"What color is your Mars?" Topic

Now that I have a group of British, US Cav/USMC and Martians and buildings for my Martian Empire game. I was wondering what color should I paint my bases and buidings and terrain. I was considering a red brown/orange type of color for the ground and buildings. How would you base the figures?

My Mars is Red. Very Red. In retrospect, a bit too red and I'll tone it down one day. I think a more browny red would be better.

It's in the bottom left here – link – or in more detail under the JDE folder on the MArtian Empires yahoogroup.

"What colour is your Mars?"

Its a kind of milk chocolatey brown on the outside with a caramel brown interior all covered in a black red and gold wrapper.
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sorry – couldn't resist… :)

I've not payed Mars but after my "joke" (and i use the term loosely) you deserve an answer…

I'd simply pva the base and cover in small stones and sand then paint and wash in a russet brown colour. highlighting up to a normal sand colour. Mars isn't red as such a lot of the colour we see is light refraction in the atmosphere. Having said that most people will expect the sand to be red. So hence my russet suggestion – kind of a halfway house. For tones i'd look at some of the red earth tones here on earth – cheshire sandstone, ayres rock and the arizona desert are all possibilities…

Someone I knew was in a sweetshop once when a rep from one of the chocolate companies was paying a visit.

The rep strode up to the person behind the counter, held out his hand and said,

"Hello, I'm from Mars."

:)

I painted my bases and Orange to match the colour of the Red Planet mat from Monday Knight Production and then flocked them with green flock, which matches the mat exactly.

Mike

I also painted mine to match the Monday Knight Mars mat.

I really didn't like the Monday Knight mat I bought precisely because of the green flock. War-Zone's "Bloodstone" has the same problem. I don't want any green on my Mars, I'd be looking for a rusty orange/red. I'm thinking of ordering a custom mat from the Terrain Guy.

a similar discussion..

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Hey Michael,
I went with more of a semi-arid
Sudan look.
martianwarlords.blogspot.com

Check out my Mars terrain board at;

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Regards

Tony

…actually Mars is a planet that looks like it 'rusted to death'…with a lot of iron-oxide/peroxide? in the soil…and resembles..(at least to me) some of the 'red rock' areas of the southwest, like near St. George, Utah?

I suspect there are various shades of 'red/orange/rusty' colors…(just from the probe images we've seen…so yellow-orange sand with crumbled chunks of 'brick' or brick dust?

the ERB novels, or at least the covers showed 'golden sands'…and RED moss…but I guess it's up to you how VSF/ERB or 'realistic' you want to get.

With the 'sandstorms/dust-storms'…even if the atmosphere was breathable…getting the dust in your lungs would be an issue…as it would combine with water and produce acid and other nasty things….and it's finer than talcum powder and would get into 'everything'…

ewwwwwww……

"What color is your Mars ?"

My Mar says they is white wit fancy lacey edgin .

Hi Micheal,
though not really Mars (actually it's Kanopia) I went for a red look on the bases and terrain boards for my Dick Garrison figs though I don't currently have a pics of my terrain pieces and boards up at the moment I used textured wallpaper as a base on the boards which seems to work really well some cut up peices of cork and fishtank drift wood for rocky outcrops and red/purple plastic fishtank plants for, well plants!

Colours I used on all the bases were….

Miniature paints 83 Chocolate brown (basecoat)
Miniature paints 35(I think theres paint on the label sorry) Terracotta (drybrush)
and Miniature paints 80 Cream (light drybrush)

anyway you can get an idea of what they look like here…

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Cheers Roger.

Mine is a mix of red and tan-yellowish soil.

I'm leaning towards D6's arid type board..like terrain guys premade mats. And adding red/brown type foliage. Maybe I can get a custom mat made.

When I recently painted a Dr. Manhattan figure (a character from the WATCHMEN graphic novel) I gave him a Martian base in a nod to the pivotal scenes for this character, which take place on Mars. In order to capture the look of the coloring of the book, I went for a rosier tone. I applied sand to a white glue base and when that was dry, I painted the sand with a diluted red-brown and when that dried, dry-brushed a pink over the top. Gives a pleasing result.

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Just one approach to many possibilities!

I use the bags of sand I bring home from Moab, Utah.

I haven't done Mars yet, but am considering doing a nice orangish-red mottled fabric for another alien planet/moon.

It is close to a red giant star, so will be a more true red/orange than Mars.

I live near the ocean, so san is not the issue. I was thinking a heavy coat of elmers glue, beach sand then painting it. It should work.

I am planning on doing a plain Mars board soon. My choice would be a terracotta sort of colour in the vague hope that after swopping my red rocks and aquarium scenery for my jungle scenery it could double as a Darkest Africa board.

Like this
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Or south coast of Devon…

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Somewhere for the dastardley French to land

I use a carnillian red washed with a lighter redish brown called cinnimon apple. Kind of SW Asia looking through rose colored glasses.

like this:
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or this but with no plants:
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I really love what IrishSerb did here:

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More cool stuff here:

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CC

IrishSerb's bunker complex looks superb.

I am really impressed with how even the cuts are for the foam pieces, and the level of complexity of them.

I used various brands of Red Automotive Primer. Then add some other browns and yellows for some highlights.

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Here's some pics of my McCragge Line from Warzone, a battlezone that takes place on terraformed Mars. It's supposed to be lined with networks of trenches.

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I've also used it for Starship Troopers.
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I've recently just finished some GW Craters to go with my Mars themed terrain.

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@CmdrKiley,
Very cool! I really like the look of that Terrain!

I recall that Nasa finally admitted that the original lander photos had to be "wrong" and "adjusted" the tint of the color shots to more reddish. Only after many system checks did they "correct" the actual color back to nearly non reddish. Most of the Red color is from the atmospheric refraction of particles in the air. That said though has nothing to do with the color of Barsoomian terrain which should match a color that satisfies the eye of the sculptor I would imagine.

I went with a slight reddish / brown, dirty look;

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Of course, a last consideration is that differing areas on the surface of Barsoom are probably varied in degree of red or brown do to soil composition.

Just some rambling thoughts.

I like all the suggestions. And plan on using a bit of each in my project.

I just posted the following photos tonight:

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Enjoy.

CC
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I like your board CC…and it doesn't seem like a whole lot of work either. The cliffs & rock formations are relly cool also. Right now I'm working on figures and haven't strted on my Mars board as of yet.

Thanks Michael.

The board was the easiest and quickest part of it all. I bought the pre-cut board at Home Depot and then started the different layers of spray paint.

In all, the painting of the board itself took about 30 minutes, and that was it. All done.

The hills took a bit longer to make.

More here:

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CC

I figured that the hills took longer. I am considering going with some premade hills and possible going with something like you made. Now I have to find some sort of flock or red/brown-ish type of plant-type material for my basing needs.

My Mars has gone through a number of rather startling changes, actually.

Currently, I am loving a new material I got last spring. SO much in fcat, that I am planning to rebase everything on Mars with it – and that's a good number of figs.

I am using Woodland Scenics iron ore fine ballast as the base sand/dirt for Mars. I mix in a little buff ballast for rocks. Add a bit of yellow lichen here and there for flavor.

For buildings, I am going with a stucco look for most. I get it by spraying multiple layers of color. The current process is as follows:

1. Start with a primer. I usually use black.

2. Then use one of those stone texture sprays. Color doesn't matter too much here.

3. Red/brown metal primer.

4. Terracotta (light random coat – going for color variation)

5. Drab khaki or tan (very light – not trying to recolor, just get some highlights)

6. Go back over with a very light red/brown primer to sort of tie it all back into one palette.

7. Matte varnish.

Being that:

1) My Mars is that of Space: 1889.

2) Most, if not all, of my campaigning on Mars takes place in the fertile area near the canals.

3) I'm too cheap to have more than one set of terrain, and I had the green stuff first! This also saves me the headache of trying to determine which color terrain to base that new unit for.

My Mars is green.