The Battle of Fortress Falls: Minis on the display board!

Well, there were definitely many times where I did not think I would ever see this.  A week before the tournament, I had given up hope of ever getting this done.  Instead, I was going to paint up a few magnetized boards like my Grey Knight army board from Adepticon.

I don't know if it was insanity or pure spite that drove me to get this board done.  From our recent experience making the terrain board for the Dragon Shoppe, I thought that the 'terrain' part of the board could be done very rapidly.  It was all the buildings on top that would be the problem.

My original vision was a large set of structures that would be interlocked together, with towers and platforms, water cascading through it all, etc.  That part had to be abandoned, which was a bummer.  I also had to give up writing out the story and fluff behind the armies, which I never do.

I was determined to at least have some kind of structures on the board, so I went with the ruins, as I mentioned in a previous post.  As it turns out, everyone else (who was not me!), had no idea about any of this inner turmoil, or the original plan. :-)  They just saw a neat landscape with waterfalls!

So, in the end, it was well worth all the extreme stress.  Getting to see both armies interacting on this piece was very gratifying.  Knowing that we can also use it for our games is even cooler!

Also, the magnetic primer really did help.  While the flock and grass did cut down on the magnetic effect in some places, it seemed to offer just enough hold to keep minis from flying off the board!

I was surprised at how much room there was for all the minis.  I could easily have gotten many more on here.  My thought process was to make the outcroppings large enough for a mini or two here and there.  Man, there's gonna be a lot of climb rolls on this baby!

Here's Delilah preparing to call Nature's Wrath on some chariots...

The King is trying to figure out just how he's gonna get across that river...

Gwaihir defends his nesting grounds...

Later today I will get into the tournament itself!  Stay tuned.