Wednesday 19 May 2010

In which various terrain making myths are debunked.

Myth Number One: Terrain takes too long to build.
Grot sez: "Terrain is ded kwik to makerate."
Just take a look at the Blog Archieve - there are nineteen ishoos in there at present. That's almost two per month. And I don't put everything I build on this blog. In fact, most projects only take a few days, working two or three hours at most each day. Often projects take a while simply because you are waiting for paint or glue to dry, the actual time spent working is minimal. If you don't believe me, I made all of this in a week. A week when my Parent's where visiting and I could not spend all day working on terrain.

Myth Number Two: Terrain is expensive.
Grot Sez: "Yoo never have to spend money on terrain if yoo do not want to."
Sure, if you insist of buying all of your materials from premium rate model building shops, using plastic and resin kits for terrain and sticking the latest metal miniatures in as statues, terrain will cost.
But it does not have to cost.
Most terrain projects can be built using cheap or free stuff - you'd be amazed at how much great cardboard you throw out. Foam core is not very expensive (aroung $10aud for an A1 sheet) either, nor are most of the other things you need. In fact, I built terrain using nothing but household junk for years, and never paid for anything but my paints and plaster.

Myth Number Three: I don't need terrain.
Grot Sez: "yes yoo do."
So you actually like playing on a bare, flat kitchen table with maybe an old shoebox to break up lines of sight do you?
Get real. Get terrain.



Myth Number Four: Terrain is hard to make!

Grot Sez: "Iz not."
I think we've proved this one already, don't you?

1 comment :

  1. So true. Now, I'll admit this year I replaced my old foamcore modern city with )-scale railroad buildings but that was just a matter of wanting to update and liking the appeal. I'd say modern buildings are probably the ones that have stuck as the hardest to make really, or rather make look good. Believe me, as I step into Malifaux I'm already saving ample milk cartons, Pringles potato crisp tubes, and cereal boxes to begin the undertaking of making those oddball buildings I envision for the steampunk world.
    You're right, it's mostly practice and experimenting with things. There's plenty of soad pop and juice jugs that have interesting shapes that can be made into exciting terrain for the table. Hell, I built my post-nuke table entirely out of juice jugs and soda straws with cardboard as corrugated metal. Mostly it's practice patience and the eye for thinking that piece of trash could look great on the table with the right modifacations and a generous coat of paint.

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