"Interesting Oceans - what's the latest?" Topic

The GHQ models are on their 4" hexes, painted and sealed. Instructions are on the site.

link

I use their 'system' for my indoor naval gaming. A lot more work than a matt but the 3-D effect is nice.

For the Solomons I would still go with a blue but with more green.

I also have Hotz matts but based on what I have been reading ('re delivery times, etc.) over the past year I can no longer recommend them.

I would look at Monday Night Productions or Corsec Engineering.

Last year I started thinking about replacing my old dark blue felt. It's served well, but I wanted something more realistic, and it drives me nuts when the felt fibers catch the miniatures.

This TMP post is now 5 years old, but still has good suggestions in it: TMP link

I love the effect achieved by Boo Hoo with the clear vinyl: link Another advantage he doesn't mention is the ability to mark depth changes or change the color towards a beach by using different color cloths underneath the clear vinyl.

I think my favorite "realistic" ocean was posted to TMP sometime this year:http://das-voize.blogspot.ru/2013/08/naval-warfare-table_18.html I considered doing something like this on 2'x4' or 2'x2' plastic panels to make a modular and transportable sea surface, but I didn't like the cost or difficulty.

I also looked at using 2'x4' lighting tiles, just like TMPer Dantes Cellar did:
An Ocean in Acrylic
An Ocean in Acrylic: Part II
However, those plastic tiles are actually pretty fragile. I didn't want to spend a lot of time and money on something that was going to get destroyed during transportation. Also, getting small panels of a thin material to line up on the table is hard, especially if the tables are uneven. I decided I'd prefer something that "blanketed" the surface to smooth out ridges where tables abut.

I spent some time looking for blue vinyl in the right color. I'd prefer a deep sea blue-green mottled with dark patches (black or superdark blue). That's what my felt looks like, and I like it a lot. No luck. I believe Hell will be closed for it's third snow day in a row before anyone makes a vinyl like that. :-)

I ended up using the War Artisan technique as the best compromise: PDF
Here's what his look like in action.
Mine look almost exactly similar (without the white dots). There is still a somewhat toy-like appearance to the end result, but it was an incredibly easy project (I made an entire set in one day), the parts were reasonably inexpensive, and the modularity is awesome. The individual tiles let me "scroll" the sea surface under the ships when the action moves too close to one edge; I just peel up one edge and move it to the other side. No more Edge of the World™.

The giant square grid turns out to be a boon for marking things like entry/exit points, mine field locations, deployment areas, coordinates in campaign or continuation games, etc.

The foam tiles are nearly indestructible in normal gaming use – they're tough enough to walk on, and waterproof (and therefore also beer-proof, soda-proof, liquor-proof…). They're also very light and easy to carry.

With some creativity, the surface realism might be improved. For instance, you could try making waves with caulking before painting. I opted not to turn a fast project into a year long occupation of the garage floor, but you might be better at finding time for your gaming projects than I am. :-)

- Ix

The War Artisan technique looks pretty good.

One thought is that if his technique is used, one should look at some aerial photos, so that the texture is compatible with model scale. 1/700 might best use one texture, and 1/6000 another. IMHO many textures used by naval gamers are too pronounced.

Also remember that from an angle, what we see is partly the sky, so the color can be lighter if desired, and still be realistic. The darkest color is only observed when looking down. Using lighter colors can be helpful in compensating for relatively dim indoor lighting. Examples:

Mark

Where is that second picture? It makes me want to model it. :-)

Also remember that from an angle, what we see is partly the sky

Good point.

The sky also adds a lot of light, which is part of the reason gaming surfaces and miniatures have to be shades lighter than their real counterparts. Indoor lighting is much dimmer than the huge chariot of thermonuclear energy Apollo rides across the sky every day. My gaming sea surfaces look very different in the club's community room with giant plate glass windows than in my dim house deep in the redwood forest.

Another interesting problem I've found with a reflective gaming surface: multiple suns. In the great outdoors, there's only a single point of light in the sky, which only gets reflected off the surface at particular angles. Indoors, there are usually multiple lighting fixtures, and the light bulbs may be long tubes. Seeing all those light sources reflected in the "water" detracts from the impression.

- Ix

The second picture is Taranto, Italy. The outer harbor (where the Italian battle fleet was torpedoed in 1940) is in the foreground. I've seen some Pearl Harbor (12-7-1941) dioramas, but never any of Taranto …

MH

Another approach: For a lot less work (but more money), you could buy a sea mat from terrainmat.com.

Angus Konstam has a lot of pictures of his on his web site, and it looks awfully nice:

Check out his web site here.

- Ix

I'd like to see some of the Corsec mats in action. I hope you'll be kind enough to give us a photo essay once you get them in use.

- Ix