"My MARS (Martian) Board" Topic

Here are the photos:

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If you'd like to see a photo zoom, select the photo and then click "all sizes". Here's an example of the zoom you get:
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EASY INSTRUCTIONS

The board is 1/4 inch mdf, purchased that size at Home Depot (local hardware store). It is 2 feet x 4 feet.

It was sprayed with the following (in that order):
* Fleckstone (textured paint – color doesn't matter)
* Dark Brown
* Terra Cotta
* Tan
(See photo for brands)

Each successive color was sprayed in small figure 8 configurations.

Note: The photos with the more yellow coloring were taken with a flash and do not represent the true color of the board.

THE HILLS

The cork hills are still unpainted, but will soon have an mdf base added to them, and will then be painted with the same color scheme as the board. Here's how they were done:
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THE ALIENS

The "Aliens" are 15mm Space Demons from Khurasan Miniatures.
This is how I painted the Aliens:
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So . . . feel free to critique and suggest (on the terrain board, the hills, the paintjob, the quality of the photographs – or anything else I may have overlooked).

Thanks!

CC
PS. I also plan to use it for Prehistoric and Victorian games.
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CC--

I like it!

Nicely done.

Custer,

Thanks.

Anything I could have done better or should have done differently?

CC

Thanks!

My game room is about to become my wife's office. And my two gaming buddies have moved on to other things that keep them from playing. In addition, I've done more traveling than ever.

So I've "diversified" to 15mm, I'm having to come up with smaller playing surfaces and scenic pieces, and may even have to get or devise a way to play solo.

Such is life!

CC

That looks really great.

I like the nice mottled shading of the board.

The cork hills/cliffs look very nice as well.

Where did you find the cork material?

Top Gun Ace: "Where did you find the cork material?"

The tiles are the same dark, crumbly type you find at Walmarts and other stores. Here's another source, online:

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After I glued the pieces with plastic cement and allowed them to dry under heavy phone books, I went to work on roughing the edges with a hobby knife and do a bit of contouring:

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I used a toothbrush to gently get rid of any loose bits.

Then I applied 2 heavy coats of straight PVA to seal the surfaces and add strength. They have turned out pretty strong and should resist any crumbling now.

The sheets are each 3/8" thick. And there are 4 sheets per pack.

I am very, very pleased with the results so far. I plan to place them on 1/4 mdf pieces but, for now, it looks like there's no or very minimal shrinkage.

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Hope that helps.

CC

I like it – the cork hills look particularly good and I might try copying the idea on my next board.

Tony
dampfpanzerwagon.blogspot.com

Tony,

Thanks. Keep in mind that I still need to base the hills on 1/4 inch mdf and then paint them in the same color scheme as the board.

CC

CC, thanks for posting! Those cork tile hills and rock formations of yours are absolutely awesome! They would work perfectly for straight historical TSATF colonial games, played with individually based figures (which is a lot of what I play).

I have a somewhat similar system of hills, using stepped contours made from doubled-up carpet underlay foam, similarly spray-painted in multiple layers. I keep each contour separate though, for more versatility in laying out terrain. Have to admit that the overall shapes of your finished pieces look so much better -- though you do have much less tabletop to cover! (I play on a 9'x5' ping-pong table).

I know you're a post-apocalypse type but I can't help wanting to see Pathans occupying those craggy hilltops about to be assaulted by Gurkhas and Highlanders with support from a mountain gun!!!

I'm really looking forward to seeing pictures of those rocky hills after you've painted them to match your ground-cover.

Love the hills.. that looks really nice. I also like the colour of the board, might have to give that a go.

Looks excellent!

Thanks for the detailed info CC.

I really appreciate it.

I will have to look for the cork next time I get out to the store.

They look nice and irregularly shaped, so are perfect for alien worlds, and/or the Southwestern US.

I like the color of the hills as is. They add a nice contrast to the color of the table.

Well done!

Fantastic CC

So well done in detail I thought it was in 28mm, the I looked at where you had it set up (the kitchen counter).

Very impressive.

Yeah, cork is a great material to work with. The hills look good. This will be a permanently fixed board Dan?

Thanks,

John

Looks good. I'd just leave the hills the color they are instead of painting them. They look good like a darker rock outcropping sticking out of the lighter sand.

The rock formations look fantastic.

I'd have given the whole thing a more orange colour but that's just a matter of personal taste.

The more conventional desert colour you've gone for means you can use it for other non-Mars settings as well.

CC, Awesome idea with the cork. I've seen that cork at Walmart and Hobby Lobby. Should be easy to get. I'll be taking your idea and using for 28mm. Remember I'm right down the road in College Station.

Good work.

Very cool CC. I can't wait to see more pics of the board in action.

I think it looks great. Any thoughts on how the Fleckstone paint wears? I have a can and I keep thinking about its applications for war gaming terrain (buildings, paved roads) although, oddly, I'd never considered using it to cover the entire base. Makes sense though and looks like it works well.

John Leahy: "This will be a permanently fixed board Dan?"

The hills and rock formations are going to be individual pieces each. That way I can configure them any way that suits best for the given scenario.

And the thin 1/4 inch playing surface is small enough to store in the closet without really taking up any room.

Versatility is the key. The table in the photos is my wife's granite kitchen island. I can borrow it for games and taking pictures, but it is in the middle of the kitchen.

Thanks everyone. I really appreciate your kind words and suggestions.

CC

Mlatch221: "Any thoughts on how the Fleckstone paint wears?"

Let's see. I built this other gaming surface over two years ago. During that time I think we played something like 30 relatively large games (150 figures per side or less):

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The Fleckstone has really stood the test of time and the movement of lots of figures.

But now . . .

Because 1) I've been on the road so much these last couple of years, and 2) my buddies are not free to play for the foreseeable future, and 3) because my wife is having to work from home and, so far, has had to work in a tiny corner of the dining room, I have no other choice but to let her have my game room.

It's going to feel weird knowing that it will be turned into an office. This is what it looks like right now:

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But that will change radically this week, as we move my stuff to the attic or the trash, and move in her desk and stuff.

I'm going to really miss the multi-sectional boards I had on my game room table (the ones with the built-in river). They are going bye bye, along with the table:

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Oh well.

CC

CC-

I hope you can store your multisectional boards--would be a shame to trash them.

In response to your previous inquiry of me --I think your mottling effect is going to work nicely with the other terrain you will place on the boards --so no further modificaitons that I can see on what you have already done.

I love the fleckstone stuff as well.

I used it for my star wars buildings for my tatooine battles.

See links for battle report with pics of the buildings I used the fleckstone on.

The buildings are the ones in the middle of the table and are the plastic cover the figures came in (hasbro unleashed battlepack 3 inch figures). I primed with krylon for plastic, sand color, and then used 3 different fleckstone colors to create the adobe effect.

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Cheers!

Custer7thcav

Impressive, CC. I like the colors and the rock contrast. Well done, sir!

Custer,

I can see them clearly in the pictures of the second link. The whiter buildings, right?

I've never used Fleckstone for buildings before, but that looks great.

Thanks so much.

Dan

Yes the whiter buildings.

Thanks for the compliment.

Dan,
That is awesome!
RebelMike

Nice work, CC!

I don't see "The Face," though.

:)

JPattern2,

I know, I know. It's on the list! :)

I think that what Dropship Mark did here is pretty cool:

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CC

You can find buy styrofoam heads at beauty supply stores. They use them to store wigs on. I think you could smush one of those face-first into a box of damp sand, then pour in plaster. That would give you a nice, sandy-textured face for your wargames table.

Just hit the craft store or hobby lobby and get a $1 USD craft mask, foam it, texture it (spray adhesive and sand/pebbles), paint it.

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Cork bork jork mork mork fork! link

Ahh. But the dark cork tiles I used are each something like 1/2 thick.

CC

Looks wonderful CC!

I was curious to know why you would add mdf board as a base for the cork hills? Are they not very strong as is?

Gotcha…I only saw 1/4".

I had a thought the first time you posted this cork terrain find.

How about stacking blue or pink insulator EPI board link glueing with the cork shaped as a top layer only, pressed, dried, and then either hot wire or razor cut down using the cork top as a template.

Light, cuts your expense, keeps the cork detail ot top, and allows you to make many more cork terrain pieces with the same stack.

I imagine since they are so lightweight, they might be easily bumped and moved during a game.

Hence, the desire to add MDF to the bottom, for a heavier terrain piece.

Top Gun Ace has a big part of it right on.

I guess the reason for having mdf under the hills is a combination of added weight and anti-warping support.

Plus, it doesn't hurt to "dress up" the base of the hills a bit, with a small amount of debris accumulation in choice areas around the hill. The base helps a lot with that.

CC

Very nice. I haven't painted mine or mounted them on mdf, so I'll be interested to see how yours integrate with a base and painting.

Cacique Caribe said:

The Fleckstone has really stood the test of time and the movement of lots of figures.

Thank you, that's good to know.

28mm, those packs of 4 1/4" cork squares sell at Wal-Mart for about $5. USD

I've used the 1/4" thick cork (on an mdf base) to make rough ground. picture In this picture they're being used as hills in an Aeronef game. The total height is less than 1/2 inch.

Mlatch221,

Just a thought . . .

Even though I've never had to do it, I guess one could always spray a layer of polyurethane sealer after the Fleckstone (before the other layers are added), or even after all the painting is done (if you find one that has a matte finish).

CC

Would these 1/72 scale Italeri bunkers work as fortifications on Mars' surface?

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So far, I can see the following specific kits: 6070, 6085 and 6091, though there might be others.

They almost remind me of the bunkers on Mars in the Babylon 5 episode where they observe the digging out of a buried Shadow ship ("Messages from Earth"):

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What do you guys think?

CC

Very nice looking board and terrain. I've used cork for smaller basing on 28mm figures, and loved how easy it is to get a nice rocky look just by breaking off chunks. Your larger pieces look great.

The nice thing about the cork versus blue/pink foam is that it is much easier to get nice looking rough edges. The only suggestion I would have is to add a little bit of fine sand sporadically on the flat surfaces (especially around the bottoms of any columns or outcroppings), and to hit them with a coat of Matte finish to take the shine off the PVA glue coating.

Can't wait to see them based.

"add a little bit of fine sand sporadically on the flat surfaces (especially around the bottoms of any columns or outcroppings)"

Excellent idea. I had planned to carefully spray Fleckstone on the fats, but I think sand gives more control. Thanks!

"and to hit them with a coat of Matte finish to take the shine off the PVA glue coating"

No worries. The shine will disappear once I spray paint the rock formations and hills to match the board a little*. However, I will still make them darker than the board:

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Though not quite as this formation on Earth:

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Thanks again for the feedback.

CC
* I want it to look as though some of the dust of the desert floor has blown on top and around the formations.

Wow !!! Very nice !!!

Thanks! I'm trying, with the little time I get these days. :)

CC

In case anyone wants to see what the colors on photos of Mars should really look like:

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Ok. On another note, let's compare these rock formations . . .

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To these . . .

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I still need to spray paint some highlights on the rocks but, over all, do you think that the cork captured some of the feel of layered rock?

Thanks.

CC
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It's official . . . from now on, if I get to game at all, it will have to be on the kitchen island or the dining room table:

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CC
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I tried making some cork hills a couple decades ago but they NEVER looked as good as yours. You definately got it figured out! Very nice!!! :)

Dave,

Thanks. That means a lot to me. It's incredible how that kind of cork tile lends itself to an ideal rugged stone look.

CC

Ok. Maybe I should have tried a slightly more "traditional" color scheme for Mars:

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Oh well.

Dan