A fortress in ruins

 

A sizable chunk of terrain to add to the collection this time.  A couple of years ago, I picked up a humble bundle deal from Modiphius that included several FTL files for their Elder Scrolls: A Call to Arms and Fallout games.  Around a year ago, I managed to finally get several pieces printed off for the Western Watchtower.   (If you've ever played Skyrim, this is the tower where you fight your first dragon)  This turned out to be a rather sizable project as the various components all proved be a rather healthy chunks of resin.  

The modular nature of the set  is fantastic for skirmish gaming, as I can mix them with my existing terrain chunks to get the terrain-dense table you need to make skirmish games tactically interesting. 

Getting these pieces table ready proved to be a rather arduous task.  This was primarily due to my desire to go beyond simply painting each piece grey, dark wash, drybrush and calling it good.  Instead I was inspired by a video from Black Magic Craft I found last year while painting the Nord Tomb walls for the same game.  This is essentially using a mixture of tones to give a more varied appearance that better mimics natural stone finishes.  Here is the overall summary of paints used:

• Undercoat:  Rustoleum Charcoal Grey "Chalked" spray-paint.
• Basecoat: Heavy Drybrush of Medium Grey (Matched to AP Uniform Grey)
• Ground/Debris/Dirt - AK Effects Wet Mud
• 1st Stone Color:  RP Khaki
• 2nd Stone Color: AP Ash Grey
• 3rd Stone Color:  AP Dark Stone
• Drybrush: AP Skeleton Bone
• Drybrush:  AP Matt White
• First Wash - Black Wash mix
• Second Wash - Brown Wash Mix
• Third Wash - VJ Army Green Wash
• Sealant - 

This was fairly time consuming as my patience/mood for painting individual bricks would wax and wane.  I did the first tower as a test piece, but found that getting a good color match was difficult if I painted one piece at a time.  Instead, I did the entire project in batches.  Once an entire color was complete, I would move onto the next one.  I also ensure that I let a coat sit for at least 24 hours before moving onto the next stage.  Thus I started painting in April and finished last week. 

For comparison, here are my Grey monotone ruins from 2019-20.

The overall approach can be a little unsettling at first as the stonework looks fairly cartoonish when all the base colors are added.  The light tan dry-brush really serves to soften the stark variations, while the dark wash completes the effect. 

 My primary washes are custom made as I was not going to spend the money to by numerous small pots at $3-7 a bottle.  Instead I bought a large bottle of matt medium and two bottles of acrylic ink at Michael's for about $12.  I used a 50/50 mix of medium and distilled water with a shot of anti-surfactant.  I then added ink until I got the right density roughly equal to GW Nuln Oil or AP Dark Wash.  You can find numerous other recipes on-line.  This one just worked well for me. 

I am quite happy with the results, but it did inspire me to repaint my existing grey-tone ruins.  I resprayed those over the weekend and started painting stones.  Hopefully I will get them done before 2025.  

I have managed a few Skirmish games over the last couple of months.  Primarily Rangers of Shadowdeep, Five Parsecs, and Five Leagues.  My son received the Skyrim Adventure Boardgame for Christmas and we managed to play all six chapters over the course of winter break.  Re-basing of my SYW Cavalry is almost complete as are an additional 12 gun batteries.  Following that is the process of cutting and re-basing the pike & shotte units.  Lots to do. 

Thanks for looking