Tuesday 24 April 2012

Normandy Firefight Terrain Ideas?


One of the things that's been bothering me about the Normandy Firefight thing is exactly how to go about the terrain side of the equation. If I'm going to spend time and effort on the figures then at the very least, I should produce some decent terrain for them to fight over. I really like the idea of 1/35th scale skirmish gaming but the terrain is a bit of a challenge, to say the least.

I don't think that I can afford to construct some bespoke terrain as it would need to be 4' x 4' and I have nowhere to store such a large piece of real estate. I thought about a model railway style chicken wire and wooden frame approach to this but I don't think that it would be flexible enough to warrant constructing something permanent, unless I can make it apaptable to different scenarios.

However, I have a cunning plan, which revolves around cheap stretched canvas frames that you can find in The Works and other discount craft shops. I reckon that I can produce some modular terrain using one of the larger sizes of deep canvas frame, with surface texture rendered in a PVA / Polyfilla / sand mixture, using layers of polystyrene tile sheet to bulk out the contours.

It's one idea that I can follow up unless I can devise something better...?

7 comments:

  1. I've been playing with same idea but then choose not to do it as the canvas frames look square but are actually not exactly square so they don't match nice.

    Just my 2 cent

    regards

    ReplyDelete
  2. The other issue I found is that the middle can sag without extra support.

    I did have a fair amount of success with thin cake boards and artists boards. The first are silver in colour while the others are white but out of the two the cake boards fit together better.

    Andrew

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Jim,
    If you paste this : http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Polystyrene-Sheets-600mm-x-600mm-x-25mm-boxed-25s-/261006887860?pt=UK_Packaging_Materials&hash=item3cc5390bb4#ht_500wt_1202 into your browser it should take you to someone on ebay who sells 600mm x 600mm x 25mm square polystyrene sheets. These may be of some use?
    All the best,
    Steve

    ReplyDelete
  4. I've heard people having the same problem with canvas frames, particularly the sagging in the middle. I've thought about using loft insulation sheets, perhaps three in a row. You could then cut and sand into them, but they still remain light enough to sling back into the loft.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great idea, you might want to reinforce the underside of the canvas with a bit of balsa wood or something in the middle. Otherwise with loading the centre bit might tear. Look forward to seeing what you come up with.

    ReplyDelete
  6. A very good idea to explore, I'll keep a close track of your findings

    ReplyDelete

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