Where we're going we need roads

A while ago I mentioned how useful two things I'd found in my local pound store would be for making roads. The first was black sandpaper and the second was vinyl tiling. Inevitably, I combined the two, and made a large quantity of double-sided, verge-less roads for 6/15mm. There's some diluted PVA on the "tarmac" side to ensure that I don't end up with black grit everywhere, and a light spray of grey to take the harshness off the black. On the other side, I applied some cheap varnish, then some weathering powders, then a matte varnish spray to give the stone roadways a bit of character. Here's a few shots of planning and the results.

Pound Store Vinyl Tiling Makes Great 15mm Stone Roadways

Vinyl Floor Tiles

As I said the other day, pound stores are an under-realised goldmine of assorted wargaming scenery. I spotted a pack of floor tiles in there the other day, and was thinking about using it for a river. More on that another day. What I noticed while cutting it up was the fine texture on the surface. Again, just in case your pound store has stuff in it that costs more than a pound (as mine weirdly does), these tiles come in a pack of four and that pack costs a quid. They are exactly 12" across (c.30.5cm), so it's easy to work out how many you'll need for a given project. They have a paper backing, which peels off to reveal an adhesive side. I recommend marking out your dimensions on the paper backing, and cutting them (carefully, naturally) with a knife rather than scissors.

Painting them up

I decided to just do a little test piece for now. So I nabbed a snippet, undercoated it with Halford's matte grey spraypaint, and then gave it a series of drybrushes. I prefer my stones not to be blankly grey, so atop the grey I drybrushed Citadel Dry Nurgling Green, then Citadel Layer Ushabti Bone, and very delicately Citadel Layer White Scar. Obviously, other colour combinations are available. This worked for me. As you can see, the wood effect on the sheet is rendered invisible by the grey undercoat.