My Terrain workbench is a disaster but I have started work on a super top secret project for the club. Since wargaming blogs pretty much guarantee anonymity on the web, it's ok to share with you - but no blabbing! I'm actually excited to get working on this as its my first time making a lot of hex terrain. Fellow club member and generally great guy, Ed, has an extensive collection of the GHQ "Terrain-Maker" hexes and I've always wanted to steal (oops I meant to say "emulate") that collection.
For this project we're going to need a lot of "Major River" and a handful of urban hexes. The GHQ "Terrain Maker" system use standard sized hexes which are 4 inches wide flat side to flat side. It also employs standard dimensions for road and streams that are 20mm wide and exit centered on the flat side of a hex. For major rivers, I just made them wider and used just about all of the flat side.
As you can see, there are a lot of river hexes.
I've been testing different color matches and have borrowed one of Ed's stream hexes to match terrain coloring . The streams are a bit greenish so to contrast a bit the major rivers will be a darker mix of green, brown and black paint. I've got a good match for Ed's for the ground color and flocking.
To paint the rivers, I used a white gesso as a primer for the river bed.
Once the gesso had dried, the rivers were painted using craft paint. The colors are Brunt Umber (the war-gamers goto brown for scenery), Medium Blue and a Hunter Green in roughly equal proportions. The trick is not fully mixing the paints so you can see faints streaks as its brushed on. Work in small amounts of paint. I'll do some touch up and then cover with a few coats of gloss modge podge to make it look wet and add some ripples.
I really need to clean up my workbench. Lee over at the quarantined gamer you tube channel has an episode on just that topic - here's the
link
If one has rivers, one needs bridges. Here's a shot of a test piece. There still got some work to do on the urban hexes but the overall look of these 3mm scale castings from
Pico Armor is pretty good. By the way, I highly recommend the company - they have great products and superb service.
Hmmm, I wonder what we're trying to build out here. Please be advised some of the clubs projects never see the light of day - usually because I'm involved and screw something up. This might be one of them.
Making these hexes and scenicing them has proven to be really fun. I've also got some ideas of using these hexes to bring some hex and counter games to the tabletop. So many plans, so little time.....
A bridge too far?
ReplyDeleteHex terrain always seems very "wargame-y" in a pleasing way, even when a sculpted board or mat is more realistic, the idea that you can either use the hexes for movement or reform the board as you like is very alluring. (even if you never do either!)
Have you looked at the micro buildings that Brigade miniatures make? Some of them might work for you.
Painting terrain? Eek! Miles, I am impressed...I'll paint 100 figures before I would bring myself to touch one hex...great work.
ReplyDeleteI also love the idea of a code name for "secret projects"...might have to borrow that idea.
I've only every play on hex terrain for a Napoleonic Naval game...lots of plain blue tiles! You've seen how big Posties table is..imagine that covered in blue hex times! Insane. I'm intrigued to see what your tiles are going to be used for though.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the 'shout out' for my YouTube stuff btw. Anyone considering a look is welcome, but don't get too excited its strictly amateur stuff! I've had a lot of fun doing the videos though, and it has kept me occupied and (sorta) sane during the COVID lockdown in the UK. Between working from home, and not being able to visit anywhere, I have spent an inordinate amount of time in my Operations Room over the last four months. If I hadn't been writing, filming and editing videos (as well as painting and gaming of course) I would have gone off the rails by now!
I purchased GHQ Terrain Maker 'way back when (90's). My problem with it is that the hexes aren't a consistent size - there will be gaps when you lay it all out. You can help circumvent this somewhat by gluing hexes to each other (like, if you plan to have a 3-hex town or a 4 hex road junction that you will use all the time, you can glue those 3 or 4 hexes together permanently). I ended up selling mine because of that reason. If I was going to do it today I would shell out the big bucks and get Kallistra's "Hexon" terrain system.
ReplyDeleteA fellow club member has a very sizable collection of the GHQ hexes and has also struggled with fit at times - I think part of the issue is the eps the use is the light "bubble" style you see in packaging. If you go down this crazy path, I highly recommend building a hex cutting jig - they are very simple to build - just 4 pieces of wood! and then use higher density EPS foam (pink or blue insulation foam. I find the fit is much better and the underlying material is a lot more durable.
ReplyDelete