Roads

Roads are basic terrain items for almost any period and very easy to make.

I made mine using thick cardboard, double sided tape and different kinds of paper.

Using double sided tape instead of glue prevents the cardboard from warping.

You can even use both sides of the cardboard to increase your terrain vs. storage space ratio.

The type of road is determined by the type of paper.

Black sandpaper for asphalt:

Paper with brick printed pattern: 

 (All kinds of patterns can be found on the internet.)

Wallpaper with cobblestone pattern painted grey and drybrushed:

Wallpaper with texture looking like wheel tracks, painted brown and drybrushed:

Disadvantage: realistic curves in the road are not possible unless the wallpaper texture has them already. 

I came across these cheap puzzle toy roads and bought them just in case. The puzzle bits help keep the road in its place but are more conspicuous than straight lines. They also have a glossy surface which makes them less attractive. Also note that the "country roads" side with the grass in the middle occurred only after motorised vehicles were common.

Instead of printing a suitable texture on paper you can also have it printed on other things like blankets or towels. During one of their discount plus free shipping promotions I ordered a towel from Artscow with a printed  dirt road texture and cut roads from it with scissors:

(http://www.artscow.com/gallery/towel/dirt-road-fri0bwzwl3b5)

  If you want to see how the roads look on a gaming table see my game blog posts. 

 

Oldtown

From my terrain building archives.

Oldtown or Building a dirt cheap (fantasy) village in 10 easy steps

• 4 residential buildings with 1 floor
• 4 residential buildings with 2 floors (first floor is lift off)
• 1 bell tower
• 1 smithy

 

Step 1 Collect materials:

• corrugated cardboard
• regular cardboard
• (brick) textured wallpaper
• wooden popsicle sticks / coffee stirrers
• matchsticks/toothpicks
• drinking straws
• bits

Step 2 Ground floor (2 types):

• use rectangular thick cardboard as base
• Cut walls from corrugated cardboard
• Glue textured wallpaper on walls (options: stone pattern, spackle pattern)
• Cut out windows and door openings
• Attach walls to base
• Cut "cornerstones" from cereal box cardboard
• Glue stones on corners and optionally around door/window bits

Type 3 chimney (see step 8)

Step 3: First floor

• Use rectangular thick cardboard as the base (make sure the base overlaps the walls from step 2)
• Cut walls from corrugated cardboard
• Cut out windows openings
• Attach walls to base
• Glue wooden popsicle sticks / coffee stirrers on walls
• Alternatively construct half-timbered first floor 
• Alternatively use textured wallpaper (spackle pattern) instead of textured paint

Step 4: Smithy

Same as residential building with only ground floor and a large outside (back)wall chimney (see step 8). Leave out  front wall.

Step 5: Bell Tower

Same as residential stone buildings, only different cardboard shape and makes use of  “stepped” facade.

Step 6: Paint stone

It’s easier to paint the textured wallpaper “stones” before adding details so:

First layer: black, subsequent layers: drybrush greys, and white as finish.

Step 7: Roof

• Cut a piece of cardboard (thicker than cereal box card, thinner than the cardboard used for the base) to size
• Draw a line across the middle
• Cut halfway trough with a sharp knife
• Paint your 1 sided corrugated cardboard black (preparation for step 10)

You can get corrugated cardboard by peeling off one side of regular corrugated cardboard, but cardboard with one corrugated side is also used as packaging material.

Perils of the Warp:

In order to prevent warping roofs it’s a good idea to give the 1 sided corrugated cardboard a basecoat before cutting it into strips. This basecoat will cause the cardboard to warp, but after cutting strips from it, gluing them on the roof and drybrushing them, the roof itself will not warp.

Lesson learned: It is better to paint the roof base on which the tiles are glued black before you glue on the tiles. This prevents the lighter base being visible trough cracks between the rows of tiles.

Step 8: Chimneys

• Cut the sides from corrugated cardboard or blocks from polystyrene depending on the type:
• - roof chimney (type 1, polystyrene)
• - roof chimney (type 2, polystyrene)
• - outside wall chimney (type 3, cardboard)
• Glue textured wallpaper on chimneys
• Cut “cornerstones” from cereal box cardboard and glue them on corners (optional).
• Cut small cardboard strips and glue them on to hide corrugation

Type 1 chimneys

Type 2 chimneys

Step 9 Details & roof finish**:

• Add details: windows, curtains, wire mesh (stained glass windows), smithy interior, etc.
• Add doors,
• Add wooden sheds
• Glue roof onto walls and fix with rubber bands while allowing to set
• Add beams under roof and first floor
• flock base
• Attach chimney type 1 or 2
• Cut strips from 1 sided corrugated cardboard
• Glue strips on the roof
• Glue wooden skewer on top ridge of roof***
• Cut a drinking straw in half lengthwise
• Cut small pan tiles from the halves
• Add a line of pan tiles on the top ridge

 

Step 10 Further detailing and Paint:

• Add lots and lots of bits (especially the smithy).
• Paint the pieces in the desired colours.

** Actually you could shuffle a bit between step 8, 9 and 10. To prevent paint getting on the wire mesh it is easier to paint the window ledges first and subsequently add the mesh, curtains, etc and then glue the roof on the walls. Chimneys type 1 & 2 can also be attached later.

*** I only found this out after my first idea didn’t work. The ridge without the skewer has insufficient surface for  gluing the pan tiles. Inserting a wooden skewer increases that surface. (see sketch)

Finished town

Storming fortress Holland pt 4

Coming under pressure from the Dutch, the Fallschirmjäger attempt to break out and link up with other German forces in the area.

The game was played using scenario 2, the probe, from the Chain of Command rulebook. It was a remarkable game: the Germans didn't fire a single shot but got within 9 inches of their objective: getting a single team to the Dutch base line.

The Fallschirmjäger tied down Dutch forces on one side of the table while 2 squads and the platoon leader crossed the railway line to infiltrate through the woods on the other side of the table.

Due to leaders getting wounded or killed, German force morale dropped alarmingly quickly. Throwing an unexpected 11 on 2 dice placed one German squad in the open within close range of the Dutch Schwarzlose in overwatch. Despite this mistake, one team and the Leutnant managed to cross the road, and fence, but were cut down within inches of the Dutch base line.

The Dutch have mined the road.

First volley: 5 hits; 3 kills & 1 shock!

Leader wounded

Typical Dutch jump off point

Dutch luitenant directs fire

Close, but no cigar.