Malifaux Terrain: The Mansion Part 5

I spent a few day doing some detail work on the mansion. One of my goals when starting this project was to add as much detail as I could without resorting to lots of pre-made bits. I could easily by some plastic window kits, but on a project of this size, the price would mount pretty quickly. Instead, I went out to the local craft store and picked up a few basic supplies to start working on the windows. So far I am pretty happy with how they are working out.

 I started with painting them brown. If you leave the paint fairly thin, the wood grain shows through nicely. Along with the popsicle sticks, I had a bag of long thin bass wood strips that would work for trim and the window cross bars. I used a pair of clippers to snip the popsicle sticks to the right length for each window frame and then beveled the edges so they would fit together at a nice 45 degree angle. each window is slightly different, so each piece was trimmed individually.

 From an old miniatures package I cut out some rectangles of clear plastic for the windows. On some of them I cut lines to simulate cracks and other had a corner cut off to simulate breakage.

 Here are some of the finished interior doorways. I glued the top piece in first then slid the side pieces in underneath so they fit snugly. Using the thin bass wood strips, I created a simple frame around them. This adds a further level of detail and also hides the places where the wallpaper was cut out from the doorway. A little white glue holds the whole thing together.

 The windows took a little more work, since I had to fit four pieces together plus two more for the cross pieces. A few of the window frames are a bit wonky, but I did not correct them. I want the building to look dilapidated and uneven so it fits with the ethos of the place. I used a drop of superglue to hold the plastic window pieces in.

 The interiors are finished in a similar fashion as the doors, with a frame that goes all the way around. This level is just about complete. I will order some furniture soon and put a few pictures on the wall.

Here are the first two levels finished!

Well, mostly finished. I have decided that the roof line is just not working for me. I may cut the peaks of the roofs of and rework them to be flat topped. But that is a project for another day...

-Maniple

Malifaux Terrain: Creepy Structure Part 2

I painted up the little house as a test piece for the Malifaux mansion project. I wanted to see what the best way might be to paint the siding, in particular. I want this house to be "Malifaux" in that it looks innocent at first glance, but then becomes horrible on closer examination. 

 I did something new with the windows this time by painting in some curtains. i will admit that they look pretty crude up close, but from a distance actually look very nice. I don't want a really polished look on my stuff anyway. Malifaux has kind of a storybook feel to it, so more abstract terrain seems to fit better along with the models.

 I also deliberately skewed some of the angels, particularly on the window frames. This contributes to the overall look rather subtly, just like the mismatched shingles. I could have bought all my siding and windows online from a plastic kit manufacturer, but that just doesn't interest me as much. The bricks were painted in various shades of brown and red but I think they still need a highlight so it stands out more. I need to get a hold of some cotton balls to make some smoke for the chimney. I think that will go a long way to show that something horrible is happening inside.

Here is a close up of the front windows. What is happening in there? Well, bad things happen...




-Maniple

Malifaux Terrain: Creepy Structure Part 1

This is a little house I started last year. I want something to represent a creepy structure in Malifaux. So far it looks pretty innocent, but my plan will be to situate it in a piece of creepy terrain. The chimney will have a large plume of smoke and the windows will reflect some creepy firelight from inside.

 The house is simple foamcore sheathed in card strips. I will next fashion a decent sized base with a few creepy trees, a fence, and a walkway. Maybe some gravestones out back?

I would also like the building to be removable from the base. I plan on creating a little diorama with stuff going on inside, like a fireplace, a dining room table, and maybe a rocking chair in the corner. We'll just have to see.

-Maniple

Malifaux Terrain: The Mansion Part 4

This doesn't look like much, but I was having a problem joining the round roof to this tower. The tower itself is round at the front and square at the back. In order to join it up I layered several pieces of cardboard and carved it to blend the two shapes together. Once done, I shingled it and attached to old roof. It now has a much better fit and looks quite a bit better from all angles. next step will be to frame out the big window.

This is a project I was not looking forward to. I have done thousands and thousands of shingles and I find the work very tedious, especially on long ranks like these. So, I plugged into a new podcast and took an afternoon to finish it up. Now I need some paint to try and bring it in line with the rest of my Malifaux buildings.








The biggest job, of course, is finishing the siding. Like the shingles, this just took lots of time. Once I had all of the card cut out, it didn't really take me all that long. The corners and windows of course take a little care. Next step will be window and door frames. I need to see if I can get my hands on some balsa wood for this job. It will be a little more sturdy than card and look better when painted. Speaking of paint, once I finish a few other projects I will get some color on this.



-Maniple

Malifaux Terrain: The Mansion Part 3

 It has been quite a while since I did any work on the mansion. It was looking fairly good, but the exterior design really bothered me. The "columned" look I was going for did not look right at all. I couldn't decide how to paint it and the various gaps and uneven corners were driving me nuts.

I always go to my standard solution when things are looking bad- the humble card strip. I took a sheet of paperboard and marked it off in 3/8" lines.

 With my handy razor blade I carefully cut them out and then made about 50 more.

If you are attempting a project like this, take necessary precautions, namely: use a sharp knife, lay out sheets of cardboard to protect your desk, and keep all your cereal boxes so the evil recycling fairy doesn't take them away.

Also measure and cut carefully. That is important.

 I started on the back of the house at the top. I reasoned that if I didn't like how it was turning out, this would be any easy tear-down and replace. I started at the bottom and carefully layered each strip over the top of the one below. I used a little white glue to stick them down and my old sprue cutters to nip off the edges.

 I determined that it was looking good, so I went after the tower next. In order to get the pieces to lay flat, I had to slice off all my old trim pieces. This was a little tricky, but a very sharp knife helped out.

This tower took me quite a while to finish since there were a lot of small pieces to cut out around the windows.

 As you can see, it is coming right along. I am not too worried about getting the corners super neat. I want it to look run-down and neglected. The rough corners give it a nice look. I also trimmed off the balcony-things that ringed the tower. What were those for?

I briefly considered using balsa wood for this project, but there are a lot of places where the siding needs to bend. Also, it would have likely been too thick. I am going to paint the thing anyway, so card was my best option.

The siding will be painted to match the shingles, but in a darker shade. The siding will be black, with just a hint of blue-gray on the highlight.

The round tower will get some kind of stone treatment. Not quite sure what it will look like, but perhaps I think of something later.

Here is a close up of the work. The boards are uneven and ill-fitting. Perfect. It finally looks like a haunted house!

Now I only have the two main floors to go. Wish me luck!

-Maniple

40K Terrain: Instant City

I like to find simple solutions for terrain since having it around is such an important part of wargaming. Many people don't make terrain since they think it is too hard, too expensive or any old pile of crap will do anyway. To the contrary, I think decent terrain can be had cheaply, easily, and thematically. This technique can be used for just about any game system, just change the template a bit and you are good to go. For this project you will need:

2 Sheets of black foamcore

2 Empty cereal boxes

Pencil

Ruler

White Glue

Hobby Knife

Dress Pins

 

This set of terrain was made one day when I realized that I was going to have a 40K game the next day and all my terrain either sucked or was elsewhere. I started with a tip from White Dwarf. I took two cereal boxes and made a pair of templates. I measured out some windows and doorways using a ruler and straight edge, cutting them out with a sharp knife. Each story is about 2" tall.

 I made the second template with some arched windows that could be used for a chapel or something. The point of the template is that it will make all your buildings similar, making them appear to belong in the same city. When making them, keep all your measurements precise and take your time cutting the windows out. Consistency is your friend!

 Take your sheets of foamcore and use a pencil to trace out the shape of each wall that you want. For a ruined city, make some of them angled where they have been asploded. With the basic shape drawn, lay the template over it and trace out the windows and doors. Once this is done, use your hobby knife to cut it all out. I can't stress this enough- use a sharp knife! If all your edges are ragged and torn it will mark you out as a lazy builder who doesn't know his (ahem)... method. Make three cuts- paper, foam, paper. Don't rush it.

 Now take your wall pieces and glue them together. Some dress pins can be used to hold it all together while drying. I also cut out and measured some floor pieces. They are designed to hold models comfortably without danger of them toppling off.

 I turned out a whole bunch of buildings pretty quickly with this method that are playable right away. From here you can add window frames, floorbeams, busted doors, and custom bases for a much more finished look. A gray drybrush would also be a nice simple touch. On the right you can see a simple bunker I made for my command squad and behind that some fuel tanks made from cardboard tubes.

I also added some GW barriers and a few loops of razor wire. On the left is my landing pad. Awesome, huh?
Here is how to make the razor wire (sorry no pics ATM): Take two lengths of wire, one thick and one thin. Wrap the thin one around the thick one like the design on a barber pole. Once you get to the desired length, clip off any excess. Take the wrapped pieces of wire and wrap them around your pencil, creating a coil. Remove pencil and you are done!



Keep in mind you can buy a very nice plastic version of this set up for about $300, if you want. This cost me 15 bucks.

-Maniple

Malifaux Terrain: The Swamp Lodge Part 2

 The first accessory was a pig corral. The base is a piece of foamcore and some foam scraps. My brother made some fence pieces, sharpened the ends, and shoved the ends into the foam.

 My personal favorite. Note the roll of TP.

 The completed corral. It is just the right size to fit four standard bases and the door can open and shut.

 A still for making white lightning. The bits are just wire, tubing, and a funnel.

 Critter trap.

 A saw horse with some cans on it. What is this for?

 Target practice, of course!

Here is the terrain set up all together. We didn't have the board painted green yet, but you get the idea.


-Maniple (guided by LaCroix and Tyler)

Malifaux Terrain: The Swamp Lodge Part 1

This is a project I started with my brother when I was home last Christmas. He has a pretty active gaming group and wanted some terrain for the clubhouse. He plays piggies and thought some swamp terrain would be pretty sweet. We sketched out a couple ideas and set to work.

Here are the materials we used;
Foamcore
Wooden craft sticks
Wooden dowels
White glue
Pink foam
Drywall mud
Odds and ends from the bits box
A pair of side-cutters to chop the sticks
Ruler, knife, etc...

We would make several buildings on pylons, a wide dock, wooden bridges, and a few hillocks. We also made some "interest" pieces like a pig corral, still, and saw horse.

The basic construction was the usual- we cut strips of foamcore, scored them, and folded them into shape for the buildings.

We cut a bunch of wooden stips using the side cutters. These often come "popsicle" style, so the rounded edges had to go.

We sheathed them in wooden strips and worked around the holes we cut for windows and doors.

The buildings all have porches outside and small pieces of dowel used to lift them up out of the swamp. In order to attach them firmly, you should probably use a small nail or screw to hold them in since glue doesn't really do the trick.

The buildings would all be connected by walkways. These are simply made out of some long pieces and a number of planks. Be sure to leave them wide enough for a wide base to sit firmly on top. A narrow walkway might look better, but will dump your war piggy in the swamp every time.

Here are a couple of small hills. They are pink insulation form filed down with a rasp and covered with drywall mud. Once dry, we sanded the mud down to a smooth finish. When making these, keep a model handy and see if it can stand upright without sliding off. I have tossed a number of hills because they were too steep for a model to stand on.

The central dock/platform was made from craft sticks. We left a couple of small holes to increase the decrepitude and hacked off the ends of the planks with the side-cutter. Reinforce the bottom neatly so your models don't actually fall through when playing!

We hit everything with some brown paint and a quick highlight. Notice that the sticks covering the walls are uneven and completely cover the foamcore.

Mr. Jones approves the repair to his porch.


Next I will show some of the bits we made to dress up the board

Malifaux Terrain: The Mansion Part 2

With the exterior coming along, I began work on the interior. I used several different techniques. For the floors on the first storey, I cut a number of small strips of card and glued them down to look like wooden planks. I painted them with a mix of brown paint and white glue. The glue gave it a slightly shiny finish.

From the interweb, I printed out pictures of area rugs and glued them over the top in the center of the larger rooms.

I was also able to print out dollhouse wallpaper and used a glue stick to paste it to the walls. Since dollhouse scale is quite a bit bigger than 32mm, I had to shrink the designs down to make them work.

On the upper floors, I opted to use paper terrain from http://www.worldworksgames.com/. They had a nice selection of papers, but I had to cut them down to fit. If I had the project to do over, I would have made my walls tall enough to fit a whole sheet without cutting.

For a little more detail, I got some little pictures from the interweb and photoshopped on some frames.

I am still working on more details for each room. So far I have an oven in the kitchen and a dumbwaiter in the pantry, as well as a few counters. I need to add window frames, furniture, curtains, interior doors, stairs, and a few more bits and pieces. One room will be a lab, so it needs some appropriate equipment. Eventually I would like to add a basement level as well with dungeons, secret passages, etc....

 Here is the mansion so far. The paint is pretty rough, but I have a long way to go with detail work before I tackle that.

Here is the exploded look. With all this blocking terrain it won't really be suitable for standard Malifaux games. It calls out for a special scenario or some house rules, I think. The next step is to finish it!

-Maniple