Vineyards make excellent, useful terrain features in all kinds of different games. They limit maneuverability, provide concealment for infantry, and nicely fill table space. For WW2 gaming, they can be included in nearly every theater in which the war was fought. Wine-producing regions include NW Europe, Belorussia, Italy, Greece and the Balkans, Crete, the Levant, and even French Morocco and Syria. I'll be honest, I've always wanted to make vineyards but have been rather daunted by getting it "just right" - the perfect balance between playability and realism. While the Battlefront FOW version is nice, it's rather clunky. Well, I finally threw caution to the wind and tried my hand at it....and now I wonder why I waited so long. Really the only problem was the "fiddliness" of affixing the wire trellising to the end posts, but I'll show you how to tackle that problem. Materials Wide popsicle sticks ("tongue depressers") Toothpicks Dry, thin tree branch shoots Medium Ballast in various colors OR sand Thin gauge metal wire OR black upholstery thread Foliage-Fiber Clusters OR Clump Foliage Felt Static grass (optional) White, wood, & CA glues X-acto knife and/or utility knife Black primer Clear flat spray sealant Dirt-tone acrylic colors 1. Using a knife, cut the spiky ends off a series of wood toothpicks. Then, cut each toothpick into thirds -measurements don't have to be exact. Glue one section of toothpick on to the end of each popsicle stick, leaving about 1/2" of space at the end for the post supports. I used CA glue for this step. 2. Using a cutting mat grid or the corner of a piece of scrap paper, line toothpicks on a 45 degree angle, cut off the ends along the grid lines (or paper edges if using paper). Each piece should resemble the picture below once cut. Once cut, glue these post supports between each end post and the popsicle sticks. This will provide additional support and stability when tying the the wire trellises. 3. The trickiest part! Using thin gauge wire or black upholstery thread, cut a piece about 2.5x the length of the popsicle stick. Begin by winding the wire around one end post below the post support, use a drop of CA glue to secure it once wound. 4. Keeping the wire tight, wind it around the opposite end post, below the post support. Use a drop of CA glue to secure it. Then, wind the wire up around the post over the post support, as picture below. Keeping the wire tight, wind it around the first post above the post support. Use CA glue to secure it, then clip the excess. 5. You should now have two wire trellises one atop the other, running between each end post. Do this for the rest of the sticks. Don't worry if it seems fragile - reinforcement will come when you add the vine trunks. 6. Spray all the sticks with black primer and let dry. 7. Take a couple dry, thin tree branch shoots from your yard and cut off pieces just about the height of the top wire trellis on each stick. Glue several in a row alongside the wire trellising on each base using wood glue. Don't worry about painting them - they're already the perfect color! 8. Once dry, paint each end post a greyish-brown color to resemble weathered wood. Try to avoid painting the wire trellising. Let thoroughly dry. 9. Mix various colors of medium railroad ballast to resemble the harsh, often rocky soil grapevines thrive in. I'm using grey, white, and buff colored ballast. Spread wood or white glue evenly over each base, then sprinkle liberally with ballast. Allow to thoroughly dry before shaking off the excess ballast. 10. Once the ballast is dry, mix your preferred earth toned acrylic colors. I use a base of medium grey, mixed with equal parts medium brown and biege, with a small drop of dark red. Dip your brush in water to dilute the paint into a heavy wash and apply to the base. The wash should soak into the crevices between the stones and just slightly tinge the stones themselves, helping to blend them together. 11. Allow to dry, then seal well with flat spray sealant. 12. Pull long thick strands of fiber-foliage apart. Place drops of white glue on the top of each vine trunk, then a long line on the underside of the foliage strand. Place down along the top of the trellising and vine trunks. Try to fold the foliage over each side and push together. If you want, once the foliage is dry, apply static grass to the base. Just don't use too much - a good vintner wouldn't want grass stealing the nutrients from the soil that the grapes could use! 13. Cut enough pieces of felt fabric to accommodate your bases. I've cut three pieces, large enough to fit four bases in single rows, with enough room in between to accommodate a medium FOW base. I used beige felt, then did a light overspray of grey and brown with spray paint. That's it - you're done! Though I made these vineyards for 15mm, if you cut the end posts a little higher and added a third wire trellis - these could easily be used for 28mm gaming. If you cut the end posts down a bit and only used one wire trellis, these could even be made for 6mm!
Myong Stebbins | Silent Terrain | oil on canvas | 32" x 34"
After my post on the Mordheim counters that look like Tarot cards (link here: https://boringmordheimforum.forumieren.com/t6000-game-counters-and-wound-markers ),
Hi, All! Professor Shandy Tanglefoot's Over-Compensatory Death-Ray of Doom! (for humanitarian purposes only, obviously!) Tonight's post comes to you from the not-so-solubrious surroundings of a motel in Auckland, where I find myself somewhat lacking in glue and plastic rod... So, I thought I'd just let you all see the little side-project that filled the last three days of my holiday last week. A concept sketch I doodled months ago. I wasn't sure back then how I was going to go about this. Bits of stuff, destined for greatness! So, without further ado, let me introduce you to: Professor Shandy Tanglefoot's Over-Compensatory Death-Ray of Doom! And my, oh my, what fun this one has been! An old drill, DVD, broken bracket, push-pins and cogs from a printer form the main body of the weapon. You will no doubt recall the motor I stripped from an old drill and made the central feature of the core room of Lord Smudgington Smythely-Smythe's Hydraulically Motorvated Sextupedal Land-Traversing Vacational Domicile. Well, for this piece, I decided to put the drilly-end of the drill to good use. A reflector from a broken light becomes the main body of the Death-Ray. Card strips, cogs from a correction tape, a piece of an old transformer and other bits quickly transform junk into a very cool machine! The gun's focussing array starts life as a washer and the nozzle off a glue bottle. Brass wire, plastic tube, beads and crystals from a chandelier are used to build the array. Standing the drill on its end and adding bits of junk was a wonderfully fast way of getting a very tall, very complex-looking structure. I glued a broken bracket to the top of it and started just sticking stuff on where it seemed to fit. Later on, this slap-dash approach caused a few painting issues (I should have painted a few bits before attaching them) but the speed with which things evolved really kept me enthused! Legs and girders, boiler, planking and gun-mount are constructed. I chose plastic for the planking for strength. The woodgrain effect was easy to achieve using very heavy grade sandpaper. The structure is carefully balanced together, prior to painting. I wanted a steam-powered look for this weapon, as for all of my others, but whereas I have tended towards large locomotive-type boilers elsewhere (and huge for my ongoing Giant Walker project) I decided to be a bit silly and give the Death Ray a really tiny boiler. This, I constructed from plastic board and a piece of the inner tube from a receipt roll. A couple of cylinders were made from push-pins and sacks of coal were made from green stuff and pieces of grit. The main structure is painted before other parts are fixed in place. Note the big side-panel and chimney, thrown together very simply from plastic board and rod. Cogs and rivets abound! And a sheet of corrugated iron..? If anything, the danger with a fast project such as this is the temptation to rush ahead at the cost of detail. I had to slow down and remind myself that the true value of a Weapon of Mass Delusion lies in its rivet count! Boiler, gantry and really big cog, rivetted and painted. The focussing array, painted. I am really happy with how this turned out! Focussing array and gun, painted and joined. Loads of rivets and nice thick guitar-string-conduits add plenty of interest. The main crystal shines within the reflector. And so began a Super-Epic rivetting session... Handrails and ladder are constructed from plastic tube, rod and sheet. Copper rings and painted jewelery chain are added. This was the fiddliest fiddly bit. Gun and tower details. Some of my rivets have rivets. this is becoming a habit. When it came to painting this monstrosity, I found myself a little limited. I have used a lot of red and green on other machines, and blue or yellow just didn't seem 'Death-Ray-ish' enough... So I went black and brass. I was worried that this might be a little too simple, but in the end, set-off against woodgrain, copper and a touch of greenery, it worked beautifully! A drive-belt joins two massive, rumbling, rumbly things. The underneath bits. Sacks of coal (sorry about the wet glue in-shot) cylinders, cogs, boiler and ladder. Control levers, conduits, transformer and handrails. The dastardly Professor Shandy Tanglefoot beside the dastardly weapon's dastardly controls! Just because it's what I do: The Rivet Count for this ridiculous weapon is a whopping 1158 ! All done in a matter of a few hours' work. Not bad, if I say so myself... A Hydrothermicopter's eye-view. I have to say that this model is a definite favourite. I'm thrilled with how it has turned out and it's a great example of how a good piece of work can be simple, fast and fun to produce. Faaaazzzzaaaaaaakkkkk!!!! Let's just hope Her Majesty's forces can find and destroy it before lives are lost! Next post: Back to Lord Smythely-Smythe's Hydraulically Motorvated Sextupedal Land-Traversing Vacational Domicile... All the Best!
Some of you may be familiar with The Terrain making contests Privateer Press has been running from their website. The most recent one was to make a building suitable for the Iron Kingdoms. Here’s mine. This was something I’d been planning on doing for awhile anyway, so with the Inn from the article itself at […]
Hey jungle readers, from time to time we ask talented painters and modellers to share their knowledge with our readers on MassiveVoodoo...
I don't get to play very often but as I have the day off from work on Monday my mate is coming over for a game. I am going to try and sort some rules out for a War of the Roses game, adapting Too Fat Lardies 'Sharp Practice'. I have just set the table up ready for Monday using some of the terrain I recently made. There is probably a little too much clutter for a game but I just fancied getting some of the new stuff on the table. There are a couple of commercial buildings on the table and the stream section and the hill with the road running through it are from 'Last Valley' which I have re-painted and flocked to match my terrain. Don't look to close at the figures as they were painted a while ago using Army Painter and there was a lot of experimenting with different colours for this method. I will post some pictures of the game at some point in the future.
Hey guys Cavalier, commission painter for Frontline Gaming and co-host of Splintermind the Dark Eldar Podcast, back with another painting tutorial, this time on my approach to painted the Aeldari Webway Gate Eldar players have been dying for some terrain themed to their armies. Their prayers were answered in the form of the Webway Gate.
Hi there! I’m Lee from Freshly Pieced, and I’m so excited to be showing you my first Moda Bake Shop project, using one of my current favorite fabric lines, Terrain by Kate Spain.1 jelly…
In part one of this series, I covered the process I used for making the 3' x 3' boards and swamps for this Runewars demo board, commission...
Vineyards make excellent, useful terrain features in all kinds of different games. They limit maneuverability, provide concealment for infantry, and nicely fill table space. For WW2 gaming, they can be included in nearly every theater in which the war was fought. Wine-producing regions include NW Europe, Belorussia, Italy, Greece and the Balkans, Crete, the Levant, and even French Morocco and Syria. I'll be honest, I've always wanted to make vineyards but have been rather daunted by getting it "just right" - the perfect balance between playability and realism. While the Battlefront FOW version is nice, it's rather clunky. Well, I finally threw caution to the wind and tried my hand at it....and now I wonder why I waited so long. Really the only problem was the "fiddliness" of affixing the wire trellising to the end posts, but I'll show you how to tackle that problem. Materials Wide popsicle sticks ("tongue depressers") Toothpicks Dry, thin tree branch shoots Medium Ballast in various colors OR sand Thin gauge metal wire OR black upholstery thread Foliage-Fiber Clusters OR Clump Foliage Felt Static grass (optional) White, wood, & CA glues X-acto knife and/or utility knife Black primer Clear flat spray sealant Dirt-tone acrylic colors 1. Using a knife, cut the spiky ends off a series of wood toothpicks. Then, cut each toothpick into thirds -measurements don't have to be exact. Glue one section of toothpick on to the end of each popsicle stick, leaving about 1/2" of space at the end for the post supports. I used CA glue for this step. 2. Using a cutting mat grid or the corner of a piece of scrap paper, line toothpicks on a 45 degree angle, cut off the ends along the grid lines (or paper edges if using paper). Each piece should resemble the picture below once cut. Once cut, glue these post supports between each end post and the popsicle sticks. This will provide additional support and stability when tying the the wire trellises. 3. The trickiest part! Using thin gauge wire or black upholstery thread, cut a piece about 2.5x the length of the popsicle stick. Begin by winding the wire around one end post below the post support, use a drop of CA glue to secure it once wound. 4. Keeping the wire tight, wind it around the opposite end post, below the post support. Use a drop of CA glue to secure it. Then, wind the wire up around the post over the post support, as picture below. Keeping the wire tight, wind it around the first post above the post support. Use CA glue to secure it, then clip the excess. 5. You should now have two wire trellises one atop the other, running between each end post. Do this for the rest of the sticks. Don't worry if it seems fragile - reinforcement will come when you add the vine trunks. 6. Spray all the sticks with black primer and let dry. 7. Take a couple dry, thin tree branch shoots from your yard and cut off pieces just about the height of the top wire trellis on each stick. Glue several in a row alongside the wire trellising on each base using wood glue. Don't worry about painting them - they're already the perfect color! 8. Once dry, paint each end post a greyish-brown color to resemble weathered wood. Try to avoid painting the wire trellising. Let thoroughly dry. 9. Mix various colors of medium railroad ballast to resemble the harsh, often rocky soil grapevines thrive in. I'm using grey, white, and buff colored ballast. Spread wood or white glue evenly over each base, then sprinkle liberally with ballast. Allow to thoroughly dry before shaking off the excess ballast. 10. Once the ballast is dry, mix your preferred earth toned acrylic colors. I use a base of medium grey, mixed with equal parts medium brown and biege, with a small drop of dark red. Dip your brush in water to dilute the paint into a heavy wash and apply to the base. The wash should soak into the crevices between the stones and just slightly tinge the stones themselves, helping to blend them together. 11. Allow to dry, then seal well with flat spray sealant. 12. Pull long thick strands of fiber-foliage apart. Place drops of white glue on the top of each vine trunk, then a long line on the underside of the foliage strand. Place down along the top of the trellising and vine trunks. Try to fold the foliage over each side and push together. If you want, once the foliage is dry, apply static grass to the base. Just don't use too much - a good vintner wouldn't want grass stealing the nutrients from the soil that the grapes could use! 13. Cut enough pieces of felt fabric to accommodate your bases. I've cut three pieces, large enough to fit four bases in single rows, with enough room in between to accommodate a medium FOW base. I used beige felt, then did a light overspray of grey and brown with spray paint. That's it - you're done! Though I made these vineyards for 15mm, if you cut the end posts a little higher and added a third wire trellis - these could easily be used for 28mm gaming. If you cut the end posts down a bit and only used one wire trellis, these could even be made for 6mm!
More??? Ok! Some time later I am ready to start painting the sump. The jetty has been painted brown, washed black and green, and drybrushed with...
This evening I continued experimenting with the tarps... I applied the sealant/water mix as before but managed to thin the 3-ply tissues o...
Hey jungle readers, from time to time we ask talented painters and modellers to share their knowledge with our readers on MassiveVoodoo...
Il Progetto della Locanda Abbandonata è giunto alla fine! Eccovi alcune foto del lavoro ultimato:
#Crafty
That really is the perfect setting for your Town House. GREAT WORK!
