Hi daka,
I came from the shadows to talk about my recent
40k Kill Team experiences, acquiring terrain, painting and assembling said stuff and so on and so forth.
--Now with pictures--
Back Story:
I took a break from
40k back around 6th, i was frustrated more with the play group at the time than the game. We made the classic mistake of playing 500pts escalation anything goes, so turn one i had a flying chaos lord in my lines! :(
I'm sure you can see how this would be frustrating for all involved. Nids were hurting at the time and I was experimenting with
SM builds... Anyways, in that time I learned alot about what I wanted in a
40k tabletop match with friends.
How i wanted narrative, a beautiful gaming table setup and a hex based grid for movement. Also, my dad made a traditional train table for me as a kid, so I was really inspired by that too.
How I made it all:
I used 1" thick insulation foam from the local hardware store. It comes in 2' x 2' sizes. I then painfully drew each hex on it. About half way along I would use a hot knife foam cutter, to cut the shapes out. Each hex is 2" point to point more or less, and is also 2" from center of one hex to center of another more or less. Deviations occurred due to poor use of the foam cutter. Also i didn't consider how wide the cutter would cut when hot.
After i cut the piece, i used a thicker white glue "tacky glue" (its very sticky) and rubbed that on the surface. I then applied products from the company woodland scenics. In this case i used black ballast which simulates the rocks used for railroad ties in real life. They come in 3 sizes.
I started with medium, then sprinkled large rocks on, finally with small rocks. I then sprayed heavily with woodland's spray glue to seal it all! It dries clear.
Next I did the same 3 stages with woodland's grass products. Then sprayed it down. I think an accidental outcome here was the green grass absorbed some of the blackness from the stones, so the grass is darker. To compensate, I went over it again with the "blended green" grass I
had purchased, this grass had lighter greens in it and thus it highlighted it all better.
I will also paint the foam for the raised areas black along the sides to help it blend in, and I may texture it to simulate rock faces.. the idea is its all modular and can go together in different ways.
I added a dark grey hex grid to some of the pieces, which helps visually identify each tile space for movement etc...
Foam Balls/Trees
I found at the dollar store, some foam balls. They came in greeen, blueish/purple, yellow and white. I've been experimenting with them to make strange plant life. You can see I spilled the container taking the photo
Where to find the trees:
I went with these trees because i didn't want the mess of the normal model ones you can buy, where you put glue on branches and "dust" the branches with the leaves... These were all I could find in plastic outside of
GW.
If you like the trees they can be found on amazon and ebay, with different key words. They come from china ( Key words on amazon:
Plastic Pine Model Tree, Forest Greenery Plants HO Gauge Building Park Garden Miniature Landscape Wargame Scenery Supplies)
The trees varied in price, the smallest type (still waiting to arrive) was $30 CAN for 15 trees, the medium trees ( qty:10) were bundled with 4 large trees for $45 more or less.
And heres some photos of my setup.
I'll put some more up tomorrow in daylight for comparison.
