"Of Hills and Fields" Topic

I was just looking at some photos from a recent wargaming event.

Most of the games appeared to have been played on a felt terrain cloth, coming in varying shades of green – medium green, dark forest green, neon 'spring" green. The hills were terrain pieces in a completely different color – some tan, some brown, some green. I could have thrown down a fried egg, and it would have blended just as well with the terrain cloth.

What is the solution to this problem?

* improve your terrain cloth
* re-flock your hills
* it's just a game, never you mind

Match them to the base terrain, or if using fabric for that, put the hills underneath it.

I agree it looks bad, and bothers me as well.

Same goes for the miniature bases. Whenever possible, they should match the terrain as well.

I do all of the following depending upon situation.

1) Use scultped and flocked Terrain
2) Place hills underneath ground cloth
3) Wrap hills in same cloth using spray adhesive

This has been my complaint about ancients tournaments for quite a while, they just look bad. FOW tournaments (which I don't play) have a beautiful look and it really enhances the game I think. The solution is just effort and a alittle pride in your production, it is not that hard to bring a tote of terrain with you to a con.

Allen

I am with the "never mind" team.

After local experiments with sanded paint and various throw rugs, one local store finally covered their tables in hunters camo canvas. I'm not going to paint terrain to match that.

There is something to be said for uniformity.

It is reasonably easy to colour match paint to your ground cloth as a paint store (computer will do it) and thus get the right colour.

That said, I'm not too bothered by this.

I match the hill flocking with the game matt flocking to avoid that problem.

There may be something then with my painted board, painted hills with more or less same green painted bases. Besides that any game is better than no game

Yep, flock in the entire game area with loose flocking that will match and "blend" the colors together. This also breaks up the "open" areas and helps hide lines. Just a beautiful effect that my figures always deserve (afterall, they got dressed up really pretty for the ball……..)

I could have thrown down a fried egg, and it would have blended just as well with the terrain cloth.

I do not like them,
Sam-I-am.
I do not like
green eggs and ham.

All joking aside, if a terrain mat is used (and I just ordered a couple from Hotz Mats), then all hills and bases should be painted/flocked to match the base cloth.

Like this?

link

* it's just a game, never you mind

Eventually I will be able to afford enough Hexon to do the whole table, but not just yet.

My own answer is to stick with a tried and tested groundcovering, namely simple railway flocking (dyed sawdust)on the main board stuck down with uPVA glue over a green painted board.

I then paint uPVA glue around the bases of all my terrain pieces and if needed (very rarely) sprinkle some loose flock between the terrain base and the gaming board.

I have used the same terrain basing technique for over ten years and although there are better (and more expensive) techniques I am pleased with both the finish and more importantly the uniformity.

I have included this link to show one of my latest terrain pieces and as you can see the edges of the base is covered in the green railway flock.

link

Tony
dampfpanzerwagon.blogspot.com

Can't beat teddy bear fur over polystyrene hills:
link

Here is a picture of what my games typically look like. The terrain was all bought. It comes from a variety of vendors. So the flocking does not match, nor does the flocking on my minis. My goblins have a "Moria" stone basing and i am not building two armies one for indoors one for out.

So I'm definitely in the never mind camp. But I doubt you could put down a fried egg on this table and have it "blend in."

link

On my 'to do' list is to repaint my hills to match my gaming cloth as much as I can. In fact a major terrain revamp is scheduled for this year in lieu of new figures.

I don't lose sleep over it and once the game is on I do not tend to notice, but it does bug me slightly.

Get over it.

link

The real world isn't monotone.

Connard: The real world is also not pieced together from satellite pictures taken during three different seasons.

As for mix-and-match terrain; if you're not going to put some effort into the aesthetics, why not just play boardgames?

Connard: The real world is also not pieced together from satellite pictures taken during three different seasons.

Try zooming in on that map, or looking out of the window the next time you're on a plane…

I didn't mean to imply that the world is monotone, Mr. Sage. It's not, and neither are my game tables.

I was merely pointing out that the example to which you provided a link would have been more illustrative if it had shown one of the many-colored portions of the earth photographed simultaneously, or at least during the same season.

I don't have time to search the world for simultaneous geography. People will have to use their own imagination.

And yet you seem to have plenty of time to surf TMP!

Allow me to assist:

All a matter of taste, my taste runs to spectacular terrain – or as spectacular as I can make it. Also like to join games with great terrain. I get a bigger kick out of terrain than any other part of the hobby, though. For some, terrain is at best an afterthought and they are in it for the play – or, sadly, the competition. To each their own. Now I have to get back to working on some more terrain!

sprinkle loose flock over the edges of the hills and out a bit on the cover. you'll have to shake it off outside later but some will stick and over time will blend the mat to the hills. a solid cover mat is too arifical anyway and this will give it a bit of depth