Do you construct your own custom terrain?

[Raffles]

I've started making my own wargame terrain for A&A miniatures. My plan is to make individual hexes that will come in a set of different varieites (Rivers, roads, buildings, mountains, etc).

I've started by buying a load of cheap cork tiles from the local DIY Store. A few experiments in the past month revealed that to base the hexes on the original scale would make it awkward for tanks to share the space with some sort of obstacle. I've deicded therefore to make the scale of the hexes slightly bigger - roughly the same size as the hexes that come with the boardgame 'Settlers of Catan'.

I'll be posting photographs of some finished terrain as soon as I get some results.

Does anyone else here have any photos of terrain they've made or are making currently?

[skystalker]

Take a look at postings by Komichido and WarChild7, and you'll get a lot of information. As I recall, they have expanded hex sizes to 3 1/4 and 4 inches respectively......

[Gunner]

Use felt for the area of the terrain. Place Woodland Scenics "Clump-Foliage" on green felt for woods. Buildings on gray felt. "Upside down cake pans" type hills on brown felt. Strips of foam sheet for roads. Strips of felt for water. When the buildings or "trees" get in the way move them as the felt defines the area not the object. Double range and movement numbers on cards. Use rules for measuring.

If you want to stay with hexes try printing out map George 1 or 2 and place terrain on that.

[PatrickWR]

Here's my custom terrain. It's all felt or foam, hexes are 150% larger than standard AAM hexes.

http://boards.avalonhill.com/showthread.php?t=6910

[NavDog]

I have started to make my own terrain/units and recently completed my first run of prototypes. I chose to stick with the original 2 inch hex size so they could be added to the existing maps without having to make an entire map of larger proportions (although I think I may end up going that route for myself since it is very hard to make pillboxes and other structures on such a small scale and still have room for a vehicle or troops). I am using rubber molds to cast the items in plastic and it was actually pretty easy to do and didn't take much time. The result is a white plastic peice on a two inch hex base that you can then paint, flock, etc. to your taste for whatever climate (desert, snow, etc.) or scenario you choose. I chose this method since I can make new units that don't exist in the game yet (I am sure Avalon Hill will get around to some of these same ideas as more expansions come out) as well as terrain. The best part of it is that once the mold is made, you can pretty much crank out as many peices as you want for you or your friends in a short amount of time and then customize them as you chose. You have to come up with your own statistic cards and rules for them, but a little play testing later you have a completely functional addition to your game. I currently have made a German pillbox, German gunpit and a barbed wire hex in addition to blank hex tiles for general map construction. My next projects will probably include a refined pillbox, some tank traps and some larger scale terrain peices or custom objectives. I wanted to post a picture of what I already have done, but the smallest picture I have is 600 by 800 and too large to post, but I will send pictures via email if anyone wants to see what I am talking about. I checked out Pat's map and really liked it (one of the reasons I am considering going to a larger hex). Keep up the good work!

[Sean-Khan]

Sure! But I've had a lot of work lately, and I model for D&D and Star Wars miniatures too, and right now AAM has been left for the last one... Last saturday at a party two of my friends surprised me and after trying a mini-game with my few AAM they ordered a bunch of minis right away :D So I believe AAM will get more attention from me soon!

I'm doing 3,5" hexes, you'll see two pics here: http://www.iki.fi/~twilek/models/pics/aam/inmaking.jpg
http://www.iki.fi/~twilek/models/pics/aam/inmaking2.jpg

[NavDog]

Hello again and sorry for not being able to post a picture last time. I messed around with the image and got it down to a size that I can upload to the forum. It took me a while to figure out how to do it since I am not a computer guru by any means, but I hope you like the picture and now you can at least see what I was babbling about.

[PatrickWR]

Great job guys! I'm seeing some really cool stuff in the world here.

The problem I've been running into is fitting all the cool terrain into the hex AND still leaving room for a big tank and a couple infantry. For me, even at 150% the hexes are still a bit small.

[NavDog]

I agree with what Patrick said about trying to make custom terrain. Even at 150 percent enlargement, it is hard to try and make custom terrain and still have room for troops or a large vehicle. Size was my hardest obstacle when trying to make custom pieces at the two inch map size (especially when I tried to keep the molds at one half of a hex so you could place other units on the same hex) and still keep some semblance of scale to the original minis. I almost wish Avalon had used a larger scale to begin with, but then it would have cost a lot more and I might not have got into the game in the first place. I love the game regardless and will keep trying to make stuff for the two inch hex, but eventually I think I may opt for a much larger hex size to suit my own personal needs (if I can find the space).

[Avoll]

Hello again and sorry for not being able to post a picture last time. I messed around with the image and got it down to a size that I can upload to the forum. It took me a while to figure out how to do it since I am not a computer guru by any means, but I hope you like the picture and now you can at least see what I was babbling about.

can you go into detail a little bit on how you go about makeN terrain
ThanX
O and by the way your terrain looks top notch

[Sean-Khan]

I've cast a bunch of windows and other pieces now, and when I find some time I'll start making whole walls buildings, and then I can get into making towns! I don't have much silicon rubber left for molds, but I try to do as much stuff as I can... I'm afraid I'll have to get creative even now when trying to make molds of everything I _really_ want.

Btw, looks great NavDog! I hope you don't lose your minis there ;) Maybe there's a reason NOT to paint the bases green.

[Thoes426]

NavDog -
Those look great, and i like the fact you kept them to scale (2") witht the game maps.
I've been thinking of doing the same.
In the past i have used Alumilite to create pieces for the standard A&A games and had a fair rate of success.
would you care to share with us how you made the bunker piece, i think it is an awsome looking bunker and would love to recreate it for my own maps.

Thoes426

[NavDog]

can you go into detail a little bit on how you go about makeN terrain
ThanX
O and by the way your terrain looks top notch

Avoll,
Thanks for the compliment and I can quickly explain my basic method. I made the original mold "masters" from Klean Clay. It is a basic molding clay that is relatively easy to work with and doesn't stick to the molding material after you pour it over the clay master. I took a big ball of clay, squashed it down and spread it out with my hands as flat as I could before laying it between two pieces of wax paper and rolled it flat with a kitchen rolling pin to about 1/8th of an inch thick. Then I laid out some 2 inch hex paper cut outs over the flattened mass and took a razor blade to chop down around the edges and proceeded to make little clay cookies for the bases. Next I took smaller balls of clay and formed them into whatever I was going to put on the base itself. In the case of the gunpit, I made some low walls and placed them on one of the hex cookies and then gently blended the base of the wall to the hex cookie with a sharp modeling knife. Then I cut out the the interior of the pit with a knife and removed the inner portion of the pit, making sure the pit itself was large enough to hold a mini soldier with some room to spare. The pillbox bunker was done in much the same way as I basically just formed it from clay using a paper pattern on top to keep the geometry correct and cutting it out with a razor around the edges (with a slight outward angle) and used a modeling knife to add the gun ports. The gun ports are actually 45 degree indentations that I painted later since you do not want to have really deep undercuts in the mold or you will run into major problems trying to remove the molded parts (or you could ruin the mold itself trying to get them out if you use a stiff mold compound). The barbed wire hex was nothing more than a basic flat hex cookie that I drilled and modified after it was done. After I had the basic pieces done, I laid them in a small baking tin making sure the clay cookies were all flat to the pan around the edges to prevent the molding material from leaking under the cookies. Then I just sprayed a thin coat of mold release over the cookies and the pan and poured in the mold material. 30 minutes later, I popped the mold out of the pan and removed the clays and had a simple one piece flexible rubber mold for the bunker, gun pit and a couple of blank hex cookies that I could modify later or make more masters on when I added stuff to them (or just have clear hex spaces to use to form a full map). After the mold was made (took about an hour and a half), I just started pouring in the casting resin and was cranking out 4 molded pieces every 25 minutes or so. I made over 30 pieces in 4 hours and would have made even more if I hadn't run out of resin. I used Por-a-Kast and Por-a-Mold materials that I got from bare-metal.com. They have a variety of easy to use casting materials in differing mold stiffness and resin curing times. I started doing it a couple of years ago for various games and was amazed at how easy it was to do, but it can be a little pricey unless you buy it in the larger quantity (the 2 quart stuff goes a long way). They have a good starter kit for about 35 to 40 bucks if you just want to try it and see before you decide to invest any money in it. I hope that covers everything. If not, let me know.

[NavDog]

NavDog -
Those look great, and i like the fact you kept them to scale (2") witht the game maps.
I've been thinking of doing the same.
In the past i have used Alumilite to create pieces for the standard A&A games and had a fair rate of success.
would you care to share with us how you made the bunker piece, i think it is an awsome looking bunker and would love to recreate it for my own maps.

Thoes426

Thoes,
Thanks for the compliment and the 2 inch size is a definetly a challenge. I actually used a toothpick to mark the center point of the hex cookies (and I made sure they were geometrically accurate) I made. You cant' see that in the picture, but you can actually stick a toothpick into the center of the hex like a flag for "line of sight" disputes and to to make sure I wouldn't cross the halfway mark of a hex when making a custom so that there would be room for troops or a vehicle. I was wondering about the Alumilite thing you mentioned. I have never used that myself, but I have heard the term used before and not sure what it is. Could you elaborate? I am always looking for new ideas and materials to work with.

[WarChild7]

going to larger hex sizes was the best thing my friends and i did for our games. the standard map hexes are just so cramped and playing with 3D pieces on a 2D board was almost irritating. we were just craving a better experience. my 3D terrain boards were like a quantum jump forward for our games. it made the matches so much more immersive and it was such a pleasure to have more room in the hexes for our figures as well as some terrain features. the foam was super-cheap and easy to work with; i think each board cost me $10-15 to make. granted, going to a larger hex size means you need a slightly bigger area to play on, but believe me, it's worth it.

PatrickWR, NavDog and Sean-Khan: great job on all your respective projects! good stuff!

[Thoes426]

Thoes,
Thanks for the compliment and the 2 inch size is a definetly a challenge. I actually used a toothpick to mark the center point of the hex cookies (and I made sure they were geometrically accurate) I made. You cant' see that in the picture, but you can actually stick a toothpick into the center of the hex like a flag for "line of sight" disputes and to to make sure I wouldn't cross the halfway mark of a hex when making a custom so that there would be room for troops or a vehicle. I was wondering about the Alumilite thing you mentioned. I have never used that myself, but I have heard the term used before and not sure what it is. Could you elaborate? I am always looking for new ideas and materials to work with.

Alumilite is a plastic resin mix.
Do a Google for Alumilite and you should be able to link to their site.
I have had great success with it and recomend it.
Thoes426

[Avoll]

ThanX for the info
im going to try and make some this weekend if I donT gota work

[komichido]

Just for some more visual reference, and its been a while since they surfaced here are a couple of threads where I made terrain to fit the original maps, and a new battlefield with larger hexes. This shows two different types and can give you a few ideas. I also put a tutorial up to help out.

Komi


http://boards.avalonhill.com/showthread.php?t=7914
http://boards.avalonhill.com/showthread.php?t=7690
http://boards.avalonhill.com/showthread.php?t=6149
http://boards.avalonhill.com/showthread.php?t=6317

[NavDog]

Komichido,
I was finally able to check out the links you posted to look at the terrain you made and the tutorial you put out there for everyone. Very nice work and I enjoyed the tutorial stuff (even though it was a lot of the same technique I have used for years in making terrain for other games). That should really come in handy for the novice terrain builders and you explained things simply and clearly. Kudos! It is nice to see that there are still others out there that use the "almighty" foam cutter. Such a simple tool, but what a good one it is. I still have my first one that was handed down to me from my older sister back in the early 70's. I don't use it anymore since I upgraded many times to better ones over the years and have several (but I still like to look at it sometimes when I run across it in that "old box" and smile-it was in a Christmas ornament making kit in 1968) including a home made one that I can cut 8 inch blocks with. I really liked the pictures of your two inch stuff since that is what I am trying to stay with right now, but all the pictures were great of your larger scale stuff too. Since I am into the whole molding thing, it is more cost effective to stay with the smaller hex scale at this point for me. Working on second master mold, but it is slow going since I have been working too much latetly to devote the time to it that I would like. Keep up the good work!