Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Terrain for Southeast Asia, Part 1

One of my ongoing projects is terrain. No matter what timeframe, it's got to have terrain to go with it. Terrain doesn't tend to be "one size fits all". 3mm and 6mm are somewhat interchangeable as far as terrain goes, but not totally. Different width roads, etc. Soil color varies between northern Germany and southern Vietnam too. At present, I'm working on some Vietnam terrain tiles
I use GHQ Terrain Maker hexes. Honestly, I'm not all that happy with them as a product. There's way too much variation in size from one tile to the next, there's always some dented or crushed area on a tile, etc., but they're as good as you're going to get for the relatively low cost. Other better options, Kalistra, etc., cost an arm and a leg. So, I make do with these. One of the things I dislike is the little hexagonal pattern the high density styrofoam beads leave on the surface. To help make that less noticeable, I smear the top of the tile with Woodland Scenics Foam Putty. It helps even out the surface. 

The soil of southern Vietnam varies from dark brown loam that would be right at home in an Iowa corn field to such a shocking red that you'd swear it's on Mars and every shade in between. As I obviously can't make a dozen sets of terrain, I settled on a terracotta shade. That's what's stereotypically "Vietnam" in my mind. So this is what I end up with once it's painted with a couple of coats
As you can see, I use the cheap "granny" paint. Americana Terra Cotta. Now it's ready for flocking. This particular tile will become part of my Fire Base, and I want it to be the area of the hospital tent
The tent is by DB Miniatures in Canada and the red cross decals are by Company B. I've glued it down with Scenic Glue. The next project is to surround it with sandbags, GHQ in this case
Ok, more in the next installment, as my aid station takes shape!

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