Well "The Forest" project is (despite taking 4 days holiday) in full swing. I had 27 new minis arriving so I needed to make sure I had painted at least 27.
The terrain is on hold for a day or two until I decide how I am going to base things*. In my old French Indian Dino Wars phase I had big MDF bases with tubes to slot the tree trunks into; but I am thinking I may individually base the trees. I tend to also (nowdays) build terrain around storage i.e. can I break it down easily to fit into those A4-width clear office boxes.
*Any links to good Youtubes of quick forest building is appreciated. No, I will not be hand-making my own trees. No, the trees will not be based on elaborate dioramas that take hours per tree. I spend an afternoon or two, max - for the whole table. I actually plan to play on my table.
'The Forest' is an ancient, Grimms-style forest, dotted with the ruins of an ancient civilization. I am going to remake a 4x4 forest table, which has ruin entrances. If my men go into the entrance, the game moves to a underground 4x4 table (which I've been using a lot recently). Each biome has different roaming monsters. Games will be typical looking for warpstone relics but as I play with my kids I tend to GM scenarios as we go.
I kinda envision Pripyat/Chernobyl "The Zone" relic hunting but instead it's medieval "The Forest." I imagine my mercenaries speaking with Russian accents. Here is a nicer description of my project's Excel sheet...
The factions will be:
*Mercenaries/Adventurers. Morally ambiguous. Want loot.
Royal Troops. Tend to frown on incursions into prohibited zone. Maybe spare MESBG rangers.
*Evil Baron's Men. Well equipped party looking for powerful artifacts. Lots of horses and plate.
Order of Mages. A handful of magicians (WA) and some more lightly armed retainers.
*Crusaders. Maybe some Sisters to please my daughter (and allow Mordheim compatability).
*Witch Hunters. Anything suspicious will be purged. With fire. Maybe a sprue of flagellants?
All these generic medieval troop factions are all mostly going to be a box each of WA Conquistadors/Guards, maybe a Frostgrave wizard sprue. $125 Wargames Atlantic
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Barbarians. Tribesman living on/in forest. Vikings with more bows and fur.
Any of my spare vikings/peasants/Saxons, maybe a few Frostgrave barbarian sprues for more furry cloaks and some female representation. $30 Frostgrave
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Elves. Not keen on humans messing with 'Powers that Should not be Awoken.'
Maybe a box of Oathmark light elves - I don't want to use MESBG's iconic style but can proxy them in the interim if needed. $50
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Goblins. Whilst having unpleasant hygiene and no social skills, these are persecuted refugees who have fled human settlements. Short lived, lightly armed, but resourceful and very numerous.
Oathmark goblin slaves. The raggedy ones. $50 Oathmark
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*Spider/Wolf Cultists. Collect relics. Enjoy chanting and sacrificing with friends. Often have extra limbs.
I really really wanted the Warcry spider cultists (I have heaps of MESBG spiders) but I'm going to have to kitbash my own extra arms using my Frostgrave cultist box as they are apparently OOP. I may have some barbarian-themed werewolf cultists too. $0
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*Necromancers. Misunderstood, these guys really value the sanctity of human life. They don't think any humans should be risked in the search for knowledge in The Forest. ....Yes, I suppose there is that whole zombie thing.
I have some rather large Fireforge undead peasants who were pressed into service from local village graveyards, and have just got some Frostgrave vampires... $80 Frostgrave/Fireforge
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Monsters. At the moment I am scouring through my bitz boxes, and have unearthed a real kitchen sink assortment. Wolves and eagles, skeletons: sure - but I have also found some 15mm aliens to be scurrying carnivorous beetle-thingies, some rats (meant to be Skaven pets) and a wild pig. Pity my Tyrannid gaunts have sci fi bases as one of those would be a terrifying opponent in a dark forest. Maybe 3D print a big snake...
Some bears on my wish list - as they also can double up in MESG. $25 3D print
*As you can see, I can use most of the minis for my not-Mordheim/Vermintide game I have planned....
I Iike how you are reinventing Mordheim, hunting forest relics vs warpstone among ruins.
ReplyDeleteNot sure about the trees, you can get premade railroad trees of good quality but they are typically outrageous in price, worse by the scale of your board. If there's a park full of trees, maybe pick up small branches and large twigs, varnish them in polyurethane, and then add the foliage?
- GG
You may assume I have trees or will get cheap ones. I'm digging up my old box
Deletehttps://deltavector.blogspot.com/2014/12/terrain-wip-quick-n-dirty-forest-basing.html
..will give you the idea the sort of stuff I have. I may do a WIP of what I am up to so folks can give suggestions...
Some ideas re: original old terrain
+ Replace plaster of paris with more durable rubber bricks, which also match the undercity board
+ Tart up with more texture, shading, etc. Add flocking and tufts. Maybe create a forest pool.
+ Maybe put trees on individual mdf circles rather than using the holes in the mdf. Just have trees at the corners of the terrain, but have them be removable?
+ Reduce MDF pieces in size for easier storage.
+ Hairspray the el cheapo Aliexpress trees so the leaves don't fall off
I'll post up some photos of my current ingredients soon...
-eM
You've been at this forest board since 2015! Great stuff!
Delete- GG
Only got a few months use - in 2015! It shed to much of the "leaves" and got packed away for a decade. I discovered it in a clean up, found the leaves can be fixed in place with hairspray... and project Forest was born.
Delete-eM
For my Bolt Action forest pieces, I use a technique similar to this:
ReplyDeletehttps://chainlinkandconcrete.blogspot.com/2023/11/terrain-for-woodland-warfare.html
I just use some sturdy twigs cut to size, several layers of foam painted brown for the canopy, and lots of lichen hot-glued to the foam. Pretty easy!
Thanks! This is a great idea, and definitely the sort of thing I am looking for - very playable, fairly sturdy, not too elaborate to build.
Delete-eM
I once had a really big jungle table.
ReplyDeleteTwo tricks, first is to take a few black pipe cleaners and twist them up, dip them in dark bown paint, and then dry brush a slightly lighter brown over it once dry. Then, just put lichen on them. I often based them on CDs.
My second favorite was to take toilet paper rolls, stick piper cleaner roots systems on them, paint them up. These represented large tree trunks where the branches were high up in the canopy.
I am sure I have some photos on my blog somewhere, but I gave that table away a long time ago.
- Eric Farrington