Sunday, August 24, 2008

The Osgiliath Project- Phase Two



Phase two has consisted of finishing the table as essentially a nice plot of land on which the city will be built. Looks like a nice piece of real estate in 28mm scale it's about an acre sitting along a river. I finished it in the usual way I've finished all my tables- sand for texture, prime black, then spray with nice mottle of hunter green, leafy green, and two brown shades. The water is "realistic water" by Woodland Scenics The water section is about 1/8" deep at approximately 12 x 48 inches. I used about a bottle and a half (24 ounces) which costs $30.00 to do the water section. (that's vs GW's 8 ounces for $25.00) So far the overall cost of what you see (considering the table base was free) is about $75.00, that's adding about $10.00 for paint costs.



Keeping the table as empty piece of terrain suits a bunch of purposes, since all the city pieces will be modular and on their own base..I can use this table for all kinds of gaming. Just pull off the tiles and there is your piece of land to set up a new design or just have a wide open battlefield.

Plotting the city is an interesting task, while speaking to my pal Bill about this the other night he brought up a great point in that not to make all the tiles the same size because it makes it very easy for any range guessing by looking at the lines on the bases of each piece of terrain. The schematic below shows the proposed layout. I am assuming when they are done I'll have a little bit of more size discrepancy as I make each piece to a custom snug fit.




The next step is to finish the wall which you see portion of in the photo's. I have decided to get rid of the bridge you saw in the phase one...due to the size and how a road leading to such a large structure impacted the overall layout of the city. losing the bridge gives me an opportunity to build more of that cool arched wall, some of it will be covered in block stone, with some totally collapsed and some exposed. Finishing the wall will essentially be phase 3 and the modular tiles themselves will be the later phases. I steered myself away from making the majority of buildings out of Hirst blocks in favor of terrain by a variety of manufactures. Obviously that's going to cost alot more, I'll probably spend a couple hundred on raw plastic and resin terrain over building cheaply with plaster, but the time savings over going the all plaster route is definitely worth it to me.

I am still waiting to get some of these kits in hand to see how they look. when I do, I will certainly go into more detail..needless to say I have something very cool planned for the table as the city centerpiece. I'll talk alot more about the table terrain when I get Phase three posted. Hopefully not before too long....


( I love getting down a getting pics from the models perspective, I can see my Orcs hitting
the beach already!
)


(I should add that I caulked the base of the table edge and side with clear caulk so that expensive water solution didn't leak out!!!)

4 comments:

suneokun said...

Beautiful work. The subtle balance between the beach and waters edge is breath taking ... can't wait to see the quality of the other damaged buildings and fortifications. Lovely stuff. Keep it up.

Space Hulk Enthusiast said...

Looks great, I wonder if it's that big of a deal... the different sizes of city blocks.

Once you know the measurements, you'll be able to visually add them on the table anyways.

I'd be inclined to make all the city blocks the same size for maximum interchangability. Now if you can get the same thing with the different sizes then go with that.

Just a thought. Something like this I would want to be used as many different ways as possible. I can't do that with my project so I'm a bit jealous of your ability to do so here.

Nonetheless, looks great.

Anonymous said...

John,
You are really steping up your game in the terrain dept. This looks fantastic, and I can't wait to see the completely finished product.

About the city blocks.
I have just personally found that its a better idea to have different sizes. While you (the owner of the table) will still have the knowledge of the sizes of the blocks, at least your opponents won't. Plus with varying sizes of blocks you can do some intresting things with other tiles. Larger buildings, a "scenic" tile, etc. The dimentions of the tiles are really up to you though. All the same, or different, I still can't wait to try this board out.

Anonymous said...

WOW DUDE that water looks gorgeous! Makes me wanna take a swim....or FIGHT.

 

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