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The terrain system illustrated is from a Warzone game "Mishima Collective Farm Under Siege". It is the most versatile I have found; pleasing to the eye, economical and almost limitless in flexibility. This system is by no means of my own invention yet there may be those unfamiliar with it.
Essentially the system is composed of a few basic parts.
1. A large white bed sheet (king size) which has been dyed green. Green dye is available at grocery stores and the drabest color of green you can find works the best. Once dry, air brush with various shades of greens and browns using acryilic paints from your paint box. Spritzing with spray bottles, or daubing colors on with a rag work equally well. The desired effect is a heavily mottled cloth of greens and browns.
2. Aquire various railroad modeling trees and insert fine wire pins about 1" long into the bottom. Syrofoam stones pinned in this manner can be made also.
3. Using sheet styrofoam roughly sculpt hill levels
of various sizes and shapes (beauty or craftsmanship is not important here as
they will be under your sheet).
4. Using sheet planks of the same styrofoam 14"
by 4' by 11/16" or whatever you can find, get enough to cover an area the
size you want by at least an inch deep. Tapeing 2 planks together gives at least
an inch thick if that dimension is unavailable. Again beauty is not an issue
here. The narrow width and length of the planks make for easy transportability.
5. Go to a art supply and buy some pastel chalks (not oils) of different shades of earth tones as well as shades of blue.
Lay out your surface of styrofoam planks. On top lay out your hills wherever you want them. Next lay down your big green and brown sheet. Take your trees and stick them through the cloth and into the foam below. This will keep them in place and they won't fall over. Lay out your buildings, walls, boulders, and lichen as desired. Rough ground, planting furrow, ornamental sand gardens and steep hill slopes can all be illustrated with your chalk. Take your chalks and draw in your trails, paths and using shades of blues even your rivers can be sketched on (accent with white for current and ripples). Lay down your bridge, if you have one to a connecting path on the either side.
There you have it! Your roads can go anywhere, your rivers can go anywhere and your hills can go anywhere. If you like you can build terrain setpieces like trench systems and lay on top of your cloth.
The beauty of it all is that when you're finished with your game you just pop your big sheet into the washing machine to wash away all your pastel linework so your cloth is ready for the next game.
This sysem is quick, easy and flexible. If you get bored with your hills or they get messed up, just cut out new ones If you want a desert terrain, use brown dyes and brown sploches. If you want snow, you're set to go with a white sheet. By pinning your terrain features into the styrofoam they will never get knocked all over and they don't need those big unsightly bases.
If you have any questions just E-Mail me
at
jschutt@redjak.com
