Chapel Hill: Complete

Good Friday all!

Well it's been a long time coming but Chapel Hill is finally complete!



In order to show case this I would like to cover from start to finish the entire project. Please remember this is the result of two weeks work that cost only a combined total of about £5 in materials.

Step 1: Cut out the flat plateaus from hardboard.



Step 2: From newspaper and masking tape create the general shape required.



Step 3: Create paths with cardboard



Step 4: Cover the whole thing in paper masche



Step 5: Paper masche onto a hardboard base which is cut to size along with ridges for paths



Step 6: Craft fences out of matchsticks with the strike cut off and attach tree skeletons to their desired location



Step 7: Glue basalt to the plateaus and paths, all the while gluing unused cat litter to the base



Step 8: Remove the trees and spray paint the whole thing a dark brown



Step 9: Holding the spray can at a distance spray the whole model with a lighter sandy colour



Step 10: using a sandy coloured emulsion paint, dry brush the entire unit, being sure to get all the lovely creases in the rock surfaces and each grain of basalt



Step 11: Glue trees to place, paint the fences by hand as you would painting 'wood effect' on a mini, attach lichen to trees to make leaves and floor for bushes and static grass/long miniature grass.

And your done!

And now for the guided tour of Chapel Hill:


Here we have Overkill and The Executioner on the 1st Tier while Lady J and Austringer overlook the town.



The path leading to the 2nd tier













The entire of tier 2 including fence close ups




The back of the hill including the path connecting Tier 2 with Tier 3



A shot showcasing a crevice in the side of the hill


And there we have it! I realise as I am sat on the train commuting to work that there are a few features I should have taken proper photos of, the sideways growing tree and the overgrowth at the front for example, but hey why not instead see if you can come to The Titans War Games Club located in Finchley North London and I'll see if I can bring it along!

For now, thanks for keeping up with this project, I hope you've enjoyed reading as much as I've enjoyed doing it, and now back to the drawing board for another project!

- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley

The Adventures of Geek Dad: Part Five

Hard to believe it's been a week since my last Geek Dad, it really feels like a lot less.

Well last night was my usual Daddy & Daughter night, but it felt quite uneventful, so I'll probably try and cover the week instead.

Last I left things it was the end of the week. Recently Mummy Moo, Mini Moo and I have been trying 'drinking in' when it comes to our weekly coffee shop visit, but I seem to have jumped ahead; let me take you back 4+ months when my wife and I didn't have our child;

Every Saturday we'd have our trip into town, we'd walk in, grab ourselves a Starbucks and have a relaxing while enjoyable discussion on one of the many benches in our town.

Ever since the birth of our little one this has had to change - but I must be honest, it's not just because of her.

Due to the cold and having a baby daring to wake and be noisy , our trips have been as short as possible, often drinking while walking, but recently we've tried drinking in at the many coffee shops and so far it's working well.

It's been really enjoyable to sit down, have a hot drink and talk about life the universe and everything. Now don't get me wrong, it's not that we haven't been talking, but the past few weeks have felt different.

I'd like to take this opportunity to give some advice to any expectant dads out there: Please, when your baby comes, whatever you do, don't neglect your wife's and your relationship. This probably sounds really obvious to most, but let me tell you, when you've been up for the N'th time in the night, or tired and grouchy, you feel envious because even though they spend most of the day looking after the baby alone, they're still home and not at work, all you'll think about is the things that you used to do but now can't.

In my case this was the following: going out for a 4 weekly meal with the wife, spend whole days and nights on the computer playing games and stay in bed until whenever I wanted.

Yes I know those things are really unimportant, but that's how I felt.

And you know what? She's feeling the same too! She'll even have her own things she feels grumpy and jealous about; you see, it's not that your a bad husband or father, it's that your struggling to come to terms with the life changing event that is child birth!

Think of it this way, your partner has had 9 months of growing the child inside them, they've felt it move and develop and when it was born their body released hormones to force them to bond with it. For men this doesn't happen, and this can leave us feeling alienated from our wives and babies (especially if they're fed 100% on breast as all we get to do are the nappy changes).

This is why it's important to do things like coffee house trips. You get to spend time together, it's not so formal that it's a real problem if the baby starts crying and needs soothing and your also in a situation where conversation and communication is encouraged! I believe it's these trips and our weekly Saturday routine which have stopped my wife and I having any major arguments, and when the home is a happy and stress free environment, then your baby is more likely to be happy and stress free.

Anyway, this week I was finishing off the penultimate book on my Accounting course, this was what I did on Monday and Tuesday. But that's not all! I also managed to squeeze in some more work on Chapel Hill:


First off I under coated it dark brown with spray paint from the local B&Q.


Then on Tuesday I gave it a distance spray of yellow-orange to act as slight highlighting.

Then yesterday I dry brushed the whole thing:


This was done with the film Jarhead on in the background. Possibly my favourite war film currently in circulation.

It was just after this was done that the Mini Moo woke up with a vengeance. Up until now she had been asleep, but now she was awake and needed a feed.

So on goes the universal pause button on my modelling and out comes the bottle.

Next up I took the hill upstairs to my den, rearranged the terrain on my 3x3 board and placed things in a semi usable formation:


There were a few reasons for wanting to do this. Firstly I wanted to see how it looked with the rest of my terrain, and secondly because I didn't actually know how much space it took up on the board.

As you can see, it's sizeable but does not make everything else useless.

Then with modelling glue I attached the tree skeletons and have left them to dry.

So plans for the week/weekend:
Firstly I need to add fine details like the foliage to the trees, I also need to add burnt grass to suitable places.
At some point there is also the task of painting the fences. This is probably what I'll try and do tonight.

And so there we are, I hope you've enjoyed this week's Geek Dad, and I'll see you again next week: same geek time, same geek channel!

- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley

WIP Chapel Hill

Morning all,

Apologies for the lack of postings recently, my mind has been on other things.

One of those things is my ongoing project: Chapel Hill.

Last we left I was at the following step:



I had finished the paper masche, added a base and added some ridging to the path ways.

Since then I added some more details:


First thing I added were trees. As you can see I have yet to add foliage to these trees, and they are currently attached by just pushing them into the paper. Once I have finished the painting stage, then I'll attach them properly.


Next up was to make some fencing and walkway(s).

These can be seen along the left hand pathway.

The walkway was made in order to widen a part of the path which wasn't wide enough to hold a 30-40mm base. This consisted of matchsticks cut to size and laid out across each other, sort of like a wooden pallet.

The fencing was just as simple, matchsticks on cocktail sticks.
They may look a little basic, but I think it encourages a rustic feel - that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

Last but not least, on Saturday I added pathways and base effect:


The pathways were done with basalt bought from a hobby store. It's a little expensive, but it is great for making slopes grippable by bases, and as it is uniform in appearance it is perfect for pathways.

The basing is my favourite medium! Kitty Litter! It's so cheap and makes a great rocky formation.

In the past I have had problems with kitty litter staying attached to the base, so I read a technique of watering down PVA glue, thoroughly mixing the two and then liberally applying this over the litter once it's stuck to the base. I've tried this, and this morning it appears that it's finally dried, and so far indeed the litter seems to bd firmly stuck to the base!

Well, tonight and tomorrow night I have to study for my Accountancy course, same with tomorrow, so stay tuned for an update with Wednesday's Adventures of Geek Dad! Where among the usual baby alone time, I'll be popping outside to spray paint the whole thing a dark brown.

Stay tuned!

- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley

The Adventures of Geek Dad: Part Four

"This place is a tomb" possibly one of the most iconic lines from the film Event Horizon, (after "Liberate tutame ex inferis" of course) which coincidently is also possibly one of the best films by Paul Anderson.



This was the background setting for last night's film which played while I looked after my young one.

The night's plans were pretty straight forward, put film on, change her, feed her, put her down for a nap while I finish off my paper masche from last weekend.

Sadly things were not quite that straight forward:

Film on? Check!
Baby Changed? Check!
Baby Fed? Not quite...

You see just prior to my wife going for her bath and Mini Moo's night of geekdom began, we had dinner, fish fingers, potato rosties, potatoe waffles, a fried egg and tinned spaghetti. Not the most imaginative of meals, but my god does it taste amazing.

Just before dinner I gave the MiniMoo a feed to try and satiate her while I ate too, however after only 2 fluid ounces (she's currently on 5-6) I put her down early as my dinner was ready, this was with the full intent to carry on her feed once I had eaten myself.

Yeah... That didn't go as smooth as I would have liked, when it came to resume her feed she was having none of it, she was complaining about being hungry, but whenever I tried to feed her she would pull away.

Now let me tell you, as someone who regularly feels detached from other people and struggles to fully understand what many people feel this is quite distressing. You don't want her to be upset, you know the noises she is making relates to her being hungry, but she won't let you feed her.

So after what felt like a 30 min long battle of wills, and me reheating her bottle 2-3 times to keep it a pleasant temperature for her, finally Geek Dad won, and MiniMoo fed and was happy to be put on her squiggle mat and given a rest.

This allowed me to bring down my paper masche and get started with attaching it to its base and finishing off the paper masche.

Currently the project is looking like this:



With hope this will be dry tonight and I can get started with gluing the kittie litter to the case and basalt to the paths.

But thankfully the rest of the evening went well, she seemed to enjoy the rest of the film, and Geek Dad managed to finish this stage of his project.

That's what I call a win/win!

- Next week's film of choice? Jarhead!

- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley

Weekend WIP: Write Up Part 1

Monday all! Yes I would normally say "Good Monday" to you all, but I have yet to see anything good about it- Grumph!

Anywho, over the weekend I got started on a new project:

Chapel Hill

The aim was to create a three tier piece to house my chapel and take up a large part of my board while being scenic and themed.

So first things first a cut out the three different 'bluffs' out of hardboard.

-well, I say "I", I really mean my wife did. Super massive props to her for that!




Once this had been done I attempted to build up the structure using balls of scrunched up newspaper held together with tape.

The end result was pretty 'interesting:



Then, I added the main pathways:


For perspective's sake I attached the chapel temporarily to the top bluff.

Next up was the paper masche:



After a few hours, this was where I has gotten to. The main shape was taking form, however the bottom could not be completed as I needed a base to fix it to, and the boards I had left were too small. This would need to wait until Sunday when I could pick up more hardboard.







So, come Sunday, after a quick trip to B&Q I had the hardboard and then cut it to shape.

This left us once again with the following:



As you can see, it is far from complete, quite the opposite in fact, but later on when I get the opportunity I'll glue the base to the structure, and then finish off the paper masche.

Then I'll add some extra details, such as lips to the edge of the bluffs and walkways (this is more of a functional reason and less aesthetic) then glue cat litter to the base, and basalt to the paths and walkways.

Next up is the painting, brown spray with lighter sand coloured drybrush, followed by the finer details:

This is what I have been holding onto my remaining trees and lichen for, add some of them, some scenic and static grass and badda bing badda boom, we should be all set.

I'll keep you all posted!

- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley

Weekend Project: A Plea for Ideas

Good Friday all!

I know I was due a Friday Review today, but what I would like to review was only released on Wednesday and I haven't really gotten to grips with it yet.

Instead I would like to share with you a future project I hope to begin this weekend.

First a little background:

As you may know, the setting for my friendly Malifaux games is a small little town on the other side of the Breach called New Fairbank.

I was looking for a venue where my undead Guild members could live, and I wanted to name it after a real place. New Tombstone seemed the obvious choice, but the name didn't really work for me.

A short google later and I found Fairbank, a town that existed at the time Malifaux is set and was the last coach stop before Tombstone (or so the internet told me, please correct me if I am wrong) and so New Fairbank was born.

One of the focal points of interest out of all the terrain I have is the Sarrissa chapel:


This Is a great model, but I want to make it even more prominent and also give it it's own graveyard. I mean what ghost town would be complete without its own graveyard?

And so I have a plan:

The Three Tiered Hill:

The aim is to make a tall hill with three bluffs, each bluff at a different height:

( ) ( ) ( )
\ \| | / /

This is a rough plan of the layout.

The left bluff will be the lowest, the right one the middle and the middle one the highest and largest. This will hold the chapel.
I plan to build this out of my good old friend Paper Masche!

So the intent is to build up the hill in the same manner as my mine was built:


And before it is paper masched I will lay down the road over the paper rocks using card, and then paper masche the whole thing.
Then once that is dry glue ballast to the paths, base it on hardboard with kitty litter, spray and paint the whole thing, apply a few little details like static grass etc and then over time add little features, like I would love to add some signs and graves and also build some modular features for the bluffs, like a mausoleum and a hanging tree!

But here comes the plea:

I need to make sure that all three bluffs can support weight, the middle and tallest being the chapel, which at any point could be housing any number of minis, just think of the combined weight of the building itself, with Killjoy and Chompy!

So does anyone have any suggestions of weight support?

Or do you think the paper masche will support it? (it is surprisingly strong).

- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley

The Adventures of Geek Dad - Part Three

Morning all,

As I write this I am awaiting some minor testing at my local hospital after attending a consultation about having my gall bladder cut out - fun fun fun!

Anyway, yesterday was interesting. As regular readers may remember, Wednesday night is my wife's night to relax and do what ever she wants while I baby sit the Mini Moo that is my daughter.

Last night was no different, and as my wife relaxed in the tub and my daughter slept on a squiggle mat, I dug out my rocky out crops I had made before:



Well after making these before I have had huge problems with warping of the bases, and so I am attempting to rebase them, this time on hardboard:





I'm starting out with just 2 of my pieces as I want to see how they take to the hardboard.

Shortly after cutting the board to size and placing the rocks as desired, the youngling awoke and started demanding some attention, so out comes the changing material, on goes the kettle and on goes a copy of Mystery Men on DVD.

After a short change and feeding break, we were back to modelling!

This was simple, cover the hardboard in PVA (hence the previous warping when using card) place the rocks as desired and cover in cat litter:





As you can see these are now ready to set/dry and be repainted.

I hope to do this tonight.

And there we have it, another Wednesday done and another night with my girl. As a hint to others, I have found that my girl tends to get a bit irritable if I just push on with my project all the while ignoring her - makes sense, she's bored! So all the while I talk her through what I am doing and why I am doing it. It keeps her calm and I like to think its sinking into her subconscious for use at a later date.

- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley

New Feature: Friday Review - Sarissa Precision

Good Friday everybody!

So here's a new feature: Review Friday!

I'd like to start the first review with Sarissa Precision's Heroic Scale Old West buildings: www.sarissa-precision.co.uk

Over Christmas my lovely wife bought me a 5 pack selection of stores and their chapel.

Delivery:

I can't account for this myself, as like i said these were presents ordered on my behalf, but from what I understand even during the Xmas rush the lead time on our order was no more than a few days.

The items arrived in one order and well packaged without a single dent or bit of damage to them, which considering how soft the wood they are made from is, says a lot about them.

Assembly:

Now assembly for these items really was quite easy, especially the small stores, they require little more than snapping together and a tiny dot of glue.

The chapel however requires constant glueing, but with a bit of patience and a fast drying super glue i managed to attach everything in no time with little overspill.

Overall look and feel:

I must admit, I am in love with these buildings. I have yet to play a game with them, but they look the part. At some point in the near future i should be giving them some paint for the store fronts etc however what I love about them is that they don't need it!

Straight out of the box post assembly, thanks to the laser cut technique they were made with they are already textured and near perfect. To be honest I think all that is 'needed' is a slight weathering on the walls.

Conclusion:

If like me you have always wanted an Old West themed game board, truth be told I cant fault these buildings. They would possibly look infinatly better with a few props and internal set pieces, some pews and an alter for the chapel to fill is massivly empty insides, however it is my belief that Sarissa leave them empty so you can fill them as much or as little as suits your needs (let's not forget that these are for miniature wargaming with bases often far larger than the models, when you start cluttering them up with random props, chairs and tables it makes manuvering a lot harder.

How To: Rocks and Boulders

Good Thursday everyone!

Today I am covering the basics on how to make your own rocks and boulders.
Now these are things which I would say are a necessity for any old west setting.

First things first, you need a good base. In my first attempt I used cereal box card, this proved far too thin and warped beyond belief. My second attempt was using pizza box card. This was better, but still partially warped. When I try my next lot of rocks either next week or the week after, ill try using hardboard.

- if anyone has any hints on other good materials to use, please shout out!

Next up, you need newspaper,

Now you can pay for this, or like me just use a free paper from whatever available source.

After Newspaper you also need wallpaper paste:

If you have the means you can buy this ready made, or if like me you don't drive, then you can pick this up at your local D&Y shop in granule form.

Ok so you have your bits, next is to cut your base to size. Personally I like to do this using circles and curves, but some people prefer straight right angle lines.

Next up, you cut part of your newspaper into strips, I would say 5"x2" long. Out of the uncut newspaper, scrunch this into a ball as tight as you can, dunk a strip into your pre prepared wallpaper paste, and wrap it around the newspaper ball.

Ok, so now make as many of these as you want, as many different sizes and shapes as you want and then place them against your base.

The next trick is to apply more strips of pasted paper to connect the would be rocks with the base. I like to do this so that the entire base is covered (this is why my card bases warped as the card soaked up the water from the paste).

Once that is done set the units aside to dry. Now this can take anything from a few hours to a few days, so it's not ideal if you need terrain that day.

Once dried, you want to cover the bases in a glue, I use PVA and then sprinkle the base with a texture of your choice. Personally I love cat litter (unused) for this, cheap clumping cat litter. The granules tend to have a variety of sizes and make for an uneaven surface.

Again once dried (I'd leave it again for about 12-24 hours) take the whole thing outside to a well ventilated area and spray it head to toe in the colour of your choice. You can use a brush and do it by hand, but spray paint is so much faster and easier.

Again once dry, you then want to dry brush the model a lighter shade of the undercoat. I would recommend dry brushing both the car litter and the rocks themselves, this helps to create a unified feel to the model, suggesting the rocks are part of the ground instead of from a foreign material.

And if everything goes well, you can then apply any small details you want, static grass, little detals here and there, and with hope you have terrain features as good as, or hopefully better, than I have below: