Terrain modeling question

[Kenneth P. Katz]

I want to make some wargame terrain pieces (hills) that can survive being transported. Paper mache is tough but doesn't look good. Plaster looks good but is brittle. Can I mix paper mache and plaster to create a composite material that is both tough and looks good?

[Corinthian]

I want to make some wargame terrain pieces (hills) that can survive being transported. Paper mache is tough but doesn't look good. Plaster looks good but is brittle. Can I mix paper mache and plaster to create a composite material that is both tough and looks good?

 

I've had good results with a paper mache material known as Celluclay. You mix it with white glue to give it "structural integrity." It's basically powderedized paper (closest description I can come up with) that, when dry and painted, makes for a close-enough simulation of bare ground. Since it's a wargaming scale, you just paint this green or whatever colour you want and it'll look the part.

 

Plaster is heavy. The key to keeping plaster together is to apply it with gauze or some similar netting to provide the "frame" and thus avoid it fall apart - or at least lessen the number of broken pieces.

 

Alternatively, I've used simple toilet paper applied over objects to create rises on terrain. The toilet paper is applied dry over the object, then with a sprayer containing water and white glue mixture, I spray it over the toilet paper. Touching it up with a soft brush to help ease the toilet paper on the object. Several layers later, and it'll look like soil. Let dry and it'll end up almost rock solid. Apply a thin coat of white glue all over, sprinkle some garden soil, remove excess, let dry and you have your hills.

 

HTH!

[bojan]

Use insulation foam as a base, shape it in rough shape, then cover with mix of plaster, white glue and fine sand. Will survive atomic bombing probably... Prime with car spray-paint.

Local wargaming terrain after year of intensive use - just a nick here and there:

Edited October 17, 2011 by bojan

[Corinthian]

bojan, that's impressive! that look perfect for those large-scale Battlemechs I saw once on the net several years ago.

[Assessor]

Insulation foam is good, closed cell polystyrene foam is good, spray foam is good.

 

If you're keen to use plaster, resoration plaster is good - it's as hard as iron and not brittle, but it weighs a ton!

[bojan]

bojan, that's impressive! that look perfect for those large-scale Battlemechs I saw once on the net several years ago.

 

It is for Warhammer 40K. Took ~3 months for me and two friends to do it (~150 pieces of terain).

Here is more:

http://s298.photobucket.com/albums/mm249/bojank92/teren/

 

And my favorite - beached Ork Battleship (well, part of it anyway):

We royally fucked water part...

Edited October 17, 2011 by bojan

[Mobius]

I used to make terrain boards for miniature games. The best material for hills is pink foam insulation. Here is my page for terrain board construction.

http://www.panzer-war.com/page16.html

 

http://www.panzer-war.com/page10.html

Edited October 17, 2011 by Mobius

[Mk 1]

Might I also suggest considering an alternative approach with the critical advantage that one investment of time and money building up your materials can make almost any map? This approach allows a modest investment to produce innumerably more variety in gaming boards, is more robust to multiple re-uses, is far more easily transported, and can produce some stunning visual results.

 

Take a look at the terrain in this wargame story:

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/6mmgaming/sets/72157624523581546/detail/

 

The results are truly stunning.

 

To see how flexible this approach is, check out the number of games, with all of the variety in game table set-ups:

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/6mmgaming/sets/

 

How is it done? Here is a tutorial:

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/6mmgaming/sets/72157624232621753/detail/

 

The source of this material is a gamer named MLuther. I have studied his approach, and tried to learn and implement the basics of his techniques. I have applied the same techniques equally for desert or temperate terrain, and I expect them to apply equally for winter terrain.

 

It takes a bit of experience to get it all working, but here are the basics as I have understood them:

 

1 ) The starting point is a cloth. MLuther uses plain, cheap bed sheets. I have tried some other, heavier cloths. I think I will move towards bedsheets, as he still seems to get better results than I do.

 

2 ) Elevations go UNDER the cloth. Use whatever you want for elevations. Cut styrofoam seems to be the easiest, although I mostly re-use the cut corrugated cardboard that I have been collecting for several years (originally for use ON TOP of my game cloths, but now applied UNDER per the MLuther method).

 

3 ) Use spray-paints to break-up the uniformity of the color of the cloth. Two or three variances on the base color. If a green cloth, use a lighter or darker green, and maybe a tan or earth tone or a yellowed tone. For a snow-scape maybe some light gray and some mud-brown. Lightly spray in uneven blotches. Better to use coloring/shading around your elevations (rises get greener or browner, whatever). It is semi-permanent, but don't worry, 'cause you actually want to have a mottled color over time.

 

4 ) Use pastels for specific terrain features of each game. Roads, rivers, marshes, rocky/crumbled dirt sloaps, etc. Consider putting pastel colors around elevations and/or depressions to highlight these terrain features. After stroking on the pastels, rub them a bit with your fingers to smudge them up and make them less distinct. A pack of 20 pastels from the crafts store serves very well for many games. Use three or four shades for each terrain feature, not just one.

 

5 ) Put lots of stuff on top of the cloth. Fields of grain and crops are mostly remanents of interesting cloths from the fabric store. Use spray-adhesive, from the fabric store, to get it to stick flat on the cloth. Tree lines, hedges and walls/fences are built-up on coffee-house stirring sticks with painted/flocked bases. Add buildings, etc. Don't be shy to put some pastels around your added foliage and structures.

 

That's what I've learned so far. I am still a beginner on this approach, after many years of gaming using many other methods to set up the boards. Still building my collection of game cloths and crop cloths.

 

Examples of the results I've achieved in my gaming:

 

 

 

 

 

Hope that you find this helpfull, or at least interesting.

 

-Mark 1

[Steven P Allen]

I want to make some wargame terrain pieces (hills) that can survive being transported. Paper mache is tough but doesn't look good. Plaster looks good but is brittle. Can I mix paper mache and plaster to create a composite material that is both tough and looks good?

 

Do some searching for Model Railroading sites. Lots of techniques out there easily adapted to your needs. The foams mentioned above are great places to start.