woods & walls

So occasionally you stumble on an idea and you actually see it through to the end and it actually works out. It happens, but not often. I think these woods may be one such example as I really like them.

Here's another shot, more areial view. I'm doubtful these can take the pounding from a hobby shop crowd, but then again I haven't found any terrain that can yet. Do you think I should make the lichen more green? I could probably dry brush it, or spray paint it before installation.

The walls I made previously are made from casting blocks from Hirst Arts which are really well done. I then seal them and then wash them with water-based stain. But as I looked at them I got to wondering about stones made from different kinds/colors of rock and wondering if I could represent that in miniature. so before washing this batch I picked out random stones with 3 different colors of grey paint. Reminds me somewhat of the stone walls in civil war battlefields.

Some times my camera is almost too good because upclose pictures shows flaws you can't even see with the naked eye, let alone from distances more associated with gaming, so here's a pic from a bit further away.

A few pieces from Hirst molds.

A scientific looking eco-pool. Who knows, it just popped into my head.

Tank traps, or Necron-type things, I think of sleestaks if you are old enough to know what those are, heheh.

2 power generators and a control nodule or something.

So I'm a huge slacker, I've been busy and have s-l-o-w-l-y been working on some new pieces. I fully expect to take these down to the local hobby shop eventually but its a 30 minute drive and my days are packed with errands and kids and work, etc. heheh enough of all that, here's some terrain...

Rocky outcroppings are mostly made of styrofoam hills, covered in cement, the "rocks" are pine tree nuggets and look great!

Rocky Outcropping

Rocky Outcropping

The walls interestingly overhang each end of the base by about 1/4 inch so that they can be arranged in multiple configurations. each is about 6 inches long.

Small Rocky Hill
I am a subscriber to Beasts of War, they are a UK-based miniature game review company. They unbox new figs, do you tube vids of assemling new kits, and even clarify rules that cause confusion. I emailed them asking for a tutorial on how they make their great hill terrain. I have yet to get a response but here I had a go anyway! Let me know what you think.
Large Rocky Hill
I put in a Space Marine Dread to give some scale to this piece. Its a honking big hill.
different angle on the same hill as above. The Small rocky hill is a bit taller than the larger hill, just to make things interesting, I suppose.

So as I said in my last post I've been working on some alternative Woods. Woods seem to be very scarce in 40K yet look at pictures from every war since the beginning of time, and there is a tree somewhere in the background, go figure.

Anyway, I picture this sort of wood to be found on tables with dwarves, Space Wolves, Chaos Hoards, etc. Tell me what you think!

[You can click on the images for larger pics.]
Two small stands of trees growing out of some rocky ground gives the feel of cover from incoming small arms fire.

Slightly different angle to show the bases for the trees, I used MDF board cut to irregular shape, the rocky out-croppings are pinebark nuggets, I then textured the base with sand and glue. They were painted with basecoated black/brown then drybrushed tan. I used PVA mixed with cornstarch for the snow, I'll need to work out the consistency for that, as it was a little difficult to work with.

My Scouts scouting out a pine forest, it's cold as evidenced by the spotty snow covering the ground in places.

Alternative Terrain

Here's something I'm currently toying around with...



I plan to make a few small stands that can then be placed on felt to stand for a wood, but allow the terrain to be moved around to accomodate models, AND still maintain a clearly defined space via the felt (or cloth or whatever).

I have an idea for icicles too. stay tuned.

Desert Terrain

okay, so I sold some razorwire to a client from Bartertown, as we emailed back and forth he indicated that he had a desert themed gaming table and that he wanted some hills, etc. He showed me some hills he was looking at on ebay and I told him I could do them for him for trade.

[Desert Hills set, with razorwire set]

[Razor wire with my marines for scale]

I made some razorwire to match the desert terrain, and made the hills to his specs. He preferred the strait-sided hills instead of a beveled edge, he also declined to have them based (I usually use MDF it makes the foam heavier and thereby more stable, as well as protects it to a degree).

So the customer and I began chatting about some other terrain features he might like me to make, and I came up with a few.

Here is an oasis, using some water effect.

[Oasis and butte]

[A refinery of some sort]

[Butte set 1]


[butte set 2]