Mattw3385 | 12 Jan 2017 11:56 p.m. PST |
Hello, I was able to pick up a couple rolls of Lemax's ocean display mats real cheap. My plan is to turn them into flexible rivers/streams. I ran into a couple of problems. I have no idea how wide a average river/stream would be in 15mm. Second problem is how to make banks on the river pieces that are flexible. The only idea I had was to use latex caulking to make the banks. Anybody have any ideas? Here's a picture of the mat.
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ochoin | 13 Jan 2017 2:13 a.m. PST |
How tall is a tree? I think you need to think what effect you want the water features to have on your game & work backwards. For me,to cross any water is half movement a "stream" is very slightly less than a half normal move for infantry. Thus it takes a full move to cross. A "river" is wider & will take two moves (at half move penalty) to cross. I hope this helps. |
Martin Rapier | 13 Jan 2017 4:16 a.m. PST |
My streams are 1" wide (including banks) and rivers 2.5" wide (including banks). They aren't scaled to a particular figure size but to 'look OK' and be easy to store transport. They have been used with everything from 2mm to 54mm stuff. |
shelldrake | 13 Jan 2017 4:20 a.m. PST |
If you have a bridge in your collection of scnery, I would get a model bridge and use this as a guide – if the bridge wont span the river, then the river is too big. Match the scenery you are going to make with what scenery you have. |
Martin Rapier | 13 Jan 2017 5:57 a.m. PST |
Yes, match your bridges! or buy/build bridges after the event which look OK. |
Extra Crispy | 13 Jan 2017 7:00 a.m. PST |
The Brule River in Wisconsin is, mostly, about 25 yards across. The Mississippi in many places is a mile across. Don't go wider than 3" or you'll find they just take up too much real eastate for the size fo your table. 3" at the most I'd say… |
Yellow Admiral | 13 Jan 2017 10:25 a.m. PST |
+1 to all the above advice, especially matching the bridges. Best advice so far. To elaborate on ochoin's advice: I keep my rivers in even inch width increments (1", 2", 3", etc.) because the movement systems I play are typically measured in inches. That's not strictly necessary; you could instead just declare the movement cost to cross a river ahead of the game. - Ix |
Yellow Admiral | 13 Jan 2017 10:27 a.m. PST |
Rivers also change with weather. There are plenty of examples in history of a river becoming uncrossable in the middle of a campaign, after rainstorms. The creek running through my back yard is about 2-3 yards across and ankle deep most of the year, but in the winter rains it swells to 10 yards across and a few yards deep. Also keep in mind that the scale of gaming can determine whether your linear water feature is a small stream, a wide creek, a minor river, or a major river like the Yangtze or Danube or Mississippi. I've used my same 1" latex rivers as all of these at various times. - Ix |
Mattw3385 | 13 Jan 2017 8:54 p.m. PST |
Thanks for all the advice. Now I got a good idea about how wide it should be. Next is to come up with a idea about how to make the banks and still have it be flexible. |
ochoin | 13 Jan 2017 9:21 p.m. PST |
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Mattw3385 | 13 Jan 2017 11:53 p.m. PST |
Ochoin thats what I been thinking about using. I was thinking about going with brownish colored caulking so I don't have to worry about the paint peeling off the caulking. Also maybe try mixing some fine and course sand to the caulking for some texture. Then giving it a drybrushing of light brown. And add patches of static grass to finish it off. I'm only worried that the caulkung won't adhere to the vinyl like mat. |