TerrainFest 2023: Favorite Projects

[redscopeParticipant 2711xp 2]

First well done to all the winners of TerrainFest and all those featured in the video.

TerrainFest was amazing and the number of creative projects just blew me away with ideas people came up with, the skills on show and the journeys people went on. I wanted to highlight or showcase some of the projects I enjoyed. I also hope people might post their own favorite project below and provide a little detail as to why they enjoyed them.

STONE COLD TOWN RUINS IN THE SNOW

Stone cold town ruins in the snow

First up is a project by Sundancer. If one project ever encapsulated the ups and down that is the reality of the hobby it was this project. I think it fair to say most of us don’t often express the problems we have just often they are a showcase of what went well.

In this project the aim was to paint up some of the frostgrave ruins. The project starts with the build process which is fine. Then the problems start first running out spray primer then the air brush packs up. I know he spent a while trying to get the airbrush working. During this time we got no updates honestly I thought he had given up.

I had this feeling in my own project it was not quite going the way I expected. I lost interest in it for a little while. This does happen in projects they are exciting at the start, often that middle bit is such a grind or you run into problems that never work out the way you expect.

Then on the 28th Oct we get this second wind, a flurry of posts each day and progress flys by. The airbrush is cast aside, we go back to manual painting methods and the project is completed. The end result looks amazing.

I like this project because it shows sometimes you need to just put your worries, concerns, plans aside and just pick up a brush and start painting. Because often you will surprise yourself how well it turns out.

PAPER TERRAIN FOR 7TV DRACULA FINALE

Paper Terrain for 7TV Dracula Finale

Jeffersonpowers project is based on 7TV from crooked dice. What interested me is that the material was just paper. In some respects this is a pretty odd school way of making terrain out of paper or card. However it is nothing like we used to have back then. The Dracula’s Tomb is not just a flat box is a complete structure with a roof, buttress, has a ramp going up. You cannot see any of the paper joins. It has a very 3D feel which normally paper you assume is very flat. I have never seen anyone quite do Terrain in this way very interesting to see.

NECROTHRALL DOES ALIEN TREES

Necrothrall does Alien Trees

A lot of projects on this list tend to showcase things I have not seen before that sparked an interest for me. Necrothrall’s tree project was one those. A lot of boards we see for every obvious reasons look like our own planet earth. From the buildings to the trees they are at best future version of what man creates. I really like it when Terrian does not follow that pattern and shows something unique. The alien looking trees painted with the bright contrast paints

Port Blacksand

Port Blacksand

 

The fact that hutch’s project was set in the Fighting Fantasy world won me over straight away. I am going to be honest I wanted to steal this idea and do a port blacksand build as well. I found myself after reading his project going through my own books looking at maps and pictures based on the books. Dont be shocked if I end up doing something from the FF series in future.

The idea alone was great but the standard and quality of the build is just mind blowing. If you have ever had to paint a timber based building and had to paint each of the wooden beams. It takes so much time and effort with a steady brush. All the fine details the barrels in the stream, the famous house under the bridge.

Hutch also did at the same time the gaslight project featured in the video. I dont know how they have this much to do so much on two different projects.

I am really keen to see how this one turns out.

 AN EWOK TRANSFORMED

An Ewok Transformed

Ewokkebab features a battlefield for a new game which also peaked my interest called A War Transformed. The game is set in the WWI with occult power thrown in. If WWI was not bad enough the occult mixing with the death of trench warfare is quite something else.

One of the problems I personally face with games like this is how do you present the playing area. Some games are often very cool but based in a landscape that throwing down a gaming map does not really express it. People like Ewokebab seem to have this ability to not only have a vision but seem to know how to create it. I am sure a lot of planning must went into this before he started but it has like we need a board, XPS foam for the trench. It is also the amount of work, cutting out all the boards, putting in all the sandbags. Those are the difficult tasks when you are doing the same thing over and over for hours on end. It was another project that I want to steal ideas from.

GHASTHOLLOWS CEMETERY (MINIHAMMER 10MM SCALE)

Ghasthollows Cemetery (Minihammer 10mm scale)

Projects done in 10mm and lower scare the heck out of me. I don’t know how people manage on that scale. What I really love about this project is two elements. First he made trees out of computer cables. I don’t understand what magic he used to make a cable look like a tree. He has picture of the cable tree and the end result and I still don’t get how he goes from one to the other. The other element I love is the way it comes together. The choice of the colours in the trees, the placement of the grass. When i put a tuff on something it just looks like tuff on the base. In this you get the feeling that yes that is where grass would be growing out of the rock. In the photos it looks like a very real place.

PORT SAN ECILA

Port San Ecila

Bobcockayne Port San Ecila is a visual treat for the eyes. This is an amazing board, so much detail, so much going on. I dont care what people say about gaming boards and balance give me something like this which every inch of the board tells me a story. I dont understand how he has done the hex system titles. I have seen hex systems before but nothing on this level that works quite so well. The way the board includes the hex system, buildings, trees, roads, rivers down to the sea with boats on it. It looks like a natural place its like having a crafted single board but you have this advantage that it is completely modular because it is all hex. The amount of work that has gone into putting it together is amazing.

That’s the end of at least part 1. I want to  people to tell me their Favorite project below and why. I may do a follow up part 2 next week unless people have covered them below.

[jeffersonpowers 281xp 0]

Thanks for the mention!

[sundancer 42900xp 1]

Thanks for the mention here @redscope To be fair it was the “fuck you airbrush, I’ll go on anyway” aspect that kept me going even though I was on the brink of giving up.

The paper terrain by @jeffersonpowers looks stunning and I wish I had the patience to make my paper terrain look good but I am, if anything, very impatient at times.

The trees of @necrothrall remind me a lot of Hollys project. And I think I can’t add much more to the projects from @hutch and @ewokkebab that I didn’t already say on the uHH.

Finally the project from @nazroth is a really stunning looking entry as well as the stuff @bobcockayne did.

To semi quote someone from the interwebs: “You’re all way to talented b*st*rds!”

Looking forward to what everybody will be up to for the next challenge. Be that a Dungeon, spring clean or the next terrain!

[necrothrall 8541xp 0]

Thank you for the mention

[hutch 5294xp 1]

@redscope Thanks for that!

I am glad that you enjoyed my entries to TerrainFest 2023.   Just because it is now over does not mean these projects will fall by the wayside.  I have plenty more ideas of things swirling around my head to add to both of them.   There certainly were some crackingly good projects on offer.

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