Mek Shop Month: Commence!

In honour of the release of 8th Edition 40K (an edition which is so simple it promises to be compatible even with my esteemed flute-riddled opponent's limited attention span for rules!) July has been declared Mek Shop Month on Terrain For Hippos. Throughout the month I'll be posting Orky material for 40K - mostly because I'm not that inspired by 40K Chaos at the moment, and that's the only other army I have. No, we're going back to the very first army for the very first game I ever played. Not literally - I'm not going to be painting 2nd edition Orks or anything. What I will be posting is a step-by-step guide to scratch building orky vehicles, and possibly some terrain as well. I'm on holidays for the next two weeks, so I plan to be rather productive.
Yesterday I spent about $100 on plasticard and plastruct parts. If all goes to plan, I should be able to post the first Modelling For Hippos ishoo of Mek Shop Month tomorrow evening. It's going to be a two-parter. And may be followed by a Painting for Hippos ishoo on painting the project. After that I'm not completely sure what the next project will be just yet. Possibly a bigger vehicle. Not sure.
Of course, my esteemed flute-riddled opponent has gone to distant northern lands on holidays for the month, so it's very likely that I'll build all this stuff and not play with it... sigh.
See you (hopefully) tomorrow!

Terrain Crusade: Ask Owen in the Campaigner Magazine.

There's been a change in the way Terrain Crusade, my regular article in The Campaigner Magazine works. Both the editor and I felt that we wanted to be able to directly address problems and questions the readers were having, so the column has shifted from a general workshop/tutorial sort of format to a Q&A format. You can send your questions in to the magazine and in every issue I'll try to answer as many as possible. I've placed a direct link to the Ask Owen column in the menu bar, or you can follow the Ask Owen link in this post.

Ishoo Wun-Oh-Sven: Portheim Boards

Welcome once again fans of the African river horse school of terrain manufacture! Last ishoo we handled the making of the polystyrene tiles which make up the land of Portheim. This time we shall look at the making of the MDF board which they sit upon and which represent the watery depths of the seas! And which can ALSO be used for games of Distopian Wars, Dreadfleet (for the absurdly rich) or Man O' War (for the absurdly old and awesome).
But how hard is it to build an ocean, I hear you cry? Let us consult Grot, who has recently been hunting witches through the ruins of Portheim...

Oh yes indeed. It is glossy and reflective, but it's very hard to get a decent photo.... sigh.
This is a very quick little project, which could easily be done in a day. The only reason it took me longer was the unseasonable weather here... Not so much the rain, but the wind which was threatening to pick up and launch the boards while I was painting. Yes - boards - there are three of them which can be placed side by side to make a 6X4 table.
Also, a note on the photos - I didn't want to take the camera outside and forget it to be rained upon, so these were taken on my phone. Grot seems to like the new widescreen format...
Next up, we'll look at building Old Portheim Bridge, followed by an attempt at the Pirate Ship Titania...

...now that all the Ted Naifeh fans are excited I shall leave you! Farewell!