Oh No!
Not Another Terrain
Construction Feature!
by Peter Kessler, UK
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I've only been wargaming in 6mm for a short time now, a little under two years, but by dint of some dedicated painting my French and Austrian armies are becoming quite sizeable. The trouble is, the terrain they fight over is now six years old, and is looking quite battered and faded.
My terrain was made by my brother, when enthusiasm got the better of him after I'd shown him an article by Peter Heath in Wargames Illustrated. The finished product consisted of eight pieces of two-by-two-foot modular polystyrene tiles, all 1.5 inches thick, and covered in flock. There's a healthy mixture of roads and rivers, hills small and large, with the rest being fairly flat and open. When thinking what could be done to replace these old tiles, flock is something I decided I would not use again as it really does fade badly, and flocked tiles are really hard to patch up and repair without the joins showing (I know this because I spent a couple of weeks trying it). No, this time I wanted terrain which was cheap and easy to build, which could be fixed or altered without looking like a patchwork blanket, and which I could design to order (rather than having to make do with the limited appeal of professionally made stuff). I decided that painted terrain would be best. Even after completion, effects can be added, any new polyfillering can be hidden with a bit of brushwork, and if you are unhappy with the finished look of any of it you can easily repaint it.
My finances being what they are (or aren't), I decided to strip down a couple of the old tiles, removing everything including the plaster base. This took quite a bit of time, and the cleaned-off second-hand tile would require more work to finish it than would a brand new tile, so I would suggest that anyone else trying this would be better advised to buy new. Although I'm not up to date with current prices, you shouldn't be looking at a bill of more than around £ 30 for eight tiles plus delivery from your local packaging company. Shop around for the best quote if you can.
So, starting with a basic, fresh(-ly reconditioned), unmarked tile, here's what I did next:
Needs:
NATO Standard high density Polystyrene sheets from a specialist packing company (addresses in the Yellow Pages) - 2ft x 2ft and 1.5 inches thick.
Stage 1:
Make a detailed sketch on paper, then copy this to the tile, marking out hill positions, roads and rivers, etc, with a marker pen. Make your sketches well in advance, as you will always find something to add to make the design more complex or more natural. Remember that roads don't always follow a simple straight line down the middle of the tile, they can bend and turn corners, their positioning can be dictated by rivers and hills, cuttings or embankments (my next attempt may well include high-banked The Schneke, from the Jena battlefield. I can just picture my Austrian opponent trailing his men down this road while my brave Frenchmen stand at the top and pour volley fire down on their heads!). The best way to think of what terrain you would want is to look through old magazines, watch the tv, or pick ideas out of any books with pictures of the countryside in them. The recently re-shown "War Walks" series is an excellent place to view north European terrain, and I'd love to own some Fens terrain as seen in Sharpe's Regiment.
Stage 2: If you want any hills, cut the basic shapes from a polystyrene sheet. (If the hill is to be higher, stick another sheet on top and leave for twenty four hours to dry.) Using the hot wire, contour the sheet so that the rising land will look natural, and not like the side of Ben Nevis. Dig out streams and cuttings. Rivers should be fairly shallow (no more than 10mm/half an inch deep) whatever their width, as painting will add most of the effects. Make sure your figure bases sit okay on the contours, and make sure all the joints between sheets are seamless. (6mm streams are about 5mm wide, and rivers are 15-20mm wide.)
Stage 3: Put packing or carpet tape along all the edges and corners of the tile, making sure it is firmly stuck down (glue it down if it isn't. Use Copydex or Bostick, not PVA). Later stages will cover any non-sticking patches left over. This will make the tile much stronger around the all-too fragile edges, and will guarantee those edges are straight, saving you from embarrassing gaps between tiles.
Stage 4: Using a small paintbrush for spreading the glue, stick hills, embankments, Polystyrene crags, etc. onto the tile with PVA glue. Glue on one side only and fairly thinly towards the centre as the glue will dry much more slowly. Slightly watered (4 parts glue to 1 part water) PVA will be easier to paint on. For this stage, Copydex can be used instead. Leave to dry for twenty four hours.
Stage 5: Use the hot air gun (very gently and from a distance. Don't be in a hurry with this, and make sure the tile is weighted down to prevent warping) and the hot wire to finish any fine contouring to the tile. Make sure ALL joints are seamless and all surfaces are smooth. Most importantly, use fine sandpaper to lightly sand down the tile (especially the bits you've hot-wired/air gunned), gently smoothing all the edges down until you have the smooth, rolling terrain you want to finish with. Whatever you add after this stage, what you have now will be the surface over which you will have to try to move your figures. Be prepared to spend some time on this. It is unquestionably THE most important stage for the finished effect.
Stage 6: Paint Polyfilla over the whole tile. This is best done in two relatively thin coats (less danger of warping the tile). Make sure roads are completely covered and are smooth and flat (so that figure bases won't have unsightly gaps underneath them). Cover the carpet tape and the tile sides as well. Any desired ruts should be made in the roads now, but don't scrape too deeply. Leave for twenty four hours to dry.
Stage 7: Check that all surfaces on the tile are as you would like, that no seams are showing, and that contours are as you want them. If not, re-sculpt, or add some instant Polyfilla to patch up and leave to dry. Once everything is dry, sand the Polyfilla smooth.
Stage 8: Paint watered PVA glue over the entire tile. Add any loose earth effects, stones, moss patches etc. These will all be painted over later. Sparingly sprinkle fine grain flock over all the intended grassy areas on the tile (and over the edges) and on road edges. Don't lay it too thickly - this is the surface you will be drybrushing later. Don't be worried about leaving lots of white showing through. Leave for 6-8 hours.
Stage 9: Lightly sand down the flocked tile to provide a smooth playing surface. The flock will still pick up drybrushing. After you've cleaned the tile off, paint it in Mangrove green all over, sides included. Spray the roads earth brown. Leave overnight.
Stage 10: Fix up the edges of your sprayed roads with green to cover the messier effects of the spray can. Paint the grass areas in Mangrove green. Leave for about six hours to be sure it is properly dry.
Stage 11: Now start drybrushing over the mangrove green. I've used a little Dulux Hollybush matt vinyl emulsion (any dark green will do) to drybrush darker areas, and a lighter, more yellowish green for a richer tone on hilltops (Dulux Sherwood). Lower areas and the bases of hills will be darker, higher areas lighter. No field is one shade of green all over - they have textures and shading. If you don't fancy this sort of messing about, just lightly drybrush the grassy areas in yellow and/or light brown, thicker on the higher areas, and don't worry about getting patches in some places, this adds to the effect of natural grasslands (you can always paint them out afterwards if you like). Use a wide paintbrush and broad strokes; the effect will be softer and less patchy.
Stage 12: Paint any gullies in shades of brown, greys and even white (for chalk and limestone). Crags should be grey with brown drybrushing. Moss can be painted dark green and drybrushed lighter, or in yellows and purples.
Stage 13: Rivers should be based in brown or dark green and drybrushed lighter with other greens and blues, and you could add touches of white for fast-flowing stretches. Make it lighter than you want as the varnish will darken it. Use browns and greens for river banks. Lightly paint transparent gloss varnish over the finished river (1-3 coats - coat too thickly and you WILL warp your tile). Add reeds, stones, loose earth. River banks tend to be slightly darker greens, perhaps with contrasting lighter strips just away from the banks.
Stage 14: Drybrush roads and bare earth areas in light brown, then in buff or off-white, thickening towards the well-worn areas. You can also add a drybrushing of stone. After this, everything should be looking ready to fight over. So now stand back, admire your handiwork, and pat yourself on the back - all at the same time. What a clever boy/girl you are! Now a cheque to me for working out how to do all this.
After that lot you should be feeling pretty happy with the finished result. Now do what I did - put one of your new tiles out on display, place some scenery on top to finish the effect, and add some figures to see what it really looks like. Then leave it there for a week so you can keep admiring it. And keep the scrap paper to hand to sketch down any ideas you have before the next time. These can be merged to produce detailed, realistic terrain that you will be proud to show off. Even something as simple a well-drybrushed earth bank or ditch can make a tile look good, and if you fill it with water it's also an obstacle to artillery.
You lucky readers have David Marks (and an article in FE1) to thank for this feature. When I sent a letter to First Empire after his initial "write to me and I'll help" promise in FE33, he was kind enough to actually reply (where were you, WI?), and suggested I might like to write up my experiences for the benefit of other wargamers. Well, as we don't see many actual wargamers' features in FE, I realised I should give it a try. There's bound to be someone out there who is struggling to do what I have just struggled to do, and who is operating on a similarly tight budget. Perhaps I should share my own experiences and save someone else a potentially great amount of frustration, either now, or a year or two down the line when the product of their hard work is looking battered and worn out. Thanks David.
In any case, I've ended up with two realistic, fairly professional scenic tiles that promise much when I can get onto making my next batch. I have pages of notes and ideas for them which will give me everything from narrow, mountainously difficult terrain to wide sweeping fieldland for those massed cavalry charges. And there's always a river line to defend should my new-found tactical abilities fail me. Or maybe a fortress on a high hill, one with lots of drybrushed crags and boulders on it.
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