Category: Scenery
Here are some more castles or rather famous palaces, Roman Pompei and yet more medieval bastions….Cassini and Naples today.
Here is one castle that fell under eye of the giro pro cycling helicopter. A classic hilltop location. It still has some nice details especially the main gateway area.
Late Spring sees the first of three top pro cycling events – the Giro d’Italia which are helicopter televised from start to finish.
This means you get about 4000 km of Italian countryside.
And with Italy that means castles.
Well David Stones’ challenge finally got this piece of scenery done. Credit really goes to john@justneedsvarnish who alerted me to this challenge plus Frank tank rants who suggested that posting about fabulous pro-cycling scenery ought to translate into building some stuff!
Either way I finally completed this 2021 model. Better late than never as the saying goes.
Final touches were a ochre (rowney acrylic tube) whitened (MP Paints) dry brush to suggest some sun bleaching plus a bit of black (MP Paints) in the mix to dry brush the base area suggesting dirt.
Then some gamers grass (2mm summer green tufts) and an ancient pot of games workshop grit to finish the base.
Of course the unbelievably extravagant archway and door are round the back!
Thanks to John, Frank and Dave, I now have a new piece of terrain to use and enjoy.
For those who made it this far…………….
You can guess whats next on the Painting Table.
Finally, the question is, whether this will now lead to some more scenery making on my part?
A combination of Frank tank rats and john just add varnish have propelled me finally to do some scenery.
This subject was started back in April 2021 – I was motivated by john just add varnish and his excellent scratch builds.
And just for the hell of it I registered this week to join scenery season challenge……
It’s still a work in progress…….
One scene – two battles – thats efficiency for you.
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A constant theme of my interest in art is the variety of techniques on show.
My Weekend Open Studios visits prompted me to dig out some wooden offcuts I had minded to fashion into buildings.
The idea for “woodtown” was to provide my grid gaming with appropriately sized buildings. And they would be in keeping with the abstract nature of grid boards. In terms of the art they are definitely inclined towards Paul Nash. Ferens Art Gallery can be found in Kingston Upon Hull and an interesting painting by Paul Nash can be seen there.
They make their first contribution in my recent Neil Thomas 1864 Minigame. Ironic that the game did not use grids…………
So unexpectedly I had a scenery moment (or maybe a senior moment?). I had just invested in some stone walls even though I had intended to make my own.
And then I considered that I simply had no hedges. None – as an Ancients/Medieval come Early Modern gamer you only need them to hide ECW dragoons at Naseby I think……
Well as much as I like Last Valley and other off the shelf hedgerows I suddenly remembered a recent acquistion – Operation Warboard. In it Gavin and Bernard Lyall give you a lot of info on fighting WW2 battles and also putting together the game as a whole. No time to waste on scenery though – just a stick with some chopped washing up sponge does for trees.
So I thought as part of my Operation Highstreet I might try some homemade hedges. What did I have to lose.
I then did nothing. And then on a quick whizz through a corner shop I spotted a pack of 10 sponges for 100p or 10p each. Job done.
As it happens I have also been collecting tea – yes tea in tea bags. Now this particular minimalist technique I have not used since as a kid I used dried tea to save money for buying figures. I still have some D&D and Vikings figures with dried tea coated bases – imaginatively coloured brown tea colour – talk about tight fisted on spending!
Well this time I was pushing the boat out – no brown winter hedgerow here. It would be spring green this time.
Each sponge yielded two modular hedges – I reasoned this flexibility would help give variety.
I gave each a double dose of PVA glue – the first to fill up airgaps and the second to take the dried tea which I just rolled the sponges in, pressing carefully.
The dry brush of three coats going from blue green to a more yellow green worked for me. At every stage I let things dry out completely so not much time in each stage but the stages were spread out over a week.
And that is it. Very very quick if a bit brutal but in the spirit of Operation Warboard.
Now they just need to find a table top battle………………
The Field of Battle
The actual battlefield terrain was an accident. I wanted a river crossing at a road junction scenario. Zarland aim to control the junction, just inside their border, to prevent the VinAlbans and Davarian forces uniting.
A flat landscape was planned and then I remembered my collapsible tables had height adjustable legs. Coupled with my desire to experiment with cloth battlefields, one thing led to another.
I had seen a number of blog battle reports showing rolling countryside. I played around with some wooden blocks and old towelling. Finally I tried using a spare quilt!
Yes thats a rolled up wargames felt mat pressed into service as well. The wood pieces are discarded TV unit shelves (you never know when you might need trapezoidal wood shelving!).
The result was as you see it and I immediately set about planning the action.
The Wargaming Erratic 