Gorram's Grand Terrain Project

I need some jungle terrain for a project I’ve been working on in the background. Technically it is a real world jungle but I’m not going to kill myself for realism. It’ll be the typical aquarium plants that you see on most wargames tables.

It is also a project that I can complete entirely from things in my stash…. perfect.

Step One:

I like using the Warbases pond bases; they are great for people who don’t/shouldn’t have access to power tools to cut up MDF. I took some of the Geek Gaming Scenics Modelling Compound that has been sitting unopened for four years according to my invoice. It isn’t the texture I was expecting; it is very chunky but it’ll do for the ground texture.

Step Two:

Cover with filler that had brown paint mixed into it. This is mostly just to cover the surface and make things a bit tougher.

Step Three:

Add the plants. These are just cheap crap from Amazon. I couldn’t find my glue gun so I used superglue. Some were glued on as they are, others were cut up smashed together. All of them are pretty big next to 28mm minis but this is meant to be dense terrain somewhere like the Amazon. I was going for a mix of heights and species on every base so it looked interesting but tied together.

Step Four:

I have a tub marked Jungle Basing that I made up two years ago… Here’s what I said about it then:

I’m a sucker for a new jar of herbs for a recipe I cook once and then leave them to spend eternity in the herb and spice drawer; only being touched to move them out of the way when looking for something else. Sure enough, I found three jars in ten seconds all of which have been open far too long to be of any use imparting flavour.

Mixing them together doesn’t give a huge amount to work with so I may need to be a little inventive in building layers of texture under them to fake it. Then I remembered that I have a bunch of teabags from a “I’ll try drinking herbal teas to be better for my health than the builder’s brew I usually drink” phase. Perfect. 

A layer of PVA and good coating of the mix was left to dry overnight… one of the best smelling projects I’ve ever done. 

Step Five:

After drying overnight, I added some extra textures to the plant life by adding tufts, moss, GSW Ivy Foliage and some of the GSW Tall Shrubs. The goal here is to bulk out and diversify the species. 

Step Six:

The base texture gets some isopropyl alcohol and some watered down pva to seal them in. It darkens down the colour of the basing material and I’m very happy with the end product.

I had enough plants to get eight bases done which should be more than enough the games I’m about to play with them.