Skirmish Games and Scatter Terrain, Part 1

I still play big battles, most notably the English Civil War, Fantasy Battle, 19th Century Colonial battles, Dark Ages, etc.; but over the last 5 years I have really caught the skirmishing bug due to the rules In Her Majesty's Name and Pulp Alley. Terrain plays a role in big battles, but with games where one figure represents one figure - you really do need that terrain piece to duck behind when that expert marksman is shooting at you! Plus it makes the game look cool.

Yep, those are rocks. I found them on walks in the woods with my Danger Dog War Poodles. I first washed them and you can see that three of them I have painted flat services with Vallejo Dark Flesh and have left the others with their natural looks. One rock is already glued to a 25mm circular stand as a test.

Now that I'm a bit older (ahem!) I make sure that I keep up an active lifestyle and one of my preferred activities is walking four to six miles a day with the dogs. While walking, because we all game on a budget, I keep an eye out for interesting pieces. If you have been following my blog, you know during the "Great Time of Isolation" that I have been working on figures, buildings, and other items for a campaign loosely based on the Amelia Peabody series of books with take place mostly in Egypt from about 1885 to 1922. Well if I'm going to excavate with adventurous archeologists, I better have something for them to do. Thus I've been picking up some interesting rocks and show what I have done so far (more ruins to come).

Enter Mr. Google:

There are so many images available on the internet that it makes it easy to reproduce ruins. The above image is what I am going to primarily use to show how I made some Egyptian ruins plus the examples of the hieroglyphics.

 As I mentioned earlier, I washed the rock and then painted the flat service Vallejo Dark Flesh. I then used black to make the outlines. As I started painting on the rock, I was having trouble keeping lines straight, etc. Then I realized, this are maybe 3,000 to 4,000 years old - plus they are ruins and will be seen at "gaming" distance.

I started filling in the details mainly with Vallejo paints. Again I wasn't worried that it would be perfect; but then I realized I painted the ancient Egyptian ancestor of Marge Simpson.

More details and cleanup.

 

Hieroglyphics are easy. I made them just a little bigger than they would be. I noticed in the images I viewed they were mostly carved in and some were painted. I just decided just to go with black paint. Don't worry about the accuracy. It just has to look like Hieroglyphics and since I'm gaming in 28mm they are perfect for gaming distance. I also figured out - If I make a mistake, hey it's a 4,000 year artifact!

 Using some of the other rocks to support the artifacts and basing them with white glue on wood cut outs I purchased inexpensively at Hobby Lobby (in the USA)

 I use hobby sand on vituraly all of my bases using watered down white glue and then added another layer of watered down white glue.

Ta Dah! Instant, inexpensive scatter terrain that is quick, fun and easy to put together.

I use old CD's to add trees and smaller rocks.

Cave in! Rocks also make great obstacles or cover.

Next up: Some inexpensive 3D printed scatter terrain.