Hills

[Omar]

Working on making some hills out of some styrofoam using a hot wire. Cut what look to be 'hill like' formations, but not sure what to do with them now.

I wanted them set up so that it was possible to have models on them without them sliding off, so they are not too terribly steep. The guy at Hobby Town said that the roll of flocked mat that I picked up to cover my game table with could be heat molded to it using a blow drier. Not sure if I should try that, or just flock it like I do my minis (layer of green paint, white glue, press the flock into it).

Anyone have any pictures and/or suggestions available?

[hammy]

Both options are reasonable. Some of the grass sheet material is definitley designed to mould with a hair dryer but paint and flock will work well too.

I have been considering doing hills with a layer of iron filings under the terrain stuff to make them magnetic so they hold my maganabased figures in place.

[Omar]

I will try one of each.

How do people represent it in games usually?

How about other 'odd' terrain, like gullies?

[Ghaznavid]

I usually form a gentle raise which I flock the same way as my gaming table and which we do not count as being part of the terrain piece. From that raised level you can then form a 'real' depression in the ground. Works fine, except for nitpickers who insist that the whole size of the terrain piece has to count (i.e. including the raising part). So for tournaments I clear that up in advance and if necessary use my small gully instead (which is build to fit completely into a 12 MU circle, including the raising part).
BTW, anyone else finds it odd that there is no provision for a narrow gully, like a dry river bed?

@Hammy, I tried building 'magnetic' hills using a fine steel mesh (like the ones used for fly screen), but after flocking it provided no real noticable effect with standard magnabased minis.

[expendablecinc]

Working on making some hills out of some styrofoam using a hot wire. Cut what look to be 'hill like' formations, but not sure what to do with them now.

I wanted them set up so that it was possible to have models on them without them sliding off, so they are not too terribly steep. The guy at Hobby Town said that the roll of flocked mat that I picked up to cover my game table with could be heat molded to it using a blow drier. Not sure if I should try that, or just flock it like I do my minis (layer of green paint, white glue, press the flock into it).

Anyone have any pictures and/or suggestions available?

Have a look at: http://www.nwa.org.au/dbx/articles/hill ... aking.html

All of mine are 2 inch foam cut and shaved with a hobby knife.
- undercoat it with waterbased paint
- paint it with PVA
- flock the lot

Notes
- keep the angles shallow if figs are to stand on it (unless impassable)
- when undercoating go right to the edges and under the hill a little to strengthen the edges

If you are making small hills use something else as foam is too fragile when very thin.

[Omar]

Do you have a picture of it?

Currently we are using felt for almost everything. The gully is a hunk of green felt with the 'edge' of the gully drawn on.

[Omar]

Very nice, I will try using a hobby knife for some of the hills.

[gozerius]

I acquired some very nice hill pieces as a tourney prize once that are made with a thin plywood base and styrofoam with a very gentle incline. Alas the pieces were a little big for legal FOG terrain but I managed to cut them up so that I can use them. I have made a few using MDF as the foundation, but don't have the skills to replicate the prize hills.
Perhaps "gully" should be reclassified as "depression". I too find it odd that a terrain feature that is caused by erosion of a streambed isn't allowed to be more linear.

[Omar]

That sounds like what I was thinking of.. a solid base with foam glued to that, then shaved down.

Might try those later if the straight foam ones dont cut it.

[hercimurthemediocre]

I have been considering doing hills with a layer of iron filings under the terrain stuff to make them magnetic so they hold my maganabased figures in place.

I have considered this too, but wondered if it would be noticeably different/worth my time. So, the experience of the chap with the wire mesh seems to indicate that it isn't worth the bother.

However, being a lover of lost causes, here was my idea:

Mix iron filings with sand (or just use iron filings/granules depending on cost) and spread them on your foam hill after applying a generous coat of watered down pva glue (yes, just a variation of the sand-glue basing technique.)

Then, paint, not flock the hill a nice dirt color followed by layers of dry-brushed green for grass.

This is a lot more work than flocking, so I have yet to try it. I'm hopeful that someone else will discover whether or not it is worth the bother.

[DaiSho]

Hammy, I tried building 'magnetic' hills using a fine steel mesh (like the ones used for fly screen), but after flocking it provided no real noticable effect with standard magnabased minis.

My hills are done as follows:

MDF shaped to a hill type of shape.
Paint mixed with White glue mixed with Spakfilla to make a covering.
White glue over the top with iron filings.
Heavy coat of white glue mixed with paint and flock.

Magnetic bases grip really well. Not to the point where they will pull the base from your fingers, but it certainly adds enough to stop them sliding down the hill.

Ian