Monday 12 December 2016

new boards - a new project

hi all

As the title of the post suggests i'm going to start a new terrain project.  What I have in mind is two new Bushido boards, yes two!! Lofty ambitions indeed :-)

The majority of the work will obviously be done in the new year, not only because of the lack of available time between now and then but also because of lot of the tools and bits and pieces will be arriving in the guise of xmas presents. However I have been able to do some work toward the first board which will be complimenting (I hope) my Prefecture of Ryu faction.  

My thoughts toward this board is that it will represent a Daimyo's palace, I love the idea of a great Lord's residence being attacked by invaders - which is why i'm looking forward to playing "Rise of the Kage" the board game by GCT which represents a ninja faction invading a great Prefecture Lord's castle.  With that in mind I started looking for materials to build the board and I was fortunate that a terrain idea from a blogging buddy - Jez from "Carrion Crow Buffet" blog about cheap flooring tiles from Poundworld took me along to the aforementioned store where I bought some supplies....


what I found when I got there was these awesome wooden floor like tiles, 4 for a £1 each tile being 12" x 12" which conveniently makes up a 2 x 2 foot board - the perfect size for Bushido!  Now I wouldn't want them on my living room floor as they are a bit thin and my dogs would tear them up in a minute but they definitely look the part (I hope) for my board.  After such an arduous shopping session I had to relax with a cup of tea at the local cafe where I discovered giant Custard Creams exist - heaven!!

massive custard cream!!
anyway, part of my Poundland (or whatever its called) splurge was for these frames which I thought would make really good dividing paper walls within the palace and that would be something I could work on in the mean time while I wait for the big day.


I cut some cereal box card to the shape of the frame middle, i could have sandwiched the card between two frames but wanted to stretch my meagre outlay that little bit further.  In the meantime I sprayed the frames with some black car paint (from a previous visit to Poundplanet or whatever its called...).


the card middles i painted a brownish yellow and painted some "oriental" artwork to them.



once painted I glued them with PVA to the frames, with a little bit of persuasion in some cases


I then cut up some old clear perspex I had from a TV dinner tray that  broke (don't ask...) and used them to base the dividers so that they could go on any terrain board if required.



and there we have it! I may make up some more, after all 6 frames for £1 isn't bad value and I might make those up without the design so that they are spaced out a bit, but for now I consider this a job done.

More to come on this project.
hope you enjoy
dGG

32 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thank you Fran, I really enjoy this part of the hobby tbh :-)

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  2. Great use of cheap terrain materials, they look very effective and a very flexible way of partitioning walls.

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    1. They certainly seem to look the part Dave, we'll see how the rest of the board turns out but I might do some more!

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  3. Great use of the tiles- whcih I've been eyeing up for a while (for basing trees on), but hte use of the frames is truly inspired - I couldn't think of use for them and have avoided their purchase.
    This is a model I'm looking forward to seeing trhough to completion !
    great stuff dGG!

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    1. Thanks Joe, Jez alerted me to the tiles with his great urban terrain and I was inspired to do something with them

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  4. I am really enjoying this.
    So much promise in the planning I am SURE the final result will be SPECTACULAR.
    (I have forgone English understatement!)

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    1. Nicely overstated Clint ;-P

      Hopefully this won't disappoint (said with proper British humility...)

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  5. Great stuff Andy. Love the partitions!! I'm especially interested in how flat the tiles sit, as I was thinking about using such things to base some printed floor-plans on?

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    1. They come very flat but tend to bend. They haven't curled up in the corners yet though. We'll see over the next few days what they are like to lay.

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  6. great stuff, the joys of Poundland

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    1. The joys indeed, cheap paint, cheap frames, cheap tiles, cheap brushes, it's all good

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  7. A truly inspired post, Andy. What would we gamers do without our cheap pound shops?

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    1. You're not wrong Bryan, the pound shops have made terrain building much more affordable than ever before

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  8. Very clever, that man!! Love the giant biccy as well!

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    1. The giant biccy was my favourite part of the build so far....

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  9. Very nice and innovative Andy, you'll be giving Jez a run for his money in the cheapskate stakes!

    Now if they only did a giant "Viscount" biscuit!!

    Cheers Roger.

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  10. Really cool. I like what you are doing so far. Gotta say I like the monkey coffee cup as well. :)

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    1. The monkey cup holds a good amount of tea and therefore is an important part of the process:-)

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  11. very very very nice.

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  12. Very clever idea and wonderfully executed!

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  13. Now I DO like these. How very inventive of you. I`d have never thought of doing that. Consider the idea well and truly `nicked` ~~grins~~

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  14. Very cool, Andy. I may jave to look at those frames myself - need one for a portrait of Vigo the Carpathian.
    To answer Simon's question, whilst they are flexible, as long as they're stored flat they won't deform, so using them for pre-printed floorplans should work fine. I intend to use them for some sci-fi corridors for my Doctors and companions to run up and down...

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    1. Big gilt frame mirrors and portraits were my initial thoughts when I saw these then I had my brain wave, so these would be perfect for the Carpathian! A little pink slime around the base... I started using the tiles today and echo what you say Jez, although beware the glue is not fab so may need a little dab of pva or something

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