're going to Las Vegas and then to Hawaii for rest and relaxation! i've a week next week before we go away to just get organised so i'll finish the vehicles and paint RiTides 3 little dudes then just count down to my time away!
Finished the Rhino's and Landraider just threw on a spare painted head on the gunner for pics. they look pretty good and now the boys have some support on the new board!
Landraider in all its glory, the reds are the bit I like the best as they just look so cool!
and the rollin' boxes for the tacs to get to the action in!
Sorry there's not much more talking from me I've been pretty busy getting ready for our trip
I dunno, I'd argue that the lenses and the touches of dirt youve added are the best part
Seriously, Damo... That is some WICKED armor! Masterfully painted down to every detail.
The tiny splash of yellow on the Raider doors is a really sharp touch... very much like that choice.
Hey guys here's a group shot for Para I'm not amazing at large group photo's but it gives you an idea of what the army looks like at the moment still snipers and assault marines left to paint, any other choices you think would work well with this force?
Beautiful work NF, dunno if I've actually posted or just lurked this whole time. Minos are one of the coolest chapters amongst the Badab War crew of cool chapters, and you've taken them to truly stunning levels
And now the Nerd lair is closed for business! ........ for a couple of weeks anyway!
Tomorrow morning my beautiful fiance and I jump on a plane and scoot over to Vegas to get hitched, then have a relaxing time sunning ourselves in Hawaii
but to give you one last Nerd present before I go, I wanted to get RiTides 3 little Tech priests finished for him today which I managed to do and they are such wicked cool little dudes I really like the guy with his hand on his chin looking at the wheel wondering what he can re-purpose it for for the machine spirit!
So here they are for you and when i get back i'll be putting my Mino's in Armies on Parade with my mate's Nurgle and I should have some more models from RiTides to paint!
I'm back from America and starting by beginning a new blog to showcase my ramblings! so jump in and sub and lets go on a new adventure together! i'll be back more talkative when I'm not jet lagged like a boss
Automatically Appended Next Post: It was mainly because thanks to Photobucket I have way too many pages that have nothing on them anymore so it's better to start fresh and make sure everyone can see them!
I went to my local Bunnings and bought 2 packs of cork tiles, a bag of filler powder and 3 cans of spray paint, a rust red, black and a sand colour, and it cost me $46 dollars.
just that one higher quality spot colour and it's pop-o-rama 
I've been pretty busy getting ready for our trip 
