Well it’s been a year to the day since my original post here and I thought it could do with an update.
Firstly, I’ve had a busy year, particularly working on Darklands projects. All the Kickstarters have really fuelled my hobby passions for this game.
With regards to Kindreds I’m now collecting Albainn as this seemed a bit of a no brainer with their amazing looking monsters and I managed to get Gomagg for free from one of the kickstarters.
Anyway let’s go back in time to a year ago and continue this blog of the creation and construction of the Darklands table.
During the construction of the Darklands table I contacted Rob and Tim at Mierce and asked if they would like to use this table for their demo games at Salute 2016. They were both hugely enthusiastic so this gave me a deadline to work towards which I find necessary to complete hobby projects. In my discussions with Rob he stated that he only had space for a 4’x4’ demo table. This was actually a bonus as I would not be able to complete the entire 6’x4’ table for Salute 2016. So I focused my efforts on the river section and monument section.
After a tonne of filling, sanding and cladding all the flat areas with pvc it was ready for painting.
Primer
A couple of scale shots with Vaak and Uthuull
Pre shading
Rockwork spraying completed with five different colours speckled on and then green for moss. The speckling helps to give a more natural rock appearance. I was going for a granite type rock of northern England.
The river section with brown airbushed on in streaks, I wanted the impression of shallows and deep water.
Grass sheets added, this was the paper variety, great stuff albeit incredibly bright and vivid.
With trees, I wanted an autumnal look to the table.
Detail of the tomb entrance that has been ‘greened up’ and had foliage added.
I sprayed the grass with a brown spray to knock back the colour and make it more natural and dirty looking.
Some action shots
Next onto the column which I had cast in plaster and added a 54mm Roman soldier figure to the top.
The column and plinth were heavily weathered which was easy to achieve in the plaster. This was sealed with pva, sprayed off white and I then set about using brown and green washes to add weathering and dirt.
I wanted to have a Roman road running through the table, this would also help to disguise the join in the table sections. After some research I settled on this design. The white areas are pvc, the blue are foam with rocks and sand. This was built in three sections to allow me to replace the middle section with a T-junction as I would be adding a bridge over the river section to connect the third table section in the future.
The water effects were poured onto the river section. I had some issues with this as it took over 2 months to go completely hard and was still tacky whilst being played on at Salute. The resulted in some damage but I’m hoping that this can be cured with another thinner pour of water effects.
The table in action at Salute 2016 at the Mierce stand with Rob Boyce giving a demo game.
The two Robs in action
After the storm of Salute the monument section sat in my hobby room where I was able to display all my Mierce miniatures.
Personally for me 2016 was a year of highs and lows: In April I completed my first ever wargames table, displayed this at Salute where I was lucky enough to meet and chat with Rob, Tim and the Militia from Mierce. In July I survived bowel cancer and sepsis thanks to the NHS and my wife. I have been able to cope through my recovery by throwing myself into the hobby which has kept me looking forward and focused on goals in life to achieve.
So one year on and another conversation with Rob regarding this year’s Salute. Rob stated that Mierce had a dedicated demo space and would like to have a 6’x4’ table. Awesome. This gives me the perfect incentive to complete the next section of the table, which I hope will be the most impressive. This section is a hillside with a Byzantii temple on it, whilst working out the scaling of the table I had to reduce the size of the Temple as it would leave no room for gaming. This resulted in just having the porch of the temple which is the most impressive piece anyway and allows for another table section for expansion in the future.
Some updated pictures of the board with some gorgeous Mierce miniatures on it.
With the third table section I wanted to have the Byzantii temple removable. This was because I wanted to have the option of just a hillside which would increase the table’s versatility. I also have a rather tight deadline to complete and plan to work on the temple once the table is near enough complete. Most of the construction work was complete, I just need to add some rock work, pvc for the flat areas and built some sides to the table. I had originally planned to construct a cliff face on the edge of the table but scaled this back to some rocky outcrops.
Rockwork complete, pvc added, filled and sanded.
With the rockwork complete I added lots of rubble, stones and sand for a more natural look. The trip to this is to use stones and gravel of varying sizes. This was then sealed with pva glue.
Large stones
Medium and small stones
Sand
Sealed
At this stage I had to make a start on the temple as I needed to work out how it would fit onto the hillside. This was an important stage as it meant that I would have to include some substantial steps to access the temple.
Scoring the pvc for the temple floor. The temple would be derelict and heavily weathered.
Having sorted out how the temple would interact with the hillside I turned my attention to the construction of the Byzantii bridge that with link the Temple with the Monument section. This would match the road sections I have made and would have the appearance of being weathered. I wanted the bridge to be removable and set about making the main construction from pvc. This was to make it durable and sturdy, the brickwork was then clad in blue foam which had been scored up and textured.
Texturing the brickwork
Crazy crazy paving
You shall not pass
So this is where I am currently, Salute 2017 is in nine weeks, I have my work cut out for me but I’m confident this will all be finished in time. I will try and post more regular updates from now on.
Thanks for reading
Bish.
. I'm looking forward to seeing it in action at Salute, it will draw a lot of attention!
