Gaming Terrain

The Moving Van is Coming!

2010-03-24T13:04:00.000-05:00

I am going to be moving this blog.

Actually, I am combining blogs. The new site will be The Scattergun Gamer, and it will ahve all sorts of gaming stuff on it. Wargames. Minis. Painting. Terrain. Different genres. Different scales. RPGs. Boardgames. Total chaos.

It should be fun.

Fear not, though: this is a 90 day trial offer. If, after three months, the new blog does not prove popular, I will be reviving this one. I will not be deleting this blog for at least that amount of time, though I will not be posting new to it. I will be moving the better posts from here to there as well in the next few days.

Working in 6mm...

2010-03-22T01:02:00.000-05:00

My sons have discovered BattleTech. So now, amongst all the other projects, I also need to build some 6mm scale sci-fi buildings.

Luckily, I have a ton of little plastic bits. I have already made a hospital/clinic building using the molded blister packaging from one of my youngers son's insulin pump pods. Two more pod packages with some sheet styrene and a large number of bits attached are being turned into an industrial complex. Comes with a mini-nuke power plant and even some defensive turrets. even considering some kind of security fencing. I bet a bit of screen fabric and some small plastic rod uprights would do the trick. I have thin gauge wire I could do in loops for the top razor wire... Speaking of, I guess I need to do some concertina wire and minefields as well, since I will be using infantry, artillery, VTOLs and vehicles as well as the Mechs. Combined arms, baby!

Another intersting plastic container will likely become the control tower for an airstrip setup. I already have a piece of PVC cut in half to make a pair of Quonset hut style hangars. I was originally going to paint them aluminum, and even masked one up and sprayed it, but now I think a nice camo pattern would be better for the hangars themselves. Or at least plain concrete. Or whatever they use in 3050.

I am tempted by some lovely resin terrain out there. I think the 28mm scale Armorcast mini-nuke plant would be brilliant for a city-sized power station. For now, I have to settle for scratch built stuff, though.

Final thought for tonight is this: thank God for Dremel. I got one at Christmas time, finally, and I absolutley love it. Now I really want a small table top bandsaw for cutting hardboard to shape faster and easier than the jigsaw does.

Terrain Mat Photos

2010-03-14T23:36:00.001-05:00

The Jungle Mat

This is a 6' x 9' canvas tarp, dyed with a variety of greens and brown, and then misted with water to get the colors to bleed into one another just a little. Basically, I used a spray bottle with RIT dye in it to color the cloth, changing colors as needed, and then following up with a bottle full of clean water. If you do this method, DO NOT OVERDO THE WATER. I tried washing the first mat after dying it, and it was a disaster (see the other post on mats)!

The Martian Mat

This is a 5' x 9' piece of good quality canvas from the fabric store. It took the dye better and I think will last longer than the tarp. As mentioned previously, this was the first and suffered a series of mishaps. I am pretty happy with the results I came out with, considering all the mistakes I made. I think it looks Mars-y. And definitely more durable than the old felt mat.

I'll be making two more mats in the near future: a European fields mat (5' x 9') and a smaller gray concrete area mat (3' x 5'). The smaller mat could be placed on a large mat for an urban area. It is going to be designed for a Car Wars autoduelling arena, however. I even have a neat idea for some bunkers to place on the mat, and gate markers. The concrete bunkers will get advertising posters on them! I may even get really ambitious and do up arena walls for the outside edges of the arena. I have some old styrofoam that woudl be close to perfect for that, and then I could build the gates into the walls... Sliding steel doors? That really slide, of course!

One last photo for tonight, of some random jungle scatter I have been making:

That's a GW metal stegadon for WFB in the background, and its all on the new jungle mat. Just aquarium plants glued to fender washers and static grassed. Nothing fancy.

A few photos of recent projects

2010-03-13T17:08:00.000-06:00

Just a few photos of some of the things I have been doing. Once the Martian mat gets dry, I'll photograph it and show you all how it came out.

First up is the unobtainite deposits. Martian landscaping, blue crystals. Ready to play! Also useful for BattleTech, which my sons and I are getting into a little.

These are shots of two different rock outcroppings I just finished for Venus. The basic forms were given to me by Dan Martinez, aka Cacique Caribe, aka One Swell Fella. He was out of space and just couldn't bear to discard them, so he "Gamed them Forward" to me. What do you think, Dan?

All I did was paint them with flat black latex house paint, then spray with textured rock paint. Paint the base dark green. Once paint is all dry, I painted PVA all over the base and in strategic nooks and crannies and added static grass. The vines were done with a line of PVA riht out of the bottle, then some 'weed' green ground cover flocking was sprinkled on. Poke a few holes in the foam and glue in a few bits of aquarium plants and floral stems from Hobby Lobby. Spray all with a coat of gloss clearcoat and a coat of matte finish. Done!

If you look on the left edge of this photo, you can see the rocks 'before.' The blue foam is nice, but I like the way they came out better. Don't you?

Game it Forward

2010-03-11T11:52:00.000-06:00

A friend of mine over at the excellent I See Lead People blog (and if you haven't been there, you should go - now!) has brought up an idea that I think deserves a good deal of attention. He called it "Game it Forward" or something like that.

The basic idea is from the movie Pay it Forward. Most of us have gotten help from another gamer at one point or another when working on one of our projects, and especially when just starting a new one or desperately trying to complete one. A bit here, a bit there, a single hard to find figure you needed to finish a unit, that sort of thing. Helped without taking payment in exchange, except maybe for some postage if the item was expensive to ship.

So, the idea is that we have a karmic debt that needs to be paid. Since we can't pay the giver back, we pay it forward, by giving things to other gamers that we ourselves have little or no need for, but that can help them. I myself have recently benefited from the generosity of another gamer who had to give up his game room for his wife's home office. With no space to store a bunch of his terrain, he just gave a lot of it to me. All it cost me was gas to go get it across town.

To further this idea, I am adding to my blogs called "Game it Forward". I'll list some things I know that I can spare that I think others might be interested in using. I've already put a couple of things on this blog. They are available first come, first served. All I ask is you pay for shipping on the bigger items (like the mats).

Canvas Mats, Part One

2010-03-08T12:11:00.005-06:00

I have been busy working on a couple of terrain projects over the last week or so, and thought I would share with you my progress.

The main project began last Monday. I took a day off from work, it being the day after my birthday (38 now) and a mental health day being well overdue. My days "off" usually include a long list of projects to keep me hopping about, and this one was no exception. I did find myself at Hobby Lobby, and wandered into the fabric area. I have been wanting to make a canvas gaming mat or three for quite a while now, being slightly dissatisfied with my current felt mats. I just don't like the fuzzy factor.

So I picked out a bolt of nice cotton canvas. I also picked some liquid RIT dyes, and was looking at various tapes and glues to hold the edges of my fabric together. I asked a lady nearby her opinion, and she offered to serge and hem the edges of the cloth for me (she was a professional seamstress). So, with about $18 in the cloth (3 yards, 60" width), and another $12 for having it professionally hemmed to avoid fraying, I proceeded to color the mat.

My first mistake: I didn't wash the fabric before trying to dye it. The cloth has a sizing agent on it whe new, and this kept the dye from penetrating into the fibers properly.

My second mistake: Washing the fabric after dying it. Instead of mottled greens and browns, I ended up with a nice, uniform olive drab. Great for a WWII-era GI tent, but not so good for gaming.

So I ended up bleaching it back out, and now have a terracotta colored piece of canvas. Instant change of plans: no longer an Earthly vista, this glorious series of errors had produced the basis for a new Martian landscape!

I wonder, should I go ahead and just draw in the canal on the cloth? What do you fellows think?

More to come... plus, the other projects, too! Stay tuned!

Modular buildings

2010-02-15T19:43:00.003-06:00

So I am thinking about making a kind of modular building for my kids' new Empire army. Wall panels, gable ends, ceiling panels. Connector pieces (both end to end and inside and outside corners), doors and windows, chimneys.

How tall do you thinkI need to make the walls for a single story? I was thinking 2 inches, maybe 2 1/2 inches.

The plan is to put a layer of sculpting clay onto a pre-cut base of either styrene or thin plywood. Call it about 1/8" thick. Then sculpt the pattern into it. Make an RTV mold of that, and cast in resin.

That's the plan. What about it? I need feedback before I get started.

Resin Minerals Painted

2010-02-10T20:49:00.003-06:00

I bought a pair of pieces of Armorcast's resin "Pyrite Crystals" from a local gaming shop last week, and got them painted up over the weekend. Finally had time to take a photo of them and put together a few thoughts about them, especially as compared to my previous crystal project, the green 'handwavium' ones I made of carved pink foam.

My review:

Nice quality casting.
Good stronge yellowish beige resin
Very little flash or pitting
Nice lines
Details okay, but not fantastic. Just a clump of rock crystals.
Super easy to paint.
Price: $5.00

What I Did:

First I used a sharp hobby knife to clean up the little bits of flash, mold lines, etc.
Then I washed the pieces with warm soap and water, rinsed and dried with paper towel. Let it sit overnight to air dry more.
Next, a little bit of superglue to fill the few small bubble pits. Let sit for an hour to cure.
Then I sprayed each piece with flat white paint.
Color on the rocks was achieved by using several coats of thinned Vallejo Intense Blue. Ground color was Ceramcoat burnt sienna.
Brush watered PVA glue on base (using 100 for $4 cheap-o plastic bristle brush), then dredge into my Mars ground mix, and let dry.
Next morning, two coats fo Testor's gloss, followed in afternoon by Testor's flat.
Will finish by brushing on a coat of water-soluble gloss onto the crystals to make them shiny.

European Gothic structures

2010-02-06T01:31:00.002-06:00

If you follow my other blogs, you know by now that I have been sucked into the Warhammer world again. It's a great setting, I'll give it credit for that.

But I have virtually NO scenics for the Empire other than generic terrain. I already had a few things for the Lizardmen I was using for VSF, with a similar tropical feel. But half-timbered buildings? Wattle and daub? Nein.

Anyone have easy ways to make these buildings? I will need at least:

Tavern or coaching inn
Farmhouse
Two or three townhomes
Barn/stable
Outbuildings
Sigmarite Shrine

A River Runs Through It

2010-02-05T22:26:00.003-06:00

Found this posted on TMP (The Miniatures Page). An interesting idea for what looks to be reasonably attractive, cheap do-it-yourself river sections. I hope the blog owner doesn't mind me sending extra traffic his way.

http://wargamesandstuff.blogspot.com/2010/02/making-rivers.html

Essentially, he uses cheap vinyl tile as his base and some silicon caulk for building the banks.

Personally, I think cross-pollination of blog ideas like these are a great thing. The more exposure to good terrain tips, the better, I say.

Unobtainite Deposits

2010-02-04T00:29:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I went to a game store in Houston, the venerable Nan's Too. Anyone who has gamed in Houston during the past, oh, 20 years or so, knows Nan's. The nice thing about this place is that, being so old, you can find some older stuff there. I found some older GW minis that I could use, but more to the point for this blog, I got a package of resin "pyrite crystals" made by Armorcast. Got the package for $5. Haven't compared that price to current website price, but it seemed good. Just wish they had had a couple more packages.

The plan is to turn these crystals into the wonder mineral "unobtainite" for Victorian Science Fiction. It cancels out the effects of gravity when exposed to electricity. More power, more anti-gravity.

The resin has been washed, dried and primed. Next step is to get to painting. Blue crystals, red Martian landscape. I'll put photos up when I get some work done on it.

Project List Updated

2010-02-03T01:23:00.004-06:00

Two posts in two days! Amazing!

So, nothing much today. I updated my Current Projects listing. A few comments regarding that:

I abandoned the plastic pre-cast rivers project. I decided they looked nice, but were too much work overall. I got about half or three-quarters done with them, but will not be finishing. Anyone wanting them can have them for shipping costs. Let me know (email is probably best).

Quite a few projects have been finished. They are marked "DONE!"

A few new projects have been added, as well. These include Martian Canals, Resin Rivers, an Ethership Field (on Mars) and a Mine Entrance (also on Mars). I was thinking of casting the canals for fun and profit. Anyone interested?

On a final note, having done a lot of re-organizing of my gaming space and looking over all of the stuff I have, I am thinking I need to get to work on more projects! With the newly cleared area available to work again, I think (hope, pray) you should see more activity in that regards and on this blog as a result.

For those of you who have remained with me through the dry spell, thanks. I hope you find some interesting new content here in the coming weeks and months.

-J

RTV Purchased

2010-02-02T09:03:00.003-06:00

I bought this past weekend the first RTV I have ever had.

For those of you who don't already know, RTV stands for Room Temperature Vulcanizing. It's a silicone rubber material used to make molds for casting resin, plaster, etc. It generally can NOT be used for lead - the temperature is too high, melting the mold. I believe there are some types that can handle the high heat, though.

What I got was a Smooth-On product, called OOMO 30, IIRC. It mixes in equal parts by volume (easy!). I have read good things about it on the internet, at TMP and other places. Found it at a local art supply store.

So, obviously, the plan is to sculpt up some items, make molds, and get to casting. Some of these things will be scenics related, so I thought I would mention it here. Specifically, I want to create some doors and windows to be attached to buildings, in both 15mm and 25mm scales. It is a pain to try and scratch build them each time, so I am going to try and create some good masters to cast from. Might make some railings, chimneys and such, too. Start simple before trying something ambitious.

Anyway, wish me luck. I have a nasty feeling I am gonna need it. When I get a space cleared to work on it, I'll get to work. Hopefully, pictures and such will be involved as well.

eBay Based Terrain Maker

2010-01-02T23:05:00.002-06:00

I have bought from this guy before, and I am pretty happy with his stuff. Lots of different things, different types of terrain. I recommend it.

http://stores.ebay.com/battlefieldarchitect

The link should take you to his eBay store.

Happy Christmas!

2009-12-25T10:31:00.003-06:00

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas!

Please take a moment, in the midst of all the gifts, the food, and your family and friends, to give thanks to God Almighty for the first (and greatest) Christmas gift of them all: our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Regarding this blog, well... I'll be posting something soonish. Really.

Yours very truly,

-J

My Newest Bit of Terrain!

2009-06-09T08:33:00.001-05:00

All I asked my wife to get me for Father's Day was a paint rack.

This is what I got instead.

I. Love. My. Wife.

Photos of Martian Rocks and Hills

2009-06-06T10:53:00.003-05:00

Three different finishes on these rock formations. I'll create a poll over them, but I would like your input as to which looks best. All three rocks have essentially the same paint job and foundation: 1/2" pink foam, with black flat latex brushed on, then three colors of spray. The rock on bottom right shows this. The second rock, at the top of the triangle, got a spray of textured paint before the three-color spray, and also has a bit of iron oxide gravel on it. The third rock was painted and then I added a pretty solid coating of iron oxide gravel and fine ballast to the top.

Here's a long, ridge-like outcropping. The sloped edges are considered passable, the rugged nearly vertical edges are not. This rock, like all the others, has the three-tone spray paint on 1/2" pink foam. In the background you can see another hill, with another small rise added to it. In the scenario I am creating, the British must pass between this outcrop and the hill to reach their destination off board.

This formation is one of the most complex ones I have done so far, up to four layers thick, but I really like it. It makes for a pretty good high ground to hold, though there isn't much cover. It does provide a good vantage over most battlefields, so if you have a long-range weapon, this would be a good site for it. It's also difficult to scale, as most of the faces are cliffside.

The Hills of Mars...

2009-06-03T21:21:00.003-05:00

I am doing a little bit of terrain work these last few days. I have finally come up with a method that I like for using pink 1/2" thick foam insulation board.

I have a hot-wire foam cutter, a cheapie I got at Hobby Lobby a couple of years back for $10, I think. That's what I am using to shape the pieces, cut smooth bevels for the hillsides, rough faces for cliff sides, that sort of thing.

I'm using spray adhesive. Sounds a little crazy, I admit, but it seems to hold like cement and doesn't eat the foam. This way I can stack multiple layers for more impressive rock outcrops and hills.

So I cut the foam to the shape I want using the hotwire. Then I glue the layers together. So far so good.

The next step is painting. I found some black latex wall paint I had leftover from a DIY project, so I used that. Painted it on the foam, let it dry. Now when I spray paint the colors on the foam, the foam doesn't dissolve away!

Finally, once the black is dry, I hit the foam with three colors of spray in at least two layers of each color. You don't have to wait for each layer to dry - I like the mixed look, it seems mroe natural.

I'll post pictures once I get some decent lighting. I tried to take a few shots tonight, but... too dark.

Martian Insulae

2009-05-20T22:10:00.002-05:00

Like many pieces of terrain these days, my Martian insulae (old style apartment buildings) start off life as packaging material. In this case, I got hold of several of these pieces from the IT guy at my school - maybe five or six of them total. Each will eventually become a block of row-houses.
Same packaging, spray painted. I used three colors in successive layers, then went back and lightly 'dusted' with the lower colors to keep the sort of mottled look I was going for. I like the texture of the packaging as well - actually, it was as important as the interesting shape when I saw it laying there, discarded, looking for a way to be recycled. Man, I feel the urge to hug a tree or something...

One of the nooks and crannies between the humps looked (to me at least) just like a walkway between upper levels. So I put in two doors and a railing. Of course, they need painting still, but you get the idea.
In this last shot (again, not a great picture), you can see the ground level entries for two homes, plus chimneys (the mushroom-looking things) and windows for upper stories. The windows need painting, of course, and the doors are waiting on a trip to the store to purchase framing pieces for around them.

So far, I think they look pretty good. Thanks to a brief discussion with my friend Eli, I have some ideas for rooftop patios or gardens as well, with lattice gratings, maybe awnings. Let me know what you think, and I will keep you posted as I continue work on this little project.

New Terrain Blog I Found...

2009-04-11T14:11:00.002-05:00

It's called "Take the High Ground," and it's done by a fellow out of the UK.

http://takethehighground.blogspot.com/

Quite good stuff, actually, and he explains what he's done fairly well, if not exactly step-by-step. But you can easily see how he did things.

I just wish I could duplicate them!

As far as my projects go... real life has intruded pretty heavily in the modeling/terrain making realm, and I've done very little. In fact, nothing at all in weeks.

Maybe I'll put a little time aside this weekend to work on a project or two, inspired by our friend here.

Not Dead Yet!

2009-04-04T09:28:00.003-05:00

Really... the blog isn't dead.

It's just that I haven't done a darned thing terrain wise in a month, unless you count buying one piece on eBay and picking up a few interesting bits of plastic that were laying around.

I have found a possible source for one piece of terrain I have been wanting to buy: the Cryx Necrotite Mining Rig for Warmachine. Now, I don't actually play Warmachine, but the piece looks just about perfect for my VSF gaming universe. Necrotite is a glowing green substance, and I have this stuff I call handwavium, which is used to create a chemically induced heat source for steam power, without needing oxygen. Perfect for long space flights - pardon me, aether flights - don't you agree?

Anyway, this rig looks just right for a large experimental handwavium reactor, or maybe a power supply for a small town, fort, secret laboratory, or what have you. I'm leaning towards secret lab, myself, waht with Herr Doctor Maton running about on Mars and all.

The other development is that I have begun looking into a supplier for a custom made Martian terrain gaming mat. Theterrainguy.com looks rather promising, and I have been in email contact with him. He thinks he can match up to my hill coloration rather closely, which would be great. He's also a nice guy and a fellow Texan, so there you go.

More later this month, I promise.

New Tools

2009-03-06T20:50:00.003-06:00

I read about some new tools available for working with foamboard on TMP (The Miniatures Page, an absolute treasure trove for miniatures gaming of all kinds: www.theminiaturespage.com).

The company is called Foamwerks [www.foamwerks.com] and their product is supposed to be available at Hobby Lobby stores. I am planning a check this weekend if I can get to a store.

The most interesting tools to me are the clips the have for butt joints on the foamcore. Both end to end and T-junction joints can be made, and it holds the foam perfectly while your adhesive dries. I'll probably be buying a pack of these if they are in stock. If not, I may even special order them.

Photo of the Parrotman Hut

2009-02-22T15:55:00.004-06:00

This small birdhouse made a great hut. All I did to it was to stain the raw wood, cut off the original perch and add a wooden step. Finally, I cut a conical piece of the material from underside of a pot-topper and glued it to the roof of the birdhouse.

Presto! Instant primitive hut.

Interesting Stuff...

2009-02-19T17:34:00.006-06:00

I have been searching for bits and pieces here and there for an aerial flier project, and while doing so, ran across some interesting things. I thought I'd share, in case anyone else is interested in the same sort of oddities.

These fellows make Cthulu-esque terrain pieces. Go to the bottom of the page, but check out the rest of their stuff, too. Its pretty neat. I wonder who carries them in the US?

http://www.monolithdesigns.co.uk/gothic_horror.htm

If you are in a hurry, and want nice looking stuff that's reasonably cheap and super quick, check these fellows out: http://www.worldworksgames.com/store/. They sell paper terrain that you download, print on cardstock, fold and place. I don't have any, but the pictures are nice. And if it gets crushed, chuck it and print a new one - nice!

Anyway, check it out!

Some VSF Work

2009-02-12T18:18:00.005-06:00

First, the parrotmen hut. This could be any primitive hut, really. The base is a $1.00 miniature birdhouse I purchased at a local craft store (Michael's) in their bargain aisle. First I cut the rope loop off the top. Then I cut off the perch in the front and stained the whole thing with a dark walnut stain.

Finally, I used the earth-y looking underside of the pot-toppers I was telling you about in another posting to do the roof. Just make a cone shape by making a circle and then cutting out a quarter of it. Glue to the roof using some PVA (Elmer's) glue painted on pretty thickly. I used superglue to join the edges of the roofing material together. I think it looks like a peat or thatched roof of some sort.

All that is left to do on this one is the small porch/step I am using to replace the perch dowel.

This second piece is an older piece that is getting a facelift. It's gotten a touchup of my now-standard Martian sand, plus a few layers of the water effects stuff I have been using. Finally, I added a lot of reed bundles. These are about an inch tall, so very high reeds/grasses for 15mm, or tall grass for 25/28mm gaming.

Scum in the pond it is...

2009-02-11T23:09:00.001-06:00

Okay, I am going to give it a shot, as urged by the poll...

Which, by the way, got a disappointing response level.

I'll let you know how it goes in a day or two.

Archiving Labels

2009-02-05T01:18:00.002-06:00

Hi guys (and gals).

It just dawned on me that I really need some sort of systematic method of labeling posts so that I (or you!) can find them agian later, or check out older posts of interest if you are just reading the blog for the first time. Its not an issue now, with so few posts, but it could become one if I keep this up as I hope to do so. With that in mind, I am going to try to establish a system. So far, here's what I have:

"How-to"

Articles that I post that are essentially step-by-step instructions on how to make some piece of terrain or scenic item. A post type label.

15mm

Anything specifically of interest to 15mm games. A scale label.

25mm

Anything specifically of interest to 25mm games. A scale label.

building

Article relates specifically to some sort of permanent structure: house, barn, office building, school, outhouse, etc.

features

Post deals with some feature of the blog.

fields

Posts dealing with some sort of field, for crops, ranching, or whatever. Includes orchards. A terrain label.

honors

This label indicates that the post is probably nto gaming related, but that it does homage to something I felt was important enough to be mentioned. Ex: Veteran's Day.

materials

Article discusses the usage of varying materials in terrain making. Generally, these are not specifically designed for wargaming terrain (example: using PVC pipe for pipelines)

pictures

Indicates post has either a lot of photos or exists only to showcase something.

poll

Post discusses a poll topic. A post type label.

product

As opposed to materials, these are ready-made items, specifically for use as terrain or for the making of terrain. This would include such things as resin buildings from any of the various manufacturers.

projects

Either a listing of projects or an update on the progress of same. A post type label.

rant

Sometimes completely off-topic, but something I needed to get off of my chest anyway. I avoid politics, and these aren't frequent, thank God. Another post type label. You have been warned.

resin

Post dealing with either resin casting, or resin-based materials or products. A material label.

rivers

Post dealing with rivers, streams, waterfalls, etc. A terrain type label.

rocks

Another terrain type label. Sometimes these are just scenic additions to larger terrain pieces.

scenics

As opposed to terrain, scenics are man-made objects. This includes buildings, but also such things as signposts, billboards, fences, telegraph poles, etc.

scrap-building

Post deals with construction of terrain from odds and ends leftover from other projects or just laying about the house. Not to be confused with scratch-building, which is mostly what I do here anyway.

tools

Post describes or discusses tools useful for making terrain.

vendor

Post describes or discusses where one can locate various tools, terrain pieces, materials, products, etc.

VSF (Victorian Science Fiction)

The gaming genre I am most involved with right now. Also often described as 'steampunk.' I could probably generate more hits by making steampunk the label, come to think of it. I will add other genre labels as needed (medieval, modern, sci-fi all come to mind). A genre-type label indicates, naturally, that the post deals primarily with something useful to that genre.

water

Yet another terrain-type label, for any kind of liquid surface. Rivers, ponds, asphalt pools - you nmae it, it falls under this one.

website

Somewhere in the post I am indicating a good place to go check something out. It may also be a vendor, or some kind of notice about a product, or just some really cool terrain. You should go and check it out.

That's it for now. My OCD need to neatly pigeonhole things has been satiated temporarily.

Feels good, doesn't it?

Project Listing

2009-02-04T18:06:00.002-06:00

Thought I would go ahead and list all my current projects and recently finished ones.

You can check it out in the sidebar.

Great New Product

2009-02-04T17:10:00.003-06:00

Okay, I check out Litko's "Jim's Product Lab" from time to time, just to see what all that madman has gotten up to lately. Some of the things he creates are just too cool.

This time, I think he's outdone himself. They have a modular building line for sci-fi/modern gaming. While I don't need that kind of thing very much on the projects I am working on these days, he just did up (well, I just noticed for the first time, at any rate) a couple of different sets of stairs to be attached to the outside of some modular towers. I absolutely hate making staircases. Despise it. I make a lot of goofus ladders instead. These may change that.

Naturally, they could be attached to the outside of pretty much anything. or the inside if you were detailing the interior.

Anyway, check here to see it. Scroll down the page a little bit. You'll find them.

http://www.litkoaero.com/page/LAI/JIMSLAB

Bookmark it - you're going to want to go back again later. I know that I do.

2009-02-03T00:10:00.000-06:00

Just a quick shot of the telegraph poles in use! This is a VSF setting, with a column of her Britannic Majesty's troops patrolling the line.

Hope you enjoy!

Jungle and Martian Pools

2009-02-01T13:34:00.005-06:00

I've been re-working an old piece of VSF (Victorian Science Fiction) terrain I made over a year ago. I was never really happy with it, but it looks much better now.

Essentially, it's a piece of thin plywood, on which I smeared a fair amount of wood putty, forming some slighty uneven terrain and a depression in the center, for the pool. Sprayed the whole thing in various reddish-browns, then hand painted the center in the blues you see.

Sorry about the blurry shot. Some days I just can't take a decent picture.

What I had to re-work most was the sand/flocking around the pool. Originally, the ground looked more like a hard baked but way too smooth mud plain, not the desert-like surface I envision on a dying Mars' surface. I also added about three additional thin layers of the water to the pond for greater depth. Finally, I had glued in the small cluster of holly berries as some sort of alien reed plant in fruit. I have some more work to do on it, like reed bundles at the edges and some sort of game trail leading to the edge of the pool (maybe scraping away the sand and going back to that mud pack look), but I am much happier with it so far.

The second piece here is one I mentioned a few weeks ago. Its going to use a pot-topper for the grass around the pool. I have a few shots showing how I built up the pool, then primed and painted the interior of the pool and the rest of the base.

So, you can see the progression through the process. I poured water (first layer) into it late yesterday evening, so I have to wait until tonight to add more. It will also get three or four layers of the water. I have even thought of painting in a little green on one of the middle layers, after it dries, to get a little of a scummy water effect. What do you think? I'll poll it, I suppose, since I like to keep polls up anyway. Let me know, and make comments on what you think I should do.

Rivers Project, Part 3

2009-02-01T13:01:00.006-06:00

So, I have finally gotten around to pouring some of the realistic water effect stuff into some of the river sections.

The stuff is pretty easy to work with, you just use it in thin layers. As you can see, I used some modelling clay to block the ends of the pieces so the liquid would not simply run all over the place. Then I set it aside to dry for a day.

After 24 hours, I poured a second layer. Again, let it sit for 24 hours.

It was actually more like 3 days before I got back around to these sections. I scored the ends along the modelling clay with a craft knife. Always use a fresh sharp blade - I probably keep the guys at X-Acto in business. Sorry about the blurry picture.

Now all you have to do is flock the banks, which I am going to try to get to this afternoon. Which means you may finally get to see some finished pieces in the next week or so. Note that I highly recommend you finish all of your pours and let it dry all the way before even thinking about flocking. The reason is simple: little bits of flock always get trapped in the hardening water. It isn't the end of the world, but it looks better without.

I have some custom pieces I need to work on to finish the project, and of course all that flocking and sanding and such. I hope to have a decent shot or two of some finished pieces by the end of the week. Until then, check out some of my other projects that I am updating.

Telegraph / Telephone Poles, Construction

2009-01-17T17:06:00.004-06:00

Welcome to my latest "How-To" article. This time around, I am going to go through the steps I am taking to build a set of telegraph poles. These could also be used, obviously, for telephone lines or even electrical lines if you wished.

Materials:

1/4" diameter hardwood dowel
1" steel washer (provides weight to help stand upright and allows for magnetized storage)
1/16" x 1/16" basswood strip
1/8 x 1/16" basswood strip
Epoxy putty (I used "Miracle Putty" - you know, the stuff Billy Mays hawks on TV)

Tools:

Craft knife (always use a nice, sharp blade - safety first!)
Cutting mat (mine is marked in inches and centimeters, with a 1/2" grid)
Glue (I used both superglue and Alene's Tacky Glue)

Step One: Cut the poles.

Very simple. Cut the 1/4" dowel into a suitable length. I did mine at about 3" (75 mm) in length, for mainly 15mm gaming. They should still work for 25mm, though a bit squat.

Step Two: Prepare the base.

Take a small lump of the epoxy putty and work the two parts together to activate it. Once activated, it will begin to set, so don't waste time here.

Apply the putty to a washer, forming a mound. Then simply press the base of your pole (which we cut in Step One) into the center of the mound to create a hole for the pole to be glued into later. Gently remove the pole so you don't mess up the hole you just made.

Step Three: Cut and assemble the crossbar and struts.

This is the part that will support the wires (which we are going to leave to the imagination for now, though I have a neat idea for adding them that I may work on later). Take a length of 1/8" x 1/16" basswood strip and cut it to 2" (5 cm).

Then cut two pieces of 1/8" x 1/8" basswood into approximately 1" (25 mm) long, with opposing 45° miter cuts. I didn't bother with a miter box for the cuts, but used the lines on my cutting mat to help align everything.

Make sure it all aligns nicely, forming an isosceles right triangle with the crossbar as the hypotenuse. Then glue the struts to the crossbar and each other.

Step Four: Attaching the crossbar to the pole.

Make a small perpendicular cut in the pole, about 3/8" from the top. Make a second small cut, parallel to the first, 1/8" further down the pole. (Sorry, the photo is blurry.)

Using a sharp craft knife, carve a shallow notch out of the pole between the two lines. The lines will act as stops for the carving and help to keep it neat.

The notch will be where you attach the center of the crossbar. It provides a nice, flat surface to improve glue adhesion. I have not been notching for the struts where they meet the pole, although you certainly could do that as well.

Put a drop of glue on the center of the crossbar and another on the point where the struts meet. Glue the crossbar into the notch and hold the struts against the pole until the glue begins to set.

Step Five: Attaching the base. [No photo]

Once you have the pole and crossbrace assembled, its time to attach the pole to the base. Check to see if the epoxy putty has set. It usually will be ready by the time you have finished all of the other steps. If not, wait a bit longer until it is good and hard.

Simply apply glue to the base end of the pole and insert it into the hole you made earlier. I put glue up the sides of the pole's base as well, to give additional strength, bonding to the bottom and sides instead of just the bottom.

Step Six: Painting. [No photo]

You have some options here. I chose option 1.

Paint the entire pole and base. I used a dark brown spray paint.
Leave the pole its natural color, and paint the base a nice earth tone.
Stain the pole and paint the base afterwards.

Step Seven: Flock the base.

Once the base is dry, paint some thinned down PVA glue onto it. I use cheap throw away brushes for this. I got 150 for $3 at a craft store. Then dip into your favorite flocking blend. I used my generic "sandy/rocky" terrain blend. This makes it useful for both Mars and many places on Earth. Once that dried, I dabbed a little more thinned down PVA on and then applied some static grass (burnt grass, Woodland Scenics, IIRC).

FINAL PRODUCT

One completed telegraph/telephone pole. (Well, it still needs its shot of matte finish to protect it, but you get the idea). Singly, it looks a bit like a cross awaiting its victim (not theologically speaking, just as a rather nasty form of execution that was pretty common in the bad old days), but when placed in a line across your table, it leaves no doubt. Protecting the line is going to be a common scenario goal in the near future, I think.

A site I came across...

2009-01-13T19:31:00.004-06:00

http://chicagoterrainfactory.wordpress.com/2008/04/16/quick-links-alkemy-jungle-board/#comments

Its called Chicago Terrain Factory. Its quite impressive, and the jungle temple terrain piece pictured below is featured there. Run - do not walk - to check them out. The link above goes to information about the jungle piece, but it is easy to navigate around their site to see all they have to offer.

Current Projects Jan 09

2009-01-07T17:39:00.006-06:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Okay, so I am finally getting back to thinking about doing something.

I know I need to finish the Rivers project how-to. I'll get on that soon, I promise. Really.

The other two projects that are percolating in my head are telegraph lines and a pond project.

The telegraph/telephone lines are really just the poles. I have four ready to spraypaint. I'm making about ten of them, total. The idea is to give the impression of a line of telegraph poles, not create a massive network of them. Protecting them may become the point of a scenario.

The pond is going to be based around the pot-toppers I just bought at Michael's Craft Store the other day (mentioned in a previous post). I have a basic plan for the project thought out, but no actual work has been accomplished. I hope to do something on it this week or perhaps the weekend.

Perfic Panels - Anyone using them?

2008-12-28T13:48:00.005-06:00

There is a company I found showing at Historicon in 2007 called Precision Products (http://www.appliedimaginationinc.com/), that manufactures vacuum formed polystyrene sheets of terrain - I have been working on their rivers in one of my projects - and embossed sheet for model building. Things like brick and flagstone and such for the exterior of models.

They also manufacture something similar to foamcore, but with a thin styrene exterior rather than the more common (dare I say 'traditional'?) paper exterior sandwiching the foam.

Has anyone used this material? It sounds rather more sturdy than regular foamcore, what with being more water-resistant, and the fact that I tend to use water-based glues and paints makes this a definite plus.

Anyone have practical experience of the stuff? Leave a comment if you do!

Christmas Goodies

2008-12-26T18:18:00.004-06:00

I received some goodies from my lovely wife of fifteen years for Christmas that are definitely hobby terrain related. Thought I'd share.

The first was a little kids' toy band saw. Well, I don't think its a ctually a band saw, but a table mounted jigsaw. Either way, its small, plastic, lightweight and not suitable for any kind of serious woodworking. It is good, I am hoping, for cutting thin sheets of balsa, basswood, and birch plywood, as I use a lot of that. It may even do some thin MDF, I hope. It won't cut anything much more than 1/4" thick, though. She found it at Michael's Craft Store. Actually, I noticed it an pointed it out to here and she went back later and got it.

I also got more reindeer moss/lichen in natural greens and browns. Always useful.

Finally, she got me this netting. It is fairly large weave, and I think originally designed for beach decor sort of stuff. Not for real fishing work, I am sure. But here's what sprang to my mind: camouflage netting for overheads. That, or anti-pterosaur netting.

In the VSF game I play around with, aerial ships have existed on Mars for millennia, and could drop bombs. So it makes sense to have developed aerial camouflage, yes?

And on Venus, pterosauroids are a terror of the air. Again, a settlement might easily develop some sort of netting to keep the pteros away from the livestock/children. Sensible idea?

Analysis Paralysis in Gaming (Rant)

2008-12-19T00:01:00.003-06:00

So I mentioned this same phenomenon on my other blgo dedicated to Victorian Science Fiction gaming, but I think it is such a general thought and problem in the wargaming hobby that it deserved a mention here as well.

My blog-buddy Eli and I have been discussing how we sometimes get bogged down with indecision about exactly how we want some portion of a project to look. Neither of us is overly concerned in most senses for accuracy (we were discussing a VSF project, after all, and imaginary nations at that!), but just getting the right look. Developing the vision of the project, I guess you could say.

And then he mentioned the phrase "analysis paralysis." I've never heard it before, but its a common enough phenomenon. I don't know if the term is used in other venues/industries or what have you, but it fits.

The problem is that you spend so much time planning and re-planning and so on, trying to get something to a perfect vision of what you want, that you never actually do anything. This leads to the infamous Great Lead Pile most of us wargamers have laying about the house that our wives would prefer we just do something useful with, like melt it down for radiation shielding for the Big One. Or something like that.

And that lead pile is discouraging to many of us (at least to me, and so I assume to others) as well. So that further compounds our lack of production.

So what's the solution to this double-edged sword? I wish I knew. All I know is I have a ton of projects just sitting there, wiating for me to do soemthing with them.

Eli suggested this: just work on something that catches your fancy at that moment. Then at least you get some progress made. Even if its just painting the hats on the 87th Light Aero-fusiliers Regiment the lime green you always wanted them, its progress. Then shift to something else if you have no further inspiration for the 87th Light Aero-fusiliers. Eventually, you'll come back to them, and in the meantime, something else will approach completion.

So far, its the best answer I have heard. What do you think?

Or is all of this a load of horse dung and I should just man up and get back to the terrain building saltmines?

Primitive Huts

2008-12-18T16:39:00.006-06:00

Okay, these huts are just becoming available, although they have been discussed on The Miniatures Page (TMP) for over a year.

The sculptor (whose name I can't recall off the top of my head, but who goes by the TMP handle of Cacique Caribe, or CC) finished them, oh, November of 2007 I think. Then he shopped around for someone to handle the casting and marketing and such for him, as he didn't really want to do all of that himself, but there was a lot of interest in the models.

Enter Alex Bates in Alaska, of the new Forge of Ice company. They get a deal worked out, and now, they are in production.

First, a group shot. There are four different designs:

Now a close up of one:

I have nothing to do with the paint jobs (nice work, though, especially the snow) which were done I believe by a Mr Robert Phipps of the United Kingdom, a customer of Forge of Ice and friend of Alex's. I hope no one minds me swiping the photos, but I'll remove if you want me to!

I pinched this tidbit regarding the snow effect from TMP (http://theminiaturespage.com/)

"Regarding the snow effect, Rob [Phipp] says:

I Just use a bit of PVA wood glue on the bits I wanted covered in snow, then used a white flock, then another coat of PVA and then Bicarbonate of Soda for the snow effect. You get a nice brilliant crisp white from it.You don't have to use a white flock underneath but it stops any colour from the tent from showing through if your PVA is too thin.
And that's how he does it!

-Alex"

The reviews have been most complimentary, for both sculpting and quality of the production castings. You can reach Alex through his blog, and here's a link with more info and pictures of the tents. http://forum54.oli.us/index.php?topic=5205.15

Rivers, Part 2

2008-12-08T08:00:00.001-06:00

So, this is a basic multi-part "how I did it" for the rivers. I have a few pictures to go with, as well, though they are of different pieces.

Just to re-cap, I am using the styrene sheet rivers from a company called Precision Products [www.appliedimaginationinc.com]. The sheets are 16"square, 0.025" thick, with vacuum-formed terrain impressed into the sheets. The stream is about 1" (2.5 cm) across, with banks of about equal width.

Materials and tools: wood putty, styrene rivers, kitchen shears, hobby knife, 1/16" thick plywood, glue, felt, a few heavy books

Cut out the river piece. I cut mine all the way to the edge of the banks, but you could leave a small lip or flange of plastic around it. I used kitchen shears to cut them out.

Wash the piece in warm water with some dish detergent, just to make sure there's no mold release on it.

Mix the wood putty. I used to have Durham's, which I actually prefer, but the DAP brand stuff works as well. You want to mix water with the powder until it gets like a really thick milkshake consistency.

Fill the underside of the river piece with the wood putty and let it dry overnight.

Next day, trace the shape of the river out onto some thin plywood or MDF. I use 1/16 inch birch plywood (about 1.5mm), that is supposed to be for R/C airplanes or something.

Cut the shape out. A bandsaw with a fine-tooth blade would be perfect for this, but I don't have one, so I use my hand jigsaw (sometimes called a fret saw or jeweler's saw, I think). Sand the rough edges.

Glue the river piece to the base. I use Allene's Tacky Glue usually, but I have also used superglue (liquid, not gel) with good results.
Clamp or weight down the piece and leave two+ hours (PVA) or twenty-ish minutes (superglue). I have tried lots of ways to weigh it down, and I am still least happy with this step of the process. Best so far has been a layer of felt or something, then a few large heavy books on top. It still leaves a few gaps at the edges, though.

Spray with flat white paint. I tried black paint on one piece. It doesn't work for me. Let dry (duh!).

At this point, you should have a piece of nicely detailed river, with the hollows filled and attached to a base for a nice, weighty, durable piece of terrain.

Next post, I'll discuss painting and filling the stream with water effect.

Fields, Part 1

2008-12-07T12:45:00.006-06:00

I have a way to make plowed fields for your troops to fight across that is just great, in my not-so-humble opinion. Its not my own idea, unfortunately, and many of you may already know how to do it, but for those of you who do not:

Its flexible and sturdy.
It can be about any size you reasonably could want.
Its dead easy and quick to do.
Materials are cheap and pretty easy to find.

What more could you ask? Oh, you want to know how to do it? Okay.

Buy some dark brown spray paint. I used Krylon, but you can use any of them. Gloss or flat, doesn't matter much. (Gloss looks more like a wet field, I think).

Buy a ridged polyfiber doormat with rubber backing, with ridges about 1/4 inch wide and 1/8 inch deep. I got mine at Target, 2' x 3', for about $3.99.

Using heavy scissors (I used kitchen shears), cut the mat into desired shape and size. I made small rectangles with rounded corners, approximately 4" x 6".

Spray the mat. Let it dry.

You are now done. If you want to make it a bit snazzier, drybrush or lightly spray a slightly lighter shade of brown over the original dark brown.

There you have it: quick and easy fields. To see the results:

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t225/jwomack94/Wargames%20Terrain/DSC04611.jpg

In Fields, Part 2, I'll discuss how I am making a planted field.

"A date that will live in infamy..."

2008-12-07T12:41:00.004-06:00

The attack on Pearl Harbor (if I have my time zones right) began almost exactly 67 years ago.

All I can say to those Allied soldiers, sailors and marines who gave their lives in World War II, and those who fought and came home, is this:

THANK YOU!

We now return you to your regularly scheduled gaming blog.

New Feature - No Big deal, but...

2008-12-04T10:08:00.004-06:00

I added a counter to the blog. I am always curious to know how much traffic my sites are getting, because I don't see a lot of point in spinning sutff off into the void we call the internet if no one is looking at it.

So, you have been weighed, measured and counted. Or something like that.

Oh, and I promise I will take some pictures of the river sections I have been working on to post this weekend. They are not finished, but you can see a little bit more of how it goes.

Later.

Pot Toppers

2008-12-02T01:13:00.003-06:00

There has been a lot of discussion about using 'pot toppers' for terrain projects.

I first clued into them through a Yahoo terrain makers group.

Then, Tas mentioned them on his excellent VSF blog, Yours in a White Wine Sauce! [ http://pauljamesog.blogspot.com ]

So, I felt it only right that I should mention them here. I have yet to obtain any of them, although there is a Michael's craft store not a mile from my home. It is definitely in the project queue to try out, though, as it looks like it can be used to fantastic effect. To wit, check out this page: http://ardleybridge.fotopic.net/c1501517.html

If any of you have used pot toppers, please let us know your experience with them. How easy were they to work with, were you pleased with the results, what adhesive did you use - any comments would be great!

About the poll...

2008-12-01T00:17:00.002-06:00

I usually run polls for a long time. I like to get plenty of responses to pretend its a decent sample size of the target audience.

So this one runs until one minute to midnight on New Year's Eve. I stopped it at a minute till so that the diehard geeks (you know, like me!) could step away from the Internet and go kiss their significant other at midnight. Call me a romantic.

So, let me know what you think. My vote is already cast.

Its December. Let's talk snow.

2008-12-01T00:07:00.005-06:00

Okay, so I practically never see the stuff down here in Houston. I grew up in Dallas, and we usually got ice, not snow, pretty much every year.

I have visited the white cold stuff on a few occassions, and even spent some time figuring out how to go down a mountain covered with the crap while balanced precariously on two thin strips of wood. Why anyone would do this for fun, I don't know, but to each their own, I suppose.

The real point of this post, though, is to ask for comments on how to model snow on the gaming table.

Naturally, a large heavy white cloth could do for an entire table. But for features, how do you put snow on them? Let's assume the project is a cluster of large rocks, covered with snow, and a snowy base around them. The rocks are easy - carved and painted foam, attached to a base of either MDF or plywood, depending on what you use for snow. Trying for something kinda like this:

But what do you use? Soap flakes? Powdered sugar (ants in no time)? I bought some snow effect stuff that is designed to be used on those seasonal displays, but I haven't tried it out yet and have no idea how long it will last, etc.

So, guys and dolls, what do you recommend?

Handwavium Crystals

2008-11-27T09:35:00.005-06:00

Ahh... the fabled handwavium crystals of Mars... such beauty and power...

How do I make some?

Basically, the handwavium crystals are nothing but pink foamboard insulation glued to a thin (1/16" or 1.5mm) plywood base, painted and flocked. I made them in a way that is essentially scale-neutral, like most landforms. In 25/28mm, they are big rocks. In 15mm, they are huge crystals.

Anyway, step-by-step (and yes, I should have taken photos. It was late and I wasn't thinking about the blog. Sorry.):

Make the crystals. I took some scrap pieces of foamboard, and cut them into basically crystalline looking shapes, making sure I kept at least one side as flat as possible. I used a hotwire foam cutter to cut the foam. To make the thicker crystal, I glued two pieces of foam together after cutting them into shape.
Make the bases. I took bits of scrap plywood from my River project, and cut them into irregular shapes with a hand-held fret saw. If you had a thin blade for a small bandsaw, that would work brilliantly as well, but I don't have a bandsaw yet.
Glue the foam to the plywood using Tacky Glue (a thickened PVA, like Elmer's White Glue, available at craft stores in the US). Let that dry.
Paint the plywood base. I painted mine with Burnt Sienna craft paints, as they are destined for Mars' red soil. You may want to try a different color for other planetary surfaces.
Paint the crystals. I chose green shades, to stand out better against the reddish soil of Mars. Again, you may choose your own colors. I painted the whole crystal in Vallejo Deep Green, then painted ridges and edges in Vallejo Intermediate Green, and finally did a thin line of Vallejo Light Green along the edges and drybrushed a bit in the center of the facets for a light effect.
Flock the base. Last, I painted some thinned down PVA glue on the bases and covered the bases with the reddish-brown sand I am using for Martian terrain. At this point, I also added a few small details around the crystals, like gravel and undergrowth.

I am going to use a similar technique, but different colors and shapes, for some "unobtainite ore" on Venus soon. I'll post photos when I am done.

If you want to see more photos, check the photobucket link in the margin for wargames terrain.

Battlefield Architects

2008-11-24T14:05:00.003-06:00

This fellow does some really nice work. I have bought from him on eBay more than once, and I recommend his stuff. It looks nice and is quite sturdy.

http://stores.ebay.com/Battlefield-Architect_W0QQssPageNameZstrkQ3amedwxQ3amesstQQtZkm

That's the eBay store link.

Rivers Project

2008-11-24T11:27:00.005-06:00

[Carried over from my defunct Napoleonics blog]

[Originally posted Saturday, September 27, 2008]

I started a new terrain project last night, one that has been sitting in the Closet for more than a year. I bought some styrene sheets last year at Historicon from a company called Precision Products [www.appliedimaginationinc.com]. These sheets are 16"square, 0.025" thick, with vacuum-formed terrain impressed into the sheets. The two sheets I bought are 1" Straight Rivers [SKU 16091] and 1" River bends [SKU 16092]. The Straight Rivers has four lengths of straight river, each approximately 15" in length. The River Bends includes:

2 x 45 degree bends
2 x 90 degree bends
3 x Y-Junctions, and
1 x Wooden Bridge

I have cut out two pieces so far, the bridge and one 90 degree bend. Yesterday I filled the styrene hollows with DAP Water Putty to prevent it from crushing or flexing, and then glued each piece to a 1/16" plywood base. Late last night I primed the two pieces with flat white spray paint, the cheap stuff from WalMart. Today, I applied basecoat colors, using cheap craft paints. Sorry about the blurry picture, I was hurrying.

So far, I am pretty pleased with the results. The water putty has added some heft and rigidity, as has the plywood base. It is taking the paint really well, too.

I will be adding a link to all the photos to the margin tonight. I'll post more when I make some more progress.

Still to come:
Drybrushing for detail
Add flock and ballast
Pour scenic water into riverbanks
Build a hand rail. The only drawback is that the piece will lose its scale-neutrality if I do that.

First Post!

2008-11-23T23:38:00.001-06:00

Hello, and welcome to my new blog.

I'm going to talk about my projects for making wargaming terrain on this blog. I'm not going to bother to be 'in character' like I do on my other blog, Victoria's Boys in Red. This blog will be leaner. Meaner. Greener!

I will start off by crossposting or importing some of the older posts I have done about terrain on a blog I will be deleting soon. Look for it either later tonight or more likely tomorrow.

A little more about what I do:

I push little painted lead soldiers around on the table for fun. My friends do too. Part of the fun is creating a table that looks great. That's where the terrain comes in to play.

Technically, "terrain" falls into two categories: terrain and scenics. Terrain consists of landforms, trees, rivers, fields - all the stuff nature puts out there, plus roads and, I suppose, canals as well. Scenics is the man-made stuff: buildings, fortifications, obelisks, and so on.

Well, enough for now. She Who Must Be Obeyed wants to be tucked in for the night.