Thanks for showing this pine tree method. I've never seen this done before. Love your videos and I'm going back and watching all of them. Love the music and painting is fantastic. Keep it up!
Thanks DethCricket! Yes it sure is nice to get the kids involved.. my daughter also loves to play games with me too (we're currently in the middle of a game of Star Wars Rebellion and I don't think my base is going to remain hidden for much longer.. :) )
Lol thanks FatYggdrasil! I'll only be producing scenery videos occasionally whenever I get round to creating a new piece for gaming with, but the imminent release of Star Wars Legion has certainly inspired me to get creative :)
aww, I just dropped my little one off at university... well, he's not little anymore, he looks like the cast of vikings. he is a world class mini-painter too, in no small part thanks to the youtube community. thanks Sorastros and enjoy this time!
At Last!!!! My dream has come true :-D You've started doing terrain videos too. I had a lot of odd driftwood given to me, and now I know what to put on top of them, to make little "islands" for an Avatar style terrainscape. You've also shown me a way to get the fiddly stuff done quicker while I'm busy painting my figures - Munchkin labour :-D That adorable little girl is wonderful, and a true helper for you. You are blessed, Mr S, truly blessed :-) Keep up the good work, and bringing us so many inspiring ideas with each tutorial. All the very best to all of you Paul :-)
Sorastro doing scenery. This is a glorious day! I love the fact that you enlisted the help of your daughter, I've been getting my 12-year-old into minis lately! Can't wait for more!!
Thanks Jeremy! Yeh it was really great to have my daughter helping out; she loves the whole range of FFG Star Wars games and is excited to help create the terrain in preparation for SW Legion :)
A lot of us ole War Doggs already know how to do what you have covered here... but your style and quality make this a dam-fun watch regardless! Keep up the great work 🍁🍂🍃😍😎❗
I just watched Luke's video last weekend and bought all my supplies last weekend. Unfortunately I caught a cold earlier this week so I haven't been in the mood to try this yet. Looking forward to seeing your other scenery videos as I don't game and am looking to get more into basing.
Thank you for the demo sorastro... When I was at gencon50 this year and saw the legion redwood forest table I wondered how they did the tree trunks, it may not have been the way you did it but I'm definitely going to go your route for my table. As a very new table top gamer (since this past january 2017) I'm looking for easy to parse instructional how to-s and as always yours is the best. Thanks again.
Thanks a lot Rodney! For the smaller trees on the GenCon table they used a similar method but using furnace filter (and possibly on a single length of tapered dowel rather that using a skewer. Anyway, I'm glad you found the video helpful :)
I learn some useful tips from everything you present - thank you for making these available! I hope you use your hot wire cutter in a VERY well-ventilated space. Polystyrene fumes are extremely hazardous. (Maybe take it out on your scenic balcony.)
All the things you are doing looks so amazing!!🤩 I’m doing a one by one meter Endor Diorama and I get so inspired by the things you are doing! Thank you for your ideas and please keep up this amazing work!!
This is amazing work. Building scenery has always been something I overlooked due to a lack of space but it truly makes miniature board gaming more fun. I'm sure Star Wars Legion will give me a good reason to get my hands on some scenery-building. Looking forward to watching you craft buildings for the game too !
WoW, Just WoW. Very natural looking terrain. Have you ever considered doing live classes? Painting more than anything, but terrain as well. Kind of like a Bob Rose kinda thing. All your works incredible.
Great job on getting your channel to this stage and having paid sponsors👍, I remember watching your original videos. My channel probably won’t ever get near yours.😀
My hobby watching is coming full circle - one hobbyist I'm following is referencing another hobbyist I'm watching. If either of you start referencing Dr Faust as well, we are like a big full family...
Ha ha - tbh I don't often have time to watch other creators, but I stumbled across Luke Towan's stuff whilst researching tree-building and was blown away by his work :)
hey mate, if you want to preserve the flock for an eternity or two you should consider dowsing it in hobby glue. simply make a 1/3 hobby glue and 2/3 water mix and put it in a leftover spraybottle and spray it over the terrain. it will affix everything quite well and it will not crumb around while playing or transporting. it will dry clear :D
I am sometimes wondering ... were you working in television before your youtube career? Because your videos are so polished and your voice is making it even more perfect.
Simply amazing, so realistic and detailed. Far better then anything you can buy. Huge fan of your work. Is there any chance of seeing your take on assorted Tatooine themed buildings? Thanks for the awesome content
Thanks so much, Kevin! The Star Wars: Shatterpoint buildings are somewhat Tatooine-ish? sorastro.com/2023/05/31/star-wars-shatterpoint-core-set-terrain-pdf-painting-guide/ 😁
Very very nice tutorial indeed. Thanks for sharing. Although if I may I'd also add that the pine undergrowth is very dirty and generally characterized by layers upon layers of dry and brown pine needles... and pine roots don't generally come out since the grow vertically... except that it's a perfect way of doing trees ;)
Thanks Riccardo! I agree about the pine needles (I grew up very close to a pine forest) but really wanted the bases to better match the colours of the battle mat.:)
Awesome. I was worried about having to spend on a fortune on terrain because it kinda makes the game. I couldnt play without it. Those mats are great and not too expensive
Ha ha - thanks; yes Luke's skills in terrain building a far more advanced than mine so it seemed only right to fully credit him for my simply repeating his ideas :)
You bloody madman. 10 years ago I dropped out of architecture school and took up a different uni degree because I got tired of doing modelling as no one taught us how to do it and there were alot of criticism. The drop out rate was 30% Now all of this isn't necessary but if this existed 10 years ago, I would have had way more fun doing the course and probably would have continued it. It would have also given better context to how our buildings would look like at the site. Oh well, it was probably for the best because I heard a lot of architects are having a hard time finding jobs.
Very helpful scenery tutorial, I don't game but I have plans for a diorama display that has a TR-3B Manta parked on the edge of a forest. The trees used here look way more realistic then the plastic ones in the crafts stores!
Thank you! I've not got anything planned in the immediate future but will return to the series as and when I create or paint any future pieces of scenery :)
Hey man I’ve been watching your videos for a while and fell in love at first sight, especially the star wars miniatures, do you do any commissions for your scenery trees by any chance? No worries if not
Your daughter is adorable! Looks about the same age as my kids :) (10 yrs old by the look of it). I'd love to see a scenario playthru video of the new Star Wars game, using your terrain. Any plans for that kind of thing?
Great work as always. I am finding it hard to find balsa wood dowels of the diameter where I live and searching on amazon hasn't worked. Can I use hardwood dowels instead?
Absolutely awesome addition to the channel. Just need you to show us how to make a movie accurate Endor bunker now ;) Any chance you could also tell me what spray glue you used?
Great video, Ive just started and followed the guide you made for the ATST having never done this kind of thing before. How did you make the polystyrene cutter? you descriptions are easy to follow and I suppose practise will help. Many Thanks
These are of course amazing. Just bought legion, and I know there are specifics as far as height of terrain. Did you work that into this or freehand it?
Thanks mate! I actually made this some time before the rules were released so just used my judgement with regards to the dimensions etc. My main concern was not so much the height (figures can't jump up on top of the trees anyway!) but just to ensure that there was enough free space between the trees and that the ground was level enough for the units to actually stand amongst them (which they can). I then treat the terrain as light cover (which can be shot out from without penalty) and it works great! :)
Dear Sorastro, Another exceptional video! Are your talents limitless? Being the cheapskate that I am, I use Asda dried herbs as a base for my forest models, trying to represent a 'junglish' (Is that a word?) effect. Then use a green/burnt umber wash to tone things down a bit. Then 50/50 pva & water to fix it all down. One major side effect the herb smell nearly always makes me feel hungry, but the smell is sensational! Hope you and Family are keeping well? Kind Regards as always Johnny
Wow!! It looks absolutely terrific! Would you mind sharing how long this took you? I cannot wait to see some speeder bikes roaring through here at the end of the year.
Hey Sorastro just curious, did you find that one bottle of the vallejo leather brown was enough to cover the whole surface for the scenery you made? or did you go through multiples? i'm not super familiar with air brush quantities. Thanks.
so i just had a thought/possible alternative to the material used for the green of the tree. the bushy, coarse terrain stuff you're using looks a lot like floral foam when it's crushed. 2 bricks of the foam are only a dollar, so i imagine it might be a cheaper alternative if it works. i'm going to give it a shot to see! :)
Will definitely try and get some, as I spent £8 on basically dust at Hobbycraft, lol! I did these trees last weekend, they were an absolute blast... we substituted the Coir for the Insulation Foam that comes with a Hello Fresh box (I know, why not just save money by not using Hello Fresh... we were running out of cookery ideas, don't judge me - but I digress...) and it worked really well. AAAnd finally, massive shout out to Sorastro, wish him all the best, he's one of the finest in the biz.
Awesome idea to have a set of scenery tutorials, Sorastro :) Great stuff! I checked the list of materials and I was curious what type of spray glue you were using to fix the coconut fibre to the skewers? Maybe I missed it being listed but I don't think I saw it. What type of latex gloves would you recommend for using when working with painting miniatures/models and scenery? I have heard that some types of latex gloves have chemicals or oils in them that can damage or mess with the mini or the painting job. Thanks as always :)
+Thomas Horn Thanks Thomas! I actually used a couple of different spray glues including the 3M Craft Mount and a locally produced mounting spray by Seawhite of Brighton and found they all worked fine. Most art shops will stock various sprays that will work. Hmm I don't honesty know much about the gloves tbh; I just bought some from ASDA 😀
Thanks as always :) I sent another question on the zenithal highlight technique using Citadel sprays. I am going to try and sign up for your Patreon membership in the next while. Is it a dollar a month to get the videos and PDFs of the tutorials?
Hi Thomas! Yes - I'm actually using the "per-episode" model on Patreon but you can pledge a dollar and set your monthly limit to a dollar so you can indeed just pay $1 per month. And yes - that first tier does give early access to the videos as well as PDF transcripts of the videos and PDF guides for minis that I don't have time to cover in the videos :)
would I be able to use basic wood stain when it comes to making the trunks or would I need to spend the extra little money and buy what you use in the video?
Thank you! It's pretty durable, but if you taper the edges down quite thin as I have done then it naturally becomes weaker there so there's a bit of a trade off of aesthetics vs durability :)
Another amazing video!! Do you find when your air brushing that you go through paint very fast? I've just started using one and I feel like even when I have an almost full cup I only get enough paint to basecoat 3-4 models. This is of course with water and floe aid mixed in as well.
Awesome video and awesome work as always! How do you store the trees, so they won't break (or sth like that)? Also: will there be a bunker tutorial (especially for the Endor terrain)? I'd love to see that!
Thank you Sgt! I keep my trees on the bottom shelf of my figure cabinet (they just about fit!) and I haven't had any breakages yet. It's possible I may get to try an Endor bunker at some point but not in the near future as I have so much else on at the moment :)
