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I must admit I haven't more than skimmed through the campaign section of the rules.

Galen wrote:
I may have missed it somewhere but are you going with one half inch per elevation level in game terms? I was looking at different building materials and trying to decide on a thickness for each elevation increase. It has been tougher without the models in hand to use for scale.

As mentionned by Catyrpelius, thickness of elevation is irrelevant. That is why even using a battle mat with elevations drawn onto it works out. For my own boards, I do use half an inch. I find it is a good height to use with the size of the minis, without making the board too tall and so making it hard to transport. I also use chibi proxies a lot (SDE mostly), so half an inch works out about right with their size. The final models, from those I have seen at Templecon, are a bit taller, but it should work well too.

Galen wrote:
On the board size discussion: The table can seem to shrink really quickly when Commands like the Rhapsodist's Lullaby, or Dark Priest's Aetheric Void can restrict enemy action on large swaths of the board (7x7 square in both of the above cases.) I also want to see scenarios with multiple objectives, making players send models all over the board.

We played with those a bit, and event then, the 15x15 seemed fine. It wasn't intensive play-testing, mind you. Bigger isn't bad, it might just makes for an additionnal turn of movement/placement, which isn't that bad. I don't complain though, bigger board lets me make cooler terrain.


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 Catyrpelius wrote:
The hot knife I linked to comes with an ajustable depth gauge that you can angle. If I had to make the lines like you did I'd probably setup the knife using the gauge then use a straight edge. It might take some fiddleing to get the temperature right but I'm pretty impatient. I'll try and take some pictures tonight so I can show you what I'm talking about.

How much of a rock texture are you looking for with the walls. If you want them to look rocky like a cliff face or a rocky mountain side newspaper balls covered with plaster cloth then painted.

Looking at the knife in question again, I think I can see what you propose. I'm not sure how the cut will look like though; wouldn't it come out like a U instead of a Y? I like the later a bit better, but that really depends on your tests. We'll see.

Small break from the Endless board last night for our Club's painting night. I was able to put the finishing touches to my second mouse conscript. I only have the Capitan to do now, then I'll do a group shot.

I like your conscripts, they look really top notch

Question, and I'm sure you've explained this. How do you do the grit for the basing?

 Alfndrate wrote:
I like your conscripts, they look really top notch

Question, and I'm sure you've explained this. How do you do the grit for the basing?

Thanks, I'm really happy with how they turned out. Not sure I'm really looking forward to painting the 5 others I have on order, but hey, that's what you need to get a bigger army...

For the basing, it's simply sand. I bought a bag of construction sand some years ago, $5 for 20 pounds or something like that. It a bit on the coarser side, but look great on bases. For the Conscripts, as they have a mini bases under their feet, I smoothed that out with putty, ending in a little mound, like a pitcher mound if you like, then glued the sand on top. I always do a last "wash" of really watered glue after, to block the sand from coming off the base. It also gives a nicer surface, looking more ground like then pile of small rock like.

I've been debating about playing with some of the Vallejo pastes... They look like they might be able to do the job pretty easily too...



Basing is something I'm actively trying to work on

I tried the GW texture paint, which I didn't like, but I haven't tried the Vallego paste yet. Seems like it would do about the same job as Polyfilla, which is also good for basing.

The sand comes out nice and is easy to do, but I think both those would come out even better. I need to try it soon.

 Tonio wrote:
I tried the GW texture paint, which I didn't like, but I haven't tried the Vallego paste yet. Seems like it would do about the same job as Polyfilla, which is also good for basing.

The sand comes out nice and is easy to do, but I think both those would come out even better. I need to try it soon.

Yeah, I did the bases of my Skorne Battlebox with the Texture paint... it didn't come out too well either... My only concern about the Vallejo Paste is that it's like 13 USD... I'd rather try some out first before I commit to buying a jar of it.

Ouch. I didn't know the price. As I mentioned, you could take a look at Polyfilla, or whatever that might be called in the States. It is used to fill holes in walls, but it's not plaster. It's light, it has a great texture, apply easily, and it doesn't shrink or crack. I used it on terrain before, but haven't gotten to try it for bases yet.

 Tonio wrote:
Ouch. I didn't know the price. As I mentioned, you could take a look at Polyfilla, or whatever that might be called in the States. It is used to fill holes in walls, but it's not plaster. It's light, it has a great texture, apply easily, and it doesn't shrink or crack. I used it on terrain before, but haven't gotten to try it for bases yet.

Polyfilla is just spackle, which I have a large tub of I use it occasionally, but it doesn't contain the grit... It works great for snow and when I need to do frozen mud, like I did for my Khador

Polyfilla base, with watered down GW texture paint on top then. You have the ground-like effect, plus the grit.

I ordered a big tub of the vallejo Earth brown with the mud and sand pigments. The stuff is great. It's really, really fine grit so it works well with the scale, and it has a nice consistency that makes it easy to apply. The grit is very fine, much finer than the GW texture paints. With the pigments it makes a very realistic mud/dirt.

I'm quietly watching and enjoying your progress.

Just thought I'd tell you as I just realised I hadn't posted for a while.

A small update about the board. Tiling is done, and my texture tests are almost done too. I only need to make a painting test on them to see which texture look the best. I'll upload a pic of the texture test board up once it painted, to get your opinions.

Here is a not so nice picture of the board with all the tiles:


Next step will be starting to glue elevations together. I won't glue them to the base board yet, to make it easier to work on them, especially on the cliff at the back of the board.

Looks great!

Mini update: I painted my texture test board. Less of a difference than I thought came out after painting, but that might also be the foam taking part of its shape back in the last day too.



My favourite ones are squares A1, A5 and B5. The last two were done with the same technique (real rock, with hard edges, but not real gritty sections). Those are the one I find look the more like "worked" stones, as I imagine the floor of a mine would be.

Also, all elevations are now glued in sections. The board is easier to move now, with no piece flying off everywhere.

Next steps will be texturing all the tiles and making the river. It will be carved out, to be filled with resin/water effect. After that, I'll start the textures on the cliff, wall and side of elevations, as well as the crystal piles and columns. That will be a huge block of work.


No more advancements before next week, as we are going out of town for the Easter holidays. However, I did bring some paints and my Civitas Capitan, so I might still have something to post coming Monday.

Hmm most of the A line looks to worn for my tasted, but I do agree with B5 although B4 would be a close second.

If you haven't given it a try yet I highly recommend Liquitex Modeling Paste. I use a ton of it on bases and terrain, just make sure not to get the flexible version of it.

One note on those walls: some of the small based models will overhang their bases a bit, so they might be really awkward around those. A small space, say 1/4", between the edge of the board's squares and the walls would probably be a good idea.

Looking really great all around. I gotta try that rock on foam when I get some time, say, 4 years from now!

Speaking of models fitting on the board, has anyone thought about how they will keep large madels balanced on these stepped terrain boards?

 Galen wrote:
Speaking of models fitting on the board, has anyone thought about how they will keep large madels balanced on these stepped terrain boards?

Placing a die underneath... Dealt with a lot of wobbly model syndrome with 40k

The board is looking fantastic, thanks for all the WIPs!

 Wehrkind wrote:
One note on those walls: some of the small based models will overhang their bases a bit, so they might be really awkward around those. A small space, say 1/4", between the edge of the board's squares and the walls would probably be a good idea.

I put some thought into it, and for a time planned to do my squares 30mm instead of 1inch, but I finally went with the easy (lazy?) to calculate way. The back wall will be sloped away from the tiles a bit, but not enough to really prevent the problem. However, the same problem could happen anywhere with 2 levels of elevation of more, or with other models. We'll just need to be careful with placement when we have figs there.


Onto today's work. I did put some paint on my Civitas Capitan during the weekend, but nothing warranting a picture. My 3 years old son had a big weekend, so he went to bed early today. I put that free time to good use, finally being back at home. (Probably not what my wife would say... )

So, tonight I did:
- rock texturing of all the tiles and side elevations
- cut out the river bed
- textured the river bed with putty, and some small rocks for decoration
- sculpted the rocky river bed section at the end of the board, going under the cliff
- started "sculpting" the foam for the cliff.

Wip11 - River cut-out


Wip12 - Tiles textured


Wip13 - River textured


Wip14- Back cliff texturing began


Wip15 - Overall view at this stage


This last step will need more work, and putty to hide the foam gluing lines. I will also add some crystals in the cliff, while working in the putty. That's probably all I will have time to do next, but I might also start working on the back walls, and other crystal piles/sections.

That's all for today.

Yep, it's amazing!

Is the "texturing" just achieved by scraping the foam with a razor blade or the like?

For the tiles, it was done by rolling/pressing a rock onto the foam. Simple as that. I roll two or three times everywhere, then go back pressing it in by hand where I missed some spot, or I want more texture.

Very cool! The rock pressing technique is a great idea too.

I guess if you are almost done all your models for Brushfire I had better get mine done too so you can have an opponent. Good thing I am home sick and not useful for anything aside from assembling and cleaning models. If I am feeling up to it I will attend the painting club tomorrow night and work on my Valkyr some.

Let me know when you are ready to start painting that endless board, my Airbrush is at your disposal.

Never did I thought my Brushfire figs might be painted before yours. Still one to go thought, so I can't call it done. Too many termies on your painting table I tell you.


Some more work done on the Endless board in the last two days. I textured one of the back wall, and made the wooden tunnel entrance frame in it. I am not satisfied with the wall texture though. It's too "linear", and also too "clean". I might add some putty/spackle on it and press some texture in. Not sure yet what to do.

I also started work on the small platform that goes at the bottom of the board. The slope under it[ will be textured a bit more, with rocks and sand, maybe a crystal too.

I also did the smallest of the two bridges. Tat was easy. When the glue is dry, I will simply need to carve the two bottom beams to fit into the river, so that the bridge doesn't pop out that much.

Wip16 - Tunnel entrance and back wall


Wip17 - First platform and bridge

Nice progress. Is that balsa?

I gave you a mention in the Infinity: Terrain thread by the way. Feel free to drop by if you want to add anything.

 Casey's Law wrote:
Nice progress. Is that balsa?

Yep. I really like that material.

Yeh it's a great 'pre-scaled' material and you've used it well.