Table Update

Well as you know there was a mishap with the adhesion method that was first used to get our Grass Mat down on the foam. The second method work great however and there was no issue with shrinkage at all. So we finished off the final (for now) steps to protect the board which was to run black duct tape around the edges to help with the boards longevity as well as pull the edges of the board tight without trimming the mat itself. Here are the images from the final table with board. I'm sure you can see the second set of boards beneath the finished ones. These are the start of our Normandy Omaha Beach Landing boards.

 

Now all that remains to be done is litter it with tons of terrain. I figured the most sensible place to start is with the hills. While my father works on the Omaha Beach Sea Wall I can use the scrap pieces to add some flavor to my hills. Anyway, that is the upcoming project that I will be working on. I'm hoping to get started on that by the end of the week which will give me time to finish painting my Warmaster Trolls tonight and base the three units that are done being painted so I can get better pictures of them. I have decided on how I want to base them. I plan to do something rather generic which I saw on Balagan's Crossfire website. This is how I plan to base my WWII Crossfire figs as well. I like it because it is generic enough that they would not look out of place in any terrain, except maybe somewhere that is itself exotic. Anyway, I'll be off to the painting table now.

The trouble with Tribb...er Tables

Well apparently the white glue we used was to watered down and the mat kept coming right up. So, we used a wood glue and spread it around using putty knives. We then re-applied the mat and smoothed it out with a rolling pin. Finally we added weight to the top to help keep the mat as close to the adhesive as possible. We did not water the wood glue down and now my only worry is what will happen if (when) the adhesive shrinks as glue likes to do. It said it was meant for wood, foam and plastic so I am fairly confident everything will turn out fine.

A game table to call my own

Well with just a few touch-ups left on the hobby table and game boards I thought now might be a good time to post some info about it. My father and I started working on it abut a week and a half ago. It started as a table just so we could start work on the "Normandy to Berlin" game boards but the fact that it takes 35 minutes to get to the closest game store has prompted the quick construction of some generic game boards so I can host games from time to time. Of course I only know one gamer out here so far but we'll work on that next. There is supposedly a group of about a dozen Warmaster players out here.

So, the table is 4'x6' and is primarily plywood with two 2x6 supports. The legs lock into place so that it will always remain at waist height. That was really the trickiest part was getting the whole table level. But, its done!!! We added some side supports to keep the boards from moving if they get bumped, but as you can see they have gaps so that you can easily remove the boards as needed.

In the beginning there was lumber

Hmm... to heavy in the middle

Better, but not quite there yet

 The game boards themselves are 2'x4', or 2'x8' blue foam laminated to 1/8" masonite (MDF). They are not very heavy but the Masonite should help them survive longer. The generic boards that can be seen in the final picture then had a Grass Mat from Woodland Scenics glued to it. You can then see my father using a rolling pin to apply some pressure to the mat to get out all the air pockets. All that remains to do is test to make sure the glue takes and then attached the excess mat to the sides of the board. Hopefully that will happen tomorrow.

Attaching the Grass Mat

Glue, we need glue!

A little water and then we spread the glue

Removing the air bubbles

The completed table leveled and ready for terrain and armies!

Now that I have a table this should motivate me to get even more done. Huzzah!

Just a few other quick notes. I have unpacked the rest of my miniatures. They will require some cleanup as the method I used to transport them across the country did not quite work the way I had hoped. What I did was tape my loose miniatures to the bottom of boxes then I poured puffed rice into the boxes to keep them from shifting around and getting damaged. I think I would have been okay just using packing popcorn with them taped to the box but as I have never done something like this I wanted to make sure they were as safe as possible. Well they ended up being quite safe. Unfortunately when I bought my puffed rice all I could find was Sugar Puffs... which are sugar coated and at some point during my minis trek that sugar coated puffed rice turned into puffed cement!!! Nooooo! So unpacking them became breaking the puffed rice up and sifting through to make sure nothing was lost. It took a while but with the help of my father we got it done. Now they just need to be cleaned. Ugh! Well lesson learned at least.

Finally, I have used my first wash on a miniature. My Warmaster Trolls got a gray base coat over the last few days and tonight I applied a dark blue wash to them. 4:1:1 ratio of water to paint to glaze medium. I want to do a final coat on them but they  look good after the first coat. I have high hopes that it will all work out. Stay tuned for future troll developments.