"A possible solution to the 'stepped hills' issue" Topic

An idea hit me on the train-ride back from Kyoto yesterday (I really need to remember to duck going through those doors!)

Terraces.

Many of the terrace edges in Japan were just heavily overgrown, so you could just put the 'thick' flocking and clump foliage on the edge of the hill. The terraces that you don't flock the heck out of could then get some stone patterning. The flat part of the hill would be a *very* flat field.

Huh?

Interesting. Would work for a variety of areas in the world. Parts of Vietnam, Italy, etc

I just put my terrain mats over my old stepped hills that are about 1/2" thick.

All of my figures on multi-figure bases stood up fine. My 20mm WWII and Vietnam figures individually based stood up fine as well.

The only figures that gave me any trouble were my 25mm individually mounted Sioux Wars mounted figures who were on narrow bases. I use thin metal bases, so it was no big deal to just glue another wider, but thin, metal base underneath and terrain the resulting "frame" around my old base. Now they stand up on my table too.

Getting rid of the stepped look certainly improves the look of the table.

Tom

I don't think stepped hills are a huge problem. I'm playing a wargame, not making a model railroad. One of the major concerns is not having the figures fall over, which means "somewhat flat". Seeing as distances are largely abstracted anyway, abstracting terrain isn't exactly a huge leap.

Your in Japan?
Where are you based?

I decided long ago that, if I ever made another stepped hill, the "steps" would be slightly angled down instead of horizontal, like those shown here:

The steps are still flat, but NOT horizontal. They each angle down by a few degrees.

Dan
TMP link

Interesting. Do you think that was done to help drainage?
I don't use stepped hills. Never have, never will.
That having been said, to each their own.

@Edwulf: I'm on my way back to the US on July 31st, was doing my study abroad for the business degree.

This was really a case of 'wait, I can get nice flat-ish hills that are easy for models to stand on and have realistic terrain? Why has no-one else thought of this?!?'

So, Lion, are we talking about the same thing?

Dan

@Lion in the Stars,

Not sure if you saw the "paths or no paths"/"stepped or not stepped" hill question on the TSATF board yesterday, but in case you didn't…

TMP link

@Guru: No, I'd missed that thread. (blame it on being wiped out from running around Kyoto in 90degF/90% humidity) Thank you for pointing it out to me!

@CC: Well, I'd really meant *flat*, stepped hills (call me a lazy bum, but rounding the hills strikes me as a good way to mess things up, if you get too much of a slope on the hills.

Rice paddies are going to be perfectly flat because of the water-level. Other types of farms are not going to be as flat, since there's no need to do the extra work (IRL). However, you're doing extra work to make rounded hills for the game.

The other thing that's really weirded me out from that trip is that the rivers/canals are so overbuilt. There's this huge flat terrain, and then a built-up dike (with a path and trees along the top) that drops down into a deep channel, with another dike on the other side (with path and trees at the top). The dikes are ~10ft taller than the surrounding terrain, and the middle is very deep in vegetation bur you get the impression it's deeper than the surrounding terrain by ~10 ft.

Presumably the dikes are built to withstand flood conditions.

Interesting idea, well worth considering.

regards
dave

Terrain Guy (Texas, USA) mats over stuff underneath can make sloped hills.
Cheers,
Bill
---
theterrainguy.com

Regarding the common diked bank effect of wargmaers rivers, Wargmaers' Terrain has very flat rivers that do not have that problem. Yet they have the appearance of depth. I bought the deluxe rivers from him with the water being a brownish-greenish blue mixture.

Tom

We maintain two sets of hills locally, and try not to mix them. Contoured (smooth) hills are for unit-based games (including the movement tray family ala WFB) but can also be used for individual basing where a lot of plastic (and thus little tipping danger) is involved, or where "true" LOS is called for. Most individual based games go to the other set of hills, which are near vertical-sided steps. These also have stand-off "rocks" produced from the cut-offs to allow a model to balance on the edge of a terrace if his movement isn't quite enough.

Ah shame.

There is a small but growing wargames group in Tokyo.
West Tokyo wargamers. Napoleonics is catching on in 28mm.