Starminer Builds...Crimson Fists Display Board

As any good Real Estate agent will say, “A lick of paint will really spruce it up! It’s practically move in ready!”

With that in mind, I broke out the craft paints, big brushes, rags, and a big pot of water and went at it with gusto.

I started with a full black base coat. I just poured the craft paint directly onto the terrain and spread it out with a damp brush until everything was completely black.

While wet, I then blocked in the other colours, a blue grey for the walls and stones, a mid-tone brown for all the earth and craters, and a medium red for the Crimson Fist icon. Again, I did this with a big sloppy brush, and very wet paint. Finally, I gave the whole thing a focussed black wash in the areas where a little scorching or lots of pitting would be effective. Here you can see the before and after while wet and dry.

After the basecoat and wash were completely dry, I then started working on building up the colours.

This was all done with drybrushing and a large 2″ painters brush. The earthen areas were drybrushed the medium brown, progressing up to equal mix of brown and tan, then a final lighter drybrush of pure tan.

The stone and walls were drybrushed with the original blue grey, then an equal mix of the base colour with a pale grey, and finally a light touch of pure pale grey.

The icon was drybrushed similarly, to give it the impression of aged tinted stone. I then went back and with a heavy dilution of the original colour, stained the icon again, so that the lighter grey underneath naturally highlighted it. Finally, when dry, I gave it a very light drybrush with the pale grey.

The doors were painted in a solid dark bronze, then drybrushed to highlight with a pal old gold. This was then given a heavy wash of a pale turqoise. Followed up with black stippling on the side that appeared to take the blast, forcing it open.

I touched up the rest of the board stippling in black in the same areas as I had done in the earlier part of the painting process. This reinforced the scorching, without making it look too fresh, helping convey this was an older abandoned ruin.

Finally, I painted the wooden base in solid black so it would blend in nicely with the frame.

Once painting was complete and dry, it was a simple matter of mounting the display board to the frame, resulting in a simple yet effective themed display board which can do triple duty as a display for my reclaiming Crimson Fists, my conquering Orks, and my Imperial fists sent to recover lost artifacts.

To say I’m pleased with this display board is an understatement. It has served me well at many events, including an Armies on Parade or two.

Next time, I’ll post some photos of the final product proudly displaying some miniatures! Move in ready indeed!