The Debate, to cover or not to cover.

For the next few weeks I chewed on how to move ahead with my boards.  I decided to contact the person whom I had drawn my inspiration for the boards built this way from in the first place.  Bruce Weigle

I have confirmed with Bruce that he is happy for me to post our correspondence here, which he is.

First, thank you for you PDF guide for making fantastic gaming boards, love your work.

I have just completed the terraforming of a battlefield Salamanca, learnt heaps doing it but would like to finish it off.

I have added felt to the foam layer and are working out now if to cloth cover or paint the felt, wanting to keep the cost down, but also wanting to do it properly.

My question is more on paint, when I cloth the board, what colours would you use for a Arid environment like Spain. 

I am thinking Burnt Umber is a little to brown when I should be going Grey/Redish.

Thanks in advance

I've never done a Spanish terrain board (the ones whose pictures you saw all represented much more temperate climes), but can at least offer a couple of suggestions.   Maybe more than a couple :-)

I wouldn't recommend trying to paint felt.  Most of the felt available in the US these days (and perhaps elsewhere) is polyester, which doesn't dye or accept paint very well.  And, the fuzzy surface of felt isn't exactly optimum for 6mm figures in my humble opinion, although it could go well with larger scales. 

I always cover my felt layer with a second layer of 100% cotton double knit fabric -- i.e., T-shirt fabric.  It takes dye very well and paints much more readily than felt. 

The cotton upper layer on all my boards (except for snowy landscapes) is initially dyed a very pale tan before it's glued down over the felt with spray adhesive.  The fields and woods portions are then airbrushed on over that, the cardinal rule being: Apply paint in very light layers.  You can always go back and darken up your board with subsequent applications of paint, but you can never lighten any fields which turn out too dark.  A light hand when airbrushing the colors with a subtle mottling texture will generally give the best results.

As for colors -- I use the cheap acrylic  "hobby" paints generally found in craft stores, but have never done an arid environment so can offer no specific color suggestions.  I'd suggest that you take a look at the  Salamanca area on Google Earth to get a good idea of what the actual terrain looks like, then print out a sampling of the field colors you plan on duplicating.  Use this color sheet when you visit the hobby store to pick your most compatible paint shades. 

Once you've got a few likely colors (including white, for lightening) pin up a surplus piece of your pale tan-dyed fabric and experiment on it with toned-down colors; don't paint your game board until you've worked out (and documented) which colors and color combinations best match the color Google Earth view of the actual terrain.   

Oh -- keep in mind too that you'll never perfectly match color photos you've seen of the battlefield, because terrain viewed from ground level isn't the same shade as what it looks like from overhead.  Even the Google Earth view isn't an exact match, for various reasons.  So your best-guess approximation of the colors of Salamanca will no doubt be good enough; it's the tone and contrast that should concern you most.  Take it slowly, spray lightly and build up the colors gradually, and you'll do fine  :-)

Bruce Weigle

Thank you for your time Bruce, your advice has influenced my decision greatly.  I will finish the boards off with cotton.

I have given thought to paints, selecting tan with terracotta mix, darkening as needed for highlights, as most of the stone work ranges from the tan earthy tone to red limestone.

Foliage is my next perpetration action, looking at woodland scenically clump foliage range and pva gluing that to areas of wood.  Given it doesn't have a lot of woodland and it will dry maintaining a reasonably flat texture figures could be placed on it well.  Testing this on fell left a telltale ring of glue stain on the felt around the forest clump.  Do you find the same on cotton or does it hide it well enough, pva that is.  (Paint can help correct I suspect.)

This has been a lot of fun and I thank you for the time you have spent saving me a world of experimentation.

So it looks like I have more work to get on with.....