LXXXV. The Cemetery Project vol.5

This week I built a piece of rough area terrain featuring stone tiles, empty planters and a small tree.

This piece was built almost entirely from scratch, and was a pleasure to do.

Materials used:

• MDF base
• sand + acrylic gel for the earth texture
• plaster tiles and miniature bricks
• home made planters and vases
• a branch and leaves from the Citadel Wood kit
• static grass tufts
• birch seed leaves
• paints and pigments

I used those planters I talked about in vol.2. The bead vases are here, too.

Just as I was preparing to invest in a few packs of Mini Natur grass tufts for the cemetery project, a friend told me about his recent discovery: Gamer's Grass. You can find a review in this month's issue of FPM and Old Fogey wrote about these tufts on his blog last week. So I'm just going to say that in my experience both the product and service are of good quality. At the same time these are more affordable than other brands I've used so far. I know where I'll be getting my grass from now on.

The rectangular tiles are Juweela bricks, and the square ones are of my own making. Step-by-step presented below.

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How I made my stone tiles:

I used a plastic movement tray for my mould.

Poured plaster in the tray.

Cut a grid using a ruler and markings on the sides as guides. This is best done when plaster is solid but still quite wet. I messed up a bit this time - some of my lines are visibly wobbly. I should be more careful next time.

When it dried completely I removed the tiles from the tray. Before applying them to the base I sanded their edges a bit and added cracks and other damage here and there.

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The Garden of Morr iron fence received a painjob as well. I have to admit the result is a tad underwhelming. Perhaps the stone parts are too dark? Not sure... I am planning to buy some Mini Natur ivy and make it grow on the fence; perhaps this will liven it up.

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LXXXIV. The Cemetery Project vol.4

The third mausoleum. I tried my best to explain what I did and how through a series of steps.

Complete list of paints used:

Abbadon Black (Citadel)
Burnt Umber (Vallejo Pigments)
Camouflage Green (Vallejo Game Color)
Cobra Leather (Vallejo Game Color)
Desert Yellow (Vallejo Game Color)
Gorthor Brown (Citadel)
Mechanicus Standard Grey (Citadel)
Natural Umber (Vallejo Pigments)
Rakarth Flesh (Citadel)
Skrag Brown (Citadel)
Typhus Corrosion (Citadel)
White Scar (Citadel)

The process:

The base had some bones and symbols I needed to get rid of first. Twin-tailed comets got scraped away. I covered parts of the base with a mix of Vallejo Heavy Transparent Gel, sand and black paint. While it was still wet I added a few broken Juweela bricks, some grit and wire roots for the roses that grow on the mausoleum walls. Before gluing the building on the base I painted the interior grey and put a black wash over that (not pictured).

The building and the base both got a basecoat of Citadel Rakarth Flesh. Then I went wild on the base with several layers of watered-down browns, greys and olive greens, as well as some earthy pigments. I left the stone graves and tiles lighter than the surrounding soil.

The building gets a light grey wash and an off white drybrush to add depth.

The roof gets a messy wash of watered down mix of Vallejo Desert Yellow and Citadel Abaddon Black. The result is greenish and dirty. The stone areas of on the base got a bit of this, too.

And another wash of the same. Getting darker and more saturated.

A wash of thinned-down Typhus Corrosion. This adds both texture and stronger, browner pigment.  When working with Typhus Corrosion don't use your best brush because this paint is quite violent to brushes. I learned that the hard way.  

When I was done with tinting the roof I gave the iron parts a coat of Abaddon Black.

I treated the light stone parts of the building with splashes of a thin greenish mix, especially near the ground.

Then I tried to emulate the moss I saw on my reference pictures. I painted most of the little dark green moss patches and off white lichen by hand. Some areas were splashed with paint to cover them in hundreds of tiny spots; this technique is usually great for blood or mud splatter.

The rusty parts were first textured with Typhus Corrosion, and then painted with one or two coats of diluted Citadel Skrag Brown. Note the thin streaks of rust running down the roof. Somewhere around this point I lightly drybrushed the stone parts of the base to highlight the sculpted details.

To make 3D moss on the graves around the mausoleum I mixed spongy flock, paint, PVA and water.

The leaves of the roses are dry, to match other foliage on the rest of my terrain. Since this is a graveyard I decided to paint the flowers white. White roses symbolise sorrow in Western culture. 

As finishing touches I glued a number of grass tufts and fallen leaves on the base, scattered some urns about and painted the rim black.

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AGRAM ARENA SUMMER TOURNAMENT

My club's annual summer tournament is slowly drawing near, so I'm helping spread the word. I'll be there both weekends, since I am be attending the Black Queen painting competition and the international Malifaux tournament. Here's the official announcement:

Dear friends!

It is time for another (13th annual) Agram Arena Summer Tournament!

We are in the second decade of organizing Arena events and this year's Agram Arena Summer is going to be held over two weekends:
 
11-12th of July 2015 - 40K International tournament + Black Queen International hobby and miniature painting competition

18-19th of July 2015 -Malifaux International tournament + Demo Games / Open play (Infinity and LOTR SBG on Saturday 18th; Flames of War and Warmachine on Sunday 19th)

Location: MS "Cvjetni trg", Miskecov prolaz 3, Zagreb, Croatia.
 
Entry: FREE!

Refreshing drinks for all players will be free during the tournaments.

Accommodation for Saturday night is also free for the 1st-time-comers (read more in the rules)!
Lunch is available at the price of 75 Kn (around 10 Euro) for both days (= 5 Euro/day)!

Check out the tournament rules & other info:

• with background: http://www.ums-agram.hr/app/webroot/dokumenti/AAS2015.pdf
• w/o background (printer friendly): http://www.ums-agram.hr/app/webroot/dokumenti/AAS2015-pf.pdf

Official languages of the tournament will be English and Croatian!

Registration:
40K - from 1st of June to 04th of July
Black Queen - from 18th of June to 04th of July (not neccessary - see the rulespack)
Malifaux - from 1st of June to 11th of July
Demo Games / Open Play - from 13th of July to 18th of July
(you can find guidelines on registration in the rules (check out the above link))!

If you need any other information please contact us at ums.agram@gmail.com or GSM +385 91 7620584