How to: Make your acrylic tokens pop on the tabletop.

Hi all and welcome to the first post on my "How To" series. This once, we will take on acrylic tokens and how to make them pop just a little bit more on your tabletop.

Seeing the spectacle of a tabletop wargame laid out in all its glory, is a sight to behold. For those who love that feeling of a real-life simulation, we try to be as un-obstructive as possible when it comes to gaming aids. However depending on the amount of book-keeping a game requires, sometimes, the use of gaming aids such as tokens, to determine character status, spell casting, unit condition, etc., is a welcome addition to the tabletop. 

Acrylic and MDF tokens have stormed the wargaming scene just a few years ago, when a few select people started machining their own gaming aids. Today, the panorama is different and a number of companies make their income exclusively from selling these tokens. Last year, I finally decided to have a go and purchase some gaming aids for Guildball. I opted to go for Art of War Studios tokens. Primarily for the quality of their designs, but also, because their tokens come with a protective paper padding still on. You will have the chance to read below why the latter is such a time saver and if I may add, a finger saver too.

Here's how they look out of the package

They do look amazing! However, if you pay particular attention to the grooved carving, you will notice that its color is pretty much the same as the token's. Once you remove the protective paper backing (the white cloudy areas in the picture), the carving is almost undistinguishable from the rest of the token. At this point, it was time to bring out the paint and the brush for a quick fix. With just a two step process, you can make the carved design pop out much more and be clearly visible on the tabletop.

Grab your prefered white paint (I opted for Vallejo Air white, because it's much thinner out of the bottle and easier to get into all the grooves) and a size 2 or higher brush and start applying the paint. Cover thoroughly all the grooves

Now set all your tokens aside and get your finest brew, while the paint dries. Remember me mentioning that the paper backing was a great asset? Well, at the painting stage, you can be fast and furious, because once the paint dries, you will remove the excess paint by simply removing the paper backing. Simple as that!

However, if your tokens do not have a protective paper backing, do not despair. Grab yourself an old cloth towel, and with your finger scratch away from the raised areas the excess paint. Once you reach the 50th token though, you will be wishing you had bought tokens with the paper backing. 😃 On the other hand... it's a free finger exfoliation session.

Here you can see me using an old kitchen towel, scavenged from my home-made wet pallete.

Once you have removed all the paper backing, or scrubbed paint and finger to oblivion, you will be left with some great looking gaming aids, that you will be able to identify from 5 feet away.

That's it! Nice and visible tokens in just two easy steps!

Until next time, keep on painting

War Penguin signing out