Wednesday, June 25, 2008

The Table


Here is the latest table shot; I've finally gotten some troops onto the table, as well as added a few pine trees here and there to break up the green silhouette. I got another few lengths of picket fence together, so I've got to get those on the table, and one or two other little details, but it just about where I want it to be. I'll have up more in the near future!

Back! And Scott Mingus' photo competition

Hey folks!

So sorry it has been so long; I am in the most difficult part of the work year... or more specifically, the end of it! Two months off now to paint soldiers, take photos, make scenery, and work in the yard!My first goal is to enter, and hopefully win, Scott Mingus' photo contest. All my photos are taken on my wargames table at my home; I hope they are good enough, as I would love a copy of his book and I used basically no computer tricks; a panoramic photo of Gettysburg propped up at the end of the table was about it! I've spent WAY too much time taking photos for this, but I am hoping it pays off, and heck, even if I don't win, at least it pays off by giving me more good photos of toy soldiers to look at!

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Scenery - The Graveyard

I wanted a little project to do tonight, and this graveyard seemed to fit the bill!

I made the small stones out of balsa, painted. The dead tree is made of a deflocked tree, with a few tiny twigs glued on, and the whole undercoated black and then painted grey. They are all glued onto a piece of the same fabric as the table which is then lightly flocked. It blends in pretty damn well if I do say so myself! Hope everyone likes it!

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

The Table... the latest

Here is the latest... I put in the first of the different hedges, and flocked a few edges. A few fields got moved, and a few fences got moved, and the vegetable garden detailed in the last post is new... again, any suggestions are MORE than welcome!

Scenery - The Vegetable Garden


Despite my total inability to take an in-focus picture, I thought I would post this shot of a little test veggie garden I put together. It is not flocked to blend into the table yet because I am not sure where I want it, and the photo stinks, but I think the idea is good.

Updates; the Wargames Room and Table

I was rebuilding the table last night (and will continue tonight) and thought this would be a good time for a few more photos of the wargames room, along with a few shots of the table being assembled.

First off, a few shots of the room.

There have not been many changes recently. The only major change was moving the dueling print from above the painting table to next to the door. I
then put in its place the French army handkerchef. I still have my two photos of the ships to hang, as well as my two panoramics of Gettysburg (I have everything for those but the glass... I MUST get working on those) and of course my 1864 pack. Dammit there is a lot to do!

The cabinets are almost full. However, this includes a shelf of Lord of the
Rings figures, and a VERY full shelf of a Warhammer Empire Army that, quite frankly, I am considering selling... if you are interested in a fully customized Middenheim army in the realm of 6000 points, lemme know!

The painting table is, as all working tables are, messy as heck. Oh well. At the moment it has a unit of 25mm Russian Napoleonic Grenadiers on it, some of my 15mm WWII Germans, some 25mm French Napoleonic Lancers, and even a Warhammer Empire General on a Griffon. Good stuff!

Now, onto the table. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the table is a frame, inside of
which sits foam on a plywood base. I put a piece of green felt over the foam, and then use the inner frame pieces to hold the felt down tight.

To the right is a hill I made last night, or more accurately a ridge for the edge of the table. It is made of standard insulation foam, carved with a kitchen knife. It doesn't need to be beautiful, as it is covered by the felt!

Next up on the left you can see one of the inner frame pieces. These pieces are covered with a molding so that when they are dropped in, you cannot see the seam between inner and outer frame.

You can see in the next shot on the right the ridge placed under the felt. The felt is pulled up in that you can see the edge of the pink foam; this felt is then tucked under the edge of the table and the inner frame piece is dropped in, which pulls the felt very tight around the foam.

Finally on the left you can see the frame piece being put back into place. The inner frames hold the felt in place, and also keep the whole table snug. So far this method seems to work very well for me!

If anyone has any other things they want to see of the table, please just let me know and I'll be happy to post photos.

Monday, June 2, 2008

The Table

NEW! I moved a few things around and plopped down a few extra fields, so this set-up is a touch new compared to what was posted earlier.

I felt like the old table set-up had been there long enough, so after finishing the game, I took it all down and started a new 15mm ACW setup.

For now I am just going to post a single shot; there is a LOT left to do, so this is very much WIP. The entire left-hand side feels VERY very empty. As I get going on it and the table starts to look better I'll post more. Enjoy for now!