It all started with HeroScape...
I was aware of the game, but had not bothered
with it, as its RRP was outside my comfortable price range. However, Argos
decided to sell off their stock at approximately half-price and this was posted
on The Miniatures Page (www.theminiaturespage.com), so I decided to
pick up a set, mainly for the terrain. This led to additional purchases of
expansion sets, as it was quite a fun little game and building the battlefield
was a bit like Lego for war-gamers.
So I decided to make some...
As a father of three with all the financial
responsibilities that come with it and with a wife who describes all tabletop
and war-gaming as “that role-play crap”, I knew that any terrain that I wanted
to build would have to be cheap, so as not to incur her wrath.
For this particular project you will need; a
counter-sunk wood screw, some baking foil, a piece of plasticard or equivalent,
some air-drying clay and some scouring pads. Plus all the normal kit, such as
glue, scissors, etc.
The plasticard is for the base. I used a piece
cut from a plastic ring-binder, which was cut into a hexagon, so it would fit
onto the Heroscape hex, approximately 38mm across the flats. In the centre of
this, superglue your screw, point up. The reason we’re using a counter-sunk
screw is that it has a flat head, giving a better surface for the glue to
adhere to. The length of the screw is up to you – I used one about 90mm long,
as I play mainly 28mm, and wanted the tree to be about three times the height
of a normal human-sized figure. So depending on how tall you want your tree to
be and the scale it’s intended for will determine the length of the screw you
use.
Next, the baking foil. This is for the trunk.
Cut a small piece, tall enough to cover approximately a third of your screw and
long enough to wrap around the shaft of the screw at least once. Crumple it
slightly before winding around the base of the screw, as this then gives your
bark texture. You can glue this on, but due to the nature of foil, it will stay
there without it.
Now using your air-drying clay or equivalent,
add a scenic base. I use Milliput, as I had some in my cupboard and find it
useful for basing all my figures. This serves two purposes – first it adds some
heft to the base, making it less likely to fall over and secondly, it helps
secure the screw to the base.
It
should now look something like this:
The figure
in the picture is a Heroscape Airborne Elite, who is about 32mm tall, so this
gives you an idea of scale.
Next,
get your green scouring pads. These are the ones that you find in the cleaning
aisle, sometimes called Brillo pads in the UK, and packs can be picked up very
cheaply. Cut some rough circles about 40mm in diameter, remembering that trees
tend to taper near the top, so make sure some are slightly smaller.
Now, take you first layer of foliage (scouring
pad circle) and screw it down the shaft until it butts up against the foil.
Continue until you have covered all but the very top of the screw shaft.
Twist the circles around until you’re happy
with the overall look of the tree. Before we cap the screw with our smallest
circle of foliage, put the nozzle of your glue on the tip of the screw and give
it a squeeze. The glue will run down the screw, holding the pads in place.
Finally, glue you last circle on the top of the screw.
It
should now look like the picture below.
Now all you have to do is add the finishing
touches. I roughed up the exterior of my tree’s foliage using a wire brush,
then painted the trunk brown, with a brown ink wash, and dry-brushed the
foliage with several shades of lighter green and painted the base to match the
HeroScape tiles.
And this is what you end up with:
I was quite happy with
it, because it was cheap and easy to make, it’s pretty robust due to the
materials it’s made from and it looks pretty good. Hope this inspires some of
you to give it a try.
