I'm making some houses for SG terrain, and thinking I probably ought to base
them. The buildings themselves are about 2" square in light card stock (mini
gift boxes, with the lid turned upside down for a
parapeted roof--these are Islamic Fed) and I'm not going to bother
with the interiors. I'm probably going to mount it on matte board, add
spackling for texture and flock it. Any suggestions as to a) why I wouldn't
want to base them, or b) a better way to do it?
I picked up a technique a while back for games where you can destroy
buildings. I am not sure if you can do that in SG but, you base them with a
removable base. On the "inside of the building, on the base itself, rubble has
been created so when the building gets destroyed all you do is pull it off the
base and instant battle damage!! My own personal touch was to also do some
quick and easy detached rubble I stick inside as well so when you pull the
building up it sort of falls out and looks more like a building that has been
destroyed.
Jason
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On Wed, 19 Feb 2003 06:40:02 -0800, "Bradley, Jason (US - Minneapolis)"
> <jabradley@deloitte.com> wrote:
> I picked up a technique a while back for games where you can destroy
This is a really cool, and really old, technique. I remember doing this in the
*gasp* late 70s based on a book on Napoleonic games I saw by either Grant or
Featherstone.
Another technique I saw was to create the building in two halves. You put the
building together for a complete building, but you can swing open one half to
get into it for figure placement (you can also keep half a building near the
edge of the table).
A third technique, and one I really like, is to model each storey separately.
You stack each storey on top of one another. You give each storey a floor, and
model the rooms. It takes a lot more work, but the results are quite good. If
you have metal bases you can line the floor with sheet magnet and glue very
thin paper on it (or not, depending on what you like to see). You then have a
way of keeping the figures in place as you lift and place a storey.
Bases are usually a really good idea, as they will give your buildings more
stability.
Hi Folks,
> I'm making some houses for SG terrain, and thinking I probably ought
You do want to base them - it makes the buildings stronger (and more
resistant to shipping/storing damage), and can look more "complete"
depending on what type of terrain you use for the rest of your table.
I would suggest that you base them on plastic, not matte board. Depending
on the type of glue you use, matte board can sometimes curl/bend/warp.
Also, the edges get damaged easily. I prefer to base buildings on sheet
styrene, and have used 1/16" which works really well. It's more
expensive than matte board, but if you get some through a plastics dealer you
should be able to get it cheaper than in hobby stores (but you know that...
didn't you do plastic industry sales or something?)
When you're creating the base, you should consider making the width of the
base *either* exactly the same size as the outside dimensions of the building
(so no base overhang), *or* (and this is my preference) at least a bit wider
than the width of one standard figure base. If you make it wider than a figure
base, then you can add a bit of detailing and still have room for a figure to
stand right at the wall of the building without tipping. If you make it with
no overhang, then you can also stand a figure next to the building without
tipping. If you base the building with overhang in between, you'll have people
trying to stand their figures next to the building and the figures will tip,
and that is *annoying*...
Having a 1" or so overhang works well, but makes the buildings a bit more
difficult to store. I do it with the overhang anyway, because it gives me
the opportunity to add bits of sand/rubble/stuff at the bottom edge of
the walls, particularly for "destroyed" buildings, and that looks better.
An alternative suggestion, if you're going for an "urban" look. I recently
came across some foam sheets in a hobby/craft store. I don't have any
handy, so I can't give the brand name, but this stuff is cut to about 11 x
17" or so, and was quite thin (1/16" or maybe a bit thicker), and
stiff-but-flexible. It comes in a variety of colours. My friend Dave
bought a bunch of it in black, and dry-brushed grey paint onto the
surface to give it a "worn tarmack" sort of look. He does a "blasted ruined
city" terrain setup using shapes cut out of that foam as building bases, and
doesn't bother putting an actual hard base on the buildings themselves. This
works quite well, and is *inexpensive*. The foam can be cut to make "road"
also, and looks like tarmack.
Have fun,
Speaking of terrain, does anyone have any god links to go to check out how I
would go about making a semi-realistic gaming table for 15mm wargames?
I would like to use the same materials, like Woodland Scenics that they use to
make railroad displays of.
Also, is 15mm equal to roughly 1/72 scale? What scale would that be for
railroad modeling?
Thanks
Check out terragenisis (sp) if you are ambitious. But to start, a couple bags
of trees (or even lichen) an old Army blanket (OD in color) and some masking
tape can do wonders.
Terrain boards made from sheet Styrofoam are easy. Find a green you like in
latex house paint (look in the OOPS section of the paint store). Paint the
boards (hopefully you have cut these to the size you want) and while the paint
is still wet, cover with turf (flocking). IIRC Woodland Scenics T-49 is
the
same shade as Geo-Hex. Shake excess off onto newspaper and set aside to
dry (overnight at least).
I'll post some photo's and the URL later.
Michael Brown
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Michael, thanks for the tips! I have been modeling war gaming terrain for a
while now and I have plenty of the modular type stuff, bases of trees, some
hills, a river section etc.. But for the longest time I have been itching to
do a full 4x8 table like you see the railroad guys or sometimes the historical
war gaming people do. I have found one or two sites with some pics of some
terrain like this but no one really lays down how they did it! The other
limitation is money. For example, I could go out and pickup a whole Woodland
Scenics kit, including risers, plaster paper etc...but for a 4x8 table that's
going to run me a few hundred dollars and I imagine there are other more
creative and more importantly cheaper;) ways of doing it! Railroaders have
been doing it for years so there has to be some tricks to getting nice scenic
tables!
I am leaning towards the insulation foam idea, I can get it conveniently in
4x8 sheets and with a foam wire cutter, some sandpaper and some time can get a
pretty good lay of the land. Mostly I am looking for realistic textures and
techniques for the detail work!
Jason
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Thanks for the Terragenesis reminder by the way! I totally forgot they were
out there!!
Jason
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There are some good pages on scale conversion:
The Miniatures Page - Hobby Reference - All About Scales:
http://theminiaturespage.com/ref/scales.html
What Scale is It?
http://www.onsitediecast.com/scale.htm
-Bri
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Excellent links Brian, thanks!
Jason
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