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I know about the craft article on filling a bucket with sand and spraying foam in the space carved out. I don't have a ton of time so didn't do that. I DID take a few sheets of parchment paper, a few sections of plastic fruit containers lined with parchment paper, and sprayed a can's worth of expanding insulation foam to make some hills. Because of needing to get by with a stroller, foam was packed up after an hour to continue curing. In a few days I'll seal with brown craft paint and modgepodge, then experiment with flocking.

Just before everything shut down, I ordered a Hot Wire Foam Factory kit, and picked up a few easy-to-handle 2x2 foot sections of one-inch pink board. The first warm day, I took it outside and cut a couple of trial hills: I have an FLG game mat lining my gaming table, and I hoped that the usual Woodland Scenics flock would be suitable in color. Unfortunately, with the first hill I tried flocking, I found that I had misplaced my reserve flock supply, and that I did not have any lighter green. Nevertheless, it looked close enough for gaming, so I ordered more flock. The second hill, a dedicated corner piece for my small table, was delayed until the flock arrived, but got an an attempt at a more mottled appearance. With yesterday’s remote game, I finally had a chance to open the table (which has been functioning mostly as my partner’s work-from-home space) and try the hill in the corner. I think that’s close enough for gaming, so that’s probably what I’ll be going forward with.

I've put together another couple of experimental hills. Number 1 we've seen before. Hill #2 has a mix of steep, impassable faces and more-or-less flat terraces that a figure could stand on without immediately tumbling down. It's a bit more usable than Hill #1, while still remaining reasonably naturalistic, but to be truly playable it probably needs to be blockier still. Apart from the flock, vegetation is pretty minimal — just a few areas of clump-foliage — and I think I may add a bit more to make it look a bit less... spotty. I may also have to hit it with the airbrush, as the flock looks a bit more pallid than I'd hoped, but I'll give it another couple of days before I do that as it may just be that the PVA holding everything together isn't properly cured yet so it's still a bit white. We've been having some cool, wet weather lately, and that has really slowed things down. Hill #3 is a two-peak hill; the upper one is steep, with a flat top to allow figures to stand, while the bottom one is much more gently sloped. The slope is still too much for single figures, but vehicles and figures in movement trays will rest there without sliding back down. There's no foliage on here at all except for the flock, which is fine. The figures are a 15mm WW1 British 18pdr and crew. The tank is my own 3d-printed A1E1 Independent. They're all sitting on a GW "grass" mat that I picked up cheap some years ago, and have never used because it looks nothing at all like grass. I live in a Land of Grass, and I've never seen grass that looks anything like that colour. Add to that the fact that it sheds worse than a cat in moult, and it's just bloody awful.

What could be a more essential wargaming terrain piece than the common hill? No matter what period, no matter what setting, hills will be featured. They add visual interest and tactical complexity to any gaming surface, may it be modular boards, gaming mats or just a green table-cloth. They may be an essential piece of gaming terrain, but making naturalistic looking hills that not only allow easy placement of models, but also easy placement and removal of trees or other terrain features, can be a challenge. In this post I show you my take on such hills and try to solve some of the problems one may encounter by using the fantabulous power of magnets *gasp*! Obviously this tutorial can also be used for terrain boards. Over hill and lofty mountain – how to make magnetised wargaming hills

Due to circumstances beyond our control, some of the terrain for the Warlord tournament appears that it will not be ready in time. I'm working to keep the existing scenarios (as opposed to writing new ones at the last minute), but I have limited space to bring items to the con with me, and even then, I don't have everything I need. So, this is where you can help. If you have access to wargaming terrain, and can get any of this to me by the time the con starts Thursday afternoon, please let me know. The wish list is as follows: Dirt road sections (far less important, but it'd be nice) Large hill sections If you can help, please PM me. ~v