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Roads
May 15, 2020 12:45:23 GMT
Post by Roland on May 15, 2020 12:45:23 GMT
Been retooling a lot of my terrain elements. I want to retire my brown felt strips and create something more aesthetically pleasing ( yet still reasonably practical for game play) . So, community, what are your best designs for scratch building roads?
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Post by judebecker on May 15, 2020 13:17:53 GMT
I despise the hard edges roads inevitably create so have stopped using them and now lay down model railroad ballast. I bought a special battery powered mini vac to suck it up when finished. The mini vac is only for this purpose so it doesn't get contaminated. Looks brilliant.
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Post by Roland on May 15, 2020 13:28:42 GMT
I despise the hard edges roads inevitably create so have stopped using them and now lay down model railroad ballast. I bought a special battery powered mini vac to suck it up when finished. The mini vac is only for this purpose so it doesn't get contaminated. Looks brilliant. Have you considered gluing ballast to strips of production cloth ( fabric sandpaper) and then painting and dry brushing? It might minimize both the height of the road as well as clean up. I travel and even game in public spaces. ( we have a brewery and tasting room that we routinely game at on Sunday nights. DBA being the game of choice for space and visual reasons) so the dustbuster approach alone would not serve me well. |
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Post by timurilank on May 15, 2020 13:38:21 GMT
Been retooling a lot of my terrain elements. I want to retire my brown felt strips and create something more aesthetically pleasing ( yet still reasonably practical for game play) . So, community, what are your best designs for scratch building roads? I have scrap sections of 2mm thick floor covering (linoleum), when painted and flocked have been made into roads, rivers, hills, and more. This has a rubber-like underside and is easily cut with a good household scissors.
Plenty of photos under each terrain type, but look to the arable for road construction.
dbagora.blogspot.com/2017/09/dba-terrain-by-type.html
Like rivers, the straight sections are 5BW in length by 1BW, curved are 5BW or 2BW; the smaller ones create nice bends where you can tuck a hill or wood in.
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Roads
May 15, 2020 13:48:41 GMT
Post by Roland on May 15, 2020 13:48:41 GMT
I have scrap sections of 2mm thick floor covering (linoleum), when painted and flocked have been made into roads, rivers, hills, and more. This has a rubber-like underside and is easily cut with a good household scissors.
Plenty of photos under each terrain type, but look to the arable for road construction.
dbagora.blogspot.com/2017/09/dba-terrain-by-type.html
Like rivers, the straight sections are 5BW in length by 1BW, curved are 5BW or 2BW; the smaller ones create nice bends where you can tuck a hill or wood in.
do you bevel the edges with a sanding block? |
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Roads
May 15, 2020 14:34:48 GMT
Post by timurilank on May 15, 2020 14:34:48 GMT
I have scrap sections of 2mm thick floor covering (linoleum), when painted and flocked have been made into roads, rivers, hills, and more. This has a rubber-like underside and is easily cut with a good household scissors.
Plenty of photos under each terrain type, but look to the arable for road construction.
dbagora.blogspot.com/2017/09/dba-terrain-by-type.html
Like rivers, the straight sections are 5BW in length by 1BW, curved are 5BW or 2BW; the smaller ones create nice bends where you can tuck a hill or wood in.
do you bevel the edges with a sanding block? Cut first the sections to desired length and shape. Then simply turn your wrist or turn the material to trim the roads at an angle (45 degrees). Not hard at all and faster than sanding. 
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Post by lkmjbc on May 15, 2020 14:56:42 GMT
Try an experiment.
Don't throw away your felt... instead... try painting and flocking it with sand. You can often get a good look with that.
Joe Collins
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Roads
May 15, 2020 16:45:59 GMT
Post by judebecker on May 15, 2020 16:45:59 GMT
Joe, I like felt terrain, so many options and it just feels so classic, toy soldiers on felt...I use squares for terrain and admit there is often too many edges visible so try to hide that with small random bits of flocking. Something about the roads though when one uses glue or adhesive they curl up.
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Roads
May 15, 2020 16:49:14 GMT
Post by judebecker on May 15, 2020 16:49:14 GMT
I despise the hard edges roads inevitably create so have stopped using them and now lay down model railroad ballast. I bought a special battery powered mini vac to suck it up when finished. The mini vac is only for this purpose so it doesn't get contaminated. Looks brilliant. Have you considered gluing ballast to strips of production cloth ( fabric sandpaper) and then painting and dry brushing? It might minimize both the height of the road as well as clean up. I travel and even game in public spaces. ( we have a brewery and tasting room that we routinely game at on Sunday nights. DBA being the game of choice for space and visual reasons) so the dustbuster approach alone would not serve me well. I've looked on Amazon and am not sure what this fabric sandpaper/production cloth would go under? Just thin sandpaper ? Are you in the UK? Many of your terms don't match ours  |
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Post by Roland on May 15, 2020 22:22:01 GMT
Have you considered gluing ballast to strips of production cloth ( fabric sandpaper) and then painting and dry brushing? It might minimize both the height of the road as well as clean up. I travel and even game in public spaces. ( we have a brewery and tasting room that we routinely game at on Sunday nights. DBA being the game of choice for space and visual reasons) so the dustbuster approach alone would not serve me well. I've looked on Amazon and am not sure what this fabric sandpaper/production cloth would go under? Just thin sandpaper ? Are you in the UK? Many of your terms don't match ours look for "wet/dry" sandpaper |
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Post by gregorius on May 16, 2020 0:07:33 GMT
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Roads
May 16, 2020 8:07:18 GMT
Post by Baldie on May 16, 2020 8:07:18 GMT
They do look good
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Post by haywire on May 16, 2020 16:00:12 GMT
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Roads
Jul 26, 2022 13:07:54 GMT
Post by Brian Ború on Jul 26, 2022 13:07:54 GMT
Well, another convincing way to create some nice roads might be this:
A short time ago I built a marsh and the ground of a wood with a creek in it. (See the thread in Scratch built things)
And I found that by using a sharp knife I could scratch lines, holes and river beds into the grass mat. The mats (by Noch) are of a nice earth brown colour and work well.
So you could easily take your usual battlefield gras mat and your best knife, and there you go! Simply scratch the double trace of an ox-cart into your battlefield or a strip of it, apply some nice stuff to form hedges, puddles, potholes, bushes, stones, crossroads etc. You might even apply some animal traces or goat paths just for the fun. And always remember: roads were really bad in the dark ages. REALLY, REALLY BAD.
(Just an idea. Absolutely fresh, not yet tested. I'll report)
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Post by Brian Ború on Jul 30, 2022 6:49:29 GMT
Another material for building roman roads I found when searching through train modelling material.
There are stone wall mats for building landscapes, arcades, retaining walls and so on. These mats are made from quartz sand, latex and soft fabric, so they are quite heavy, flexible and you can easily tear strips out of them. They lie smooth on the ground and hills and look great! 
On the left I turned a part of the road around, so you can see the other side and how it bends.
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