deadzone table fininshed

we I got to it and finished the deadzone demo table.

I built the dock and put down the water.

 so painted the blue water area worked out dock location and glued down supports, glued in some pipe heads

then added some white around the areas that waves would form to give movement for the display

so this is what I use, I mix it up and lay it down. I use a pop stick to spread it out

 in order to get the texture I use a cheap brush as I will throw it away . and as the product beginning to dry. this will happen in about 15min from mixing. I will use the brush to rough it up around the painted areas. this will give that area texture.

with the pipes I also wait till it begins to dry and then drop it in the pipes so it looks like it is flowing out

 as the product dries I them use some ink in the mix to give it colour, the ink sinks in a bit and looks like it is floating in the water not just on the surface.

I put extra texture around the leg supports

then done 24 hour drying time and it is game on.

DIY Terrain on the cheap

Well hello all
It has been about six months since I have been into the hobby, I have been busy with life .
now after having a listen to the pod cast Counter charge I had an idea to get back into the hobby of terrain making. we have the new dead zone due next year and warpath after that. So I was listening to the episode where they where talking about armies on the cheap and now you can use just about anything to make an army. I think it was build an army on about $5 a week.
well I love to build terrain and I believe you need to have a great table to play on.( the third player in all our games). so I started to look at showing you can really build a great looking table for a cheap price.
Now what I will say that in table will be costed for product only and the tools are one I already have.
I will also say that I do have one advantage as I work for a large Australian DIY retailer so I have the opportunity to pick up the goods a little cheaper. I will through cost the goods at retail price for the purpose of the exercise.

Up first I took a piece of MDF this one came from the scrap pile at Bunnings, so it was only $5, now the size is 4 foot by 2'10" so a little short one side but longer the other. I had an idea so I drew the basic out line on the MDF.

 the next was i took some paint and painted  the different levels with some craft paint this was to give me some idea of the basic outline. it also made it easy to see what I was doing for the photos.

 

 now i picked up some form board from work to use as the basic levels, there is two thickness they are 50 mm and 25mm, they are 600mmx1200mm in size, one was $20 the other was $16. now I had one already left over from another project so i only purchased one this time

next i raided the kitchen and borrowed some baking paper and cut out the stencil for the top level.

 so using a sharp exacto knife I cut out some blocked areas around the areas, now one of the dig things you need to look at is to get the most out of your foam is the position of the parts you need. take some time and use your stencil to work out the must economical use of the foam. you can cut down the stencil to make it work then join the pieces together. i marked out the areas I needed and then got out my trusty hot foam cutter. you can actually make one quite cheaply if you need but I have had mine quite some time.

now as you can see this is all cut out and layered out.

 next was do the same with the bottom layer, again there are gaps under the top layer section will be hollow this helps keep the cost down as you will not need a second sheet of foam. you can if you like spend the extra and have two solid pieces under the top. the difference is I will have to do a little more clean up latter on the base.

next up was design and carve out any extra areas that will need work, in this case the beach head and the jetty will need to be done.

 so worked the jetty and the beachhead, again the MDF I use was from the scape bin at work. but you can pick up a 600x300 3mm sheet for $4 so not two expensive. then just cut it down into the sizes you need. i also took the scape's from the cutting of the second level and added them to the top giving me an extra height an some more levels

 gamer eye view to date

next up was to glue is down and let it set. now i use a water base glue , it is called aquahere, it is not the cheaper version on the white glue as it is $15 a bottle for 1 litre,  but this is a product that you can find others do for as little as $8 a bottle. now this product will be needed later so you will need to get one.

So to date
wood base $5
foam board $36
MDF $4
white glue $8

I now have to wait for it to dry,
it took me about 4 hours to get to this point , but I have the equipment an have set up my work area to make terrain. For an average gamer I would give your self about 6 hours and then let the build dry for about 48 hours.

thanks till next time

Justin

A look at my Deadzone

As a player I am a play it painted type of player.
So as a pathfinder I also bring the play it painted attitude to the hobby as all of the events and leagues I run do have painting as a component, even if only three colour blocks. So I thought I would give you a look at the dead zone I have painted so far. From time to time I will display the model collection for the games to show that even 10 Min's a day and you can have a lot of painted armies.

so not only minis have a play it painted for me so dose the terrain. if people are willing to put effort into their models i have to give them a suitable place to play.

2015 where to for now.

well as part of the planning for the next year it is goo to set some goals.
these goals will be broken down as time goes by.
but to start lets look at the basic five points for the next 12 months.

Well here is mine

1. Paint more then I buy/or receive from kick-starters
2. Play more games then I demo.
3. Run four events during the year 2015
4. Update my blogs- at least once a week-
5. Build three display boards for three different systems.

So what will you do this year?

now that I have set down the basics of my up and coming year, I already have mad a change. As well as increased the scope of the goals for this year.

1. as well as above I would also like to paint more then I did last year,

Completed YTD

802

Deadzone – terrain x2

Dreadfleet – terrain

Mars attacks – terrain x2

Watch tower - 1

2. So I am a pathfinder and this year would like to increase my games play so I need to play more games with people the just demo games for mantic that way I still can build up the player base of my mantic games and get more games in.

3. no change

4. no change

5.. build three display tables.
the update is that I will be building an abyssal table for Kings of War, this will now mean only two display boards and one table.


One of the events I like to do is build terrain, so each year I choose a theme and build a table or two, last year it was a jungle table, so this year I am building a Abyssal table.I actually Build tables for many of the systems I play so last year there was a 8foot Jungle table for Kings of War, as well as a jungle table for dreadzone, I did not get a dreadball one built , But I bought the Azure Forrest broad with the expansion.
now one of the efforts i make is that all of my tables from different systems now link to the main table so that the games can all flow together. as you can see with the KoW table and the Deadzone terrain.
so this means that as i make the next table all others will be linked in some way.

so for 2015 I have Kings of war table to do, Then a linked in display board or a gaming table for, deadzone, dreadball and Mars attacks as these are the game systems in play as at the beginning of 2015.

 this is the jungle table

deadzone add on to jungle table.

display and demo table

One of the key ways to deo a game is to make it look great so that people will come from any part of the room to come have a look and a game. So one of the tings I have put together is a Deadzone display demo table.
So here is the first game system table produced.