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Grishnakh's Custom Terrain
- Thread starter Grishnakh
- Start date
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.
Grishnakh’s Customized Terrain - Part IV - Rock Tiles
Here’s my fourth entry in my ongoing customized hex tiles thread. Above are some of my finished rock tiles in play. Here’s a quick step-by-step on how it’s done. (And by the way, dose are ma cousin's in the pitcure, Grishnakh.)
Materials:
You will need spray mount, matt board or illustration board, xacto knife, printer, large rocks, small rocks, gravel flocking (the same color that you use to flock your rock hex tiles with is best) and glue (tacky glue and for the larger rocks, a hot glue gun).
Step 1: Making the base
The first few steps are exactly like the tree/forest tutorial. First you print out the base template. I have made the hex shapes on the templates in such a way that they will perfectly fit onto a Heroscape hex tile without any overlap. (You will find the template at the end of the tree/forest tutorial.)
The next thing to do is to “lightly” spray mount the printed template onto a sheet of illustration board or colored 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. 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. Peel off and throw away the printed template after you have trimmed out the hex base. (Again, see the tree tutorila for more information.)
One thing you do not want is to have the white edge of the board showing up against the terrain 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 grey on the edges. Cool Grey Value # 5 works very well. Simply go around the edge of your base with the marker. It’s that easy.
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. In the case of my tiles I got a little more “artsy” and painted a dark grey first and then proceeded to dab in lighter and lighter areas of paint. I did this by mixing a grey with Mars Black, Titanium White and a little bit of Burnt Umber just to add a little dirt color to the mix.
Step 2: Planning the scenery elements:
The rocks that you use you will have to find. For the smaller debris surrounding my larger rocks I use grey gravel that I happen to have in some of the pathways around my house. These should be small (I’ve shown them with an xacto knife so you can get an idea of scale).
The larger rocks you just have to keep an eye out for. The best ones come in two colors, grey and brownish light grey. If they have one side that is flat all the better. It’s that side that you’ll glue to the base. Also look for rocks that look like scaled down versions of bigger boulders. If the rock has a layered sediment look all the better.
Next take your rocks 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 around easily.
Step 3: Gluing it all down:
Now comes the easy part, gluing everything down. I use both Tacky glue and a hot glue gun. The Tacky glue works best to hold the smaller rocks down with. I use the glue gun to place the larger, heavier elements since it dries much faster and holds the rocks in place. It would be best (in the case of the Tacky glue) to let all of this dry overnight.
Step 4: Flocking:
Next comes the gravel flock. I try to spread the glue onto the base in a way that looks like piled up gravel. This is a great way to hide any glue that might be showing around the edges of the rocks or other imperfections. 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.
Here’s a couple of finished one hex rock tiles:
Once that dries then you can add in some dirt colored flock or grass if you’d like. You could also add bushes and static grass. I like to keep the other types of flock off of my rock tiles so I can use them to represent rock formations inside of caverns. I am, however, working on a set of rock tiles that will be used in forest settings by flocking the edges of the rock tiles with my grass flock and adding in bushes and grass.
Here’s some samples of some of my 4 hex rock tiles to give you ideas:
One last thing. Sometimes, when I’m done with a rock tile, I might brush a thin black wash of paint over areas that look too light in color. This helps tone those areas down and if done correctly will deepen the shadow areas.
That’s it! I’ve got even more terrain ideas up my sleeve so stay tuned....
And here are some samples of my tiles in play. (Sorry, I’m back to Games Workshop figures here. I do play Heroscape, trust me.)
Here’s my fourth entry in my ongoing customized hex tiles thread. Above are some of my finished rock tiles in play. Here’s a quick step-by-step on how it’s done. (And by the way, dose are ma cousin's in the pitcure, Grishnakh.)
Materials:
You will need spray mount, matt board or illustration board, xacto knife, printer, large rocks, small rocks, gravel flocking (the same color that you use to flock your rock hex tiles with is best) and glue (tacky glue and for the larger rocks, a hot glue gun).
Step 1: Making the base
The first few steps are exactly like the tree/forest tutorial. First you print out the base template. I have made the hex shapes on the templates in such a way that they will perfectly fit onto a Heroscape hex tile without any overlap. (You will find the template at the end of the tree/forest tutorial.)
The next thing to do is to “lightly” spray mount the printed template onto a sheet of illustration board or colored 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. 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. Peel off and throw away the printed template after you have trimmed out the hex base. (Again, see the tree tutorila for more information.)
One thing you do not want is to have the white edge of the board showing up against the terrain 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 grey on the edges. Cool Grey Value # 5 works very well. Simply go around the edge of your base with the marker. It’s that easy.
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. In the case of my tiles I got a little more “artsy” and painted a dark grey first and then proceeded to dab in lighter and lighter areas of paint. I did this by mixing a grey with Mars Black, Titanium White and a little bit of Burnt Umber just to add a little dirt color to the mix.
Step 2: Planning the scenery elements:
The rocks that you use you will have to find. For the smaller debris surrounding my larger rocks I use grey gravel that I happen to have in some of the pathways around my house. These should be small (I’ve shown them with an xacto knife so you can get an idea of scale).
The larger rocks you just have to keep an eye out for. The best ones come in two colors, grey and brownish light grey. If they have one side that is flat all the better. It’s that side that you’ll glue to the base. Also look for rocks that look like scaled down versions of bigger boulders. If the rock has a layered sediment look all the better.
Next take your rocks 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 around easily.
Step 3: Gluing it all down:
Now comes the easy part, gluing everything down. I use both Tacky glue and a hot glue gun. The Tacky glue works best to hold the smaller rocks down with. I use the glue gun to place the larger, heavier elements since it dries much faster and holds the rocks in place. It would be best (in the case of the Tacky glue) to let all of this dry overnight.
Step 4: Flocking:
Next comes the gravel flock. I try to spread the glue onto the base in a way that looks like piled up gravel. This is a great way to hide any glue that might be showing around the edges of the rocks or other imperfections. 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.
Here’s a couple of finished one hex rock tiles:
Once that dries then you can add in some dirt colored flock or grass if you’d like. You could also add bushes and static grass. I like to keep the other types of flock off of my rock tiles so I can use them to represent rock formations inside of caverns. I am, however, working on a set of rock tiles that will be used in forest settings by flocking the edges of the rock tiles with my grass flock and adding in bushes and grass.
Here’s some samples of some of my 4 hex rock tiles to give you ideas:
One last thing. Sometimes, when I’m done with a rock tile, I might brush a thin black wash of paint over areas that look too light in color. This helps tone those areas down and if done correctly will deepen the shadow areas.
That’s it! I’ve got even more terrain ideas up my sleeve so stay tuned....
And here are some samples of my tiles in play. (Sorry, I’m back to Games Workshop figures here. I do play Heroscape, trust me.)
Re: Grishankh's Custom Terrain
WHOA!
I was so obsessed with your pix I completely missed the intro as to what got you going on this! Ha! Ha! I am scrapping the HeroScape rules and playing Melee/Wizard from now on!
The 7-hex tiles are perfect! Why didn't I see that?
I am thinking about having Jim do my Advanced Melee, Advanced Wizard and Into the Labyrith in hardcover ... No more worries about dog-eared corners on 20 year old paper covers!
• For those unaware Melee has one of the most definitive combat systems ever created
I actually have Melee and Wizard sitting here next to me (the normal versions as Advanced is kept safely away) along with HeroScape, HeroQuest and Talisman items. Melee is the game that got me into gaming in the first place!
Grishnakh said:
WHOA!
I was so obsessed with your pix I completely missed the intro as to what got you going on this! Ha! Ha! I am scrapping the HeroScape rules and playing Melee/Wizard from now on!
The 7-hex tiles are perfect! Why didn't I see that?
I am thinking about having Jim do my Advanced Melee, Advanced Wizard and Into the Labyrith in hardcover ... No more worries about dog-eared corners on 20 year old paper covers!
• For those unaware Melee has one of the most definitive combat systems ever created
I actually have Melee and Wizard sitting here next to me (the normal versions as Advanced is kept safely away) along with HeroScape, HeroQuest and Talisman items. Melee is the game that got me into gaming in the first place!
Re: Grishankh's Custom Terrain
The best by far! Still to this day even 25 years later! For those who don't know the system you can download everything ever published for this little jewel of a game here:
http://www.jgimmigration.com/tft/index.htm
No more dogged eared copies now! (My original copies are put away.)
Also, a new company called Dark City Games is publishing new adventures for Melee. You can visit the web site at:
http://www.darkcitygames.com/
Glad to meet another Melee fan! Cool! I've been using my Heroscape tiles to play Melee on ever since they first came out. In fact I've written up a set of rules for playing melee in the 3rd dimension. (It addresses things like engagement, force retreating, etc.) If you are interested in them PM me and I'll get then together in the next few days. I've also been rebasing some of the larger Heroscape figures to represent 4 hex dragons, etc.
Malechi said:WHOA!
I was so obsessed with your pix I completely missed the intro as to what got you going on this! Ha! Ha! I am scrapping the HeroScape rules and playing Melee/Wizard from now on!
The 7-hex tiles are perfect! Why didn't I see that?
I am thinking about having Jim do my Advanced Melee, Advanced Wizard and Into the Labyrith in hardcover ... No more worries about dog-eared corners on 20 year old paper covers!
• For those unaware Melee has one of the most definitive combat systems ever created
I actually have Melee and Wizard sitting here next to me (the normal versions as Advanced is kept safely away) along with HeroScape, HeroQuest and Talisman items. Melee is the game that got me into gaming in the first place!
The best by far! Still to this day even 25 years later! For those who don't know the system you can download everything ever published for this little jewel of a game here:
http://www.jgimmigration.com/tft/index.htm
No more dogged eared copies now! (My original copies are put away.)
Also, a new company called Dark City Games is publishing new adventures for Melee. You can visit the web site at:
http://www.darkcitygames.com/
Glad to meet another Melee fan! Cool! I've been using my Heroscape tiles to play Melee on ever since they first came out. In fact I've written up a set of rules for playing melee in the 3rd dimension. (It addresses things like engagement, force retreating, etc.) If you are interested in them PM me and I'll get then together in the next few days. I've also been rebasing some of the larger Heroscape figures to represent 4 hex dragons, etc.
Barfodor said:
Go for it. Just post some pictures of what you do if you try any of my techniques. I've really been curious lately what some of you come up with. Maybe someone will come up with an idea for a better way of doing some of this.
Ya, a friend of mine makes custom LOTR figures an scenes. He told me of a place at the mall nearby where they have dead trees, and moss that looks & feels like real moss. Put that on the trees and they look really good. Maybe I could coat the grass tiles with that stuff and maybe have it a bit more "grassy" looking. Ill give it a try!
I'm working my way through the painting part of the process and have a quick question for you Grish. I've noticed that the paint makes the tiles a bit rough and they don't slide and stack as easily any more. Don't get me wrong, they still go together fine, it just takes a little manipulating.
Can you or anyone else recommend something to put on them to make them a little more slick without looking glossy?
Thanks!
Can you or anyone else recommend something to put on them to make them a little more slick without looking glossy?
Thanks!