Terrain for 6mm Wargaming: North African Mountains Part 1

Well it does say ........sometimes smaller.

For the last 6 weeks I have been working on a very large 6mm project that has yet to be identified. I am sure many of you can guess what it might be. It has been enormous fun. The research for it is quite painstaking and I have made a few errors, but overall it has been the most interesting task I have taken on in some time.

Otherwise, things have been a little slow in respect to wargaming as I have been unable to get in any games. My last game of CoC was 10 weeks ago and my last game of SAGA was 6 weeks ago. Unfortunately my 2 main gaming colleagues have been taken out of commission for various reasons. It has got so desperate that I made a plea on the TFL forum, but unfortunately it has gone unanswered. I suppose I have boxed myself in being a TFL gamer in this part of New England, my gaming club are all Black Powder, Bolt Action and DBA. All games that just do not attract me. If there is anyone out there who is a TFL fan and lives within 90 minutes of Salem, MA please get in touch!

Fortunately, I do have a Général d'Armée game teed up for this week in Montreal.

Anyway back to the post. For my the ruleset ( the one yet to be identified), I need some terrain. I have not built 6 mm terrain before so it has been interesting. Since the game is scaled in kilometers rather than in metres it has taken some adjustment. If I have it right, a 6x4' mat would be scaled at 96 square kilometers. I am also keeping in mind the Canadian 30k Epic project as well. My friend Iannick is planning an Epic bash in Montreal in the coming year so it will be good to have some terrain done.

The project is desert based, so it is mostly mountains and wadis. I am not really sure how I am going to do the wadi's but in gaming terms they will be uneven (soft, irregular etc) ground. I am also going to need a couple of towns/cities. Forest are not required and rivers will certainly be limited. Every 6" square area represents a square kilometer. 

So I thought I would start with the mountains which are really the main requirement. So here we go:

First I start with the base, I get these mdf bases from the BigRedBat's Shop. These are the 130x85mm bases which are just perfect for 15cm squares. Simon really provides excellent service.

Next up is some styrofoam. I use 2" thick blocks to start and cut them down to 40 mm in height which I think is good for 6 mm vehicles (a clue!). 

I then carve them up and use a blow torch to shape them and to seal them. We all know what happens when we use a aerosol paint on styrofoam. Do this outside. 

I cut the blocks so they are slightly smaller than the base.

Checking to see that they are roughly all in scale.

Aerial view

The all necessary PVA glue

I tried to vary it as much as possible.

Stayed tuned for Part 2.