by David Mar

You'll probably get a zillion responses, because there're a zillion ways to do it, but here's what worked for me:

Get some styrofoam sheets, a few centimetres thick, from somewhere. I got mine through a friend who installs air-conditioning, but I presume you can buy them cheaply if need be. Cut into semi-random hill-oid shapes, and glue together with bigger layers underneath and smaller layers on top. If by "functional" you mean you want your hills terraced so that minis can stand on them easily, make successive layers smaller by enough that a mini can stand on the resulting ledges. Ohi-use-PVA- glue, BTW.

Carve some gentle ramps between the layers with a sharp knife, so minis can move between levels without worrying too much about terrain restrictions. Mount the hill on a piece of wood for stability, and paint green - perhaps painting the more vertical surfaces grey to resemble rocky cliffs. Acrylic paint goes directly on to styrofoam pretty well. If you're artistic, apply the paint carefully in a few different shades and highlights - the added realism is worth it.

Ta-da! I built a five-level hill this way, and it makes a fine centrepiece for some battles. It's pretty big, though, and dominates a 4x8 foot table. You might want to stick to two or three levels.

I saw someone here suggest covering such hills with those disposable kitchen wipe thingies (if you're in Australia, I guess you'll know what I mean if I say Chux Superwipes), glued on with PVA and pressed into all the nooks and crannies papier-mache style. This would give the structure more strength, make it harder to dent or gouge accidentally, and hide the styrofoam texture. For my next hill I'll definitely try it.

by Greywolf

Locally, we make hills out of extruded foam insulation boaxd. You can usually get a hefty chunk of the 1" thick variety at a hardware store. It cost me about $7 for a piece that I'll estimate as being around 10' by 5' - I had to cut it in half to even get the thing into my car. With a good sharp knife, you can cut it pretty easily, and depending on how you cut it (whether with a single cut, a saw, scoring the surface, etc.) you can get a variety of interesting textures.

You can make a hill by making several layers of progressively smaller sides (as you approach the summit) and then gluing them together with a hot glue gun or ordinary white glue. I prefer the hot glue gun, but if I let it get too hot, it will partially melt the foam.

Once you have your basic shape, you can carve around, getting just the right look. It's then best to use a latex house paint (maybe an extra can laying around in the basement, as in my case) to coat it. Spray paint won't work, as it will melt the foam! Also, using acrylics on the surface isn't so hot either, as it will soak up a good deal before you can finally cover up the foam's original color.

I haven't done it myself, but most of the other guys around here who make terrain get some "texture paint" (One can get a gallon of the stuff at Wal-Mart for about $8.) to paint surfaces with to get a more rocky look. Some have used fleck paint, but I don't think the results of the latter method are worth the cost of the paint. A bit of dry-brushing, with various tones of brown and grey can bring out that "rocky" look for the exposed surfaces.

Then, you can take some white glue and water it down just a bit and spread it on the flat surfaces of your hill, then sprinkle some sand or else some of the turf used for railroad kits, and shake off the excess. If you use the sand, you can go back and brush on some green and/or yellow paint for effect. I go for the railroad set turf, but mainly because of availability and since I got it on clearance.

The result is what looks like a terraced, stepped hill - Not necessarily the most natural thing, and it wouldn't be that hard to make a continuous slope, but for purposes of tabletop gaming, it's best to have flat horizontal surfaces for figure bases to stand on, IMHO.

I hope that helps!