Space Command - Death in the Desert Scenery

Lay out the MDF board and draw your “map” onto it. This should include every aspect of the scenery you want to feature as it is very difficult to add it later! As we wanted to be able to use our boards again I thought it would be nice if the boards were interchangeable for different layouts. so on our layout the roads all enter at the same location, i.e. in the middle.

As the fort was to play a prominent part of the game we could not tuck it away in a far corner – this may seem like a great idea if you are the defender but the attacker may be very upset if his hordes cannot surround it on all sides. However, because we wanted the layout to allow different configurations, the fort could not easily be set up right in the middle of the gaming area either. The solution we opted for was to place it in the middle of one board. Even with some rocky outcrops (well they are in 15mm. In 6mm I guess they would be towering cliffs) there was still room for an attacker to encircle the fort.

With the layout complete we applied a slightly watered down mixture of filler to the roads/tracks and fort parade area using a small DIY paint brush. Running the brush over the drying filler again left some great ruts and bumps!

Once this was done the next step was to place the rocky areas using some expandable foam. Personally I hate the canned stuff as it is terrible to work with and very sticky until dry. However the finished effect is well worth the effort. We found even just some small blobs in places gave a good final effect and we even used it to create a water hole at our oasis.

For large rocky dunes we fixed the coving to the boards and added some more foam but for more gentle dunes we found some wet tissue covered in filler worked well.

Next we let everything totally dry before proceeding.

The foam expands well (remember this when spraying it on the boards) but we found it tends to have a neat rounded outline to it. By slicing some angles into it with a knife (it's very easy to cut when dry) and gouging a few holes this is quickly solved.

Once we were happy we sprayed the rock areas black and painted the roads in a sandy brown. Next we added a rough coat of grey to the rocks, then some brown patches and finally a dry brushed white coat (roads as well).

Obviously a desert needs sand – or does it? We thought a long time about this one. It is possible to achieve some good effects just with a textured surface and paint. But in the end we decided we would make it as authentic as possible and use the real thing.

We painted watered down PVA onto the boards, avoiding the roads obviously, and then sprinkled sand on to it. We let some of the black undercoat show through at the base of the rocks to give the impression that the rock continued down under the sand. We also discovered that if the sand is slightly damp it clumped together giving a more realistic effect.

To make the sand more interesting from a distance we sprayed a few patches of beige and brown and then a coat of matt spray varnish (mainly to help hold the sand on!)

Finally we added some scenic shrubs etc. and the fort!
The completed scene


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DEATH IN THE DESERT AERONEF BATTLEGROUP PANZER GRENADIER BATTLETECH FISTFUL OF TOWs FULL THRUST GENERAL DE BRIGADE HAMMER SLAMMERS Death in the Desert MENU LEGION HOME BATTLE REPORTS PAINTING GUIDE THE RULES	RETURN TO FORT SAHARA - by Commander Toby R. Recently while in the loft I was reunited with an old Airfix “Fort Sahara”. This, combined with the BBC's release of its original series of Beau Geste on DVD got me thinking... ...so I decided for our Christmas game we needed some desert and a setting for the Fort. For those who are interested this is what we made and how we made it:
Supplies 2mm MDF cut into 4x2ft equal squares 1 can of foam expandable filler some polystyrene coving or similar (for dunes) 1 tub diy filler (cheapest available) Sand Craft or Stanley knife Assorted brushes PVA Glue 1 Airfix “Fort Sahara” 1 copy of “Beau Geste” (Audio book version if you want inspiration while you work) You can read about the models and miniatures we painted up here...	Lay out the MDF board and draw your “map” onto it. This should include every aspect of the scenery you want to feature as it is very difficult to add it later! As we wanted to be able to use our boards again I thought it would be nice if the boards were interchangeable for different layouts. so on our layout the roads all enter at the same location, i.e. in the middle. As the fort was to play a prominent part of the game we could not tuck it away in a far corner – this may seem like a great idea if you are the defender but the attacker may be very upset if his hordes cannot surround it on all sides. However, because we wanted the layout to allow different configurations, the fort could not easily be set up right in the middle of the gaming area either. The solution we opted for was to place it in the middle of one board. Even with some rocky outcrops (well they are in 15mm. In 6mm I guess they would be towering cliffs) there was still room for an attacker to encircle the fort. With the layout complete we applied a slightly watered down mixture of filler to the roads/tracks and fort parade area using a small DIY paint brush. Running the brush over the drying filler again left some great ruts and bumps! Once this was done the next step was to place the rocky areas using some expandable foam. Personally I hate the canned stuff as it is terrible to work with and very sticky until dry. However the finished effect is well worth the effort. We found even just some small blobs in places gave a good final effect and we even used it to create a water hole at our oasis. For large rocky dunes we fixed the coving to the boards and added some more foam but for more gentle dunes we found some wet tissue covered in filler worked well. Next we let everything totally dry before proceeding. The foam expands well (remember this when spraying it on the boards) but we found it tends to have a neat rounded outline to it. By slicing some angles into it with a knife (it's very easy to cut when dry) and gouging a few holes this is quickly solved. Once we were happy we sprayed the rock areas black and painted the roads in a sandy brown. Next we added a rough coat of grey to the rocks, then some brown patches and finally a dry brushed white coat (roads as well). Obviously a desert needs sand – or does it? We thought a long time about this one. It is possible to achieve some good effects just with a textured surface and paint. But in the end we decided we would make it as authentic as possible and use the real thing. We painted watered down PVA onto the boards, avoiding the roads obviously, and then sprinkled sand on to it. We let some of the black undercoat show through at the base of the rocks to give the impression that the rock continued down under the sand. We also discovered that if the sand is slightly damp it clumped together giving a more realistic effect. To make the sand more interesting from a distance we sprayed a few patches of beige and brown and then a coat of matt spray varnish (mainly to help hold the sand on!) Finally we added some scenic shrubs etc. and the fort!
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DEATH IN THE DESERT

RETURN TO FORT SAHARA