And it's not stupid crap like acidic clouds or burning forests. I'm not even going to create terrain like that because it'll never make competitive play. It's going to occupy a special niche in the trashcan next to MK2 deep water.
Anyways. Guildball. My wife and I have been playing a lot of it. In my last picture, I had Mash, Stoker and Hemlock unpainted. That's since been rectified and their pictures will be at the end of this article. I've also added Gutter to my log.
My wife picked up Decimate, and subsequently we grabbed Blackheart too since it didn't make sense to grab Decimate and Gutter separately for 24$ when we could grab the 32$ starter box and get another ball and a Captain. So we're a Mascot and a player away from a 6 man union team now too. This game is growing on us pretty fast it seems.
The other thing I grabbed was a playmat, and then realized that the nice 2d terrain I have for Warmachine isn't really the right stuff for Guildball. A couple of the templates work. Forests, rough terrain and the walls are all functional, but Guildball has obstructions and such that can block los or be stood on. So I started building some in my copious amounts of spare time.
It's going to seem like cheating. There's a lot of ways to build terrain. What it boils down to is a backer to put it on, and the actual terrain.
The backer was actually the hard part to figure out. I originally thought that MDF would be fine, but it's really too thick and does not like to get wet. At all. So I was thinking hard about some different plastics but it dawned on me that I have all kinds of spare kydex scraps laying around as leftovers from other hobbies.
Kydex doesn't show up very often in the wargaming world. It's a PVC thermoplastic that's often heated up and formed over different things as a mold. It gets to cosplay a little bit because it's very easy to work with. Where you'll find it the most though, is holsters. I generally get mine for a couple of bucks per sq foot at Knifekits.com, but some local craft stores may carry it too. You can get it in varying thicknesses. Mine is all either .06" or .08" thick. It's cuttable, sandable, formable, you name it.
I simply cut mine with a bandsaw to some manageable sizes. My rough terrain patches are about 4'' long, 2.5 to 3'' wide. My obstructions are about 2.5 x 2.5", and my linear or, other obstructions, are 1.5 x 2.5'' or so. Very loose measurements, but just an idea. I then dremeled the edges to get a light bevel and take out any harsh edges.
Then I glued a plethora of Hirst Arts to the Kydex. Really simple. Drained most of the Hirst Arts blocks I had left. I need to order some more plaster. However, you can use regular rocks, or sticks, or tree bark or craft sticks, whatever, to form whatever your scenery is. The difference in Guildball is that if there's room to put a model on it, you can. If this is a goal of yours, then you should allow for a model to stand on it. If the guy is worried about his miniature falling off and chipping, he's not going to use the terrain correctly, or the terrain just won't ever make the table. So keep those things in mind. In my terrain, the pieces that you can stand on are obvious, while so are the others that you're not supposed to stand on. I just did 2x Rough terrain, 2x linear/LOS blocking obstruction and 2x regular obstruction. I'll probably keep my WMH forest templates, and I have some regular walls from WMH that are perfect, and also made of Hirst Arts. They'll slot right in.
I then spread out elmers glue and dipped them in various mixed ballast to get the rocks. Painted the base brown, washed it with a very dark brown, drybrushed a light brown on dirt, painted dark grey and drybrushed to white. Very simple. Add some grass tufts and we're talking.
Boom. Guildball terrain.
So that's that. Simple stuff. But I really like using the Kydex. That's probably going to stay.
As far as my new Brewers, here's Mash, Stoker and Hemlock.
That's all I've got today. Probably won't see anything from me til after the 4th. Enjoy your holiday!
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