LAM Jesters arrive in Gierburg

Another set of beautiful figures from Simon Bradley has arrived in Gierburg: The Jesters, from Lead Adventure Miniatures' Bruegelburg range (BRU-15).

The Bruegelburg Jesters painted by Simon Bradley

Together with Omoklon from Guild of Harmony and the GW Bretonian jester, both painted by Tom List, and the unreleased Mordheim Jester, painted by Roman Lappat, I now have pretty much all cool jester models I can think of. At least I thought so until recently when Scibor released the Town Guard set which contains a nice jester figure as a musician. But since that figure is not available separately I will probably not add that to my collection.

Gierburg jesters dancing through the streets

Gierburg Head Hunter painted

About three and a half years ago I finished my first ever (and only) sculpt: Ty Cain, Gierburg Head Hunter. Now the miniature is finally painted. For obvious reasons this figure is especially precious to me so - like with the last batch of miniatures, the Gierburg Peasants, - I entrusted Simon Bradley with the paint job.

I think he has once again done a wonderful job. Check out the mini in his gallery on Stone Cold Lead.

Bounty Hunter painted and photographed by Simon Bradley

Ty Cain encounters a deranged jester in the streets of Gierburg

IKEA Gaming Table

Yesterday my better half made me accompany her on a shopping spree at one of Berlin's IKEA stores to get some "much needed" things. As a true geek (and to make the best of the situation) I used the "opportunity" to go looking for a gaming table there. Since I am knee-deep in the works for my Port of Gierburg gaming table (quite literally if you look at the living room these days) the need for a proper table is getting more and more urgent. I didn't really have that much hope of actually finding something useful, but guess what: I did!

The LERBERG trestle

The LINNMON series of table tops has a perfectly sized 120x60cm table top for £15/€17,90. I really like the elegance of the black-brown tone, and without hesitation I decided to take two of  them.
Now the question was what to do about the legs. Normally you would screw the table legs underneath these table tops. But this is not an option since I need to store the gaming board away and only when I need it I will get it out and set it up. I was thinking about various solutions such as paste tables when a few metres later I came across the LERBERG trestles. For only £5/€6,00 this is a great table leg solution. With the board on trestles the table is about 73,5cm tall, which is a good height for both walking around the table and reaching for figures as well as sitting next to it and watching your opponent make their moves.

My basic gaming table now consists of two 120x60cm table tops and four trestles. I am quite happy with this because, as mentioned above, the table's color tone looks really nice and elegant and so do the trestles. They are more like design thingies than craftman's utilities. They come in a dark grey tone and fit the table top quite well. They are made of metal and the entire set-up is very stable so this is a pretty solid solution that looks good and still can be stored away nicely.

All four trestles in their storage position

One of the two tables set up

I will probably look for hinges or something at the local building centre to connect the two boards so that the whole thing is safer against pushes during the heat of battle. But for now I am already pretty happy with it.

The Port of Gierburg - Part 2: Dock Section I WIP

In the second part of this series I describe the building of the first big dock section for the Port of Gierburg gaming table.

Building the Docks

With the water board finished work on the Port of Gierburg continues with the first dock section. Basically this section will consist of three sets of harbour walls from GrandManner that I bought some time ago. Each set consists of various resin parts: a wall piece, a jetty, stairs and a flagstone board.

The Harbour wall/jetty
from the GrandManner online store (ME64)

Following my plans for the port set-up (see Part 1) the first dock section measures 75 x 12 cm. The harbour walls have a width of 31 cm so I had to do some filing to get them in the right sizes. Unfortunately (in this case!) the resin that GrandManner uses to cast their pieces is rock solid so it took me really long to file through the walls.

The plan was to incorporate two stairs and one jetty into the dock. I filed off the lower steps of the stairs so that they would fit nicely next to the jetty. The jetty also had to be cut to size. I could have used the jetty in full length, of course, but I want to be able to place three ships in the port and I have certain plans for additional jetties. This required the jetty section here to be rather short.

Like with the water board I used a 5 mm MDF board as a base. The rest was a lot of styrofoam.

I glued a beech moulding strip to the bottom where the dock would touch the water board. To stabilize the sides and to prevent them from damage I used thin wood boards.

I filed the corners of the wood boards so that they matched the stonework pattern of the harbour walls. Later, I would use modelling putty to fill the gaps and create a smooth surface.


Instead of the flagstone boards that come with the harbour walls I decided to use cobblestone boards from Vampisol. As I described in an earlier review these are very nice plaster boards that I highly recommend. I chose to use them over the resin flagstone pieces because the thin plaster boards can be easily cut into shapes so that they can be combined to create a big seamless surface.

Plaster boards with stretcher bond pattern from Vampisol

The Vampisol boards come with an extra pack of plaster powder to fill any remaining gaps after gluing the boards next to each other. I used both the plaster and fine sand to fill the gaps. I also placed some sand on various spots on the overall surface for a more realistic and less clean look. The last thing was to model the corners of the stonework and a step on each of the two stairs with modelling putty.

My focus during the entire process, or let's call it the "big goal", was to create one big piece that looks and feels like one coherent piece of terrain. I really don't like how terrain built with HirstArts products always looks like assembled Lego bricks. So it was important to me that the various walls, stairs, jetty and cobblestone boards all contributed to the appearance of one sensible piece of terrain.

The dock section in its entirety before undercoating

Lessons learned

It is important to put some heavy books on the sheets of styrofoam every time you apply the white glue. There was one moment - after I had already glued a few layers of styrofoam - where the entire thing started to bend heavily. I immediately placed my standard pile of books on it. At that point I had thought that the piece was sufficiently stabilized since there were already various layers, but, no, it bent. Luckily I noticed this in time and when the white glue was fully dried the docks were straight again. Still, don't trust these materials! All in all it took extremely long with daily cutting and gluing and nightly drying.

I also learned that it is impossible to build an accurate "block" by gluing sheets of styrofoam on top of each other. After a few layers you're always off by a few millimeters and I don't get better. For the second dock section - which will be a lot bigger too - I will use not only an MDF board as a base but also use one to maintain the correct measures for the upper layers. This is mainly important for the moulding sheets I like to glue to the sides.


So after all these days of slow building and waiting I'm finally done and ready to paint this sucker, now guess what - I ran out of undercoat spray and so did my local hobby store. His order of new spray paint is already over a week overdue. :/


Coming next in part 3: Dock Section I Painted

Building Wargame Terrain by Tony Harwood

The release of the "Building Wargame Terrain" book by Tony Harwood of Dampf's Modelling Page is coming closer. In his book the creator of beautiful Grand Manner houses descibes his techniques for building and painting wargames terrain.
Over at his blog Tony is trying to find out how many interested wargamers and modelers are out there. So if you are seriously considering to buy a copy of the book upon release I suggest you head over there and say so in the comments.

The Port of Gierburg - Part 1: A Water Board

For years now I have been collecting and painting high quality resin buildings for some kind of medieval/fantasy gaming board. Now the project is taking shape and I have begun working on The Port of Gierburg. This first part describes how I made a water section usable not only for the port but also for piratey boarding actions.

Foreword

Water effects are one of the more difficult techniques it seems. I have read a lot about all types of water effects for tabletop/modelling. There's a lot of talk about different resins, bubbles, stink, bending and breaking, etc. etc. Stu's reports did not neccessarily motivate me to tackle the issue either, despite the results looking great.
Because of all this uncertainty and difficulty regarding the water issue I kept on procrastinating for years. Then, recently, at a local artist supplies store here in Berlin (Modulor) I found a product called "Seefolie" (German, meaning "sea film" or "sea foil"), a water effect film by HEKI (3110 / Seefolie). It finally gave me an idea of how I could tackle the port section and so I got to work...

Measurements

One sheet of sea foil is declared to measure 80 x 35 cm, but the edges are not perfectly cut so I had to manually cut the sheets in size. With these size constraints in mind I decided to start the project with one half of the typical wargaming board size of 4' x 4' (4' x 6' for bigger army games). So the port would take up an area of 120 x 60 cm. As I wanted to use as much of the sea foil as possible to fit three ships next to each other I divided the length of 120 cm up into two sections: a water section of 75 cm and one section for the docks with the remaining 45cm (both 60 cm wide).

Initially I planned the second 120 x 60 cm half of the board to incorporate the neccessary dock features such as as the walls on the edge and starirs leading down to the water. I then realized that I wouldn't want to dedicate such a huge part of the gaming board to the port. So I went with a more modular approach instead using two special 12 cm wide connector sections. They would allow me to again treat both the water board, the big 45 x 60 docks section as well as the big 120 x 60 main city board as independent sections that are connected by the docks.

First concept of the modules: Two 12cm wide "connector" pieces (Dock I and Extra) are placed between one half of the gaming board - the city section (imagine that at the top) - and another half comprising of the water board and a dock section (II)

Again realization struck: The Dock Section II would be a fully dedicated board with no possibility for re-use in a different set-up. Therefore the Extra section did not make much sense at all. This made me end up with the following more straight-forward approach for the modules.

The final concept for the port modules with two dock sections encapsulating the water board

Of course I could have just created one big port piece. But it was important to me to make the water section an independet piece. Like with the board as a whole I had multiple purposes for the water section in mind. Firstly, it is part of the port. But it can also function as a mini board for boarding action scenarios or other special set-ups in nautically themed games - I'm thinking pirates, of course!

Assembling the Board

My first attempt was using a 15 mm thick piece of Kapa cardboard. Unfortunately, after hand-painting it with a first layer of black, the board started to bend and became simply unusable. After reading this post by Mathias Horn (aka Samy) about his current Behind Omaha gaming board I decided to try MDF board as a base. On top of a 5 mm MDF board I glued a Selitron foam board using wood glue.

MDF board with Selitron foam board form the base of the water board

To prevent the edges - especially the corners - of the board from damage (and for better looks) I bought four cheap beech moulding strips, sized 2 x 10 x 1000 mm.

After everything was glued together it was painting next. Browsing the modulor webshop I found a spray colour that is suitable for styrofoam and other foam boards: Aero Design from Union Chemie GmbH. My very first terrain piece was a phallus shaped herdstone for my Warhammer Beastmen army. At that time there was no internet knowledge let alone any experience so I basecoated the styrofoam piece with standard Citadel spray colour - just to see it melt away. Since that moment I am extra cautious when it comes to colouring anything foam-based. So I bought one spray can and tested it on a small piece of Selitron. And: Lo and behold! It works.

The board after applying the first can
of bluegreen Aero Design

Aero Design spray cans:
suitable for styrofoam and other foams

In total I used up three 150ml spray cans to completely cover the board - not exactly a cheap solution but compared to hand painting it saves a lot of time. Plus, similar to air brushing you can achieve very nice effects. I used two different colours: A lighter petrol bluegreen and a dark blue. This allows to create a feeling of depth by having lighter and darker areas on the board. However, this effect is somewhat negated later when appliying the sea foil, which is not 100% transparent. When working with proper transparent resin for water this would be more effective.

Lastly I glued the sea foil on the board with superglue. Anticipating that the superglue would turn at least slightly white when hardened I spread the glue in lines so that they would create the impression of waves. Had I gone zigzag this would look very bad now.

Vallejo Foam & Snow

Looking for a way to create a nice wave effect I came across Vallejo's Foam & Snow product. A quick research on the internet brought up some positive reactions I ordered one bottle. I used it on my test piece and - even after it had completely dried - I was very surprised: The "foam" and "snow" effect little more than plain white colour. I don't know if I am using it wrong, but from what I can see this stuff is completely useless. I expected it to be of a harder consistency and being somewhat translucent when dry. I don't think I could tell the difference between this and plain white PLAKA colours.

The test piece with "foam" on the sea foil

However, I didn't want to give up on the waves. Since some of the dried superglue was already shining through the transparent sea film I made the bold move to apply more superglue - on top of the film. I only did a few experimental lines. You can see the result in the photos below.

The finished water board in its entirety

Close up of the water board. You can see the foil and lines of glue.

Afterword

As a final verdict, I have very mixed feelings towards the sea foil. On one hand, it does create a surprisingly good looking effect and it is really easy to work with. On the other hand, the effect is not quite up to the standard that I try to achieve with how I paint my buildings and the rest of the board. This makes it even more important that I went with the modular approach. At some point I will definately get my hands all dirty and try the expensive and stinky resins which create the perfect water effect. Until then this board is what I need to keep going with building the port section. So for the moment it is probably just the right thing.

The most impotant lesson learned: Try out your materials before working with the final pieces. There were so many throwbacks and frustrations during the creation of this rather simple board, it is astounding.

• The bending Kapa board was a waste in the end
• The sea film wasn't properly cut so I had to manually cut it to shape. Unfortunately at that point I had already assumed that the declared sizes would fit and made my preparations for that, wrong, measures.
• The sea film can be cut with a cutting knife but it's hard to achieve perfect results. Also, if you need two sheets for your water section (like me) the edge between the two sheets is somewhat annoying.
• The Aero Design products were a positive surprise as I wasn't aware of foam friendly spray before. Unfortunately they run out very quickly and I had to buy another can twice, ending up with three cans for this not that huge water section.
• At first I guessed the height of the board so the first four moulding strips I bought were 15mm wide - but I needed only 10 mm.
• Vallejo Foam effect is utterly useless.

I feel like I even forgot one or two things. There were points where I just wanted to finish the damned thing. It definately wasn't that much fun. But now that it's done, it's okay. And it is fun to work on the surrounding dock sections of the port. So in the end it still was worth it.


Coming next in part 2: Dock Section I.

Rest in Peace, Mordheim

BoLS reports that Games Workshop is getting rid of their Specialist Games range. This means the demise of the game systems Battlefleet Gothic, Epic Armageddon, Inquisitor, Necromunda, Warmaster and - most importantly to me - Mordheim.

I don't play Mordheim actively right now, but this does make me sad nonetheless. I have never really been a fan of playing with huge armies and even though I loved my beastman miniatures I would have quit the hobby had Games Workshop not released their skirmish game set in the Warhammer Fantasy universe. To me Mordheim embodies most of what is 'tabletop', simply because I had been so dedicated to that system in the past years. The involvement with the Nemesis Crown supplement and more so the development and release of the fan-made Border Town Burning supplement for Mordheim has had a huge impact on my "hobby life". Countless inspiring discussions with Stu "Werekin" (of the Liber Malefic blog), being part of an awesome community as a moderator at Tom's and the Yahoo group, and - most importantly - playing this game with friends!

Of course, the game isn't just going to disappear from my head: Like with any board game I like, I have what is needed to play the game. The thing is, as a wargamer you're used to having a company support their games and continuously breathing fresh air into them. Being a fan of Legends of the High Seas (based on 'Legends of the Old West' based on both 'Lord of the Rings' and - ta daah! - Mordheim) I had to mourn the death of Warhammer Historical. This was already bad and the community always had small undying hopes for a LotHS supplement. Now this one is even more sad. Also because it cuts the last ties I had attached with this company.

It has been a long dying process, which at times left the fans with frustration and uncertainty, always hoping for a rebirth of their favourite game. Especially the re-release of Blood Bowl fueled that hope. Now it is the carrying to the grave at last, that allows us all to accept the inevitable and move on to the new. There are plenty more fish in the sea, so let's set the sails!