Tuesday 23 November 2021

Rock formations

Two weeks ago I was repairing a small brick wall in the garden and at the end of the job I had some mortar remaining. Not wanting to waste it and with an idea forming to create some cheap terrain, I put the unused mortar on some boards and set it aside for a week to let it dry.

Unused mortar set aside to dry

Once the mortar was dry and using a hammer I broke up the mortar into a variety chunks mainly of between 1-2 inches.

My collection of rocks after a bit of hammering.

Now I have a nice selection of rocks to make difficult terrain, rocky rivers, and possibly building rubble. Cost wise this cost nothing as it was left over mortar, but if I had to purchase some mortar to do this again the cost of a bag was between $5 to $10.

Rough terrain

Rubble

Rocky river

I have noticed there is a bit of dust with the rocks and I may in the future dilute some PVA glue and give all the rocks a quick coat to seal them.



9 comments:

  1. Very effective I must say and something to bear in mind for the future. A coat of pva or sealant would be a good idea as and when time allows.

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    1. Thanks. It was an opportunistic piece of terrain making.

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  2. I’d definitely pva it Peter. The lime in the mortar can be a skin irritant as well as the dust you mention. Not dangerous in any way, just an irritant.

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  3. If you are going to coat the rocks with PVA then I'd mix in some pigment as they look too uniformly grey for my taste.

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    1. I will test out some with a touch of pigment.

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  4. I like the Samurai, and the rocks came out well. The Zombie folk look... ghoulish!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks. I am looking forward to concentrating on the Samurai again after finishing the zombies.

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  5. That river looks superb and I see that it featured in your War of Spanish Succession game.
    Regards, James

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