UMS "Agram" : Building a Gaming Board – pt 2. < Articles < Hobby

Building a Gaming Board – pt 2.

Marko Paunović, 27th September 2020

In the previous asrticle, I've started work on my winter themed Frostgrave board. So far, I've covered the cutting of the plywood, making a frame, building volume with HD styrofoam, adding cliffs and river banks and I've finished the article with texture application.

I'm at about the half way mark with the building of this board and the main idea of this build is to have a single board for my Malifaux games which means I would require a 90x90cm (3'x3') board. I decided to go with a frozen river, with a couple of crossings. I'd also wanted at least one road and several paths that wouldn't have been (entirely) covered with snow. I'd also wanted to add some levels to my board so it wouldn't be just flat. Two or three levels would have been perfect. Since this wouldn't be a fixed terrain board, I'd still needed plenty of flat areas to place the scenery before my games. In this issue, I'll be painting the board's three separate kinds of surfaces (ground, cliffs and river), followed by adding the river which will be the most tricky and most time consuming part of the build. After the river sets, I'll add vegetation, roots, grass tufts and alike. I'll also add a couple of fir/pine trees. In the end, I'll add ice surfaces (ice and icicles) as well as cover the entire board with snow.

Planning

Most of the planning was done in the last issue. The main needs and wants were decided and all that was left was to micro-manage some issues like when to paint, when to pour the resin and how to add the snow. During the build last issue, as always no matter how good you plan things, there were some things that weren't accounted for that might pose some troubles and problems later during the build. First of those were how to gather all the loose texturing material without simply chucking it all away in the yard. Also, pouring in the resin and adding the snow needed careful planning in order not to accidentally mess and ruin previous work. For instance, if I opted to put static grass, I'd need to put it before pouring in the resin to prevent stray static fibres from getting accidentally stuck in the resin while it cured. Also, protection of details (like river, cliffs and tufts/static grass) would be crucial before adding the snow to prevent snow from completely covering them.

After a short think, I came up with this list of tools and materials that I would need to finish this board:
- glues - PVA 1kg, 1x10g Superglue
- paints and spreys - 6 Pebeo Deco Paints (Black, White, Grey, Brown, Ochre and Ash), one black, ash, off white and pure white matt acrylic spreys and one clear matt acrylic sprey
- large brushes No 90, No 40
- airbrush
- brush size 16
- several roots
- static grass tufts and scatter (three to four sorts)
- Clear Water gel by Ammo by Mig Jimenez
- Resin (Gedeo Crystal Resin)
- Pebeo Vitrail Sky Blue paint
- 20-ish pine trees
- NOCH icicles
- NOCH snow products (2 packages)
- NOCH ice crystals
- snow foam in a sprey can
- scalpel blade
- scissors
- masking tape
- thin card (several pieces)
- portable hand-held vacuum cleaner

Preparation work

As mentioned before, last issue I left the entire table covered with texture material – sand and gravel. As I didn't make a mixture of water, PVA glue and sand/gravel, opting to first put PVA glue and sprinkle the texture over it, it was now necessary to remove the excess sand, gravel and pebbles from the board. Normally, when doing terrain, I would suggest usine a large cardboard lid and simply turn over the terrain over it. However, my board is 90 x 90 cm with well over 5kg now and I didn't have a large enough receptical to gather all the leftover texturing material. Simply turning it over the floor of my garage was also out of the question. To gather all (or most) of the texturing material, I used a small hand held battery powered vacuum cleaner that housekeepers use for collecting breadcrums in the kitchen. A couple of minutes of vacuuming, removed most of the excess material. Rest was lost alas when I turned the board over in my back yard. But I did manage to salvage almost an entire jar worth of basing material.

Undercoat

When the excess texture material was removed, I could proceed with the painting. First step as always was to undercoat the board. This time, I would use four different spreys to do the undercoating. All the main textures (apart from the cliffs and the river) were undercoated black. Rest of the surfaces, notably: cliffs, boulders and river) was first undercoated white followed by a layer of off white and ash spreys. When these were dry, I then overspreyed those surfaces lightly with pure white sprey again. In the end, I turned back to black sprey to repair the sloppy spreying in places.

Airbrushing the washes

The next step in painting was to airbrush some washes to the riverbed and all the stone parts (cliffs, river banks and boulders). I used these washes: • Coelia Greenshade • Athonian Camoshade • Druchii Violet • Nuln Oil • Seraphim Sepia • Agrax Earthshade

For the riverbed, I used only the Coelia Greenshade, Athonian Camoshade and Nuln Oil. On the stone parts, I used all of them with repeats of Nuln Oil and Coelia Greenshade. As these colours were washes, the drying period between the layers was long. To shorten this period, I used an old hair dryer to speed up the drying process. Remember to always airbrush (and sprey from sprey cans) in a well ventilated areas!

Painting the texture

When I was done with applying the washes to the cliffs and the river, it was time to paint the rest of the surfaces on my board. Apart from the river and the cliffs, there were two distinct surfaces to paint. One was the normal ground, the other road and paths. I decided to paint all those surfaces with an initial layer of drybrushed Pebeo Brown. To apply it, I used the biggest brush I could find – size 90. Once the layer was dry, I applied a layer of Pebeo Ochre to the road and paths only. Again, when this layer was dry, I painted the entire surface with a drybrushed layer of Pebeo Ash. The difference in the layers due to the Ochre colouration on the paths and road is still visible. At this point, I would normally stop painting. Maybe adding a final highlight of pure Pebeo Antique White to the most raised surfaces only. However, most of this board would be covered with snow, so I decided to push the colour even whiter. I added two more layers to all the surfaces. First was with the afore mentioned Pebeo Antique White and the latter was done with pure Pebeo White. Note that the difference between the normal ground texture and the paths/road surface is still visible. Also, you may notice that the paintjob was not as tidy as it could have been. The reason behind this was two-fold. First, I was rushing the job a little. Second, I didn't go back as I would normally, only because I was aware that most of the surfaces would be covered with snow in the end. A careful reader/viewer may notice some white-ish marks in the road that mark the spots where some pebbles were glued that got knocked of during painting. These I also did not go back to repair. I would simply cover those places with either snow or grass tufts to save time.

Painting the cliffs

Painting the cliffs was relatively simple. I just drybrushed some Pebeo Grey followed by Pebeo White. I then realised, that these layers covered almost the entire airbrushed washes effects. So I decided to turn back to my airbrush and re-apply those layers, using Coelia Greenshade, Athonian Camoshade, Druchii Violet and Nuln Oil. This time, I did not wait for the layers to dry. Instead I opted for the washes to mix freely due to the pressure applied from the airbrush.

Making the river

After the paintjob, it was time to make the river. Most of the river had river banks made from schist in the last issue. However, there was a part that had a low crossing which didn't have any elevation from the rest of the riverbank. To make the river bed one whole, I needed to model some sort of an embankment to prevent the resin from spreading to the road. The job fell on Clear Water gel by Ammo by MIG. It is a white paste that dries clear. Using a small brush, I made a small embankment that was 2-3mm high and I left it to dry over night.

Unfortunately, that night the rain started to fall and the temperature dropped down significantly. This caused the effect not to dry completely. It still remained white. As I was chasing a deadline, I decided to proceed with the resin pouring despite it not being clear. I could always cover this part with snow at a later point.

For the river, I opted to use Gedeo Crystal Resin. A quick calculation based on rough estimations of the river being 5cm wide and 90cm long coupled with my wish for the river to be 1-2mm deep, produced the result that I needed 45-90ml of resin. The Gedeo Crystal Resin is my resin of choice, mostly because it is a two component resin that is mixed in 2:1 volume ratio. This makes it really easy to use in almost all volumes neccessary. During the airbrushing, I spent all of my Nuln Oil. Fortunately, I saved the 24ml bottle. Using two fills of resin (48ml) and one fill of hardener (24ml) ensured that I hade 72ml of resin. Almost perfect for my river. To slightly tint the resin, I used Pebeo Vitrail Sky Blue colour. Remember to add the colour after you mixed the resin and the hardener to ensure the resin sets properly.

Also, the resin mixture is quite volatile and can even produce some heat as the curing is an exothermic reaction so the use of protective gloves is recommended.

Adding pigments

At this point I still was not satisfied with the look of my cliffs so I decided to add some pigments to it. Using rust and ochre pigments applied randomly throughout the cliffs, I added some subtle tones. In places those were not so subtle. I fixed the pigments using AK Interactive Pigment Fixer using a large brush (size 16).

Roots on the cliffs

To add some further variety to the cliffs, I decided to add some roots. If you remember from last issue, I went on a hike to the hills where I gathered some stones I used to make cliffs with. On the same hike, I also gathered some roots from an overturned tree stump. These, when washed, make excellent trees, dried shrubs and even roots in our small scale. Using super glue I fixed them in desired places making sure I glued their both ends. This way, they wouldn't be so easy to dislocate during gaming. Alternatively, you can always pin them using a really thin wire.

Adding snow to the pine/fir trees

Next step was to add the trees. I decided I would use NOCH fir/pine trees that come in a bag of 50. I would plant 20 of them to my board. Before gluing them to the board, I decided to paint them white and add some snow. First I spreyed them using a white matt acrylic sprey. This was still not white enough for me, so I used Pebeo White applied with a size 16 brush cut for drybrushing. Be careful, this is a messy procedure and you'll get spreyed white as my T-shirt will attest. When the white colour was dry, I spreyed the trees with snow foam from a sprey can. This added some volume to the snowy effect that I was going for. When the foam was dry, I spreyed the trees with clear acrylic mat sprey to add some strength to the bond between the trees and the snow foam.

Low branches

While the snow was drying on the fir/pine trees I decided to add some more medium to low vegetation to my board. Once again, I turned to the roots gathered on my hike to the hills. I used some cool looking roots that had at least two to three branches to make some low branches that are growing from the cliffs of my board. I glued them arbitrarily around the cliffs, just making sure they do not get in the way of gaming. To glue them in place I used some super glue. If you are worried that the branches might get knocked off, you can always pin them using wire/paperclips to the cliffs.

Ice on the river

With the resin now totally cured, I had to add some ice on the riverbanks. Fortunately, during Iron Painter, I discovered a cool product used by railroad modellers to add ice to their rivers. It is made by a german company called NOCH. Their Ice Crystals comes in a rubbery tube and is some sort of paste that can be applied directly from the tube to a frozen lake, a wintery pond, to the street or to windows and subsequently be easily modelled with a brush. Once dry it gives the shimmering effect of ice. I used a large brush (size 16) to apply it to my river banks. I made sure that the layer wasn't uniform making it narrower and wider, lower and higher and I even placed a couple of pieces inside the river.

Also, once dry, you can add some Clear Water gel from Ammo by Mig to form a stream if you wish. I decided not to as I wanted my river not to be rapids.

Icicles

Another NOCH product I discovered while doing Iron Painter back in 2017 was the NOCH Icicles tube. This is really easy to use product that comes out of the rubber tube as a small worm. It is obviously some sort of resin that dries clear and has quite high a rigidity. Perfect for making icicles. I decided to use them only around the river on the cliffs and low branches. This way, the branches when covered with the NOCH Icicles, not only would they look frozen, but would be more rigid which will prevent breakage during gaming.

Low vegetation

Since the majority of the board would be covered with snow, I decided not to use generic static grass, but opted for a slightly more expenisve tufts. The tufts I used are from Gamer's Grass and they come in a number of colouration, height and size. I used 12mm, 6mm and 4mm long tufts in beige, winter, dry and autumn colouration, as well as spikey variant which added quite some character to the cliffs underneath which I glued them using PVA glue.

Gluing the pines

Depending on the sort of trees you have, you can fix them to your board in several ways. First, and the easiest, is to glue the trees using PVA glue. Since my trees had the roots made in the bottom, I chose this method. Not only do they provide wide enough an area for the glue to work, the fact that the roots were modelled made them realistic enough to use as is. However, some trees come on a circular base (about 2cm in diametre). If you use those, my advice would be to remove the circular base and add a wire pin (using a pin vice or a dremel). This will provide added strenght to the bond. Around the tree, I would then suggest planting some low vegetation (or snow in this case) to hide the fact that there is no root present.

Adding the snow

The last thing to add to this board will be the snow. My initial plan was to cover the entire board (minus the river, most of the cliffs, roads and paths) with several layers of NOCH snow products glued by a thick layer of PVA glue. However, that seemed like a waste of material (both the snow product and PVA glue) so I decided only to use the NOCH snow underneath the trees. I applied a thick layer of PVA glue around the trees and using a large spoon sprinkled the snow product. Also, at this time I used a watered down mixture of PVA glue, water and white paint to cover some of the ice surfaces on the river. Those areas were also covered with snow product.

Rest of the surfaces, I sprinkled with snow foam from a sprey can. In all, I used two sprey cans. Around the sensitive areas like river, cliffs and tufts I used some thin card to protect them from the sprey. Once dry, I spreyed some clear matt sprey to add strenght to the effect. This way, I saved both money and time as this is truly a fast method. Eventually, due to gaming on the board, I expect some of the snow to peel of. However, the snow foam from a sprey can costs less than 2 USD so the cost of repairing isn't high.

The finished product

After a couple of weeks of building on and off, my board was finished. In total, it cost less than 100USD with all the materials used (over half of which is resin and fir/pine trees).

Latest articles

Agram Group Build #7 – Amon Hen, pt.3

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	Agram Group Build is back. For this seventh installment, the team decided to create a gaming board/diorama for Amon Hen. To that end, we fulfilled a childhood dream and acquired the original Forge World Amon Hen terrain (released around 2000) along with the accompanying set of miniatures. This series of articles will document the entire project—from crafting the terrain to assembling and painting the miniatures.

	  

	Last time, we created and attached large volumes to the base and roughed out the terrain contours. To prevent the Styrofoam from warping while the PVA glue dried, we had secured it to the wooden base with masking tape. Therefore, the first task was to remove the excess masking tape.

	  

	Then, using PVA glue and DAS modeling clay, we created gradual transitions and built up slopes on the "steps" made of Styrofoam.

	  

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	That concludes the construction phase for now. Before applying the texture, the DAS modeling clay needs to dry thoroughly. Next up is the texturing process, along with some touch-ups to the relief where the stone structures were placed.

	  
"
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	Agram Group Build se vraća. U svojoj sedmoj instalaciji, ekipa je odlučila izraditi igraću tablu / dioramu za Amon Hen. Za tu potrebu, ispunili smo si dječačke sne i nabavili originalni Forge World teren Amon Hena (izašao negdje cca 2000.) sa setom pripadajućih figura. Ova serija članaka pratit će izradu cijelog projekta – kako izrade terena, tako i sastavljanja i bojanja figura.

	  

	Prošli put smo napravili i dodali velike volumene na bazu te napravili grube obrise terena. Kako se ne bi stiropor svinuo tijekom sušenja PVA ljepila, učvrstili smo ga krep trakom za drvenu bazu. Stoga, prvi posao bio je maknuti višak krep trake.

	  

	Zatim smo koristeći PVA ljepilo i DAS glinamol izradili postepene prijelaze i iskonstruirali kosine na „stepenicama“ dobivenim od stiropora.

	  

	Potom smo dodali kamene strukture koristeći koru od drveta. Istovremeno smo iskoristili i teksture u kori i utisnuli na pojedinim mjestima u DAS glinamol kako bismo dobili dodatnu teksturu kamenih stijena.

	  

	  

	Time je lagano završila gradnja za ovaj put. Prije nanošenja teksture, treba ostaviti DAS glinamol da se dobro osuši. Sljedeći put na redu je tekstura uz mjestimično popravljanje reljefa na mjestima gdje smo postavili kamene strukture.

	  
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Krunoslav Belinić, 1nd October 2026

Agram Group Build #7 – Amon Hen, pt.2

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	Agram Group Build is back. For this seventh installment, the team decided to create a gaming board/diorama for Amon Hen. To that end, we fulfilled a childhood dream and acquired the original Forge World Amon Hen terrain (released around 2000) along with the accompanying set of miniatures. This series of articles will document the entire project—from crafting the terrain to assembling and painting the miniatures.

	  

	After cutting the board in the previous article, it was time to create the terrain. We decided to achieve the necessary height—or volume—by using Styrofoam. The choice of material was dictated by the availability of Styrofoam; had we possessed that amount of extruded polystyrene (XPS) foam, we certainly would have chosen it due to its ease of shaping. We arranged the Styrofoam sheets to cover the entire surface of the board, gluing them down with PVA glue and reinforcing the joints with masking tape. Next, we placed the assembled Amon Hen model in position and traced its outlines.

	  

	  

	  

	The next step was cutting out the rough shape of the terrain and arranging tall vegetation across the diorama to establish the outlines of the final look.

	  

	  

	  

	  

	After marking the placement of the trees, we decided to glue the Styrofoam terrain piece onto the board. We used PVA glue for this as well, and to ensure firm contact, we secured the edges with masking tape so the Styrofoam wouldn't warp while drying. Finally, we constructed a ramp for the temple entrance.

	  

	  

	  

	In the meantime, Kruno was working on the preparatory work on the figures.

	  

	KRUNO: "The deal was to clean the figures of excess metal and dirt. I haven't dealt with metal miniatures too much, so it was an interesting challenge for me. It's not much different from cleaning rubber or plastic miniatures. Of course, a new scalpel blade is needed and pliers come in handy. Although it is not obligatory, I also performed the ancient miniaturist rite of consecration of a new blade and sacrificed a few drops of blood to the Gods of miniaturism and state games. It seems that they were satisfied with the victim, because there were no problems. Excesses are neatly and nicely positioned for quick removal and if any trace remains it fits into the texture or folds of the model. There were very few heads, and even those that were seen were easily leveled with a knife."

	  

	  
"
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	Agram Group Build se vraća. U svojoj sedmoj instalaciji, ekipa je odlučila izraditi igraću tablu / dioramu za Amon Hen. Za tu potrebu, ispunili smo si dječačke sne i nabavili originalni Forge World teren Amon Hena (izašao negdje cca 2000.) sa setom pripadajućih figura. Ova serija članaka pratit će izradu cijelog projekta – kako izrade terena, tako i sastavljanja i bojanja figura.

	  

	Nakon rezanja table u prošlom članku, došao je red na izradu terena. Visinu, odnosno volumen, smo odlučili dobiti korištenjem stiropora. Odabir materijala je uvjetovala dostupnost stiropora. Da smo imali tu količinu stirodura, sigurno bismo ga odabrali zbog jednostavnosti obrade. Stiroporne daske smo posložili tako da pokriju cijelu površinu table. Zalijepili smo ih koristeći PVA ljepilo, a spojeve dodatno učvrstili koristeći krep traku. Potom smo stavili složenu maketu Amon Hena i ucrtali obrise

	  

	  

	  

	Sljedeći korak bilo je izrezivanje grubog oblika terena i slaganje visoke vegetacije po diorami – tako da dobijemo obrise konačnog izgleda.

	  

	  

	  

	  

	Nakon označavanje gdje ide koje drvo, odlučili smo zalijepiti stiroporni teren na dasku. To smo također odradili pomoću PVA ljepila – a za dodatan pritisak, rubove smo pritisnuli koristeći krep traku tako da se stiropor ne deformira tijekom sušenja. Na kraju smo izradili i kosinu za prilaz u hram.

	  

	  

	  

	Za to vrijeme, Kruno se bavio pripremnim radovima na figurama.

	  

	KRUNO: "Dogovor je bio da očistim figure od viška metala i srha. Nisam se previše bavio metalnim minijaturama, pa mi je to bio zanimljiv izazov. Nije puno drugačije od čišćenja rezinskih ili plastičnih minijatura. Naravno, potrebna je nova oštrica na skalpelu i kliješta dobro dođu. Iako nije obavazeno obavio sam i drevni minijaturistički obred posvećivanja nove oštice i pritom žrtvovao par kapi krvi Bogovima minijaturizma i stateških igara. Izgleda da su bili zadovoljni žrtvom, jer nije bilo problema. Viškovi su uredno i lijepo pozicionirani za brzo uklanjanje i ako i ostane koji trag uklapa se u teksturu ili nabore modela. Srhova je bilo vrlo malo, a i oni koji su se vidjeli lako su se poravnali nožićem."

	  

	  

	 
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Marko Paunović, 24th September 2026

Signs for your plinths

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    ["title_eng"]=>
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    ["title_hrv"]=>
    string(21) "Natpisi za vaše baze"
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	This article will cover creating nameplates for your display figure bases. I have been considering the option of printed nameplates for quite some time, and these are the results I achieved after a bit of effort and research.

	The 3D engraved nameplates I usually use are quite expensive (around €10 apiece) and require preparation, ordering from an engraving studio, and waiting for the work to be completed. Consequently, my practice has been to place only one or two orders a year, mostly before our "Black Queen" event. Another major drawback is that these nameplates are made of plastic and cannot be bent, which automatically rules out round plinths.

	  

	After a bit of research, the results showed that miniaturists quite often use printed paper signs. What I saw in person was that these signs are very glossy, and online research revealed that they are printed on photo paper. So, I decided to try it out myself. First, I created the design for the sign.

	  

	Before looking for a photo studio, I decided to print it out on plain paper first to see what it looked like.

	  

	  

	Even when I put up those signs on plain paper, the result wasn't bad.

	  

	The hardest part of the whole process was finding a photo studio. It is incredible how few of them there are (that aren't just photocopy shops). I managed to find one relatively close to where I work and ordered two sets of two 10x15 cm photos—I decided to get two copies of each shot just in case something went wrong and I needed a backup.

	

	In total, the four photos cost me just under €2.00 (one-fifth of the price of a single plastic, engraved sign).

	  

	The final result on the bases is more than satisfactory! Would bang 10/10.

	  
"
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	Ovaj članak će se baviti izradom natpisa za baze za vaše display figure. Već dulje vrijeme razmišljam o opciji printanih natpisa i ovo su rezultati do kojih sam došao nakon malo truda i istraživanja.

	3D gravirani natpisi koje normalno koristim podosta su skupi (10ak € po komadu) i zahtijevaju pripremu pa naručivanje u nekom studiju za graviranje pa čekanje da oni to odrade. Tako da mi je do sada praksa bila jedna do dvije narudžbe godišnje, uglavnom prije našeg Black Queena. Drugi glavni nedostatak je da su ti natpisi plastični te se ne mogu savijati što automatski isključuje okrugle baze.

	  

	Nakon malo istraživanja, rezultati su pokazali da minijaturisti dosta često koriste printane natpise na papiru. Ono što sam uživo vidio jest da su to jako sjajni (glossy) natpisi, a online istraživanje je pokazalo da su to natpisi na foto papiru. Stoga, sam odlučio isprobati kako to funkcionira. Prvo sam napravio dizajn natpisa.

	  

	Prije potrage za foto studijom, odlučio sam isprintati prvo na običan papir da vidim kako to izgleda.

	  

	  

	Čak i kada sam postavio te natpise na običnom papiru, rezultat nije bio loš.

	  

	Najteži dio cijelog procesa bila je potraga za foto studijom. Nevjerojatno je koliko ih malo ima (a da nisu fotokopiraone). Uspio sam naći jedan relativno blizu mjesta gdje radim te naručio izradu dva puta po dvije fotografije 10x15cm – odlučio sam za svaki slučaj svaku fotku dva puta napraviti tako da ako nešto pođe u krivo da imam rezervu.

	  

	Sveukupno su me 4 fotografije ispale nešto ispod 2,00€ (jedna petina cijene jednog plastičnog, graviranog natpisa).

	  

	Završni rezultat na bazama je više nego zadovoljavajuć! Would bang 10/10.

	  
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Marko Paunović, 24th September 2026

We attended: Days of Technical Culture 2026

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	On Friday and Saturday, 18 and 19 Sept 2026, we participated in the Technical Culture Days at the Technical Museum. At our stand, visitors could discover the world of miniatures, and we were especially delighted by the interest shown by children who picked up a paintbrush for the first time.

	  

	Kruno and the team did a fantastic job guiding them through the initial steps of coloring. There was a mix of concentration, joy, and the occasional serious question about which color best suited the little hero. Interest was so high that the workspace around our stand quickly became cramped. For next year, we would love to see more space for workshops so that everyone can sit down comfortably and try their hand at painting.

	  

	  

	  

	I have participated in the Technical Culture Days for years, ever since the event was held in Dubrava. For me, the Nikola Tesla Technical Museum represents a major step forward: the venue lends a special atmosphere to the event, and the turnout this year was phenomenal. I was also pleasantly surprised by the other exhibitors' stands. It was a real pleasure to walk among them and see the fascinating things people are creating and sharing with visitors.

	  

	  

	  

	You can find more photos on our social media.

	  

	On Friday, our Marko gave a presentation titled "Miniaturism – A World in Miniature," in which he described to all those present the projects and programs organized by the Association, as well as everything we offer to our fellow citizens!

	  

	  

	  

	

	Thank you to everyone who stopped by, asked a question, or painted their first miniature. I look forward to next year—with just as many curious visitors and, I hope, a few more tables for brushes.
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	U petak i subotu, 18. i 19. rujna 2026., smo sudjelovali na Danima tehničke kulture u Tehničkom muzeju. Na našem su štandu posjetitelji mogli upoznati svijet minijatura, a najviše nas je razveselio interes djece koja su prvi put uzela kist u ruke.

	  

	Kruno i ekipa sjajno su ih vodili kroz prve korake bojanja. Bilo je koncentracije, veselja i pokojeg ozbiljnog pitanja o tome koja boja najbolje pristaje malom junaku. Interes je bio toliko velik da nam je prostor za rad oko štanda brzo postao tijesan. Za iduću godinu voljeli bismo vidjeti nešto više mjesta za radionice, kako bi svatko mogao mirno sjesti i okušati se u bojanju.

	  

	  

	  

	Na Danima tehničke kulture sudjelovao sam godinama, još dok su se održavali u Dubravi. Tehnički muzej Nikola Tesla za mene je velik korak naprijed: prostor daje događaju posebnu atmosferu, a posjećenost je ove godine bila fenomenalna. Štandovi drugih izlagača također su me ugodno iznenadili. Bilo je pravo zadovoljstvo prošetati među njima i vidjeti koliko zanimljivih stvari ljudi stvaraju i dijele s posjetiteljima.

	  

	  

	  

	Više fotografija pogledajte na našim društvenim mrežama

	

	U petak, naš Marko je održao predavanje pod nazivom MINIJATURIZAM – Svijet u malom u kojem je svim prisutnima opisao projekte i programe koje Udruga organizira i što sve nudimo našim sugrađanima!

	  

	  

	  

	

	Hvala svima koji su zastali kod nas, postavili pitanje ili obojali svoju prvu minijaturu. Veselim sei dućoj godini — uz jednako puno znatiželjnih posjetitelja i, nadam se, koji stol više za kistove.
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Marko Paunović, 23th September 2026

Agram Group Build #7 – Amon Hen, pt.1

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	Agram Group Build is back. For this seventh installment, the team decided to create a gaming board/diorama for Amon Hen. To that end, we fulfilled a childhood dream and acquired the original Forge World Amon Hen terrain (released around 2000) along with the accompanying set of miniatures. This series of articles will document the entire project—from crafting the terrain to assembling and painting the miniatures.

	  

	The idea from the start was to create a diorama of the famous scene from *The Lord of the Rings* where Boromir falls in battle and the Uruk-hai abduct two—fortunately, the wrong—Hobbits. Ideally, we envisioned everything fitting onto a 40 x 40 cm board. So, the first step was to verify this; we used two sheets of A3 paper to create a square of roughly the desired size.

	  

	Figures and terrain fit perfectly for the board of that size. However, this should also be a diorama, so we checked how everything works together with vegetation. Fortunately, before the terrain and figures arrived, we also acquired appropriate autumn trees.

	  

	Once the concept was confirmed, we could get to work on making the base for the board. We used a 130 x 40 x 2 cm plank—originally a shelf—for this purpose. We marked two diagonals on it to outline a 40 x 40 cm square, then applied masking tape over the area to protect the wood during sawing.

	  

	Then, we cut the board to the desired size using a circular saw. After cutting, we sanded both cut edges.

	  

	And with that, preparations for the first collaborative project are complete. We have everything ready for the presentation at the Technical Culture Days, where our Marko will conduct demonstration workshops—specifically, demonstrations on creating a spatial model—based on this very project.

	  
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	Agram Group Build se vraća. U svojoj sedmoj instalaciji, ekipa je odlučila izraditi igraću tablu / dioramu za Amon Hen. Za tu potrebu, ispunili smo si dječačke sne i nabavili originalni Forge World teren Amon Hena (izašao negdje cca 2000.) sa setom pripadajućih figura. Ova serija članaka pratit će izradu cijelog projekta – kako izrade terena, tako i sastavljanja i bojanja figura.

	  

	Ideja od početka bila je da napravimo dioramu poznate scene iz Gospodara prstenova gdje Boromir pogiba, a Uruk Hai otimaju dva, srećom pogrešna, Hobita. Idealno u našim zamislima sve bi stalo na tablu 40 x 40 cm. Stoga prvo je to trebalo provjeriti. Od dva A3 papira napravili smo kvadrat otprilike željene veličine.

	  

	Figure i teren taman pašu za tablu te dimenzije. Međutim, ovo bi trebala biti i diorama, stoga smo provjerili kako sve zajedno funkcionira i sa vegetacijom. Na svu sreću, prije nego su došli teren i figure, nabavili smo i prigodno jesensko drveće.

	  

	Kad smo potvrdili koncept, mogli smo se baciti na izradu baze za tablu. Za to nam je poslužila daska 130 x 40 x 2 cm koja je služila kao polica. Na nju smo ucrtali dvije dijagonale i na taj način dobili kvadrat veličine 40 x 40 cm. Zatim smo preko toga prelijepili krep traku kako bismo dasku zaštitili prilikom piljenja.

	  

	Zatim smo ispilili dasku na željenu veličinu ručnim cirkularom. Nakon piljenja smo pobrusili oba rezana ruba.

	  

	I time su pripreme za prvi zajednički rad završene. Sve smo spremili i pripremili za nastup na Danima tehničke kulture gdje će naš Marko upravo na ovom projektu držati ogledne radionice odn. demonstracije izrade prostorne makete.

	  
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Marko Paunović, 14th September 2026

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Building a Gaming Board – pt 2.

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