Well, amongst the haul was my original 1995 copy of Necromunda.
Of all the boxes games I owned in my youth, this and Bloodbowl saw by far the most action. The reasons for this were a combination of their smaller scale (requiring less time and buy in) and the campaign features (meaning that games carried more weight).
Necromunda particularly took off when I moved in with my friends Tom and Will after finishing university.
We each had a couple of gangs: I had Orlocks and Ratskins, Will had Cawdor and Redemptionist its and Tom (who I only now realise this) had Goliaths, Delaques, Scavvies, Spyrers and Van Saars (or were these Will's...anyway, I digress).
The sprawling gang war that ensued saw the terrain that came in the original box and the Outlanders supplement take a bit of a battering, as there were periods where the game was being played, and the terrain assembled and disassembled, almost every day.
Will and Tom would play numerous games whilst I was at work and then politely enquire if I'd like to play against their massively advanced gangs.
I'm still traumatised by Tom's Delaque sniper who could (in my nightmares) shoot round corners.
This obsessive love of the game was one of the major reasons I left much of my collection with them when I moved out of London, but, as I'm sure you'd imagine, it also meant the cardboard took a bit of a battering, with tears and wear on display all over. With some areas just ripped in two.
And so, when I decided a couple of weeks ago to try to bring this well loved terrain set back to life, I knew that I had a job on my hands.
My fist step was to look at how others might have gone about restoring their terrain and I came across a video from Oli's Battle Barn which was extremely useful in breaking the process down into simple steps, making the task seem manageable and also suggested a few tips and tricks that I adopted.
If you are thinking of doing something similar, I'd strongly suggest giving the video a watch.
The first step was getting the cardboard into better shape which involved several steps:
1: Removing as much of the sellotape (yes, sellotape) that had been used to hold some areas together as I could.
2: Fixing ripped corners and reinforcing weaker areas with additional supports (being careful to ensure that there was still space for the bulkheads to slot in.
3. Using PVA to strengthen frayed corners and edges.
4. Flattening out the card, which was done by carefully ironing (yes, ironing) using a low heat (and no steam) before placing pieces between heavy books.
Although the result was not perfect, it was enough that would allow the set to go together again without further damage.
As finishing touches, I painted (to be fair, the yellow and black were done with Sharpies) all of the edges and folds, along with a few tears and the remaining sellotape, before hitting the visible surfaces with a matt varnish.
The varnishing was done primarily to reduce the shine (I do like to take the occasional photo) and also to better hide some of the dings and creases that the original gloss finish made horribly obvious.
I then turned my attention to the bulkheads, which needed washing (to remove 30 years of dust and grime) and the mould lines removing before I hit them with a black undercoat.
I proceeded to sponge them with two very old and half finished pots of Chainmail paint that I had knocking about and never used. I used this method rather than opting for a wash as the volume of surface area would have cost me a small fortune in Nuln Oil (yes, I know I could make my own, but I couldn't be bothered).
For the rust, I then sponged on some Mournfang Brown and Ryza Rust in places before hitting areas that didn't look quite right (mainly the parts the sponge couldn't get to) with some Dirty Down rust, which I later matt varnished as it came out too shiny for me.
As a final touch I added a few graffiti transfers that had come in the Judge Dredd: I am the Law boxed set.
I avoided the transfers that were too Mega City One coded or too dark to be visible and now have a smattering of gang tags around the board.
And then, with only a little bit of swearing and struggle, I assembled everything...
...and was immediately transported back to being a giddy teenager with a pretty full table set up of vertical terrain, useful for all sorts of sci-fi and post-apocalyptic games.
I'm intending to give the the Gorkamorka terrain I built a few weeks ago the same edging and varnish treatment, which will allow me to include them in my set up and it will then comfortably fill a 4'x4' table with the addition of a few barrels and barricades.
I am delighted with how this has all turned out and I'm now fairly motivated to get some more of my Necromunda backlog finished and perhaps encourage a few games to be played.
Acquired: 83
Painted: 225
Lead Mountain: 613
