Ancients Boards

For many moons the concept of creating a desert table - better than my current desert mat - has danced around my limp brain. Suddenly in sprang to life ... 

I watched some YouTube vids - I really like 'The Terrain Tutor' and 'RubbishInRubbishOut' - and developed a plan to do some multi-purpose filler stippling and then some dry-brushing. I was prepared to completely stuff up the first attempt but tried to avoid this by doing some small test pieces. In the end both turned out well - possibly due to the aid of my Terrain-hound - Nina. 

I like using cheap paint from the two-dollar shop but you need to mix it up. In a larger project this can cause issues with different batches being slightly different colours. I was going for a milk chocolate brown as a base then layers of cream, yellow, reddish ochre then more cream as highlights. 

Oh yes, the stippling. I have never stippled this much before and this was only a 4' by 3' table suitable for ADLG and skirmish games! I used two layers of stippling. As I many intend the table for 15mm figures (at first) I didn't want large ridges from stippling. My second stippled coat also used a water down multi-purpose filler rather than going for an undiluted mix. 

Hmmm, ridges ... 

And then two days later it was on ... 

Even though the sun was streaming through the garage door of my friend Warchief Ian's barbarian hut, you can still see the finished table. Looks good with my Macedonians - even though my bases were a little lighter. I didn't want to go for a full sandy desert appearance - a dry or semi arid table would best suit my purposes. 

I haven't decided on flock ... yet. Still not sure. If I do flock then I won't be able to complete the final phase of my plan - see below in conclusion. 

We did find that the tables were a little tacky and the figures didn't slide too well - even though I was using mdf based. The Terrain Tutor does suggest a sealing coat of PVA and water to protect - but it might make things a little slicker too. I have not tried this as yet. 

Note below the blurred hand of the Warchief showing his lightning speed in manipulating the dice ... many believe this belies his uncanny talent for rolled 6's. 

And there it is ... my new tables. But that isn't the finish yet. I actually plan to make these double sided. I will finish some double sided test pieces first - just terrain shapes I use to represent woods or rocky ground. As long as the profile is not too raised ... I'll move ahead.