Blue Rivers

[Heedless Horseman]

Why so many bright blue rivers on tables? To myself, just look odd.
Don't think I have ever seen a river the colpur of many 'blue' river scenics... a tinge with 'snowmelt' but not blue.
Dark Medium Gray, Browns or Greens... with thick Gloss varnish.
The 'water effect' scenics are wonderful for the dedicated... but take time and effort.

So, why do so many go Blue? Yes, supposed to 'reflect' 'sky'... but you just do not see it.
Same applies to windows in buildings or vehicles... or Aircraft canopies. To me, a dark gray would be better.
Each to their own preference, though... but 'Blue'  just looks 'odd' to me.

[FierceKitty]

You're quite right, but do one in muddy brown and count how many complaints you attract!

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Blue is conventional but inaccurate.

[Norm]

From a photographic point of view, where a file is compressed to just kb for internet display, blue helps the contrast to the image. I note The Last Valley terrain outfit does his waterways a mucky brown.

[Big Insect]

I've found that if you paint your river a muddy brown and then paint it copiously with clear gloss varnish - tinged slightly with blue ink - you can get quite a nice effect. But it is a laborious process.

Best of all is to use some of the clear 'water' gels that are now available as that really gives you a sense of depth. Especially if you can prepare the river bottom with sand, gravel, small rocks and weed etc. But you need to have banks to your river to contain the gel.

[mmcv]

So, why do so many go Blue? Yes, supposed to 'reflect' 'sky'... but you just do not see it.

Old wives tale. Water and sky are blue due to the refraction of light when going from one medium to another. Blue is the shorter wavelength so disperses most readily. That's also why we get reds towards the evening as the sun is at a greater angle the blues have already dispersed so we see the longer red light waves. Though of course, a still body of water will also act as a mirror to the sky, it's just not the main reason it's blue.

Fill a large white bath and the water in it will have a blue tinge.

The reason most rivers aren't a nice clear blue is all the silt and mud and human activity so forth in them. There are blue rivers out there though. For instance, I have plans for a battle at the Uji River in Japan:



Also, many rivers near me are somewhat blue in colour. Having a nosey around on google maps in satellite mode I can see a lot of rivers around England seem to be more brownish, must just be the combination of population density and silt levels and so forth. Most rivers I've seen about Ireland and some in Scotland do tend to be fairly blue though.

The Lagan
https://www.google.com/maps/@54.6053317,-5.9158217,3a,75y,46.29h,89.17t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipNR5pQz52Z4nR6L0Jew5aqgKC3KiSnbHDneBj_F!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipNR5pQz52Z4nR6L0Jew5aqgKC3KiSnbHDneBj_F%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya117.92084-ro-0-fo100!7i5660!8i2830

The Shannon:
https://www.google.com/maps/@53.3265112,-7.986706,2a,75y,322.07h,94.19t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sGgkU2TW8LSUjifxRx0k42Q!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DGgkU2TW8LSUjifxRx0k42Q%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D140%26pitch%3D-20%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

The Forth:
https://www.google.com/maps/@56.128624,-3.9370027,3a,75y,316.71h,67.34t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipN41e1jo4rRFcB9U_pxJsmiAgsakvPmn7BfDHfp!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipN41e1jo4rRFcB9U_pxJsmiAgsakvPmn7BfDHfp%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi2.1432915-ya301.13763-ro-0.12626733-fo100!7i5376!8i2688


It probably depends where in the world you are and what the environmental conditions are, so not entirely inaccurate. And for historical battles where the impact of agriculture and human impact is potentially lower, blue isn't wildly inaccurate.

But I'm sure some people will still be in... de-Nile!

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

But I'm sure some people will still be in... de-Nile!

That ione demands a major coat chewing.....

[Gwydion]

A lot of it depends on the angle you are looking at it from and the light conditions.
The River Wye


The River Wye

[Westmarcher]

As highlighted, waterways are variously coloured depending on clarity of the water (clear, muddy, etc.), what's underneath (vegetation, rocks, sand), what's reflected from the edges (trees, buildings, etc.) and how the time of day and current weather conditions affect light and what's in the sky.

The solution is therefore to stock a plentiful supply of river sections in various colours to cover all possibilities. Can I be bothered? No. So one colour (in my case, sections cut from picture mounting board in a slightly grey'ish blue with a covering of clear sticky back plastic) suits me until I get something better.

@ Heedless - you ought to get out more. 

[mmcv]

 

That ione demands a major coat chewing.....

A lot of it depends on the angle you are looking at it from and the light conditions.

Yeah that's definitely part of it as well, but most wargames (at least above skirmish level) are played at a scale like the first picture, so blue is often appropriate.

[Heedless Horseman]

Thanks for the piccies... point conceded. But I would prefer to have a river as in tho bottom pic of the Wye.

('Getting out more?' LOL!   Apart from shops, etc. haven't 'been out' for nearly three years!     )

[steve_holmes_11]

Gwydion nails it, viewing angle.
When you look on a reflective surface, what you see depends upon your angle of view (ask any submariner).

We usually view our waterways from the banks, but through the magic of the Incas, Montgolfiers, Wrights and Sikorsky, we can now share the view of the thousand foot general.
From that high vantage point we can share the blue, once reserved for the birds and gods.


I paint mine blue for 3 reasons.

* I play on a tabletop with features overlaid: No opportunity to carve our a riverbed with realistic rocks, silt and weeds, then fill it with railway water.
* I want to distinguish my watercourses from dirt roads.
* Brown rivers are the ones carrying most silt, generally very broad flat and approaching the sea. The major waterways of WRG rules. I don't use many of them.

[steve_holmes_11]

Having made my three points for blue rivers on tabletop, some exceptions.

Swamp / Marsh: Shallow (if you're lucky) pools with dark peaty soil beneath. Black, toned down with a touch of brown, highlighted with flecks of midnight blue while the base coat is still damp.

Padi Fields: Ideally an opaque pale mud colour (depends a bit on your underlying soil). I'm experimenting with Khaki with a tiny amount of pale blue added. Decorate with ducks, "Waterline" pigs or oxen / buffalo (Depending on your local farming type).


PLUG: Most animals available form Minibits in 10mm, and some in 15mm.

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

On my first AEF from Woodvale spent quite a lot of time upside down over Georges Chanel at the mouth of the Mersey. The river flow as obvious it was brown from Silt, whilst the Irish sea was light grey like the cloud cover.

[FierceKitty]

The title of this post is giving me an Audrey Hepburn earworm!