Some time ago i made some area terrain 'plates' and some drop-on tree groupings. Really basic organic shapes from styrofoam. Never liked them, but there were there for a change of terrain or extra terrain if required - until i came up with something better. WHICH IS NOW!!!!
For a long time I've liked the tree terrain that Cal has. I've actually played on this board a few times (Cancon/Castle Assault). They're 'swamp/mangrove'-esque 'banyan' style tree... and i could get them easy enough from overseas (premade, painted and topped even) but i guess that's just too easy.
I tried 3d modelling the tree shapes (trunks) but the prints aren't coming out well enough. Either too chunky or print failures with thinner prints (this with ABS, not PLA). I'm not really in a mind-space for printing anyway, so i thought i'd have a look at wire trees (which i've also always liked).
Work on the project started with some video research on the interweb; most of the material there is for larger scales, not 6mm-friendly. So let's try to scale it down and see how it goes.
At a cheapy shop i found some thin florist wire (as recommended in vids), lengths of about 40cm which i chopped in half and grouped up. i ripped the old, ugly trees from the bases for reuse. Winding the trunk...
Some brief experimentation revealed that 6 wires, doubled over to make 12 stranded trees, was enough to get a suitably thick trunk and just enough branch structure up top to make it recognisably tree-like.
I also made a couple of spindly trees with left overs (less then 12 strands) but they're frankly not as good and should only be used as filler/extras amongst the 12-stranders.
A couple of extra strands does make the branches better (fuller) - the final couple of trees got some extra wires, where there weren't enough strands for another complete tree.
A tree in the making...
Unlike the foam trees which had an average of 3 trees per group, these will only have two as the canopy is substantially larger (and this without foliage yet). The initial gluing to the bases is as annoying as i'd anticipated...
There are just nine of these drop-on tree groups - three per area-terrain plate.
Nope, not a bag of dope; a bag of 'indoor pot plant moss cover stuff', from a local cheapy shop....
So, I'm hoping this moss will mull down to a suitable 'pebble' for gluing on, and also any longer strands should add some textural variety. The colour has suitable variegation to require minimal painting/shading which is nice too.
No, i'm not going to be able to find it again in 5 years when i want to make more trees and have thrown the left overs away; c'est la vie.
My main concern with this material is crumble; i hate it when static grass flakes off and gets in everything (like glitter at christmas - bloody glitter season!!) and i'm really hoping that this stuff remains intact with (the minimal) handling (it is likely to get). Preliminary tests indicate that it shouldn't be excessively flakey (TBA - ed: should be ok, especially with a varnish sealant).
Most of the videos i watched did all of the preparation work on the tree before it was attached to the board; convenient - however all the videos were also for larger trees that attached easier rather than these little buggers. The plan is that when they're solidly attached to the base i will be able to handle them easier for gesso-ing the trucks/branches and sprinkling the foliage [ed: so far so good].
Onward...
I did pick up a selection of static grasses from the FLGS for finishing, and the remaining 'rock' drop-ons i have will also get grassed. All the ones i lost were grassed.
[interjection: the rocks have indeed been grassed up. i really am a fan of tufty grass.]
With the razor wire i'm hoping to make some straight fence sections to 'outline' the docking area for the ship terrain.
i was originally thinking about some type of really fine wire mesh (door screen ??) and i have seen this done (pic below - whoever you are who made this, i like it a lot), but finding suitable mesh might be a bit annoying (and wasteful)...
So i'm going to try the razor wire instead but with similar base shapes (as per the mesh pic). [Quick research - demonstrating that there's nothing new under the sun] like this...
[later - tu]
The original wood glue has dried solid and the trees seem relatively secure - the trunks bend when the tops are lightly pushed, rather than the roots lifting off the base. To help secure them in another glob of glue was applied. And adding in the final gravel/sand on top when finishing the basing will create a solid shield against movement.
(glue and sand is quite tough, which is why i only ended up scraping off one of the reused bases)
[later -we]
All the trees got a brushdown with 'light moulding paste', not gesso (who knew, but as gesso's shorter (and was on the store shelf next to this stuff) i'm sticking with that :p ).
The plan went... to plan.
The trucks and thicker limbs will get another coat tonight - which will be more about the thickness/texture than trying to adhere to the metal wire.
After that a base coat of (thick/base) black, again helping to camouflage the wire texture.
Then probably a coat of baneblade brown. i'm thinking a lighter colour for the trunk rather than a darker 'brown' brown.
Possibly finishing with a wash of agrax to pick out depressions (great for vraksians to hide in).
Then onto foliage. And i'm looking forward to that step.
[later - th]
just as planned.
Will attempt foliage tonight hopefully. i'm a bit concerned that the thin wires and little blobbles aren't going to work as well as, say big foam blobbles. the demonstrated technique uses multiple glue/sprinkle phases so i'll just have to wait and see. Experimentation is fun.
[ed: scroll, scroll, scroll... well this is turning into something of an epic isn't it]
[later - fr]
Started on the foliage last night. Getting results. the trees are heading towards a savannah/acacia style rather than a swamp style, but i like acacias anyway. probably fits the drier/stark theme of the other terrain better too. Pleased with the results so far.
First sprinkling applied...
Turns out that the biggest problem with the moss is that it's very soft. Which means that once you have a layer glued on to the branch then gluing onto that layer is not so great. Even the dry glue doesn't solid-up enough.
What i've started doing is adding some clear spray varnish into the mix to stiffen the moss. So glue to the tree, wait for it to stick and dry, then spray with varnish to solidify structure. Repeat.
The trunks may need a coat of something if the varnish becomes too shiny, and the bases will be redone anyway so no issue there.
Sprinkle box...
When basing is done, the static grass tufts will probably need to be trimmed down as they are quite tall and may potentially jut up too far into the tree structure/foliage.
[later - mo... again]
The weekend (mainly friday-saturday) was mainly about spray varnish, or waiting for said varnish to dry.
i did manage to also get the basing done as well. layer of glue and sand, coat of texture coat (dulux apollo grey), two coats of agrax, dry brush of baneblade brown and dry brush of screaming skull.
so the only remaining tasks are; create up the trunks if required, lighten/recolour the base so it's more consistent with the area terrain plates, and add tufts.
[later - we... again]After a day or two of faffing around i got some 'final pics'.
This is how the bits are meant to be used on the table. The units move onto the terrain area and then you can shuffle the trees/rocks around rather than try to position units around statically placed trees etc.
Just the trees. the camera and lighting doesn't do the justice (as usual) but i'm pleased with the result. It's not as classy as the 'Cal' trees, but a lightly vegetated savannah feel probably suits my sensibilities better anyway.
I am still trying to adjust the plate and tree base colour to more closely resemble the rock pieces. but in terms of the creative process i can declare this project... finito.
[later: th.. again]
toHit modifiers and cover saves for everyone... except you rhino, you can just have the toHit modifier instead.
i'm vaguely considering making a few more tree drop-ons just to increase the wooded density. not in the immediate future... but it occurs to me to make them now so they're of similar style... and i won't throw out the moss... TBA.
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Something Different - An Opinion re 2018's Adeptus Titanicus (AT)
On my (previous) weekend travels i dropped into a GW store and asked where they were keeping the AT stuff. Possibly just for a first perusal; maybe even to pick up a small something-something (pack of knights would be fun).
Turns out they are not stocking the game (notably unlike ALL the other specialist games that they're re-releasing) and they're doing online orders only.
While i can't say i'm shocked at this confirmation (it was always the most likely scenario), i am pretty disappointed on a number of levels.
The first, and biggest, is that without local outlets for the product there will be no new (spontaneous) blood added to the potential player pool.
If you can't rock up to the shop and get the models people are not going to be getting into this game.
They not going to buy it online and then form clubs/group/leagues etc. Especially in the numbers required to create a viable game community.
Even Necromunda - which IS available in store - is for all intents and purposes dying a slow death. I've asked around and most shop owners GW and FLGS are like "oh yeah there are 2 guys who come in and play some times"... 2 guys here and there is not a player base capable of sustaining and growing the game.
While GW have technically satisfied the requests from myriad gronards by re-releasing and even supporting these old favourites... it feels like the most token manner possible *.
[* i find this baffling because it can't be cheap to gear up to manufacture these products/projects. and then to not actively push them. perhaps they really can ride on the back of the other lines ??]
Secondly, by making it online only its not a stretch to interpret the project is a blatant money grab for old school Epic players. Only collectors or nostalgic enthusiast are going to bother buying minis online that will never hit the game table.
Thirdly, to expand upon point the First, the game is not going to progress beyond a totemic offering like i.e. space hulk (available, but never pushed, encouraged or played).
As it is never likely to get a player base they are quite likely to say 'no one plays it, therefore we won't bother adding other races or vehicle or infantry'. Bottom line, Epic will not be replaced by this system; carry on as normal; continue to buy your recasts (or prints) from ebay; and see you at Cancon.
Fourthly, i have (since its recent release) seen 3 AT grand master boxes, all in non-GW hobby stores. Am i overly cynical in seeing this as GW being happy to push a non-starter game on FLGS but not to stock it themselves?
Conversely, it is the FLGS that are more likely to have the customers with diverse sensibilities who are more likely to want this stock; whereas GW only push their core 2 games (with other products imo as novelties).
[sigh] As much as i like the concept of the (reboot) game (for itself, not just for extra models for playing Epic), and would have been willing to make at least a token foray into the system, i just can't bring myself to buy into it. I hope the FLGS remain cautious and don't get reamed too hard.
Whinge complete.
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