Building Helms Deep

This Article is from GeBoom about his Helms Deep project. Im posting it for him as its very heavy with images. It truely is an AWESOME piece of terrain. I wish I had a chance to play on it.

Thanks a lot Gerard and I cant wait for the next part.

WARNING! This is a BIG article with BIG pics.
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Idiots Guide to Making Terrain #2: Trees

As I have mentioned in lesson
1 of this series, terrain generally hovers between functional and attractive.

Today’s lesson starts with trees that are functional, easy and cheap. The latter
half of this article is definitely NOT for beginners, this is due more to the
tools needed rather than the skill required to do the job. If you are prepared
for this, the trees you can make will greatly exceed the quality and functionality
of the trees in Part 1.

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Terrain Workshop: Ruined Watchtower

This is not really an extension of my "idiots guide" series, but the priciples learned in the first article are certainly applied here. Free free to review that o­ne before attempting this project. Additionaly, this project uses the Hirst Arts blocks, a whole hobby in itself, which really disqualifies it from being a beginners terrain piece. Overall, however, the project was pretty easy, and o­nly takes about 2 days to complete if you already have the blocks (due to some drying times).
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Making a Stucco Wall

with HirstArts fieldstone and wood plank molds

This isn't "technically" a stucco wall. Its a variation on Wattle and Daub. Wattles were woven sticks or reeds inside a wooden framework and then covered with Daub (clay, dung, whatever was available locally.) This provided insulation and sealed the gaps against the weather. I'm sure that I've seen a similar technique applied to loose stone stacked between wood support beams but couldn't find anything. Since I live in a fantasy world anyway, I thought, "What the hell! Slap me in a dress and call me Alice." Err. I mean, "cover it in spackle and pretend its real". I also figured more people would know what I'm talking about if I called it stucco. I'm very pleased with the result and to heck with reality.

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Idiots Guide to Making Terrain #1: The Basic Hill

The hill is a critical terrain feature. Not only does it break up the flat, featurless table, it is the building block upon which almost all other terrain skills are derived. Lack of these skills would push some so far as to stack books under a tablecloth¹. This is unacceptable, and many would be driven to violence if forced to play under such conditions. Much of your future terrain-related angst can be avoided altogether by simply following these directions.

Some general notes on terrain: Everyone wants to play on a gorgeous battlefield, replete with hills, trees, skulls, destroyed buildings, etc.; but there is a fine line between a functional tabletop battlefield and a delicate 28mm diorama unfit for those with fat fingers and a tendency to throw dice. The wise General chooses to build his terrain to the functional side of the house, with an eye on detail that does not hinder play or break easily. Todays lesson swings WAY to the functional side, but you should still be pleased with the overall outcome.Also, for every hobbyist there are different ways of doing things. This is how I make hills, but it is certianly not the only way or even the best way. This lesson was designed with simplicity and a minimal amount of supplies in mind.
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Spray Foam Terrain

While building a desert gaming table specifically for my Warhammer Skaven and Imperial Guard Tallarn units, I decided to try a new terrain making method: Spray Foam. Sold under a variety of different brand names, with Great Stuff being the most popular, the foam is commonly used as an insulator and all-purpose sealant in places such as where conduit or water pipes enter your home directly through a wall. I had seen it many times in my travels and noted how much the expanded foam resembled rock formations, so it was a natural leap to want to experiment with it o­n my gaming table.
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Fun with Sprues

This article looks at using sprues that accumulate in a seemingly endless supply. The obvious use is as a stick of some sort and I don't disappoint because that's what I did. I also made a plant out of sprue so that should be worth a read.
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Hidden Door in Hirst Blocks

Just a quick write-up on a test for a working hidden door using HirstArts block. I like functional or multipurpose dungeon pieces. Several parts of my dungeon sections have hidden passages and removeable sections. None of them are "working" bits though. I'm swamped with work, which is normal, so tend to take shortcuts. I wish I had time to try carving custom blocks. *sigh*

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Turning a Pumpkin Stem into a Tree Stump

In this article, well look at the process of taking a common (yet seasonal) object and turning it into a piece of wargamming terrain. Doing this made me realize that, with the right idea and technique, nothing is safe from wargamers.

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Building a Dungeon

My first project after building the standard buildings on the Hirstarts Site was to attempt a Dungeon. Since this my first Dungeon so I thought Id document the process. Larger pictures can be found in my Gallery Album I'm just going to use thumbnails here so that it flows better. In building a dungeon there is one main question to answer: What type of floor pattern am I going to use?
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