For the Lurkers from the Deep, Episode 2, the buildings and other large terrain are done. But the board itself is still lacking. The entire board is supposed to be an industrial dock. This means the main part of the board has to be elevated above water level.
I’ve not worked with pink foam extensively or largely. Most of the things I’ve done were very small. Using it for a board poses a problem, mostly that it’s tough to make large flat surfaces interesting. It’s a lot of area and flat and boring is flat and boring.
Maybe I’m better at this stuff now than I used to be.
The layout in the Episode design is easy to replicate. I happen to have pink foam to spare, so I cut it down to a reasonable set of panels. I tried to keep them small to make them easier to store.
To add some of the variety I need and avoid the flat/boring issue, I decided to add a sidewalk portion. This will let me paint a few different colors and still keep with the industrial look.
I scribed in the shape for the sidewalk portions on all of the water adjacent edges. First drew them with a Sharpie, then cut them with a hobby knife. Last, go over the cut lines with a ball point pen to open the lines and rough them up a bit.
To add further texture on the edges I used a texture roller I 3D printed a while back. It’s a rough stone look that works really well in this material. Again, to break up the monotony I use the same roller to add broken patches on the flat parts.
The tough part was painting. I tried using the sealing method from Black Magic Craft. That is to say, I mixed black paint with ModPodge. Maybe not enough black paint. The idea was to get a good opaque primer and sealer layer on the foam. It wasn’t very opaque, but it was well sealed and took further paints very well.
Then there was lots of painting that I did not photograph. Had to do a lot of black to cover the pink that was showing through. All with cheap craft paint. May have to try house points, like a latex emulsion next time. I’ve read good things about it on this foam and I can roll it on, which should be faster.
After the black, it was varying levels of grey dry brushing. Again, cheap craft paints are the way to go. I did start the sidewalk portions with a blue-grey to make it stand out, but he high lights are the same lighter tones for everything. The parts where I used the roller got extra attention with the dry brushing, again to break up the flat look of it.
Final touch was a wash made from paint water and some grey colors. I added a dark blue to the mix, based on a recommendation on line. The theory is that the wash will darken and the color added won’t be obvious. But it adds depth, changing the overall tones a little unevenly because washes never go on even.
That’s the board, finished. Not bad considering my earlier attempts at larger flat terrain pieces. And no, those have not been on this blog. No one gets to see those.
The process was not difficult and the affect looks good. I don’t have too many pictures here, but I will show more when I take photos of the whole board.
These will likely see use, if not extensively, at least more than one or two games. The industrial dock can be a great setting for many pulp adventures or horror themed games.
2024 Count:
97 figures painted (0.610 per day)
0 figures printed
8 figures purchased
18 terrain painted
the immortal frequentist 
That 3d printed roller gives a great effect on the broad, flat areas and I love how effective the sidewalk on the edges of the docks are, with the contrast between the large paving stones, long kerbs and then the smaller stonework beneath them. Very effective!
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