Monday, May 21, 2012

Building a portable gaming board, part 3

This is part three, here is part two.

I was not entirely happy with the resulting texture of my sand+glue mix, so I started to experiment a bit with plaster, glue and dry sand. In short I added some spots of filler to make the board a bit more even, and also to create a greater variation in the texture of the surface. I then applied watered down PVA glue over the board and added dry sand to improve the texture.

PVA glue/water mix + dry sand = love?
Satisfied with the texture I moved on to painting the boards. Starting with a base coat of black acrylic paint.

Three boards require lots of paint...

All three boards base colored.

Texture close-up
As the watered down black paint didn't cover exactly as well as I have hoped for, I might add a second layer of black before moving on to dry brushing.

Saturday, May 12, 2012

My 1500p Eldar list

We have a friendly 40k tournament coming up in a few weeks. In preparation for this awesome event I'm pondering how to build a good 1500 point army able to take on a wide range of foes.

This is my current best thinking, although I would like to have at least one additional Wave Serpent and War Walker (models I currently don't own...)
The Dire Avengers will be riding in the Falcons, together with Eldrad. Scorpions will infiltrate and the Harlies will hopefully be able to run wherever they are needed without getting shot to pieces (with the aid of the Shadowseer's Veil of Tears).


Eldar (1500pts)

1500pt Eldar 4th Ed (2006) Enhanced Roster (Standard)

Selections:

HQ (210pts)

  • Eldrad Ulthran (210pts)

Elites (514pts)

  • Fire Dragons (185pts)
    5x Fire Dragon
    • Wave Serpent
      Twin-Linked Missile Launcher, Twin-Linked Shuriken Catapults
  • Harlequin Troupe (186pts)
    2x Fusion Pistol, 6x Harlequin, 2x Harlequin's Kiss
    • Shadowseer
      Harlequin's Kiss
    • Troupe Master
      Harlequin's Kiss
  • Striking Scorpions (143pts)
    6x Striking Scorpion
    • Exarch
      Scorpion Chainsword and Scorpion Claw, Shadowstrike

Troops (251pts)

  • Dire Avengers (60pts)
    5x Dire Avenger
  • Dire Avengers (72pts)
    6x Dire Avenger
  • Guardian Jetbikes (119pts)
    3x Jetbike
    • Warlock (jetbike)
      Embolden, Singing Spear

Fast Attack (120pts)

  • Vyper Squadron (60pts)
    • Vyper
      Shuriken Cannon, Shuriken Cannon
  • Vyper Squadron (60pts)
    • Vyper
      Shuriken Cannon, Shuriken Cannon

Heavy Support (405pts)

  • Falcon (175pts)
    Holo-fields, Scatter Laser, Shuriken Cannon
  • Falcon (175pts)
    Holo-fields, Scatter Laser, Shuriken Cannon
  • War Walker Squadron (55pts)
    • War Walker
      Missile Launcher, Shuriken Cannon

Profile Summary:

  • NameUnit TypeWSBSSTWIALDSavePg
    Dire AvengerInfantry443315194+
    Eldrad UlthuanInfantry5534351103++
    Fire DragonInfantry443315194+
    Guardian JetbikeJetbike3333 (4)14183+
    HarlequinInfantry543316295++
    Scorpion ExarchInfantry553 (4)316393+
    ShadowseerInfantry543316295++
    Striking ScorpionInfantry443 (4)3152/393+
    Troupe MasterInfantry5433163105++
    Warlock JetbikeJetbike4433 (4)15283+/4++
  • NameBSFrontSideRearTypePg
    Falcon3121210Tank, Skimmer, Fast, Transport: 6
    Vyper3101010Skimmer, Fast, Open Topped
    Wave Serpent3121210Tank, Fast, Skimmer, Transport: 12
  • NameWSBSSFrontSideRearIAPg
    War Walker5101142
  • NameRangeStrengthAPTypePg
    Avenger Catapult18"45Assault 2
    Eldar Missile Launcher - Krak48"83Heavy 1
    Eldar Missile Launcher - Plasma48"46Heavy 1, Blast, Pinning
    Fusion Gun12"81Assault 1, Melta
    Fusion Pistol6"81Pistol, Melta
    Pulse Laser48"82Heavy 2
    Scatter Laser36"66Heavy 4
    Scorpion's Claw12"45Assault 2, Power Fist
    Shuriken Cannon24"65Assault 3
    Shuriken Catapult12"45Assault 2
    Shuriken Pistol12"45Pistol

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Building a portable gaming board, part 2

This is part two, here is part one.

After some texture experiments I decided to apply a mix of sand and glue to my portable gaming board.
1 part PVA glue and 5 parts (wet) sand were mixed and applied to the surface of each gaming board. If the sand would have been dry, adding water would have been necessary. 
I used approximately 7-8 dl glue for all three boards.
I used a large brush to apply the mix onto the surface, and a roller to even the mixture on the board. 

Yummy!
One board done.
One improvement I came to think of during the work process is that I probably should have placed all three boards side by side when applying sand, to get a more seamless appearance. Although, it should be quite easy to fix with a thin second layer of sand on the edges.

Caution! Brushes and rollers involved in this process will not be usable for painting afterwards. 

Monday, May 7, 2012

Building a portable gaming board, part 1

Tonight I started building a portable gaming board, inspired by painter dad's approach. Instead of a gaming mat I'm using 4mm mdf to make it slightly more sturdy.
The styrofoam boards (3x 120x60cm) will be will be slightly smaller than the mdf boards, so I let the friendly guys at the lumberyard saw three pieces of mdf (1x 122x60cm and 2x 122x61,5cm). The 122x60 will be the center board, with no mdf outside the styrofoam on the longsides.

Applying glue

Gluing the styrofoam board to the mdf board


All three boards glued, applying some pressure ;)

At this point I haven't decided on a ground texture. Xenos world or jungle theme?

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Paint and Assembly Night

Spent yesterday evening with the Warhammer Geeks painting and assembling miniatures. I finished some terrain (WIP post here) and made nice progress on my first Howling Banshee.
Home made terrain

Howling Banshee (weapons not finished)