Sunday 15 July 2012

Sunday Sermon: Scenery

   
   
One of MAS's awesome looking Wolsung boards at Salute 2012

Well I guess given some of my biggest articles in terms of hits have been about scenery, it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise that I'm doing a sermon on scenery eventually, now should it? Don't worry I don't think I'm going to pimp you anymore scenery products... or at least that isn't my primary intention here. No, I want to talk about why scenery and terrain is, or should be important to us all. You see we often 'throw down' with our miniatures and we very rarely think about how our battlefield looks, or how it adds to the ambiance of a game. Sure we might check that it blocks Line of Sight or that there isn't too much cover for one side. But, rarely I think will we as gamers take a step back and say 'does it look good?' By which, I mean is it pretty, does it evoke the atmosphere of the game, is it adding to the visual appeal of wargaming and thus the overall pageantry of the experience? Because lets be honest here about our hobby, part of it's allure is the theatrical aspect of having armies on display, isn't it?

The awesome looking freebooter's Fate board at Salute 2012

You see, I wrote an article about how the battlefield or scenery could affect how the game plays out. Of course in many respects that should almost certainly be our first priority as gamers. That the table on which, we are about to enact our battle with toy soldiers, is suitable to the game we're playing. It shouldn't however be our only concern I think. There is a tactile, and a visual element to wargaming that many other hobbies don't quite achieve. I suppose model railways are a close relation in this regard. The mechanics of the set up can be great, but if it looks good it's just so much better. Think about all the really cool tables you've seen in wargames magazines, or on websites and blogs, possibly at trade shows, first and foremost they look good don't they? They make you want to put fully painted armies down on them and play games. There's an artistry to them that I think we can sometimes overlook and ignore. In game play terms you could almost certainly replicate their effectiveness with bland designed geometric shapes, but it's the details that separate out the great tables from the good. They create a miniature world for us to send our little toys to their deaths!


I used to love building scenery with my dad out of plasticard, balsa wood and foam card. We even used loads of household waste... and yeah... the odd empty Pringles tube. I swear that's where I get my love of savoury snacks from, my dad used to 'force' me to eat crisps faster, that's child abuse that is. What us gamers do for our art hey? I even remember making latex moulds for windows and doors so we could cast our own resin pieces. We added these little quirky unique details to our tables, and my dad did a wicked line in wire flocked trees that still look better than many of the off the shelf premium products today. I remember making awesome timber framed Tudor type buildings, Castles and even a Dwarf stronghold cut into the face of a cliff with a brewery and everything! When I say I or we, I mean my dad, he was the true artist, I was just a cack handed gibbon. Happy days indeed. These nice touches brought so much joy to the games I played, that I honestly think it elevated my hobbying experience exponentially. It was so much fun it actually sort of became a hobby in itself. So what the hell happened? Honestly I don't rightly know, but at some point I stopped. Maybe it was the discovery of girls around about the time I hit the age of 13 or 14, or maybe I just became lazy.

To top it all off though Games Workshop started to make decent plastic scenery that I could lug around with me. I'm not knocking Games Workshop here, so before anyone starts sending me death threats hear me out. This was a plus point for me, and still is over all the delicate scratch built terrain my father had produced, and what I personally can produce myself today. In terms of the plastic scenery Games Workshop produce for their own games they are perfectly evocative of their universes and help elevate any games played using them. Not to exceptional levels, but beyond what many happy bodgers might be able to achieve on their own. Not everyone can be talented at scenery building, and this plastic scenery caters wonderfully for that. Sure it does lead to a bit too much homogeneity for my liking, but I can understand its allure and appeal... hell I own a load of it! In the end I just stopped caring or bothering with my own stuff. However, that does leave me with a bit of a problem...

Honestly an exceptional piece of MDF Scenery

A few years back I had a horrifying realisation... every game I played was being played on the exact same game board, with the exact same identikit scenery. Sure sometimes people painted theirs differently, but still, it was the same. It had all become bland again. I recently tried making some of my own scenery and learned, to my cost, that the skills I once had when I was younger aren't quite like learning to ride a bike. You do sadly forget them. My cack handed attempts at making scenery were laughable, and also terribly depressing. I'll still stick at it don't you worry about that, I'm not quitter, and I want to get the skills I had as a young teenager back. Because I'm starting to fully appreciate that the look of the gaming boards we play on is another vitally important aspect of our hobby yet again, and that buildings festooned with more skulls than a Hapsburg crypt don't quite go so well thematically with every game I play and own, it certainly jars a bit with Infinity and Heavy Gear Blitz!

Who wouldn't want to play on scenery this good?

Luckily though there are plenty of firms out there that can help us along a bit. No doubt you've all seen my reviews of the various HDF laser cut scenery from the likes of Micro Art Studios and Sarissa Precision. I'm still waiting on a big shipment of Sarissa Precision stuff so I can do a series of articles on making an Infinity board for you all. However, there are also other firms out there that provide resin scenery, like Ainsty, Hirst moulds DIY and Antenocitis. Micro Art Studios also produce some pretty cool resin terrain again. There are of course premium scenery producers too like Kobblestone Miniatures and of course the exceptional looking stuff from Tabletop World and Mannor House, both companies produce some scenery I'd consider killing for! What I'm trying to say in a really long winded way is there are companies out there that can help us with pimping our gaming boards now, far more so now than ever before. So why not take advantage of them? Why not give your gaming board a bit of TLC? After all, if you're anything like me you've probably got way too many miniatures to still be painting anyway. Peace out!

Please remember I'm not around at the moment to respond to any questions or points you might have. So could I ask you to be patient and bear with me, I'll get round to it eventually I'm sure. Thanks!

23 comments:

  1. Great article! I agree with you - a good board needs to thematically mesh with the game. And that MAS board makes me want to cry...
    Thanks, T-Bert

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    1. Yeah the MAS Wolsung boards at Salute 2012 were awesome. Just such a shame I didn't get a chance to play on them.

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  2. I've thought about getting into Malifaux and Heldorado just because I thought it would be fun to make terrain for them. It's also one of the attractions for Dropzone Commander, those are some awesome looking buildings.

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    1. Yep, I've said it before and I'll say it again... there's something a little bit theatrical about wargaming and the joy of playing games on decent looking boards just heightens the appeal for me. I'm looking to start up doing more with Hell Dorado myself and I've been coming up with all sorts of idea's for scenery.

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  3. I absolutely agree, but limited time and resources usually means that I don't have the time to build all the terrain that I have in my head.

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    1. Yep, that's sort of how it is for everyone I think. But you're a more talented terrain builder than most Angus. I guess that's why I highlighted a few companies that can help us less talented gamers out. They also save time, and in some cases significant amounts of money too.

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  4. Haha! I remember back when I first started the hobby, making a 'scene' with a small pringles tube pained Boltgun Metal and with an absolutely terrible attempt at painting warning chevrons down the side of it, stuck on a random-shaped piece of cardboard painted green with brown on it for a road. It sucked, but I was never more proud of myself at the time!

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    1. Ah yes... the pringles tube 'silo'. Who hasn't done that? I think it's some sort of hobby initiation rite of passage. lol. It's strange though isn't it? I'm sure many of us would have built scenery quite a bit when we were younger. So what happened? When did that all change?

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  5. Yeah i think time and resource is the biggest hurdle when it comes to terrain building.

    You can learn most of the techniques and tricks fairly easily. And if your stuck for inspiration the internet is your best friend, be it for real scenery to inspire you, or nice terrain pieces you can copy.

    But if you're struggling for time what you can accomplish is gonna be very limited. And if your struggling for funds i think your gonna be in real trouble.

    Ive been building terrain for a fair few years now so a lot of my costs have been spread over time, and the process i go through when making a piece is probably over the top in a lot of peoples eyes. But i'll go through it quickly with a breakdown of cost.

    Planning.

    After i've decided what i'll make i usually spend some time on the internet looking for images that'll help me with my design, then i'll go through a stage of drawing and redrawing till i'm satisfied with my final design. This design will have a breakdown of measurements and a list of materials.

    My drawing and design tools and materials cost me about £60-£80

    Building.

    Sometimes i'll make a basic mock up of my design out of paper or card But usually by this point i have a good idea what i'm doing and will go straight into construction.

    Now this is where there might be some disagrement, a lot of people say that all you really need to make terrain is a scalpel, cutting mat, sandpaper a steel rule and whatever materials you can scavenge. My tool kit is massive and as for materials i think just as a jumping off point you need a supply of different basing materials, plasticard, balsa wood, glues, filler and polystyrene.

    My kit and my stock material come to about £200.

    That all probably looks like a huge investment in time and money(even without the painting costs added.) but a lot of these cost are one time expenses(tools) and i do think there's a payoff.

    A coherent terrain set that can be added to and refined at anytime without having to try to emulate someone else's design is always going to be a good thing.
    And once you've got enough terrain to put a table together, your going to be able to really take the breaks of the imagination, and go nuts with all the little and large bits and pieces that really make a table fantastic to look at.

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    1. Have you got any pics online?

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    2. The only stuff i have online is my first tentative steps into making terrain for infinity. A project that is a very long way of finished and currently on hold due to lack of funds.

      But if you play infinity i'd encourage you to look at there terrain forum. there's a few people on there with real talent. Plus there a very helpful bunch.

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    3. I agree with you about the cost. It's not cheap if you want it to look good and I think the more talented you are the more detail you add, the less you wish to 'make do' and the more it ends up costing you! You only have to look at some of the truly inspirational pieces that are produced for the shows. They are a labour of love.

      Someone already mentioned this below, but scenery is a hobby in its own right. I really enjoy it, in some ways more than the gaming aspects. Maybe I'm just not a competitive sort! Maybe I was one of those scale model railway addicts in a previous life! Either way I remember from an early age being fascinated with model villages whenever my parents took me on holiday. Sadly most o them seem to have closed down these days :-(

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    4. Ta. Always good to see some good scenery pron.

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    5. Just so ya go to the right place here's a link to the infinity terrain forum.

      http://www.infinitythegame.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=25

      And if anybody's interested in fantasy terrain this guy is a crazy genius.

      http://www.youtube.com/user/thekamloopian/videos?sort=da&view=0

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    6. You see now this little skit and conversation is exactly why I love all of you lot who read my Blog. Without me to stoke or entice people to converse and comment you've all gone and done so on your own any way.

      @sasquatch you are right building your own terrain and doing it well costs money as the tools and some of the materials do not come cheap at all. However, I do remember it being very rewarding part of my hobby, and getting back into it recently I've found that it is yet again really rewarding.

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  6. Great Games Need Great Scenery and Terrain. A fact lost on many.

    I also believe building Scenery is a hobby in itself and a very rewarding hobby.

    Tony

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    1. I completely agree! I like to think there is some kind of hobby-ometer, that goes from negative to positive, with different factors that affect the result.

      For example at the negative end; A 14yr old with tourette syndrome, who uses faeces as a deodorant, plays with entirely proxied and unpainted/unassembled models on a board using books for hills. He accidentally breaks your models through clumsy handling of his own, and does ground-pounds throughout the game, accusing you of cheating the rest of the time.

      At the other end of the spectrum - a game against someone you get along with well. You both have reasonably painted armies, on themed and well made terrain, are playing some kind of narrative game with perhaps some snack food and a beer on the side of the table.

      I have played at both ends of that spectrum (thankfully, more of the latter) and definitely agree that good terrain is an important part of the experience. I find it funny in a lot of cases that people will spend literally dozens of hours converting and painting their stuff, yet completely have the illusion shattered when their models are set up on a simple, painted green board and unpainted plastic ruins (to give an example).

      Regarding the article, it's an interesting point regarding GW's own model range of terrain. On the one hand, yes it is an option for those without the time and inclination to have a go themselves. On the other hand, since that range has been released, it has served to completely stifle creativity and imagination with regards to terrain building. I wish that, officially at least, the company would acknowledge that terrain building (with things bought from a 'local hobby shop') are also an option, rather than having every single battle report and army display photographed on that bloody awful realm of battle board. :)

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    2. @Tony, too right.

      @Pacific, I've often flitted between thinking the GW plastic terrain is a boon or a curse. I think the truth lies somewhere between those two extremes however. You're right about it stifling creativity and having a bit of a negative impact on the GW hobby as a whole though. White Dwarf used to be full of awesome articles about cool peices of scenery made using household rubbish... and it was great. Now it's buy this identikit plastic building or that one. While that's useful to a point, but they're so easy on the one hand it often dissuades people from giving terrain building a go.

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  7. I find myself attracted to games like Infinity, Malifaux and skirmish versions of 40k games (cities of death, kill teams) simply because it immediately fills me with thoughts of terrain-filled boards. Glad to know it's not something wrong with me.

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    1. No it's not just you, it's most hobbyists. I feel sorry for the kids walking into GW's nowadays with the identikit terrain and the horrible realm of battle boards everywhere. When I was a kid I used to walk into different stores just to see what boards they'd have made. Don't need to do that anymore as quite frankly they're all the same. Infinity as a game just fills me with ideas for boards, as does HGB and Anima Tactics. I'm so wanting to get back into making my own terrain again as it's just so much fun.

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    2. You know I was talking only the other day about this. The battle boards don't really do much for me, I know they're all modular and stuff but really, how much better is that than the older 'flat' board and individual pieces that you could move about? In many ways it was far more modular (particularly in placement of hills of which you seem to have no choice on the RoB boards, you're always in a valley!).

      I was actually very disappointed to see the horribly cheap vacuum formed craters they produce now, I do remember old White Dwarf tutorials on how to make them from a hardboard base, a polystyrene ceiling tile or papier-mache and some wall filler. Far sturdier!

      I don't think there's anything nicer than playing on some beautiful scenery - only downside for most of us... storage!!

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  8. This is a very interesting read. Especially since I'm way overdue in thinking up an Infinity table.

    I've spend alot of time browsing your reviews of the relevant Sarissa reviews as wel as their site. The problem is that I believe that their scenery is perfect for making either a military compounds or first stage colonies (building better worlds).

    As a result I know that it's useless to try and handbuild a table like that. Because I'll immediatly compare it with their professional offerings and think my attempts are crap.

    After an article on Remote Presence however, I think I'm going to have a go at making a slum themed table.That way, if things don't really line up, I can go 'I meant to do that..4 And I can expand my hobby range a bit and save some money.

    But that doesn't stop me from wanting to do the Sarissa table in the future :)
    (Perhaps with some Antenociti doodads as well)

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  9. A quick and cheap way to get a lot of very nice looking scenery is papercraft. All you need is 110lbs cardstock paper, a cutting mat, an exacto and a metal ruler. A lot of companies like Worldworks produce high quality kits for sci-fi, fantasy, and anything in between.

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