It will always remain a mystery to me why wargamers will lavish time, effort and hard earned cash to produce well painted armies and then happily lay them out on a tabletop covered by a green cloth and a few polystyrene hills.

Nothing enhances a game more than to play on realistic terrain which recreates a landscape in miniature. You could of course simply go out with plastic or chequebook in hand and buy some of the conimercially available terrain, but making your own has some very clear advantages. For a start you are likely to, remain friends with your bank manager.

The main advantages in making your own miniature battlefield are the freedom to produce exactly the terrain you want and the more realistic finish. It would be unfair to the commercial manufacturers to write their products off as unrealistic, they are limited by the need to produce in bulk to a set standard and, within those constraints, have improved the visual appeal of the hobby considerably.

I have been making terrain, both for my own use and for limited sale, for a number of years and I hope that this article will explain my methods and show you how to get started. At this stage I would like to acknowledge the invaluable assistance of Aly Morrison and Alan and Michael Perry of Wargames Foundry who have fteely given me the benefit of knowledge gained from their triumphs and disasters. The materials I use are all readily available and throughout the article I will give manufacturers and costs where appropriate.

To begin with you will need the basic material for producing terrain - polystyrene blocks. This is available in any number of sizes and thicknesses. I use a company in Dunfermline, Fife called Polyscot who charge approximately 50p for a one foot square block of extra high density polystyrene, two inches thick. Since the cost is calculated by volume and not area, savings can be made by using thinner blocks.

By checking your local Yellow Pages under specialist packaging you should find a local supplier. They will make the blocks for you in any thickness and size. I use two inch thick for the basic block and one inch for the hills. If you really want to make the deluxe version of the terrain then buy one inch thick tiles and ask your local DIY store to cut you hardboard to the same size. By sticking the polystyrene to the hardboard you get an extremely rigid and durable terrain block.

First Stage

The first stage in making your terrain is to model the polystyrene. Using either a modelling knife or hot wire cutter, shape the hills. Remember that figures have to be able to stand on them so don't make the angles too steep. Hills are best made by the old fashioned stepped method of laying one contour on top of another.

Terrain in real life is seldom billiard table flat. By using ceiling tiles cut to irregular shapes and glued down an undulating effect can be achieved. A hot air paint stripper can also be useful to gently melt the polystyrene and produce gentle undulations.

Once the rather crude hills and undulations have been glued to the tile, it is important to use white PVA glue anything else will melt the polystyrene, work begins in giving it some shape.

Mix some plaster, Tetrion or similar is best, and apply it to where two pieces of polystyrene join. This adds strength to the board and produces a smoother transition from one level to the next. Rough edges can be removed with a fine grain sandpaper which can also be used to give a more interesting shape to hills. What you are trying to avoid are hills which look like circles stuck on top of each other.

The edges of the block can be left as they are. This is fine if you are careful, but if the terrain is likely to take any sort of knock they should be protected. This can be done in one of two ways. Either paint the edges in white PVA glue or cover them in carpet tape.

Before texturing your block you should add any roads which will appear on the terrain. To do this mark the route of the road with a permanent felt pen and then apply a thin coat of plaster along its length. Rutted track marks can be made by drawing then end of a paintbrush through the wet plaster.

When everything is dry you are ready to texture the block. The block will still look a little crude but by the application of the texturing material it will magically - well almost - transforin. I have never favoured the use of flock. This is extremely messy, never stays on properly and fades very quickly, it is also expensive if you are making even a modest number of terrain blocks.

Instead I use the coarse textured paint normally used for covering ceilings. The brand I prefer is Polytex although any similar material will work just as well but avoid mixing sand and plaster as this does not provide a decent enough tooth for drybrushing later on. You can, if you wish add some green powdered poster paint and a little water to pre-colour and avoid any white speckles after painting.

Apply the Polytex liberally over the terrain with an old household paintbrush. The material is sufficiently stiff to allow you to produce very smooth undulations and variations from one height to the next. Polytex has the other great advantage of being acrylic based which means that if anyone does lean elbows on the finished article the dimples pop back out again.

It is best to leave the block overnight at this stage to make sure the Polytex has dried out completely before going on to the painting.

Any green of your choice will of course do, I use a range of paints from Dulux called Definitions. This is a range of colours which are mixed for you. You can buy a litre tin for themain painting, but they also have 25ml tester pots costing £ 1.40 which are ideal for drybrushing. There are well over 100 shades of green to choose ftom, the three I use are Waterboatman for the base coat together with Posthom and Sunflower for highlighting.

I have not seen the Definitions range sold in many stores although you should get them from a branch of the John Lewis partnership.

Apply the base coat of green and allow it to dry. At this stage subtle variation in colour can be achieved with the use of car sprays. Choose one or two neutral greens slightly darker than your base coat and apply them lightly from about 18 inches. These should be sprayed into undulations or around the base of hills.

Finally drybrush the block using a lighter green, I actually use two further shades of green, the Posthorn and then Paso Double, and then very lightly with a suitable yellow.

Rivers

If you want to add rivers to the terrain this can be done in one of two ways. Either ask whoever is supplying your polystyrene to make two blocks each half the thickness of your normal one. All you then have to do is cut the shape of the river from one and glue these to the second block. Make sure that the slope down to the river itself is very shallow as steep river banks are not common.

Failing that you can simply carve the river bed from a single block. This method is extremely messy and produces a much less effective river. When you are painting your river, remember that they are not bright blue. You should paint the river a mixture of light brown and green. Once this is dry paint over it with a clear polyurethane varnish which has had blue oil paint added. Three or four coats of this will give your river the final touch.

And there you have it. It may seem complicated but it is surprisingly fast once you get started.

If you. want to add detail to your terrain here is one idea. To make realistic hedges take some rubberised horsehair, you can buy it from the Connoisseur stand at most shows. Cut the horsehair to a suitable length and then tease it out to give a ragged look. Spray the hedge with glue, Scotch produce a very good spray but use tile heavy duty one, mid then dip it into some flock. You can either leave it like that, or as I prefer, use car sprays to paint it. This has the double advantage of producing more interesting shades and sealing the flock so that it does not come off.