Ladies and Gentlemen of the Board of Shadowy Figures, we have reached the end of the first month of the project and it’s time for my report on the progress.

For anyone unaware, The Board of Shadow Figures is a patreon tier for the ChargeBlog Patreon, letting you decide what project I should work on next. To prevent you all from sending me off down a deep dark rabbit hole, I provide the options and the Board picks which one exactly. Then I get to write an article, show off the hobby and hopefully get some more stuff done!

Good news! I made some progress!

Bad news, the progress did not finish the project.

Due to several issues (the day job, 3D printer misbehaving and a busy schedule) I ended up not actually finishing the MDF building I had started last time. However, I can go over the process so far.

Starting with the raw Knights of Dice building, my first step was to make it look slightly more natural. MDF kits come with straight-cut edges while the adobe structures I was using as inspiration were worn down and slightly softer edges. Seeing as the kit was already assembled (and so fitment wasn’t a problem) I realised this was the perfect time to break out the dremel tool with a sanding disk and add some slight cuts, breaking up the regular shape to make it look a touch more natural – especially focusing on the edges of the building. I also dremeled out the windows (I’m planning to put some plastic blister material on the inside for recessed windows) and scuffed up the flat surfaces to make it look more worn and to cover up the tabs used during construction.

After doing the cuts, the next stage was to get some texture onto it. I had considered using filler to get a larger pattern. However, having done all the work with the dremel tool, putting too much on top would have obscured the surface details. Instead, I went to my trusty can of spray-on-texture from Plasti-kote. I left it to dry overnight before rapidly working through basecoat layers (Black and Zandari Dust). The end result was a touch dark (I’m expecting to come back with some grime later) so a lighter spray of Humbrol Desert Tan went on top afterwards.

The other half of the work was adding the extra details. For this I dived into my 3D printed parts selection and found myself with TT Immersions Terrain Accessories and Market Accessories. I didn’t want to go overboard (this building is for gaming around rather than purely display) so I picked a few key parts. The water heater and aircon help to make the building seem more modern, while the water tank adds some vertical cover as well as being a requirement in the area. If I wanted to go the extra step I could add some piping between the tank and the heater. The propane cans and jugs will help to add some colour to the scene once painted up, as well as making the place seem lived in.

So, what’s left to do?

• Fill in gaps between the MDF pieces and fix texture/paintwork over them
• Paint up the 3D-printed parts
• Add windows and door
• Final painting – drybrushing and grime

That’s going to be the project for this month, so alas no direction from the Board at this time. I don’t intend to overrun too often, so next month I’ll be returning to the Board for a new vote. For now though, back to the painting.

The Board has made a decision…

And it looks like we’re making some terrain this month.

Right, let’s actually talk about what the plan is. The goal for this project is to act as a jumping-off point for preparing my MDF buildings for the table. It’s one thing I need plenty of practice in is taking MDF from a simple structure into something suitable for the table – as you can see above, there are a lot of pieces that need getting ready for the tabletop.

The building I’ve chosen to start with is one of the Knights of Dice Tabula Rasa kits. Sadly no longer being made, the kits are still available through Shiny Games in the UK. They were designed to be used as a low cost get up and go solution for buildings or as the start point for the more KitBashing types. For this reason, the basic shell is rather generic, just with square windows and door openings but not any specific style (that’s for you to apply).

Now, it should be pointed out that this building (Desert Residence 2) is definitely on the simple side in terms of layout – two interior rooms and a small area outside with a low wall around it. I’m not sure you’ll be fighting room to room in this structure, but having the two separate areas allows you to fit a fireteam in there with ease.

For inspiration, I’m looking at the Al-Masrah map from Warzone, helped out by the Tac-Atlas over on the Call of Duty website (seeing as I’ve uninstalled the game and with little intention to go back). Due to the building’s relative simplicity, it doesn’t really suit a more built up area so instead I’ve taken inspiration from some of the smaller one/two room buildings found out in the rural area. Despite their limited space, they still manage to pack a lot of details in, with awnings, chimneys and roof decoration.

The key areas I think are going to be texturing, adding character and additional 3d printed elements. I’m still undecided exactly how I’m going to texture them (either the texture spray or the piles of filler I currently have) but it will come hand in hand with adding some extra character to them – things like exposed bricks on the walls or ringing the rooftops, making them look like more than a simple box. The extra parts is the simple bit – thanks to people like TT Immersion and Urban Scatter Gaming, there are plentiful supplies of little bits to add. The key features on my list are solar panels and a water tank (ideal for making the buildings look more modern) as well as various electrical pieces running from the solar panels. I’m not sure I’m going to start moulding power lines down the walls (might be a touch too far) but definitely want to see how much detail can be achieved.

I’m expecting this project will take most of the month (I have some weekends where I’m busy for big chunks of them) but I will drop in with updates as I get to them.

Over on Patreon I have rolled out a new set of tiers for ChargeBlog. It’s goal is still mostly to be more of a tip jar rather than a full on job but the offering of single tier wasn’t really doing what I’ve been wanting it to be. Saying the words “pay what you want” in Patreon’s interface doesn’t particularly work. So that’s why we now have The News Fans (to pay for the News Stand posts) and more importantly The Board of Shadowy Figures.

If you haven’t looked yet, The Board of Shadow Figures basically lets you decide the main project for the month. I’ll pick three options and provide them before the end of the month, the Board votes and then based on their votes I get to work. Not only does it incentivise me to get hobby stuff done but it also means I get to see what people are actually interested in. However, projects that don’t get chosen aren’t abandoned – If I have time, they might be done alongside the main project (or when I need a break) or simply reappear in the another month’s selection down the line.

(Also there are no videos included in the list as I’m still working on the BPRE interview that has taken me WAY longer than planned. I basically ended up rewriting it again as it wasn’t quite doing what I wanted it to do.)

For the month of October, I present to the Board of Shadowy Figures the three project options.

Option 1: Prototype MENA Building

For a long time I’ve had a literal pile of Tabula Rasa buildings from Knights of Dice. These buildings are great empty shells, ideal for building all sorts of structure on top of but needing a little work to make them look nice. I simply assembled them, got the job of building MDF… and then did nothing with them.

Now though, I am ready to start getting them together and get them ready for the board. Not only do I have the space to properly spray and apply sand (I have a garage now) but the rise of 3D printing means I have access to a wide variety of pieces to modify and enhance the visuals of the buildings, to make them fit the target setting more. TT Immersion and Urban Scatter Gaming both have some great sets of little detail pieces, and my time in Al-Masrah may have ended but the reference photos I’ve taken for how best to decorate the sets is still there and strong.

Objectives: Complete one test building with decoration and painting work before the end of the month, showing the process in a blog post by the end.

Option 2: BPRE Phaseline

It’s been a while since I got the box, and I’ve only just started painting some of the Shurta (prompted by the urgent operational requirement from my Work Opponent). I really want to get this stuff painted up seeing as BPRE is maybe the game I’m going to be playing most frequently (every Thursday lunch, fingers crossed).

In addition, I still need to play the Phaseline, the epic game mode that really brings the destruction. It’s maybe a little long for the lunch break, so I’ll need to get a longer session lined up, but it would be nice to sit down and use the monstrous-sounding fires cards in my deck.

Objectives: Finish painting up the Phaseline models and cover the process in a blog post at the end of the month. Bonus – play a game of the larger Phaseline game mode.

Option 3: The Goon Squad

I have been building up the Bazistan Internal Security Forces for a while, using various Combat Octopus modular bits and combing them together to see what you can do. I had already assembled and painted sets armed with pistols and AKSUs, but hadn’t got around to finishing a set with the full size AKs. And then I moved house.

Now though, these guys have been sat in a box waiting to be painted. In addition, I really want to cover just what you can do with the modular parts, so this is a good chance to get the brain cells going.

Objectives: Paint up the Bazistan Internal Security Forces and cover how they were assembled in a blog post, as well as some ideas how to use them in game.

If you want to decide which of these projects I’ll be hitting (and you’re part of The Board of Shadow Figures tier), you can find the post to vote over on my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/ChargeBlog. The voting is open until mid-day on the 1st of October, at which I shall begin work!

I’ll be back on the first of October to announce what I’ll be working on, including a few more details on the winner. Honestly, I’m happy with all three of them, so go forth and vote!