simple hills

I've long been wanting a set of simple, clean, versatile wargaming hills that I can use for lots of different games and which will tick various boxes. I want them to look a bit old school, but not totally out of place with newer figures. I want them to be unambiguous as to footprint and height for games like Kings of War. I want them to be flat topped so no minis need be placed on an incline, and so they can be stacked.

So, to this end I got hold of a cheap tabletop hot wire scroll cutter and some blue styrofoam. The cutter is this one. Having used it only once, I hesitate to give it a full review, but it did what I expected and needed it to do!

After some sanding, I took two of the hills to use as a test and applied some Homebase emulsion (shade: "Village Green"), a layer of PVA and a generous scatter of Gaugemaster GM170 static grass. I'll apply some spray varnish when I'm certain everything is totally dry. I think I'm pretty happy with the result, and will finish the set.

paper dungeon - simple doors

I bashed out these doors for D&D using an Amazon book mailer and a 1.2mm Staedtler pigment liner- one of my favourite pens! Combined with the stand bases, they work great and couldn't be much cheaper.

first bits of a cereal packet dungeon

There are lots of ways to make dungeons for D&D, from gorgeous but expensive Dwarven Forge stuff to ones that cost effectively nothing. Here are some 'proof of concept' bits for a dungeon, made from everyone's first craft material: a corn flakes box. There's a bit of white-tack on the back for weight and friction. They took a few minutes with a pen and some scissors and I quite like the way they look.

The other thing that white-tack is good for is quickly knocking up some stalagmites or boulders. I like the fact that this method of creating the dungeon is just a couple of removes from a basic diagram- it's clear and simple and cheep and cheerful- all my favourite boxes ticked!

Review- MDF Wizard's Tower from Supreme Littleness

About a week and a half ago I ordered an MDF kit from Supreme Littleness, and it arrived today. The kit I ordered is the Wizard's Tower from the 10mm fantasy range. It arrived in a decently compact little package like this, in a jiffy bag. I only have two (very minor) complaints about the kit, and the first is the packaging. the MDF sheet is quite fragile and was very slightly broken in transit. Luckily it snapped through an area of 'spare' MDF, not through an actual part of the kit, but an extra piece of corrugated card in the envelope would have been welcome. Bonus points for the big Ziploc bag- those things are super useful!

The second (again, minor) complaint about the kit was the lack of instructions. I am a bear of little brain, and it took me a little while to figure out how things were supposed to go together, but once I'd cracked it it was pretty simple. Again, a quick line drawing packaged with the kit would have been appreciated for dimbos like me.

The quality of the cutting and the design are absolutely excellent- the pieces fit together beautifully. Part of the kit is supplied as laser cut card which I was initially sceptical about, but the design ensures that these areas are unlikely to risk being bent or buckled, and the texture is wonderfully stonelike, and drybrushes beautifully. The card parts are also much thinner, which mitigates the 'I'M MADE FROM MDF' look that so many MDF kits have. The construction is concealed in a way that I think hides the fact that it's made from MDF very well. 

I heartily recommend this kit, especially for the price of £5. I may well be taking a closer look at their castle in the future...

10mm Kings of War- board and scenery

Kings of War is probably my favourite wargame- it's certainly the one I play the most. I and a few friends are going to experiment with an idea lots of people have had over the years- converting KoW to a smaller scale. There are lots of reasons to do this: portability; cost; ease of doing really BIG battles. As KoW is element based, it's eminently suited to the idea.

We're going to scale everything down by a division of 2.54, which sounds arbitrary, but it means that inches become centimetres, and movement and range stats stay as they are with no mental arithmetic- you just have to remember to look at the other side of the tape measure!

I've ordered some miniatures (more of which when they arrive) but in the meantime I've knocked up a little set of terrain and scenery, and a board to put them on. The board is the scaled down equivalent of a standard 6'x4' table, so it's 72x48cm. I used 18mm MDF. The hills are 12mm MDF, which means a 'height 1' hill is near-as-dammit the same height as 'height 1' infantry. All were painted with a single £1.49 tester pot of Homebase 'Village Green' emulsion. Very happy with the shade.

I've gone for a clean and simple look- clarity is paramount at such a small scale, and it's a look I like.

The trees are scrunched paper towels, soaked in dilute PVA and stuck to 8mm dowels, mounted on pennies. The 'forest' floor is Efco green felt sheet. The river and lake are also Efco felt sheet- it's thick, lies flat and has an agreeably mottled colour.

The tower was made from an empty salt pot, part of a broken toy mirror and part of a biro lid. You can see I've sanded the salt pot prior to painting.

All in all a satisfactory set with minimal outlay of time, money or effort.

Now I just need an army...