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I think the bit you threw on the board looks good, but I think Arakasi has it right, if you want it to look like 1917, notice how in the first picture the mud they're sitting in is lighter than earth they're leaning on. Patches of the Sable or the Sable/Tobacco mix would be my favourite to have that dark mud look (you're right though that you don't want it so dark that detail disappears)

I think I might have said it before, but I'll gladly say it again: Awesome work!

As for the trench board you couldn't find the source for:
https://beyondthetabletop.com/armies-of-parade-2016-krieg-trench-board

Yes! Philip from beyond the table top. Man that thing is awesome

Great point Gwyn and one I think a few others made as well.
Do you really think the coffee colors are ok? Everyone else has been steering me towards sable and earth mixes

But I get What you’re all saying is we should attempted to get a range of dirt and mud textures/colors onto the board. Which I agree with. I just want to try and have:

- First, One solid base tone to use for the majority and work Either lighter or darker depending on the area.
- then to see if these other colors can blend into each other well
- and of course colors that look like they represent soil
- and hopefully get this without having to paint over the products. Meaning the colors come from the mixed material. Dry brushing and washes being the exception


I’m probably overthinking all of this and a lot of it is probably just due to my colorblindness. I bet once kirkee gets to come back over he will be able to modulate all the colors right, I just don’t know how so am asking all of you.

Along some other lines: what areas do you all think should be darker vs lighter? I was thinking maybe the banks of the dried creak should be lighter and sandier? And the trench board should be darker and muddier, while the middle dead mans land should have tons in the middle
if I do go with a slightly darker muddier board overall, what kind of trees on ground cover would make sense?



Also, got my amazon dork package for the month in the mail. Airbrush to help start painting the board, liquid latex for protecting the trees I want to make and the d&d starter set because I obviously need another hobby



Oh! I also got milliput for the first time and love it. It’s going to help fill a ton of gaps I hope and make sand bags much faster

Morning everyone,

I spent last night adding sandbags to some of the deeper trench areas. Im pretty happy and think they add some character


Right now I just have them on The rightmost communication/reserve trench





And I also put them holding up the high mounds on both sides of the center communications/reserve trench







Any ideas on where I should add more? I don’t want to do too many as I’d like to get to some coloring tonight but I know the forward trench needs some. Maybe in front of one of the pill boxes and open gun nest? Maybe a few other scattered randomly across the front line?

The sandbags look great! They add a lot of character I think. In terms of the colouring for your earth, as others have said above, I think a mixture of colours would be good. In the comments section on Philip's display board post, he goes over how he did his mud, maybe give his method a crack? Also I wouldn't worry too much about the colour of your earth mixture if you're planning on drybrushing it all later. The drybrushing should tie it all together and any underlying variation in colour might actually save you on some washes!
The board is looking great though! I really like the combination of old Citadel ruins and the Forgeworld trenches along with your sandbags

Man, this thing is going to deserve it's own room at Warhammer World by the time it's done

Hey everyone,

I took your advice and mixed multiple colors for the ground cover. I think this came out pretty well. I did a base on everything with the earth/coffee grouts and soil, then added some smaller sections on top of just earth grout & soil (the lighter areas), then did some more sections, slightly larger, on top in just sable grout and soil (the darker areas). I think the variation helps. What do you think? How are the colors? Do you think maybe another light sprinkling of the earth/coffee to lighten it up and bring it all together?

Color key:






Looks a little lighter up close



On another positive note. I think I got the glue mix down now. I’m spreading glue down (not watered down), sprinkling the mix, applying 50/50 isopropyl alcohol/ water, & finally litter lay soaking it 3-4 times over with a 50/50 glue water mix out of a spray bottle. This stuff is hard as a rock now

I‘m impressed with the workmanship throughout. Thank you for documenting your progress here.

I think that's looking pretty good! The bottom picture looks to have a nice variety of colours. Glad to hear you've found a good glue method as well

Nothing more than WAHO!!!!

That was certainly the right call to mix them, much more realistic looking

Hey guys,

Finally got the new ground cover mix on the Trench Board. Took a bit because I wanted to get some base layers of paint down first







Pairing still needs some work but you’ll see I got a base and wash on the sandbags, a grey base, wash and highlighting on the cement pill boxes/trench tops and a dry brushing of gunmetal inside a lot of the trench areas







Hopefully I can finish up the base metal coat this week so I can finishing adding dirt/mud into the back cannon positions

Then I’ll probably need to wash everything and highlight the trench. Sandbags obviously need to be painted too

What do you all think? I like the darker soil. I think it will help the light snow fall pop

Good to see some paint on the board as well, overall it looks smashing. The bunkers look a bit too light, but that could be the photo

The earth is looking great!! Awesome to see some paint on other parts of the trenchwork as well. I'm not sure if its intentional but in the second last photo is that a bit of pooling water? If so I really like it, if not could be a nice addition to some of the deeper and older holes in the battlefield

Spent yesterday making a mess.





Translation carving the dry creek board deeper to make it semi-flowing creek. I still need to do a ton to this board but thought I would at least post an update. The concept now is to have the creek/river flowing but really shallow in most spots or have rock build up to make fords to indicate that it is crossable/playable.



We also got some the the corrected soil mix on the middle “dead zone” table but the colors are a bit off from the “trench board”. Will need to put another coat of the dark mix on to blend the two. * note the creek board doesn’t have the correct soil mix or colors on it yet either



And some shots of the three together since it’s been a bit

Far out dude its looking awesome!

It's looking really good now (the soil - the rest was always looking good!). You really only need to put the main emphasis in blending across the board joins - that is what stands out as "unnatural" - and then randomise to taste.

The soil seems to be getting closer. Will you be mixing up a batch to dot around all three boards once you’ve done the creek board?

Yes. I did a blend batch yesterday but I don’t think it turned out so great. I did the good dark mix all over all three but then a light mix sprinkled over them more sparingly. That would have been ok maybe but I thought there was too much lighter mix and decided to hit with the air compressor to get a little of the lighter mix off. Instead it blew the lighter all over all the middle board. I didn’t get a picture either so I’ll need to reassess when I get back from vacation but It’s not great.

At this point I’m about over trying to match the grout mixes and boards. I plan on blending with spray paint or airbrush from here. Maybe 1 or two more colors. Hopefully I can keep the variants I have and not use much paint but just enough to blend. The texture is fine

Here’s a picture of the boards how I left them and the reason my car is always filthy

Dude, that is one fething beautiful mess

The full trench board looks amazing. Very evocative, with plenty of interesting quirks littered throughout. The ground looks wonderful on each individual segment, but I'll echo what others have said that there is a bit of an artificiality at the joints. Maybe a final drybrush over those areas to tie them together?

This is a fantastic project.

As posted previously trying to get all the colors to match on the three board using the different soil and grout mixtures just wasn’t working.

To blend the tables back together we had to bust out the spray paint.

Here’s the before


And the after(with titan for scale)


It’s a little too monotone now but I plan to do another grout/soil pass without a lighter shade. I also kind of think the darker dirt will pop more with the snow.

Here’s the view from the other side


You might also notice we have a place keeper trees in and placed the WIP wind/water mill on the table



Still a ton to do but at least the major color disparity issue is behind us

Holy cow that is looking crazy good.

This board would be such a dream to play on. The tracks running across the trench and no mans land boards are a great touch.

That's looking awesome btoliver311! The spray really tied those board pieces together. And I think you're right regarding the dark soil working better with the snow. It'll help give that wet frozen ground look.
The board is looking really good, nice to see a casual titan placed for scale And that waterwheel is huge!!

Thanks guys,

I’m feeling more comfortable with the table too.

I also just started making the trees no idea what I’m doing but it’s kind of fun. Like making little drunk bonsai trees







What do you think?

Any one have experience with theses?

I’m not planing to flock them. I think they should be leafless and just have a sprinkle of snow. However I think the color could be off. Should we paint them? Maybe grey or brown?

Those trees look great! The colour does seem more like summer or autumn though. Also if they are on a blasted battlefield maybe fewer branches and no foliage? Like those classic pictures of the Somme. But as I said the trees themselves look top-notch, maybe just a bit out of place

@zahnib

Can you explain that process? I don’t think I fully understand how all the trees had their branches blown off. Was there just that much shelling that they were all hit at some point? We’re the fires as well? We’re there larger concussions?

I’ve read about it a little bit I guess just understand how everything was hit. Maybe just areas? And In that case I will definitely try to imitate in my dead zone but want some of the other areas to have a couple unmolested trees

I suspect he means like your inspiration shots for the mud - check out the trees in those same images.

 btoliver311 wrote:
And some shots from 1917 which are the color and feel we want

 btoliver311 wrote:
@zahnib
Can you explain that process? I don’t think I fully understand how all the trees had their branches blown off. Was there just that much shelling that they were all hit at some point? We’re the fires as well? We’re there larger concussions?
I’ve read about it a little bit I guess just understand how everything was hit. Maybe just areas? And In that case I will definitely try to imitate in my dead zone but want some of the other areas to have a couple unmolested trees

I'm not totally sure of the exact process but I would guess a combination of blast waves and shrapnel from constant shelling would just shred anything less sturdy than a trunk. I had a quick wee look and it turns out the particular picture I had in my mind was from the Battle of Passchendaele which I'll pop below. Good thinking with having a bit of variety though. That could be a good way to show areas of more intense fighting.




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Arakasi you got it mate