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Epic Ruined City Terrain -

 Post subject: Epic Ruined City Terrain -
PostPosted: Wed Oct 22, 2003 9:17 pm 
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Hey Everyone.

The other day an idea came to me. I have always wanted to make some city terrain so I could display my models in a cool way, but this idea is amazing.

I want to create a board the represents a city that is absolutly completely decimated. As if it hasn't just been destroyed, it has been DESTROYED! Not much stands taller than a tank, every building has been pulled to the ground

Now I have over 100 of the little wall bits from the base sprue, and a box full of sprue rubble I made from left over sprue. This is why I chose to make it kind _flat_, because I don't have any bits bigger than these. GW stopped making the ruins from the Epic 40k boxed set ages ago, and I can't get my hands on any.

Anyway, I want to make it modular, with bases 3" square, 6" square and 3" by 6". This way it all fits together. Also, I want to make some roads, so that my troops can easily get round. Other things could be wrecked city walls, destroyed monuments, cooling towers, landing pads etc. I plan on basing them on cardboard (easily avaliable and cheap) and use sand and small suares of card (as paving slabs) to texture the boards.

What I would like help with is, does anyone have any ideas on how to improve this, or any tips on how to assemble things and paint them.

And also, would a board that is supposed to be a wrecked city look stupid with it being rather flat?

Thanks for your help.

Chris

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 Post subject: Epic Ruined City Terrain -
PostPosted: Wed Oct 22, 2003 9:38 pm 
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Cool idea... sounds nice, here are my suggestions- To make your basic board, try a bit of roofing felt (the black, not very coarsely textured stuff) -Don't know how much this costs new, but I got a big 'ol piece free off my dad, and it looks great for Necromunda or cityfight games....
With that, you can just lay on buildings that are based individually on card- you then get instant, good looking roads and plazas from the felt that shows through in the gaps between the buildings...
As well as your sprue rubble, get a load of sand and tiny stones- they look a little more natural if you are making piles of debris... Craters would also be good if you are going for that really flattened look- a few sets, individually based and just scattered about would look quite cool...

It could look a little flat if all you use is the base sprue ruins, but if you get just a couple of FW city buildings, or manage to track down a few of the Epic40k ruins and dot them about, it would stop it looking too odd....
Add in some monuments (cake pillars are good for this) and some destroyed tanks (I'm sure you have a few spare SM sprues Chris.. :;): ) ..and things will look a little more colourful and will make the board more interesting to use...

For painting, I'd just spray everything black, drybrush grey, do some highlights, and then add the other colours and any details....
Hope that helped...

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 Post subject: Epic Ruined City Terrain -
PostPosted: Wed Oct 22, 2003 9:58 pm 
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Chris

you may find my article useful.

As stormy says I wouldn't go for a completely flat board, it just wouldn't be right! Very rarely (if ever) would a city be completely decimated... even if you nuked it from orbit (the only way to be sure) some remmenants of buildings would remain (though if you wanted to play a game in the middle of a large nuke crater then you wouldn't even need the ruin sprues).

Even Stalingrad which suffered months of bombardment had a large number of buildings at the end of the battle.

Hiroshoma was virtually flattened (but then the majority of the buildings were wood structure) but still many buildings remained including the ones at ground zero.

As you are using the ruin sprues it may make sense to use some of the Epic40K ruins (or FW buildings) as well, you wouldn't need many. As you say you can't get any, so why not make some card ruins, very easy really.

If you use sand (or flock) remember to coat it in watered down PVA (white) glue, otherwise it will flake off over time.

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 Post subject: Epic Ruined City Terrain -
PostPosted: Wed Oct 22, 2003 10:38 pm 
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Thanks for your help guys!

I know it is rare for a city to be abolutely flattened. Thats why I needed a second opinion  :D . Agreed, the ruins are rather extreemly rare. If anyone has any contact me! I want some now!

Cardboard buildings are something I wanted to keep away from, as they wouldn't fit in perfectly with the plastic ruins. AS for stuff like cake pillars, I can hunt some down, but spare tanks I don't have I'm afraid, I have used practically EVERY one I have.

I am collecting together bits to do this right now. I am planning on doing a 4 foot square board to start with. Then, who knows! I wanna avoid being knee deep in card and polystyrene while making scenery! I know it can happen very easily!

Also Jimbo, thanks for the article! It was and will be very helpful. I don't suppose you have any spare ruins?

Cheers

Chris

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 Post subject: Epic Ruined City Terrain -
PostPosted: Thu Oct 23, 2003 1:04 pm 
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The Epic Ruins spure which came with E40k is in fact still available through US Mail Order. you have to order by Mail or Phone though. They go for $3.50 (?1.5-2)a spure.
I just got some last month...I really hate USMO shipping charges to Europe... :(

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 Post subject: Epic Ruined City Terrain -
PostPosted: Thu Oct 23, 2003 1:07 pm 
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G'day Chris,

I too want to embark on an urban landscape project, but have yet to find the time for it. ?

You can still get the full plastic ruins sprues for epic from GW US Mail Order though so that may help the utterly flat look. ?You could always sculpt a small hill into the terrain anyway and have buildings on the slopes. ?It is a common sight to see totally flat wargaming urban areas, but how many real cities are actually flat? ?I guess its just far easier to make the cityscapes that way...

Other than that, all I can say is good luck!

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 Post subject: Epic Ruined City Terrain -
PostPosted: Thu Oct 23, 2003 2:08 pm 
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Hmmmm, I may have to get some from the US. Does anyone have a link to some on the online store?

Also, what is best to base some scenery, cardboard or 6mm MDF? I can get both kind easy.

Also, a little more help needed - what size are the roads that FW make? I don't want mine to seem too big or too small.

Cheers

Chris

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 Post subject: Epic Ruined City Terrain -
PostPosted: Thu Oct 23, 2003 3:19 pm 
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Chris,

I don't have a lot of time (have things to do), but I'll make a short reply.

Making a regular basing convention is a very good idea. I use inch and half-inch measurements and make any type of square-cornered polygonal shape I want. It works very well.

You can always make fences, parking lots, craters, some burnt out trees (use picture hanging wite and the GHQ technique), rubble piles, ruined vehicles or other scenics to fill in the space.

I would NOT use cardboard as a basing substance. It warps very quickly and then ruins all your hard work.

I use plasticard and then glue metal wargaming bases (they conveniently come in 2"x2", 2"x3" and 3"x3" sizes among many other combinations). This way I can base my terrain magnetically at the bottom of storage bases. It saves a lot of wear and tear on them. The other advantage is I can use plasticard that looks like sidewalk (lots of little squares) or runway tarmac (slightly bigger squares).

My urban layouts always use plasticard to "sidewalk in" the square measured areas that fit the building bases. It looks great and is super flexible. Even better, since the building flat is removable, you can put in a pristine building OR a damaged one. It's a little more work than what many of the othe guys do, but it's worth it in many ways (flexibility, looks, storage, etc.).

I also love scratch-building structurres. So many plastic packaging items convert well and especially into sci-fi structures (deodorant tubes, candy packaging, food packaging, mouthwash bottles, etc.). There's a site out there called Terragenesis for terrain makers. Check it out.

Best regards and Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

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 Post subject: Epic Ruined City Terrain -
PostPosted: Thu Oct 23, 2003 8:20 pm 
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I recommend basing on MDF or paneling for exactly the reasons Maksim gave. ?Sometimes a DIY store will have damaged sheets that they sell heavily discounted or even for free. ?Since you're going to chop it into pieces anyway, it's a good way to go.

Also, last weekend I discovered that Home Depot (US DIY store) has MDF precut into 2 foot squares for about the same price as buying a whole sheet and cutting it yourself. ?Very convenient.

For craters, I found a method I like:

The core is made from beer bottle style bottle caps. ?Cut your base as you want and glue the caps to it where you want the craters. ?Use putty to build up to the outside edges and shape the crater interior. ?Add texture and paint. ?Obviously, different sized caps make different craters. ?Also, you have to use a hard backing because most putty will try to warp a bit when it dries.

I prefer a mix-yourself putty. ?I mix it thin enough that it is spreadable like toothpaste. ?Once I build up around the caps, I cover it with a sheet of aluminum foil. ?I press it into the craters first, then work out from there. ?It creases in radiating lines for a nice looking blast pattern. ?I then prime it (whetever color is handy) and apply a texture gel. ?Prime again and paint.

Obviously, running a few strings of craters though the ruins will look like the place was carpet-bombed.

If you want contours for the city, I would recommend buying a couple of sheets of insulating foam. ?You can cut large sections out in a size that matches your "grid" size and stack them as desired. ?Bevel the edges and surface it to match your table. ?The only down side is it might look a bit "stairstepped."

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 Post subject: Epic Ruined City Terrain -
PostPosted: Thu Oct 23, 2003 9:02 pm 
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Quote (nealhunt @ 23 2003 Oct.,20:20)
The core is made from beer bottle style bottle caps. ?Cut your base as you want and glue the caps to it where you want the craters. ?Use putty to build up to the outside edges and shape the crater interior. ?Add texture and paint. ?Obviously, different sized caps make different craters. ?Also, you have to use a hard backing because most putty will try to warp a bit when it dries.

Thanks for mentioning that system.
I used it when I was about 11. A friend of mine got a video camera & we were trying to do special effects on video.

We rigged such craters with caps from toy guns & any fuel we could find & used a simple sparking circuit to set them off. Never really worked, so dropped the whole plan. Somewhere along the line I dropped the crater method too and never remembered it until your post. :oo
Many thanks!

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 Post subject: Epic Ruined City Terrain -
PostPosted: Thu Oct 23, 2003 10:13 pm 
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...Plasticine is a good replacment for modelling putty- cheap and easy to work with and after you texture it and paint, it usually hardens up a bit and won't deform...

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 Post subject: Epic Ruined City Terrain -
PostPosted: Fri Oct 24, 2003 11:34 am 
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Quick Tip: I use a lot of blu-tac. Just form it how you want, and then coat it with superglue. The glue seeps in and the entire thing hardens very well.

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 Post subject: Epic Ruined City Terrain -
PostPosted: Fri Oct 24, 2003 6:49 pm 
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Am I one lucky guy or what! I walk into my local hobby store today and what do I find? A box full of Epic Ruined buildings! About 10 in total, so I am now well on my way to ruined city happiness!

Thanks for your help everyone! I think I may make some craters like that...

Also, could someone tell me the sizes of the FW roads? I wanna make mine about the same size, so they look about the right scale for tanks and titans

Cheers

Chris

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 Post subject: Epic Ruined City Terrain -
PostPosted: Thu Nov 25, 2004 6:30 pm 
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Chris,

Have you worked on your city board lately? Any progress?

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

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 Post subject: Epic Ruined City Terrain -
PostPosted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 6:02 pm 
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Quote (MaksimSmelchak @ 25 2004 Nov.,09:30)
Have you worked on your city board lately? Any progress?

Yes, I need pictures. I live through your guys creativity.

:laugh:

dafrca

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