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Hey P&M Experts,

I'm about to launch my summer project. I have 8 Realms of Battle boards (just the hills, no flats), some with their original paint and a little flock, and others with heavy coats of paint from the previous owner. I want to strip and repaint them all to match each other and the bases I've been building for my army (see my P&M blog for those).

I'm looking to see if anyone has guidance, product recommendations, or cautionary tales around any of the following:

Stripping and cleaning: I'm planning to cover the boards with paper towels, spray them down with Simple Green, and soak them over several hours, re-wetting as needed. Then a rinse in a big storage tote and a hot soapy bath in the tub.

Restoring the 'pit of skulls' details: a couple of them got filled in with something made to look like ice... maybe a hobby water product or PVA glue? Not sure how easily it will come free. The tiles are too big for the freezer, but I'm hoping a bag of crushed ice might shrink it until I can pop it free. Or drill from below and push it out? Glue on a handle and peel it from above?

Texturing: My models currently ski down every slope, and as I said, I don't own any flat sections. I have both cork grit and fine ballast that I'd like to scatter on the slopes and pin down well with... what? ModPodge? Clear Coat? I might also try to add some flat sections to the steeper hills with sheet cork.

Priming: I need a cheap primer with good adherence, as these things will get a lot of traffic. I've used Rustoleum 2X... what's better? Should I prime before and after using PVA or ModPodge to tack down the bits of cork for texture?

Painting: My plan is to hand brush layers of cheap bulk acrylic paint, wash with acrylic pigment in matte medium with flow aid, then drybrush and highlight with Citadel paints.

Finishing: I want to add a scattering of autumn leaves and a few bits of scrap metal to match the bases in my army. I also want to pour some tinted water effects into the skull pits to make stagnant ponds with visible stone bottoms. I'll seal the whole thing for play with matte spray... what's a good one to use?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Stripping - I have had good success with 100% methanol or ethanol (methanol seems to work better most of the time).
A STIFF bristled brush is a must.

The ice feature stuff is likely going to come off with the paint,
but in stuff like eye sockets you will either need to use a pin/pick or flock and paint is over as if filled with dirt and worms and so on.
Either way, will be great...

Texturing I have no special experience with but I would try using tufts of grass and pieces of rubble here and there, maybe some broken fencing, tree stumps, broken barriers, and so on, to trap models and allow for positioning options rather that try to make the entire surface sticky so to speak. other people should have better ideas I bet.

Priming - prime black. Then from 90deg side angle highlight with grey. Dry brush the whole thing white.
Paint details in relatively thin coats. The layers from black to white will provide natural gradient to a single coat of color if the paint is not too thick. Paint everything blue, blue, everything red, red, and so on through the colors, then look at the finished product and sort out highlights, paint details, then add flock and maybe some washes but I am not a fan... I prefer to undercoat dark, either very dark brown or black, and build up. Wash into recesses for emphasis, but do so selectively rather than drowning a model in mess. Just my method. Faster, more reliable, looks better and neater in my opinion...

Solid advice... the black to gray to white priming strategy is a really interesting one and might lend itself to some of my wash technique ideas. At a minimum it will add a nice gradient and pop the details before I start laying down paint. Thanks!

If I can manage it I'll pull the panels out tonight for a photo.

 MacPhail wrote:
Hey P&M Experts,

I'm about to launch my summer project. I have 8 Realms of Battle boards (just the hills, no flats), some with their original paint and a little flock, and others with heavy coats of paint from the previous owner. I want to strip and repaint them all to match each other and the bases I've been building for my army (see my P&M blog for those).

I'm looking to see if anyone has guidance, product recommendations, or cautionary tales around any of the following:

Stripping and cleaning: I'm planning to cover the boards with paper towels, spray them down with Simple Green, and soak them over several hours, re-wetting as needed. Then a rinse in a big storage tote and a hot soapy bath in the tub.

Restoring the 'pit of skulls' details: a couple of them got filled in with something made to look like ice... maybe a hobby water product or PVA glue? Not sure how easily it will come free. The tiles are too big for the freezer, but I'm hoping a bag of crushed ice might shrink it until I can pop it free. Or drill from below and push it out? Glue on a handle and peel it from above?

Texturing: My models currently ski down every slope, and as I said, I don't own any flat sections. I have both cork grit and fine ballast that I'd like to scatter on the slopes and pin down well with... what? ModPodge? Clear Coat? I might also try to add some flat sections to the steeper hills with sheet cork.

Priming: I need a cheap primer with good adherence, as these things will get a lot of traffic. I've used Rustoleum 2X... what's better? Should I prime before and after using PVA or ModPodge to tack down the bits of cork for texture?

Painting: My plan is to hand brush layers of cheap bulk acrylic paint, wash with acrylic pigment in matte medium with flow aid, then drybrush and highlight with Citadel paints.

Finishing: I want to add a scattering of autumn leaves and a few bits of scrap metal to match the bases in my army. I also want to pour some tinted water effects into the skull pits to make stagnant ponds with visible stone bottoms. I'll seal the whole thing for play with matte spray... what's a good one to use?

Thanks in advance for your help!

MacPhail

Stripping and cleaning: your plan sounds like it will work, it is very difficult to strip large pieces like the Realm of Battle because they really do not fit into containers you can fill with Simple Green. If you could find a large enough tray and had quite a few bottle of Simple Green you could soak them upside down one at a time. A scrub brush is a real must and you should wear gloves and some safety glasses to protect your hands and eyes (of and wear old painting clothing so you don't ruin your good jeans).

Restoring the 'pit of skulls' details: if it is white glue it will come off with water as soon as you remove whatever sealant layer they added (which the Simple Green and a scrub brush will break up).

Texturing: I used white glue and fine sand for the bases of my hills and at various points. After spray painting and sealing they seemed to work fairly well. For very smooth areas you can also use some sand paper and large file to rough up some areas, just do not go crazy with that you will cut through the hard plastic.

Priming: I went to a Canadian Tire and got their primers and spray paints which were cheaper than any GW or hobby store product. There are some strong sprays out there, especially car primers, but they can be gloss and will make you hills very slippery again, so look for matt.

Painting: My plan is to hand brush layers of cheap bulk acrylic paint, wash with acrylic pigment in matte medium with flow aid, then drybrush and highlight with Citadel paints. I just used spray cans of various colours working from darkest to lightest and got mine done fairly quickly and they blend together whatever direction I connect the boards.

Finishing: I want to add a scattering of autumn leaves and a few bits of scrap metal to match the bases in my army. I also want to pour some tinted water effects into the skull pits to make stagnant ponds with visible stone bottoms. I'll seal the whole thing for play with matte spray... what's a good one to use? I used several strong sealants and used gloss first (as it is stronger) and let them completely dry over night. Then did Matt over top of that to make sure my tables do not glow. Be careful with you leaves and scrap metal, I would only use them in recessed areas or they will break off with usage or storing the tables.

Hope that helps,

CB

Thanks, Captain. The line by line response is very much appreciated... great advice. I had been considering doing 4+4, but your points about painting make me think I should go all at once.

I pulled out the tiles and realized a few things. I had imagined the filled-in skull pits. I mistook a repainted bit of exposed rock for a slab of PVA. I only have one of those pieces out of the 8.

I also realized I have a odd mix of tiles that puts some limits on what I can build... I'm missing one piece and have an extra of another. One minor limitation connected to where I got these from in a trade for some custom foam terrain.

So are you going for the full 4x8 or 4x6? If you put the mismatched sections with the hills facing out in the corners, you won't have any issues either way. That seems to be the best solution to that. You could even put the two matching hill sections on the side facing the middle, while the mismatched hill pieces go in the corners. Could create a fairly interesting hill range if you go that route.