"My Versatile CAVE/CANYON System" Topic

link

Can be used to fight Orcs, Goblins, Morlocks, etc.

Please let me know what you think. I appreciate your input.

Thanks.

CC
PS. I hope the link works.

I guess it can be used to game a off-world canyon system too!

CC

Nicely done. We just finished the Warhammer Denizens of the Deep campaign (all the fighting is done in caverns) & these would have been perfect.

Black Cavalier,

Thanks!

You should have told me sooner. I could have let you borrow it. :)

CC

It would have a huge number of uses. I could use it for Pulp games set in the Gobi Desert. Or, it could be an underground complex where some ancient evil or mad scientist makes his abode.

Very nice CC!

Rich

Very nice. Are you likely to do a tutorial on how you made them?

I for one would appreciate that.

x42

Hi CC,

You ROCK!

But, you already know that…

I'm experimenting with a Displaced Miniatures gallery here:

link

*** What do you think? ***

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

Maksim,

Very nice!

I may have to transfer most of my photo albums to Displaced Miniatures or another site. It seems that Yahoo Photos will no longer be allowing photo uploads on existing clients, nor accepting any new clients (as of Sept. 30, I think).

Thanks for the encouragement.

CC

Holy crap dude! That's very cool. I second the request for a tutorial, or even just some material lists and tips.

Add a bit of scrap, some stores and you've got a underground base for your scavengers, i'm moving my pics over to displaced miniatures as well link

x42,

As for a tutorial, I wish I had taken photos of each stage of the process. So I guess the following will have to do this time:

link
link

I started with 2 inch polystyrene sheets (blue in the photos), with straight vertical cuts.

I then used a foam cutter and box cutter to give it more texture and ridges.

After that, I put each blue piece over a sheet of 1/2 inch pink polystyrene (also visible in the photos), and traced the outline of each blue piece.

With a box cutter, I cut the pink board to about an inch outside of the traced outline.

I then contoured the pink pieces to about a 45 degree angle, again using the foam cutter.

After that, I placed glued the pink and blue pieces together.

I then bought a small 1/4 inch mdf board (24" x 36" piece).

The combined polystyrene sets were then placed over the 1/4 inch mdf and outlines were drawn (from an inch to a couple of inches, in curved irregular patterns).

The mdf was then cut with a jig saw, the edges were slightly beveled with a box cutter and then sanded.

The polystyrene sets were then glued to the mdf. Spaces were filled using wood putty. Then they were slightly sanded. The flat tops were then brushed with two or three layers of wood glue as reinforcement.

Add rocks and sand to taste. A light brush of diluted wood putty wouldn't hurt.

Brush prime it black, followed by this GW Moria color scheme, using craft paints (after much experimentation with paints with ElCid1099).

Each successive lighter shade should be drybrushed less heavily than the previous shade. The initial base shade should also be heavily drybrushed (not wet-painted on as a solid base):

* Americana Deep Midnight Blue DA166 (yes blue – trust me)
* Anita's Charcoal 11086
* Americana Slate Grey DA68
* Folk Art Basil Green 645

Blue First – Americana Deep Midnight Blue DA166 (lightened with a couple of drops of slate grey – you are aiming for something similar to GW Shadow Grey)

Anita's Charcoal 11086 (lightened with a drop of Slate Grey)

Americana Slate Grey DA68

Folk Art Basil Green 645 (lightened with about 30% Sand/Sable from below – again this should look similar to GW Rotting Flesh – use very sparingly – a very light drybrush is all that is needed)

If you get it right it's a good stand-in for…
GW Shadow Grey
GW Codex Grey
GW Fortress Grey
GW Rotting Flesh

In case you are wondering this is the Rock palette used in one of GW's online rock/stone tutorials. It looks pretty good and the blue is hardly noticable in the end but does help get that gloomy effect.

The 24" by 36" playing board is similarly made using 1/4 inch mdf.

It was sprayed with textured paint (the FleckStone type). After it was dry, it was primed with flat black spray paint and then drybrushed as described above.

Hope this helps.

CC

CORRECTION: I think that the pink board is actually an 5/8 of an inch thick.

So, 2 inches for the blue, 5/8 of an inch for the pink and 1/4 inch for the mdf, make up pieces a total of 2 and 7/8 in height.

CC

Looks like fun and useful terrain. For canyon games it's already perfect, although more pieces would let you cover a bigger board.

For a series of cave games in 25/28mm, I guess next I would add more pieces for variety:
– stalagmites, pedestals, and debris to break up the flat surface.
– modular walls (wall sections that end flush with the short edges of the MDF base), allowing you to enclose areas with continuous wall sections, or build irregularly shaped caverns of variable sizes.
– terrain that is a barrier but allows line of sight through it, for instance a wall piece with holes in it (a "fence" of connected stalactites / stalagmites).
– pools of water.
– crevices. Obviously you can elevate the gameplay surface to the tops of your pieces, then simulate a crevice just by pushing two bases together … but you may just want to make a flat floor piece with a crevice-shaped hole cut into it.

For inspiration for pieces to add variety, I'd look three places:
– the Dwarven Forge cavern line, link .
– GW's Mines of Moria book for LotR (not sure that's the right title), which has a whole tutorial on modular terrain pieces for gaming within the cavern city of Moria. Those are mostly meant to be Dwarven architecture so they have regular lines etc, but you could make them more natural-looking just by finishing them with irregular lines.
– Matakishi's 3D dungeon components, but again adapted with irregular edges for your caverns. matakishi.com/dungeon.htm

CC, very nice. Yes, there are many games that could be played on that layout. Various sci-fi, Indiana Jones & even old west would work.

I have quite a few unfinished pieces that will incorporate some of the Heroscape ruins as Dwarf corridor facings:

TMP link

CC

Hi CC,

I also enjoy using Photobucket galleries for my miniatures.

You may want to check out that hosting service too.

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

CC:

That is great looking terrain! And I LOVE that you figure out how to use inexpensive, easy-to-get-at-the-craft-store paints to get the colors.

Some giant mushrooms from a garden store, some toy dinosaurs, and a few explorers, you've an underground expedition from a crater in Iceland.

Mysterioso

Looks great Dan, It would be good for Starship Troopers too

Yes. Lots of potential applications!

I'll probably start with the two things that prompted me to make those pieces in the first place:

Use as Morlock (Time Machine) tunnels
TMP link
TMP link

As part of a LOTR Moria cave system
TMP link

However . . . I kept the style generic enough for just that purpose Karl. I want to use them for bug hunts, post-apocalyptic tunnels, entrances to alien bases, etc.

CC

Just a reminder. I must give ElCid1099 credit for coming up with the craft paint equivalents I mentioned above.

He has all the GW, Foundry and other paint systems. However, for large terrain projects, he searched out the least expensive option: same basic colors, right of the craft paint rack.

CC

I just added the photos to my Flickr account:

link

CC

And now for some custom pieces (for Morlock tunnels):

TMP link

CC

I wish I had known about this product for the ground surface:

TMP link

Oh well. I am already committed to my current texture and color schemes.

CC