Terrain - Industry

After completing the first stage of a fairly mammoth project (which I will get around to writing about one day) I decided to take a bit of a break and focus on something else for a while.  I really enjoy making terrain and with the cost of the hobby find it a cheap way to indulge my desire to model and paint that results in something useful that I can always put on the table.

A while back I made some industrial terrain and I generally feel that themed tables offer the greatest aid to an evocative game as it gives a visual context for the battle to take place in.  Modern way after all is rarely fought in a featureless landscape but instead around vital objectives, roads, manufacturing plants and power stations etc.  I recently attended the WH40k doubles tournament at Warhammer World, a great venue and somewhere that has often felt like the centre of the hobby to me.  I have in the past enjoyed wandering around the tables not looking at the armies but the tables themselves marvelling at the evocative landscapes and depth of creativity in capturing the look and feel of the 40k universe in pieces of scenery and whole battlescapes.

My recent trip was a bit of a disappointment in that as the terrain was perfectly serviceable but was ultimately bland and uniform.  This is often essential at a tournament but it doesn't serve to really create an atmosphere or a mood for the game to be played which to me is like having an action movie without the sound on.

As one piece of terrain is almost identical to another piece in the current rules (the only exceptions being how much space does it take up and does it block line of sight) it seems strange that there can't be a wider variety of pieces in a place with such available creativity and talent.

The terrain I built is from an old Bisto tube and several feet of pluming pipe with a few connectors and that’s pretty much it.  The grate of the drain is from hobby craft (the jewellery section) with notices and the slime modelled from green stuff.  The slime is just plain green stuff stretched and pushed into the pipe to give the appearance of flowing before being gloss varnished.  The green flock is to match the realm of battle I own but for a more 40k look could go for gravel burnt out and charred around the site.  I've covered rust in a previous post (way back in March) and had to check myself the best way to get the effect right.

A long low piece of terrain it’s useful as a piece that doesn't block line of sight.  An example of such an additional rule could be - any shot blocked by the terrain can attempt to penetrate against AV12.  If successful roll a dice 1-2 the terrain becomes dangerous as toxic chemicals pour out, lasts till end of game. 3-6 places the large blast template anywhere in the terrain, models at least partially covered must take a toughness test or suffer 1 wound (armour saves may be taken as normal) as clouds of noxious gas are released, no further effect.

These are made up on the spot and no doubt need some more work but what they do is cause the models to interact with the terrain.  When playing computer games we all know its a pretty bad idea to shelter behind a fuel drum, by doing this the game makes us assess the situation more carefully and interact with the battlefield a bit more.  Introduced into tabletop games this has the potential to slow the game (or discourage cover forcing units even deeped inside transports, and I'd have to appologise now to Tyranid players) but also the potential to make more vivid battlefields and encourage imagination in the scenery presented.

Smoke Plumes and Wrecked Vehicles

I've been wanting for a while to make terrain that adds character and story to a battlefield, something that gives the feeling of a battle in motion.  Burning fires and the smoke from exploding ordanance or mines stick in my mind as something I'd like to try representing.  The smoke plume from a burnt out vehicle especially as all to often a tank is destoryed and removed with little or no evidence it was even on the field to begin with.

There are two types of feature i'm interested in then, small scale plumes from a single explosion or 'burst' and longer, ongoing fire effects.

Starting with the former I used tree foliage flock (I used autum folliage of reds and orrange so the red could show through), several strips of wire, a small coin (a penny) and a round base.  the wire strips were cut to around 20cm in length.  Double the strips back on each other and wrap them round eachother to make a shape about 10cm in height.  One end coil into a stand and glue onto the coin using supper glue or hobby tack (I used PVA which works too).  Glue the coin onto the round base and leave to set dry.  for more stability you can lump modelling putty over the top of it all to set the wire in.  Top tip is to absolutley make sure its all set before moving on, if it somes off the base its a pain to reattach latter.

Liberally spread PVA along the entangled wire and attach small clumps of folliage.  A good technique is to take a strip of folliage and wrap it arround the wire, working your way up untill the whole thing is covered.  Keep pressing it all tight against the wire and add more to any sections showing.

Once dry use black spray paint and aim downwards, not hoping to cover it all but covering the top and side surfaces leaving the underside (reds) free to show through.

The second kind of plume is an ongoing fire like that from a burning vehicle.  I found a guide online suggesting using LED tealights and pillow stuffing.  Both are available at hobbycraft in the UK for about £2 each.

To build takes less than a minute but does need a glue gun.  Run the glue around the sides and tip of the tealight.  Grab a handfull of the stuffing and shape into a column or plume.  Force the plume into the glue and add glue to compress or shape it till yo have a natural, near vertile plume of smoke.  Again, spray with black plaint from verticle focussing on the top of the plume leaving the base more white and clear.  Once dry simply place on the wreched vehicle and turn the light on.

Bloodied but unbowed the Crimson Fists 1st company continue to advance

The Razorbacks explode under focused fire from mortar and artillery

1st Company Veteran strides through the remains of his transport shrugging of ordanance as he advances

By making larger or smaller blumes you can represent wrecked sponsons or add a collection directly onto the field to show a dangerous terrain minefield or just burning wreckage from earlier in the battle.  Makes a good scenic backdrop and will have to see how it works in game