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Shipcraft 18 - Titanic and her Sisters Olympic and Britannic Seaforth Publishing Codus, Cyril, Davies-Garner, Peter, Hahn, Robert Ano: 2011 Idioma: english Arquivo: EPUB, 40.56 MB Os seus tags: 0 / 0

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Cuckoo : cheating by nature Bloomsbury Publishing;Bloomsbury USA Nicholas B. Davies, James McCallum Ano: 2015 Idioma: english Arquivo: EPUB, 1.81 MB Os seus tags: 0 / 0

  
    
      
    
  


  
    Guide

    
      	Contents

      	Cover

    

  
  
    Table of contents

    
      	Title Page

      	Copyright

      	Contents

      	About the Author

      	Introduction

      	Chapter 1: Welcome to the Workshop

      	Chapter 2: What’s Everyone Else Doing?

      	Chapter 3: Before You Get Started

      	Chapter 4: Terrain Cloths

      	Chapter 5: Terrain Tiles

      	Chapter 6: Custom or Sculpted Terrain

      	Chapter 7: Rivers and Ponds

      	Chapter 8: Islands, Cliffs and Hills

      	Chapter 9: Trees

      	Chapter 10: Walls

      	Chapter 11: Fences and Screens

      	Chapter 12: Hedges

      	Chapter 13: Gates

      	Chapter 14: Cultivated Fields

      	Chapter 15: Roads

      	Chapter 16: Bridges

      	Chapter 17: Defences

      	Chapter 18: Buildings

      	Acknowledgements and Thanks

    

  


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First published in Great Britain in 2015 by

Pen & Sword Military

an imprint of

Pen & Sword Books Ltd

47 Church Street

Barnsley

South Yorkshire

S70 2AS


Copyright © Paul Davies 2015


ISBN: 978 1 78159 274 8

EPUB ISBN: 978 1 47385 451 2

PRC ISBN: 978 1 47385 463 5


The right of Paul Davies to be identified as the Author of this Work has

been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents

Act 1988.


A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library


All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including

photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system,

without permission from the Publisher in writing.


Typeset in Ehrhardt by

Mac Style Ltd, Bridlington, East Yorkshire

Printed and bound in India by Replika Press Pvt. Ltd.


Pen & Sword Books Ltd incorporates the imprints of Pen & Sword

Archaeology, Atlas, Aviation, Battleground, Discovery, Family History,

History, Maritime, Military, Naval, Politics, Railways, Select, Transport,
; 
True Crime, and Fiction, Frontline Books, Leo Cooper, Praetorian Press,

Seaforth Publishing and Wharncliffe.


For a complete list of Pen & Sword titles please contact

PEN & SWORD BOOKS LIMITED

47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S70 2AS, England

E-mail: enquiries@pen-and-sword.co.uk

Website: www.pen-and-sword.co.uk






CONTENTS

About the Author

Introduction

Chapter 1      Welcome to the Workshop

Chapter 2      What’s Everyone Else Doing?

Chapter 3      Before You Get Started

Chapter 4      Terrain Cloths

Chapter 5      Terrain Tiles

Chapter 6      Custom or Sculpted Terrain

Chapter 7      Rivers and Ponds

Chapter 8      Islands, Cliffs and Hills

Chapter 9      Trees

Chapter 10    Walls

Chapter 11    Fences and Screens

Chapter 12    Hedges

Chapter 13    Gates

Chapter 14    Cultivated Fields

Chapter 15    Roads

Chapter 16    Bridges

Chapter 17    Defences

Chapter 18    Buildings

Acknowledgements and Thanks





ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Paul Davies has been a wargamer – or as his long-suffering wife prefers to say, has been ‘messing around with toy soldiers and all that malarkey’ – for more years than he cares to admit or chooses to remember. Suffice to say that when Airfix released their Guards colour party plastic figures, he was at the front of the queue outside his local toyshop. The wargaming possibilities of this set were somewhat limited, and suitable plastic opponents non-existent, but as soon as the British infantry combat group were released, followed by German infantry, he never looked back; he still harbours an affection for soft plastic even though that view seems to be tantamount to heresy in some quarters.


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Allegedly, the hobby has kept him relatively sane, and he has been a regular contributor to Wargames Illustrated since 2006, and in 2008 wrote the first of a regular series of ‘How to…’ articles aimed at showing wargamers of different skill levels how to construct their own buildings and terrain features. In addition to his magazine work, he also undertakes private commissions for individual wargamers and clubs, winning numerous awards, including in 2008 the Best Terrain award at Salute for his 1/300th scale interpretation of the Battle of the Alma!

Paul lives with his wife and son in Minehead in Somerset where he continues to wargame at his local club, design and construct buildings and terrain, write magazine articles and reviews, and no doubt, if asked, further books.





INTRODUCTION

Ever since 2008, when I wrote my first ‘How to…’ article for Wargames Illustrated, I’ve often been asked if I would ever write a book about making wargame terrain and scenery. To be honest, I’d thought about it, but the time just hadn’t been right. However now, thanks to Pen & Sword, I’ve finally got my act together and written this book to help you to make your own terrain and scenery, from simple to more complex projects which broadly span historical periods and geographical locations, as well as being suitable for fantasy and sci-fi gaming.

Before going any further I should clarify some of the terminology used:


•  Terrain is the ‘ground’ onto which I place scenery. Depending on the way in which you decide to create your terrain it may also include natural or man-made features like rivers and roads.

•  Scenery comprises of whatever I place onto the terrain; rivers, hills, trees etc., and man-made objects such as roads, fences, walls, bridges and of course buildings.



I’ve occasionally been asked, ‘Why bother with terrain and scenery anyway?’ My answer is to adapt Frederick the Great’s observation that artillery lends dignity to what might otherwise be a vulgar brawl, by suggesting that terrain and scenery lend interest to what might otherwise be just a boring table, with the caveat that although realistic terrain undoubtedly enhances the wargame experience, it’s not essential for an enjoyable game.

As a keen wargamer who moved into the hobby from modelmaking, aesthetics are very important to me, and I do prefer fighting battles on well-prepared terrain, with well-painted miniatures. Like railway modellers who every so often get down to track level to view their creation, it is not unknown for me to, part way through a game, take a look at the battle from ‘ground level’ to view the action. And when taking photographs at wargame shows for Wargames Illustrated I always try to do so (Figures 1–2).


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Figure 1: German Fallschirmjäger prepare an urban ambush in Welcome to France. (Huntingdon & District Wargames Society)




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Figure 2: A close up of an English Civil War battle. (Graham Cookson)



I always prefer to see wargame figures set into the terrain rather than on it, and another good example of this approach is the 15mm Wagram game presented by Gary Williams and Martin Stanbridge of the Loughton Strike Force (Figure 3).


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Figure 3: Wagram in 15mm. (Gary Williams and Martin Stanbridge)



When considering whether or not to make your own scenery, there are a number of considerations to take into account, not least financial and time constraints. Whether you buy or make your terrain and scenery there is always a cost involved, and it would be misleading of me to claim that making your own terrain will always save you money. Sometimes it will, sometimes it won’t, but what it will always do is give you the opportunity to create your own unique wargaming experience by giving you total creative control. With practice and experience, you will be able to make exactly what you need and not be restricted by what is available commercially. Having said that, there is a tremendous range of terrain and buildings available across the scales, much of it is reasonably priced so long as you don’t want too much of it, and you can always adapt it to make it more individual to you (Figure 4).

Time too can sometimes be an issue. Creating your own collection of terrain and scenery won’t happen overnight, and you should never rush terrain and scenery making: that’s when things go horribly wrong as I know to my cost from working on modelmaking commissions with unrealistically short deadlines. Admittedly sometimes you can have a happy accident and discover a new technique; I’ve had a few of those which I’ll mention later but generally, rushing and trusting to luck shouldn’t be seen as an acceptable modelmaking technique!


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Figure 4: This building has been adapted from two 4Ground originals by Mark Densham to create a unique model.




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Figure 5: Prussian Dystopian Wars sea and air forces head off to battle on a photographic background cloth.



Returning to the aesthetics of terrain, although I enjoy playing on well presented and visually pleasing terrain, or amongst authentic looking buildings, these shouldn’t be considered as a guarantee of a good game. I have experienced many highly enjoyable games using minimal terrain (Figure 5).

For me, an enjoyable game needs several elements: good company, a challenging scenario, sensible rules, well-painted models and the right terrain. And a few decent dice rolls once in a while would come in handy too!

This book will help you to create the terrain and scenery that will realistically meet your needs, but these practical projects are just a starting point, and whether you simply follow them, or are inspired to create your own, I hope that this book will increase your enjoyment of what is for me a really great hobby, whether you refight battles from history or from the worlds of fantasy or science fiction.


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A peaceful medieval scene. (Minehead Wargames Club)















	1

	WELCOME TO THE WORKSHOP








For anyone thinking about making their own terrain and scenery for the first time, this chapter provides an overview of the basic tools you need to get started, as well as a few specialist tools to make your modelmaking life easier (although they’re not essential). As a general rule, always buy the best tools you can afford.

If you are already a keen modelmaker, your first impulse will probably be to skip over this chapter, but I’d urge you to stick with it, because I mention some very useful tools and materials that you might not have seen before.

But before reading any further, let’s run through the mandatory health and safety warnings:


•  Sharp things can cut you.

•  Hot things can burn you.

•  Anything that gives off a vapour may make you ill, nauseous or worse.

•  Wear a facemask when using fine materials such as static grass.

•  Whenever possible, use aerosol paints outside … but check which way the wind is blowing first! And as an aside, be aware that aerosol paints don’t produce good results when used in low temperatures.

•  Finally, always read and follow manufacturers’ instructions.



Even if you are an experienced and careful modelmaker, accidents can and do happen. I managed to sever an artery in my leg with a 10A scalpel blade! I won’t bore you with the details, other than to recommend that you keep a first aid box close to your workbench, or at least know where the plasters are kept. Admittedly plasters didn’t prove effective when fighting an arterial bleed: I had to wrap my leg tightly with a tea towel and then drive 10 miles to the nearest hospital, but on the positive side I managed to convince the nurse to let me have the suturing tweezers used to sew me up. Would you believe these precision instruments were being thrown away after a single use? And as well as doing a good job stitching me back together, they are perfect for rigging model sailing ships (Figure 6).

Throughout this book I’ve used metric measurements wherever possible to keep things simple and streamlined; if you wish to measure in feet and inches, the following approximate conversions will come in handy:


•  2.5cm = 1 inch

•  30cm = 12 inches




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Figure 6: Adding rigging to a Sails of Glory HMS Defence.



Your Main Armoury

The tools suggested in this section are useful, but you don’t need to buy them all at once; you’ll probably already have quite a few useful tools, such as scissors or tweezers etc. And as you make more terrain and scenery your collection of tools and equipment will grow.

To make it as easy as possible to look at the tools you might need, I’ve grouped them according to their primary function.

MEASURING AND MARKING OUT

Steel rules are essential both for measuring and as a cutting guide. It’s useful to have both 15cm and 30cm rulers. The 15cm rule comes in very useful when working in a confined space or cutting out small components.

Probably the most useful metal ruler I have found is the Maun Safety Ruler (Figure 7). The unique shallow ‘M’ cross section helps protect your valuable digits from being accidently sliced and joining the scrap pile.

When making buildings you’ll invariably need to create accurate right angles for which I use a basic engineers’ square. For more options, a combination square allows you to create precise 45° angles.


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Figure 7: The Maun Safety Ruler.



CUTTING

One of the most commonly used (and sharpest) cutting tools is the scalpel blade. I use Swann Morton surgical blades because they have a wide range of blade shapes, although over time I seem to have standardised on their 10A blade. Swann Morton also produces compatible blade handles. Obviously there are other scalpel blade and handle manufacturers, but always buy your blades and handles from the same manufacturer, and never buy handles that have a round cross section (Figure 8), because if your work surface isn’t perfectly flat they can roll – usually towards you – and drop off the surface and probably into your foot!

Depending upon the blade handle design, fitting and removing the blade can be tricky. My method is to hold the blade in a pair of pliers and carefully slide it into position (Figure 9); removal is the reverse procedure. Whichever method you use, be careful. There’s a very good reason why they’re called surgical blades: they are very, very sharp!

Another cutting option is the single sided razor blade, which I use mainly for cutting stripwood or matchsticks. There are also various types of craft knives, from the heavy duty Stanley knife to snap-off blade knives. I tend to use the latter with the blade fully extended when cutting through high density foam … it causes less problems at home than using our best carving knife!


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Figure 8: The right and wrong design of scalpel blade handles.




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Figure 9: The safe way to fit a scalpel blade.




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Figure 10: Straight and end cutters.



Whichever type of knife you use, to ensure the cleanest cut and protect your work surface, you’ll need a self-healing cutting mat.

I also use various types of cutters (Figure 10) to remove components from their plastic sprue prior to cleaning up the components with a fine file or an emery stick. And if you anticipate building palisades, log cabins or similar structures for which you’ll be using barbeque skewers or bamboo, you’ll need a pair of garden secateurs; my secateurs had extensive use when I created a palisade and buildings for an Arthurian demonstration game (Figure 11).

Another unusual but very useful cutting tool is a circle cutter. Mine is made by Ohnar and has given long service; the only downside is that it can be difficult to obtain the blades, so whichever brand of circle cutter you choose, make sure you buy plenty of spare blades. As well as cutting accurate circles, I also use it to mark out roads. Simply extend the circle cutter to the appropriate width and then carefully trace out the shape of road. The blade and the needle will leave two feint parallel lines that are good enough to provide a cutting guide.

When making terrain, you’ll almost certainly be working with high density foam which is sold in many different forms and under various trade names including Styrofoam®, Polyfoam®, Craftfoam® and Reticel®. It’s available in different sheet sizes, thicknesses and densities; generally the densest is best, but it’s also the most expensive. In my experience, it’s a good idea to adapt the size of your intended terrain panels to match available sheet sizes because it can be difficult to cut the material accurately yourself. However for cutting or shaping pieces for specific terrain features like hills or cliffs, a useful tool is a compass saw (which is basically a hacksaw blade in a handle).


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Figure 11: Age of Arthur demonstration game. (The Crawley Wargames Club)



For the sake of household harmony, remember that cutting high density foam makes a mess that some vacuum cleaners stubbornly refuse to suck up. You should also wear a facemask when cutting this material because you really don’t want to inhale the dust (and the same applies when cutting mdf).

Remaining with the subject of high density foam, one of the most useful tools I’ve ever bought is the Peter Child Artist’s Pyrography machine. This is basically a mains transformer that controls the heat passing through a thin piece of wire shaped to create a nib-like tool for engraving into a suitable surface or bent to create cutting profiles. You can see the tool in use later in the book in the Wings of Glory project in Chapter Six. This tool is easily the most expensive that I have bought, but it still works perfectly after more than 15 years, proving that if you buy the best you get your monies worth.

DRILLING

A mains-powered modelmaking drill can be useful, and good ones are produced by Dremel® and Minicraft®. Whichever brand you purchase, make sure that it has a slow speed setting for precise work. Another useful tool for drilling is a hand-operated pin vice. They’re cheap and easily controllable. As well as general modelmaking, I also use mine for drilling out the hands of figures to replace lances or pikes.

FILING

You’ll need a selection of fine needle files for finishing off surfaces. To remove the waste material that can clog up the file you’ll also need a brass suede brush: buy brass because it’s a soft metal and is less likely to damage the file.

GRIPPING

Inevitably you’ll have assemblies that need to be held tightly in position whilst glue is setting. You don’t need anything sophisticated and I’ve collected a random mix of pegs, bulldog clips, cheap clamps and elastic bands that work just fine.

Occasionally when making buildings, and certainly when painting miniatures, you get those moments when you wish you had another hand or two. Fortunately, help is available in the form of the aptly named Helping Hands tool consisting of a beam with a crocodile clip clamp at each end, securely supported on a heavyweight base (Figure 12). Some versions include an integral magnifying glass.

Although I use mine in modelmaking, I find it particularly useful when painting figures. My rationale is simple: if the hand holding the paintbrush is shaking and the hand holding the figure or base is also shaking then you’re making your life twice as difficult as you need to.


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Figure 12: You never know when an extra pair of hands will be useful!



Additional Tools

HOT MELT GLUE GUN

For those times when conventional glues just don’t seem to work, hot wax will often do the job but you’ll need a suitable glue gun. Remember that hot wax is … hot, so take care.

LEGO® BRICKS

Not strictly tools, but I have used them for many years as an aid to creating right angles for buildings. Mine cost me next to nothing.

STATIC GRASS APPLICATOR

I use static grass in terrain and scenery making, and also on the bases of my figures and movement trays (Figure 13). It can be applied in several ways, primarily depending on the area that needs to be covered. For small areas I use a simple (and cheap) puffer bottle. You simply apply PVA glue in the appropriate areas, shake the puffer to create some static charge and then puff the grass onto the glue.

When grassing figure bases, it can help to make the grass stand up if you invert the base and lightly tap the underside. I’ve also heard of modelmakers who hold the base close to a CRT TV; the static electricity from the screen attracts the static grass fibres pulling them upright and away from the base.


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Figure 13: Static grass applied to bases.




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Figure 14: A grassy bank created using the pinch and glue technique.



Another technique that works reasonably well is to apply PVA glue and then pinch up a clump of static grass and push it into the PVA (Figure 14). The pinching tends to squeeze the fibres upright. Once the glue has dried thoroughly, turn the base upside down and tap the base so that any static grass that hasn’t been glued can be collected up and used later. When using this technique, keep your fingers moist otherwise the static grass will stick to your fingers instead of the base. I used this technique for the ramparts of the hill fort project in Chapter Seventeen.

For covering larger areas of terrain I use a tool much favoured by the railway modelling fraternity: an electro-static applicator such as The Flockit produced by Green Scene, which although relatively expensive at around £75, has a lifetime no-quibble guarantee and it works extremely well. Simply fill the container with static grass and then apply PVA glue to the area to be covered. Next clip one end of the earth wire to the glued area. Turn it on and shake the device over the glued area and the static grass will stand proud.

CREATING YOUR OWN TUFTS

There are several companies selling ready-made tufts but if you have your own electro-static grass machine, you can make your own (Figure 15). You can choose from different colours and lengths of fibre to create exactly the tufts you need. I must be honest, mine are not as neat as those you can buy, but it doesn’t really matter. I just squirt several blobs of PVA onto a piece of clear acetate, spread it around a bit using a cocktail stick, and then use my electro-static grass machine as previously described. Leave it overnight, and then turn the acetate upside down and give it a gentle tap to dislodge the static grass that hasn’t been glued.


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Figure 15: Homemade tufts.



I bring into service all sorts of scrap acetate from packaging to the clear lids used on yoghurt cartons. Remember, the first rule of terrain and scenery making: throw nothing away!

Before leaving the subject of static grass I recommend that when you are using it, you wear a mask of some sort, because the fibres are extremely fine and light, and tend to float around in the air and be easily inhaled (which can cause an allergic reaction).

AIRBRUSH

This is one of those pieces of equipment that you never feel you need until you get one, and then you can’t believe how you managed to get along without it. Why bother with an airbrush when there are so many different colours available in aerosol spray cans? A fair question, and for me, there are many reasons:


•  Spray cans are expensive, and if you use them a lot an airbrush will save you money in the long run (even allowing for the initial cost of the airbrush and a small compressor).

•  An airbrush is much easier to control than an aerosol can.

•  Aerosol spray cans can only spray at a set width, so if you’re spraying a small area you waste a lot of paint in overspray; a good quality airbrush can spray a line as narrow as 0.16mm, so there’s minimal overspray and wastage.

•  Sometimes aerosol sprays attack foam, which can be a serious problem if you use foam in the construction of your terrain or buildings; I’ve never had that problem when using an airbrush.

•  An airbrush is far more environmentally friendly and safer than spray cans because it uses compressed air as a propellant rather than flammable gaseous propellants.

•  Although there are a lot of different coloured aerosol sprays available, with an airbrush there is no limit to the colour choices available to you.



In short an airbrush saves me money and increases the instances when I can benefit from using a spray.

There are a lot of decisions to be made when selecting the airbrush that is right for your particular needs. I would recommend studying the websites of companies such as Badger, Iwata, Paasche and Aztek for the most up-to-date information. As a starting point, always look for a modellers’ airbrush, not one aimed at artists or illustrators because they are designed to use very thin paints and inks that won’t be any use for modelling applications.

For me, the most important decision was whether to buy a single action or a dual action airbrush. A single action airbrush means that you adjust the width of the spray using one control and then spray using the trigger. A dual action airbrush has a trigger that allows you to simultaneously spray and, by sliding it forward or back, vary the thickness of the spray. In the end, I chose a single action Badger 200NH model because I couldn’t envisage any situations in which I would need to vary the thickness of my sprayed line during the spraying process … and a single action model was cheaper than a dual action model. This particular airbrush has an adjustable spray from 0.16mm to 50mm, which is more than adequate for my terrain and scenery making needs as well as being suitable for spraying my figures too.

Although this section is about the merits of using an airbrush over aerosol cans, I feel that I should share an additional problem I’ve encountered when using spray cans, and that is the difference between primer spray and colour spray. The purpose of a primer is to create a surface onto which the topcoat can adhere. To achieve this, the primer dries with a slightly roughened surface to which the top coat can better grip. All very sensible but if, for example, you decide to use a grey primer as the coat for say, a small scale naval vessel, you will have a problem because of the primer’s rough finish (Figure 16). Sadly the result was a ruined model, and at £10 that was no joke, so learn from my mistake.


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Figure 16: Why you shouldn’t use primer as a colour.



OPTIVISOR

For detail work I find that a magnifying glass is too awkward. Instead I bought an Optivisor several years ago. The unit fits around your head and has a choice of lenses that slot inside the visor, each with different degrees of magnification. There is also a version with an integral light, but in my experience it’s better to have the light source separate because it allows more flexibility when you position it.

Materials

It’s impossible to list every material that you may find yourself using in the course of your terrain and scenery making, but each project in this book includes a list of the materials needed, and the following selection highlights the materials I use most often in my terrain building.

HIGH DENSITY FOAM

This is the generic term for extruded polystyrene (XPS), which is marketed under a variety of trade names such as Polyfoam®, Recticel®, Styrofoam® and Craftfoam®. It is not the same as the expanded polystyrene that is used in packaging. The latter can be used for creating small hills so long as they’re coated with PVA glue to toughen up the surface, but even so, I would recommend that you steer clear of expanded polystyrene because it is too fragile for the regular handling associated with wargaming use.

One cautionary note regarding Polyfoam and Recticel: these materials are generally sold in sizes to fit between roof joists, namely about 120cm x 50cm x 6cm. Most wargaming terrain tile systems are based on multiples of 60cm square tiles or 120cm x 60cm, which means that the tiles can be rotated through 360° to create different configurations. If you use materials that are either not square or with the length not exactly double the width, you will find that they are not as versatile as other high density foam materials. I use various brands of high density foam for my terrain, such as those named above, but for simplicity I will just describe them as ‘high density foam’.

My first stop for sourcing this material is from a builders’ merchant, where you can check the material before buying. Having said that, if you discover a particular online supplier who has the right product at the right price, then use them. For example, I now buy virtually all my high density foam from Panel Systems who manufacture the materials to different sizes and density, and although I have to buy relatively large quantities, it works out cheaper per individual sheet than buying from model shops. Generally the denser the material the stronger it is, but also the more expensive; always try to buy the best materials you can afford when building terrain because you want it to give many years’ service.

As well as being available in thick blocks, which are ideal for terrain, you can also buy thinner sheets around 0.3cm or 0.5cm thick that can be useful when constructing buildings and other man-made structures. You can lightly engrave stonework or brick courses into the surface of the high density foam using an old ballpoint pen (Figure 17).


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Figure 17: Engraving stonework into high density foam.



FOAMBOARD OR FOAMCORE

This material was originally used for mounting photographs or prints, but its lightness, strength and dimensional stability soon brought it to the attention of modelmakers. It comprises a thin layer of foam, usually 0.3cm or 0.5cm, sandwiched between white or black paper. The surface of this material is very smooth so any texture required will have to be created. Such texture is usually added either by applying a coating of PVA and fine sand, or by adding a thin coating of filler. Another popular technique is to spread a thin layer of air-drying clay onto the surface and then engraving stone or brickwork (Figure 18).


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Figure 18: Stonework engraved into a layer of air-drying clay on a foamboard wall.



CORK TILES

Cork tiles are often used as an alternative to high density foamboard when making buildings, because cork has an interesting surface texture which can make areas of otherwise blank wall look more interesting without needing to apply a texture coating.

WOOD

I believe that if you want to represent wood in modelmaking, you should use wood. So I always have stocks of different thickness balsa sheet and stripwood, as well as veneer, barbeque skewers, broken bamboo roller blinds, cocktail sticks and toothpicks. I use both cocktail sticks and toothpicks because I find that the latter are less regular and rougher looking than cocktail sticks, making them more suitable for rustic fencing.

FAKE FUR

This is probably the most frequently used material for representing thatch. The thatch creating technique is relatively messy, as projects featured later in this book will show, but I think it’s worth the effort (Figure 19).


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Figure 19: A fake fur thatched roof.



OTHER MATERIALS

There are many more materials that I use, and which you’ll discover for yourself as you make more models. You’ll also develop an eye for spotting the modelmaking possibilities in totally unconnected products. For example, whilst scouting around a local hardware store, I spotted a couple of sink drainers. Now everyone else just saw sink drainers, but I saw the outlets for a rocket engine! What makes this worse is that I seriously doubt whether I’ll ever need to build a rocket engine or anything vaguely similar, but if I do…

As a cautionary note, as you start to accumulate all manner of bits and pieces for future use, try to store them somewhere that they can be found at a later date.

The following table sums up the materials I use most frequently, as well as some others that I’ve found useful. This list really is just the start, and you will probably discover other or alternative materials; if you do, remember to share your finds and ideas with other wargamers, and hopefully they will do the same.









	Material

	Uses




	Aluminium mesh

	The diamond shaped mesh is good for creating leaded windows.




	Balsa

	The best way to represent wood. Available in sheets or strips.




	Barbeque skewers

	Useful for palisades or log building. Usually easier to cut than bamboo and garden canes.




	Broom heads

	The bristles make good reeds.




	Cocktail sticks and toothpicks

	Ideal as the basis for different types of fences, also for holding high density foam assemblies. Toothpicks have a rougher, more natural look.




	Coconut fibre doormat

	Used to represent fields with growing crops. Sometimes it’s cut into pieces the same width as figure bases so that sections can be removed as the troops make their way through the field, which looks much better than figures standing on top of the crops.




	Coir basket liner

	Thin sheets of coconut fibre that can be used to simulate thatch.




	Cork bark

	A good way to represent rugged cliff faces. Quite difficult to obtain: try florists or pet shops.




	Cork tiles

	An alternative to using foam for walls and has an interesting texture.




	Corrugated card

	Good for simulating pantile roofs. I use cat food cartons and strip away the outer surface by lightly soaking it with water and leaving the card to dry.




	Dried herbs

	Good for ground cover.




	Fake fur

	The best material for creating thatch. Larger pieces can make excellent terrain cloths.




	High density foam

	Sold under various brand names, probably the most widely used material for terrain building.




	Foamboard/foamcore

	Used for building construction. Be careful if using it for small scale buildings as the exposed width of the material around windows and doors may look over-scale.




	Green pan scourers

	Can be used to make small scale hedges, or natural roofs for small buildings.




	Rubberised horsehair

	Originally intended for stuffing upholstery, this material is commonly used as the basis for the foliage of deciduous trees and large hedges.




	Textured and blown wallpaper

	Can be used to represent random stonework or cobbled streets depending on the pattern.




	Wet-and-dry paper

	When glued to a rigid base, wet-and-dry makes a passable tarmac road. Don’t be tempted to use ordinary sand or glasspaper. When they get wet the gritty surface disintegrates. Wet-and-dry is formulated to withstand a certain amount of water (or paint).








Adhesives

Unsurprisingly, the more materials you use, the more types of adhesive you’ll need to be familiar with. My general rule is to ask advice, whether from where you obtain your materials or from other wargamers. Always read the manufacturers’ instructions, but if in any doubt, test every material and adhesive combination before working on the actual project. A bit of caution at this stage will save a lot of heartache later.

The following table provides a guide to the most commonly used materials and adhesives that I have used successfully.










	Material

	Adhesive

	Comments




	Balsa wood

	Balsa cement. You can also use superglue if you’re in a hurry

	There is a temptation when using wood, to use stains and varnishes. If you do, be sparing in how you apply glue because it can leave a skin over the wood that will affect the coverage of any stain.




	Card and paper

	PVA (white glue)

	Always buy undiluted PVA, and dilute it as required. Allow plenty of drying time.




	Expanded polystyrene packaging

	Tile adhesive or instant grab adhesive such as No More Nails®

	I’ve specified ‘packaging’ because this type of expanded polystyrene is manufactured to different standards and qualities. Whichever glue you use, run a test first.




	Plasticard

	Slater’s Mekpak®

	I had many some frustrating experiences making Plasticard models until I used Mekpak.




	Plastic kits

	Polystyrene cement

	Buy the ones with a fine needle nozzle for maximum control.




	Polyfoam, Reticel or Styrofoam

	PVA (white glue) or instant grab adhesive

	Styrofoam or high density foam is the material most often used for making terrain. I have had good results with both glue options, but, just to be sure, I always pin pieces together using cocktail sticks for extra strength.




	Resin

	Superglue

	I use the gel version because it has some gap filling properties that can be useful.




	Stones

	Superglue or hot melt glue

	For small stones such as those that you might use to aid detail to a base, I use superglue but for larger areas I use hot melt glue.




	Wood

	PVA (white) glue

	Always allow plenty of drying time when using PVA glue and if possible, clamp components together for the entire drying time.








I couldn’t end this basic list of adhesives without mentioning Milliput®. Originally formulated for DIY and plumbing repairs, this epoxy putty was eagerly grasped by the modelmaking community. It can be used for modelling and sculpting and also adheres to almost any surface making it a combination of modelling clay and glue. Once dry it can be cut, sanded, shaped and painted, and it’s available in several different grades. It takes a bit of practice to use, but once you are familiar with it, this is probably one of the most versatile modelling materials you will find.

Do remember that when using adhesives, many of them give off unpleasant vapours, so always work in well ventilated areas and ideally wear a mask.













	2

	WHAT’S EVERYONE ELSE DOING?








Before making a start on building your own terrain, it’s a good idea to take a look at what other wargamers are doing, because this can save you both time and money. Ideally, visit as many wargame shows as you can and talk to other wargamers, who in my experience are always happy to share their terrain making experiences, both good and bad. Always learn from your mistakes and from those of others. After all, there are an infinite number of new mistakes to make, so why repeat old ones?

Ultimately all terrain making involves a compromise between aesthetic appearance, playability, storage and cost, and it’s up to each wargamer to decide on his or her priorities. This chapter presents a brief overview of just some of the examples of different types of terrain you’ll see around the show circuit. In the following chapters I’ll look in more detail at how you can make your own.

Cloth on the Table

For most wargamers of a certain age, their introduction to the hobby started with a green cloth laid over some books to create contours, some trees made from bits of sponge on a stick, a few buildings and a couple of armies. The material choices for terrain cloths has increased in the past five or so years, and for me this remains the most flexible and generally cost-effective terrain system.

Richard Gillingham is a keen and successful user of the terrain cloth, and capitalises on its lightness and ease of transportation. He took his game Okeechobee to Salute, one of the UK’s premier wargame shows, making a round trip of more than 400 miles via rail and underground, with everything packed into a single rucksack! Mind you, it was clearly worth the effort because Okeechobee won the well-deserved prize for The Most Completely Realised Game of the show (Figure 20).

When choosing the material to use for your terrain cloth, even if you’re going to cover most of it with scatter material such as lichen and sponge, it’s a good idea to pick a material that doesn’t crease. There’s nothing better guaranteed to spoil the look of a game, than a terrain cloth with unmistakeable creases all over it. For example, felt will crease but fleece (which looks similar), doesn’t. Fleece is therefore my first choice for a naval terrain cloth, particularly if you don’t want to spend much money on terrain because you’re just dipping your toe in the water of naval wargaming (Figure 21). Sorry about the pun: I just couldn’t help myself.


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Figure 20: Okeechobee. (Richard Gillingham)




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Figure 21: Sails of Glory Napoleonic ships battle it out on a sea of blue-grey fleece.




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Figure 22: Winter of Discontent, a terrain cloth game by the Exmouth Imperials, packed full of eye-catching detail.



And there is a case to suggest that if you put enough ground cover, figures, roads, buildings and trees on your terrain cloth, you won’t actually see much of it anyway (Figure 22), as was the case with the highly detailed game Winter of Discontent by the Very British Civil War Forum and the Exmouth Imperials.

One of the most popular materials for terrain cloths is fake fur, which was used to very good effect by the South East Essex Military Society (SEEMS), whose War of the Spanish Succession game won the trophy for best game at Battlegroup South, Bovington (Figure 23). The fake fur was dyed to vary the colour and roads were created by cutting away the fur, coating with flexible bathroom sealant and painting. To save time you can buy flexible sealant that is brown and so cut out the painting step. The hills were made by placing suitably shaped high density foam hills underneath the terrain cloth.

Fake fur isn’t only used to create a complete terrain cloth. The Loughton Strike Force used a small section of it, to represent a lush cornfield in their Waterloo game (Figure 24). Another way of using fake fur is to cut it into squares or rectangles and dye or paint it different colours to represent different crops as was done by the Skirmish Wargamers, with their Barkesdale’s Charge: Gettysburg (Figure 25). A similar material to fake fur is the throw, which usually has a different length of fur on each side to offer more variety and choice.


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Figure 23: War of the Spanish Succession game. (The South East Essex Military Society)




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Figure 24: A British square awaits the French cavalry at Waterloo. (The Loughton Strike Force)




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Figure 25: Barkesdale’s Charge: Gettysburg. (The Skirmish Wargamers)




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Figure 26: Electric hair clippers at work.




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Figure 27: Franco-Prussian War. (Nik Harwood)



You can use shorter length fur when using small scale figures, and longer lengths for larger figures; an integral road network may be created by using a pair of electric hair clippers to cut away the fur (Figure 26). Once the fur is completely cut back, the road can be painted, the cloth spread out on a table and let battle commence, as The Minehead Wargames Club did with their Franco-Prussian War game using 10mm Pendraken figures (Figure 27).

Whatever base material you use for your terrain cloth, it’s unlikely that you’ll want to use the cloth as purchased. You can randomly dye your cloth, or you can spray it using different coloured matt aerosol sprays. The playing surface can be further enhanced by adding clumps of lichen or coloured sponge – even small pebbles or shingle – depending on the geography depicted. I’ve concentrated on grassy, temperate terrain primarily because it offers the widest gaming potential, but the same principles apply to other types of terrain, whether arid desert, snow or even sea: you start with a suitably coloured material onto which is added various details.

You can also adapt other materials to create interesting gaming mats. For example Ian Wood used a large sheet of leathercloth to represent the urban terrain in his Infinity game (Figure 28).

Often a combination of terrain systems can be used advantageously such as with Up the Nile Without a Paddle presented by the Southend Wargames Club, where sculpted terrain panels were laid over a cloth to create the Nile (Figure 29). One advantage of this approach is that it’s easy to reduce or increase the width of your river, without having to buy or make additional terrain panels.


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Figure 28: An interesting way to solve a parking problem in Infinity. (Ian Wood)




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Figure 29: Up the Nile Without a Paddle. (The Southend Wargames Club)



Gaming Mats

As a development of the terrain cloth, you can also buy specifically produced gaming mats or cloths, but you need to be cautious because some of them crease easily (which is the last thing you want). The most important property of a gaming mat is that it doesn’t crease when it is put away after a game. Be wary of buying grass mats; these are mainly produced for railway modellers and are intended to be glued permanently onto terrain or over hills, and are definitely not designed to be repeatedly rolled or folded.

The American War of Independence battle by the Wessex Wyverns used a gaming mat as the basis for the terrain (Figure 30). Green felt pieces were used to show the edges of the woodland areas. Defining the edges of woodland, particularly woodland that restricts movement or visibility, is important and can be a problem when using individually based trees. A piece of green felt solves the problem, and it can always be made less obvious by sprinkling it with pieces of lichen, and small pebbles may be used to define any passable routes through the trees.

There are several specialist manufacturers producing gaming mats to suit almost any wargaming location or scenario. For example, Hotz Artworks in the USA produce the Hotz Mat in a variety of finishes including fields, First World War trenches, a Wild West town, even a water-filled gladiatorial arena! The Air Combat Group used a partially repainted Hotz hex mat for their Vietnam Air War game, Feet Wet, Feet Dry (Figure 31).


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Figure 30: American War of Independence battle on a gaming mat. (The Wessex Wyverns)




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Figure 31: Feet Wet, Feet Dry, a Vietnam airwar game. (The Air Combat Group)



Terrain Mat

A variation on the terrain cloth and gaming mat is the commercially produced terrain mat. These occupy a particular niche in wargame terrain as they fall somewhere between a gaming mat and sculpted terrain. One of the best manufacturers of terrain mats is named Terrain Mat, who produce an extensive range of textures. Apart from the usual temperate and arid terrain needs, they also produce terrain mats for specific campaigns such as the First World War Western Front, the Battle of Britain, the D-Day landings and even galactic space. My particular favourite is their sea mat to which has been added a clear but non-intrusive hex grid (Figure 32).

TERRAIN TILES

I think almost every wargamer either has, or has played on, terrain tiles. Usually 60cm square, about 5cm deep and coated with static grass or flock, they come in a variety of configurations with integrated roads, water features and much more.

The English Civil War by Phil and Steve Deeprose used terrain tiles and hills, with some pieces of doormat to represent cornfields, to create a fast moving game (Figure 33).


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Figure 32: A sea terrain mat.




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Figure 33: English Civil War at Battlegroup South, Bovington Tank Museum. (Phil and Steve Deeprose)




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Figure 34: TSS terrain tile cross section.



Probably the first major manufacturer of terrain tiles, in the UK at least, was TSS (Total System Scenics). To standardise on the depth of roads and rivers, TSS terrain tiles are composites of two-layers (Figure 34). If you decide to create your own tile terrain system, you should adopt a similar principle to ensure that your terrain panels will match each other.

Terrain tiles can be purchased in a mix of terrain types on a single tile as was the case with Dieppe 1942 presented by the Loughborough Wargames Club, that combined sea, sand and fields (Figure 35).

Before leaving terrain tiles, another approach is that taken by the Pitsea PAKfront with their modern 1/300th game, Red Storm Rising, which used different coloured carpet/floor tiles to create their ground and river terrain as well as the step-contoured hills (Figure 36). Torbay Games Group similarly used carpet for their First World War Wings of Glory game (Figure 37).


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Figure 35: Dieppe 1942. (The Loughborough Wargames Club)




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Figure 36: Red Storm Rising on carpet tiles. (The Pitsea PAKfront)




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Figure 37: A Sopwith Snipe and Albatros DV fight it out over carpet terrain. (The Torbay Games Group)



Hex Terrain

Before leaving the subject of terrain tiles I should mention hex tiles, which wargamers tend to either love or hate.

The thinking behind the hex tile concept is that with six sides – as opposed to the four of a square or rectangular terrain tile – there are more exit and entry points per tile, allowing more flexibility in terms of layout. Additionally, some wargamers prefer not to have to bother with measuring distances, or favour rule systems that are based around stylised hex movement. The other area where hex terrain is very popular is amongst wargamers who want to convert one of the many hex-based boardgames into a miniatures game.

Probably the most prolific producer of hex tiles is Kallistra with their Hexon II® system. Hexon II has a wide choice of hex tiles including a particularly impressive trench system as used by Rob Broom for his Operation Radetsky game (Figure 38). Hexon II tiles are made from high impact polymer (hard plastic to the rest of us), and are strong but lightweight, easily stackable for storage and feature a unique clip system to ensure that the tiles don’t move or separate when in use (Figure 39).

To be perfectly honest, although I really enjoy making terrain for my own use and for customers, there are some things I just can’t be bothered to do, one of which is making my own hex tiles. If you like the idea of hex tile terrain, I would recommend that you buy ready-cut tiles, unless you can accurately and consistently cut out numerous hexes (which I can’t).


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Figure 38: Operation Radetsky. (Rob Broom)




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Figure 39: Hexon II clip system.




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Figure 40: Battle of Britain 1940. (The Wessex Wargamers – Winchester)



Having said that, quite a few wargamers buy the basic hex terrain and adapt it to suit their specific requirements. It looks as if the Wessex Wargamers: Winchester even made an attempt to paint the White Cliffs of Dover on the sides of their Hexon II tiles for their game, Battle of Britain 1940 (Figure 40).

Custom or Sculpted Terrain

We all know that real terrain is seldom flat. An American Civil War game, The First Battle of Manassas by the Southend Wargames Club, very effectively recreated the rolling countryside that was a feature of this area of North America (Figure 41). Having first obtained a topographical map of the battlefield, this was overlaid with a Google Earth® aerial photograph and the terrain was then painstakingly sculpted from high density foam panels, which were then textured and flocked to create the final effect. And all in 1/300th scale too.

The recreation of the terrain for Little Round Top presented by Wargames Illustrated and built by TM Terrain is an example of a finely detailed terrain for a very specific battle but it has limited subsequent gaming options: namely a charge up a hilltop (Figure 42).

When making your own custom terrain, you have the potential to accurately recreate your own representation of historical battlefields, albeit with various adaptations to fit the figure scale. This was the case with the terrain for The Battle of Alma, which I built for Crawley Wargames Club and which won a Best Terrain award at Salute (Figure 43).


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Figure 41: The First Battle of Manassas. (The Southend Wargames Club)




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Figure 42: Little Round Top. (Wargames Illustrated)



Storage can often be a major problem with custom terrain, particularly when it incorporates steep hills and slopes. The Bideford and District Wargamers created their club terrain almost like a 3D jigsaw and used it to good effect for their game One-Armed Sutton set in China in 1924 (Figure 44). For anyone interested, the title of this game related to Frank ‘One-Armed’ Sutton, who lost part of his wrist at Gallipoli. He was in a trench, throwing back unexploded Turkish grenades, when in his own words, ‘I was bound in the course of time to misfield, and I did.’ Apparently he found time to retrieve his golf clubs from the beach, after which a surgeon removed the rest of his wrist, and henceforth he was known as ‘One-Armed’ Sutton. He later took up employment with a Chinese warlord, and invented a primitive armoured vehicle based on a Holt tractor.


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Figure 43: Alma: a 6mm battlefield. (The Crawley Wargames Club)




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Figure 44: One-Armed Sutton: The Great Wall 1924. (The Bideford and District Wargamers)




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Figure 45: The aptly named Austell takes centre stage. In Open Seas – Somalia. (The St. Austell Wargamers)



And of course sometimes the whole idea of terrain in its own right gets turned on its head, as was the case with Open Seas: Somalia 2010 by the St Austell Wargamers, in which the most intense gameplay took place on a magnificent scratch-built container ship (Figure 45).













	3

	BEFORE YOU GET STARTED








What is the best type of terrain? There’s no universal answer to this question. It depends on many factors including space, cost, time and aesthetics.

For many wargamers, particularly those who wargame at home, the first ‘space’ consideration is how large a playing area do you want to create? Isandlwana by Team Zulu, was most definitely a large game and was created to display the forces involved in this 1879 battle on a one-to-one basis! Fortunately, apart from the famous hill lending its name to the battle, the terrain is relatively multi-use and can be conveniently folded away (Figure 46).


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Figure 46: Isandlwana. (Team Zulu)



The second consideration is how much space is available for storing the terrain safely when not in use? And there’s another space consideration that is often ignored in the enthusiasm to get started: transportation. A good friend of mine constructed a truly impressive medieval fortress on a baseboard a little over 120cm x 60cm, with the towers of the keep over 30cm high once you included the height of the motte. Everything was fine until it came to fitting it into the boot of his relatively small car. It still looked fantastic, but it wouldn’t fit in until the rear seats were removed; so when designing your terrain and scenery, try to plan for every eventuality, just in case.

‘Cost’ is also a factor. How much money are you willing to spend on your terrain? Making your own terrain will usually be cheaper than buying readymade, but there is still a cost, so it’s worth planning out and budgeting what you think you’ll need. Always allow a margin though, because invariably you’ll miss something off the list. I do it all the time.

As for ‘time’: do you have the spare time available to make your own terrain, or perhaps more importantly, the time to finish it? There’s little more soul destroying than starting a project and being unable to complete it, irrespective of the reason.

Finally: ‘aesthetics’. This is a classic grey area. I know it’s stating the obvious, but wargaming is a game. Just how important to you are the aesthetics of that game? Are you determined to create a replica of a specific battlefield even though that may limit its use for other conflicts? Or, at the opposite extreme, do you just want a surface upon which to deploy your troops that is more attractive than the dining room table?

To help you consider the options, the following table summarises the most important advantages and disadvantages of the most popular types of terrain.










	Terrain type

	Advantages

	Disadvantages




	Terrain cloth

	Convenient to transport and store. Light.

	Can look bland and uninteresting unless dyed and/or dressed up with scatter material.




	Terrain tiles

	A lot of terrain options available: easy to create different terrain to suit geographic locations. Light.

	Built-in roads and rivers limit set-up options. Some commercially available tiles use easy to damage foam.




	Hex tiles

	A wide range of terrain options including hills, rivers and trenches. Durable and relatively easy to store.

	The formalised hex design can be off putting, and it makes estimating ranges very easy.




	Sculpted terrain

	Gives the opportunity to accurately recreate specific battlefields.

	Can be expensive and time consuming to create, and may offer limited playability for other periods and scenarios.








Future-proofing

My main consideration, once I’ve finalised the general details and costing of a project, is future-proofing. I want the terrain I make today to match the terrain I make in ten years time, which means creating a series of standards.

Whatever terrain you decide to make, it’s a good idea to start a notebook detailing everything to do when creating terrain, such as the materials and paints used. By all means open a file on your computer in which to keep this information. Call me a latter day Luddite, but I never trust solely to digital means to store important information, and I always keep a hard copy.

TERRAIN CLOTH STANDARDS

Given that a basic terrain cloth onto which roads or rivers are laid is the most generic of terrain systems and probably one of the cheapest, future-proofing is easy: just buy as many basic cloths or throws as you think you’ll need, even though you may not use them immediately. My throws were approximately 240cm x 200cm and cost just £15 each. I bought three and my terrain cloth future-proofing was solved as I can never envisage needing a maximum playing area bigger than 600cm x 240cm. Bearing in mind that soon after my purchase a colleague from our local wargame club went to buy some more throws from the same store and was told they’d sold out and wouldn’t be getting any more in, it was a useful lesson … if you can afford it, buy it when you see it because when you want it, it will probably be gone!


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Figure 47: Andy Duff’s French cavalry prepare to advance over a terrain cloth.



The terrain for A Close Run Thing by Andy Duff (Figure 47), comprised a basic cloth over which was scattered a mix of materials including gravel, fine shingle and small pebbles, to which hedges and trees were added, in fact everything needed to create a very effective battlefield.

TERRAIN TILES AND CUSTOM TERRAIN

There is likely to be slightly more record keeping when it comes to terrain tiles and custom terrain simply because there are far more options. Start by noting down the supplier of the basic high density foam material and any references or code numbers.

The next technique or materials that need to be recorded relate to the texturing of the surface. For example, if making grassy, temperate terrain, I first cover the surface with PVA glue followed by a sprinkling of sand. Although a variation in texture is fine, I prefer not to see such a variation running obviously along the edge of a terrain panel. Fortunately sand is not particularly expensive. I bought a large sack of it, and after several years of use, the sack is still a little over half full.

After the sand coating I paint the surface using a sequence of Dulux® colours – which have the advantages of being far more economical than using model paints – and they have a precise naming and referencing system, either of which can be quoted and the exact colour can be recreated … now that really is future-proofing.


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Figure 48: These 15mm Essex Miniatures ‘Death or Glory boys’ are having a bit of trouble with this terrain designed for larger scale figures.



For my temperate terrain panels I apply a dark brown undercoat followed by a drybrush of mid brown, finished off with a very light drybrush of pale yellow. To simulate grass I use autumn static grass because the green is less lurid than many of the summer static grass products available.

If you are making an arid desert-like terrain, you might want to include some gravel or similar material on the surface to make the terrain appear more rugged. Bear in mind that the larger the grains the more difficult it will be for figures, vehicles or even buildings to stand flat on the terrain (Figure 48). In my experience it’s best to use a material that is coarse enough to be drybrushed but still fine enough to place figures or buildings on easily. You can always add loose gravel or lichen to add more interest to the terrain. As with the temperate terrain panels, keep a note of the paints used so that you can create and match in more panels if required at a later date.













	4

	TERRAIN CLOTHS








For my land-based terrain cloths I use a throw because I like the way that most of them are double-sided with one surface having a short pile, the other a longer one, so you can simulate different lengths of grass.

Throws are available in a wide range of colours, but unsurprisingly, the most useful are the green and sometimes brown ones. As manufactured, the single colour can be rather bland and uninteresting, so I spray my throws with yellow, brown and green; my technique is to hang the throw from a washing line and then spray it, keeping the effect as subtle as possible. I always try to spray outside, but even so I recommend wearing a suitable mask, because otherwise a sudden gust of wind can easily give you a mouth or nose full of spray paint: which isn’t ideal to put it mildly. If you have a spray gun or airbrush you can mix up your own colours to suit your particular needs, but keep a record of the mix in case you want to create more terrain cloths that need to match. Although they work out more expensive, future-proofing of colours is much easier if you use aerosols; just keep a note of the brand and colours used.

Another colouring option is to dye the cloth. I tend to avoid this method because it can take ages for a thick throw to dry and I’m always working against the clock, but you can get some interesting effects if you’re patient.

As far as the basic terrain cloth is concerned, that’s about it. The easiest way to simulate hills is to adopt the approach used in the early days of wargaming: slide a suitable object under the cloth. I have several hills that I made years ago from polystyrene packaging that are too easily damaged to be used on their own but are perfectly acceptable when placed beneath a terrain cloth. When thinking about the hills that you’ll be placing underneath your terrain cloth, bear in mind that probably the main reason that you’ve opted for terrain cloth terrain is to reduce the amount of storage space needed. If you make your hills too large, you risk the hills taking up more space than the cloth, so if you feel that you need large hills, make them in small sections which are easier to store and less likely to get accidentally damaged. With the basic topography for your battle sorted out, the next stage is to think about adding rivers and roads.

Rivers are undeniably a problem if you’re using a terrain cloth, and their appearance on the terrain cloth requires a measure of compromise. Water features look better if they are set below the level of the surrounding ground, by raising the cloth with carefully cut panels or blocks underneath to create the river banks and then running blue felt or similar material between the banks to form the river. The problem is that by the time you’ve created the under-terrain you’ve effectively negated the main benefit of the cloth-based terrain system, namely that it doesn’t take up much space. In fact, if you’re going to make a complete supporting terrain over which to drape your cloth, why are you bothering with the cloth, why not just make or use terrain panels? Anyway, it’s worth thinking about.

However, if you’re determined to incorporate rivers into your terrain cloth but you don’t want to build a supporting system beneath, there are several other options depending on the material being used. If you’re using fleece, you can simply paint on your rivers and perhaps line the river banks with pebbles. If you’re using a fur throw, the best option is to carefully shave off the fur and then paint the exposed areas accordingly. Neither option is ideal in my opinion because the underlying texture of both materials is very unlike water. My preference would be to either make your own separate river sections as shown in Chapter Seven, or use special river pieces such as those marketed by Gale Force Nine in their Battlefield in a Box range (Figure 49).

Integrating roads into cloth terrain creates fewer problems than rivers. You can paint them directly onto the throw, but a better option is to shave away the fur and then paint onto the exposed material (Figure 50). An alternative approach is to spread flexible sealer onto the shaved areas, give this a brown basecoat and then lightly drybrush to bring out the texture, as was the case with this War of the Spanish Succession game by SEEMS (Figure 51). You can miss out the brown basecoat stage if you use brown sealant.


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Figure 49: A river section by Gale Force Nine.




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Figure 50: A road integrated into a throw.




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Figure 51: A road made by spreading flexible sealer into a shaved throw.




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Figure 52: An enhanced cloth terrain with a mix of materials. (The St Austell Wargamers)



With your main terrain features either cut into the terrain or lying on top, you can enhance the appearance further by sprinkling around some other materials such as lichen, dried moss or sponge, as was well demonstrated in Alien versus Predator by the St. Austell Wargamers. This game showcased another useful source of foliage: the plastic plants sold in pet shops to decorate aquariums (Figure 52).

Just remember that all the foliage and loose detail added to your terrain will have to be collected up at the end of your game, and unless you’re really patient you’ll never be able to separate it, so eventually you will finish up with a container full of very mixed scatter material.

Desert (Arid) Terrain

For desert terrain cloths you need a base material that you can spray if you wish to break up the single colour, and onto which you can add suitable loose scatter material (Figure 53). In my experience, the best material as the basis for a desert terrain cloth is fleece, because it doesn’t crease.

Another material used for a desert terrain cloth is blown vinyl wallpaper that, like fleece, can look very effective when covered with scatter material and scenery as demonstrated in Hammers Slammers presented by the Wessex Wyverns (Figure 54).


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Figure 53: Carry on up the Levant. (The South East Essex Military Society)




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Figure 54: Hammers Slammers game on blown vinyl wallpaper. (The Wessex Wyverns)



Snow Terrain

Snow terrain is slightly different from the other two types of terrain, depending on whether you are looking for a light sprinkling of snow or a dense snow covered landscape. (Figure 55)

If the former, the best option is to sprinkle suitable material over a green terrain cloth after you’ve positioned all the terrain, scenery and buildings. As for which material to use, on this occasion, cheap is best and I have used virtually anything I could put my hands on including sugar, salt and even baking powder. The biggest problem is getting a reasonable covering to stay on your trees and buildings because unless you apply some form of glue, the snow just slides off. One option is to spray photo mount or even hair lacquer onto your scenery, but if you do, it’s probable that you’ll be stuck with those particular scenery items being only useful for snow scenes for the foreseeable future. Another consideration with loose snow is that as you move your troops around you’ll finish up displacing the snow, which can look rather odd.

For reproducing dense snow, I use a piece of white fleece. As usual the expanse of a single colour can be improved by being broken up a little. If you look at paintings or photographs of snow, the shadow areas often have a slightly blue tinge, so I very lightly spray patches of pale blue onto the white fleece. As with the light sprinkling of snow, once you’ve positioned your scenery and buildings, sprinkle some snow over them to blend them in.


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Figure 55: A battery of 10mm Pendraken French Napoleonic artillery weather the storm.



Sea Terrain

This is probably the easiest terrain cloth to make. You can simply use a piece of blue fleece and that’s it. I know that apart from the Aegean on a good day, and the Caribbean most of the time, the sea isn’t a pure blue, but for the purposes of wargaming it will do. If you can find it, a blue-grey fleece is probably more representative of the North Atlantic, but whatever colour you choose you can always give it subtle sprays of green or grey to tone it down. How much work you put in is up to you (Figure 56). If your sea battles are going to take place close to land, sprinkle fine sand along the edge of the land masses to represent sandy beaches. I’d probably draw the line at beach towels and wind-breaks though.

Another material that I use for simulating sea terrain is a large photographic backdrop that I no longer use for its original purpose. It’s a mottled mix of greens, dark blues and grey, and works very well. It’s also 300cm x 180cm, so no shortage of sea for even relatively large fleet actions.

Before leaving the sea cloth concept, I thought I’d mention the Raid of Le Vengeur presented by the Society of Fantasy and Science Fiction Wargamers (SFSFW) as an interesting solution to the problem of making a naval game – albeit in a fantasy environment – into three dimensions to accommodate surface vessels and submarines (Figure 57). As long-suffering colleagues in my local wargame club will be only too well aware, I’ve been playing around with the idea of creating a Second World War North Atlantic convoy game for ages. Perhaps there’s something in this SFSFW game that could be adapted?


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Figure 56: Sea terrain mat and island.




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Figure 57: A novel way of combining underwater and surface combat. (The Society of Fantasy and Science Fiction Wargamers)















	5

	TERRAIN TILES








Terrain tiles were probably one of the first major innovations in wargame terrain, and they continue to be very popular. They are relatively easy to store, offer considerable flexibility when it comes to creating different battlefield layouts, and if you buy or make ones that use the best quality materials, they’ll last for ages.

As with any terrain design, the first decision you have to make is whether you intend to create roads or rivers as integral parts of your terrain panels or if will you be using separate components? If the former, I recommend that you ensure that your terrain is designed in such a way as to make it easy to add river tiles at a later date. The simplest way to achieve this, and also ensure that the height of your ground and water levels always match up, is to adopt a lamination approach where the lower tile is 3cm in depth and creates the water level, and the ground is made from a thinner layer of 1cm thick material on top of this (Figure 58). In effect, all your terrain tiles start as water level tiles onto which you glue the land. Not only must the depth of your terrain tiles be standardised but so too must the entry and exit points for terrain features, like roads and river that spread across the terrain panels. To ensure maximum flexibility when configuring different terrain layouts these features should enter and leave the panels at their centre point.

If you intend to use separate roads and rivers and just lay them on top of your terrain tiles, it doesn’t matter how or where they feature on your plan. However I’m assuming that you want to create a collection of tiles with the integrated terrain features. With that in mind, next decide on your playing area and then on the size of your individual terrain tiles. Generally the most commonly seen size for terrain panels is 60cm x 60cm x 40cm, and coincidently this size of raw high density foam block is readily available, so if your can store tiles of this dimension, I suggest that you adopt it. Draw a scale grid to represent your tiled playing area. It helps to also mark the centre lines for each tile.


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Figure 58: Lamination terrain cross section.




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Figure 59: A suggested terrain layout showing how roads and rivers enter and leave at the centre of each tile edge.



With your playing area determined, the next stage is to plan out the actual terrain. Don’t be too adventurous to begin with, and remember that although rivers add visual interest to your terrain, they can also restrict gameplay by creating choke points which channel movement and usually result in a lot of battles being fought over bridges, which can get a bit tedious. Remember too, that your roads and rivers should enter and leave terrain tiles at the centre points along edges of your panels (Figure 59).

Once you have finalised your plan you need to buy your basic tiles. I suggest that you only buy tiles that are already cut to size. It is possible to cut your own tiles from sheet material but I’ve never been very successful at doing so and wouldn’t recommend it. There are quite a few companies who sell various brands of high density foam under their own brand names. High density foam intended for heat insulation purposes tends to be sold in a standard thickness of 6cm deep. However the Styrofoam and Craftfoam brands are generally marketed in thicknesses from 0.3cm up to 15cm. You’ll often find it marketed as pink, blue or green high density foam just to confuse matters. Always buy the densest material that you can afford because the stronger it is, the more likely it will withstand regular storage, transportation and wargame usage. This is a very important consideration. The wargames club to which I now belong purchased a large quantity of terrain tiles and despite them being stored carefully in boxes, after a relatively short time, the edges got chipped, and thumb and elbow dents in the playing surface started to dictate where trees and buildings had to be placed to conceal them.

If you only want a small number of panels it’s easy enough to find retailers who sell a wide range of high density foam materials, but for larger quantities it’s usually more cost-effective to purchase direct from manufacturers, and you’ll be surprised how many panels you’ll use once you get started. Even if you can’t find a use for all the tiles it’s more than likely that there will be other wargamers in your group who’ll take any overs off your hands … for a price of course.

Integrated Rivers

So now, assuming that you’re following the suggested cross section already shown, take your river panels and mark the position of the banks. Carefully cut out the river sections. River banks look better if they are sloping (Figure 60), but it is easier to cut them with vertical edges and then chamfer the angle afterwards.

It’s important that the width of your rivers and the profile of the river banks are the same where they enter and leave a terrain tile so that they match up properly, but they can vary during their journey from one edge of the tile to another, and in my opinion they look more interesting that way too.


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Figure 60: TSS River terrain tile.



At this stage, glue together your water and land sections. Weight them down and leave them at least 48 hours so that the glue dries thoroughly.

To create the river surface, I paint the river bed with Smooth Ripple texture paint. Texture paint contains a plasticiser that helps the paint retain the texture given to it when using a sponge paint roller. Smooth Ripple gives quite a subtle texture, but if you’re trying to simulate a fast moving river you can drag a small paintbrush along the painted surface and following the general line of the river bank.

The flowing river effect can be further enhanced by brushing undiluted PVA glue onto the surface, dragging a brush through the glue when it’s almost dry. PVA glue settles as it dries, so if you use this technique you’ll probably need to apply several layers until you’re satisfied with the end result. I have also seen this technique used as a substitute for using the textured paint.

Integrated Roads

If you want to make separate roads, see Chapter Fifteen. For integrated rural-type roads, I first slightly recess them into the surface of the high density foam using a Stanley Surform block plane (Figure 61). Next I fill the road recess with paintable, flexible brown sealant, and before it dries I use a section of old broken comb (I told you I never throw anything away), to scratch ruts into the road surface. The road is then given a light drybrush of sandy yellow to simulate a light coating of dust and to pick out the tops of the ruts (Figure 62). The surrounding terrain is then painted and tufts or static grass can be applied along the verges (Figure 63). If the road or track only has light or relatively infrequent traffic, I might also glue some static grass along the centre line. Depending on the location of the road, it can further be enhanced by painting dark brown or black into the ruts and then given them a coat of gloss varnish to suggest water.

For tarmac roads I adopt a very different approach. The road is made using use wet-and-dry paper or belt sander refills. The main difference between these materials is that wet-and-dry is available in sheet form (usually around A4 sized), whereas the belt sander refills can be found in widths from 1cm to 15cm and in lengths from 53cm to 122cm. Both these materials are available in different grades: the lower the number (such as 40 or 60) the coarser the surface. The smaller the scale of figures or vehicles that will be using your tarmac roads, the finer the grade of material should be.

Once you have decided on the width and shape of your roads, it’s just a matter of cutting them out and fixing them into place on your terrain panels. Conventional PVA glue doesn’t work well with wet-and-dry: in my experience the material curls as soon as you apply the PVA. It’s basically not sticky quickly enough, so I use double-sided industrial tape designed to hold carpet underlay and floor tiles in place. To help seal the wet-and-dry to the terrain panel, when I add the texture to the ground surrounding the road, I slightly overlap the edges with PVA glue, so that the texture material helps bond the wet-and-dry in position. For painting the tarmac road, wet-and-dry paper is generally black, so you can leave it as it is; however sanding belts are available in different colours, so they will probably have to be painted black or dark grey (Figure 64). Wet-and-dry paper and sanding belts can also be used to create separate roads, by fixing them onto a suitable base material such as self-adhesive vinyl floor tiles to prevent them curling.


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Figure 61: Recessing a road using a block plane.




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Figure 62: A rural road showing the rutted surface.




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Figure 63: A close-up of a completed section of rural road.




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Figure 64: A finished section of tarmac road.



Desert Terrain Tiles

My technique for creating desert tiles developed from one of life’s fortunate accidents, but more of that in a moment. Referring back to the creation of temperate zone terrain tiles, although it’s unlikely that your desert tiles will need too much in the way of flowing rivers (unless you’re restaging the Nile River War or something similar), you may still have a use for dried river beds, so create your tiles in the same basic way. However, instead of applying a coat of smooth ripple textured paint to the river area, treat the river bed in the same way as the surrounding area, possibly with a few large boulders added for effect.

But back to how I created the main desert surface. I was making some desert terrain panels for a customer, and I was in a hurry, which is never conducive to creating your best work.

My first step was to give the surface of my tiles a thick coating of PVA glue onto which I sprinkled a mixture of fine sand, aquarium gravel and small pebbles. It was at that point I sowed the seeds for my potential disaster: although I’d set the terrain panels aside to allow the PVA glue to dry overnight, my overnight was rather short because I’d been working on them until 3am! In the morning I checked the surface of the tiles and the surface appeared to be dry, so I applied a coat of pale yellow emulsion paint and left the tiles to dry again while I got on with another commission. When I checked the tiles again 24 hours later, the paint was still damp, so I resorted to most modelmakers’ and painters’ stand-by: a hairdryer. The tiles were given a thorough blast of hot air and set aside again. Later that day I checked the surface again to find that it was completely dry … note that I said, the surface! When I returned to the tiles several days later prior to packing them up for despatch I discovered a very interesting and unexpected result: I think what happened was that my application of the hairdryer had dried the top surface of the paint, but the PVA glue was still drying out, and as it did so it pulled the paint surface causing it to crack. I think that the end result worked out rather well, albeit unpredictably, and certainly the customer was very pleased at what he clearly thought was a very clever and deliberate technique on my part (Figure 65). Of course when he reads this book, he’ll know the truth.


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Figure 65: Desert terrain – the result of a happy accident!



Sea Terrain Panels

I use a sea terrain mat or photographic background most of the time, but I have occasionally been asked to make sea terrain panels for customers, and I always keep records of the technique and material ready for future orders. In my experience, unless you create your sea texture and paint the panels at the same time, it’s very difficult to match them, particularly if you try to create a mottled blue/green look. So I would always urge anyone making sea terrain panels to try to make them all at the same time.

Another consideration is the waves; what might be just a gentle swell for a 1:2400th scale First World War dreadnought could be a raging gale for a similar model in 1:6000th scale.

I use a smooth ripple texture paint to create a subtle texture. Another reason for keeping a record of how you create the surface of the sea, and the colours used, is to ensure that your bases will blend in with the sea. Bear in mind that whenever you use white textured paint or filler you should always consider adding paint to the mix to reduce the risk of any white showing through if the panel gets damaged. The mixing-in process lightens the base material, so use as dark a colour as possible. Ideally use powder paints because they won’t thin the textured paint or the filler; there isn’t a particularly wide choice of powder paints, so if in doubt, just use black.


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Figure 66: Basic sea terrain in use comparing a GHQ 1/2400th Iron Duke with a 1/6000th vessel by Hallmark.



When it comes to actually creating the sea, you can either give the surface a basecoat of very dark blue and then overpaint it with a mottling of lighter blues and greens, or simply use a single colour (Figure 66). Once you’re satisfied with the look of the sea, you can give it a coat of varnish. The temptation is to use gloss, but I prefer the more subtle effect of a satin varnish. Finally, once the varnish has thoroughly dried, add white highlights to the wave tops, but don’t overdo it.

Snow Terrain Panels

I must be honest, I have always steered clear of making snow terrain. Not because it’s particularly difficult to make; it’s no more complicated than any other terrain, but more because unless I was planning to wargame Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812, or a similar campaign, I just never felt that I would get enough use out of the terrain to justify my work. However if you are determined to create your own snow terrain panels you could do a lot worse than follow the example set by Crawley Wargames Club with their game Fraustadt 1706 (Figure 67). First, the gently rolling terrain of the battlefield was made by cutting and sanding foam panels to shape. The areas which were to represent exposed expanses of frozen water were painted with a dark green/blue mix and given a coat of gloss varnish. The remaining areas of the terrain were painted a combination of brown and green, and in places where the impression of very deep snow was to be represented, pure white was used. Next, working in small sections at a time, the terrain was given a coating of PVA glue onto which was sprinkled static grass ‘snow’. Finally exposed tufts of grass and stones were glued in place (Figure 68).


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Figure 67: A battle in the snow. (Freustadt by The Crawley Wargames Club)




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Figure 68: A close-up of frozen water terrain.




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Figure 69: Winter War. (Baker Company)



Another snow terrain game was Winter War by Baker Company (Figure 69). The basic terrain comprised mdf panels that had foam sheet glued on top, onto and into which the foxholes added. All the panels were coated with plaster, which was then given a random coating of PVA glue and fine sand, and finally the panels were painted white and grey.

Did the Earth Move for You?

Having made your terrain tiles, there’s one problem of which you should be aware. Unless you do something to prevent it, they can easily be knocked or moved which can result, at best, in a narrow gap between panels and at worst a veritable chasm into which may plummet your elite forces … which is guaranteed to destroy even the best thought out strategies (Figure 70).

I’ve tried various options. One of the most successful and simplest has been to staple strips of sandpaper to the underside of each panel. A piece of cheap cloth or fleece is then spread over the surface on which the game is to be played. The terrain panels are then positioned on the cloth and the sandpaper grips the surface of the fleece. Cheap and cheerful: but it works.

Another solution to the ‘earth moving’ problem with terrain tiles is that adopted by Levellers Wargames Club, Weymouth and the Weymouth Warlords for their Arracourt: September 1944 game (Figure 71). They created a wooden framework to enclose the tiles, which was held together using bolts and wing nuts … simple but effective (Figure 72).


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Figure 70: Terrain tile tectonic plate movement?




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Figure 71: Arracourt: September 1944. (The Levellers Wargames Club and Weymouth Warlords)




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Figure 72: A terrain panel enclosing frame system.




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Figure 73: Attention to detail that makes all the difference.



Taking the idea of a frame a little further, the Brixham Berserkers built the terrain for their Valhalla game onto two boards, each of which were edged with skirting board which was then stained and varnished to create a truly professional job. The two boards clamped securely together for an immovable playing area, and the added detail of the intricate designs at each corner was the sort of attention to detail that I really like to see (Figure 73).

Another solution to the dreaded moving terrain is to build the entire terrain into a single box. The Pike and Shot Society came up with a novel idea for their 15mm Second Battle of Newbury game (Figure 74). They took a conventional pasting table, separated the two halves, turned them upside down, and then re-fixed them side-by-side to create a more usable playing area that neatly unfolded for gaming and could be folded away in seconds when the battle was won (or lost).


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Figure 74: The Royalist forces about to take another ‘pasting’ at Newbury. (The Pike and Shot Society)















	6

	CUSTOM OR SCULPTED TERRAIN








I suppose that the first question must be, ‘What’s the difference between terrain tiles and custom or sculpted terrain?’ I think that there are several answers:


•  Custom or sculpted terrain has as much as possible integrated into the terrain.

•  Roads, rivers, hills, even walls, are all built in.

•  Custom terrain is still usually based around panels but generally they are larger than what many wargamers consider to be the standard: 60cm x 60cm.



Probably the most significant difference however, is that terrain cloths and tiles are intended to be as multi-purpose as possible, with the most important features of your chosen battle being added as individual components. By contrast, custom terrain is usually designed and built for a specific battle that may seriously limit the subsequent usefulness of the terrain. It is for this reason that many custom terrain set-ups are created as demonstration or participation games for wargame shows.

A particularly impressive example of this type of terrain was Corunna 1809 created by the Essex Gamesters (Robert Browning and Ron Ringrose), which was more like a military museum exhibit than a wargame table (Figures 75–76). But what wargamer worth his salt wouldn’t relish the opportunity to take part in a game on terrain that combines both land and sea battles to the same scale and on the same terrain set up?

Just how much scenery is built as a part of the basic terrain varies, but it’s usual for roads, rivers and even walls to be integrated. Sometimes custom terrain may have limited uses for other battles because it’s just too specific, but its reusability can depend on how the terrain was initially designed. For example, Gelderland 1945 created by the Sussex Massif features flooded terrain with a few isolated areas of relatively high ground and several partially submerged houses with the roofs poking above the water level (Figure 77). This is not the sort of custom terrain which on first glance could easily be used in other scenarios perhaps, but since the base making up the flooded terrain is separate from the islands, it could be used for other primarily water themed games, perhaps a brown water Vietnam naval game in the Mekong Delta … and the buildings can stand in for almost any Northern European Second World War game.


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Figure 75: Corunna 1809. (The Essex Gamesters)




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Figure 76: British troops await the French attack outside Corunna.




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Figure 77: Gelderland 1945. (The Sussex Massif)



PROJECT 1: A Harbour and Canals

This special project is one that I undertook for the Minehead Wargames Club (Figure 78). Originally it was intended for use with buildings, figures and a game system, produced by a well-known wargame manufacturer, but since they advised that they would sue me if I featured photographs of any of their products or named any of their games in this book, some details have been changed! This actually worked out better all round because the terrain proved to be usable across a much broader historical period, from early medieval to the Second World War and – of course – fantasy.

MATERIALS

•  0.5cm thick high density foam

•  Textured vinyl wallpaper

•  Balsa and cocktail sticks

•  Map pins

•  Wet-and-dry paper

•  Thick card


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Figure 78: The harbour with medieval buildings added.



CONSTRUCTION

As with any large project, the first step was planning, and so I drew up a layout that I felt would offer some challenging gameplay within the relatively limited area allocated to the game (Figure 79). The red lines show the 60cm squares, the dark blue the water and the area in the bottom right corner represents a section of the harbour.


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Figure 79: The plan for the harbour.



One lesson I learned early in my terrain-making life was to check if the customer intended to use a particular set of rules because these can influence some aspects of the terrain. For example, if the rules specify that a figure can jump down or climb up a certain distance without any movement penalty, then that needs to be borne in mind when planning the model. Similarly the distance that a figure can safely jump can influence the width of any gaps: in this case the width of the canals.

The construction technique was the same for each of the four terrain pieces, so I’ll only show the construction process for one of the terrain modules.

I started by cutting out a series of high density foam strips 4.5cm high, which with the 0.5cm panel that would be placed on top, would result in a canal and harbour wall that was 5cm high. Supports were added to the wall sections to keep them perpendicular during gluing, to make the box section sturdier and also provide additional support for the upper panel (Figure 80).

I use anything I can when trying to make a right angle. In this case, as well as the ubiquitous Lego bricks, I used a couple of right angle bracing pieces, and then glued this first wall section to a 60cm x 60cm piece of high density foam (Figure 81).

I then glued one adjacent wall to the first one (Figure 82). I frequently use pins to hold the components in place while the glue is setting. The remaining walls were then glued into position to create what was in effect, an open-topped box (Figure 83).


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Figure 80: The walls need inner supports.




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Figure 81: The first wall glued to high density foam base.




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Figure 82: The second wall glued in place.




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Figure 83: The remaining walls pinned and glued.




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Figure 84: Modules with textured wallpaper.



I’m never mean when it comes to using glue, at least where it doesn’t show. To complete this box section, I cut a piece of high density foam to form a lid. Using this as a template, I next cut a piece of textured wallpaper to the same size, and then pinned and glued the lid in place.

Once the glue had set thoroughly, I glued the textured wallpaper to the lid (Figure 84). The remaining boxes for this particular terrain piece were then assembled and glued in place following the same process.

It’s important that you give the wallpaper a thorough and even coating of glue to avoid air bubbles. If you do have problems with air bubbles, make a small cut in the bubble, carefully squeeze some PVA glue into the hole and press the paper down firmly. Don’t worry about any partially visible cuts because you can always conceal them with a strategically placed barrel or some rubble.

Next stage is the water, which I created by painting on Smooth Ripple textured paint, then stippling it to break up the surface (Figure 85).

The textured paint was left to dry thoroughly. There are several other ways to simulate water, one of which is to paint the surface in the appropriate colour, and then give it several coats of gloss varnish. When the varnish is completely dry, brush on PVA glue and then stipple it to create waves or ripples. You’ll probably have to repeat this latter step, because PVA tends to level itself out. PVA dries almost transparent so that the gloss varnish and the paint are visible through it. Always run tests though when using high density foam because solvents or even varnish can react badly with it, and you really don’t want to put your painstakingly created terrain at risk.


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Figure 85: Water given the rippled texture paint treatment.




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Figure 86: Quay walls with textured wallpaper.




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Figure 87: Slabs edging the quayside.



Once the textured paint had dried, I cut 5cm wide strips of textured wallpaper and glued them to the side walls (Figure 86). My reason for adding these after applying the textured paint was to avoid obscuring the cobbled effect if I was a bit over-enthusiastic with the texturing.

To break up the cobbled surface I added some stone edging made from small pieces of sandpaper. My idea was that the texture of the sandpaper would, when painted and drybrushed, result in a gritty stone slab effect (Figure 87). Unfortunately, and unsurprisingly really since sandpaper isn’t supposed to get wet, when I painted the sandpaper square it lifted off all the grit, leaving the paper backing. Next time I’ll use wet and dry paper: that doesn’t fall apart when it gets wet. The clue was in the name really!

I started painting the cobbled surface black, then drybrushed it grey, which was followed with successively lighter coats of grey to pick out the cobble details (Figure 88). I decided that I wanted a dark look to my water: the sort of water in which you wouldn’t willingly choose to take a dip in, but stopped short of the making it look like a sewage outflow. I painted it with a mix of black and dark blue (Figure 89).

With all these waterways and canals, inevitably I was going to need a few bridges. I decided on several options: stone ones with and without parapets and some timber ones too. When constructing bridges you need to bear in mind the widest width of anything that you might want to be able to pass over the bridge.


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Figure 88: Stonework undercoated in black and after initial grey drybrush.




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Figure 89: The painted water.



I was very careful when constructing my modules to ensure that the waterways were all the same width so that my bridges could fit almost anywhere for maximum set-up options. The construction of suitable wooden bridges is covered in Chapter Sixteen, but for a bit of variety I also made a couple of simple stone bridges.

From high density foam, I cut out two bridge sides to fit the width of my waterways incorporating a curved arch. I could have papered them with textured wallpaper, but decided instead to engrave some random stonework onto the outer surfaces using an old ballpoint pen (Figure 90).

The road surface of this bridge was to be flush with the cobbled quayside, so I deducted the thickness of my high density foam from the total height of the bridge to give me the height of its inner supports; the width was determined by the width of a coach that needed to be able to pass over the bridge without its wheels hanging over the edges. I incorporated four supports for the road, one at each end and one either side of the arch (Figure 91). The basic roadway was cut from 0.5cm high density foam and glued in position (Figure 92). Textured wallpaper was then glued in place to form the roadway (Figure 93).


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Figure 90: The stone bridge sides.




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Figure 91: The bridge showing the inner supports.




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Figure 92: The roadway added.




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Figure 93: Textured wallpaper added to create cobbled surface.




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Figure 94: Variation of the bridge incorporating a parapet.




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Figure 95: A bridge in place.



To complete this bridge I cut a length of thin card to form an inner arch. For a bit of variation you can create a bridge with a parapet (Figure 94): it’s just a case of making the sides higher and allowing for an overlap of the side walls onto the quayside.

As mentioned at the start of this section, I also made some wooden bridges to go with this terrain project, and the construction for these is explained Chapter Sixteen. Both the stone and wooden bridges followed a similar painting sequence. The models were first painted in grey (I used Dulux Flint), and then they were given a drybrush treatment with successively lighter coats until the required effect was achieved (Figure 95).

I decided that my canals and harbour section would benefit from having some bollards at which ships could be moored. I could have bought them, but I decided to make my own using map pins from my local stationers and some thick card. I cut off all but a short stub of the pin, and glued the pin to a square of card. The resulting item was then sprayed black, and there you have some freestanding bollards (Figure 96).

Of course there are countless other details you can add to give your terrain more interest without making it period or geographically specific. A few upright timbers made from balsa with metal rings added became mooring posts (Figure 97).

To add a bit of variation to the walls, I carefully cut an arch out from one wall section prior to assembly to represent a culvert or possibly a sewer. Pieces of thin card were cut and glued around the arch and cocktail sticks added to represent the bars (Figure 98).


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Figure 96: Bollards and yet more bollards.




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Figure 97: Simple mooring posts.




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Figure 98: The culvert opening.



This terrain project proved extremely popular and was used in many historical and fantasy games with equal success, and I suspect that it will have a long and useful life … which is the best one can expect from one’s terrain.

PROJECT 2: First World War Terrain for Wings of Glory

When Wings of Glory was released it was a little like Christmas and birthday both rolled into one. I’ve always been fascinated by First World War aircraft, and I vividly remember the ceiling of my childhood bedroom being crisscrossed with nylon fishing line from which were hung various 1/72nd aircraft. Everything was fine until Airfix released their Handley Page 0/400; a magnificent model, but far too heavy for my delicate tracery of fine nylon filament. It was not a great day when I returned home from school to find my squadrons and jastas had plummeted earthwards. Even the ones that had taken a relatively soft landing on my bed were in bits; as was I.

But I digress. Wings of Glory with its easy to understand, but necessarily abstracted, rules together with the assembled and ready painted aircraft reignited my interest in the knights of the air, but I quickly realised that a plain green cloth wasn’t exactly enhancing my gaming experience and I decided to create some suitable terrain (Figure 99).


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Figure 99: The Red Baron about to bounce an unsuspecting RE8..



MATERIALS

•  High density foam panels

•  Clump foliage

CONSTRUCTION

Unsurprisingly, when viewed from the air, everything on the ground appears smaller. The Wings of Glory First World War models are 1/144th scale, but to enable me to source some useful ground-based items I decided to assume a ground scale of 1/300th, which would make available many excellent models and figures if required, such as those manufactured by Heroics and Ros.

The first stage was to plan out my terrain. I decided to include a suggestion of the two trench frontlines, and t