Ruin Entryway

[reid]

I'd really like to start getting back into making some gaming terrain, but don't have a lot of time the next few weeks so I'm going to just try getting a small fantasy ruins piece together. While cleaning last week, I came across a drawer of terrain making material I'd forgotten about. It included some textured plasticard and a tub of tiny rough stone mosaic tiles. I'm going to use the plasticard as the floor and the stones for the walls and entryway. Here is a rough mockup with a half painted 28mm pikeman for scale:



The base is about 12cm x 8cm. The stones at the front will form an arch. I'm thinking about painting the plasticard like a mosaic, but might just do alternate colors (maybe blue and yellow). I've used these mosaic stones in the past for ruins and painted them gray, but I'm considering leaving them their colors to give a ruins table some color. The problem is that the stones are a roughly shaped so it might be difficult to get the colors in any kind of pattern and still have them fit together well.

[Ambience 327]

Looks like a great start. Those rough mosaic tiles are great. Any recollection as to where you acquired them?

Also, I love the idea of painting the textured plasticard as a mosaic. I will have to file that idea away for if I ever get around to making an Imperial Cathedral or something for my 40K table. A tile mosaic of the Imperial Aquila would look awesome if done right.

In my opinion, you should paint the stones, but perhaps vary the shades of gray you use. Right now their colors make them look a bit too much like giant sponges rather than stones. (Just my opinion of course - feel free to ignore me.)

[pendrake]

Maybe you could tint the tiles. Brown or grey but with an undertone.

Do you have enough to make the arch curved little?

[Alabastero]

These looks like a great beginning. I would spraypaint the whole thing, even if it's just because you can (normally you can't because of the polystyrene ).

[reid]

(01-08-2015, 10:52 AM)Ambience 327 Wrote: Looks like a great start. Those rough mosaic tiles are great. Any recollection as to where you acquired them?

I picked them maybe seven or eight years ago at an AC Moore craft store. I think they are called stone by stone archeological mosaic tiles, I'll have to check the tub when I get home. They had a larger size, too, that I used for sidewalks in a ruined city for 40k.

(01-08-2015, 01:46 PM)pendrake Wrote: Maybe you could tint the tiles. Brown or grey but with an undertone.

Do you have enough to make the arch curved little?

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. Tint it so it isn't so bright, but leave the color so it isn't so the table isn't so gray. Maybe I'll experiment on a few to see how it comes out. I'm thinking a brown or tan and then some earth tones. I've got quite a few of these things, at least in regards to a small project, so hopefully I can get a decent height and curve to the doorway. I was thinking of extending it back two or three bricks, having the first row in tact and the next ones busted up a bit.

[reid]

Well, finally had a little time to work on this project. Got the floor painted:

I was going to plan out a picture for a mosaic but I just didn't have the inspiration or time so I just started painting lines of various colors. I think it is okay. Can't decide if it looks more like a tetris game or the floor of a multi-purpose room. A lot of it will be covered in dirt and grass anyway.

Put the walls up (half painted 28mm pikeman for scale... I should really finish him some time):


Tried to keep the colors on both sides the same so it looks like it was built with some purpose and not just random colors. I decided not to connect the arch across because I like the look of the one wall kind of leaning into the middle. The remains of the arch look pretty precarious, but I liked the way it looked, too, even if it seems a little unlikely to still be standing like that. Just don't stand under it during a moderate wind. I originally planned to have walls at the back collapsed inward or to the same direction, but it seems like the piece will be more playable if the middle is left relatively clear. Maybe they were blown outwards by an explosion. Wizard with a fireball maybe?

Next step will be applying a thin paint to the stones. I'm thinking a dark brown to start.

[reid]

Toned down the color of the stones:




Brown and green washes with a little bit of dry brushing of a lighter brown in between. Toned down the colors without making it monotone. There a couple of spots where a bit of glue shows and didn't take the paint well, but hopefully will just be able to cover with plants. Just flocking on the base and add some plants and it will be finished.

[MellyMonkey]

2 days until the final submissions are due. You're almost there! I hope you make it.

[reid]

Had to hurry and finish things up today because I'll be busy over the weekend. Here is the final piece:


Decided to go a little more overgrown than I initially was thinking. I mostly use Woodland Scenic products for ground cover. I used a fine blended turf built up over several layers. Then added some darker green regular grass. The local shop was out of the Woodland Scenic fine grass blend I usually use, so I bought a brand called JTT. It's not bad, but there fine turf definitely isn't quite as fine as I'm used to. On top of this went a brownish static grass.

The purple flowers are a product that can be pulled apart and stretched to give it a kind of vine like look.


The vines growing up the walls are green lichen that I purchased ages ago. I've always heard you have to be careful of lichen drying out and becoming brittle. It is drier than when it first came packaged, but I was happy to find that after eight years or so it is still stretchy and usable.




When I showed this to my wife she said, "But now you can't see the Tetris board!" I thought the tiles should be mostly covered, and they are hard to see in most of the pictures, but they still peek through the dirt and grass:


Here's some 28mm pikemen for some reason going through the doorway and trying not to catch their pikes on the overhanging stone. They don't know they're being stalked by a goblin on the other side of the wall:


This was a fun build. It's the first game oriented terrain I've made in a long time, and I'd almost forgotten how much I enjoy doing ruin and vegetation pieces. Hopefully I'll be able to get back into making more terrain on a regular basis.

[MellyMonkey]

Awesome! I like the variety of different greens you have going on and the splash of purple makes it interesting. The tiles poking through are a nice detail to those who take the time to investigate. Well done.