If you build it...

...are you just wasting time?

I recently starting plotting out a terrain build for a game, but partway into it I experienced misgivings. The idea was to make some terrain for a specific battle where the nature of the layout is pre-defined by the module. Was it really worth the time and effort to put this thing together for a specific session? It would take most of my evenings between now and then (I would really have to rush), and it would likely only get used once. Further, it would mean I was concentrating on getting some "prop" ready instead of prepping to run the actual session.

In the end, I'm opting to ignore the terrain and try to get my head ready to run a fun-filled session where I keep the action moving and the players on the edges of their seats.

hut pix

The Hirst houses still need to be painted.

Odds & Ends

The terrain bug continues to distract me as I made three peasant cottages this weekend: two from Hirst Arts fieldstone and wooden roofing tile molds, the other scratch-built from foamcore and balsa. I finished the foamcore one (pix to follow later). The Hirst cottages are still unpainted. All three are mounted on CDs.

I have an idea for a Labyrinth Lord mini-campaign that will use SBH for some NPC skirmishes. It has a military aspect to it, so the players will get to make some strategic decisions. We'll see how it plays out, assuming people want to play.

Like I need more orcs

But I am liking this new one from Reaper:



He's a "Black Orc Warbringer" from the Warlord line. It looks a bit different from their Bull Orcs. Almost GW-y, but not in a BAD way. :-)

Wargames Factory

I got my Celtic Cavalry pack the other day. The look pretty pretty sweet, actually. There's a dearth of shields (only one or two per non-horse sprue), but that's easily remedied from the bitz box. They're smaller than things like Reaper horses (i.e. Warlord deathriders), but not so much they couldn't be on the same field.

I have some RAFM "Tribe of the Midnight Sun" horsemen and archers that are pretty close in size. Now I'm wondering whether I should add some RAFM axemen and spears to make a nice quasi-historical army. :-)

pic as promised

River, cairn, bridge, hill, standing stones, and a Hirst tower I made a while back with various minis on the new battle board.


EDIT: I ended up repainting the one segment where the glue blistered. I re-coated it with PVA and it's looking much better. You can't see in the pic, but that's after I fixed it but the glue is a little wet still.

A River Runs Through It

Well, I don't have pix yet –I'll post some tonight– but I spent yesterday making a bunch of terrain, including a sectional river out of MDF. It's in four pieces, each ≈ 1' long, and can cross the whole (4') board. The sections are ≈7" across; which is equivalent to an SBH Long Move. ;-) I used 3/4" wide strips of foam core as the river banks and flocked them with sand and static grass. I also cut a bunch of other shapes from the MDF (new jigsaw!) and plan on making some ponds and swampy terrain.

I tried a tip I read in an old GW book on terrain making. I used PVA glue on top of the painted river water for a gloss effect. Overall it worked OK. It's more "satiny" than glossy. Unfortunately I tried using my heat gun on them to speed up the drying, and the glue sort of "blistered" in places on one section. I'm going to try gently sanding this off and re-applying the glue again.

I also made a hill with a cliff face (not finished painting it yet), a ring of standing stones, a cairn, and a Hirst arts bridge for the river. I also want to make a ford and rapids based on stiff clear plastic (like clamshell packaging) that I can lay over the water.

Added piano hinges

Field of Battle

I just finished a new 4 x 4' sandboard. It's two 1/2" thick 2 x 4' MDF boards with some coarse + fine sand and painted with browns & greens. I'm going to try attaching them with a piano hinge for storage. Here's some pix with some undead facing off against some orcs and some random bits of scenery chucked onto it.