Bug Canyon Project

[Goldwyrm]

I'm documenting a little project I'm doing for Starship Troopers. This 4'x16' terrain board is for two SST games I'm running at a local convention towards the end of July. Here is a link to my brand new first time gaming blog with some photos:

http://goldwyrm.blogspot.com/2007/06/building-bug-canyon-part-i.html

Like I mention in the blog, my goal is to put together something a bit more detailed for Lieutenant Rasczak's website. I thought I would share a bit now and then I can be hounded to submit a complete article later. :wink:

My next step is to glue and pin the appropriate pieces down to the boards and then I can finally begin painting.

 

[JLS83WARRIOR]

looks cool

 

[BuShips]

Goldwyrm, that should be very fun for the Bugs to play in, what with the many twists and turns. If the MI were defending, they could also set up killing zone overwatches for the surface Arachnids that came down the main corridors.

In many ways it would play much like close-quarters urban fighting, don't you think? It will be fun to see it go through the stages to a finished board.

 

[cordas]

Looks intresting, can't wait to see the project get completed. What size is that gaming table, it looks very long....

 

[Goldwyrm]

Thanks for the comments.

@BuShips- Yes, good point. I agree it could play like an urban battle. I'll be posting a battle report so we'll see if you're right. In this case both sides are either in the streets or on the rooftops, but the Bugs are the only ones that can tunnel through the "buildings". :lol:

@Cordas- It is a long table for a convention game that can handle up to 16 players. The table is 16 feet long. It is 4 feet wide. That is more narrow than I typically like to do, but I want the players to be able to easily reach over and down into the crevasses to move the figures. My board will assemble by joining eight 2x4 sections and 28 removable plateaus to help cover the seams where they meet. That leaves some room later to remove plateaus for open ground, outposts, etc. I also can make plain board sections that can be inserted later. The guy in my group making the matching board with a huge crater is making his 4x8 foot table so we can combine our terrain boards to make a 4x24.

 

[Hiromoon]

Freaking sweet! very cool!

 

[cordas]

4x24...... How many people will be playing on that? I hope you take a LOAD of pics to show us.... maybe even some video as well when everything is setup to show us around the table as well with mini's on and off.

 

[Hiromoon]

Need a mini-camera on a stick so you can give us a up close tour!!

 

[Goldwyrm]

4x24...... How many people will be playing on that? I hope you take a LOAD of pics to show us.... maybe even some video as well when everything is setup to show us around the table as well with mini's on and off.

The convention game is designed to accomodate up to 16 players max. With 8 players on a side, it is only 2 feet of table real estate before zones of control start to overlap. So a 24 foot table would probably be great for the same number of players or less. In addition to cons and small store games, my group more routinely rotates playing various types of mini games at people's homes. I currently could run the 16 foot game in my dining room construction area, or out on my patio. Aside from a convention, the 24 foot version would probably run at the next garage game day we do at a friend's house. His single car wide garage is just over 30 feet long.

I will certainly be taking pictures. We'll have to see about video. I have the capability but might not have the time.

Need a mini-camera on a stick so you can give us a up close tour!!

I don't have one of those, but that would be fun. Right now I'm just hoping when I start painting this Thursday that I can successfully hide all the pink spots. The game plan now is black Krylon H20 Latex spray paint as a primer, then brushed and rolled brown latex house paint as the base. I've got a faux painting experiment to try with the top surfaces, but the inside walls and crevasse floors will be lightly textured with sand texture additive in the brown paint and then highlighted.

 

[CmdrKiley]

Very impressive. Hopefully it can breakdown for storage and transport easily. That was one of the issues I had while building mine.

Regarding the Krylon H20, you might be better off just priming it all with brush on latex paint. I tried the H20 and found it to be less than effective both in cost and coverage than just buying a gallon of a light colored flat latex paint from the Oops bin at Home Depot.

First of all the H20 has water in it and after continued spraying the water would freeze up at the nozzle causing foaming and drippage. Secondly the coverage was thin and, in my case, was white primer over white styrofoam and hard to tell I had adequate coverage (only to find out shortly after applying the solvent based enamel spray paint). Cost was about $6 a can and I went through too much for such a large project.

The other approach, using brush on latex, is much more cost effective. Furthermore, the application tends to be thicker and adds to the strength and durability of the foamboard. Also, when applied thickly, it fills and smooths out sharp corners making them seem more natural. While the paint is still wet it works like glue, you can sprinkle sand or sawdust into it for texture. I was even fortunate enough to obtain some paint from the Oops Bin that had decorative sand already mixed in. A second coat ensures that the material won't rub off and makes it more durable.

The downside to it is, you will have to wait longer for the paint to dry before you can start spraying it with the desired color. Also it can be a bit messy as you may have to pick up the work to brush in all the nooks and crannies.

Good luck!

 

[Goldwyrm]

@CmdrKiley- Thanks for the tips on the Krlyon H20. I found 6 cans at the evil WalMart for $3.77 each, so I'll rotate through them so I don't end up with the water in the nozzle trouble you describe. My hope is to use it to spray into all the really hard to reach with a brush areas. Then I'll be following it up with the thicker brush on latex brown paint. I would have also used "oops" paint since it is $5 a gallon vs. the $20 a gallon. However for this project color matching was needed so the extra cost was worth it. I did however avoid using an overpriced designer paint like Ralph Lauren.

A quick note on materials- estimated material costs are 11 pieces of 2" thick 2x8 pink foam @ around $18 each, at least 6 cans of spray paint @ $3.77, 2 gallons of paint and texture additive @ $44, and miscellaneous glue, cutting blades, and pinning sticks for perhaps another $15. So far just under $300 total in materials. That's a lot of Prepainted Exosuits :wink:

 

[BuShips]

I agree with CmdrKiley that house paint from the "oops" bin is much more cost effective. What I do on my newer projects is to base-coat the project with latex house paint, and while it is still wet sprinkle hobby sand over the surface. It adds texture as well as strength to the styro surface.

Then I use the H2o (also bought at Wal-Mart due to the lower cost) for adding the final top color layers. Another thing that is important to me that gives a very nice effect is to use two or three cans of H2o and trade off using them while the others are still uncured. What this does is to allow the colors to merge on the edges and self-mix the paint. It creates a varied and more natural look to the project. After it is all dry, you can still hit areas of the surface with even more color. This is the best reason imho in using the cans in conjunction with the house paint. The house paint gives a good base coat to apply the multiple colors of H2o on top of.

Goldwyrm, try a piece by using three cans of H2o, swapping them wet or when semi-dry and see if you like it. I find it this part the most fun, personally. I call this a "poor man's airbrush". You can control the effect by either light or heavy use, and by doing it at different stages of the paint when drying. As CmdrKiley mentioned, the H2o dries reasonably fast and you can control the consistency of the look by keeping within a set bunch of canned colors. This way the entire board doesn't get a mono colored look. As I said, this is an important part for me in using the canned paint.

On top of all of this, I use small amounts of colored craft sand and apply it over the still-wet paint for yet more color variance.

 

[CmdrKiley]

I was able to get some really good 'natural' earth tone colors with Floral Spray Paints I get from Micheals. Nice sets of browns, yellows, reds and greens. Paint is a bit expensive, $6-8 a can but you can cut that down with one of their weekly 40% off coupons. Coverage tends to be a bit thin, however that works out well if you've base coated everything in a general color and want to variate the colors and add shading.

When I did my Martian Trenches I used auto primer red spray paint for the base colors. Some primers are pretty red (I think that was Lowe's cheapy line), I found one that was a nice rust red/brown (Rustoleum). Sprayed all my terrain tiles with that and then added some strips of Terra Cotta and Saffron from the floral paints.

One thing I found to be really helpful was buying a clip on pistol grip handle, which can be found for a few $$s and usually hanging around the spray paint aisle. Makes things pretty easy to paint large areas and takes the stress off your finger.

 

[Goldwyrm]

Nice outpost.

I occasionally use red oxide auto primer too. Right now I'm using it as the base brick color on some Crescent Root Studios buildings.

I've tried the floral paints and they do go on a bit light.

I also use American Accents spray paints that come in earthy or muted colors like Nutmeg, Oregano, and Summer Squash. Those are available at Home Depot.

@BuShips- Your post reminded me of some colored sand I've got in a box that is sitting unused. I'll remember now to use it in the wet paint for some trails. For the bulk painting I like to use the store bought sand texture since it is lightweight and stays in suspension really well, so less remixing of the paint and the terrain boards won't weigh a ton.

 

[BuShips]

Goldwyrm, I also have a 10lb. bag of silica sand from Home Depot. You are correct that if you use too much sand the weight will shoot up. If you use it sparingly it should enhance your board.

 

[roughneck GIR]

You could also use that for klendathu invasions(or something similiar). Have fun with your project!

 

[BuShips]

You could also use that for klendathu invasions(or something similiar). Have fun with your project!

Yup, just consider that they are tunnels and imagine that they are underground. "Now where did Carmen get off to, anyway?" :wink:

 

[Goldwyrm]

That's a very good idea about using the terrain to represent a tunnel complex.

I started painting last night with the Krylon just to get black into the little areas hard to reach with a brush and roller. 6 cans of the H20 spray to get the 8 board sections covered. I still have to paint about 30 or so individual plateau pieces that can be placed in different configurations. Sorry, no pics of this stage yet. Tonight the base color is being started.

I thought I might also include a brief note on the forces for the game. Each side has roughly 4600 points of stuff.

Mobile Infantry
WASP Platoon- LT w/plasma munition, 2 NCO w/trenchsweepers, 2 squads of 6 (2 Hel flamers in each squad), Flamberge Missile (conventional warhead)

Mobile Infantry Platoon- LT, NCO, 3 squads of 6 (2 Hel flamers, 2 Javelins, 1 Triple Thud), 4 Stalwart Bugfield generators

Marauder Platoon- LT in Chickenhawk w/blizzard&twin .50s, SICON agent (talents tbd), 2 squads of 2 Ape Marauders each.

Roughneck Platoon- LT Razak, Roughneck Squad, CHAS unit, Mobile Infantry Sniper, squad of 6 Mobile Infantry (Javelin)

Arachnids
Brain Bug (Ego War, Shield)
2 Plasma Bugs
2 Units of 5 Tiger Warriors
1 Mantis Assasin, 2 Mantis Hunters
1 Infiltrator Bug
2 Ambush Bugs
12 Units of 5 Warriors with Endless Tide
2 Burrowers
2 Units of 5 Firefries
2 Units of 3 Hoppers
6 Tunnel Markers
7 Tunnel Entrances
1 Nest Entrance

The Plasma Bugs will be in fixed hull down positions. I went with small Arachnids and avoided adding in any of the Tanker Bug variants.

 

[Goldwyrm]

Here's an update:

http://goldwyrm.blogspot.com/2007/06/building-bug-canyon-part-ii.html

and a pic from the above after I've started into the painting:

 

[BuShips]

Here's an update:

http://goldwyrm.blogspot.com/2007/06/building-bug-canyon-part-ii.html

and a pic from the above after I've started into the painting:

FYI, the pic won't show itself, but the blog pics look nice. Dried mud, I'd say for sure. :wink: