How To: Make Impassable Terrain for Bolt Action or Warhammer, Historical or Fantasy War Games

Having Impassable Terrain on your table top battleground gives you distinct advantages and equal disadvantages. It can cover your armors flank or block line of site for your casters fireball. No matter which you are befitting from, it makes your table look great.

We started with a hardboard base and a can of spray foam insulation. When using the insulation foam, there is always a little left in the can and you can't save it! So, spray the remainder on a piece of old cardboard and let it harden. Once it dries you can peel it off and place it on your hardboard.

You can use White PVA glue or a hot glue gun. We added bits of foam, rock and debris to fill in gaps and add texture

Once you have everything glued and its dry, add a base coat of paint. We always advocate checking mis-tinted paint at your local hardware store, Home Depot or Lowes. We found this ugly dark green which works great for terrain projects. We then used light green and grey to drybrush on highlights.

Then glue flocking and ground cover into the recesses and add any foliage. We used an eclectic mix of HO scale pine trees and bushes plus a few oddball pieces clipped from plastic floral arrangements.

We diod two pieces at once. That helps you keep working on one while the other is drying.

And there you have it, instant gracious cover or pain in the rear site blockers!

Enjoy

How To: Modular Game Tiles Part 2 (Bolt Action, Warhammer or Hail Ceasar)

AOK, Here we go back onto our Modular Game Tiles. This time we'll get some color and final touches on. Here's what it'll look like when done.

First off was to get things painted. Additional browns and grays were used on the hills and mountains. A light gray was used on the small rocks around the bases of the cliffs.

We added multiple browns to the river edges and decide on the river color. With battles raging, we felt a green and muddy look was better than blue this time. Mix brown with your water color on the edges and any shallows.

Next was to paint all the larger rocks with multiple light browns and grays. We also dry brushed a good deal of the texture in the base paint. Wanting to keep a duller look of war torn ground, we chose not to use normal green flocking. We started with a base green blend of woodland scenic blended turf. Then added a pale green of some finer material, crushed basil leaves and Italian seasoning. This was mixed in the container you see here.

The mixture was applied with watered down PVA glue in patches around the boards. A coarser mix was used in the rocky crevices. It started with less of the blended turf and added coarse turf, parsley flakes and additional Italian seasoning.

The hills configurations allows multiple ways to place them in the tiles. Here they are in a wide view.

Flip them around and here we see a more vertical look. The path still works for vehicles or siege engines.

And, flip them outward and there leaves a narrow escape lane easily defended from the two hills.

Add two river tiles and two blanks, and you are ready to play.

Swap out a blank for a river bend, change your mountains and ready again!

and again....

 again...

As you can see, there are plenty of ways to configure these tiles.

Then you can put them into action!

Give your men a place to get a great view or launch a counter attack.

There you have it, we'd be happy to answer any questions you might have!

Have a Great Battle,
The Old Crow

How To: Modular Game Tiles for Bolt Action, Warhammer or Hail Ceasar

We started a great little project of some modular game tiles for the tabletop. We wanted some basic terrain like rivers, hills and plains. We also wanted some more hill like areas with impassible terrain and a defensive trench work..

All this considered, we divided the polystyrene board into 2 foot sections. the plain tiles are one inch thick and the river sections are made up of two half inch pieces sandwiched together. In our previous exploit we used 2x4 pieces. The top piece is cut in the river bed and attached to the bottom piece with either hot glue or polystyrene glue. Smooth rocks and some gravel were added to the river bed.

A ford was carved and track marks added. We sanded down the rough edges with 100 grit sandpaper.

 A paint/texture mixture was then applied to all the ground surfaces.

Here it is going on. We used a mismatched can of latex paint and added sand, gravel bits and sawdust into the can.

And here are all the river sections. The large 90 degree bend also has a small 90 on the opposite side.

Next we began to carve the mountains. We wanted to use them in multiple configurations and have at least two levels high. A mountain road was carved to allow access to all levels by vehicles.

This is it with rough rocks and a Sherman for scale.

The boards can be turned like so. So now we move on to the textures and painting and we'll show you the trenchworks.

Till then, Have a Great Battle!
The Old Crow

Battleground Terrain Factory: Stone Walls and Additional Bocage

Trying to keep the Battleground Hobbies Terrain Train in gear, the factory has been cranked up a bit as of late. Between needing additional bocage and walls for Bolt Action, we started another batch of wasteland terrain for Warhammer and Warhammer 40k. Today we'll focus on the Bolt Action realm.

Using Hirst Arts silicone molds, we pumped out a good deal of field stone walls.

The Hirst Arts molds are great and once you get going, you can really crank them out. Their site has plenty of tips on good casting.

Here's one of our new bases with some of the field stone we cast plus added rocks and trees. Mixing the field stone with other items can give you a great deal of variety.

Next we put a black wash over all the stones.

Then we apply a medium grey and light grey dry-brush to highlight the sweet textures. Here you can see one of the wall pieces and one stone piece in the wash step and then one of each after highlights next to it.

And here is a selection of walls painted and based.

These can be arranged to make various lengths of wall. Like these two being nice and short.

Or extending them out.

This is some of our completed stone and additional bocage pieces. So much modelling to do! So little time!

Have a Great Battle!
The Old Crow

Wargames Table Restoration and Refinishing

 Found a fantastic old worn out table that had been used for a work bench and was heading for the scrap yard. I suddenly had grand visions of a gaming table with drawers large enough to hold the armies needed to go on it. So I set upon it with a vengeance! Here is the result, now the process...

At 3' x 5' it is a perfect size for wargames of all varieties. So off came the legs. There was a ton of wear on the whole surface. Sorry no photos of the whole thing before we started.

The drawer facings had also been abused.

Inside wasn't much better. The legs are on the right already being sanded down.

Here's a drawer facing sanded and the other one in the mix.

Wanting to make it a little distinct, it was decided to go with a cherry finish on the legs and frame then accent the top and drawers with a red mahogany.

We carefully removed and then replaced the tag from one of the legs. Originally thought it was brass or bronze but discovered it to be a leather tag. Need to research the origin.

And yes, the foam trays with wargame armies fits perfectly with plenty of extra room for books and dice. Theses SAGA Viking Hirdmen and Warhammer Dogs of War figures will have a nice new home!

A coat of satin polyurethane was added to the top and drawers where the action will occur. We'll have to post the inaugural game once time permits. Now to build a room to go with the table.

Have a Great Battle
The Old Crow