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Grishnakh's Custom Terrain
- Thread starter Grishnakh
- Start date
K/H_Addict
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HOLY HELL! That looks so freakin realistic! How long does it take you to do that per hex? (sorry if that was answered; i looked at the pics, not the words...i have no where near enough patience to do that.....)
I am honestly blown away by what you've done here Grishnakh. Everything is gorgeous. I envy the patience you and others like you must have to work on this.
I love the idea of doing this but am also realistic. I do not have the ability to sit down and do it. I lack the patience and the motivation to keep at it day after day.
I would be thrilled if I could make something look half as good in a fraction of the time. You have obviously done a lot of research to develop your method of customization.
Can you recommend a method of painting hexes for those of us that are much less patient but still would like to improve the look of our terrain? I know it won't be close to yours, but even a small improvement would make some of us ecstatic.
I'm thinking I could handle spray painting everything for an hour for instance.
What would you recommend for the less gifted?
Thanks!
I love the idea of doing this but am also realistic. I do not have the ability to sit down and do it. I lack the patience and the motivation to keep at it day after day.
I would be thrilled if I could make something look half as good in a fraction of the time. You have obviously done a lot of research to develop your method of customization.
Can you recommend a method of painting hexes for those of us that are much less patient but still would like to improve the look of our terrain? I know it won't be close to yours, but even a small improvement would make some of us ecstatic.
I'm thinking I could handle spray painting everything for an hour for instance.
What would you recommend for the less gifted?Thanks!
Grishnakh’s Customized Terrain - Part III - Trees
Here’s my next entry in my ongoing customized hex tiles thread. Above is one of my finished tree/forest tiles complete with rocks/grass. Here’s a step-by-step on how it’s done:
Materials:
You will need spray mount, matt board or illustration board, xacto knife, printer, store bought trees HO scale (Woodland Scenics work great), small rocks, flocking (the same color that you use to flock you hex tiles with is best) and glue.
Step 1: Making the base
The first thing to do is to print out the base template. I have made the hex shapes on these in such a way that they will perfectly fit onto a Heroscape hex tile with out any overlap. You will find the template in the download section.
The next thing to do is to “lightly” spray mount the printed template onto a sheet of illustration board or matt board. Only spray the back of the printout, not the illustration board. The idea is temporarily hold the template onto the board while you cut it out. Whichever board you use is up to you. If you want these to be really durable then go with the illustration board. The draw backs are it is harder to trim out due to it’s thickness and it stands a little higher when placed on the gaming surface. You’ll also have to paint it to match your tiles just in case the flocking doesn’t completely cover the white of the board which throws in an extra step. The advantages of mat board is you can buy it in a green color that closely matches the color you choose to do your tiles in (so you will not have to paint it) and it is easier to cut. Of course, because it is thinner, it is easier to bend up the corners. Personally I’ve used both and I’ve never had any trouble with either one. You should be careful with your scenery regardless of what you use so I vote for the thinner board.
After you have spray mounted the template to your board it’s a simple matter to trim it out with an xacto knife. Use a metal straight edge as shown.
Sometimes you’ll have to go in and cut a little deeper into the corners of your cut. Cut down on one side and then the other. The important thing to attempt is not to cut into your base.
After the base has been trimmed out remove the template. You can toss this or if it’s not too cut up use it again on another piece of board.
Here you can see how I’ve designed the bases to fit on the tiles:
If you’ve used illustration board the next step would be to paint the base with the same paint that you use on your tiles.
One thing you do not want is to have the white edge of the board showing up against the green of the flocked tile you place it on. Therefore you have to color in the edges of the base. The best way I’ve found is to use a broad tip marker such as a Design Marker to draw in the green on the edges. Olive Value # 3 works very well if you are using the same colors that I have mentioned in my previous instructions. Simply go around the edge of your base with the marker. It’s that easy.
Here’s the finished edge:
Step 2: Planning the scenery elements:
Next take your tree and some actual rocks or twigs (to represent fallen logs) and plan how they will fit on the base. By using real rocks you add weight to the scenery which in turn keeps it from being knocked over easily. When looking for rocks always search for ones that look like they would fit the scale of your figures. They should have as much character as possible and have a flat side that can be glued down.
Another thing to plan is how the foliage of the tree will fit on the base to allow figures to stand next to it without having the tree itself interfere. Do this by looking straight down from above and then placing your tree so that it is directly over the base as much as possible.
Step 3: Gluing it all down:
Now comes the easy part, gluing everything down. I use both Elmers and Tacky glue. The Tacky glue works best to hold the larger, heavier elements down such as the rocks and the trees. Put down a lot as you want this to hold down the items very well. Most of this will be covered in flock so don’t worry about how it looks. I recommend that you let this dry overnight. (I use Elmers mainly to glue down flock since it comes out of the bottle thinner than the Tacky glue.)
Step 4: Flocking:
Next comes the green flock. I usually spread glue onto the base with a paint brush so that I can control where the glue goes. Afterwards dip the base into your flock and press it down with your finger if you need to. Refer to my previous customizing guides for more information about how to apply flock.
Once that dries then add in some dirt colored flock as shown. The dirt I used is Woodland Scenics number T60, Coarse Turf Earth.
Next comes more glue and then bushes and static grass:
The bushes are made with torn off pieces of Woodland Scenics Medium Green Lichen.
That’s it! Next up I’ll talk about rock formations....
Here’s my next entry in my ongoing customized hex tiles thread. Above is one of my finished tree/forest tiles complete with rocks/grass. Here’s a step-by-step on how it’s done:
Materials:
You will need spray mount, matt board or illustration board, xacto knife, printer, store bought trees HO scale (Woodland Scenics work great), small rocks, flocking (the same color that you use to flock you hex tiles with is best) and glue.
Step 1: Making the base
The first thing to do is to print out the base template. I have made the hex shapes on these in such a way that they will perfectly fit onto a Heroscape hex tile with out any overlap. You will find the template in the download section.
The next thing to do is to “lightly” spray mount the printed template onto a sheet of illustration board or matt board. Only spray the back of the printout, not the illustration board. The idea is temporarily hold the template onto the board while you cut it out. Whichever board you use is up to you. If you want these to be really durable then go with the illustration board. The draw backs are it is harder to trim out due to it’s thickness and it stands a little higher when placed on the gaming surface. You’ll also have to paint it to match your tiles just in case the flocking doesn’t completely cover the white of the board which throws in an extra step. The advantages of mat board is you can buy it in a green color that closely matches the color you choose to do your tiles in (so you will not have to paint it) and it is easier to cut. Of course, because it is thinner, it is easier to bend up the corners. Personally I’ve used both and I’ve never had any trouble with either one. You should be careful with your scenery regardless of what you use so I vote for the thinner board.
After you have spray mounted the template to your board it’s a simple matter to trim it out with an xacto knife. Use a metal straight edge as shown.
Sometimes you’ll have to go in and cut a little deeper into the corners of your cut. Cut down on one side and then the other. The important thing to attempt is not to cut into your base.
After the base has been trimmed out remove the template. You can toss this or if it’s not too cut up use it again on another piece of board.
Here you can see how I’ve designed the bases to fit on the tiles:
If you’ve used illustration board the next step would be to paint the base with the same paint that you use on your tiles.
One thing you do not want is to have the white edge of the board showing up against the green of the flocked tile you place it on. Therefore you have to color in the edges of the base. The best way I’ve found is to use a broad tip marker such as a Design Marker to draw in the green on the edges. Olive Value # 3 works very well if you are using the same colors that I have mentioned in my previous instructions. Simply go around the edge of your base with the marker. It’s that easy.
Here’s the finished edge:
Step 2: Planning the scenery elements:
Next take your tree and some actual rocks or twigs (to represent fallen logs) and plan how they will fit on the base. By using real rocks you add weight to the scenery which in turn keeps it from being knocked over easily. When looking for rocks always search for ones that look like they would fit the scale of your figures. They should have as much character as possible and have a flat side that can be glued down.
Another thing to plan is how the foliage of the tree will fit on the base to allow figures to stand next to it without having the tree itself interfere. Do this by looking straight down from above and then placing your tree so that it is directly over the base as much as possible.
Step 3: Gluing it all down:
Now comes the easy part, gluing everything down. I use both Elmers and Tacky glue. The Tacky glue works best to hold the larger, heavier elements down such as the rocks and the trees. Put down a lot as you want this to hold down the items very well. Most of this will be covered in flock so don’t worry about how it looks. I recommend that you let this dry overnight. (I use Elmers mainly to glue down flock since it comes out of the bottle thinner than the Tacky glue.)
Step 4: Flocking:
Next comes the green flock. I usually spread glue onto the base with a paint brush so that I can control where the glue goes. Afterwards dip the base into your flock and press it down with your finger if you need to. Refer to my previous customizing guides for more information about how to apply flock.
Once that dries then add in some dirt colored flock as shown. The dirt I used is Woodland Scenics number T60, Coarse Turf Earth.
Next comes more glue and then bushes and static grass:
The bushes are made with torn off pieces of Woodland Scenics Medium Green Lichen.
That’s it! Next up I’ll talk about rock formations....
Grishnakh's house rules for tree/forest hexes:
A figure can pass through a tree/forest hex but it can not end it's turn on one. It cost double movement points to go through the tree/forest hex. A tree/forest hex blocks line of sight normally.
Look at it this way: The figure fights his way through the thick underbrush and emerges from the other side of the thicket (thus the double movement). Fighting would be impossible while inside the tangle of weeds, branches, rocks and vines, therefore he can not stay there.
I wanted to keep this simple and playable yet add another terrain feature to the game. Now your figures can go tearing through the underbrush to attack as they emerge. Any other suggestions are welcome!
A figure can pass through a tree/forest hex but it can not end it's turn on one. It cost double movement points to go through the tree/forest hex. A tree/forest hex blocks line of sight normally.
Look at it this way: The figure fights his way through the thick underbrush and emerges from the other side of the thicket (thus the double movement). Fighting would be impossible while inside the tangle of weeds, branches, rocks and vines, therefore he can not stay there.
I wanted to keep this simple and playable yet add another terrain feature to the game. Now your figures can go tearing through the underbrush to attack as they emerge. Any other suggestions are welcome!
i gotta say that this new environment seems to help hide figures behind trees or bushes better than the regular trees we got from Hasbro. i would think some units could be more camofla....-somethin in this terrain. more ambushes could take place in these battle fields. great job!
Mods do you think this thread could be stickied i
this is amazing work. thanks Grishnakh for giving us the step-by-step.
any thoughts on how you would customize the lava terrain?
sure wish you could bring a master set of this great terrain to GenCon. i'd love to play (very carefully) just one game on it.
edit: ha! i see you just said "yes" on the GenCon roll call thread. i'm sure the Hasbro guys will enjoy seeing your custom terrain as well.
any thoughts on how you would customize the lava terrain?
sure wish you could bring a master set of this great terrain to GenCon. i'd love to play (very carefully) just one game on it.
edit: ha! i see you just said "yes" on the GenCon roll call thread. i'm sure the Hasbro guys will enjoy seeing your custom terrain as well.
I'm working on following your instructions and have a question about them.
Step 1 says to paint the sides of the tiles with the thinned black to look like mud. This makes sense to me for the grass tiles.
Do you do something different for the rock tiles or the sand tiles? Do you paint the sides of the rock tile gray or just leave them brown?
Thanks!
Step 1 says to paint the sides of the tiles with the thinned black to look like mud. This makes sense to me for the grass tiles.
Do you do something different for the rock tiles or the sand tiles? Do you paint the sides of the rock tile gray or just leave them brown?
Thanks!
Rhetoric said:
I painted all of the sides of my tiles (grass, sand and rock) with a thin black wash to break up the solid brown color and so that it would represent mud that you might see if you sliced into the ground. If you just leave it the color of the plastic I personally think it doesn't blend in with the rest of the terrain. The wash of black clings to the recesses of the sides of the tiles and also, due to varying surface tension, it crawls around settling in different areas so that once dry you get a mottled effect of black on brown. At least that's what you should try for. You could paint it with a wash of sand color or grey color for rocks but I'm not sure how that would look. The idea is to use a darker color than the brown of the tile.
When I painted the green, sand, or grey color on the top of the tiles I let some of the color "spill over" slightly onto the sides so that it looks like the side of an embankment with some of the grass/sand/rock hanging over the edge. (Look closely at some of my photos and you will see this effect.) You do want to be careful here and not do this too much, especially with thick paint, or you will really change the tolerances of the tiles and effect their ability to lock together easily. Too much paint will make it hard to take them apart.
Hope that helps. Post pictures of how they came out when your done!
AmishBurrito
stop starring at my burrito
Wow, that terrain looks incredible, its hard to believe its minature, it looks like a real landscape.