Warrior Ancient and Medieval Rules

[Mark Stone]

What follows is an article I've submitted to "Spearpoint". I don't know when/if
it will show up there, but I figured some folks here might want an advance
look. If, like me, you have limited artistic ability but still want to improve
the look of what you put on the table, then this may be of interest. While not
a long article, it's longish for an email; reader beware.


-Mark Stone


Terrain for the Artistically Challenged

Miniatures is an odd hobby for someone who insists on painting his own
figures, making his own terrain, and yet lacks any appreciable artistic
talent. Suffice it to say, I like a challenge. In this article we'll look
at a simple, step by step approach to constructing an attractive but
functional piece of the most common terrain type: a rough area.

What Is a Rough Area?

In Warrior (my sense is that DBx is much the same) the most frequent
terrain pick is brush, a type of rough area. Brush is easiest to get with
terrain roles, offers the most flexibility in placement, and because it
disorders mounted charges and close order troops, provides an ideal
choice for the many armies made up of loose order foot in quantity who
would prefer not to face mounted in the open.

My problem in designing attractive terrain is that I'm not entirely sure
what brush should look like, and I can never come up with something
aesthetically appealing. Simply throwing down a light green piece of
green felt is easy, but hardly adds to the visual appeal of our hobby.
Brush, I suppose, is an area of ground where bushes and small trees
predominate, but not so thickly overgrown as to preclude the effective
movement of mounted troops through the area.

For me inspiration came upon noticing that in Warrior "rocky area" and
"brush" are functionally equivalent rough areas. Living here in the
boulder-strewn remnants of ice ages past known as the Sierra Nevada
foothills, I have an excellent idea what a rocky area is and what it should
look like.

General Design Ideas

The ideal terrain piece should have several characteristics. It should be
realistic. Its realism should include a genuine three dimensional
appearance. It should be aesthetic; beyond being realistic, it should be
visually appealing. Finally, and not least, it should be easy to work
with and not impede game play.

Therein lies the problem. Anything three dimensional tends to be difficult
to lay base stands evenly on top of, yet three dimensionality is essential
to realism and visual appeal.

My solution was a terrain piece with two types of components. First is a
large, uneven, oval-shaped base. This piece is flat, though textured and
multi-colored, and defines the overall boundaries of the rocky area. Second
I made a number of smaller oval pieces, each with several gravel pebbles
attached to represent boulders. These smaller pieces provide the added
third dimension but, because they are separate pieces, they can easily be
moved aside to another part of the base to accommodate the placement of
figures.

Once I had this general design worked out, construction was quick and easy.

Components

I use 1/8" particle board for the base of all of my 25mm terrain pieces.
While heavier and less flexible than felt or other pliable materials, it
is much more durable as well as being easier to paint and decorate.

I use model railroad flocking for color and texture on terrain pieces. For
my rocky area I used green flocking for grass, brown ballast for dirt, and
gray ballast to represent rocks on the base piece. In the rural area where
I live there is no hobby store with model railroading supplies. However,
I've had great success ordering online from Tower Hobbies (see reference 1).

For boulders on the smaller pieces I use pea gravel. Living on a gravel road,
I have this in abundance, but most lumber yards or hardware stores should
have it for a nominal price.

For the smaller pieces on which to glue the gravel, I came up with a
novel approach. If you are a small business owner or home owner (see
reference 2), then you are inundated with offers from financial
institutions of dubious quality to let you borrow money from them. These
offers often come accompanied by pseudo charge cards, as if the feel of
plastic in your hand will somehow make the offer more appealing. Recently
I stopped throwing away these plastic cards, and I now add them to my
collection of miniatures parts and supplies. I've made everything from
shields to home-made chariots to terrain pieces out of them.

In addition, you'll need some Elmer's glue, some brown spray paint, a large
paint brush, a jigsaw, and an exacto knife.

Assembling the Base Piece

Using your jigsaw, cut a large irregular oval from your particle board.
Spray paint one side of this brown. While the paint dries, prepare a
mixture of Elmer's glue and water, with a ratio of about 1 part glue to 2
parts water.

Using the brush, cover six to eight small oval patches on your base piece
with the glue mixture. These will represent patches of grass or ground
cover within your rocky area. While the glue mixture is still moist,
sprinkle with green flocking. Wait about two minutes, and then shake the
excess flocking off of the base piece.

Now take the brush and glue mixture and coat the rest of the base piece
surface. This will represent bare dirt within the rocky area. Sprinkle with
brown ballast. Wait tow minutes, and shake off the excess.

When all of this is dry, pick a dozen or so small spots within the brown
area and pain again with the glue mixture, making small ovals not much
larger than a penny. These will represent boulders, albeit in flat
representation.

Once this is dry, your base piece is complete and should look like the
illustration in Reference 3.

Assembling the Small Boulder Pieces

Take three or so of your plastic cards, and cut them into ovals; you
should get about two ovals out of each card. Spray paint one side of these
brown.

Once the paint is dry, brush on the same kind of glue/water mixture.
Sprinkle with brown ballast, and wait for these pieces to dry.

Select roughly two dozen pieces of gravel. Put several drops of Elmer's
glue on each piece small oval piece, and then put a piece of gravel on top
of each dab of glue (see Reference 4). Once this dries, your terrain piece
is complete.

The Final Result

While just the flat base piece is not much to look at, once the smaller
pieces with gravel are placed on top, the result is a realistic looking
rocky area. Compare the illustration in Reference 3 with the illustration
in Reference 5 to see what a difference the final result makes.

Further, a piece like this doesn't encumber game play. The small plastic
pieces on which the gravel are mounted can easily be slid aside when
figures need to be place within the terrain. The whole is functional, and
much more appealing visually than that tattered piece of green felt you've
been toting around.

References

Reference 1: Tower Hobbies is a great online source for terrain
components - http://www.towerhobbies.com

Reference 2: Yes, the home owner/small business owner gets inundated
with requests to go further in debt - http://tguide.net

Reference 3: Particle board cut, painted, and flocked -
http://digitalpilgrim.com/img/terrain_base.jpg

Reference 4: Pseudo charge cards, repurposed for terrain -
http://digitalpilgrim.com/img/terrain_smallpieces.jpg

Reference 5: The finished terrain piece -
http://digitalpilgrim.com/img/terrain_final.jpg