"Flooded And Overgrown Post-Apocalyptic Urban Terrain?" Topic

How's this?

1) I would probably have a full board/table painted swamp green/brown, with a few highlights to break the monotony.

2) Over this, I would place a plexiglass sheet for depth.

3) I would then make each building ruin or pile a separate island.

How does that sound, in principle at least? Any other suggestions?

CC
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Some suggestions for roots/vines:

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CC

Heh, I was just talking with some guys about doing an old west gunfight on top of a flooded town, with just the roofs showing. Every once in a while something could come floating by that would either help or hinder the players.

Reminds me of the book cover for "Daybreak 2250AD"
aka "The Starmans Son".

A highly specialized board, but one that could be a lot of fun.

Come to think of it, a good possible use of some of the old Armorcast cutoffs (random miscasts further chopped up and sold in big bags at the local Cons before Armorcast went east).

Small stands of teddy bear fur work really well for sedges and marsh grasses plus work well to break up LOS.

True the board is specialized, but with moveable terrain it can be quite useful. I have a similar board which has served as beaver ponds for Old West, tropical swamps for WWII PTO, Russian marshes for WWII and medieval games, and most recently as the Congo's Likoula swamp in a VSF game.

Could be the terrain needed for a post-Apophis game:

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Farstar: "A highly specialized board, but one that could be a lot of fun."

Not too specialized really. Without the urban "islands", the removable plexiglass with the blue-green board could be used for miniature naval games or something.

CC

The base board is multi-purpose, true, but a collection of sunken and possibly off-kilter modern buildings is not going to have many other uses.

LOL. True, unless you put them on a different board where they stick out of dry rubble. :)

CC

Oh my..! I see a Necromunda dome getting flooded..

I don't know who made these but they might be along the same lines as what your thinking.

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You could buy one, say, O-scale skyscraper, and cut it up to make many surface-level ruins.

You wouldn't even have to use plexiglass, the clear vinyl material they sell for furniture covering works great for water on top of a suitably colored cloth. Let it get a bit wrinkled and it works a treat. Also much easier to transport.

I think CC wanted the Plexiglas for a look of depth.

How much depth would we be talking? A bunch of ruins sitting on top of the plexi with a couple inches of void underneath might look odd ;-)

Lately, I've been thinking of ways to build the same kind of terrain. I especially want multiple layers of overpasses or roadways. Bridges also make good spots for shanty towns, I hear.

A quarter of an inch is more what I'm thinking of. Gives the illusion of depth without creating too much shadow (as it would if it was any thicker).

CC

Hmm… Visions of monitors and floating shanty towns drifting amongst the ruins…

Submerged buildings and tunnels also offer the chance for a good guncrawl as teams head down into the dark to sort out the resident mutants, feral peoples, etc :-)

CC, I'd get a piece of brown felt and hit it with a suitable number of rattlecans for highlights, then lay a sheet of vinyl (clear shower curtain) over the top. Then place my ruined buildings, overpasses, and overgrown rubble-piles over the top of that. inexpensive and easy to make, and easy to store as well.

depending on what colors you used, the felt might even be re-usable for dry land as well (in addition to possibly being double-sided, with darker 'wet' colors on one side and lighter 'dry' colors on the other)

Plexi is really easy to scratch, so after a game or three (including setup and takedown), your water wouldn't look anywhere near as good.

What if, instead of plexiglass, you were to use resin for water?
Carve your terrain out of some insulation foam, paint and fill to the desired thickness/depth with railroad layout 'water.'
Would the surface be more durable than plexi? What if it was sprayed a few times with a varnish/sealant/something?

SpleenRippa, the problem with the resin water is the amount you'd need. Even for a smallish 4x4 board, and a depth of only 1/4" or so, you're talking a *lot* of resin. Then, while the resin sets, you have to make sure that the board is perfectly level, or you'll have bare spots and need another pour.

I think the plexi is the way to go. If it gets scratched up by the minis or terrain, all you have to do is paint on a few coats of Future to get the "wet look" back.

Yep (jpattern2's point)

I like the whole concept, CC

How about using light diffusers (the kind in folourescent fixtures? If you spray the flat side with a variety of marshy colours and turn them pointy side up it gives a decent water effect.

or if needed you do a ruined city with all buildings having seperate floors
simply insert colored plexi between say 2nd and 3rd floors evenly accross the board and you have a bilevel board with 2 levels underwater

you could go from simply flooded streets to 4-5 stories underwater, simply by changing the floors you set it between and you still have your ruined city for any other use

you could even do flooding scenarios where the water goes up a level each turn or two
DT

I was thinking more along the lines of having the water reach the second or third level, but have the top floors collapse around the remaining walls.

In other words, each "island" would be a pile of rubble with partial walls still standing in the center.

Does that make sense to you guys?

CC

Wow. This image looks nice:

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CC

CC, if you're not going to model the interior of the buildings, just make them as a flat-bottomed piece and lay on the 'water' surface.

That might be too ruined, though… If the buildings are that far gone, what's the point of fighting over them?

On the Major General's site, they suggest a technique for jungle rivers that might work for your whole board.

Basically lay out a dark colored bottom sheet as you suggested, but on top use one or more layers of colored cellophane gift wrap. Lay islands of ruins on top as you suggest.

The cellophane giftwrap is inexpensive so it can be thrown out when it gets too torn up, it is highly glossy so it looks like water, and it ripples as you move water craft on it, looking like real waves.
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If it gets cold:
englishrussia.com/?p=1788
And if it's shallow:
englishrussia.com/?p=636

CC I can spot one of your threads a mile away. Always food for thought.

Cheers, Xin

I think the idea of having a plexiglass 'surface' supported by buildings, so you can go under water could be a great way to go, as you can have all sorts of fun with submarines, aquatic creatures (sharks, giant octopusses, etc), boats on the surface and mulit level games. That's be really fun to play on. I'm sitting here thinking I should try the same!Also if you coat the top surface of the plexiglass with a thin layer of PVA you'll break up the monotenous flat surface, add a little texture and make it a a little easier to hide the scratches all in one go.

Inspiration from real sites at new discussion here:

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CC

Neat artwork:

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CC

This is cool:

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CC

Tabletopwarrior: "Reminds me of the book cover for 'Daybreak 2250AD' aka 'The Starmans Son'."

Don't know how I missed that. I see what you meant back there:

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Very cool!!!

CC

@ dropzonetoe

I don't know who made these but they might be along the same lines as what your thinking.

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Bit of a tangent but a shame there are no more pictures of what apears to be a scratchbuilt VTOL in the link.

I read this copy first…then found an original cover copy, had it signed before her death, and have it today (along with 5 other copies).

Great book. Foundation story.

Another good one is
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Check this out:

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Now imagine some of those "islands" as a haven for Post-Apocalyptic pirates!

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CC

This is interesting:

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Lots of great ideas in the "Life After People" and "World Without Humans"/"Aftermath: Population Zero" videos:

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CC

There's an actual town in Arkansas, "Monte Ne" that is now under two hundred feet of water in Beaver Lake.

Very cool. I dove there a few times.

Smokey,

Is anything sticking above the water? Or did structures get demolished before the flooding?

By the way, for those wanting to do muddy water, here's something for you guys:

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CC

This is a nice look:

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I would love to make stuff like that, and then place it on top of green, slimy water like the type in this pool:

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Or maybe make the water something a little clearer:

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CC

More great ideas here:

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CC

This is too cool:

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CC

Imagine these intermodal container "homes" on top of a barge:

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CC

UPDATE: Rebel now has the perfect set of figures to use as Post Apocalyptic pirates:

rebelminis.com/15afmiar.html

Dan
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