Misc. Scatch-Built Terrain Pieces

3 May 2020

A small update on a couple different terrain projects...

First, the a new house I built. It's based on a cardboard box, with balsa for the half-timber look. The shingled roof is made by cutting and pasting alternating rows of shingles cut from thin card. All in all, I'm pretty happy with the outcome.

28mm half-timber house

In front is a simple little piece I made from a couple twigs I picked up while walking the dog. Cut to size and based on a CD, they make a nice lumber pile terrain piece.

Reaper dwarves and house.

A close-up of the reaper dwarves in front of the house.

And finally, some module walls - I've always wanted to have one of those modular dungeon setups you've probably seen at conventions or elsewhere - where you can assemble a dungeon from a variety of square pieces. I'd considered making my own from Hirst Arts pieces - but I know from my experience with my castle project that that would take a long time.

So, I decided to try building walls for the dungeon from pink insulation foam. I bought one sheet of the stuff years ago, and still have several square feet worth to use. Best of all it's light, cheap, and fast.

Modular dungeon walls

Each wall piece is based on a balsa wood base. I picked lengths of 5 inches and 2.5 inches, for no particular reason. One problem with foam is that I don't have one of those hot wire foam factory things that would let me cut good blocks - I do it by hand, so they look kind of rough. I decided to make them even more irregular by "distressing" the pieces with an exacto knife. I think they'll work ok for a dungeon crawl or as a stone wall on a battlefield!