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What do you guys do to represent vehicles that have actually been blown up? I've seen a few different methods and am thinking of trying out something else.
1. Small aluminum pie pans. Crushed and painted as craters. Pro-'right' size, looks nice when painted up. Con- Aluminum bends easily but the biggest i sa was that the paint and all doesnt really 'stick' that well so it chips easily.
2. Round bases with a crte and a bunch of mechanical parts strewn about. somet just the mechancial parts. pros- can look nice when done, 'right" size.
Cons- depends on what it is made out of.
3. I've sen people buying up old smashed or bady painted junk models to further desecrate and use as destroyed vehicles. pros- Can look amazing, ae obviously the right size and look nice when competed. Cons- Costly. Even junk tanks cost a lot of money. Each "wreck' is what it is.If you only have oe land rider one and you blow up two land raiders, your SOL and have to use something else.
4. Something I have been considering. Green foam from the cra section. It comes in bricks that a savvy modeler can use to create "functional" rhino chassis tanks. I am tinkingof cutting out rough rhino chassis that are destroyed and damaged complate with busted out parts to spread around on the base. I think the foamy texture could help with the "burnt out" aspect of them more than an actual model would. To make something like a land raider, would tak multiple pieces of it. pros- Same as 3 Cons- Same as 3 butsubtract the cost.

What do you use and what do you think of the different options I listed?

Its been a long time since I played, but we used to use some cotton wool to show smoke launchers being used and just flipping the model upside down to show it as wrecked. Weapon destroyed can be shown by simply removing the weapon in question especially if you magnetise, or leave loose for transport.

The best option visually is going to be to make wrecks out fo actual models, its going to incluide all the correct details and depending on the modelers skill could be more detailed than a pristine tank

Theres a GW scenery piece with a wrecked rhino incorporated into it too.

The cotten is king for the disabled one.
For blown up, the model is supposed to be completely gone and the unit in it deployed where it was. y favorite option would be to use destroyed actual models. I just cant afford that though. thats why I was considering using the foam to sculpt wreckage to look like burnt out actual models.

I have a bunch of cotton, dyed black, with LED lights inside. Makes for great looking destroyed vehicles.

I'd go for the rules part that says: (...) replaced with scattered wreckage (area terrain) or a crater roughly the same size as the vehicle. (p74)

Modelling a crater should really not be too hard... And making a cool, Ex-vehicle crater personalised for each of your vehicles not much harder =P

You buy the small battery powered tea-light candles (they are the ones that are about an inch tall) and take a lump of cotton. Spray the bottom 1/4 black, and then glue it to the top of the candle squeezed into a suitable shape. When the vehicle is destroyed, turn the candle on and set it on the model. Works really cool because the candles are built to flicker, rather than a solid light, and are very, very cheap to get with good battery life.

Here is a example crater I use for destroyed vehicles.




Made from a vinyl tile from the hardware store. About $0.60. Broken up with a pair of pliers glued, painted, and textured.