Wargame Terrain Rubble Piles (Video)

Building battlefield accessories for any game board is not only important, it makes the playing experience come alive.  Rubble terrain scenery and ruble piles often show a a battle field that has been the scene of great destruction or city that is dying slowly. 

Either way,  rubble piles are easy to build and bring the tabletop alive with realism.  Check out the below video on how to build your own.

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Tabletop Terrain Painting Tips

I just wanted to write a brief "Quick Tip" on painting your terrain pieces. Depending on the size of the piece, you will want to have two good soft bristle brushes. One for painting the base color or wet brushing a wash coat and the other for dry brushing to bring out the highlights of the piece.

Lets assume you are painting a rock terrain piece that is made of the insulation foam with out any drywall mud. First, paint the entire piece with black acrylic paint. Let it dry for about an hour. Next, use a stone grey color paint or mix black and white to give you the desired color of grey. Dip your brush and than wipe off all the excess paint buy dabbing it into a terry cloth towel or paper towel. The goal is to remove most of the pigment from the brush. Once done, light brush the surface of the rock. As you do, you will notice that the grey paint is adhering to the higher texture of the rock, leaving the lowere area black or darker.

This technique create depth in your piece. Crevices will be dark, points and high spots will be lighter, just like in nature. Once this is complete, let dry for about half an hour. Next simple use white paint and wipe off the excess paint like you did for the grey. Paint it on lightly. As you do this, you will see your piece come to life. This is my favorite step in painting terrain. It is an easy way to make your game board come alive with realistic playable pieces of art.

Until next time...Keep building your world.

John

Broken Ground Terrain Piece (Part 2 of 3)

OK, let's get started.  For this terrain piece, you will need the following tools and supplies:

1. 3/4 inch blue insulation foam
2. Wall joint mud
3. Small ballast (from hobby shop)
4. Hot glue gun
5. Wire foam cutter
6. Palete knives
7. Box cutter

Step 1:
The first step is drawing your bbase on the foam. This piece will be about 12" long, 5" wide and almost 4-1/2" high.

Draw the base

Step 2:
Next usining your wire cutter, cut along the lines at a 45 degree angle so the base has a slope.

Base is now cut

Step 3:
We are now going to trace and cut the 2nd level of the broken land. This base will also be cut at a 45 degree angle, but first you need to place the top of the base on a new piece of foam. Take a pen and trace the base onto the new foam.

Get ready for the 2nd level

Place base top on new foam

Outline of 2nd level

Next, cut the foam with your foam cutter. Cut with the traced lines up, angle the wire in and trace the outline as best you can. the edge of this piece will meet with the top of the base piece.

Cut inwards

Finished 2nd level

You now want to repeat this process for the next 3 pieces. But this time to not cut at an angle. Instead cut at 90 degrees. Remember, these cuts do not have to be perfect. You are only making a skeleton of the finished product, so don't stress if it is off a bit.

3 more top pieces

Plug in your hot glue gun

Glued pieces

Step 4:
Glue all the pieces together.

Step 5:
Now that you have the basic design cut and glued, it time to add the texture. Using your palet knife, spread the drywall mud evenly over the entire piece. Don't worry about a smooth coat or even if you miss spot. Nothing in nature is perfect and neither is your broken land.

Wall board compound

Pallet Knife

Piece with wall board compound

Another angle

Step 6:
Next sprinkle the small ballast on the base with the wet compound. When dry, this will create extra texture to the overall piece design.

Ballast on base of broken land

Now you have to wait about 24 hours to proceed with the next step. In the third and final part of this series, we will paint and flock using several techniques to create a realistic piece of art you can play with.

Until next time
John