Painting the city tiles - tutorial

The response to the last post on the Mordheim/ruined city tiles project was enormously positive - thanks! Some of you have requested a tutorial for painting the tiles and well - here it is.

This is how the board looks like before painting. I wanted to finish the previous spray can, that's were the brown spots are from.

After gluing the pieces together but before the undercoat, I put a fair amount of Vallejo Sand Paste on the tiles. This allows me to mask some of the places were castings don't fit too well or where the lines between them form too regular pattern.

 I use Idea acrylic spray (Burnt Umber) for the basecoat. The whole board is covered in a series of short bursts to keep the paint layer thin and not obscure the details.

That's how a basecoated tile looks like. Still a long way to go.

I decided to use the following Vallejo Model Color paints for my table: German Camo Beige, Dark Sand, Pale Sand and Ivory. Why use the model paints while there is a selection of cheap craft paints available? Simple: the craft paints that I know of rarely (or never) have a selection of tones as wide as VMC - so you have to mix. I want my board to have a consistent look and keeping the mixing proportions right is just a pain in the ass... and you still won't need more than about $8-10 worth of these paints for a 90x90 cm board.

For applying the paint I use a kitchen sponge cut into several small pieces. This prevents the paint from going into the recesses and allows me to add an interesting 'stone' texture which wouldn't be achievable with a brush.

Take a tiny amount of paint on the sponge...

...dab a bit of it away...

...and apply irregularly on the board.
Try to change the side of the sponge you use, change the sponge piece you use from time to time and the strenght with which you press the sponge against the board.
Repeat the process for every tone you have selected.

That's how the board should look like in the middle of the process. If you get 'lines' like the one seen in the picture above, don't panic: just dab some paint around them to form a more irregular shape.

The second board along with the first - everything fits quite nicely.

After the paint dries, I apply tiny blobs of PVA glue and static grass on the board - especially in the places where I need to break up the regularity of the tile patern or where I need to mask the spaces between the castings.

If you applied too much paint in some of the areas, use watered-down GW Devlan Mud wash: it will add a new tone to the board and make the recesses between the tiles visible when you messed them up.

The board is (almost) finished. I still have to paint the basement and finish the buildings - but it's a material for a different post.

First Mordheim tile finished!

I've painted and flocked the first of my Mordheim/Osgiliath/other half-ruined fantasy city tiles. You have seen it half finished here, but I think wanted to share it with you nevertheless. The piece measures 30x30cm. The bricks were cast using molds from Keebler Studios, the statues are from GW (bought separately from one of the bits shops on eBay), the whole piece was painted using Vallejo Model Color paints and canal bed was filled with artificial water from Faller. I may do some minor touch-ups with Devlan Mud wash in some of the places, but still I'm really happy with how the piece turned out.
Enough talking - enjoy the pictures!

General overview

Detail: first statue

Detail: the other statue

Faramir fighting Orcs in the ruins of Osgiliath

Averlanders fending off some undead

A Troll Slayer confronts a troll

The whole piece with the waffle block 'studs' visible.

Steampunk flying ship in 15mm (1/100) from Zvezda!

Something popped up quite recently on Zvezda's Facebook profile and it seems that it went pretty much unnoticed by the 15mm community... and here's where my comment should probably end, 'cause the post title and the pictures speak well enough for themselves:

15mm Gandalf the Grey

Some time ago I've shown you a conversion of a Chariot Miniatures wizard to Gandalf. Since I got back to the hobby a few weeks ago, I've decided to finish some long-abandoned projects first and only then get some new miniatures (even though some of the latest releases from Khurasan are really tempting). So here it is, the first one of them - 15mm Gandalf:

Gandalf and Aragorn fighting some orcs

Gandalf confronts Saruman

Progress on modular Mordheim board

Remember that Mordheim building I have shown you in the last post? It's actually a part of a bigger project: modular 15mm Warhammer city board. You have probably seen the incredible Mordheim board by Wolfgang. My aim is to build something combining his Mordheim table with modularity of GW's Realm of Battle board.
I've decided to use large 'waffle blocks' (see the picture below), with some pre-cut plywood glued on top of them. Therefore the board will be sturdy yet completely modular, with dungeons and basements below the buildings (the blocks are 5cm deep, so the holes in them can be used as a basis for making all kind of underground passages), a canal system and a number of different building fittings that can be combined in different ways on each tile. Too ambitious? Perhaps, but well - see below:

Overhead view of a simple 60x60 board (4 tiles: building tile with space for 20x20 fitting, buidling tile with spaces for two perpendicular building fittings, two canal tiles)

Another overhead shot of the board.

A canal tile with an unfinished bridge.

A building fitting on one of the building tiles.

When you remove the building, you can put the miniatures into the basement.

20x20 building fitting: Garden of Morr