Boards and Terrain Question

[Omar]

Looked back 4 pages into the archives, didnt notice anything about Game Boards/Tables.

My local game store has some 4'X6' sheets that we lay on tables to play 40k, WFB, etc. One side white, the other tan. Doesnt look great, but its easy to transport in and out of the back room where they store them.

For FoG, we dont need as big of tables, but even if we do I think setting up a permenant one might be within the realm of possiblity. I have seen ALOT of pictures with armies on nice looking tables. The surface looks almost like it was made with the same basing material as the miniatures.

The only experience I have with covering a table involved a 4'X4' hunk of plywood with felt covering it. Works good at first, but the felt starts to get a bit ragged later, and sharp edges (like the corners of bases) tend to catch. Not good.

So, how do I make good looking tables that are good to actually play on?


Also, any suggestions on where to get pre-made terrain (or terrain FAQ's/How-To's) online? Most of the terrain is for the 25/28mm models, and not really appropriate for the period we play. I would like to either buy or make some nice terrain, so we are not using felt hunks for woods/hills/etc.


Thanks!

[Sherman]

It's quick and easy really. Get a 4x6 board that doesn't easily warp (not ply-wood...) and is about half and inch thick. Cover that in a layer of watered down white glue (50/50 ratio water to glue). Sprinkle with sand (think, "feedin' the chickens" and flick out handfuls of sand), you don't want full coverage, just enough to give the board some texture.

Allow to dry.

Paint it all black, then "overbrush" your primary color, then drybrush your first highlight, then lightly drybrush your second highlight. A quart of black basecoat is more than sufficient. Then you can use tubes of craft paints for the other colors. I reccomend browns, but greys or sandy yellows work too! Depends on the board you want to make.

Allow each layer to dry before applying the next. Some blending in the highlights is ok, so if you're in a hurry you can always go back with lighter colors if it doesn't work out perfectly the first time...

Use a primary flock color and apply it in large patchy sections. Use the same watered down glue you applied earlier for this. A brush works nicely to make the patches. Get good coverage with the flock and allow it to dry overnight. Next day bang it all off into newspaper and recollect it. You should have used about a third to half of the container depending on how heavily you wanted your board flocked.

Go back with a second layer of flock and accent the first layer. Shoot for whatever look you like using the same technique as before. Don't "paint" the glue on, dab it. Even though the flock is dry you'll probably lift it off with a gluey brush. Allow to dry overnight, bang it off in the morning.

Do a third type of flock if you like, but by now the board should look finished. Anything else you do is just for fun.

Total time investment: 3-5 hours over the course of about four or five days. Get a friend to help and you hardly notice the time go by.
Total cost: About $40. All in all it's probably closer to $100 in supplies (including brushes, rollers, etc.) But you'll have a lot of stuff left over to make more terrain pieces that match the board which is super cool...

Hope that helps!

[Omar]

Wont it be a bit rough and uneven to have the minis on?

The armies I am looking at have Agricultural and Developed as the types I am favoring (open spaces!). So, looking at making terrain for them.

Two open fields, one enclosed field, and a village would be the two mandatory choices for both lists, so need to make those first.

I picked up some terrain which was on sale at Hobby Town. In this case, a cottage and stable for 15mm. I can probably turn that into a plantation, or village?

My question has to do with movement. Lets say a unit wants to move into an enclosed field. I was planning to make it the same as an open field, but add a fence around the sides. If only the first base has enough to clear the fence, but the second base would be 'on' it, how does that work? How about the first base, if it couldnt move past the fence? Just move it past or up to it? I realize there are limited MU's based on terrain type, but what about physically putting the models in there?

How about woods/forests/vineyards? Rows of vines make it difficult to place a formation of troops. should I design the avenues inside the terrain to be 40mm wide to accommodate the bases?


Thanks!

[gozerius]

I use a felt table cover that has been spray painted with a light olive drab and then used spray adhesive and railroad scenic flock to give it that grassy plain look. Hills were made by shaping pieces of styrofoam, glueing to a thin masonite base (important to keep the edges from chipping), brushing them with latex paint and flocking. Fields are made with a fabric that looks like a plowed field with irregular light and dark brown lines. Roads were cut from strips of same. I cut up a Scotchbrite pad, sprayed and flocked, to simulate hedges or vinrows. I use pieces of felt for other terrain and cover it with whatever it's supposed to be - scattered Woodland Scenics trees for plantation, clumps of same for forest, bits of lichen and large gravel for brush. I have a nice selection of resin buildings for a village. All the 3D terrain is loose so it can be easily moved out of the way when moving troops through the terrain. It all fits in a footlocker for easy transportation, with room for a couple boxes of figs. I haven't come up with a suitable gully yet.

[Omar]

Any chance you can post some pictures of that? I like alot of your ideas, but not sure how to put them into practice.

I think I will turn the buildings I have into a village, but still not sure of how the rules work with moving units through that sort of thing. If they are not physically able to move through the terrain...

Anyway, thanks!

[gozerius]

Basically, the trees, hedges, buildings, standing crops sit on top of the feature template. They are not attached, except maybe to a smaller base. When troops enter the terrain feature, the terrain models are shifted around to accomodate them. The template represents the physical boundary of the terrain feature. This works better than having a village with fixed structures where you would have to stack your figures on top of the buildings, or a wheatfield with the figures on top of the stands of wheat. I'm playing a game this saturday, maybe I can get the Beautiful Wife to loan me her digital camera and I'll do an AAR. Should be fun. French Ordonance vs Late Medieval Germans led by Maximilian. Go Landsknechts!!

[Omar]

Oh, I get it! So, you use the felt for the footprint.

I can see how that would work well. Wont look nearly as good as some of the terrain I have seen.. but much more simple.

Pictures would be awesome. Not a fan of Land Skanks though (its an SCA thing.. )

[Polkovnik]

There is a trade-off between having great looking terrain and having terrain you can actually put your figures on ! That's why you often see people at tournaments using pieces of felt or carpet tile with something moveable on them to indicate what terrain type it is. It's also a quick way to get started, without needing to model every possible terrain type.
If I was modelling an enclosed field I would probably use an open field (I use brown painted hardboard or mdf with rows of coloured flock glued on as crops) with some strips of removable hedges around the edge. You could make these from kitchen scouring pads.

[gozerius]

I have a drained field that has a bunch of foamcore cutouts on top of a piece of plexi. Looks good until you put the figures out, then the scale distortion is too much. The terrain base can be made more eastheticly pleasing if you use painted and flocked masonite rather than felt cutouts. You still want to have the trees and stuff as seperate items so you can shuffle things around. Makes storage easier and more compact too.

[BrianC]

I use a felt table cover that has been spray painted with a light olive drab and then used spray adhesive and railroad scenic flock to give it that grassy plain look. Hills were made by shaping pieces of styrofoam, glueing to a thin masonite base (important to keep the edges from chipping), brushing them with latex paint and flocking. Fields are made with a fabric that looks like a plowed field with irregular light and dark brown lines. Roads were cut from strips of same. I cut up a Scotchbrite pad, sprayed and flocked, to simulate hedges or vinrows. I use pieces of felt for other terrain and cover it with whatever it's supposed to be - scattered Woodland Scenics trees for plantation, clumps of same for forest, bits of lichen and large gravel for brush. I have a nice selection of resin buildings for a village. All the 3D terrain is loose so it can be easily moved out of the way when moving troops through the terrain. It all fits in a footlocker for easy transportation, with room for a couple boxes of figs. I haven't come up with a suitable gully yet.

I'm thinking on doing something similar where I either use felt or another cloth material with a brown or green colour. Do you find that when you spray paint the felt that it gets too stiff? Can it roll up easily for transport? I would like to make one perhaps 5x3 and one 6x4.

Thanks

Brian

[gozerius]

After spray painting and using a spray adhesive for the flocking it is still flexible enough to roll up. I don't recommend folding as it is far more likely to retain a crease.

[BrianC]

After spray painting and using a spray adhesive for the flocking it is still flexible enough to roll up. I don't recommend folding as it is far more likely to retain a crease.

Thanks for the advice gozerius. I do have some Elmers spray glue that I have used for hills. I would never fold terrain built like that but was thinking more about rolling it up into a compactable enough roll to store and transport. Still I'll give it a try.

Brian

[Andy1972]

I just went into the local hobby store and found that Games workshop has came out with a 4'x6' game mat.. It looks nice.. But pricey(what isnt for Games worskshop!).. about 30 dollars American.. One of the people who works in the store that games says he likes it... I like the look of it also... But it is perfectly cut.. My felt is cut uneven.. I'm not a seamstress! I have been broke lately.. But once i get some money up im gonna buy one.

[BrianC]

I just went into the local hobby store and found that Games workshop has came out with a 4'x6' game mat.. It looks nice.. But pricey(what isnt for Games worskshop!).. about 30 dollars American.. One of the people who works in the store that games says he likes it... I like the look of it also... But it is perfectly cut.. My felt is cut uneven.. I'm not a seamstress! I have been broke lately.. But once i get some money up im gonna buy one.

I'm using 2 smaller flocked mats that I bought at a train store and overlap them together. They look ok, better than felt. But they look too much like a golf green and there is a seam in the middle. Perhaps you could lay some extra flock down and drop a few smaller clump foliage to break up the flatness.

This is part of the reason I want to go with felt or a drop cloth and paint it greens and browns then sprinkle some flock on it, its probably cheaper. But hopefully will look better in the end

Brian

[gozerius]

Here is a link showing a terrain mat construction technique that's rather interesting.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36331979@N ... 259987470/

[will05]

I have started building my terrain on to a load of hardboard templates. I have cut out enough pieces of hardboard for the terrain features I need, and painted and flocked them. Then I made loads of tiny terrain pieces on mounting card about the size of one to three bases. Whatever type of terrain I need I can make up by putting a few small pieces onto the templates. This also has the advantage that I can move the terrain pieces around on the templates to fit in with the troop bases when they are in terrain.

Will