Stripping my realm of battle gameboards...

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Hi everyone, the stomach bug seems to be abating, so I can finish editing some of my articles and get back to normal...

Well... As normal as I ever get to be...

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I recently found out that static grass aggravates my allergies leaving me very sore in the throat, nose and eyes.

Now that's a bit of a problem considering that much of the terrain I still have has it on there, including my Realm of Battle gameboards and the stuff tends to shed.

So a few days ago I decided to do something about it...

I quickly popped out to the supermarket to buy a cheap scrubbing brush. And as soon as I got back home I strapped on a dust mask, welding goggles, grabbed my brush, grabbed a couple of small tea strainers and put on my slippers...

(Don't look at me like that... we have tiled floors in the bathroom and my feet get cold...)

Then looking like a strange cross between Mr Muscle and a fat road warrior, I took my Realm of Battle boards into the bathroom to face their fates.

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How I went about stripping the boards:

1. First I placed the smallest tea strainer over the plug hole to capture the static grass and avoid blocking the plumbing.

2. I worked one board at a time just placing them in the bathtub on an angle to have the water run down.

3. As you can see, a blast of hot water was enough to soften the P.V.A. glue holding the static grass without harming the boards.

4. A little scrubbing was needed to remove any stubborn pieces and bits of clinging glue.

5. I worked on the modular hill sets in the same way.

6. I know it seems rather odd due to why I stripped the boards in the first place. But I collected the static grass with a second strainer and put it in a container for future use after it is dried out.

I will probably be more discreet/modest with my static grass use in future projects though. For example, mixing small bits with glue to texture/weather tank treads. If it is used that way mixed with glue/paint it shouldn't shed like before.

And I'll probably be wearing the same dust mask/welding goggle combo when I do work with it in future.

7. Here you can see the boards and hills stripped bare back to the under-painting which was practically untouched. I assume that it may be because I undercoated the boards with Citadel black primer before painting. And then I just left them to dry before taking them back down to our hobby room.

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Plans for the future of my boards:

I've decided that I'm going to go with a desert/arid ash waste paint job for my boards.

That way there will be no particles floating around to set off my allergies.

I'm not terribly fond of the base texture of the boards, but I'm not gluing sand all over them either, due to weight and the potential for chipping models and scraping knuckles.

I've read in various places recently that John Blanche has been using baking powder sometimes with the odd few grains of sand to add a finer texture to bases.

I may give this a go on the boards to break up the texture on them.

I'm also pondering using some of the pastels I have ground up to use as weathering powders, to get a more realistic dry look. I'll probably have to seal the boards with matte varnish spray afterward.

When I'm done the boards will be ideal for most games, Warhammer Fantasy, Warhammer 40,000, Necromunda, Gorkamorka and probably others too...

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So that's the plan...

I'll update more later, take care.

Jonathan