Terrain pieces
- Thread starter MrCrazy
- Start date
MrCrazy said:Hey all,
In anticipation for SST:Evo, I am getting my terrain board ready. Where did u guys buy your terrain pieces? Did u make them? Have any suggestions for some good sites to buy pieces from?
Gracias
The standard board is four feet by six feet and that is what I've made most of my boards to conform to. I've made them all using mostly Styrofoam as a base material. Past issues of S&P have some tips for making different styles of boards. I've made a Jungle-themed version as well as a Lunar and a desert-style terrain board. Currently, I'm making structures for my urban board. I just don't have the space to have them all set up, and that's a shame. Oh well, maybe some day. :wink:
For a quick setup, you can toss some bunched-up fabric (even tee-shirts and socks) on a table and then cover it all with an appropriately colored "army" blanket. I've found some green woolen blankets at military surplus stores and they work well. If you do not want a bumpy topography you can spread the blanket down and then place small mountainous painted pieces of Styrofoam made to look like large rocky outcroppings that you can use to block line-of-sight.
The spray paint that you need to find and use is water-based acrylic. That way it will not melt the Styro. You can also toss some colored "hobby" craft sand on it when still wet and it will strengthen and give the painted Styro added texture.
Here are some representations of alien battlefield boards that are possible to make.
This is how it stacks when not in use. The duct tape edge is not seen if you make a "sandbox" frame to hold the pieces from shifting. Mostly I added it to minimise on damage. The top surface is much more durable that the edges due to added layers of sand and paint mixtures.
This is a desert "not of this Earth"-
BuShips, Great stuff there!
MrCrazy, I use a combination of terrain boards or cloth with terrain pieces on top. There are so many options. I don't buy a lot of terrain these days. I prefer to make my own stuff. For buying Sci-fi defenses and some generic tech stuff I'd recommend Antenoci's workshop at:
http://www.barrule.com/workshop/gallery%20-%20scifi.htm
Very nice things he makes. I don't own any yet since I spend too much on figures.. :lol:
Here's some quick stuff I throw together for games and some pics. I have a lot of power tools which does help. I also recycle when possible. As a bonus it leaves more money for figures.
I use liter water bottles with the top cut off and hot glued on a base and painted. I put a dome on the top using metallic plastic easter egg halves. Add a door and some symbols or pipe details and I've got a tower.
I make shrubs from aquarium plants, cut to shape and in some cases hot glued to cardboard discs (Pogs for those who remember that fad).
I make rock formations from crumbled up cork tiles.
I make domed buildings from 1/8 inch mdf cut and glued to upside down dollar store bowls as entrances.
I make tunnel entrances from mdf cut discs, painted black with the outer perimeter coverd with glued on aquarium pebble gravel.
I make wire fences from art store sculpting armature screens cut into strips and hot glued to a base and with plastic upright poles glued on.
When I make terrain boards I use 2" thick insulation foam in 2x8 foot sheets and a hot foam cutter. I primer them with a gallon of $5 "oops" paint from the local Home Depot if I can find a nice brown color. I use the latex house paint so the foam doesn't melt. Then I can later cover that layer of paint with most other things without worrying much about the foam.
Here are some pics of some of my terrain from past SST and other games showing some simple structures, tunnel entrances, rock formations, and in the second picture some foam terrain boards:
From a Shockforce game before we laid troops out:
And the following is from a Chronopia game that shows the small shrubs made from cut down strands of aquarium plants hot glued to the circle bases:
Good luck on whatever you decide to buy or make!
MrCrazy, I use a combination of terrain boards or cloth with terrain pieces on top. There are so many options. I don't buy a lot of terrain these days. I prefer to make my own stuff. For buying Sci-fi defenses and some generic tech stuff I'd recommend Antenoci's workshop at:
http://www.barrule.com/workshop/gallery%20-%20scifi.htm
Very nice things he makes. I don't own any yet since I spend too much on figures.. :lol:
Here's some quick stuff I throw together for games and some pics. I have a lot of power tools which does help. I also recycle when possible. As a bonus it leaves more money for figures.
I use liter water bottles with the top cut off and hot glued on a base and painted. I put a dome on the top using metallic plastic easter egg halves. Add a door and some symbols or pipe details and I've got a tower.
I make shrubs from aquarium plants, cut to shape and in some cases hot glued to cardboard discs (Pogs for those who remember that fad).
I make rock formations from crumbled up cork tiles.
I make domed buildings from 1/8 inch mdf cut and glued to upside down dollar store bowls as entrances.
I make tunnel entrances from mdf cut discs, painted black with the outer perimeter coverd with glued on aquarium pebble gravel.
I make wire fences from art store sculpting armature screens cut into strips and hot glued to a base and with plastic upright poles glued on.
When I make terrain boards I use 2" thick insulation foam in 2x8 foot sheets and a hot foam cutter. I primer them with a gallon of $5 "oops" paint from the local Home Depot if I can find a nice brown color. I use the latex house paint so the foam doesn't melt. Then I can later cover that layer of paint with most other things without worrying much about the foam.
Here are some pics of some of my terrain from past SST and other games showing some simple structures, tunnel entrances, rock formations, and in the second picture some foam terrain boards:
From a Shockforce game before we laid troops out:
And the following is from a Chronopia game that shows the small shrubs made from cut down strands of aquarium plants hot glued to the circle bases:
Good luck on whatever you decide to buy or make!
MrCrazy said:
There is an article on how to make it in S&P Wargamer #34. While supplementary pieces are indeed Hexagon and Platformer kit pieces, the main wall sections are made using the "Technobridge" kit from Pegasus. BTW, the kit also makes a great bridge as well, heh. :wink:
It's my second fort though. Mt first fort was my version of the Whiskey Outpost from the SST movie. I made that using mostly Platformer kit pieces. The first version of it had two rows of wall panels, but I later extended it to three rows to get close to the 6" height that Warriors can climb in an Action.
Here is a view of the second fort.
Smaller forward outposts are also possible. The un-walled sections can be protected by Stalwart Bug Field Generators. A really short-term bivouac fort can be made using just field generators, but just remember about the three-dimensional attack methods of the Arachnids as they can burrow and fly in from above. :wink:
Really, a good fort should have a "lid" and an armored floor, so I made this outpost/maintenance facility. As Goldwyrm said, it's endless. I also like him have used old containers and "garbage" styro for structures.
Yes, more Technobridge kit pieces. My bridge (yes I did build one) is three feet long.
MrCrazy said:
The base material is varied thicknesses of 2'x4' Styrofoam building insulation. The W.O. base is 2" thick, which allows me to etch the surface nicely using (carefully) light droplets of Acetone. If you add too much, it eats right through it. Then I build up latex paint layers and sand. For the final colored layer I use spray latex paint (Krylon H2o) and while wet add more tinted craft sand. The back canyon wall is sculpted styro and then painted. To keep the base usable as a flat board piece the back sits and is not attached. On an earlier piece I had attached the wall to the base. If you weren't wanting a varied topography you could use MDO (medium density overlay) and just paint it over with some added texture.
Xintao said:
As I mentioned to MrCrazy, in a well-ventilated area I use acetone to get the etching effect. I use an old paintbrush and lightly dip it in acetone. Then making sure that most of the liquid has run off, I flick the brush onto random areas. It begins to work immediately and you hear a popping/snapping sound as it eats into the surface. A little goes a long way. After it evaporates I apply latex paint and craft sand to give added strength and texture to the surface. Please follow the directions on the acetone and wear gloves and even a mask. I'd also do this outside as it does have vapors. If handled properly it is safe to use.
I got the idea over 20 years back when a friend was showing me how he builds R/C submarine hulls. First he carves the hull from solid styro and then coats with fiberglass and epoxy. After the skin is cured he makes a hole in the skin and pours in a little acetone. Then he tips the hull forward and backward until the hull is clean of styro (yes it all disappears). With the hull empty, he adds his R/C equipment and completes his sub. I was very impressed and never forgot how that nasty acetone loves to eat styro. The point about flipping a brush is to give an uneven application of the acetone or else it just eats the surface equally.
I guess the point of making this kind of board is to contrast the general method of tossing a blanket with some added terrain items on a table. It gives a very sci-fi alien look to a game board.
Sgt. Brassones
Mongoose
Thanks for the trip down memory lane, BuShips. Your terrain is otherworldly cool.
Sgt. Brassones said:Thanks for the trip down memory lane, BuShips. Your terrain is otherworldly cool.
Thanks JayRaider and Sgt. Brassones.
[wry] Referencing "otherworldly" SBO, I've always thought of my desert board location as the Mobile Infantry fighting the Arachnids at a location 40 miles NW of Casper, Wyoming. They call it Hell's Half Acre. [/wry] :wink:
Sgt. Brassones
Mongoose
BuShips said:Sgt. Brassones said:Thanks for the trip down memory lane, BuShips. Your terrain is otherworldly cool.
Thanks JayRaider and Sgt. Brassones.
[wry] Referencing "otherworldly" SBO, I've always thought of my desert board location as the Mobile Infantry fighting the Arachnids at a location 40 miles NW of Casper, Wyoming. They call it Hell's Half Acre. [/wry] :wink:
It's no wonder, as a major part of the original SST movie was filmed there.
To quote a local reporter: "Unfortunately, all that remains of Starship Troopers is a curling movie poster taped to the soda refrigerator. A local at the counter perked up when we mentioned the Half Acre's moment of movie glory. "They hired some of the locals as extras," the restaurant owner noted, "though mostly as dead bodies."Well dead bodies did play a major part in the movie. :wink:
MI_trooper
Mongoose
were did they get that retreival boat in theat wone pic with this tos sst fort peices and all thos other compound peices?
Sgt. Brassones
Mongoose
I believe that's a model produced by Old Crow: http://www.oldcrowmodels.co.uk/
Gauntlet-
Banded Mongoose
So yeah I like using textured spray paint and 'great stuff' foam in a can for bug constructions...
My Boards are 2X4 pieces of fiber board... three of which make a 6X4 sprayed with two or more paints... works pretty well they store and travel easy and best of all you can use both sides... the boards are 2-3 dollars a piece... also for the super lazy just don't paint them and you have a decent desert board.
MaxSteiner
Mongoose
Do you remember all the posters shouting down the people who were suggesting these as proxies a year and a half ago, saying there was only a couple of months till mongoose released to scale double packs?
Anyway, bile now spewed I gotta say Im really impressed! I think I've seen most of those pics at one time or another, but seeing them all together the sheer volume of possible set ups is frothworthy!
Just curious though, has anyone used any necromunda terrain in conjunction with platforma/hexagon kits? they seem roughly the same size to me, but Im not to sure...
Anyway, bile now spewed I gotta say Im really impressed! I think I've seen most of those pics at one time or another, but seeing them all together the sheer volume of possible set ups is frothworthy!
Just curious though, has anyone used any necromunda terrain in conjunction with platforma/hexagon kits? they seem roughly the same size to me, but Im not to sure...
