Making Terrain

Aug 2019
When I started wargaming with other people in about 1977, I was lucky enough to be with a club, The Farnborough Wargames Society. One of the many benefits of playing at the club was the large boxes of terrain available to all on any club night.

Recently I have returned to table top gaming after many years of roleplaying games and I realised that if I wanted to play at home I'd need some terrain.  A couple of hills and a few trees were a simple purchase but if I wanted roads, fields, hedges, walls etc then maybe DIY was the way to go.  I'd always wanted to have a go at making terrain but never had the time or need.

Lucky the internet is full of "how to do it" web sites. As I was thinking 15mm and 6mm terrain I found the "Grand Tactical Battles in the American Civil War"  web site full of very interesting ideas.

Hedges:
I started by creating some hedges from green scouring pads, some thing I'd read about in the 70's or 80's.  They look a little blocky and cultivated but they are usable.  Then I tried using Woodland Scenic clump foliage.  I think this gives the best hedges although they are more like a line of small trees in 6mm.

Walls:
I'm rather proud of my 6mm wall because it was my own invention.  It's a row of matchsticks painted grey.

6mm Austrian SYW by Baccus with terrain

Fields with Hedges:
There are carpet tile off cuts with the hedges above.

Woods:
The woods are straight off the "Grand Tactical Battles in the American Civil War" site.  Cocktail stick trunks into a foam board covered in Woodland Scenic clump foliage.

15mm Essex Celts with terrain

Roads:
Once again I followed the ACW site's lead and I made some roads using building caulk.  I was sceptical but it worked.  Sure the roads are best for 6mm and are a little rough but they are good enough.

Battle field with terrain including some roads.

All in all I'm pretty happy with the results.  I wouldn't want to spend much more time on terrain opposed to figure painting but  it was fun.  I can't help but think, I could do with some rivers and marshland...