Hills and Mountains

I was recently asked why most of my colonial wargaming is set in Africa, and why I seemed to have ignored the North-West Frontier. The reason I gave was quite simple ... I have yet to find a method of producing hills and mountains that both look right and that model soldiers can stand up on. I have tried many methods, and each has its advantages and disadvantages.

Home-made Hills

My first attempts were very traditional stepped hills. They were made from plywood (to give a rigid base) and cork (to give thickness and texture without being too heavy). They were painted with a textured paint and patches of flock were added.

A 'rugged' hill. The same method was used to produce 'smooth' hills, which were much easier for troops to climb.

My second attempt used the thick cardboard end pieces that came in laser toner cartridge boxes. They were vaguely hill shaped, and once given a bit of internal strengthening (using balsa wood), they were stuck on thin plywood bases and flocked.

This type of hill was simple to make and very light to carry around, but although troops could stand on them, there was no obvious way for them to get up or down.

My most recent attempt used blocks of balsa wood shaped into hill profiles. These were similar in concept to the profile mountains featured on Major General Tremorden Rederring's website that I copied when I tried to create some mountains (see below).

The balsa wood made these hills light and quick to make. The slopes were rather steep, and on this hill troops slid down them. The stepped appearance did, however, give some indication as to how troops could ascend and descend the hill.

All of these hills can support troops standing on them, but only the first and last look like the troops have some method of getting up and down them during a battle.

Home-made Mountains

If hills can be difficult to model, mountains are almost impossible! The only method that I have found that allows troops to stand on the mountain, has a means by which the troops can get up and down it during a battle, has some height so that it looks large, and yet does not take up a huge amount of space on the battlefield was to copy the profile mountains originally created by and featured on General Tremorden Rederring's website.

Profile mountains ... in profile.

Mine were made out of thin plywood (for the vertical profiles) and balsa strip (for the spacers/steps). They were then fixed to a thin plywood base, painted with textured masonry paint, and flocked.

A pair of profile mountains placed back to back. The view from this direction is somewhat less convincing.

They look very convincing when seen in profile, but less convincing when seen from the side.

An example of a singe profile mountain. The steps allowed troops to ascend to and descend from the middle levels of the mountain.

Despite these aesthetic disadvantages they worked well on the tabletop, but I eventually passed them on to another wargamer because I had trouble storing them.

Commercial Hills and Mountains

I currently have and use Hexon II terrain for a lot of my wargaming. These commercially available hills and mountains are light and easy to store. However, although the hills can easily support troops, the mountains cannot. This makes it very difficult to fight battles in mountainous areas where one or both sides might wish to fight on the mountains.

British troops advancing up a valley between Hexon II mountains.

As yet I do not have an answer to this problem ... but one solution might be in several storage boxes in my wargames room ... Heroscape hexed terrain!