Now that I have decided to try to get some use out of the gridded and flocked terrain boards that I recently found in my toy/wargames room, I need to think about the terrain items I will have to make to go with it.
Trees are not a problem as I already have quite a few model coniferous and deciduous trees that are mounted in singles and groups on non-slip bases. Likewise I can use strips of suitably coloured felt for roads and rivers … and possibly use squares of felt for unbounded fields, marshes, and swamps.
I have no idea how many building I have in different scales, but suffice it to say that I have over fifty small (approximately 1:200th-scale) buildings I have bought in Croatia and various other European countries (including Belgium, Denmark, Italy, and Norway), at least as many – if not more – from ‘Town in a bag’ sets, a dozen or so Hornby Lyddle End N-gauge buildings, and several storage crates full of assembled plastic HO-scale model railway buildings.
What I do seem to lack is any hills, and so I am looking at various ways in which I can construct suitable hills to go with the ‘new’ terrain boards. They will have to be built in multiples of 7.5cm x 7.5cm squares, and at the moment I am thinking about making a series of wooden boxes that, when painted and flocked, will make passable hills. They will have to be ‘stepped’ so that units can ‘stand’ on them without falling over. Another point that I must take into consideration is that the vertical height of each level should not be too tall – and therefore look ridiculous in comparison to the height of other terrain items on the terrain boards – or too short so that they convey the impression that they are unimportant.
I hope to start work on my first prototype hills later today … assuming that I can find the raw materials I need in my toy/wargames room!
Trees are not a problem as I already have quite a few model coniferous and deciduous trees that are mounted in singles and groups on non-slip bases. Likewise I can use strips of suitably coloured felt for roads and rivers … and possibly use squares of felt for unbounded fields, marshes, and swamps.
I have no idea how many building I have in different scales, but suffice it to say that I have over fifty small (approximately 1:200th-scale) buildings I have bought in Croatia and various other European countries (including Belgium, Denmark, Italy, and Norway), at least as many – if not more – from ‘Town in a bag’ sets, a dozen or so Hornby Lyddle End N-gauge buildings, and several storage crates full of assembled plastic HO-scale model railway buildings.
What I do seem to lack is any hills, and so I am looking at various ways in which I can construct suitable hills to go with the ‘new’ terrain boards. They will have to be built in multiples of 7.5cm x 7.5cm squares, and at the moment I am thinking about making a series of wooden boxes that, when painted and flocked, will make passable hills. They will have to be ‘stepped’ so that units can ‘stand’ on them without falling over. Another point that I must take into consideration is that the vertical height of each level should not be too tall – and therefore look ridiculous in comparison to the height of other terrain items on the terrain boards – or too short so that they convey the impression that they are unimportant.
I hope to start work on my first prototype hills later today … assuming that I can find the raw materials I need in my toy/wargames room!
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