Update, Hirst Arts terrain

Not much to report this week. I've finished off the basic house and another ruin for 28mm LoTR/DBA/HoTT gaming.

I took what I'd made down to the club on Wednesday tonight and have orders for a couple of hundred flagstones so I'm busy putting those together- along with 12x pillars. So I now have to cast 20x the flagstone mould to get all I need. I'm about half way there so far.

My experiments with Linka are on hold, the moulds are more fragile than the Hirst Arts ones so I've decided to experiment with them in future using a resin instead of plaster- but have no resin at this stage so that is on the back burner.

Dungeon Floorplans
The dungeon floorplan was a great success at D&D the other night. We had an epic battle with 5x PCs vs 20 skeletons, 15 zombies, a cleric and a wizard. The floorplans were really easy to put together, quicker than drawing it on on the battleboard we use, and then it was straight into the action. They will definitely become a part of our gaming equipment.

I've decided that they need walls to go with them so have ordered another 5x Hirst Arts moulds- 2x fieldstones (walls and ruins, prison tower, the bell tower and dungeon accessories).

I am also trying to track down some Ultracal or similar plaster in Christchruch but so far not much luck.

The roof for the building worked out well- it looks a bit bright in the photos than it actually is. I'm especially happy with the towel, it makes for great thatch/straw.


The next version will be slightly longer and I'll add a lean too woodshed off it. Still, noyt a bad first effort.

Work in Progress

I've been messing round making a small building for my Rohan forces.

This is very much a test to see how it works out- next time I think I'll make it slightly larger. I'm not sure about adding a yard as the footprint may get to big for transporting- I am considering a separate terrain piece for the yard. I am still getting used to the size of 28mm buildings, compared to 15mm (my usual scale) they are huge!



It's not very big- 5" x 4". Next time I think I'll make it about 8" long, and probably also add a lean too/woodshed propped up against the side of the main house.

The thatched roof is an experiment using an old bath towel. My advice ask for permission before commandeering and chopping up bath towels! This is an old lemon one so the colour is fine for thatch. I intend to dry brush it with some brighter yellows and think it should give a reasonable look for straw or thatch. To make it more "thatch like" I'd suggest cutting the towelling into strips and overlaying it, but for the initial prototype I couldn't be arsed!

[I stole this idea from my friend Ian who using towelling for his 28mm buildings].

I do think that towelling is a better material to work with than teddy bear fur that needs a lot of water down PVA applied before it looks right.









Craig

28mm Terrain Update

Earthquake Update
Before I begin a quick update about the earthquake.Christchurch is still being rocked by aftershocks and the damage is extensive, I still can't believe that nobody was killed! Life will take a long, long time to revert to anywhere close to normal for many people. We are lucky down here, only experiencing the stronger aftershocks, but even so our thoughts are with friends and family in ChCh as they deal with the aftermath of this unbelievable event.

Hirst Arts Terrain
Back here though I've been messing round with Hirst Arts moulds. As well as wargaming I run a weekly Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (a mix of 1E and 2E)- yep, a true, old school geek!. We use a battle map and minis quite a bit and so I've decided to use the new flagstone tiles to create new dungeon floorplans. I've decided against buildings walls as it would make joining things so much harder, not to mention storage.

I spent last night casting flagstones rather than wargaming and and pretty happy with the result.
The mould has 10x 1" square flagstones so it takes quite a bit of time to make enough for a standard dungeon room. Each tile represents a 10ft square and lat night I made:

• 2x 30ft by 20 ft rooms
• 2x 30ft by 10 ft corridors
• 4x 20ftby 10ft corridors
• 4x 10ft by 10ft corridors.
• 6x pillars

I am starting to make 2x 20ft by 20ft rooms, and a few more corridors. Once that is done I hope to make another 2x 30ft by 20ft rooms and should then have enough for most reasonable sized dungeon encounters.

A word of warning: The Hirst Arts moulds are fantastic, I am already planning on getting a few more (pr- they are strangeyl addictive and more fun than lego!









And another ruin for War of the Ring





Moulds drying in front of the fire. I'm minaly making flagstones but if I mix too much plaster make a few columns or standard bricks. Each batch only takes about 15-20 minutes to harden. however don't use standard plaster of paris you need some high strength stuff. I use some I got from the North Island a couple of years ago when I was first considering this project.


Work in Progress