Yesterday I was able to finish off the last few ancient ships. I will be needing to add a few islands and coastline to make the games a bit more interesting, besides which many of the naval battles were fought close to the coast.
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| The tabletop setup with the newly created islands and coastline, and recently completed ships. |
After I considered a few option on how to creating the islands and coastline I settled on using foam/sponge sheet which I had used for packing the last time we moved. It is nice and light and can be throw in with other terrain without any worry of damage.
Here are the steps I used to create some foam islands and coastline.
Step 1 - Using a pair of scissors I cut out the pieces, shaped the coastline, and finally cut out gullies to make the coastline look quite rugged.
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| Foam is cut and shaped |
Step 2 - I made up a large batch of brown wash using cheap acrylic paint from the kids section of the art shop. This was liberally applied to the foam pieces, then they were squeezed out to rid them of as much surplus wash as possible.
Step 3 - While the brown stained foam pieces were still damp I brushed on a light sand colour, working in the colour with the paint brush.
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| A comparison of a brown washed piece and one with the light sand brushed in. |
Step 4 - Again before allowing time to try, a light grey paint was applied and worked in as with the sand colour.
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| A light grey is worked into the edges for cliffs and rocky areas. |
Step 5 - A mid-green paint was applied, again nothing had been allowed to dry out, and the green was worked in on the top of the islands and coastline to represent vegetation. In all it only took 30 minutes to do all this using house paint in sample pots and cheap artist acrylics.
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| Green is added for vegetation |
Step 6 - Once the terrain pieces are dry, then dry-brush the edges and terrain pieces to help highly the rugged coast. It can take quite a while to dry out, so finding somewhere warm will help speed up the process.
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| Once dry, the cliffs and coast is dry-brushed with a light sand colour |
The final step is to set up the tabletop and play my first ancient naval game. All in all this terrain is simple, cheap, and no need to worry about it getting damaged when stored away.
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| A closer look in use on the tabletop |
That really looks the business.
ReplyDeleteThank you kindly. It has been most enjoyable mini project to get the ships and terrain done.
DeleteThat is a great set up you've made out of nothing, brilliant!.
ReplyDeleteIt's always fun doing some scratch building.
DeleteSuperb work . Love the coastlines and the effect you get is superb.
ReplyDeleteI'm being tempted into a whole new period dammit...
Is the foam polyurethane style insulation?
I'm thinking Normandy coastline effects would look good if I can copy your excellent style of finish.
Thank you. The foam is not the insulation type, it is soft like a sponge used for washing the car. I think we bought a roll of it when we were moving home and I packed my models in-between lavers.
DeleteThat looks superb Peter. I'd never guessed that the islands and isthmus were simply made from old foam if you had not have showed us.
ReplyDeleteRegards, James
I was not sure how it was going to turn out, but it worked out better than expected. Thanks.
DeleteJust brilliant Peter and that might just work for my 10mm figures 'inland' too :)
ReplyDeleteThat could well work on land as well. On page 121 of Practical Wargaming by Wesncraft there is an example of a foam rubber hill.
ReplyDeleteLove the ships and coastline/islands!
ReplyDeleteThe islands and coastline were a bit of an experiment which worked. I am very pleased with the outcome and it has got me thinking about other uses.
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