Take Me To The River

Hi All!

The stalwart men of the Royal Navy rush ashore...

As threatened, I have devoted this weekend to making terrain for a change - which, after all, was how this whole blogging thing started in the first place.

I have always liked rivers on my gaming tables, so I decided I should create one as a start to my new VSF terrain project.

The river is gradually shaped from 25mm green foam board. The flood-plains are roughly carved, to be sculpted with DAS later.

Several years ago, while browsing the pages of the now-legendary Major General Tremorden Rederring, I came across the suggestion of using coloured cellophane as water - a tip that I have used to good effect on a number of occasions since.

Shaped riverbanks and islands loosely laid in place on a bare MDF board.

Those of you who are familiar with this blog and Leadwood in particular will have seen the beautiful results one can achieve using Woodland Scenics Water Effects. I am still a fan of this. However, it cannot be denied that such materials are expensive - hideously so if creating a whole table - and these days I don't have the budget. Also, they are not at all quick to work with.

Boulders are sculpted from DAS and a test sheet of green cellophane is laid down.

Cellophane, on the other hand, is really cheap and can look stunning, if you're a bit clever with it. (Notorious Greg and I used blue cellophane over a dark blanket to photograph my pirate ruins last year). So I set about designing a large set-piece river with cellophane in mind.

Boulders are undercoated dark grey, then highlighted, then a brown undercoat given to the rest of the riverbanks. Sergeant Tetley regards the barren riverside wasteland.

I had also mulled over one of the issues that model river banks often present - namely; that they tend to be rather steep. Notorious Greg and I had had a conversation some time ago in which he suggested a 'flood-plain' effect - i.e. a two-level riverbank with lush greenery near the water and lighter, dryer coverage higher up. I decided that this was a good plan and started carving...

Before applying static grass.

When the boulders are dry, a coat of goop is splodged on (technical term - look it up) and static grass is applied - lots of dark green near the water, with lighter tones further away. Shown here against bare MDF.

The board I am building is 900mm x 1200mm (3' x 4') and will be double-sided so that I can flip it over and just use plain ground. The riverbanks will be stuck down, but the various 'islands' will be loose, to give me a few options for change. I intend to build a couple more boards later, with rivers of different widths. These may - or may not - be planned to fit end-to-end with this one. I am considering whether one should be made with blue cellophane.

A riverbed effect is painted onto the MDF board using layered tones of greys, browns and greens. The banks are laid down to check the layout.

Boulders, grass and cellophane - starting to look finished.

The overall theme of this project will be a Lost Continent type affair, with jungles, arid grasslands, mysterious ruins, et al. Obviously, I'd like to get cracking on the detail pieces, but a table is sort of necessary to begin with, so I'm fighting my urges and doing the groundwork first.

There is still a bit to do on this piece - the depth-painting in the river needs more contrast to give clearer gradiation between shallow and deep, and once the banks are glued down, they will need to be properly blended in - but by and large, I think this is a promising start.

Keep watching - I promise things will get much more interesting soon!

Big Mike's wagon train and the Bazalgette Light Armoured Perambulatory Contrivance head into enemy terrain, not even stopping to admire their lovely reflections in the water...

All the Best!