Building The Hive

[Van Helser]

Afternoon all.

I've been struck with madness, and have decided to build myself a gaming board.  The aim is to make a hive world board, that will also suit games of Necromunda.  It's a wee bit of an extra challenge having the terrain work at 28mm and 54mm, but I hope this thread will go to show that one set of terrain can serve different scales.

The initial plan is for a 4'x2' board featuring an open sewer on one side and a roadway on the other, separated by buildings.  The next stage will be to increase the size to 4' by 4' with an area of buildings with ground level walkways in a grid pattern.

Here's a shot of my early pile of materials:

We have here two wallpaper tables, some 1' square fibreboard sections for mounting the terrain on (and allowing a little bit of modularity), a load of polystyrene, some Necromunda bulkheads, and some other bits and bobs of 40k terrain that probably won't make it onto this table, but I might do something else with another time.  I have also just ordered some Hirst Arts moulds (numbers 300, 320, 321, 276, 279 - Station Builder, Pipe Mould 5/8", Pipe Mould 3/8", Large Catwalk Mould, Large Grate Accessory Mould respectively), which will allow for some industrial scenery to be built and decoration of flat surfaces.

The first board section is now under construction.  It is to represent one of the two central portions of the open sewer, and at the moment has been built up to street level with the polystyrene either side of the sewer which has been lined with some casts of two of the Necromunda bulkheads.  Annoyingly, the 4 of them were not quite 12" long, so I had to space the centre.  I will need to get some filler to go between the cast bulkheads and the polystyrene, but will wait until the glue on the polystyrene is set hard and has had a coat of PVA to seal it. I think I may invest in some water effect resin when I come to fill the bottom of the sewer once the rest has been painted.  I haven't used it before so any tips between now and then will be appreciated. I hope to get it a nice shade of fluorescent green...  Anyhow, the pics of the first section of sewer:

Watch this space.

Ruaridh

[Darthvegeta800]

I'll be following this one with great interest!

[Vain]

Same, looking to see how this goes.

[Van Helser]

This morning I have got the basic shape of the first of the two end sections of the sewer mapped out.

They are now off to get sealed with PVA before I start using filler on the walls.

Ruaridh

[Radu Lykan]

Nice bulk heads, why didn't I think of that?
Looking forward to this progressing and seeing any tricks for keeping it usable at both scales

[Van Helser]

Progress:

The sewer boards have all been constructed and have been covered with filler along with the first of the roadside sections.  Once all the filler is sufficiently set I will begin the rather arduous job of sanding.  The other three road sections have the polystyrene blocks cut and glued to the boards and are awaiting more casting of bulkheads. 

For painting I am thinking of investing in some Halfords grey car primer, unless anyone knows of any cheaper and/or quicker alternatives?  I will be adding weathering with good old Citadel paints and some MIG weathering pigment for the details.

Ruaridh

[Kaled]

For painting I am thinking of investing in some Halfords grey car primer, unless anyone knows of any cheaper and/or quicker alternatives?

Pound shops sometimes sell grey car primer and a black matt spray as well. They're fairly good - I wouldn't use them on models, but they're good enough for terrain.

[Van Helser]

Big update time.

I spent a good few hours layering all that polystyrene with filler before buying out Poundland of grey car primer (thank you for the pointer Kaled) and set about quickly painting it all.  Sponges for adding silver and rust to the bulkheads saved a load of time.  It's a bit messy, and maybe could have done with a less slap-dash approach, but the base of the board is more or less done.  I would like to fill in the sewer with some water effect resin, but I'm now turning my attention to the buildings and other bits and bobs that will populate the terrain.

Hirst Arts moulds may be my new favourite thing.  I don't know how much resin I've gone through now, but I'm having great fun sticking the blocks together (it's like having a box of Lego to play with!).  The last picture shows some terrain pieces which could be placed flat on the board or have bulkheads clipped to the sides to start giving some height to proceedings.

Ruaridh

[Van Helser]

I have thrown some paint on the terrain I've built so far.  Nothing quick or fancy, sponges to the fore to get them done quickly after a coat of Pound Shop grey car primer:

Close ups here, here, and here.

Just about enough terrain to have a game or two over now.

Ruaridh

[renegade thor]

looking good so far, looking forward to seeing how it grows .

[Van Helser]

I have a more or less finished gaming table!  Only 2'x4', but plenty enough for skirmishing across.

First of all here are a couple of pics of the latest pieces of terrain, including Jersey Barriers, rubble, walkways, a refinery, more pipeworks and a couple of shacks:

One, Two, and Three

And here are some shots of the whole set up:

I also took a few shots with 54mm Inquisitor figures and 28mm Necromunda figures to hopefully show it'll stand up at either scale:

54mm example 1 and 28mm example 1

54mm example 2 and 28mm example 2

The set up is modular and if I wanted to I could combine any of the grey flat-based terrain pieces into towers with the bulkheads.  I would like to expand the area up to 4'x4', but with winter arriving I don't know how much, if any, work I'll be able to do outdoors on it.  In the meantime then, I'll just have to start playing on it.  If anyone fancies a visit to Inverness let me know!

Ruaridh

[Dwi]

Have to say that that's pretty fantastic. You got more talent then me mate.

[Quickdraw McGraw]

COOL BEANS, Ruaridh!