Saturday 14 January 2023

Making a sci-fi wasteland wargaming mat

Today was a hot sunny day, perfect for making a wargaming cloth mat for my tabletop, as the sponged washes I use quickly dry allowing me complete the project in a day. I have been wanting to create a sci-fi themed wargaming mat with a wasteland look to it for a while.

A sci-fi wasteland to game on

The material I use for the mat is a painters drop sheet. There can be picked up cheaply at the hardware store. Once cut to size for my 6x4 foot table (including a 6” overhand on each edge) I add a series of watered down paints using a sponge to build up the colours. I have made a quick 2 minute video of the process below.

Making a wargaming sci-fi mat

A game about to start based on One-Hour Wargames scenario 12 - An unfortunate Oversight 



15 comments:

  1. Excellent result! Your backdrop adds so much to the overall effect.

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  2. Very effective Peter. I'm lazy and just re-use my old but still very good GW gaming mat from way back when for all my games.

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    1. Thank you, I would just reuse if I had one too.

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  3. Nice work there Peter on your Sci-Fi Games Cloth. Just right for 40K.

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  4. It certainly fits with the grim dark future theme.

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  5. Came out looking great. Good look for a sci-fy game especially with terrain painted in the same colors.
    😀

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    1. Thanks, I was aim for an overall colour to match the basing on most of my figures and terrain.

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  6. I will echo everyone else. Great work Peter!

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  7. A fine job and thanks for the tip/reminder on using a sponge to apply the paint - I remember that was "a thing" back in the nineties for a while - paint a wall white then apply a different colour with a sponge - very trendy at one stage!

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    1. Thank you. My sponge comes from the nineties and was bought for a creative wall effect. It is now put to much better use!

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  8. A fine effort. People in my local group have had success starting with a sheet of background color and spraying it lightly or from some distance with contrasting colors. I shall remember to add sponging for texture.

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    1. I suspect spraying is quicker and less messy. But I enjoy the sponging process to get the depth of colours and getting messy.

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  9. How did you make the craters or did you buy them?
    Pete

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