Grahgl!
(that's the noise that I make when frustrated)
I've been frustrated a lot lately. it's starting to hurt my throat.
And painting miniatures is so boring and dumb that I'd rather pull out my eye lashes.
So instead I'll make some terrain.
Everybody loves terrain.
and then everybody will love me.
In truth, I've painted enough Quar for a good 2vs2 or even 3vs2 games and it's a good time to switch over to terrain, to make the battlefield a little more This Quar's War instead of This Quar's American Civil War.
F.O.U.C.s
Trees are an easy place to start. Trees are definitely not frustrating. Lots of the Quar artwork show special trees. Not really alien trees, because they're obviously normal trees, but F.O.U.C.s. That stands for Flora Of Unusual Colors. So I Branched Out to create some trees of reds, purples, pinks.
They came out Oak-kay. Knot the best but Be-leaf-able.
My wife thought they were pretty. The idea is not to have whole forest of these, but to use them more like accent trees, spots of color. Like hair highlights or frosted tips.
Clean
Building on my frustration is my hobby desk has gotten waaay to cluttered....
Embarrassing |
I can never find anything. Where did that glue go? Where is that base? Where is my sense of gratitude and contentment?!!! Grahgl!
I'm especially mad at my paints. I have this random collection of Vallejo paints that just grew haphazardly over the years. The paints themselves are fine, but everything else about them has been annoying me lately. It's hard to replace individual bottles as these are mostly sold in sets, unless you go out to a store thats tocks them but you necer know if they have the color you actually want but that means leaving the house and dealing with weather, people, and vicious animals.
I'm always trying to remember which color was used for that other's color highlight and why do I have 8 shades of brown with 2 that I never use.. and what's Iraqi Sand supposed to mean and what's this number system that doesn't make sense Grahgl
I feel like I need a new system of some sort.
But in the meantime I did the simple thing and cleaned / organized the desk.
Better |
Oh, that OTHER desk belongs to my wife for her hobbies. It's also known as the Desk Where We Put Random Stuff.
Trench Board
It's been a couple of weekends since I touched the This Quar's War Trench Terrain Boards (say that 5 times fast, don't bother, ya can't.) I went to a con, I had a wedding anniversary (15 years), there was a child sleep over. Anyway, I was able to dig them out fo the garage and complete the planking on the third board.
the last 2x4 board. It goes well with the carpet. |
The last stone staircase |
The last bridge test fit. |
The last trench redoubt |
Well... Almost done |
The arrow shows a place where I screwed up with the spackle and made a place where it was impossible to get little wooden sticks to... stick. I'll have to think of something else to go there. I'm open to ideas. I also need to go back to school and learn more words.
Here's all 3 of the boards together to make a 4x6 wargame table:
tah-dah |
Which I admit is underwhelming. Though I do take comfort in the Pink Panther giving me the thumbs up.
The idea is that all the flat space will be used for scatter terrain and whatnot. These scatter pieces will be from the existing collection or from items I've yet to make. So far the best items I have are the ones in my imagination.
Thanks for Reading.
Double Thanks for writing a comment.
Till Next Time.
Nice trees!
ReplyDeleteWhen I get frustrated I swear......VERY forcefully using lots of very bad words.....it upsets my wife, but makes me feel better.....
Tidying up is always a good start.....
Your place of none stickyness.....
Tarps. Tarpaulins are frequently found in real militaries covering things up. Why? No-one knows - it's a secret....
You can make them out of Green stuff or similar modelling clay or just use tissue paper or similar covered in PVA glue. Drape them over all the mistakes.....
It's that or sandbags....
Trust me. I make lots of models and sometimes mistakes. Cover them up with stowage - bags, tarps, blanket rolls - covers a multitude of sins.....
Neil
Thanks Neil. For a moment there I thought you were saying that upsetting your wife was part of the feeling better process.... ๐
DeleteI like the idea of tarp. good thinking. I'm trying to avoid sandbags just because.
Awesome looking trench boards Stew! Nearly there. Just 23 more steps ๐
ReplyDeleteThat bit of trench has "attachment issues". Perhaps replace it with a small crater and bits of broken planking ?
I do think the trees look great. Your puns are un-be-leaf-able though ๐คฃ
Thanks Ben. my puns are Tree-riffic. ๐
DeleteThe boards are such a big project, you're not kidding with 23 more steps. I kinda thought I would have these done by November but now I think next year...
Well your F.O.U.C.s look great, so even with the frustration it looks like you still have some F.O.U.C.s to give (I'll see myself out). You could always cover that area up with more spackle. The lazy way.
ReplyDeleteThanks Space. Oh for FOUCs sake... ๐
DeleteI was actually going more for a Princess Bride reference with the Rats Of Unusual Size and now I feel lame because I missed an opportunity to pretend swear.
The trench board looks great, as do the trees. I can't wait to see the finished article. The worst thing about venturing out for that bottle of Vallejo is when you get to the shop and find they have run out. I order most of mine online now.
ReplyDeleteThank Lawrence. Yeah, I do that too but it annoys me that I have to order them from all over the place; like you can't order direct from Vallejo. Ands i'm still annoyed because I can never remember what colors I used for what. And I have all these random colors...
DeleteI'm very tempted to toss the whole set and start over.
The trench board is going to be awesome when finished and I like your idea for the trees. So much so I'm going to pinch it
ReplyDeletethanks Neil. Pinch away, that's what blogs are for. Somewhere on this site I have a tree making tutorial if interested. ๐
DeleteWell I bet you're Pine-ing to get back to doing some normal trees;)! They look good and will certainly add a few bright points to your games. Great work on the terrain boards, something which I like to do more than painting as I think I've mentioned before.
ReplyDeleteThe Vallejo numbering system drives me mad too! One is for the colour itself and another one shows you where it is on the rack. Madness! Oh and Iraqi Sand is a British AFV colour, which I'm sure you really wanted to know...
Thanks Steve. Fir sure these trees will Spruce up the game table. ๐
DeleteThe numbering system is not intuitive and does not help me when trying to organize my colors.
and i get annoyed because i don't have enough skill or intelligence to figure out what shade is which. Like is Iraqi Sand a brown white, a yellow white, I think I'm gonna chuck them all and just start over with something that gives me defined triads.
Oh my! All of them looking fantastic!
ReplyDeleteThanks Michal. Trees are very forgiving. ๐
DeleteThe trees look great Stewart, and give an other worldly feel, but recognisable as something we know.
ReplyDeleteFor the accident with the spackle, you could make it into a battle damaged spot, so have broken bits of board on the floor, and the earth streaming out of the gap, then when you paint it, finish it with a black wash, and very light drybrush of black, to represent soot, from the explosion.
As for scatter terrain, blast craters would be good, but I like to add these during the game, to show where explosions have happened.
Thanks Dave. yeah, the trees came off well. ๐
Deletebattle damage I thought of, but I also like the suggestion of tarps of some sort.
Great looking non ACW trees! Feeling guilty for giving you stick about the Quar ACW, but I'll get over it, I'm a recovering Roman Catholic so I've had lots of practice! Neat desk and for non sticky wall? Wet wipe tarps, you know it makes sense!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Thanks Iain. Glad you got your profile back. ๐
Deleteand it's because of YOU that the next project will be fences of the non snake variety to really dispel the ACW vibe. It's the fences that do it, not so much the trees.
and actually, wet wipe tarps IS a good idea.
Great stuff as always. Looks like there’s going to be a whole lotta flockin going on in the near future. Good luck with the ensuing clean up after that - lol.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mark. Not nearly the near future because first I wanna do the ground cover and tehn fix that spot I mentioned and then paint and THEN flock.
Deleteit's bigger project than I imagined. ๐
Well, those trees certainly will add "pop" to the table. If you ever want to start gaming the Wars of Ozz, I think you've got a good head start on terrain with those.
ReplyDeleteOH HADRY-HAR-HAR Ed.
DeletebutyeahthatdoesdescribethelookIwasgoingforsothanks. ๐
Excellent! You now have someplace for the Trench Raider figures to go.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jennifer. Didn't paint up those trench raiders for nothing! ๐
DeleteGotta love those trees Stew, but that work bench is WAY to tidy..it needs to be cluttered so that it looks like you are really busy. The trenches are coming along well.
ReplyDeleteThanks mark. You must of not seen the first picture. ๐
DeleteThe trenches look great - as do the trees!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I appreciate it. ๐
DeleteYour table looks lovely, slow steady work is usually the best approach. I live your frustration with your workspace, my bench is every bit as bad as yours. Your trees are top-notch, it nails the otherworldliness of the whole Quar theme. I have found that shell-holes are a great way to hide mistakes on terrain boards, just gouge-out the problem area and scatter some debris around the hole. Keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteThanks Anton. I appreciate your encouragement. I go back and forth in my mind about how to fix the mess. crater, tarp, something else.... I'm just scared of doing sandbags because I'm worried that if I start adding some I won't be able to stop and I don't wanna be like you and spend 20 hours.... these will never get done. ๐๐
DeleteGreat looking pink trees and terrain boards, Stew, and the hobby desk looks normal to me!
ReplyDeleteI think you are over thinking the Vallejo paints issue, though.....
Thanks Kieth. Oooohhh, I’ve done more than over think it. I went a little crazy. ๐
Delete(Foreshadowing).
Grahgl! I can't believe you're asserting that working on terrain is better than painting miniatures. I think its the other way around in most cases! :) I might have to hire you to make all future trees on my behalf because I found that to be somewhat miserable. I think yours turned out very nicely.
ReplyDeleteHave you tried finding a good online store to buy your paint from? I buy most of mine online which is slightly more expensive but I don't live near a gaming store since I moved across town and parking is a nightmare at the place I used to frequent too so I find it much more pleasant to pluck them out of the mailbox when I need them.
Thanks Jeff. I’m doing more than asserting; I’m down right proclaiming. ๐
DeleteYes, it’s all online and it’s seems like never the same store. But I solved to problem by doing something drastic. Seemed like the best option. lol
Scratch built terrain is one of my favourite things! Your trees and trenches are just super-wonderful Stew.
ReplyDeleteBest solution to all them paints: get a few key colours (primary colours plus a few other favs) and mix yer own. That'll beat the system. You could even invent your own numbers. There's this RGB thing that could provide some inspiration...
Regards, James
Thanks James. Nothing like scratch building terrain in a world of 3d printing....๐
DeleteRGB? I don't get.