Moonstone Christmas Surprise
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About the Project
OK first time I’m trying this in a long long time. Surprising my little gaming group this Christmas with Moonstone. I’m doing a not so secret, Secret Santa. I’m picking up three factions for moonstone wrapping them up in three mystery packages. So that during our Christmas game we can randomly pick a faction. That bit’s easy purchase the boxes wrap them up and then on the dat we Ro Sham Bo for the privilege of first choice. Obviously to play we will need a gaming table to play on. That’s where we begin. I’m aiming for a 3x3 dark fantasy ruined/ghost town themed table. But obviously plans can change.
Related Game: Moonstone
Related Company: Goblin King Games
Related Genre: Fantasy
Related Contest: TerrainFest 2024
This Project is Active
WIP
This is the basic board set up. A 3’x3’ board with separate pieces that can be arranged in various layouts. 
All the pieces fit into the box for transportation 
Requiring paint and some texturing are the 3D printed buildings and the trees I’ve made. As well as the new piece of raised terrain. I’m not going to make anything else at the moment for the rest of this month I’ll be adding colour and getting the board ready for it’s first game in February. Secret Santa. Who got what!!
This one’s for Hutch, just answering his questions. So Secret Santa went well. After a festive day of pizza, cake and a game of Mork Borg we then decided in the only honest way possible, we rolled off for it. One dominion faction of Faries another Dominion faction with pirates Gobbos and Humans and a final of Commonwealth Nordic Gnomes. Winner of the roll off picked first. Each faction was wrapped in matching wrapping paper. No I didn’t know what was in what package do we all picked blind. I went first, I picked the Fairies second pick went to Tony and it’s a pirates life for Tony. That leaves the angry Nordic Gnomes for Simon. For the rest of this month I’m finishing the board after that I’ll be painting some toy soldiers or possibly asking someone to paint them for me. Honestly these miniatures are fantastic and I don’t think I can do them justice so I’ll see what I can do with them. From February after the Terrainfest is done and dusted we’re going to work on our own little tale of three gamers forces may develop with the addition of some other interesting characters to add to our factions. Thoughts so far. I will add to this as I go.
As I’ve gone through this process I’ve learnt a few things and changed ways I’ve gone through different processes in making the board. Would I do things differently? I think there’s elements of the project that I would do differently there’s techniques and materials I’ve not used before and after this will continue to use.
- hot glue gun, awesome saves so much time and if like me when you’re working on a project you change plans as you go and create in a on the run fashion then waiting for glue to dry can throw off your flow.
- XPS foam, fantastic material you can cut it, texture it, paint it and using other materials imprint surface texture on it. Whether using it to clad other shapes of as a building material in Its own right it’s a good material, I’ll be getting more of it for future projects.
- 5 mm Foamcard love this stuff. Always use it in my builds to form the structures. It’s lightweight and strong.
- Tile grout, I’ve started using it on this build. Used it to texture the XPS and make a poor man’s Sculptamould. A mix of PVA and water (50/50) mixed with toilet paper to make a papier-mâché then add to that the Tile grout. It’s great stuff although I suggest you use latex gloves because it gets mucky.
There may be other insights to come but so far that’s all I got
Time to get a bit messy
I decided to brick out the edge of mound against the side of the raised platform hot glue gun and teeny tiny bricks for the win. 
So back to the 50/50 water PVA mix ( remembered the PVA this time) with tile grout thrown in mixed it up to form a paste and I began to cover areas of exposed Foamcard and added texture. When it’s dry and hardened up I can undercoat it and start painting. But that’ll be later on.
Covered the whole section of terrain with a mix of PVA, Black acrylic paint and coloured tile grout. Stippling the mixture onto areas to add more texture. And because I was already covered in paint and I had some left I painted the tree bases which I had previously worked on.
Time to top it off
XPS foam cut to size, textured up with some scrunched up foil and flagstones removed in areas to destress it a little bit. Once it’s dried and set in place I’ll add some earth texture and broken stones. 
Some solid foundations
So a while back I was given some 3D Printed goodies by a friend of mine at www.beowulfminiatures.com. You remember the big box that turned up. Well there were six buildings four ruined and two complete pristine. Well I decided today they need an area just for them to sit on in the table. Besides I still have loads of those crazy teeny tiny bricks that I cut up to use.
First of all placed them on the Foamcard and worked out the footprint they would leave so I knew how big to make this piece. 
I learnt from previous raised platforms I’ve created for the table that they need support so the flat top doesn’t sag. These supports are pieces of polystyrene packaging sandwiched between two strips of foam card 
With the flat top attached I then used some corrugated cardboard, again left over from packaging to edge the piece being corrugated I could bend it to bend nicely around the top surface. Finally I clad the side in the teeny tiny bricks as you may have seen on previous posts and deciding that I need to make space for steps up I left part of the side free of any bricks. Time for trees
So a few posts back I made the wire trees. I’ve moved on a bit since then. Covered in green stuff bases made for each tree with my own mix of soggy toilet paper, hot water, PVA and some tile grout although I forgot the PVA this time. Let’s see how it works with the brainfart hopefully the tile grout will hold it together. I’ll remember the PVA next time.
Been a little busy, but back again.
50/50 PVA and Water mix brushed onto the board in patches. Then fine flock sprinkled over it. Leave it to dry overnight and tomorrow I’ll brush the excess off. More updates will follow as I work on the base. Mystery Package arrives!!
That’s a big box So a big box of goodies turned up today curtesy of a friend at Beowulf Miniatures. Thanks Jack they turned up ready for the undercoat. I’ve got to get the board finished now because it’s going to be shown off at Salute next year where the “Multi Award Winning Moonstone” will be getting played on it for the day. http://www.beowulfminiatures.com
Let’s start bringing it together.
- It’s Saturday it’s cold outside so I grab the paints and get started painting the different parts of the board to bring it together. Dry brushing is my friend. Start from black add some grey then some woodland Scenics Earth undercoat slapped haphazardly around. When that’s all dried I’ll add some washes that should tie it together nicely at the end. This is a WIP so more pictures will follow later on.
Added flock to a 50/50 PVA water mix made into a paste. Painted it onto the stairs in places and the tops of the raised platforms. When I get some more flock I’ll do the same to the bricked sides and the board to bring it all together. When it’s dried the greens may be too vibrant and stand out too much so I’ll dull it down with some washes and a drybrush. I guess I’ll make that last decision when I see how it ass looks. 
Let’s start bringing it together.
It’s Saturday it’s cold outside so I grab the paints and get started painting the different parts of the board to bring it together. Dry brushing is my friend. Start from black add some grey then some woodland Scenics Earth undercoat slapped haphazardly around. When that’s all dried I’ll add some washes that should tie it together nicely at the end. This is a WIP so more pictures will follow later on.
Storage issue solved
I recently posted regarding the fact that I was a little excited and made one of the raised sections for the board larger than the storage box I’ll be using to put it all in.
Before 1 big piece, slightly too large for the storage box. And sagging in the middle a little bit. 
I was able to carefully cut it in two and before doing anything else I added do supports inside the structure to prevent sagging and as such allow scenery to sit flat on the raised area. 
I don’t need anymore stairs now.
3D printed items added to the board. No more stairs needed I think. 
Sat watching the telly and threw these together
WIP - So a friend printed some toys for me.
In the immortal words of Alan Titchmarsh famous TV celebrity Gardener “ The hard landscaping is done. In the immortal words of the Knights who NEE “We want a Shrubbery”. Basically I need to add some greenery to the board take the sharp edges off of the board. What do you do when you’re bored?.. You make more stairs.
Just a small layout to give me an idea of the direction the board is going in. 
So I want one setup on the table to be a Necropolis/Graveyard board. The three different tiers will be covered in mausoleums and gravestones overgrown and run down.
Someone did some printing for me.
So I had some bits of terrain printed for me. I mentioned before (I think) that one setup for the board would be a massive necropolis think Highgate cemetery. I think this gives an idea of what I’m thinking of. The whole board even as the town layout is going to look overgrown with vines and moss and crooked trees dotted around. 
Quiet Sundays
So sat watching the TV and decided to try something different out and I start to play with some wire and pliers. I will add the Milliputt later but right now just covered with some tape. 
Next step will be adding some milliput to texture and make them less poky. Also spent some time adding more brickwork to a couple of the smaller raised platforms. It’s amazing how satisfied you feel when you just glue some teeny tiny XPS foam bricks to something and it actually makes it look better than you expected before it’s even painted.
What’s left now?
So far so good now I need to tie it all together. Timber work on the buildings paint and then some weathering and a few washes. Oh and a bunch of scatter terrain. Upper levels
Added the upper levels to the buildings I’d made. 
I’ve given the roofs a flat top so miniatures can be stood on top.
much of what I do when I make scenery is done without a plan or design. I have an idea but it’s not fixed I’m prone to changing my mind or designs or mistakes might happen so working the way I do doesn’t suit everyone but by being flexible it means when mistakes happen I can roll with it and make it work.
Work So Far
So this is everything done so far. I need to add second floors to buildings and finish brickwork and timbers. 
I have enough to go on with faction wise right now including the three factions that are going to be the mystery Santa surprises just need to wrap them ready for random selection. 
