The Fabricator Basic: Making GREATHELM Gaming Boards

GREATHELM has picked up a number of steam in our Discord server and throughout the web, and for good purpose! I reviewed it a pair weeks in the past and have been blown away by how good the sport is, go learn the assessment when you have no concept what I’m speaking about. 

If you’re not conversant in it, and are too cowardly to go learn the assessment, GREATHELM is a recreation of twelve knights (or related melee-wielding fashions, it’s tremendous minis agnostic) preventing on a easy sheet of paper. That’s the entire board measurement: An A4 or US Letter measurement sheet of paper. It’s one of many causes I needed to strive it after which was so happy that it’s additionally superb because it suits on my kitchen desk with loads of additional room. You also can take it out to the pub in a single field taking part in wargames together with your drink of alternative in hand.

I’m an enormous fan of the Really Useful Boxes for storing minis, like many are, and whereas lurking across the 1st Corps web site historic fashions found these MDF trays that stack and match surprisingly comfortable in a field. I acquired two of the 33mm trays to enter a 4L field to make two GREATHELM boards with: One easier sheet and one other extra sophisticated one. Then I by accident purchased a 4L Really Useful Box with “hobby tray” as a substitute of an empty one and found that the interest tray will match completely with one among these MDF trays, too.

To the underside of the first Corps MDF tray I glued down a bit of rubber metal minimize to A4 measurement and caught a laminated print out of the GREATHELM board to that. I needed the underside to be magnetised so fashions don’t transfer round mid-game with a small knock, as a really clumsy wargamer it is a fixed concern; additionally deliberate on that being how I transported the fashions earlier than realising the dynamic poses had been only a contact too tall to truly work in a 33mm tray. Something I might have considered testing sooner. Oops? It’s nonetheless good to have for video games, although. So used the surplus strips of rubber metal gluing them to the perimeters to move the fashions that approach, which works completely.

I like utilizing the handgunner as a “crossbow” in recreation, having an additional mannequin or two per aspect makes back-to-back video games extra fascinating by having a small quantity of selection to select from for the gamers. Adding the interest tray on prime for cube, measuring sticks, mini tape measure, and tokens was a really blissful accident and it suits very comfortable collectively. I threw this into my backpack standing on its quick finish and every thing arrived precisely as I packed it.

I took this all the way down to the pub for a pair video games and drinks with Corrode, instructing him the sport, and watching his last-surviving crossbowman surviving far too many assaults whereas wiping out 5 of my knights piecemeal. It was absurd. You is perhaps considering “wow crossbows are really good” and also you’d be utterly mistaken, that’s not what did it; that knight missed each ranged pictures he tried after which simply murdered 5 guys along with his dagger as a substitute. The level, although, is that that is all very compact and we had been capable of play one thing enjoyable and dynamic out. Love that.

As nice as all of that’s we will do one thing a bit of extra spectacular and concerned. So that’s precisely what I did. I purchased two of those trays with the concept of stacking them on prime of one another earlier than studying how properly that interest tray labored out. This one I needed to go all-out with for one thing that appears so much nicer to play on with a river proper down the center for some fascinating gameplay. Rivers decelerate your guys a bit, not permitting 6’s for use to maneuver throughout them; naturally a bridge for duels can be wanted for epic moments (or very irritating ones).

Everything I used to make the board. You’ll simply be capable of change any of those with your individual favourites, these are simply what I needed to hand apart from the acrylic paste that I picked up on a budget for this challenge and used about half of. That tub of sand and rubble is a conglomeration of sand and small rocks that I’ve collected over time and use as a basing materials generally; it’s not from any specific place however there’s loads of related mixes you will get.

• Colourforge Hyrax Brown spray
• Pro Acryl Grey Blue
• Citadel Mournfang Brown
• Citadel Gorthor Brown
• Citadel Dawnstone
• MIG Acrylic Water Pacific Waters
• Scenics 4mm spring static grass
• Acrylic modeling paste
• Tub of sand and small stones
• Variety of slate items
• Moss tufts

First step was slapping down a pleasant thick layer of acrylic paste in order that the river sits decrease than the remainder of the board. I simply moved it round with an previous brush to create diverse heights that might look considerably pure leaving the center of the board the place the river goes to go. Then including the sand/stone combine on prime whereas it’s moist so it sticks.

A little bit of paste acquired within the center by mistake, nevertheless it works out to have a number of stones within the backside of the river, too, in order that’s fantastic. You don’t need to be very neat about it, simply do what feels proper. This paste goes to take a pair days to dry, so earlier than that occurs (and ideally fairly early within the course of) push some bigger rocks into it. I’ve acquired a baggie of slate and picked the flattest topped ones which can be too giant for basing use in order that knights might simply stand on prime of them, these aren’t meant to impede motion in recreation simply to look good.

 

I picked up an affordable resin bridge from Alternative Miniatures alongside some good metallic medieval figures particularly for this challenge, that acquired glued down with tremendous glue both aspect of the financial institution and I used to be very blissful it was the correct measurement for this recreation; good width for one mannequin to cross at a time or to fulfill an enemy knight on and battle to the demise! Or to be pushed off by a coward into the water. After that’s down and the paste is all dry, some days later, I sprayed it Hyrax Brown from Colourforge.

Time to start out portray! Start with a heavy drybrush of Mournfang Brown after which a lighter one among Gorthor Brown. I used to be a bit heavy handed with this making a few of that gravel combine come off revealing a number of the unsprayed sand under in order that simply will get coated up later with static grass. After that, drybrush the slate in Dawnstone and select a number of the bigger rocks within the sand combine with it as properly, this step is barely tedious however makes for some very nice element in a while! The bridge acquired a heavy drybrush with Gorthor Brown and a few form of khaki paint I needed to hand that I can’t bear in mind, it hardly issues, simply make it a lighter brown than the bottom.

Now it’s time so as to add within the water! Before the water results is slapped on it is advisable paint the river as a result of it’s considerably clear, I went for a very blue trying river so that each one of this seems to be a bit fantasy as a substitute of hyper sensible in any approach so painted it with Grey Blue. After the paint is dry then get an enormous, previous, brush that you just don’t care about an excessive amount of to scoop and transfer across the water texture; these items could be very thick and holds its form very properly so make some waves and wait a day or so for it to totally dry earlier than including the static grass or else you’ll have a really, very, grassy river. Unless that’s what you need, then do this, I assume. It’s your board, make it the way you need.

Once that’s all dry it ought to appear to be this! Really massive fan of these items, it lets me keep away from pouring resin.

Once once more MAKE SURE THE WATER EFFECT IS FULLY DRY. I didn’t. It was nonetheless very barely cheesy and I used to be impatient so I simply slapped some matte varnish over it so I might get to the static grass.

To stick that down I like to make use of mod podge as a substitute of simply PVA as a result of I really feel prefer it has a greater maintain on it. Buy an enormous tub and it’ll final you years, in all probability, I simply purchased my second one after the primary was bought again in 2022. It’s not even costly. I don’t have a kind of fancy static grass applicators and this step is messy however I put the glue down the place I needed it and sprinkled static grass over it, pushed it down into the mod podge flippantly, and tipped the leftover into an enormous bowl to reuse later. To make it stick up a bit of bit and never lie too flat simply blow on it a bit or use a handheld, battery powered, air blower factor that creates a bigger mess than you anticipated however definitely did the trick. Either one.

As a completion I added a number of darker moss tufts onto rocks and into some very small areas for a little bit of selection. I feel it seems to be neat.

That’s it! There’s a lot that you are able to do with your individual board however this positive is a really good, easy, approach of constructing a comparatively flat board that can be simple to move.

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