Terrain! Options

[barit]

Got the moulds, will pick up some hydrostone and plaster for them.

[Incognito]

sweeeeeet

[Origin]

Awesome! How lond does a mold take to set?

[barit]

You can take out the plaster in about 30mins, 1 day to cure properly.

[Origin]

Thats a pretty quick turn around. Might have to dedicate some tuesday gaming time to terrain.

[barit]

I have not had a chance to pickup any hydrostone or plaster, not sure if I will get down to glenelg before tuesday

If anyone feels like going for a drive or can make it down: http://www.amcsupplies.com.au/ I will fix you up for whatever the stuff costs.

Hydrostone is the stuff to get, or just ask if there is anything better?

[Origin]

I know some of you will have used your Sunday gaming credits on tourney but I would like to get together Sunday week for some terrain building. I'm pretty happy with our 40k stock, the yellow/desert table could do with a lick of paint and some sturdier non-slip basing.

Our fantasy stock is woeful, so I would like to work on that. I have some forests that need to be finished, I'll try to get them done this week. I have been thinking of making some cobbled roads pieces with a keep/toll bridge at the centre of a three way intersection. Would make a nice 'slither of civilization through hostile wilderness' board. How I imagine roads in the Empire, Bretonnia or the Border Princes to be. That would keep us occupied for most of the day, throw in a BBQ and some beer and we'll make a day of it.

[ru486baby]

Won't be able to make Sunday but I have started working on a small Forrest & some hills. I think we are in desperate need of hills. A river would be nice too.

[barit]

Got a birthday party to attend on the 12th, will have to give this one a miss but I will get the plaster for the molds by then.

There was some cobble stone trays in the bag so you should be able to whip up a nice looking roads.

[Origin]

I'm keen to have a look at these molds.

More forests, more hills, and a water feature would be ace. I would like to build eitire boards rather than individual pieces of terrain to make a boards worth. That being said the more terrain we have the better.

The forest I,m working on are made to be impenetrable. I have used thick sticks, stuck very close togtether to form a dense thicket. I'm still working on how to 'cap' the trees with foilage. The orginal idea was to use woodland scenic foilage but after discovering that i would need $100's worth i have been looking for cheaper alternatives. The current idea is to use paper mache to form the shape of the tree top and then use dry ground leaves to give texture. With a lick of paint it should look alright.

Maybe we could work on a river length with a toll bridge and cobbed road?

[ru486baby]

. I would like to build eitire boards rather than individual pieces of terrain to make a boards worth.

Yeah, I think that's a good way to go. I can make it so the Forrest n hills im working on are of the same theme. ( thinking of winter )

[Origin]

Alright, that sounds good. I have already painted my forests. They could work as a summer/autumn board. I'll work on the cobble stone road to match.

As to a winter board we could have a frozen river. Units may take dmage when they cross as they fall through the ice!

[barit]

Chris had some pretty cool ideas for some bridges for our next apoc game too.

Would like to get a scenario going for them, need 20 dudes on the bridge for 2 turns to repair it for an armored column or something like that...

[Origin]

Well it seems that this sunday is out for terrain. No matter I will work on some at home. And i will do my best to source some plaster for those molds.

And thanks again to Matt for the donation of some awesome fantasy terrain. His army looked good in and amoungst it as it slaughtered me last night.

This post has been edited by Origin: Feb 8 2012, 07:00 AM

[barit]

We had a chat about it last night, dedicating some time on a Tuesday to get some terrain done.

Play a game then do some terrain?

Need a list of what we have/what we want then work from that. Ty would the campaign take precedence and place similar terrain to what tile/area we were playing on?

Also need little markers done up, any ideas for those?

[Origin]

I wouldn't say that the campaign will take precedence as there is still a lot of 40k going on.

A list would help. I also would like to keep terrain board specific. In that i mean that we have a complete set of terrain that matches a board, that terrain is all based the same, same colour flock etc. Things just look better when they match.

So, a list:

1. 40k Gothic Ruins/City Fight Terrain; containing many multi level ruined buildings, one plaza, and one bunker. To fill this out i think we could add some different elevations, aka hills. An industrial complex or starport. Plenty of creators and barricades made from rubble and scrap. A board length road. And finally objective markers for the board. With these addtions we would easily have two tables worth.

2. 40k City Ruins, dessert style; contains 4-5 large buildings and a number of smaller wall segments. To this i think we could add, creators and rubble areas, roads, objective markers as above. However i would like to differentiate this board from our Gothic Ruins, something other than another urban board. Just a subtle shift in environment would work, we could move it into a jungle world, lots of forested areas and vegetation growing through the ruins. Or maybe even mount the buildings on elevated pieces with short bridges conecting them. The ravines formed form this could be anything, deep cravase, flowing lava, etc. Or we could just make it a lot more industrial by adding pipe work and vats of goo etc. Again with these addtions we could easily have 2 tables worth.
*I have lots of pipe at home that could be made into industrial pieces. Plus we have the molds Josh bought that allow us to make industrial interiors!

3. Fantasy terrain; contains, a watch tower, hedges, two swamp/marshland, two impassable cliffs, 2-3 hill, a number of small buildings. There is very little fantasy terrain available to us but it is relatively easy to make. Some good addtions would include, forests, a river with ford and bridge, more buildings and some more walls/fences. In terms of the campaign the terrain could be made to match it quite easily. On the campaign map there are 5 'areas'; grasslands/plains, forests, riverlands, 'badlands' and mountains. Each of these can be done with two boards worth of terrain. Grasslands/plains, forests and riverlands on board and mountains and badlands on another. Grasslands/plains would consist of hills, some scrub and a few trees with maybe a ruined building or monument. To make it a forest, just add more trees, and to make it a river land just throw down a river. Mountains and badlands would have large areas of ock and scree fields, caves, streams, some trees etc. As the campaign progesses we will need to add more civiised elemts to represt the gradual settlement of the isle.
*I will have two more hills built up by next week and some of these molds, hopefully making walls, buildings and bridges with them.

I think it is really important to make terrain. The better our terrin is, the better the games are on them. A good looking battle encourages play, much like a lady. Making it is not hard, finding the time and making it consistent are hard.

I suggest that if people have the time and are willing they construct terrain at home, trying to keep it in theme with the exsiting pieces and of comparable quaility. Build it at home and paint it at the the LMS. Building requires time for glue to dry etc, and is best done over a number of days. Also the paint scheme it largely what unifies the board so if we keep a ready stock of paint at the LMS then it should be easy to keep things looking like a complete board.

[barit]

I wouldn't say that the campaign will take precedence as there is still a lot of 40k going on.

Wasnt super clear, meant that instead of doing the typical dice roll for types and amount of terrain could it be something that is tied directly to the terrain under the marker on your campaign board?

You went to all the effort so would like to see it played to the fullest - or is that just a crazy man idea?

[Origin]

You went to all the effort so would like to see it played to the fullest

ohhhh... so sweet, you'll alwasy be my bodyguard.

I would love for that to be the case in the campaign. If we wanted to do that we would need to start on terain that represents the untamed wilderness. Forests, rivers, lakes, rocky outcrops, ruins, burrows etc. Then as the campaign progresses we add in 'civilized' terrain, walls and fences, roads, bridges, buildings and eventually castles.

We could easily accomodate any area in the campaign by having two boards, one focusing on riverlands/grassland/plain/forests (2 of these boards would be great but not 100% nessecary) the other on mountains/badlands.

Just poured my first cast, i'll let you know how i comes out when it's dry.

[Origin]

Just popped the first molds out. They came out well, the 3:2 plaster cement ratio works. I dropped one piece from 6ft, it chipped slighty but did not break. I didn't add the cotton wool, i'll try that soon. There were some air bubles in there, i'll have to tap a lot harder. Maybe give it a stir with a stick also. Second batch here we come.

[Origin]

It takes about 100g of plaster to cast a single mold,so should be able to do 15ish out of what i have here. I'll pick up some more plaster tomorrow when i'm in town.