Terrain Analysis

I tend to find myself working on terrain as much as  I do working on painting my figs, which although quite enjoyable, is probably frustrating my fellow gamers who are waiting for me to get my WWII Pacific guys done so we can play some scenarios.  One thing every gamer knows though, is that a game is a lot more enjoyable if you've got some nice terrain to play on.  It really enhances the experience.  If your not going to at least make an attempt at some kind of terrain, your probably the type of gamer who would rather just play with cardboard disks full time instead of figs, in fact, I think that's just called a boardgame.

This 'Terrain Analysis' page is going to be used to discuss terrain building projects, or highlight other's projects as they come up.  It's always nice to share something that might help someone else.  I know I really appreciate seeing the projects and hard work others have worked on, and learning from their experiences.

Right now I'm primarily working on projects that I can use in my WWII scenarios.  I eventually plan to create some buildings, bunkers, pill boxes, bases/prison camp/depot, bombshell craters, bocage,  fields, beachheads, underbrush and jungle, and much more I just haven't thought up yet.

Over the last week, I decided one essential item item I wanted was some barbed-wire barricades.  This was pretty easy and didn't require too much time.  Just a matter of thinking it out and figuring out how I wanted to create it.  The basic materials I used were: Litko 3" square bases, small gray pebble, bamboo  shishkabob skewers, Galeforce Nine barbed wire, Craft Essential (cheap stuff) dark brown and spice brown paint, and Woodland Scenics scenic glue (because it dries clear not white like elmers), and good old superglue.  I started by cutting the wood bases into thirds.  I cut the bamboo, first into short lengths (roughly 1&1/4") for baricade legs, and a longer lenth (near 2&3/4") for the crossbar.  You need two legs pieces for each end.  I notched the leg pieces 3/4 of the way up so there would be two flat surfaces to glue together for more surface adhesion. I also tried to cut the bottom of the leg a bit more flat so it to would have more wood in contact with the base.  I super glued all legs together forming X's.  When dry I superglued those to the bases about a half inch in from the ends.  I then superglued the crossbar on across the legs.  I paineted the legs and crossbar with a couple coats of the dark brown, and the base with spice brown.  I didn't prime any of the wood as it let a bit of grain show through, and the paint absorbed well into the soft wood.  I didn't paint the base on the first barricade I did and immediately regretted it after I put on the stone, as the light wood showed through, and I liked the look of brown better in the void spaces showing up through the stone.  I coated the base liberally with the scenic glue, spreading it with a thin strip of wood, then placed the whole thing into a shallow tray and just poured in a bunch of the gray pebble to catch in the glue.  This was a lot easier then trying to put the stone on by hand in pinches.  I pulled it out, let it dry, then shook off the excess into the tray, and put the excess back into the storage container.  Lastley I wound the barbed wire around a screwdriver handle (roughly the diameter of my forefinger) to form about 5 full loops. I clipped it off, spread the wire a bit, then wound it onto the cross bar.  I superglued the ends of the wire down to the pebble on each end.  That was it.