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Recreating Rauray - The Scenery

by commander Toby R

I have always envied the displays created in Museums and exhibitions. The realism of some of them is stunning and, like any good wargamer, the best ones leave you imagining what it would be like to fight a wargame on.

I had read an article by one professional terrain modeller who mentioned the use of fabrics with different pile lengths etc to achieve a believable terrain look for such displays and exhibits. This and a recent close inspection of an actual display sent me running to the airing cupboard on my return home. Well who needs that many towels and blankets anyway..?

Whilst I don't claim to be able to create scenery to the standard of the experts, I do believe it is possible to create some realistic terrain without spending a fortune or months doing it.

Click Here for our Rauray Battle report.




The piping and other patterns on the edges of towels can make good features, such as plough furrows in fields. (as shown above)








Click Here for our Rauray Battle report.




Our battle was to be fought in 10mm which is a fairly unusual scale for us and so consequently one of the reasons we needed some new scenery for the game (well, that's my excuse anyway!). Some of what follows may seem obvious but this, in brief, is how we created Rauray:

1. We took 2 4mm sheets of MDF and sketch out roads and hills with a pencil or pen. Next we cut some softboard and layered it on the boards with PVA/craft glue to create hills and other raised areas.


2. Next we painted on the roads with a spray can. We used a suede effect spray that was on sale at Homebase but obviously you could add sand to your paint and use a brush or flock the road to achieve the look you want.


3. We then cut up a cheap plain bristle door mat to create the wheat fields that are an important feature of the Rauray terrain.







4. Now it was time for the fabric. I have a big pile of old towels and cloths etc from which I selected a few. Its the variation of texture that adds the best effect so I picked far more material than I needed simply so I could vary the type. This was dyed brown and olive using washing machine clothes dye (about £5 from most hardware stores.) Brown is more normal but I had a batch go lighter and decided to try them out as well rather than re-dye them.


5. Next we cut and laid out sections of the towel and cloth on the board to make up a patch work of bits as shown here. You can already start to see the terrain taking shape. You do need some patience to line it all up and keep it in place while trimming etc.



6. Next we took the pieces of cut up bristle mat and laid them out to achieve the look of the wheat fields we wanted. At this point nothing is glued down.





7. We then drew around the fields with a felt tip and cut out the pieces. Towel is quite thick anyway and with the rubber base of the mat pieces added the fields would appear to be floating or sat(which they currently are) on top of the landscape. Cutting the holes allows the pieces to sink into the surrounding terrain for a better effect. We decided to leave our fields removable so painted the board beneath in a "wheaty" colour. This means you could remove the bits to allow models etc to stay at the correct level on the board as they make their way across the field areas. We also kept the cut out bits in case we wanted to use them instead of the mats at a later date. Then we glued the fabric down with PVA glue.

8. With it all glued in place we then sprayed several shades of brown and green to create the effect shown here. This is not difficult and the colour showing through from below creates most of the effect - the spray simply ties the sections together and highlights different areas so don't put it on too thick! (dry brushing also works but is obviously slower.) Having already sprayed the roads on, a little care was needed near the edges. Dressing the boards is then the final part using flock and normal scenery bits. We again PVA glued the hedges in position though the glue is absorbed by the towelling so we had to lay a board on top over night to press it all down and get it to stick! Super glue is handy for bigger pieces. I like to mark the fabric joins with hedging to help disguise them and this gives a realistic look as it is these borders that mark real terrain changes. Have a quick look at some aerial photos if you need more inspiration.





The village presented its own problem as we had little or no 10mm scenery and not enough time to quickly get hold of any so I took a strip of 2x1 inch wood and cut it into several varying sections to create houses. A few doors and windows painted on and it was good enough for our purposes. I cut up a length of right angled wood for the roofs and as a bonus this meant we could take the roofs off to show troop stands in position.
Some bases of British infantry with our scratch built village in the background (and below)
We used trees with removable bases for wooded areas. Although more expensive than molded ones they make storage so much more easy. Just glue the bases on and take the trees in and out as needed...