Putting the Geek back in GreaseMonkeyGeek!

   I realize that I haven't posted a lot of GEEK stuff here... technically I haven't posted any at all. So I will now regale you with the process of my first effort into painting Dwarven Forge Dungeon Tiles from their recent KickStarter. I opted for the unpainted ones (2 sets plus some add-ons) and am happy I did so.

   This first picture is the original color that they come in straight from the molds. It is sort of a chocolate brown and has a slick sheen to it. You could in theory leave the tiles as is with just this coloring, but they are pretty plain and lack pop.

   Using the tutorial provided by the DF guys on their website, I attempted to paint up my first handful of tiles using the main L-shape floor/wall sections and a couple of corner sections. The basic process is as follows. First you take the gray base and do a mostly dry brush light coat. The idea is to cover most of the tile but not to fill in all the little details. I found that as I went along, I would actually fill in more in some areas on one then less in that same area on the next one. This gave each piece a little more uniqueness as I went on to later steps. Initially, this was just me using too much paint at first and then less as the brush dried some, but I liked how it came out and kept doing it.

    The next step is to do the detailing on a small number of stones to add a little more color and variety to the tiles. This is done with an earth tone lighter brown that you can see in the pictures. You only need to do a couple of these per wall section and on some I did only two or three total. This was also an area that you can create variety by how many and where you place these highlight stones.

   The third step is to dry brush on a olive sand color. This is done with a very dry brush and several times I had to rub down the tiles using a paper towel because I had used too much even after I was sure I wiped enough off. When in doubt, wipe more off. In the end though, it was pretty easy to get the hang of and again I added more to some places and less to others for subtle highlights. But BE CAREFUL!!! It is easy to over apply.

   The final step is to dry brush on the light color final highlight coat. The color they sell is Stone Edge and is almost white with a hint of sand/eggshell. It gives the tile the stone look you want at the very end and that you can see in the pictures. This is a SUPER dry brush technique. As in even more so than the olive sand. I'm talking you are taking almost every last bit of color off the brush before you lightly dust the tile. You will see it as you start, so I suggest starting on the sides since those get placed next to each other and the brighter layer wont show as much. You can also simply repaint it. But it's always better to try to fix it when possible. So yeah... SUPER DRY brush, VERY LIGHT dusting and you will bring out a lot of details.

   Once you get the hang of it on a couple of tiles, you can move on to what I did... assembly line!!! The first picture, you can see I have done the basic gray coat (left most tiles) and started adding in the highlight brown stones(right most of the tile rows). You can also see the contrast of a finished tile on the far right (L-shape) and the one just above it (corner tile) where there is the first three steps, but the final dry brush has not been applied. 

   Here you can see the assembly line waiting for the tiles to dry so I can move on to the next batch.

   I wanted to add in some very different tiles for times when I wanted either a smaller room totally different, or to add a slight change to an existing gray base room. Instead of starting with the gray stone base, I used the Earth stone color as the base. Then I used the base gray to highlight stones and then did step 3 and 4 as normal. This created a desert-esque color that I really liked. If I were to buy another set of these, I would probably go ahead and do at least half of them up in this other color option. I think it really adds to the possible options.

   I have several free standing wall sections to do along with some special features like trap doors and gates. As well as dungeon dress-up stuff like barrels and beds and treasure chests. Since I have not picked up any other paints besides the four I got with the KickStarter, I am pretty limited with my color options. Between this and the Reaper KickStarter, I have a lot of fun stuff to look forward to painting and hopefully using soon in some games. I will post those reports up as I get them done as well as an update to this one when I get around to painting up the rest of the DF Dungeon tiles and accessories.

   So there you go... a little more Geek to compensate for all the GreaseMonkey.