Terrain on a budget, Ancient columns.

Hi folks

Hope you all had a good Easter with lots of chocolates.

Today the weather is just brilliant, sunny and hot which is uncommon. So its the perfect time for some outdoor activities! Typically people over here do love some bit of gardening or that sort of thing, well my idea of enjoying my garden is slightly different.

This Easter my son had one school project about creating a model based on WWII so I got him some DAS terracota sculpting clay for him to mess around (1kg for £4), it was a blast and there was plenty of leftovers... So, instead of throwing those away I decided to use them for my own wargaming terrain, which brings me to todays outdoor activity.

I picked a sharp blade and carved some ancient columns so that I can decorate my jungle table, I think these can go well either for WFB, 40k or even modern settings.

Funny thing about carving is that its easy to get carried away.

One picture for scale.

Years ago I did something similar so this is like my 2nd go at this sort of terrain, its fun and quite relaxing. So thats it, I carved some clay leftovers and enjoyed the sunny Sunday morning in my garden. It does not get better than this!

Gaming table on a budget

Much planing was put into creating my home based gaming table. Today wargamers are spoiled with many options on the market, you can buy plastic modular tables, preprinted mats and even resin tiles. There is a viable option for almost everyone depending on how much you are willing to pay. I covered my top fav companies on the market on the previous post and there are plenty of tempting stuff there under my budget of £100.

So all this planing and thinking got me back to my roots, I mean when I started aeons ago if you wanted a table you pretty much would build one from scratch. Thing is today I do not have the time for such project so I rather buy one. Humm a decision needed to be made and guess what, I looked at all those nice companies and products on the market and in a very typical fashion I scrapped it all.

Lets go for NON wargaming companies and products and hunt some freaky things on the net ( back then we did not had the net and just wandered the local stores looking for things that we could adapt for wargaming). I started looking for fabrics and you can buy them for cheap, but it will look cheap too and not very sturdy, then I looked at floor tiles, wallpapers and not happy with the volume sales... got into cork boards and sheets but to much hassle to sort them all out for a full wargaming table.

Then by a stroke of luck I looked for artificial grass... Holly molly! The market has tons of options it really looks like some people are into having artificial grass on their gardens or balconies! Good! It looks like grass, its cheap and comes in a rolled matt. Jackpot!

I have a big dinning table so with this artificial grass matt on top Im totally sorted. Mind there are lots of different sizes, colours, textures to choose from, I went for the one that looks more sturdy and comfortable to play on also them wise Im going for classic grass table that can be transformed into jungles, woods, european country site, scifi verdant world etc.

This is what I got.

Beneath it there are some plastic bubbles to keep it more stable on the floor, for me it will be good to make it less slippery on the table. Its also waterproof and very durable when you actually walk on it so pretty safe for my little troops.

As far as texture goes its really comfortable to the touch and the colour is deep medium dark green.

The table is ready!

Even the rotting space marine approves the grass.

So thats about it I went for something a bit different that totally suits and satisfies my needs.

Budget wise I have spent the ridiculous amount of £13 total with shipping included in that! Yeah you read it right it was dirty cheap! Happy gaming folks!

Wargaming on a budget & cheap rules.

First post of the year yay!

I have been very busy painting ferociously my goblins and I'm currently doing 2 regiments at the same time, more news and pics when they are finished.

While I was having fun with my WFB goblins some radical rumors from credible rumor mongers did hit the net and holly cow!! Looks like GW will be changing things for WFB. There's a talk about a major reboot of the game with factions merging, armies reduced, bases changing etc! I fear for the future of my Goblins.

Generally speaking and regardless of their fate I will continue painting my gobbos,  just not their bases in case they change. Painting armies does take time and dedication... so if GW decides to make WFB something closer to 40k they may end up with a problem on their hands with vets moving elsewhere for their mass battles fix. Last thing any collector likes to see is their painted armies rendered useless. I have been at this for 2 decades and I think the rumored changes may well be some of the most extreme ones in a long time. Lets wait and see how all turns out to be.

As far as my projects go for this year you may think that these news would slow me down, but actually it had the opposite effect.
I actually decided to introduce my 8 year old son to 40k. We already play Spacehulk and Xwing but I wanted him to get the feel of a tabletop game.
With that in mind I looked into getting the new rulebook and codex... at £75 Its not going to happen. So I went with the idea of running some small killteam games, again I needed the books... Humm I have forgotten that the prices increased considerably over the past 4 years.

I can spend as much as £100 on a single mini if I really like it but spending more than £30 - £35 for a rule set is not going to happen, I just do not see the value in it. This brings me to " Wargaming on a budget"... This year I'm going to do some posts on that subject. I mean wargaming does not need to be expensive.

So I will spend the £75 of the rules in making myself a nice homemade table, as for rules I want something simple and fast like Killteam style rules... guess what? I found them at this wonderful site.

ONE PAGE RULES

Downloaded the KT rules and extras so Im set for rules and it cost me £0, I know that they are not comparable with the real thing but for now they will do just fine.

There's more rules on the site if you are curious about it.

Have fun guys.