TAR7An Board update 3.

 Slowly slowly catchy money! It may only be that thinks it has been slow progress the last couple of days, but here is what I have done.

The fist thing that stands out is that I have started to colour the board up. (Yes I still have to build the temple entrance and remake the huts.) The river now has a series of blues and greens which give it some depth and I am just about ready to think about the waterfall being coloured and textured and given several coat of varnish. I have sourced the stepping stones and when I find some araldite they will be painted and added. at that stage I will add a lighter blue green section so it appears shallow around the stones. I hope to be at that stage when I do my next board update.

I know I keep saying it's going slow, most of that is an apathy attack and me not being willing to do much in the heat. Yes I am a wimp!

Elsewhere on the board I have added sand, plaster PVA and paint  to give the main area a firm and solid texture, which will get painted as grass and dirt to match the figures bases and the bases on the huts. Still a lot to tidy up but it is now starting, very slowly, to take form and give some idea of what it will look like when finished.

That is today's very quick update club day tomorrow so expect an AAR on Monday. So until then take care don't stay too long in the sun and enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Best wishes Clint

Villianous Cast.

 Well apart from the Big game hunter and the Lioness, which was the post before last, this is my villainous cast of cannibals. Apart from the Priestess they are all from Foundry. 7 male figures all wearing masks and armed with either bows or with shields and spears. These were an EBay purchase some years ago but I have freshened up the paint job and re-based them to match in with the Tarzan figures. While the shields do match, all the spears are different, simply because when I bought them none were provided. Thus they have a very mix and match expression.

 I have matched the mask on the Priestesses staff to the warriors to create a feeling that they all belong together. I'm quite happy with the effect both theatrical and in keeping with a pulp TAR7AN setting.

 The shields are not decorated, being simple browns with a black/brown wash over the top. I did not want the shields to clash with the masks which should be the most menacing part of the figure.

One figure does not have a shield (I ran out) so instead carries a severed head. Needles s to say this figure is the tribal Headman. In game terms he will be a normal film extra but with the bonus of a leadership skill. The skill will allow him to activate an extra figure who is lose by. In other words he can issue an order to the other warriors. The two archers have no quivers so we shall have to assume they carry them in their hands.

The same Archers with the priestess.

 And this cake was made yesterday for work. Coffee and Walnut. Not drinking coffee I have not tasted it, but when I cut it in half to add the fresh cream it was a very nice texture and I could see the walnuts have were scattered evenly throughout.








So that's it for today. Thanks for reading, hope you found something of interest even if it was just to think "Oh Cake!"

All the best and I hope to post again in 2 days time.

All the best Clint.

Board Update 2.

 Opposite is the area I will build the temple entrance. Having made a few sketches I am now ready to start on it. I shall say no more about it at present except to confirm that it will have a dark doorway into the rock face. All the work should be in 3mm Grey board and Mounting board and will be attached to the cliff and base section of the board.

 Here we can see the overhang for the waterfall from the right hand side. It has taken 3 coats of plaster and some polystyrene blocks  to get it to jut that far out.

 Also from the left and side. The dark green gully is where the waterfall will flow. (I expect you had already figured that out. ) I think I will need one more skim coat of plaster to go on when the actual waterfall is in place. But for now I think the cliff is finished in construction. I say in construction as I still need to give it a coat of watered down PVA to seal it. And then to painty the whole thing to get a better look to the terrain board.







The last picture today shows the waterfall in position. The Perspex is covered in cling film for protection and is in no way finished. You can also just make out the small crocodile cave at the waterfall base has changed shape and is now slightly less regular in appearance. My next steps will be to acquire some stepping stones and also to  coat the main area with a mixture of PVA, Plaster Paint and Sand in order to give the whole thing some texture.

The heat and general stickiness is restricting my ability to finish to much as I am dripping even when I stand still. (Which is not pleasant for me or anyone else who's close by!)

The Thunder and lightning (Fork Lightning by the way) has done very little to reduce humidity, but was quite the loudest thunderstorm I have ever heard last night and has kept me awake since 4am.....

Next time however I hope to have my "Cannibals" done. So more painting joy on the way. Thanks for reading. Take care and hope to see you on Thursday. All the best Clint

My old Orc Village. Suitable for TAR7AN?

 I raked out my old 25+ years old Orc Village to see if it would fit with the TAR7AN Board. There is one more, but that made it look far too crowded and this or fewer looked right to me.

I don't have to do very much work on them to re vitalise them. A couple of roves to reattach for example and a few chips to paint over. I will not get overly picky and point out they all have wooden doors which is totally unauthentic although I may change them in the near future. Not sure yet.



 They are about the right size scale and shape so I don't think it worth the time expense and effort to buy or make more. Even as I type this I am thinking of changing the doors and a quick repaint. So nothing is off the table. It was just a thought that I desired to explore, by getting these relics out again.


So as they came out of the storage locker I thought it worthwhile to take a couple of shots of them on the board to highlight what I am thinking.



So a little extra blog post today, thanks for reading. I hope all is well with you and a normal post schedule resumes tomorrow.

All the best Clint.

African Evil Priestess, Croc and Lioness walk into a bar,

 The title just sounded like the start of a joke so I added "walked into a bar". There was no drink involved, honest. A little last night, but nothing this morning!

Firstly let me say I will post some better snaps when the whole villainous cast is assembled so please be patient. These should however give you a pretty good idea, even if some of the detail is a little blurry on the Evil African Priestess. What the photos will do is show colour and scale, so plenty to think about.

Starting with the priestess. She is a Reaper Casting and need not be African, she could quite easily be Polynesian or Indian. I however took heed of the mask on the staff and decided that a dark skin tone would suit best especially for TAR7AN.  Again as with the Jane figure I did look at doing her clothing as a leopard skin but decided not to give myself a migraine and wimped out! Yeah I know I should have tried to push myself but some days you just don't feel like it. She has a mixture of Gold and Silver Jewellery both on her person and on the staff which shows up nicely against the dark skin. I decided on Pink (not Magenta) adornments to her legs and the staff only because they just looked right and for no other reason. I will admit I did try orange first but it left me feeling "Mheh!" Where as I like the pink, personal choice and nothing more. The mask on the staff was always going to be red and white as it fits in with some of my masked natives, More of them in a later post.
The Crocodile is from Michael at 28mmvictorianwarfare and was a very straight forward figure to paint. Mostly just a base coat and a few dry brushed highlights. I do not see this as being part of the villainous cast, more a natural hazard come terrain feature. When they arrived they were somewhat larger than I anticipated which is to say they are in scale and I was thinking that they should be smaller. At least with them (only one painted as yet) I suspect the players will stick to the water crossing points and not try to swim anywhere!

And finally if TAR7AN can have gorillas it makes it only fair to include a lioness (from Foundry Gladiators range!) as a pet of the Evil Priestess. Mind you if the Priestess likes animals she's probably not all that evil! It was one of those figures that has been knocking about for a while so I am glad to get it done. I think I have a few more, but I have no idea where. The face came out a little bit Disney-esqe but having looked at Lions faces for about 15 minutes this morning I am happy with the result. I have grown to love the cartoon aspect of the lioness despite my earlier misgivings.

That's it for today. Probably a board update on Tuesday as the overhang for the waterfall is now taking shape. I have also sketched out some ideas for a jungle ruin (It's not my excuse for playing Farscape 3 honest) which will go on the other side of the board to the waterfall. I will keep it simple with an entrance going into the cliff face.

SO until Tuesday. Thanks for looking, enjoy the rest of the weekend and take care you!