Welcome to Chinatown - MDF Terrain

Welcome to Chinatown - MDF Terrain

Terrain Building – Last Christmas I received several buildings from Knights of Dice in their Sentry City Chinatown Range. For some reason I had shelved these with some other "rainy-day" projects. I pulled these out while I was looking for another box and decided to make some time to get a simple paint job on them and assemble the buildings so I can use them for some games.

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Shadow War: Building Landing Pad

Warhammer 40,000 - Terrain is vital to create a immersive game. Miniatures can only take you so far. I've always been a terrain guy, no matter the system I build at least one new terrain set anytime I start anew game. It's been forever since my group played Necromunda so any terrain I had has long since been trashed or donated. While I really like the new terrain kits Games Workshophas put out I wanted to do something different. I still had a bunch of Mantic terrain from the first Deadzone Kickstarter that I never did anything with so I took that, some cans I've been saving, pink foam and some parts from the industrial terrain to build a new battlefield.

This terrain set is going to go on an Alpine FAT Mat that I picked up before FLG and Tablewar went their separate ways. It's a nice thick mouse pad style mat with a beautiful snow/rock print. When I resurface the top of my gaming table I think I'm going to invest in a few of these to replace the textured boards I usually use. Dice roll better on them, they're easier to store and the flat surface makes it easier to place terrain in various positions without getting caught up on some random rock of sand bit.

Once I finish painting all the pieces for this terrain set I'll add some snow effect to the edges of each base to help them blend in to the mat and tie the whole theme together.

The first piece I built for this set is the landing pad. It's primarily made out of Mantic Battlefields panels with a MDF hexagon for the landing pad. I detailed it out with some Games Workshop bits from my bits box and other random resin pieces I've made copies of over the years. (I've found that if I find a cool bit its best to make a silicone mold of it because I'll inevitably forget where it came from or be unable to track down more in the future.)

After laying out the panels in a rough idea of what I wanted to do I used a jigsaw to cut a piece of MDF that I textured previously with drywall tape and cardstock. I then glued pink foam to the base and used a razor knife to carve out the shapes I wanted. From there it's just a matter of gluing the parts in place and painting.

I base coat everything with a Behr paint and primer that I had the guys at Home depot match to the hobby paint I use. The wash is a Minwax water based stain that I thin down 2 parts water to 1 part stain. A base coat, dry brush and wash gets this piece to a playable state quickly and I'll detail it out after I've tested it in game to be sure nothing needs to change.

 

 

 

On the painting table ... down with the sickness

On the painting table ... down with the sickness

Deadzone – Felling a bit under the weather lately, between the terrible winter weather and the unending rounds of sniffles and colds I was able to squeeze in some painting. To match my current mood I decided to start off my Deadzone series with the Plague. I'm not totally in love with these models but they did seem to be the simplest of the four factions I have to get painted quickly. The studio scheme is a little to pink for my taste so I opted for a sightly more gruesome appearance.

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Deadzone ... Model Building

Deadzone – After such a stretch of 40K I need a break on the hobby end of things so I decided to start putting together the contents of my Deadzone Strikeforce bundle. All the little plastic baggies in this remind me of the original Super Dungeon box set. The models go together the same way round peg round hole, weird t-shaped peg weird t-shaped hole; so putting them together is pretty easy if you only open one bag at a time (a lesson I learned from the Super Dungeon Box).

Clean-up on the other hand is a pain. The mold lines and sprue pegs on theses models are pretty nasty, even those most of them come "de-sprued" you're still going to need your side cutters and x-acto blade. I started meticulously cleaning these models and got frustrated enough that I just glued some together. It's probably going to be harder to clean them up post-assembly but at least I was able to see some progress.

Other than the weird placement of some of the mold lines (really the middle of a dude's face is the best spot for this?) the models are pretty nice. The details look a little soft in some of the models but I have a feeling once paint is applied they'll look really nice. I haven't decided if I'm going to go all out with these or treat them more like a board game. The rules and size of the play area seem to lean more in the board game direction so I might just get them to tabletop quality and be done with it.

When it was all said and done I was only missing one arm and had a few broken arms/blades. Which isn't too bad when you consider that the models were just packed in plastic bags thrown loose into a giant box and shipped from China or wherever they were cast and packed. 

Deadzone Arrives

Kickstarter – Holy Crap! A Kickstarter delivered early this must be a Christmas Miracle. I arrived home to find this massive brown box on my porch last week. I didn't get a chance to dig into it until now but after opening it up look what I found.

Deadzone Box Set – The box is huge. I'm impressed with what they were able to fit into this box. I'm not sure that this will be the same as the general release but the one box held EVERYTHING for the (4) factions included in the Strike Force Pledge. It sounds like there is still some additional stuff that will ship later with part two.

Anyone who put together the original Super Dungeon Explore minis with be familiar with the massive amount of baggies with models and parts sealed together. At first glance it appears these models have unique pegs that will only fit certain holes. Nifty for the board gamer kind, kind of a pain for the modeler.

These are not polystyrene plastic models so you'll need to use super glue to put them together, plastic glue won't work. (One of my biggest pet peeves ... if you call them plastic models plastic cement should work ... they really need to call them something other than plastic).

The rulebook is nice and in full color. It's a little thin but at first glance it seems to cover the fairly simple ruleset and gives a good introduction to the universe.

Faction Starters – Tons of baggies. 4 Decks of Cards.

Terrain Sprues and Game Mat– Lots of good stuff here. It's a little light if you want to build full scale buildings but to create the paintball style layout pictured on the box it works. For the 2'x2' playmat you have in the box you should be able to do some interesting stuff. I'm looking forward to playing with the connectors to see it I can paint it and still keep the lego-like quality of the system. (Based on past experience with the Pegasus Platformer kits I doubt this will be possible)

The overall quality of Mantic stuff is pretty consistent, for the most part you know what you're getting yourself into if you've ever bought anything else from them. Not quite GW quality but then again not quite GW cost either. You're either a fan of this stuff or not there's not much room for fence sitting.

Personally, I hate Mantics base system and really wish they'd use something other than a disk of plastic on the models base. If you want to use any fancy resin bases the size will be off by a little and you'll have to figure out how to remove the models from that chunky base.

I'm looking forward to digging into this game in the future and putting up a full review of the rules and some battle reports once I have some time to spend with it. (At the moment I have my hands full with commision work and don't have time to get deep into this)

It all looks positive and the rules seem simple enough that in a few years my son will be able to play the game with me. Or some simple version of it.

Go Big or .... Near Future 4'x6' Board Progress

Terrain Making – After making the initial 3'x3' city block board with 3"x3" squares I decided that I needed to go all out and do a 4'x6' table. Between the two smaller near future boards I've been working on I have enough buildings to populate a larger area. I've always wanted to do a full city so I decided now is the time to do it. Having been successful with the smaller board I have a good grasp of what works and what doesn't. I made a quick trip to Home Depot to pick up a 1" thick sheet of insulation foam to act as the topper for my 4'x6' table. A quick stop at Michael's for some clean sheets of foam core and I was ready to go.

After trimming the insulation foam to fit within my tabletop I then measured out a 3"x3" grid over the entire surface. Once the grid was in place I moved the buildings I have around on the board until I was happy with the layout. My goal was to have some straight road sections without have a clear shot straight across the board. From prior experience, city blocks set up on a standard grid make for boring battlefields as their are to many "kill zones" that allow over watchers or snipers to control to much of the board. With the layout I settled on there are enough blind spots to offer cover from the various sniper nests.

The tedious part of the job took me two nights of cutting 3"x3" squares of foam core. While I probably could have just painted the grid on to these I find having the physical separation of the individual blocks to be more visually pleasing. Once I cut them all to size I set off with a large bottle of tacky glue and began gluing down the foam core to the insulation foam base. This process took another night of tedious work but the final result fit exactly what I had in mind.

I then cut out storm drains from granny grate and glued them in place at various points along the street sections. Little details like this help to bring the whole city to life. I opted to not include sewer drain covers at this time. I may change my mind before painting begins but right now I don't think I want to add them.

Once everything had dried overnight I took the sheet out to the garage and began applying the sand texture. For this I use a gallon of wood glue. I've found that wood glue adheres to the foam pretty good and dries solid enough to withstand the rigors of gaming. Working in sections I paint the glue down with a wide brush and then liberally coat the glue with sand. More is better at this point, you want to have the sand piled on thick enough so it will sink into the sand and give you the texture you want.

After this dries for a few days (you have to be sure the glue has set otherwise you'll get weird marks in the final texture) I use a shop vac to remove the excess sand. If you're smart and clean the shop vac prior to vacuuming the sand you'll be able to salvage the excess for the next project. 

After everything dried I painted the whole board with Behr Premium Paint + Primer. I find this covers well, is durable and comes in colors that match my other paints. After the base coat I went in with my airbrush and painted everything else. Starting with black I slowly worked up highlights to get a decent transition for the concrete slabs. Overall I'm happy with the results thus far.

Let's Go Shopping ... More Near Future Terrain

Let's Go Shopping ... More Near Future Terrain

Terrain Making – With the exterior of the two larger structures in a playable state I've moved on to building some smaller buildings to fill in the board. On a 3'x3' including all the structures might make for a cluttered board however in small scale skirmish games cover is key to a good game. Without it you'll fall victim to the sniper on a roof more often than not.

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Deluxe Apartment in the Sky ... Near Future Progress

Terrain – I'm trying to spread my time on this project so I can keep the various structures in the same state of completion. With previous projects I've been gung ho and plowed through until completion, which resulted in some less the optimal terrain pieces for actual game play. (Notably the Qi & Gong and Ressurectionist Lab, both have some spots that are hard to navigate during the game notably because of fat finger syndrome)

For this board I'm trying to get each piece to a semi finished state to play some test games before I move into painting. Because something that looks cool and fits the models doesn't necessarily mean it will be a fun piece of terrain to play games on. 

My major concerns with the apartment building lie with models moving around inside. While it was easy enough to build the floors to be stackable and removable, I'm not sure how much scatter terrain is needed inside the building. Sure it will look cool to have it fully furnished, but will it hinder gameplay?

One of the issues I have with all the laser cut MDF buildings that have popped up in the market as of late is the last of interior details. If this is an apartment complex, how do you get to the second floor? Catwalks on the exterior of the building are pretty inefficient and unlikely, unless the buildings are scavenged together from junk. Sure it makes for decent cover and what not, but then so does just building a bunch of random shapes like a paintball field. Not exactly realistic (in a game with alien soldiers wielding chainsaws and laser guns realism is key ... right?) which for some reason bugs the hell out of me.

To attempt to solve this I build a stairwell within the apartment building. It took a bit of trial and error but eventually I found a location that would be easy to move standard human size models up and down as well as be able to replicate the firefights that happen in said stairwells all the time in movies.

We Be Clubbin' ... Near Future Board Progress

Terrain – I spent some time working on the club terrain piece for my near future board. After constructing the walls I realized this was going to be a rather bland structure since it has no windows and only one entry point. The interior is fairly interesting with several height variations leading to the private rooms and stage as well as the main entry check point/bar.

To add some additional interest to the building exterior I've cut some strips of lightweight cardstock into "futuristic shapes" (yes that means variations on hexagons...) While I was cutting strips Empire Strikes Back was on Spike so I gleaned a little inspiration from the set pieces in the film. Most of the futuristic feel of the set comes from the various panel shapes in the background. I also have been paying more attention to newer commercial buildings and noticed most of them use something called efface for the exterior. Essentially what that means is the exterior walls are covered with a foam product skinned with concrete, this allows for interesting shapes at a low cost.

Taking these two points of reference I've added quite a bit of exterior detail that will bring out interest areas without resorting to the typical rivets everywhere look of some futuristic terrain.

I also created the removable roof. Initially it fit a little to snug, after trimming the paper backing off the foamcore on the interior side it is now easier to remove and shouldn't cause to many problems lifting off during gameplay to place models inside.

For the large sign on the exterior I opt to go with a silhouette and a large billboard. I'm still contemplating how I want to do the name of the club. Most likely I'm going to cut out the letters and paint them like neon but I'm still on the fence. For the actual name I'm leaning towards "The Slippery Kitty Lounge" this seems to be a solid name that will fit in numerous settings. 

The roof needed quite a bit of detailing. Because the structure takes up a significant portion of the 3'x3' board, I have a feeling the rooftop is going to be a popular perch. Because of this I added some HVAC units and other structures to the roof to provide some cover. Ideally I don't want the roof to be just a sniper's nest but an area that could be contested by several models without becoming a no mans land if there is a model at a higher vantage point. The HVAC units were made from some Platformer parts I had laying around as well as some other bitz.

I still have some other details that need to be figured out before I can move onto painting this building but at this point I think it's ready for a test game to be sure it works as intended.

In the year 2000 ... Building a Near Future Board

Terrain – I've begun the groundwork for my near future board. After doing a few sketches and looking at the large amount of laser cut terrain available in the market today I decided to pull some inspiration from these designs. While I really like the look of the laser cut mdf I can't justify the cost when I can build eactly what i want myself. Sure it might be easier to just buy and glue together a kit (probably will go that route in the future...) but I'd like to build everything from scratch for this board.

After laying out some paper shapes on my Zuzzy mat I got a rough idea of what type of layout I wanted to create. My thought is to create a slum/industrial area and I drove around Detroit for some inspiration. In many seedier neighborhoods you have truck depots/shipping yards that but up against residential areas and also feature some of the less desirable businesses. For my purposes this is going to be the ideal battleground. The structures I have planned are a three-story apartment building, liquor store, gentleman's club and a fenced in shipping yard; combined with the variety of 1:43 scale cars I've found I'll be able to detail out the neighborhood easily.

The first step was determining a size for my buildings as there are several different systems I plan on using this board for it was important to make sure the scale made sense for everything. In MERCS the movement cards are about 3.5" long, so I used that as my basis for the height of a standard wall, this way it's easy to determine how many MP it takes for a model to ascend a level. Most other systems have 4"-6" as a standard move so this size will work with them as well.

I happen to have a bunch of 1/2" gator board that I saved from a dumpster (technically) which I decided to used as the basis for my walls. The nice thing about gator board is it has a styrene skin which holds up better than paper. This board is very dense and provides a sturdy foundation for the walls, especially when cut down to small sections like these buildings. It is however difficult to cut as the plastic skin is so durable it will take a few passes with the blade before you get to the foam.

After messing around with a few designs I came up with a look I like for the apartment building and have begun cutting out the windows and cutting cardstock to detail the exterior of the building. I'm going to give the impression of concrete formed material with some geometric patterns. I think this will look futuristic enough without going over the top.

I also cut out the walls for the club. I went with an "L" shape that can break up the table in some interesting ways. My plan is to fully detail out the interiors of these buildings and add removable roofs so you can easily enter and exit them.

Next steps are to continue detailing the building exteriors and devise a method for stacking them that won't be to difficult to remove during game play. 

Parking Lot Pimping - Near Future Gaming

I'm beginning to re-look at a near future terrain project I've had sitting on the back burner. I've been kicking around the idea of running a Judge Dredd game as well as busting out MERCS again. Both of these games take place in the near future and as such need a different style of terrain than my ruined city scape from 40K and my wild west/victorian themed terrain from Malifaux. 

The problem with near future is getting it to feel right. We're obviously not going to have flying cars all over the place anytime soon. Maybe some type of hovercraft or VTOL style transports for the military and very rich but the common man is going to be stuck on the ground for the most part. I like the take on vehicles from the Dredd 3D movie and also in Looper. In particular in Looper with many cars having solar panels or other modifications to older model cars to make them use an alternative fuel. It's subtle but you can see it if you look close. In Dredd they look very similar to what we drive around today.

Keeping that in mind I've been looking for a good solution for cars in the 28-30mm scale. I've found the 1:43 scale is pretty close for most miniature lines in those scales. Some look chunkier than others but overall it's a passible solution. 

Having settled on a scale that should work I set off to find some cars that would work without breaking the bank. First stop was Toys R Us, having been in the car aisle more often as my son has decided cars are his favorite toy, I remember seeing something that might work. Toys R Us carries a store brand called Fast Lane which is fairly inexpensive and of decent quality. (This is the same brand that makes the Western Train I use for Malifaux) I was able to find some three-packs of 1:43 scale cars, mostly of the sports car variety, but higher up on the shelf I saw some semi-trucks in the same scale. One of which had a bunch of wooden pallets which will be useful for scatter terrain at a loading dock. They also had some helicopters that might be cool, but I passed on them at the moment.

The next stop was Dollar General. Here I was able to find some 1:43 scale Bburago cars. These are also really close and they have a few different styles on the cheap (under $3). The store by me was fairly limited in selection but I was able to find a few different body styles. 

Once I got them home and unpackaged everything, (stupid twist ties and zip strips) I set them up with a variety of miniatures from different lines. Pictured are a Zombie Stripper from Reaper, a Zombie from Studio Miniatures, a Judge Dredd model from Mongoose, a CCC MERCS model, and two Necromunda Gangers from GW. As you can see from the photos they're a really good fit. I imagine I'm going to need to repaint them all to match the look and feel of the models but until I get around to that they look nice on the tabletop.

Chop Shop – Repainting 1:43 scale cars

I decided to begin work on my Near Future board. Well, not really the board itself but rather some of the scatter terrain. With all the cars I have laying around now it makes sense to begin the repaints so they match up with my style of painting. While I suppose I could just dip them in stain and call it a day ... that's not really my style.

Step one is to mask off all the windows and headlamps. I like how the clear material looks and don't want to loose that with the repaint. So I dug up some blue painters tape and began the tedious process of masking and trimming each window. It's not a difficult process however it takes time and patience to do it right and not scratch up the plastic with my blade.

After trimming them up I sprayed each car with Duplicolor Dark Gray primer. I really like this stuff it drys fast and smooth giving me a nice surface to paint. 

I've decided to recreate some of the cars I've pimped out in Saints Row 3. I really like the purple and silver scheme of the protagonists in that game and think it will add some much needed color to what could be a rather bland board. (most urbanscapes have this boring gray tone which I want to try and avoid this time around). 

I'm also working with some Laser Decal paper to try and figure our how to tint the windows out. I'll probably add some of the decals to the windows as well to call out and personalize the cars similar to what you see in urban neighborhoods.

Paid in Full: Commissions - How much is your time worth?

Random – Lately the number of inquires I've recieved about commission work has dramatically increased. Many of these questions have been about how to determine a price when doing commission work. So in an effort to answer these questions for the larger population, here's the basic principles I use when putting together a quote.

1. How much is your time worth? When considering doing "craft" projects that you intend to sell to others the first thing you need to consider is how much is your time worth. For the most part you're not going to make $16-$30 an hour painting models or building terrain. Even when painting to a Golden Daemon or Crystal Brush winning level the amount of time you put in usually won't equate to "real job" money. Most gamer's won't pay more to have a model painted then it cost them to purchase so keep that in mind when putting together a price. Also remember if you have a wife and kids or girlfriend your hobby time is probably limited. When I started this site I was between jobs and had much more time to build and paint stuff. Now my time is limited so it's important I enjoy every project I take on and be as efficient as possible so I'm not working for pennies an hour during my free time.

2. What are your material costs and how do you recoup them? Paint, primer, glue, sand all cost money. Good paint brushes and glue cost more. While it can take a while to burn through a pot of paint, you have to consider the costs when figuring your price. One thing I've instituted is buying new pots for army scale projects and billing them as a line item. Once you're done with the project your can give the remainder to your client in case they need touch up or add models they don't need or want you to paint.

Terrain Projects can get tricky as sometimes you use found materials and other times you need to buy foam and other raw materials. Most of the time you're going to buy in bulk and have a bunch of stuff you need to store. If you have limited room you might need to invest in space to store that stuff. Right now I'm not quite at that point but it's getting close.

3. What are your customers expectations? This is a big one. Some customers just want a three color minimum. While other might ask for table top quality expecting to be able to enter them in a juried contest. Managing those expectations and delivering as promised is huge. I've heard many horror stories from painters about unreasonable clients that make requests well beyond what the initial request was and then want to pay less because the quality is what was expected. On the flip side I've also heard numerous stories of painters that send over a quick shot of the base coated model only to have the client "love it and want to know how quick it will ship." That second one is rare but important to remember as some clients dont' want you best work. They just want some color on the models. Knowing this you can save yourself a ton of time.

4. How are you going to get it to the client? Nobody considers shipping costs. One more then one occasion I've  had to deal with customers complaining about shipping, "DUDE the flat rate box is only $5, why does it cost $20 to ship to me in Antarctica? You're trying to RIP ME OFF!" You also see this all over several companies forums. The reality is shipping is expensive, foam and packing materials are expensive. Tracking and insuring packages is expensive. And even it you do everything right the post office, UPS or Fed Ex will inevitably screw up on a one-of-a-kind rare product. It happens, sending boxes across the country or world has risks. Most of the time it's not an issue but when it is will be the one time you didn't insure or track a package. C.Y.A. 

While the post office and FedEx provide free boxes the packing material is not free. Even cheap foam is a $1-$5 a yard minimum. If you're shipping painted models wrap them in foam and pack them well. Otherwise it's likely to be damaged during shipping. For an order of several models you can quickly burn through a large amount of foam and tape. So figure in the cost of shipping and add a few dollars to cover packing materials otherwise it will eat into your already tight bottom line.

5. Don't get burned. When painting models this isn't as big a deal as if you don't get paid keep the model and resell it. So long as it's nothing to obscure you should be able to get at least 40-50% of the retail cost, more if you're willing to wait. But terrain projects are another beast entirely. Custom terrain is hard to sell once its built. Particularly if it's custom to specific client. After getting burned a few times I put forth a 50% nonrefundable deposit. That way if I have to go buy a bunch of supplies for a project I'm not going to be out of pocket if the client changes their mind or "is broke this month bro."

6. Be transparent. Have examples of your work and the various levels of quality and pricing tiers available. Put them out there for the work to see. Eventually people will start to connect with your work and ask about pricing. For example for a table top quality miniature from a skirmish game I typical charge by model size: 30mm - $8-$12; 40mm - $10-$15; 50mm - $15-$30. This gives a good starting point. But for an army level game it's unlikely you'll get that much per model. At this point most people want a "lower table top quality" which falls more in line with the 25mm- $2-$3, and goes up from there.

For terrain projects it helps to come up with some designs you can quickly replicate and make a bunch of them at once. Assembly lines are good for managing time and if you make something that can be used for several systems you diversify your client base. For example the swamps I sell in the online store I typically make 6-10 of them at a time. Since they use water effects it's better to mix a larger pot of it and pour all at once than to make small pot and have a bunch of waste. Having an existing stock also lets you focus on other projects and have a reference point for custom orders.

Being consistent helps you to manage your time and be able to quickly quote a price to a potential customer. I hope this answers any questions for aspiring painters and potential clients.

 

Working in the Stockyard

MERCS – I've been working on building a dedicated MERCS table. Currently I'm feverishly working on building a massive amount of ISO shipping containers. My goal is to have at least ten of these built and painted for games of MERCS. 

What I like about these is the versatility they provide in setting up a table. They stack easily and can add a level of elevation that is consistent and simple. With MERCS using cards to measure it becomes tricky to use more complicated terrain as you can't get the card inside of buildings or around corners etc. 

To go with these I've picked up a Zuzzy mat. These are really great if you don't have space to store a full size table. The mats are nicely detailed and fairly simple to paint. 

Now Available – Twilight Emporium Bases

After shopping around for bases to use on my Hell Dorado miniatures, I gave up and decided to create my own. My problem was I wanted something with lots of skulls on the bases but I also wanted a rocky surface to mount the miniature to. It seems like most manufacturers make skull bases that consist of a bed of skulls.

After spending the weekend sculpting and crafting bases that would suit my purposes, I decided to make a mold and cast them myself. Now that I have a mold that will last for quite a while I'm going to start offering round lip base sets in my online store

In the desert you can remember your name.

I've begun creating some new terrain pieces for my large table (4'x6'). While I have several city blocks built for this table, after a while it starts to get a bit boring using ruins every game. The terrain I've built for Malifaux works fine on the smaller tables, however when spread out on a larger table it tends to look a bit sparse. 

I began by cutting green foam with a hot wire cutter. This is the easiest way to create rock formations that resemble something you'd see in the American west. Simply move the cutter in and out to create the striations in the rock face. Once these are cut and shaped, I mount them to MDF with wood glue.

To match the texture of the table I use a textured wallpaper as a base. This gives an interesting look without creating so much texture that models won't stand properly. Around the edges of the rock formations I used wood filler to createdebris piles where material would naturally collect. One the shape has been built up a give it a good coat of wood glue and cover it with a mixture of kitty litter and sand.

After that has dried overnight shake off the sand and use a dust whisk of soft bristly brush to knock off any loose material that didn't come off when you shook it.

I like to use Behr paint and primer for terrain projects. They can color match any of you model colors and have a good selection of the board. For desert terrain I like to use a terracotta color as a base. This can then be dry brushed with a light brown and cream to mimic the formations you find in the American west.

To finish off the project I like to apply some lichen and dead looking tall grass to areas that scrub may take hold. I use Tacky Glue or Super Glue for this. Either product with hold the material in place, but I've found that Super Glue dries faster and leads to better results for the tall grass. After everything is dry I spray it with Krylon Low Odor matte finish. This gives a durable coating that doesn't look glossy.

How I felt

Finishing – It's important to me that my models be complete. You spend so much time painting and basing your models, why would you leave the bottom of the base plain? For me I use a compass cutter and some self stick felt to complete the base. Not only does this give your model a finished look, the felt will help to keep them in place on the battlefield.

Finishing – It's important to me that my models be complete. You spend so much time painting and basing your models, why would you leave the bottom of the base plain? For me I use a compass cutter and some self stick felt to complete the base. Not only does this give your model a finished look, the felt will help to keep them in place on the battlefield.