Following are several ideas that have worked well for our gaming table for both 15mm and 1:200 WWII miniatures. For a long time, we have used a large piece of green felt about three feet wide and seven feet long which covers our dining room table. It is rolled up after each use to keep out the wrinkles. The roads were cut from tan felt about six to twelve inches in length and one to two inches in width. Some are straight, others are curved, others are Y-shaped for junctions. Ruts in the road are made with a brown magic marker. Streams were cut from light blue felt about two inches in width. Ripples were made with a green marker pen and timbers at fords with brown marker pen stripes to represent the timber planks which used to be set into the mud at fords.
Woods are cut from green felt in a variety of shapes and sizes with some cut with one straight edge to allow placement along the table edge. After placing the woods areas in place on the game table, trees are placed around the periphery as well as a few in the center of the woods. A row of bushes cut from the tips of lichen are placed like a hedge inbetween the trees around the periphery. This represents dense woods, which allow only infantry and dismounted cavalry to stumble through them. The unit loses it's formation and rolls one dice for each stand with the distance moved equal to an inch for the number rolled (i.e. if you roll a four, then that stand can move four inches). The unit then reforms at the edge of the woods as the Y4rious stands move up. An open woods is represented by scattered trees on the woods felt. Infantry can move through these wood in formation at a speed of one dice roll or in skirmish order at a seed of the sum of two dice. Cavalry and tanks are allowe to roam through the woods at reduced ?peed equal to one dice roll in inches.
Fences are mounted onto stand material about six to twelve inches long with flocking glued to the base as well as small bushes cut from the lichen glued along the fence to represent weeds. Acrylic matt medium works very well to glue the flock material and have scattered trees, hedges, and bushes placed around the buildings to give areas of soft cover and cut the line of sight through the village or farm.
Zig-zag fence lines were made from wooden match-sticks glued to the stand material in a zig-zag fashion. Short upright sticks are placed at each side where the wooden rails cross, then the rails are painted with streaked gray and brown paint. Green and tan flock are glued down followed by a few bushes. An easy way to make the small bushes is to compress the tip of the clump of lichen with the thumb and finger and then cut across this flattened lichen with scissors. This results in a rounded bush with a flat bottom which can be placed anywhere on the game table that a clump of bushes is placed.
Hills are made from one inch and two inch thick Styrofoam; preferably the green colored type which is found in craft scores. Use a marker pen to outline the curved edges of the hillside. Use a serrated kitchen knife with a six inch blade to cut along the marked edge at a 45-degree angle with a sawing motion of the knife. The curves on the hillsides are easily cut in this way and result in a nice sloping appearance. Green spray paint is lightly sprayed onto both sides to eliminate the shine and give a textured appearance to the hill. Tan and brown streaks on the hillsides give the appearance of a small ravine.
Timbered earthworks were made from a model railroad timber work casting in expanded urethane foam which is rather thick. Cut it into strips of five to six timbers high with a razor saw, cutting the base at an angle of sixty to seventy degrees. Remove the excess material and round the top and front face with a file- Cover the front face with tan flocking material.
Several larger bases have been cut out of stand material to represent fenced yards. Painted picket fence material and a front and back gate are glued to the perimeter of the base. Front and back pathways are made by gluing brown and tan flock in patches to the rest of the base to represent dry grass. A brick front walk can be cut from model railroad brick material and colored dark brown in the cracks and brick red with pink dry-brushed highlights. It is possible to use colored sand as used by model railroaders, but I prefer the smoother texture across the entire game board when flocking is used.
Gullies and valleys are formed by cutting the styrofoam hill material with matching curves along adjoining sides. When the hills are placed with the edges about one inch apart, a gully is formed. When the edges widen out a valley is the result. If one inch thick styrofoam is used, then a sunken road is formed and a piece of tan felt is cut to match.
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© Copyright 1989 Hal Thinglum
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