Railway Terrain

[redmanphill]

I am slowly attempting to build some rail road terrain. First up the tracks of course. I am wondering if anyone has made anything like this? I can't find anything and I would appreciate advice. I want to start off with two feet of standard track, after that I can start to get fancy. Each piece will be a foot long so I can mix it around a little so it isn't the same from game to game.

Here is the beginning of my work with the sleepers. It is fairly tedious!

[KavinCross]

Lookin good. Most track terrain pieces start out by purchasing O scale parts. Scratch built is always more personal.

[PG_Tadgo]

In the model train world this is called "hand laid track." This might help you looking up info online. My only expirience with it is watching a couple guys work on some in O scale. I was into N scale and I was not that crazy to try it with that small of a scale.

[ForestZ]

I don't have any experience, but I'm following your progress with interest. I've got a scratchbuilt train in the works, and a board that has a spot for a rail, so I'm planning on eventually building the line by hand to match the train I build.

I like your addition of iron plates to the sleepers. It lends them a nice IK vibe.

[PG_Dalthoraz]

I have been looking at doing this too I found some great wooden sticks at hobby lobby for the cross supports but I can think of anything to use as the actually rail. What do you plan to use? Does anyone have any ideas?

[redmanphill]

I will use an I beam from Evergreen Plastics as the rail. You can see an example here. I don't know yet if I will build a train. Making wheels just can't be fun...

[redmanphill]

Here is a test piece for what I intend. I think it is fine with regard to scale.

[WarlockFiretopMountain]

Does a 30mm base fit neatly between the rails?

[redmanphill]

Yep a small base fits easily between them and a medium can with a bit of effort. There should be 40mm between the two rails.

*edit: I just measured and a 40mm is a little too wide to fit.

[PG_Dalthoraz]

nice I like the styrene i beams ordered

[Defenstrator]

I toy with the idea of rail terrain. That looks like too much work for me though.

[GrandMcMuf]

Crazy details on this one. This will turn out great! Keep up the nice work!

[Tianaris]

This is definitely going to be great! Keep it going!

And by the way: it's interesting to see how the same people linger around different threads here...

[redmanphill]

Here is the base for the first section completed. It is less than an inch high so it doesn't block LOS. The sides are more sharply sloped than I would have liked but they are fine I think. Flock and tracks still have to go on and I should soon be able to get a fully constructed picture up. Painting should be fairly easy I think! Four of these will easy cross my table and once I have four basic ones done I will consider some alternative pieces.

[redmanphill]

I forgot to post this up:

I just need to wait for the glue to dry properly and then the work can begin! I am eager to get the first piece finished as a proof of concept. I think all should be fine. I am already considering adding a bridge though I don't know what it might be spanning. I don't really want a river on the board when I have these on it. That would make for a really weird layout. Still I think a bridge is a must!

[Trollknight]

Nice very nice. also Idea stolen. if you let me that is

[BLUTAXT]

Your self created terrain totally rocks!

[chironex]

I have been looking at doing this too I found some great wooden sticks at hobby lobby for the cross supports but I can think of anything to use as the actually rail. What do you plan to use? Does anyone have any ideas?

http://www.handlaidtrack.com/

[redmanphill]

Thanks for the comments everyone! I have the first piece painted now and I think it looks fine.


I have three more to do like this and then I have enough to cross the board I have at home. I was wondering however what your impression of playing with some terrain like this is. I built a hill that is fairly massive and I got some complaints about it. You can see it here. The railway line is just over an inch wide and four and a half inches wide. Its pretty big especially considering it runs across the entire board. It doesn't quite block LOS to small based models but it does provide cover. I don't intend playing it as rough terrain. Being on it would give elevation though.

I like a terrain piece that tells a story. The background and settings for the Iron Kingdoms are excellent and I want to bring as much of that to the tabletop as possible. I watched some of the excellent RHQ TV battle reports and they games are played almost on an open field. There is terrain but it is shoved off to the side for the most part while the middle of the table is kept free. I really don't like the idea of playing on a board like that.

So imagine you are at a tournament and running across the board is a cover providing train line. Would you want to play still or have the terrain removed?

[Bonesaw]

There is a big difference between a train track and a hill. While hills in nature are large things, in a game they game dominate the table by blocking too much LOS and can impede movement too much. Your track, which turned out great by the way, does neither. I agree with you that good terrain should do a couple of things. One is look good. Another is add something to the games backround story, and it should provide some interesting aspect to the game, like providing cover for some certain sized models.

I would not object to track on a table at a tournament so long as the rules concerning it were balanced.



I would also like to see your track when you finish it and have it laid out on your table.

Edit: correct my poor spelling

[bouncymischa]

I have three more to do like this and then I have enough to cross the board I have at home. I was wondering however what your impression of playing with some terrain like this is. I built a hill that is fairly massive and I got some complaints about it. You can see it here. The railway line is just over an inch wide and four and a half inches wide. Its pretty big especially considering it runs across the entire board. It doesn't quite block LOS to small based models but it does provide cover. I don't intend playing it as rough terrain. Being on it would give elevation though.

I like a terrain piece that tells a story. The background and settings for the Iron Kingdoms are excellent and I want to bring as much of that to the tabletop as possible. I watched some of the excellent RHQ TV battle reports and they games are played almost on an open field. There is terrain but it is shoved off to the side for the most part while the middle of the table is kept free. I really don't like the idea of playing on a board like that.

So imagine you are at a tournament and running across the board is a cover providing train line. Would you want to play still or have the terrain removed?

I don't see any real issue with the track sections as they are, and I certainly wouldn't object to playing on a table with it. :P

I think a couple of the issues with big terrain pieces like your hill is that they a) take up a lot of table space, limiting other terrain and b) can produce an inequitable situation. One of the local players once made a Khadoran fort that was about 4" high and 12" x 12" in size, with parapets along three sides and a ramp on the fourth side to get up onto it. It ended up being quite irritating to play against, because any model on the fort had both elevation and cover (so a +6 to DEF), and an opponent was forced to fight their way all the way around the fort and then up the ramp just to engage the enemy, meaning that it was pretty simple for the defenders in the fort to just shoot them to pieces. The few times we did end up playing with it, we usually positioned it on the centerline off to one side, with the ramp facing the center of the board, so that both players had equal access to it -- but that ended up running against the whole theme/concept of the piece. I imagine your hill caused similar problems -- it looks to have a cliff face along one side, meaning that it has similar problems of being inaccessible to one player (although the slopes on the other side make it less of an issue than the fort I mentioned.)

The train tracks, on the other hand, don't really run into this issue -- at that size, they aren't going to dominate the table space, and they provide an equal bonus and accessibility to both sides of the table. In the end, I think it looks like a lot of fun to have on a table with other terrain to make a really cinematic scene as well as a good tactical challenge. :3

[Space Donkey]

Train tracks would be fine. Hell that hill would be fine to play with, if not limited on how you can place it fairly. From what I could make out of the hill it would just have to be placed so that the escarpment faced one of the two non-player board edges.

[redmanphill]

That is the final rust effect I managed to achieve on the tracks. I can't go too overboard as the foam will melt due to the carrier I use for the pigments. I am too lazy to experiment with different ones at the moment. I am still awaiting getting myself some more sand so I can continue with the three other sections. They are sitting here in various stages of preparation.

I still haven't had a game with the tracks laid down but once I do I will report how they effected the battle here. Hopefully in a positive way!

[the_Ravenous]

nice looking well used track, and i know its deceptively simple.. but mind sharing how you got your rust effect and what you used?

[redmanphill]

... these boards seem to eat my posts... here is my third attempt to reply! I use turpentine to carry the weathering pigments. I mix it fairly watery though the pigments are only suspended in the liquid rather than dissolved in it. The effect above is from two washes. The first is a strong red/orange that really looks too strong once you put it on. I add a yellow pigment over this and that provides the texture to the rust colour. The pigments being suspended means that you generally can't get an even coat which is good. The pigments mainly sink to the bottom and by dipping the brush down to get it means you will have a heavy coat. Yyou just need to try it out and experiment a little.

[the_Ravenous]

..yeah sometimes the boards get a little too hungry when it comes to nibblets of knowledge. Thanks for persistently posting til the boards were full.

i have been pushing off getting some turpentine type products again.. guess i should re-evaluate that. Pigments still escape me a little... time to get some turpentine.

[redmanphill]

I still haven't managed to make much progress on my tracks. I have however managed to make a wall. I wanted to see how much effort it was going to take me to make a proper linear obstacle and I knocked this out in a few hours. Most of the time was taken up with drying. I think I can get a few of these together easiy and quickly.

[Warcaster Feiss]

The tracks look ace, consider it shamelessly stolen!!

Can I ask what you did for the wooden sleepers? Looks like coffee stirrers or possibly balsa wood? In any case, what work was needed?

[redmanphill]

It is bass (linden) wood, similar to coffee stirrers, that I used. I carved some detail for the wood grain onto them as otherwise it doesn't really look right once painted.

[Mordjinn]

Great looking stuff and well painted too. Any good advice on painting the bricks?

[redmanphill]

I paint them all an orange brown, usually Bestial Brown (GW). Then I mix a few different shades from this and scatter them around. I then line in the white. It is fairly easy to do. Finally a few washes of black all over and green in places darkens down the effect and weathers it a little.

[wdlanghans]

You can keep the foam from being eaten by the turpentine if you seal it well with a couple of coats of PVA (White Glue)