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Both boards looked fantastic at GenCon, Tonio! But you're keeping the Endless one, right? It is my favorite, and I didn't expect it to be there, so that was awesome

 RiTides wrote:
Both boards looked fantastic at GenCon, Tonio! But you're keeping the Endless one, right? It is my favorite, and I didn't expect it to be there, so that was awesome

Thanks. I'm happy to know they looked good. I'll need to wait for Warstore Weekend or Templecon to event see the BF one all together. lol

Yes, the EFT one is mine, and will come back up North next time I meet the OTL crew. I'll definitely do at least another one for me, and maybe more, and bring a new one at TC this year. If you're going again, I would be happy to get a game with you, or any other dakkanaut for that matter.

I will take pictures today

I tried to snap a few quick shots for ya Tonio.






Automatically Appended Next Post:
Sorry for the blurry shots, this was literally before we started packing up on Sunday.

Thanks for those Alf. I prefer a couple of blurry pic than no pics at all.

Both of those boards are fantastic. Those Brushfire models seem perfectly at home on that street. I makes it seem more real than a game about anthropomorphic rodents probably should

You got my pics off my twitter right Tonio?

 miskatonicalum wrote:
You got my pics off my twitter right Tonio?

Yep, I got them, thanks. However, the more the merrier.

I have a bit more free time right now, and have gone through some of the pictures I took while making the board. Here is a little wip on the making of the buildings. I don't have pictures off ALL steps, but it still is pretty complete.

Foamcore stone building 101
To make the walls, I first cut each sides to their respective format. Once that is done, I peeled the paper from of side of each piece. It will give something like the following pic.



For my design, I had big stones in the corners, then smaller stones in rows filling the rest of the wall. To mark them, I used an hobby knife, and cut into the foamcore a bit, just enough to mark it, but not enough to get through all the way. The previous picture has the first cut made for the big stones, while the next picture has the horizontal lines, and also some individual stones cut in the bottom. I also took time to cut holes for doors and windows.



Once that is done, I used a larger tool, like a pen of a sculpting tool, to enlarge all the cuts made in the foamcore. Next step was pressing some of the stones down, either level or at an angle, to give some age to the wall.



Before gluing the wall together, I added some cardboard pieces behind the holes made for the doors and windows, to have some backing onto which I could glue those extra bits, and also to block the holes for the step after the current one. I then assembles the walls. I used No More Nail glue, and also added some squared triangles on the inside to help with the gluing and aligning of the walls. On that picture, you can also see that I used some wood filler putty to hide the seams made by the glued walls.



As the building had to travel, and will probably see lots of play, I wanted to give them some more solidity. For that, I put them on an old cardboard piece, and little by little, I added some expanding isolation foam into the hole. I now know to not add too much too quickly, as the pressure when it build up will warp the building, and could even break them. Let the foam coat dry completely before adding more. (We learn by our mistakes...) The buildings also received a coat of primer (Gesso) and a base coat at that time.



Now began the painting proper. To break the monotony, I painted various stones in different shades of grey and blue.



That was followed by an heavy drybrush, a coat of wash (a bit to thick which, glazed everything darker than I planned), and another drybrush.



The painting of the walls done, I moved to making the doors and windows. Each window is made of small balsa sticks glued on a plasticard rectangle. It's not apparent, but the walls' holes and the windows were numbered on their back.



I then added details using plasticard, tiny plasticard rod and tiny brass rods. (I had a picture of those painted before gluing them to the building, but I seem to have deleted it by mistake...)



Next up was the making of the roof. For those I used some heavy cardboard (the one used in frame backing I think) to make the base roof. I used box tape to fix each side together, but that was a mistake, as glue don't adhere to it. I had to make cuts into the tape to give something for the glue to grip. Masking tape would have been a better material.



To make the tiles, I cut some thin cardboard slice, about an inch wide, then made small cuts all along it's length on one side, then glued it onto the roof, starting at the bottom, and overlapping them.



I then painted the roof with a mix of airbrushing and then drybrashing to help with the definition. They were painted seperate, so I didn't risk painting over the walls. I like the look of them, but if I had more time, I would have weathered them a lot more, as they have a "clean" look compared to the rest of the building. It was then time to glue them, again using No More Nail, and they were wrapped in rubberbands to help with the drying. During that time, I also glued the doors and windows.

Here is the final product. You can see the other two buildings done in a previous picture.



And that's it for this board. Now, I have to decide what to work on.I have my EFT pledge coming in soon (I hope), some conscripts to build and paint, a Conquistador I want to sculpt, a box of Capybara Marine on order, and a couple EFT board to start. I won't be slacking anytime soon.

I've been following this log for some time now, and just want to say that your work is inspiring! The boards truly turned out fantastic, and I would kill for that EFT board with the crystals! Its very reminiscent of a few levels in FF:Tactics.

Thanks a ton for the tutorial- I will be sure to give a few of those methods a shot!
Im really looking forward to what you have in the future

Great Tutorial! I'm going to get some from that foam next time I can find any.

I had quite a few people try to tell me your buildings were pre-fab at Gencon, Tonio! They didn't believe me when I said they were made from scratch.

 miskatonicalum wrote:
I had quite a few people try to tell me your buildings were pre-fab at Gencon, Tonio! They didn't believe me when I said they were made from scratch.

I guess that is a good thing, right?

The easiest way to prove they weren't pre-fabricated was to flip them over and show them the spray foam

 Alfndrate wrote:
The easiest way to prove they weren't pre-fabricated was to flip them over and show them the spray foam

Yea, I haven't seen that idea around. Pretty happy that we had that idea during a painting night with the group. It made a HUGE difference in sturdiness. I'll be applying that to my future terrain projects for sure.

 miskatonicalum wrote:
I had quite a few people try to tell me your buildings were pre-fab at Gencon, Tonio! They didn't believe me when I said they were made from scratch.

After seeing the pics I still don't belive that they weren't prefab...

Tonio you have way to much time on your hands. You need a hobby like resin casting, so maybe I'll stand a chance of getting my endless stuff before I'm too old to paint.

 Catyrpelius wrote:

 miskatonicalum wrote:
I had quite a few people try to tell me your buildings were pre-fab at Gencon, Tonio! They didn't believe me when I said they were made from scratch.

After seeing the pics I still don't belive that they weren't prefab...

Tonio you have way to much time on your hands. You need a hobby like resin casting, so maybe I'll stand a chance of getting my endless stuff before I'm too old to paint.

Well, way too much time is relative. Nothing else hobby wise was made in two months, and my wife started to wonder if I came to bed only before the alarm was going off in the morning. I even skipped our club's weekly painting nights during that time. But I'm happy with the results, and I gained some trick for future projects, which should go quicker. Experience well earned.

You really are excellent at that stuff Tonio! Hope we see more from you soon. Good man for doing a tutorial, it's always insightful to see how others work.

What's up with the building that looks like it was cut in half?

 WhiteRoo wrote:
What's up with the building that looks like it was cut in half?

It's going on the edge of the board. The back that is never shown is flat and black like the side of the board.

The WIP shots of the endless board are a great help it gives me some ideas of how to start my own board. Though it also means i gotta get more stuff to make it, hahahaha.

New project! This time, I'm making a demo board for EFT, again for OTLG. The one I already have (the crystal mine) is a bit big even for regular sized game, so I'm going for 16x16 instead of 20x20. That should work well for demo and small games.

The theme is inspired by an actual console game map, the Orbonne Monastery from Final Fantasy Tactics. Not to be to similar in colour to the BF board, the style will also be different: it will be inspired by Spanish churches and coasts, instead of the northern look the original map has. Dryer ground, white walls, red clay tile roof, etc.

Here are links to the reference pictures I got up to now.

Coast
- Coast picture 1
- Coast picture 2

Church
- Church picture 1
- Church picture 2
- Church picture 3
- Church picture 4

Symbol and colours of Numina (light goddess in the game setting)
- Symbol picture 1

I tried my hand at doing a 3d concept, but it was taking far longer than I wanted, and I lost the file when my computer crashed during a save. Screw that; I'm now back to pencil sketches right now.





First is the symbol of Numina and three modifications I made to it, as I want to have it free standing on the board, a bit like a statue or totem. I'm sure there is an English word for exactly that, but it escapes my 2nd language knowledge. Design C was chosen in the end.

Next I have a sketch of the church. It will be pretty small, 4 tiles by 4 tiles, not to use to much space on the small board. The top will have a "totem" similar to the one mentioned above, and the true symbol of the goddess will be found on the front side, over the main door.



Last are my sketches of the board itself. I'm not too happy with the angled one. I need to work on my drawing skills to make denivelation easier to see/understand. The "totem" will go on the arm of land that span a bit over the cliff going down to the water. Some scrubs will be used as movement blockers on the right side, and some weighted rocks (to stay in place, but still be able to be switched between games)on the left side.



The design overall is pretty simple, but so is the reference game map. The most difficult parts will be to do the slopes without making them too blocky, and the tiled roof of the church. I tried ordering some moulded plasticard, but the supplier I tried was out. Not sure yet how I will do that. Any suggestion?

Oh this is gonna be great! Loving the concept art thus far.

Im particularly excited to see how you tackle the cliffside monument (Relic/totem/statue... I cant think of any other words that would fit better, even with English being my first language!)

As to the tiled roof... I suppose you could probably build one from bits of plasticard tubing cut in half lengthwise? It'd be a hell of a lot more work than simply plasticarding it, but would get the desired effect.

Looking forward to this!

Oh and you may be searching for the word, 'monument'.

I love following your board projects, Tonio. If this second EFT board is anything like your first, it'll be amazing!!

Of course you have to go and pick one of the most boring, flat FFT maps All kidding aside, It should make a great demo board since it is such an iconic map.

I've stuck mostly to rocky terrain, partially because it looks good being cubed, and partially because my modelling skills are not the best. I'm curious to see how you are doing the slopes. I have a feeling you will come up with something, hopefully an idea I can steal.

 Galen wrote:
Of course you have to go and pick one of the most boring, flat FFT maps All kidding aside, It should make a great demo board since it is such an iconic map.

Hey, don't knock the terrain guy, the map wasn't my own idea. But yeah, as you said, it should be pretty good for demos, and even with the changes, should be easy for the video game players to identify, or at least catch their interest a bit.

I'm curious to see how you are doing the slopes. I have a feeling you will come up with something, hopefully an idea I can steal.

That's something I'm still toying with. As you said, the blocky look works for rocky areas, but not as much for a natural, smooth slope. I have a couple ideas, but nothing I'm too sure will look right. I'll try to make some test pieces for the group to give me feedback on.

Ramos Asura and Casey's Law, "monument" was in fact a word that came to mind, but the French equivalent kinda points toward something huge or with great historical significance. The wikipedia entry I just look into gives a similar description. This seems to be a bit too grandiose for that simple stone work. Doing some more research and back and forth translation, I think the best term would be "wayside calvary".


I finally found some pre formed plastic sheet for the tiled roof that fits the look I want, which I ordered today. I just hope they show up in time, or else I will have to do it myself. I did find a good tutorial about it, but the work it represents is a bit labour intensive for the time I have left.

Ah "shrine" coulda been another word for it (amazing how one doesn't think of these things till later!)

In any case, that term seems exactly what you were searching for. And I learned something new! Had never heard of a wayside calvary before.

I had to put this project on hold before the Holidays due to the workload at my day job, but that's all over and I'm back on the board now. The deadline is early February, to have it ready for Templecon, but I hope to have it done earlier, so that I can paint some EFT to be able to play at the con.

In the last posts I made, I mentioned ordering some preform plastic to make the roof tiles. It got here and it seems like a good match for the scale. Sheets are about 3x5", which is big enough to have a single one by side, instead of having to patch them up.




Something else I talked about was some tests on how to do the slopes. I wanted to test out some ways to have them more natural looking, instead of huge blocks. I tried straight angles, and some curved surfaces. The straight ones work well, the angle being low enough that models stand well on it and don't slide. I'll probably use some of those. However, the curved ones were not working at all, especially with the flat bottomed EFT bases. Models stood wobbly and were sliding. I could probably make it works, but I would need to have my elevation change a lot smaller, and I think it would break the look, leaving the whole board too flat. Maybe on a future project. Here a shot of some of the test pieces.




After that, it was time for a top down sketch at the right scale. The foam board is 18x16". It's a bit of a mess, as I went back over several parts more than once, but it does give you a idea of the final layout.




With that in hnad, and the original sketch, I did my grid layout map, using Excel. The final board will probably have a couple of small changes, but that's my reference for all the initial foam cutting per elevation.




That's all the pictures I have uploaded right now. Next batch will show the start of work on the board itself, like all the basic foam cutting and the rough shape, before texturing began.

Any comments or criticisms are welcome.

Thats great to hear that the flat slants worked so well. For some future proofing, maybe test both the flats and curves with texture/basing on them, see if that makes a difference? Possibly scruffing up the bottom of the bases with some sandpaper could help too.

If possible, I'd love to see a detailed walkthrough when you get to the water. I've never had luck with that aspect.

The Spanish Colonial tiling is also really cool. Where did you find it?