Sicily Project: Jumping Off With a Great Start!

    On an earlier post, I had decided that I was going to run a project about Sicily for next year's Historicon. Now, I had mentioned that the job at hand was going to be planned out for a year based on whatever events may happen with gaining a house. However, I must admit that there is a nice change when I actually have room to work on projects. I guess I never really thought of it as a big deal. It was when I decided to commit to a project that motivated me to start the next day. And so, I did!
    In a matter of less than two days with various interruptions and breaks, such as sleep, I finished a mat enough for a wargame to be played on. So, these were the results:

        Now, I realize that there were several factors in to finishing up to this point other than actually having room. I would say that time was a factor, but I have had that in previous terrain building projects. I think that these were the other helpful factors. For one, I had an idea to pick and I chose it! I began looking at Google Maps at the ground level in Sicily online to find types of terrain that was interesting, basic colors I would be using, and the month that those images were captured. I found a huge part of Sicily was captured by the Google Maps team during the months of January and February, which makes everything look nice and green. I speculate that they either did this, because it makes the countryside looks more pleasing to the eye or it is just nicer there in the winter months.
      The second reason for my speedy project is that I have done eighteen mats using teddy bear fur in the past year. So, I have perfected how I work with it. I went from a few small fields with mixed results using spray paint to now just hand painting them. I have better tools and was fairly relaxed making it. I only decided to finish it up faster, so my wargaming friends and I could play on it the next day of this post. But then again, I could have made it faster to push for more miniature armies!
   How ever good it looks, I still have more work to be done on it. Does it have to be done? For most wargamers, no. But it is a point of mine to add more detail, and I believe detail enhances the game.