Friday 23 December 2016

Prefecture of Ryu board - WIP part 1

hi all

So a quick update WiP on my new board, this one is for my Prefecture of Ryu faction and will represent the inside of a Damiyo's palace/castle.  I must admit I'm struggling with this one a bit with regard to the interior of the building.  The game requires 25 - 50% terrain coverage, but the inside of Japanese buildings are traditionally quite spartan, this leaves me in a little bit of a pickle.  So over the next couple of weeks I'll have to put my thinking cap on.  Of course I do have my dividing walls that I produced last time and I have got some nice 3D printed statues and lanterns from Master Crafted Miniatures coming so hopefully I can get something sorted (note to self - plan more before you dive into a project half cocked....)

Anyway, what I've done so far is to take one of my last remaining artist canvas which measures 60cm x 60cm, just short of the 24" squared  requirement and add some wooden trim to it. with that done I lined the canvas with some corrugated cardboard in order to provide some strength.  I then took some paint I bought in Poundland and gave it a quick coat or three...



Once that was done I added the Poundland tiles to the board to represent the flooring, originally I had the idea to do the whole floor with coffee stirrers - can you imagine how long that would have taken!?!  So when Jez directed my attention to the tiles (4 for a £1) I was delighted.  The tiles are 12"x 12" so needed a little trim to fit and we end up with this...



A couple of the scenarios in the game require a corner deployment zone measuring 6 x 6" so I decided to make these as terrain pieces rather than just a boring square that I mark out, to this end I thought I would do them as either viewing platforms/balconies.

For the base of the piece and to lend a bit of strength to the piece I used some lengths of thick mdf that came as packaging for our new oven.  Cutting them to 12" lengths and adding the cut off to strengthen the joins I glued the mdf together with "no nails" which holds it brilliantly.


I then cut some foamboard to the shapes of supporting walls and added some wooden coffee stick bolsters that would hold the planking of the slopes in place.


using "no nails" to bond the walls and mdf I constructed this....


I then cut out the 6x6" deployment zone and glued that in place before using my old fave coffee sticks to the angled foamboard to form a slope.  I ummed and ahhed about putting in stairs but actually wanted a slope as its more practical and looks just as nice.


and with the balcony and trim in place, I just needed to paint it and put the flooring in for the platform.


Next up time to cut out a piece of floor tile for the platform.


I also painted the inner walls white and shaded them with some Agrax and drybrushed them white again.  The wood work I drybrushed in increasingly lighter greys, I decided to do this because there was no way I was going to be able to match the beams or planks to the floor tile colours so it was better to do something altogether different.  The outer walls I painted using the same "Rustic Red" as the trim on the board.  For some further decoration I drew some Kanji onto "aged" parchment representing the symbols for "Honour" "Integrity" "Dragon" etc, then using PritStik glued them to the walls.








So that's as far as I have got with the limited time I've had, I'm very pleased with the result, I have another one to build for the other corner and there will be more to come after Christmas.

I have had a very rare week off  which will include the big day itself, so it falls to me on behalf of the Nerd Herd and da Gobbo's Grotto to wish all of you, who have followed this blog and the exploits of the Nerd Herd a very Merry Christmas and may Santa bring you all the shiny new toys your heart desires, I'll catch you after the big day.

hope you enjoy
dGG


28 comments:

  1. What an amazing start! Loving this already.

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  2. Great work on the board, for scenery to place on the board have you considered suits of armour ?

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    1. Nice idea Dave, any idea where I can get Samurai armour stands from?

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    2. I'll add it to my project list for you Andy

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  3. That looks absolutely brilliant!

    Trying to think what else would furnish such a building, but as you say the spartan look is very feng-shui. Calligraphy scrolls, as you've done, and potted flower arrangements in recessed alcove / corners of rooms. A bonsai tree wouldn't look out of place, but isn't obviously accurate. A raised dais for the lord to sit above subjects, with sword rack and elbow rest, would be accurate. Seating cushions and low tables, either individual to serve food upon or the type used by the samurai clerks to work on. A stack of sleeping mattresses awaiting to be placed inside their storage room or aired. A kimono hanger, with a kimono spread out like a animal skin on a wall, arms spread and silk body fully displayed, is a possibility - I just can't remember why they did his, viewing perhaps, but I have seen such. Low and small to medium wooden storage boxes, used for lots of purposes. Traditional umbrellas or cane bird cages.

    Season's Greetings.

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    1. Great minds Roy, I've just finished the raised dais with tatami mats across it!

      Some great ideas there, thanks

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  4. This is going to be brilliant

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  5. Wow, that's come together rather quickly and looks great - I do love it when a plan comes together!
    (My local Poundland has some grey soeckled tiles in too which wll look greta for modern building flooring.)

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    1. Very quickly Joe, just taking advantage of some rare time off!

      That's cool mate, a great idea!

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  6. Looking good so far and I'm certain it will only improve over time. Keep up the good work!

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    1. Thank you mate, hopefully it will come good

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  7. That looks great already! Look forward to seeing it in all its glory! Hope you have a merry Christmas and all the best for the New Year!

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  8. What genuinely worries me with all this mind-blowingly great scenery building, Andy, is how you're planning on shipping it to me once its finished ;-)

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    1. Well I'm down Portsmouth way in march for a Bushido tournament ;-)

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    2. Great idea! Don't let Christmas get in the way of your way of building it then, just crack on over the next few months!! Or, at the very least, let us know closer to the date and I'll endeavour to say "hello" and buy you a cuppa!! :-)

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    3. We're up at the Solent British Legion on 18th March mate :-)

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    4. Aha, by Fratton Train Station. I will endeavour to pop in then and say "Hello".

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  9. Great start Andy this should look brilliant once finished.

    Happy Christmas mate.

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Thanks Roger, it's coming together well so far, a lot of the inspiration comes because of Jez's tip regarding the cheap tiles.

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  10. I have to admit to being a bit dubious regarding using the 'wooden flooring' tiles face up, as i thought the pattern would be too big. However, i am prepared to admit that i was wrong. It looks really good, Andy. Can't wait to see how it progresses.
    I have a vague recollection of someone building a daimyo's palace in 28mm - i think it was posted on TMP - and they'd included a courtyard with zen garden that looked really cool. For inspiration, you could always watch 'The Wolverine', as a fair bit of that was set in a typical Japanese 'homestead' - plus it's got that cool scene where Logan fights a whole bunch of ninjas in the snow.

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    1. Me too at first Jez, but it looks good and should be pretty hard wearing too.

      Sounds like a good excuse to watch the film again!!

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