Joining the game mat pieces.....

My game table is 7ft6in x 3ft.  The fleece game mat that I bought a couple of months ago for my game table was a 7' x 5'; too short for my table lengthways and too long for the across the table. 

I trimmed 6" off it length ways to give me a 1ft gap; then cut ~1ft8in off it the other way to give a mat 6ft6in by 3ft3in ; then I used part of the offcuts to fill the gap.  There is an overlap, which has visible edge due to the thickness of the fleece mat.

That visible overlap......

I wanted to join the two pieces of mat together, so after consideration opted for to use gaffer tape.

The edges of the two pieces of the mat were cut as straight as I could; the tape was applied to the underside of one piece and the slowly and carefully the second piece was then put into position. A bit of fluffing to the surface and the gap is not that visible.  The two pieces have slight differences in colouration but the 'joined mat' looks way better .....

Once some scenic bits is on the mat and a game is in progress it won't be that noticable.

New Game Table Mat....

Well not a mat, but a fleece finish table covering from Redbubble; a large 'summer grass' throw see here link . [Dimensions 203.2 x 152.4 cm]

I unpacked it and popped it on the table to get an idea of the colour difference from 'my green' table surface.

It works very well with my 40mm figures which have static grass on their bases

The throw is really for a double bed and is about 6.66 x 5ft - just right for a 6 x 4 ft game table. But my table is 7ft6in by 3ft - so I'm short at one end. 

Under the fleece throw I can re-use my contour hill pieces for hills

I cut off the excess of the throw and then cut to size that to fill in the short end. The table covered over; there is an overlap ... for now I'll try and cover that up with scenic items.....

 

added some scenery and it looks really good, the fabric roads I have are OK (I might need to find something better)

Better setup a game to christen it ....

Walled Farm Set ...(few changes made..)

 Made some minor changes to the set as it came ...  

changed double door on the stable block to be single door plus window

filled in the holes in the roof..

'skinned' the wall sections with thin card to match them up with some others wall sections I have

a chimney for the farmhouse ...

Changes made have been painted up...

Walled Farm Set ...

A Walled Farm Set from EM4 Miniatures arrived today; unpacked and had an initial look and quick setup using a couple of 40mm figures.. large barn at the back with other buildings with the walls/gatehouse.

Stables block, but could be a couple of house...

Farmhouse and part of back of barn...

(Jim Purky has some super pictures of the same set with 28mm figures on his Alte Fritz blog... http://altefritz.blogspot.com/2023/02/new-terrain-goodies-and-all-that.html. )

Overall a lovely buildings set, a good size; they will be good on their own and give me more options for a town setup. All roofs lift off and the doors open/close. A couple of minor things that aren't to my liking: holes in some of the roofs, no chimney on the farmhouse, a bit too much brick showing. All things I can improve.

Fencing and Walling - quick refurb...

 I had some scenery out for a WW2 game and noticed some Warhammer walls and fencing languishing in the box; I thought it would be a good idea to give them a little tlc...

Fencing given a dry brush of light brown and the edges of the bases changed to a lighter colour..

The stone walls were re-painted a light grey and dry brushed with a darker shade of grey, also the edges of the bases changed to a lighter colour

both the walls and fencing now looking much better and ready for their next outing ....

Refurbishing some rough ground scenic pieces....

 After using some rough ground scenic pieces for a recent game,  I noticed before putting them away that some of them look rather tired - somewhat faded (too many little feet running over them in the past few years..)

So a little refurb and improvement needed, initially gave them a refresh of the bare ground areas and then added some new static grass and some other mixed scatter.

One finished and looking better..

I have some Woodland Scenics water product left, perhaps a little pool of water on a couple of the pieces would look good..

After that I found some spare grass tufts, on they went; finished ...

I like this one the most ....

The sections mixed with my pond and small marsh sections on part of a game mat - a nice bit of moorland...

Windmill

Dusted off my old Airfix (Dapol) windmill, applied some tlc and weathered it a bit; followed by giving it a smaller footprint base.

Wooden Bridge ...

 I wanted an alternative bridge for my wide river sections, I decided on a wooden bridge.  I used the wooden bridge (resin one FIW21 from Ironclad Miniatures), the ramps and midstream support have been married up with an old bridge deck that I had made from cardboard and parts form an Airfix bailey bridge.

painted and ready for use ...

(the bridge deck resin castings that came with the Ironclad Miniatures bridge have been put aside to be made into a low jetty for my harbour setups)

A Blue Rinse for the River sections ....

My main set of river sections ... a bit too brown ? well sort of but they work as rivers.

Rather than start again with a new scheme I decided to give these a blue wash like the stream sections; I mixed up a turqouisey/blue wash mixed with some varnish, applied liberally to each section ...

all done and laid out to dry...

after application of a couple more coats of clear gloss varnish ... now not so brown as originally; I'm happy with the new look

and from lower down the reflectivity I wanted...

all still on the water front 😎

On Murky Pond ....

While on watery scenic features I had a look at my small pond/lakes etc...

Looking rather tired, the varnish had rather lost its gloss finish; so to chivvy them up I used some Woodland Scenics Realistic Water (left over from making some paddy fields, see here) . Its runny stuff and takes 24hrs or so to set,  great though and its looks very good ...

Tinkering with streams ...

After working on my wide river sections, I re-visited my stream sections. These comprise 'Battlefield in a Box' items and one home-made section, which have been painted & varnished. They have a 'light brownish' look - I wanted to give them a tinge of blue and perhaps a bit more reflectivity.

To add the tinge of blue I mixed some mid-blue paint with some gloss varnish, trial item on the left 

Looks better, so I did the rest of the sections with my blue-mix varnish, followed by another coat of clear gloss varnish, 

that'll do 😀 🐍

Enhancing my large river sections ...

Still wading through rivers...

I decided to sort out my large river sections before re-visiting colours and finish of the medium width river sections (and streams). The large river sections were made with acrylic sheet and sprayed on one side for effect; the top side is very reflective and I needed to reduce this somehow.

I thought about using some plastic effect sheets suitably painted stuck on top of the old sections.  There are some nice ones

• Busch BUS7180 water effect with ripples (clear plastic)  
• Faller 170791 Lake Sheet (clear plastic) 
• Amera P109 Water effect sheet (white plastic). http://www.amera.co.uk 

Alright for a small area or pond, but not suited to my needs. After a bit of thought I remembered my friend had used clear plastic shower curtain over blue fabric for a river ... very effective. 

As an alternative to using a shower curtain, I thought of scrunching up the clear plastic from some cheap A4 Pockets (you can get A3 pockets too ). I tried one out ... 

I liked the effect and set about covering the rest of the sections ....

I'm well pleased with the end result :)

Rivers Sections - making a couple of wiggles...

One thing missing from my river sections are some wiggles or bendy sections. ...

First up was to check on what I had already... enough to get me halfway across the gaming table...

I worked out that a couple of 12" sections would be enough for most game scenarios to go straight across the gaming table or across the table at about 45 degrees...; bases cut out of mdf and a piece of plastic packaging cut to stick on the top to give me a smooth finish to paint on...

the two new sections then have river banks added using cork tile with some wood filler to fill in any gaps..

painted up to match my existing sections, with 5 coats of gloss varnish...;  setup across the table - result

What colour is water ?  Blue/green or grey or brown (and reflective) .....I've gone for a brown river bed and low clear water. It's too brown ?   I'm trying to find the right colour and way to apply it - at least I have all the sections I need for games - any change can be applied to all.   [It doesn't help my extra wide home-made river sections are a very reflective blue, these will have to match as well  😕 ]

Added some new fencing to the scenics ...

 Having 'borrowed' and re-worked some fencing for another project, my stock of generic of fencing looked a bit low, I needed to add some post and rail fencing. 

 During a visit to the local model railway emporium I spotted some nice fencing from the Woodland Scenics O Gauge range - so got a couple of packs. They come in a grey plastic weathered wood look with brown gates - I gave the fence parts a light dry brush in brown and based them up - enough for a small paddock and a bit more - plenty for most of the game settings I can think of.