The Weekender XLBS: BoW Update, Dropzone Commander Table and Hobby Lab Experiment
May 18, 2014 by dignity
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I use a static grass aplicator from noch. Very easy, some watered down pva glue with some paint, apply on base or terrain then squeez ( not shake) the bottle over it. Tap or blow access away and let dry.
Because of the friction, the grass charges and stands up.
And no electricity so you can apply it on Justin’s head.
(That sounds dirty)
http://spottinground.com/the-noch-puffer-bottle-as-a-static-grass-applicator/
@dignity I take it back 😉 You are getting a new hair do after all!
Uh oh. Better invest in a watch cap, Justin. 😀
If the florists foam needs to be wet to go through the blender why not use one of the clothing dyes that needs to be diluted before use, they come in every colour under the sun.
Great weekender and XLBS, nice to see Ozzy… sorry Sam back 🙂
Gamers gathered in their masses. Just like witches at black masses.
Instead of using a blender to grind up your foam try using a coffee grinder or a spice grinder. Both coffee and spice grinders grind stuff much finer than a blender. Also try using dyes to color your scatter you should be able to put a few drops of dye into your grinder and give it a few quick pulses…this is just a theory thou, curious to see if it would work.
I know just how you feel, Warren. Not only do I find local anesthetic ineffective, I’m also mildly allergic to it. About two minutes after receiving a local, pass me a bucket and stand clear lol
The key to the foam is to use dye rather than paint. Fabric dyes are available in loads fo colours, but it has to be the cold water type else you have to have foam in red hot water and aside from the hassle I’m it sure if it would affect the foam itself.
Great show again by the way. I use woodland scenics stuff mostly for that type of scenery scatter.
Why not use sawdust? Can come in a variety of textures and absorbed liquid. See a video by “Terranscapes” or this vid by an Ozzie guy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jNiiTr8Lq8
Was just about to recommend Viv at rubbishinrubbishout on YouTube but I got ninja’d!! Definitely worth watching. I picked up some fairly fine sawdust at Pets at Home. £1 for quite a lot. Also try saw-mills and woodworkers who may sell it as a by-product.
Castle Panic is pretty cool so it will be interesting to see what you make of it. The team-work and combos you can pull off to survive are a lot of fun
I had to have all four of mine out so I went for being knocked out completely. I woke up still feeling the effects slightly and spent 5 minutes smiling at everyone not realising I had faintly bloody drool running down my chin! I wondered why I kept getting odd looks 😛
My mum was a florist and I’ve tried to use that foam for terrain in my youth. It’s nasty stuff and best avoided. As m’learned commenters have said above, dyed sawdust seems to be the usuual way.
TBH I’ve never heard of a way of making flock that doesn’t sound like a complete pain in the jacksy. IMO the best bet is be buy in quantity from a model railway shop (there’s one in Nottingham, next time you’re over).
Never tried using the floral foam for scatter or flock. I have used it (cut thinly) for walls, stone bridges, etc. It takes paint okay, but the best part is that you can easily crumble it for smashed mortar, broken walls, etc. Painted toothpicks or cut up paper clips can they easily by stuck in for broken framework or rebar. It is kind of a mess to work with, though. Definitely have the trash can an mini-vac handy!
That was what I was using it for as well. It looks ideal for rock faces &c. but as you say … the mess!
Oh, man @somegeezer . 😐 I wrote … “Painted toothpicks or cut up paper clips can they easily by stuck in for broken framework or rebar.”
Uh … wow. Sorry about the syntax of THAT sentence. Not sure what my girlfriend slipped in my coffee just then. Must have been good.
yep, it’s all said above. the quality of the grinder equals the size of the particle you get, and use dye that penetrates the material, not paint. I fear when you re blend your product you may end up with a two shaded flock Warren, as where the particles break the paint wont be there.
I was more than pleasantly surprised by the results of the poll. You wouldn’t have to go back too far in time to have got a different result. BoW has evolved to be more reflective of the greater gaming community.
Wolsung is a game I want hear more about so I’m looking forward to that.
Great show guys I’m with Sam what would ruin Warrens reputation ?
Wisdom. Teeth. Uugh.
and Amiga !! How cool it was at those times 🙂
3 minutes in and I get green screen fail again. It’s Xtra long backstage for me because it take me 6 hours to watch it every weekend. Every single fix I have found just doesn’t work. *sadface
Missus picked up the rulebook for Wolsung at Salute so it could be time to get her into the BoW club.
Can’t wait for the DZC tactical coverage.
Shaltari all the way!
Is that Preston Lancashire?? I used to live there until I moved to London. However, I do visit family during the holiday seasons – but I never knew there was a gaming shop apart from GW. What’s it called so when I’m next up that part of the woods I’ll pay a visit 😀
I liked the look of the 3D Dropzone Commander terrain. I think the Das might break off, so perhaps glueing some strips of coffee stirrers/sprue across each area first before applying the Das, would give it something to adhere to. For the bits you’ve already done, how about sealing them in with PVA?
Why do i keep getting green screen? I use Google Chrome.
There is a whole section in the middle that you talk about the dropzone table i cant watch. makes me sad
Like relic669 I have been getting a few problems with your video streaming recently, OS X and Safari usually but I’ve also tried with Firefox. Most streaming works ok but from time-to-time about half way in I will get a lockup where the timeline continues running but the picture and sound breaks up and freezes. I have to do a page refresh to get back to the beginning and wait for it to stream enough so I can jump back to where I was. So far this has managed to get me past the problem but it’s a bit of a pain.
On a positive note I would be happy to contribute to an equipment fundraiser. 😎
Got to the end with Firefox which seemed to handle the streaming much better than Safari.
Thanks for the update Brian, we are still looking into a new solution for playing vids here in backstage.
Check out some of the railway modellers ideas for scatter, they get good results from sieved garden soil baked in the oven, used and dried tea leaves which can be dyed with ink, very fine beach or river sand to give a more gravelly texture. I use kiln dried sand which can be bought by the bag quite cheaply, mixed with PVA and colour. Railway modellers sometimes use wallpaper paste when mixing their soil based scatter.
@warzan
What about using tea leaves as scatter? I know many people use it on bases for the foliage type look. 🙂
You shouldn’t mess about with the occult. What if you’re playing a game and notice the tea leaves telling you’re going to die! Or at least that you’re going to lose the game lol.
Good point well presented. Now LEAF me alone. Hehe
that is a waste of a perfectly good cuppa
Having watched Castle Panic being played on Tabletop, the most important thing I came away with was, the game would worked massively better with minis. Something like the Lord of The Rings orcs would just be perfect for the game. – Possibly the Mantic trolls too, they’re a bit smaller than the ones from other companies.
Happy Sunday!
That Dropzone Commander table is definitely looking awesome so far. The curbs are a subtle but impressive touch. I see what Warren is saying, it might not pop terribly well on video but I can well imagine what it looks (and feels) like on the actual table.
To make the curbs stand out on camera you just have to paint them so when you look at them you think 3D. Should be easy as they already have dimensions.
This is a little off topic, but wanted to throw out a big “thank you” to @torros for pointing me toward Old Glory miniatures on a recent project. I was having a hell of a time finding British Crusader miniatures for an upcoming North Africa campaign. Old Glory had them (thanks for the tip, torros), the price was reasonable, and okay . . . it took forever for them to ship and weren’t terribly easy to paint, but at last the project is underway. Opening results on the user gallery link below. 🙂
http://www.beastsofwar.com/user-galleries/the-british-are-coming/
Yay I am backstager now : )
Thanks for removing that Credit Card barrier. The 6 Month option hits a sweet spot in my taste.
And now entertain me while I paint ; )
Great show.
I would love to hear Sams feedback on the two Pandemic expansions. I have owned the game since it was featured on G&S Tabletop. Love the game. I am nervous that the expansions may spoil the co-op fun.
Eagerly awaiting the new FoW stuff and Bolt Action.
The expansions – especially the Bio-Terrorist one helps ease in new players from my experience. It takes away a degree of the Alpha Gamer from the group and pits them against the group working to stop the spread. It’s a very, very solid expansion and retains the co-operative nature to an extent making things even more frantic.
BoW Ben
Warren if only you and I lived in the same country. The amount of stuff I have here at work that I could send you to make terrain would be crazy. You could build a 28mm scale city if you wanted to.
Cheers 🙂
My buddy uses saw dust for flock that he gets from the local cabinet shop. Where we live though is a pretty industrial area so that type of material is easy to come by.
Ahhh memories. When I had my wisdom teeth pulled I demanded they put me completely under. As they were beginning the process one of the nurse about my age (and rather cute) kept staring at me. I make it point not to flirt with my medical staff but just as they were beging to have me count backwards she exclaimed “Hey Casey, it’s me Jenny, we went to high school together!”
All at once it came back to me who this girl was. very nice but not at all bright… Not the sort you want putting you under. I was about to sit up and try to protest and ask for a new nurse but the drugs kicked in and I was out.
Upon waking up I was wrapped in a blanket in a recovery area. My mother was there to drive me home. Normally I have a pretty tight filter on the words I use around her, but. I guess the drugs turned that off since when she asked how I was feeling I told her exactly how I felt. Evidently it was laced with sailor worthy profanity because my saintly mother turned white with shock and the nearby nurse started howling with laughing.
Will your budget allow you to buy Warren a non swivel chair…? 😉
Yeah I may have to lock that damn chair down! 😉
excellent show gentlemen…
Had to chose between miniwargaming and a BoW subscription. in the end i chose BoW.
because of the weekenders, game of the week. FOWFTW, etc.
love to see the live shows and the thing you come up in the future
That’s exacly what happenend to me!
You made the right choice.
@warzan with the clay, before you apply it to the table have you tried using pins etc placed into the surface to give the clay something to adhere to. Its similar to when im trying to rebuild woodwork that is not practical to cut out and replace, i would build up a “hedgehog” of pins and apply the filler. The frame of pins gives the filler something to grip to instead of relying on just the surface of the surrounding wood. You could do the same by using pins on a flat surface and making sure enough of the pin head is exposed to the surface to give the clay something other than the flat surface to adhere to. So even if the clay does try to lift from the flat surface it wont fall off because the clay is around the pin heads. You get me?
On the static grass issue, just glue it on with super glue. Because the grass fibres are so fine the heat from the curing glue with make the grass stand on end.
Can’t wait to see how you made that Dropzone Commander table!