Project Terra-forming: Almost finished

So here we are, nearing the end to my little adventure in terrain building.  This week I finished off a building and picked up some cool green crystals from my ALGS (Awesome Local Gaming Store).  So tools for this week are the same as last week...

• Your building from last week.
• Hard board bases cut and sanded.
• Paint and gluing supplies.
• Foam insulation board.
• Resin (store bought) crystals.  

So to pick up where we left off last week, I have a half built Manufactorum building.  I didn't feel like it was quite finished, so I added another corner section to the building and some extra bits lying around the floor.

Manufactorum finished with sanded base.

I like to leave my building bases pretty clear so models can move around easily.  Lots of rubble looks awesome, but is a pain to get models to stand. My mantra, simple is best when it comes to terrain.  So this being a Adeptus Mechanicus building, I figured it should be a shade of red.  For buildings, I tend to prime them black with spray primer then go to town dry brushing.  For a good deep red paint job, I started with a dark brown acrylic paint (from Wal-mart).  I give the building a heavy dry brush almost covering the entire thing, then move on to a dark maroon color (similar to scab red) and give another heavy dry brushing.  Once this is dry I give a light dry brush of a bright red, similar to blood red.  Once finished and truly dry, I add some weathering.  Since this is a desert, I figured there wouldn't be any rust, so I just went straight to worn edges and paint.  I use a small natural sea sponge to dab on small amounts of boltgun metal.  This can be as light or heavy as you like.  Just remember its easier to add more than to take away. 

Dry brushed with a fresh coat of paint on the sand.

So from there it was on to painting the base with the standard fare and then dry brushing when it had dried overnight.  I couldn't decide what to do with the floor tile so for the moment it is simply dry brushed with the same bone color as my sand.  It looks OK for now, but I think I will checker board the tile with bone and some other color.  Maybe, as was suggested, freehand a partial Mechanicus symbol on the tile.  So anyway, here's some finished photos...

I promise they look much better in person.  

You can see I added sand around the inside to cover up any gaps.

 So I had just played a game with my Necrons and then saw these really cool looking green crystals at my local shop.  I thought, "Damn, how perfect are those for my table!"  So home they went with me.  I didn't think these crystals needed much beyond a base, so I went to work right away.  After testing some out on a flat base, I decided (before I glued anything) to raise the large clusters up slightly before gluing them.  I wanted to give the impression that they sprouted from the ground and the the sand collected around them.  I simply took some 1/2" foam insulation board I had sitting around and cut them like I would a mini hill.  I then gouged out a small hole for the crystals to fit into.  Using white glue I glued the foam and crystals to the bases.  There were small crystal clusters too, so I simply gathered them together in a aesthetically pleasing manner and super glued them down.  

Two of the three bases ready for sand.

After drying overnight I glued the sand to the bases and then added paint once the sand dried.  I think they turned out pretty well and look great with my Necrons on the table.  Here is the final product...

All three bases completed.

So my terrain has taken on a theme of its own.  It seems that a Adeptus Mechanicus research facility was constructed on a dormant Necron world, but once the Necrons awoke things went bad.  As you can see by the ruined building.  I figure that one building a research facility does not make, so I am in the process of building another.  This building is 2'x1' in size (base is anyway).  That will probably be the final piece to my terrain making, at least for that table.  I am going to embark on building several new tables for my ALGS in the next few weeks.  So if you want you can come check them out at Grand Adventures in Murfreesboro, TN. in about a month.

Here's a sneak peek at the work in progress building...

That tile floor is just screaming for a freehand symbol of some sort!

Hope you enjoyed this and thanks for reading.  Until next time...