I have been making some scenery to go with my 15mm Italian Wars French army.
I particularly want to get a southern European pre-industrial appearance and have plans for vineyards (no growing them on 100m long lengths of galvanised wire!), olive trees and plenty of weathered pan-tiled roofs. I was very disappointed to learn that tomatoes only arrived at the end of this period so I'll have to think of something else to add a bit of interest and Italian colour to the urban areas. I suppose a pizza oven would be wrong too :-(
So far I have made some irregular areas as woods, broken ground, brush or marsh (depending on the markers placed on them), fields, hills and a house.
Here is one of the fields with a ploughed effect and crops growing on one area:
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The area pieces will be used as woods, broken ground, brush or swamps, depending on what terrain markers are used – this one shows both trees and broken ground markers. My first go at swamp markers wasn't very successful so I need to re-think that one – I'm wondering whether to invest in some proper water effects so I can do a convincing lake as well.
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The close-up of the ditch along the edge of a field shows where I have just used a couple of coats of gloss varnish to give the impression of water/wet mud in the bottom of the ditch. I think it looks OK for this but something better is needed for larger water areas – suggestions would be very welcome.
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I've put a detailed report on making the irregular areas of terrain and fields on my blog here: smallitalianwars.blogspot.co.uk
As soon as I get round to writing up (and completing) the other features, I'll post some additional pictures on here.