Terrain 1 - hills, fields, woods, rough ground

Introduction

This page details models of hills, fields, woods, and rough ground.
Note: I now use a hexagon based terrain system, and do things a bit differently. See hexagons for more information.

Hills

I initially experimented with layers of corrugated cardboard covered with gummed paper, and then coated with flock powder, but was not very happy with the result.

Old hill, with a couple of German Mk. IVs (GHQ).

Old hill, with Sherman and British infantry section (GHQ).

I then used cork floor tiles (3 mm thick), that I painted the same way as my wargames table. I painted a complete pack of tiles at a time, then cut them into the sizes of hills I needed. I normally just used 2 layers for a hill.

Old stepped hill, with German Mk. IV (GHQ)

Now I use the hexagons for hills

Fields

I used to use "Focus Basics 6 self-adhesive vinyl floor tiles". I would peel off the backing and stick on a large piece of towel (I used a mustard yellow colour tile). Then cut into the correct field sizes and apply some white PVA glue to the edges to prevent fraying. Unfortunately I found that these bases warped with time, so that they were concave.

Farm (TimeCast) with road, track, wood, and (old) fields.

I now use coloured felt for the fields, coating it with Copydex latex adhesive and then applying static grass or flock.

Woods

Once again I used to use "Focus Basics 6 self-adhesive vinyl floor tiles". I peeled off the backing, dip the edges in medium green flock powder, then dunk the whole thing into dark green flock powder to coat the centres. But I had warping problems again.

I now use coloured felt, coating it with Copydex latex adhesive and then applying flock. I deliberately use the same green colour for the centres of the woods as for the trees themselves - for the reason why, see "A note about flock colours" in on the trees page. I use a lighter green flock for the edges to give a more gradual variation of colour into the colour of my wargames table.

I like Gaugemaster fine foliage flock (see the Links page) because it is nice and fine. I use light green for grass, medium green for deciduous trees and hedges, and dark green for coniferous trees.

Rough ground

I began using the adhesive floor tiles, but - yes, you have guessed - they warped.

I now use felt, placing a maker on it to indicate that it is rough ground. This is normally a piece of thin MDF with some cat litter rocks, Woodland Scenics foliage, twigs from the garden, etc.