To pick up where I left off in #126 -- I continue to question my sanity on this project as it moves too slowly. I have managed to obtain some graph paper with one inch squares, this stuff is great not for only working out terrain but for planning battlefields for the table top. It comes in gigantic hanging pads; I guess it's used for presentations in the business community, 34x27 and $20 for a pad of 50 sheets from Staples.

I cut up several 4 by 8 inch rectangles to draw the outlines and contours of the terrain I am interested in, along the lines of the Khyber Pass. Then I cut out several more 4x8s and cut them into 2x2 squares and drew contours on them. From this I could see how well things would mix and match on the table.

For what I had in mind, it is just not going to work the way I wanted it to. And there are loads of reasons for this.

First, it would not allow for mixing as well as I wanted, the squares are too big, and the terrain too high. You know what word I used next, well back to the drawing board, and while I'm at that, where am I going to put the terrain after I build so it will not get destroyed. Space in the game room is very limited, so something must go, this is not fun. A rack may be the only way to deal with this space problem but I will have to wait until I construct the modules before I build a rack that will hold them.

So while I am trying several new topographic designs, I decided to glue the blue board (or pink) to the masonite, at least for a single level to carve into. I could not think of a design that would necessitate me carving into the bottom layer of blue board much more than a half-inch.

First thing make sure you have a good metal straight edge and a packet of new blades for your box cutter knife. Old blades will tend to cause the knife to bunch up the foam and this causes gaps or gashes in the bottom level where the edges meet and you definitely don't want that. Or where any edges will meet. And the knife must have a blade longer than one inch to cut all the way through it.

Now that the bottom layer is glued into place comes another question, how to represent each topographic line/contour with the foam/blue board? Do I just carve away and end up with a set of terrain boards that will look natural but will probably not allow a figure to stand upright. Or, do I make it like the contour maps with each contour line a sharp break so that each level will allow figures to stand upright.

With this method I can still make the terrain boards look pretty good and the figures can stand without falling over. The other way it looks natural and I guess I could cut in flat spaces just large enough for a figure. However, that would limit my options once this is complete, the figures could only advance up hill within a set course. Regardless of which way I finally decide to construct the hills I will still have to write specific climbing/movement rules for the rough terrain. That is if I do not think the rules I am using, cover this movement properly or not.

I am still playing with models of terrain cut out of paper. I think I need something more visual than paper contours. So I will experiment using foam core contours cut to scale.

I want the modules to perform many functions:

1) to be able to be constructed into many different passes,

2) to change from a pass set up one way to reversing them into a mountain that runs down the middle of the table,

3) to be able to use them on only half the table rather than the full length,

4) to act as a stand alone piece in the center of the table (I do not think this is feasible, but may be that's too pessimistic), and

5) to be used on both ends of the table to form a large central pass in the middle of the table.

I once made a terrain board that covered the whole table and that was way too static. I am still up in the air about how to continue with this contour construction and would certainly like some advice. So if you have made your own modular scenery please tell me about it. Geo-Hex is looking better all the time, and no they have not paid me to say that.