I have spent a lot of time looking for a suitable play mat
for the opening section of my Blood Red Skies (BSR). Specifically I wanted
something with at least a little bit of sea so that my imaginary Hurricane
squadron could take on the Luftwaffe’s Kanalkampf in July 1940.
Having purchased a couple of maps in the past notably one to refight Waterloo with the Blucher rules:
Having purchased a couple of maps in the past notably one to refight Waterloo with the Blucher rules:
And another for X-Wing/Armada
I thought this would be easy. However, despite there being
some wonderful prints out there nothing really hit the spot and I took the
unusual step (for me) of making something myself.The terrain needed to be:
- Flexible – usable with other systems;
- Able to transition from sea to land;
- Allow planes to stand;
- Take up little storage space – I do have a double garage to store and play but every little helps to borrow from a well known super-market.
In the end I decided to use Sarissa’s new terrain system
with a simple texture paint followed by a little washing and drybrushing.The base tile:
Paint blue (in this case GW Kantor Blue):
Spread Vallejo Water Texture North Atlantic with a lollipop stick…
This takes at least 24 hours to cure.
Then add random patches
of Biel Tan Green wash – this is just to break up the solid blue.
Dry brush with a light grey and then white.
I’ve also expanded the tiles to include:A sand bank:
Shore line:
So all I need for Kanalkampf is some painted aircraft but more on those later. I’m also very tempted with Black Seas…
