From Barks: Swamp tutorial (DIY)(35 points)

I made some generic swamps for any scale or period. In this tutorial I'll show you how I went about it. This is one of those fun projects where each step looks good and just gets better as it goes along, unlike some projects which seem to get worse before they get better.

I started with some pre-cut MDF forest sabot bases from Knights of Dice (sadly, a company on hiatus). I used my trusty Dremel to hack out the insides and bevel the edges.

Pre-cut MDF forest sabot bases, unglued.

I glued the two halves together with some random offcuts and added Miliput to disguise any regularities in the curves.

After cutting and bevelling, glued together and made more irregular

I used PVA to stick on builder's sand. I then gave a light mist of PVA and IPA to further cement it down. (I could have gone heavier with the spray).

Waiting for the sand/ PVA to dry

I painted them craft paint brown, then drybrushed browns and creams. I could have skipped either of the drybrush stages. I then painted the water dark green- Contrast Dark Angel in this instance. Any dark green or brown would be fine.

Steps of colour

I then used a selection of flocks, static grass and tufts I've been accumulating over the years. I used brighter greens around the water edges, and drier colours to blend with my game boards.

Vegetation added

The final step is Deluxe Materials Aqua Magic. This is like acrylic gloss varnish, a single pour product without any mixing or heating required. I generously poured this in and let it soak up the sides into the flock. I used up the last of my bottle. I put them on a level surface and protected them from dust. Done!

Water poured and left to dry

The finished result! With hobbits for scale. I resisted the urge to add skullz, corpses, rusty bits etc to keep them generic for scale and period.

Sensibly, I did a test swamp a few months ago. I tried some fancy blending in the water to give a depth illusion, but it just didn't work and is unnecessary. More troubling was the cracking of the water. I've slightly salvaged it with a second coat of water effect, but I think more will be required and I expect to have to do it to my new swamps as well. I do need a new bottle of that stuff, anyway. I know I should probably do multiple thin coats, but I'm impatient and in a hurry.

Cracking of the water. Bug or feature?

If you've got any comments on experiences with water effect products I'd like to hear!

Note the different colour water of the prototype swamp

Oh, and also I'd like suggestions on storing them so the tufts don't get squished. I'm thinking of putting each in a greaseproof paper bag. Some sort of plate rack or CD holder?

Swampy bits ?8 points

DIY 20 points

From Millsy: These are absolutely smashing Barks and I have to thank you for taking the time to document your process so thoroughly. The finished product has a very professional feel to it and you've absolutely nailed the colours, density of vegetation and visible amount of water. Everything about them seems hazardous just as it should be.

Only a miser would let you get away with 8 measly points, they are worth double that! 35 points all up.

PS. Maybe some sort of custom card shelving to store them? Just enough space to slide each one in without crushing the tufts but cheap enough not to break the bank.

From Barks: The bitter end (27 points)

Here's the last odds and sods as I gaze at my distant points target. First, some movement trays from Knights of Dice. These hold either three or five 25mm round bases. The mdf remains are interesting negative spaces, maybe I should save these for swamp terrain?

Next, a wasteland robot. It's the non-seasonal version of the Xmas-o-tron I submitted way way back at the start of AHPC XIII. It's a free stl from Imitation of Life.

Some battlefield stakes, with Middle-earthlings for scale. 3D prints from Asgard Rising. I struggled with warping, even after softening with heat, over-bending and dumping in ice-cold water.

Next, a lone squig.

Penultimately, a sausage dog from Eureka. I have a weird relationship with dachshunds: they're annoyingly yappy but such a humorous shape! The Skirt Swisher & I get points for how many sausages we spot on a given day.* So, I couldn't pass up the opportunity for this little chap. I'd like it to become a pet for a Rogue Trader or Inquisitor, snapping angrily at the heels of eldritch horrors etc. If it's a boy, Fritz. A girl, Heidi.

Finally, I was unable to avoid the Call of the Turnip. I failed to get a proper unit up of Lord Barkington's Brownjackets, the tuber-worshipping tirailleurs. Instead, here are their mascots, the vicious spudlings. Again, 3D prints from IoL.

• Bases: 5"x3"x3" thus 4 points
• Stakes: 10x 4"x1"x1" thus 4 points
• Robot: 1x28mm figures: 5 points
• Sausage/ potatoes/ squig: I'm counting them as 15mm so 7x2 points: 14 points
• Turnip28 Side Duel: 10 points

Thanks, everyone! See you at the wrap-up.

*Current record: 5. It was a pentasausage day.

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Haha! A scattershot wrap-up, Barks! All of these are excellent (though the bases are a bit of a stretch), but I especially like the wasteland robot and the vicious spudlings (checking out that designer after sign-off...).

It's always a pleasure, Barks. Thank you for overseeing the Skull Duel and I hope we can count on your noggin for the next edition of the Challenge. Cheers mate!

- Curt 

From Barks: Gaslands terrain (60 points)

I'm having my first game of Gaslands on Saturday, which was an excuse to get some MDF gates from Knights of Dice and paint some other terrain that has been hanging about for ages.

I got four of these cool gates. I could have blinged them up with extra chains, barbed wire, corrugated iron roofing etc., but I need them table ready! I was sold on them by the details of the logos, traffic lights, speakers, and cameras. I enjoyed painting the lights as if the green was 'on'. I could probably add more dirt and dust to the base- is this my chance to try weathering pigments?

Knights of Dice also make these crash barricades, which the Skirt Swisher made for me.

These cacti are from Pegasus and are on 40mm bases.

I'm quite taken with these chain fences from 4Ground. I replaced the printed transparent plastic chain sheet they come with, with some nylon floral lace. The bases are long and thin and prone to warping, but the final effect is really nice. I've got another 3m of this stuff to make... at some point.

Finally, some craters from GW.

The group shot, with a 1:64 car for scale. Beep beep!

I think this is 3x Standard Terrain Cubes, for 60 points.

Late addendum- I raced in Gaslands for the first time today, on this new terrain; it was great fun and will inspire me to build a few cars of my own! Recommended.

JamieM - You've already played a game with them?  I'm impressed!  I do believe there is merit in considering extra points for painted stuff actually being used as that's the point of painting all of this after all and I know I haven't used everything I've ever painted....  Anyway, enough of that and what a smashing set of terrain!  It really decides if a game sticks or fails in my experience as lovely figures on a green sheet only gets you so far.  Those gates are brilliant, well worth the effort and good shout on changing up the fences, anything to make things look better and help with longevity is a good thing in my eyes.

3 standard cubes it is, 60 points for you with which to upgrade your dinky little cars.....