Finished Afghanistan Boards.

Here are some snaps of the finished boards. Truth to admit I have a couple of tweaks to make. But for the sake of it, I'll call them finished. Some have been cropped to take out the background which is pretty uninteresting, unless you really like seeing a messy shed maybe another time. That's all for now I'll post again on Monday. Thanks for looking, and enjoy the jubilee. All the best Clint

Afghan Buidings WIP

Here are some pictures of the buildings that will go on the boards. Each board has a specific place for a specific building which you can see in the bottom picture. But we'll talk about that in a while. In these shots the buildings are nearly finished you can see that they have all been painted the same colours and in the same style this is because most villages are all built of the same materials and have the same vernacular aesthetic. Close examination of the pictures will reveal at least three different sand colours on the buildings (all a mix of emulsion and ready mixed poster paint and maybe a dash of acrylic as well), that's part of the joy of water based paints they can all mix together as long as you are somewhat careful. The darker shade was dabbed on and then wiped off to create a patchy affect. and the lighter shade was brushed on lightly from the top and dragged downward. It's not perfect, but it looks OK to my eye. The last pic shows one possible layout of the 4 boards, as you can see the roads exit from 3 sides of each board which allows many different combinations. This will not be the final show layout, unless it happens by chance or the players on the day decide they want it this way. It will be finished by the weekend and I plan to show it all put together with figures and grab a few pics for this blog assuming the weather on the day is sufficiently good to take photos outside.

That's it for today. Thanks for looking. Next post on Saturday. All the Best Clint

Adding colour and Texture WIP

A few more work in progress shots. I started byadding texture to all the boards. This was done mostly using wall filler from the 99p store.  I also added some white wood glue (PVA) and some yellow poster paint. The yellow paint was added for no reason other than to confirm the glue had mixed evenly. Without a coloured paint in the mix everything is white and you think you have an even mix, but you cant really be sure. Using a cheap disposable brush. 30p for two from Wilkinson's in this case I painted the filler mix on. Before the filler could dry I sprinkled with builders sand. The only reason I use Builders sand is because of its cost, any type of sand would do.

Allowing it to dry overnight I mixed up enough paint to cover all the boards with at least two coats. Again mixed in some PVA and painted all the boards while sitting in the sun. By the time I had finished the fourth board the first one was dry. So I painted them all again with the base colour, a very dusty looking yellow.

Then I mixed some burnt umbar acrylic which turned it a kind of Brown-grey. which I then painted the roads. Adding some white to the mix I then painted all the walls.

And that's where I have left it over night. I hope the low angle shots  give an idea of both the finished texture and the walls and crop fields.

I'll post again on Thursday, all the best and take care folks. Clint

Laying out the last board (WIP)

As I am by now hoping you should be aware that Broadside is two weeks today. And by the time I finish this post in two weeks the door of the show will be open and At that stage I really will be in a flap. The only thing I can do is wonder what vital thing I will have forgotten.  That being the case I thought I should share the last of the boards layout with  you.

As you can see from the top picture I wanted something which could represent a built up area. A village square if you will. I can imagine a few shops selling all sorts of things from farm produce, maybe a leather workers or a shop selling cloth or farming supplies Or anything that a small agricultural community could want. There are four building "blocks"  clustered around a small square. Most of the buildings are of similar heights, mostly for ease of construction. One building is noticeably larger. (Third Pic on the right hand side). I have left the building deliberately vague in its use. It may be the village elder/tribal leaders house, that of a local dignitary, maybe it's a mosque or perhaps the home of a major drug runner. From that point of view it does not matter. If it is a mosque though the coalition troops better not fire apon it.
The last two pics show the entry and exit points for the village centre. I have left them deliberately tight without much room for the vehicles to manoeuvre. My background reading suggests this is the right approach and it will give plenty of opportunity for ambush from the Taliban point of view.
I intend to have everything finished before the end of the week so progress on these boards might become rapid and I might need to leave one or two stages out of the blog.  I will try to keep it step by step if I can, but my primary aim is to finish everything to a high standard in plenty of time.
Now that the light is at the end of the tunnel I am beginning to wonder what I should tackle next. As a club I think we have settled on playing SAGA probably as a league, but that will only involve figure painting, and I have really enjoyed this so far I am pondering loads of different projects. Perhaps I would be wise to wait and see if anything at BROADSIDE grabs my attention.

Well that's it for today. I will post again on Tuesday. Thanks for reading enjoy the rest of the weekend and hope its the weather you want where ever you are. Al the Best Clint