"how do you model your ACW battlefields? " Topic

How do you construct your civil war battlefields, especially for historical scenarios?
Hills under cloth? Hills laid on top but custom for the scenario?

So I'm getting into civil war gaming, something I've wanted to do for a long time but I finally suckered I mean convinced a friend into it as well. We're starting with a Longstreet Campaign just to get started but eventually want to branch out into Regimental Fire and Fury (and Brigade when the new version comes out). We're playing in 15/18mm using the blue moon figures. I'm not worried about terrain for out LS games as those seem to be more ‘traditional,' you place a hill here, a field there, etc… you don't really have to create a landscape.

But I do want to go above and beyond for RFF, which is the problem. How can I effectively make terrain that can be used for Balls Bluff, McPhearson's Ridge, and Antietam cornfields, etc.. All these seem to have pretty specific / unique elevations and ridges that don't appear interchangeable. My original plan; make some game mats and place towels and whatever works under the mat in the required patterns which should make a good landscape. Fields, fences, woods and other terrain can go on top. I've made the game mats (I did 2 topics on TMP if interested) and they came out pretty good. However, when I place objects under them the mats don't look right. It just kinda makes an ugly bump or the elevations are not defined enough. I think the mats just aren't flexible enough to drape over the objects.

Searching the internet I see that a lot of people seem to solve this problem by putting down a layer of foam like gym floor tiles, then the objects, then the mat, and then use pins to secure the mat to the tiles. I also see that people use batting for their hills or just use the standard insulation foam cut to shape but not flocked. This seems to be the next step, but before I go out and invest in gym floor tiles which I have NO use for, and before I go get insulation foam and something to cut / shape it with, I wanted to ask how YOU construct your ACW games (or I guess any game). What's the best thing to put under the mat? It seems like that if I have to use insulation foam cut to shape, I might as well flock it and just place it on top.

Thanks for any advice. I don't mind experimenting but I don't want to reinvent the wheel either. In the meantime I will continue to paint up my union troops, almost up to 75 bases of infantry, 15 bases of cav (mounted and disomounted), and 6 cannon.

By the way, isn't cav the worst to paint! Expensive (compared to the foot), and needs 2 bases!!

Well War Artisan is your friend:

Building a table:

link

Results for Civil War:

link

How to build the terrain cloth form my own humble efforts:

link

There is no better guide than this. I followed the directions
and everything worked a treat. In fact, I printed the whole series out to keep as a backup.

link

Nice stuff there RAF. It's a shame the pix are so blurry.

I use cloth over hills. I strictly do historical scenarios but at the Corps level. So most terrain is fairly generic.

The carved (with a knife) insulation foam under the printed image "blankets" that are becomming more and more available these days, is looking like a cheap and eye-catching option.
I have to look to transportability. The carved and flocked insulation board looks great but it's hard to move. The printed terraine maps with "bumps" and flock/fencing look almost as good.

I used to have a large set of Geo-Hex that was excellent for terrain. Nowadays, I prefer to create each board out of expanded-foam insulation board, with paint, flocking,etc. since they are scenario-specific.

I've been examining a couple other areas as well. I really like the heavy foam interlocking mats. Sort of a rubbery consistency,and about 1" thick. I made 4 4X6 boards with these. They took spray paint, as well as Woodland Scenic "Scenic Cement" and flocking material, as well as fine ballast for texture and to date, 2years later, none of it has rubbed or fallen off. With these I bought some extra pieces and carved them for various hills. Trees and rocky outcroppings were based on old blank DVD's.

The other system I am eyeing is a set of rigid plastic modular boards that are each 1X1 foot square. These are made by "Secret Weapon" and are their Tablescapes Tiles. Very good reviews, though they run at around $250 USD for enough to fill an 8X4 table. But I'm likely to purchase a set anyway, just to see what can be done with it, especially since it's very transportable.

A few different ways of doing hills are discussed here:
link

Chhris

I use a ground cloth with roads/woods/hills on them

I have a bunch of hills made up – some expensive terrain, but a lot are made from styrofoam board and painted/flocked; I am lucky enough to have a friend who likes to make them

There is no "one size fits all" terrain for specific battles.

I am lucky since I have a lot, and I mean a lot of Geo-Hex. It is very flexible for building a battlefield. I also can build hills from scratch but I only do that for something unique. I have lots of pre-fab hills, those hills plus the Geo-Hex, means I rarely need to make hills. I have a variety of game mats to use as a base for the Geo-Hex.

I have some great fences, trees, rivers, cloth roads etc. I wish someone was still making Geo-Hex. What comes up on eBay has usually had a hard life. Its never the pieces I want anyway.

I have a large (full table) piece of carpeting under my ground cloth, and use various pieces of styro-foam, etc, (including old GeoHex hexes) between them to make hills, ridges, etc. Then I use pieces of carpeting, colored felt, etc. for fields.
For ACW you need lots of trees.

thanks for comments.

though to be more clear, i've already made a game mat, made two actually, can see here TMP link

so i'm not looking to start making terrain boards.

i guess a better question would of been, How / what do you use to model hills, what do you place under the game mat?

i was aware of War Artisan, I'm just not sure i can replicate his method as everything he has in on a pin.

i'm trying to do some cost analysis, or get some advice before i take the plunge.

right now i'm thinking some sort of foam layer on the table, and hills carved from … either the same foam (gym floor tiles, yoga mat, etc..) or insulation foam. then a bunch of pins to help give it some shape.

I have a homemade game mat made from canvas that sits on my 6x8 table. Underneath is 1" insulation foam cut to fit my table. This serves as the base to pin things to. I often use my existing hills made from foam that are fully flocked and meant to be used on top of the mat to use under the mat for hills. I have also used batting and even books if I want a more defined ridge top. Once the mat is draped over whatever objects I've chosen, I use T-pins (used for sewing I think) and stretch and pin the mat so the hills are more taunt and miniatures won't "sink" into the landscape, pulling everything else with it. I use quite a few of these around the board to make sure everything is secure. I have a few random trees that have pins on the bottom, but everything else is on a base.
Sometimes I feel like a more natural looking setup and put my flocked hills under the mat, and sometimes I want a quicker set up or don't want to mess with it, so they go on top. If you flock them similar to your mat, they blend in fairly well and you get double duty out of them.
Batting works ok for gentle hills, but for larger hills, the hill's top can be a little funky, making it harder to deploy troops. If you want a larger defined surface for a ridgeline or other key terrain, I suggest using books as they will give you a nice flat surface for the top while the mat will take care of the slope.
My preference is either using my existing hills or scrap pieces of foam -- they give you a more stable surface and with the scraps, can be cut down to whatever you need.

I don't place anything under the game mat. People still do that?

that's what i'm trying to do! : )

think i'm just going to have to bite the bullet and buy some 1" insulation foam and some batting, and have it.

maybe i'll get sometime to experiment late June.

it's a long term project anyhow.

thanks again for comments!