[Terrain] was RE: [SG] Game Pictures and sort of AAR

Hi Beth,

>I was impressed by the hills and stuff though, unfortunately we've had
to
>revert to books under the mat for FMA/SG games as we've really only go
DS
>sized hills and there's times when "its flat hills again lads" just
won't do
>;)
>

Heh :)

I've played with the "green drop cloth and books underneath" method of
terrain.  Can be lots of fun.

(Un)fortunately for me, I love good looking terrain, and I like making
it.
So, I end up spending lots of time on terrain rather than on figures...

>> The hills could be replicated in insulation foam...
>
>?? Excuse my ignorance, but what?

I have no idea what this would be called in Australia.

Over here, you can get extruded foam insulation boards.  These are
usually
8' long (yes, Canada is metric but the entire North American building
industry uses imperial measurements...) by 2' wide.  They come in a
variety
of thicknesses, from 1" up to 2 or 3".	They are designed to be attached
inside the wall of a building as it is being constructed, for
insulation.
The material itself is, I believe, expanded polyethylene.  Note that EPS
is
commonly mislabeled as "styrofoam".  Styrofoam (the white beaded foam
that
they make disposable coffee cups out of) is actually a very specific
material, and is a trade name for one company's products.  The actual
name
of that type of material is "EPS".  Anyway, you can for-sure find boards
of
EPS (white, with big-ish beads... also the same as the foam computer and
audio-visual electronic equipment comes packed in), though the stuff I'm
talking about has a much finer grain and in North America is often
either
blue or pink.  

We call it "bluefoam" as well, and people know what you mean.

Because it comes in various thicknesses, it is great for doing hills. 
If
you want a layered hill with 1" layers, you buy 1" thick foam boards,
cut
out the shapes, stick them together, etc. and very quickly can get your
hills.

This stuff is really easy to cut with a hot-wire cutter, if you have
access
to one.  I've seen some inexpensive (and pretty crappy) ones around that
use a couple of D-cell batteries for power.  They work, but suck up the
batteries pretty quick.  I bought a hand-held plug-in hot wire cutter
with
interchangeable cutting heads from a local railroad hobby store.  It is
made by Woodland Scenics, and was quite reasonable in cost (about $40
Canadian - which is worth the $$ if you make more than a few hills...).

"Bluefoam" insulation can be cut and sanded, though it makes quite a
mess.
I'd suggest using a serrated bread knife for cutting big areas. You can
use
a sharp razor knife / X-acto type knife but for whatever reason, they
get
dulled *really* quickly cutting through this material.	Anyway, with a
bread knife, you can cut the foam to shape and then trim off edges,
etc.,
following that up with some sanding to smooth it out.

You can't spray this material with conventional primer - any
solvent-based
paints will eat the foam.  So, you need to seal it with something
water-based first.  In the past, I bought a one-litre container of
really
inexpensive crappy water-based flat black acrylic latex house paint, and
use it as the first coat on foam terrain.  I've also found that white
glue
can seal the surface, as can certain "Speckle Stone" (canned spray
paint,
where the paint material has paper pulp or something in it and produces
a
rough surface - used for decorating outdoor items, furniture, etc.)
paints,
if they are water based.

Anyway, once it is sanded, sealed and basecoated, you can paint with a
green colour, and when that is dry, glue on flock.  Takes a bit of time,
but the results are good, and it wouldn't be too difficult to replicate
something like the hills I did that have the stepped sides and the cliff
face.

The process of making craggy/rocky type terrain with this foam is a lot
easier if you have a hot wire cutter.

Ok, that was rather a long winded answer to your "what is that"
question...
Hope it helps.	:)

>Though you're not exactly in the same field as Derek's best man who at
Uni
>decided his courses based on relevance to gaming...
>

Well, actually...

I did a university degree in History and Geography (including GIS)
before I
did design school (where I learned design and costruction stuff,
photography, etc).....

:)

***************************************

Adrian Johnson
adrian@stargrunt.ca
http://www.stargrunt.ca