The grenadiers are advancing, as handsome a body of lead men ever seen. Every gaiter button painted, their faces inked and highlighted, subtle dry-brushing on their sleeves. They march in column up the black duct-tape road, through the cluster of broken model railway buildings with gluey fingerprints on the roofs, and deploy on a piece of brown felt next to three scrap pieces of green carpet piled up to represent a hill --- That's why. Because we spend hours of intricate work on model armies, and we'd like them to perform their manoeuvres on something that looks good. Something that shows off their artistry. Something that looks like the scenery in Zulu or Braveheart or Spartacus. Something that does not involve blue felt strips or plastic Christmas trees with some of the glitter rubbed off. And it really isn't that hard to do. WHO ARE YOU TO TELL US? I have been wargaming since 1970, when I was 12, and began building really quite horrible pieces of scenery almost immediately. But I stuck with it and picked up a few tips along the way, some of which I'll be handing along to you, gentle reader. I have been making wargames terrain on a professional basis since the late'80s. I am an Englishman resident in the United States since 1983. 1 will try and use terms that translate to both sides of the Great Pond, and make price comparisons that have some meaning e.g. a gallon of good exterior latex flat paint (That's matt emulsion for the outside of the house, Nigel) costs me about $20 in 1996, which is the price of two Osprey books or dinner for two, including Margaritas, at a local Mexican restaurant. Likewise, I understand that Charlie in Newport Pagnell might use Tetrion, while Chuck in Santa Clara used Durham's Water Putty, Same general thing. I'll try and look out for any problems of translation. However, being a Luddite, I shall stick with feet and inches, pounds and ounces etc. SO, WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO MAKE THIS WONDERFUL SCENERY I'VE ALWAYS WANTED? Actually, not that much if you are willing to invest some time, cash to start, and go for a method of mass production. Because it really does take almost as long to make, say one hill as it does to make half a dozen. Also, you need some space to spread out with the bigger pieces - even if it's only a patch of grass on a nice day. Plus, you get really filthy, with paint in your hair, glue on your hands and plaster all down your front. It's a glamorous way of life as a terrain maker - Here's a list of materials you'll need, staring with the basics. Styrofoam (AKA expanded polystyrene). This is the basic material for hills etc. It comes in different forms and thicknesses. The light blue foam, sometimes called 'blueboard' is much tougher than the white 'beaded' kind, though I use both. Being a born scavenger, I pick up lots of foam from packaging, begging it from electronics and furniture shops. In the US, it is sold in 8' by 4' sheets at big hardware places for less than the price of an Osprey book; score it down the middle with a box cutter and break it in half, that way you can get it in a car. Mine, anyway, with about a foot sticking out of the back ---- you'll not be appreciated trying to take it home on the bus. Hardboard, sometimes known as Masonite. You know, the brown pressed wood product that is shiny ('tempered') on one side - sometimes both - and rough on the other. It's fairly light, and comes in 1/8" or 1/4" thickness (we'll discuss this later), It can be a swine to cut, and will warp if you give it half a chance. I use this - together with odd bits of pressed wood siding, cheap panelling, and anything else that shows any potential - for bases for my pieces. Wood. I sometimes use off-cuts of wood - usually pine - for thick bases, and quite often use wooden blocks as the basis of simple buildings. For walls of various kinds I buy long strips of wood - especially 1 1/2" lattice strip used for garden structures - and cut it as desired. The Blessed Ian Weekley recommends soft plywood for buildings, though I use it sparingly. I use balsa wood sometimes, but more often its stronger bass and cherry counterparts. Plaster. I'll use this term for the powder that, when mixed with water in correct quantities, serves to fill in gaps, cover soft areas, and generally do wonders. Tetrion, Durhams, these are good. Ask the hardware man. It has to be tough, rugged, industrial strength. Don't use plaster of Paris, it will only break your heart. Paint. Now, we are not using those expensive oils and acrylics here. Not much, anyway. What you need to start with is a good base coat of thick latex type. I always use the same thing, so that my new stuff matches my old: exterior latex, flat finish, guaranteed 10 years on the outside of your house (I think the 15 year grade would be overdoing it) in a vile mud brown shade listed as 'sandalwood' by the Jones-Blair paint Co.. I also use a fairly nasty dark grey for some rock formations. I usually have a paler 'highlight' shade on hand, and some small plastic bottles of cheapo acrylics sold in craft shops at about half the price of paints made for modellers. Spray Paints. Don't spend a lot ' it doesn't matter if the paint has a rust-proofing ingredient. I use a lot of car touch up paints - mostly made for cars long ago, like "Toyota yellow 197881 ", bought for very little at a surplus store, in various natural colours. Yes, they are glossy, but that won't show in the thin mists of paint we'll be using. Oh, and never use cellulose spray paints on bare Styrofoam, it will melt it. And spray outside, or with very good ventilation, since you'll be wanting your lungs later on. Glue. I use a lot of yellow carpenter's glue for fixing wood to wood, or foarn to wood. White glue such as Elmers is good for small pieces like bushes. Superglue and yer basic household glue will prove useful. I also use the most macho of adhesives, a thick and gooey product called Liquid Nails, which is propelled from a caulking gun; it's ideal for affixing anything quickly - foam to a baseboard, say - but it's about as subtle as a brick through a window. GREENWORLD & BROWNWORLD I came to the idea a few years ago that most of the planet can be simplified into these two categories, depending on climate. GreenWorld comprises those moist, usually temperate zone where grass is green and is the main ground cover. Rocks are usually greyish to tan. Northern Europe, the Eastern U.S., coastal regions everywhere are usually GreenWorld. BrownWorld is hot and dry - the American southwest, Mediterranean Europe, all of North Africa and the Middle East. Everything is in shades of tan, with low shrubs replacing grass, which is itself a dried-out brown rather than green. Grossly oversimplifying, of course. But I know that if I have scenery for the North-West frontier of India, much of it will do for Arizona and Morocco, and all those hills that I think look like Argyllshire will serve nicely as North Carolina. Think about it. Pine bark nuggets are widely available in the U.S. as garden mulch. These make ideal rock formations when piled up on top of one another, much better than the cork bark sold at vast expense for the same purpose. I buy a huge bag for about $2, throw it on my garden to dry out in the sun, and pick the best pieces for terrain work. Once I've picked through, I leave the rest as, er, garden mulch. Actual small rocks, twigs and such. Cardboard, primarily the thick and sturdy kind sold as mat board in art shops. Often you can get off-cuts a lot cheaper than complete sheets. It doesn't matter what the colour is (you are going to paint it), so ask what they've got. You can use thinner card for roof tiles, I use index cards, as they already have lines in one direction! Woodland Scenics flocking and turf materials, trees and foliage. I make no apology for advertising this fine line of scenery products (for which I am not being paid, bribed etc). There are a lot of brands of scenic finishing products, some very good, but these are my favourites. I use the fine turf, which comes in several shades, for short grass and earth, the course turf for low bushes and the like, and the foliage clusters for larger bushes, I dislike the extra-course turf as looking more like plastic foam than bushes. Of course, it's all plastic foam, but no need to show it. The plastic tree kits - much sturdier than the lead ones also available - are easily bent into shape, and are excellent. All this being said, you can use any kind of scenic product you like. I generally no longer use lichen - it just doesn't compare with newer products - though a few select bits may come in handy. Sand, a 50lb bag of dry sand from a hardware store will last forever. It lasts me a few months, and I spent 500 hours making scenery last year. Foam core; I have used this for buildings once or twice, though it's not my favourite material. Some people love it. TOOLS I don't use a vast array of tools, but I do recommend the use of a power saw; I did without for years, bought a cheap Black and Decker scroll saw for $25, and cursed myself for all the sore arms I'd ever had. This tool cuts easily in curves, and can be set to cut at an angle for bevelling the edges of baseboards. I also have a basic power drill. I have a selection of small handsaws to cut out doors and windows. I also have the luxury of friends with complete woodshops for those times I want, say, 60 matching wooden squares each exactly 11 7/8ths across, or something elaborate for a castle crenellation. This isn't very often, and chances are you also have a friend who can cut this for you. A good lumber yard will do basic cutting to your specifications. So you don't have to spend the price of a holiday in the Seychelles on lathes and table saws, unless you really want to, Apart from this, you'll need some sandpaper, basic shaping tools, sharp knife, scissors, files. Nothing you probably don't have around the place already. Places you may not usually go to Dept.: Pet shops sell interesting plastic plants for aquariums. Avoid the garish orange stuff and see what they have that looks good for tropical vegetation. I buy a mixture, cut it up into pieces and inch or so long, and use it to jazz up forest sections and Pacific Islands. Check out the ceramic buildings for the fish tanks too - I got a great Hindu Temple for my 6mm for the price of a trip to McDonalds. The hardware store, not only for tools, paint and obvious materials, but things like screen mesh for windows, washers for basing figures and small scenic items. Those (primarily) women's craft shops that sell needlecraft and dried flowers etc. Dried plants can be useful. Jewelry findings serve as mirrors in western saloons or Arab water jars. Acrylic paints are half the price of modeller's paints. Just wander around! Cake shops, the kind that sell supplies for birthday cakes. They sell plastic palmtrees and cacti and all sorts of wonderful material for the scenery maker. RIGHT, GOT ALL THAT, WHERE DO WE START? This rather depends on your needs. If you take all your wargaming stuff to a club or convention, it will need to be portable; if you play at home on the kitchen table you'll have to put it away easily. If you have a custom wargames room with elaborate storage facilities, you can have massive modular pieces to your heart's content. I make scenery for all-of-the above, so here's my philosophy: wargames terrain should be tough, because idiots will lean on it, step on it, and throw it around, especially the bigger pieces. Someone will drive his car over it at some point. wargames terrain should be designed for actual toy soldiers to stand up on. This means that hills and mountains should have lots of flat surfaces between the rising parts, We are making terraced hills, woods with gaps between trees, and roads that columns can march down. We are not looking for the precise accuracy sought by our friends in the model railway community. wargames terrain should be light enough to be carried by people who are not weightlifters. I mean, have you seen the physique of actual wargamers? wargames terrain should be transportable. This ain't Siborne's Waterloo model, None of my customers has ever built an annex to their house for the scenery they had commissioned; most want to make sure the model could be stored between games. All my scenery has to fit into a Volkswagen. I don't use four foot square modules. wargames terrain should be sensible. You really don't need a 24'by 8' table. You can't reach the middle. And you will never have enough trees for the American Civil War anyway. Just know this and don't drive yourself nuts. More Terrain for the Common Man Introduction, Materials, and Tools Project 1: New Set of Hills Project 2: Streams and Rivers Covering the Table Roads, Walls, Trees Buildings Back to MWAN #105 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2000 Hal Thinglum This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com