Curious as to to how I build some of my Age of Sigmar terrain pieces, convert models, or how I plan armies and paint schemes? Then welcome to the Space Dinosaur Tutorials, where I teach you how I do what I do. This tutorial covers how I made swamp and bog terrain for my games of Age of Sigmar.
One of the joys of the tabletop wargame hobby is bringing the stories you read or create on paper into the real world in miniature format. In my narrative post on the country of Heldenmarch, I touch on the Bogs of Darmstadht, a marshy area that sits between the border of Heldenmarch and Ravenmarch. I created rules for them in game but didn't have the terrain to fully represent it. Well that's no longer an issue, as I've now created five bog pieces, and I'll show you how I did it.
First, the set of materials I used. You can obviously use whatever brands you like, but results may vary.
Air Drying Clay (DAS)
MDF Bases (pre-cut)
PVA Glue (Elmer's)
Sand (from outside)
various Craft Paints (Apple Barrel)
Resin (Woodland Scenics Realistic Water)
Flocking (Woodland Scenics Blended Turf)
Static Grass (Army Painter Field Grass)
Tufts (GW Middenland Tufts)
Flowers (Army Painter)
Autumn Leaves (Green Stuff World)
Old Bristle Brush (not pictured)
Not all of these materials are critical, and you can swap them out to get different types of water features. To form the basis of the terrain I used MDF...bases. You can cut your own, but if you live in a small place and don't have power tools that can be annoying. I use Etsy to get pre-cut bases, just know that usually you're getting random cuts.
Next, take your air drying clay and roll it into tubes the length of the perimeter of the MDF base. The thickness of the tube depends on how steep you want the banks to be. Note that really steep banks will make these bogs look more like water-logged craters than naturally occurring swamps. Too shallow and they won't be able to contain much resin in later steps.
Once you're satisfied with the thickness of the clay, smooth the edges on each side of the tube. This creates a more natural transition from the flatness of the MDF to the rim. I used some water to make this process easier, but don't use too much otherwise you could warp the base as it dries. I used air dry clay instead of oven dry clay as I didn't want to stick MDF inside of an oven.
If you have a large MDF base, you can also make little islands with the clay to break up the uniformity. Once dry the DAS has a pink hue with almost a dense foam texture to it. It can be carved with an Exacto if you've made any mistakes, and if the rim gets too low anywhere make sure to go back and add more clay in that area.
When the clay is fully dry and you're happy with the shape of the rim and any islands, it's time to add some texture. Take some of the PVA glue and slightly water it down, then apply it to the rim and a bit where the MDF base and the rim meet. Do not put sand in the middle part of the MDF base. It ruins the illusion of depth if you can see texture.
Let that dry and it's time for painting. As a base coat I used Burnt Umber mixed with some PVA to seal in the sand.
Then drybrush with khaki and then again with bits of green, but sparingly. This will help later with blending the water with the dirt.
The last painting step is the most critical to achieving the depth illusion. I use a dark blue, then mix it with some black and paint it where I want the water to look the deepest. Then I take some the original dark blue, and while the paint is still wet, blend it in those areas I want to look a little less deep. If done right you'll get a nice transition with all the colors.
With the painting complete, give these bases a day to dry or more. You'll be pouring resin soon, which won't allow the paint to dry properly if it's still wet. In the meantime, you can prep the reeds for the swamp. Take your old bristle brush like the one in the photo below, and superglue all of the tips together. After the super glue is dried, cut the tips away, about a 1/4 inch in length, and then pull bunches apart. You should be left with clumps of fibers that look like reeds or long dried grasses.
I missed a few photos for this next bit as I was busy with resin and mixing. With the completely dry bases, pour a layer of resin to fill the bases about halfway. Mix in a smidge of green paint (I mean a smidge, it should only just tint the water) and mix it into the resin. Take some of the flocking and sprinkle it about. Let this dry for about 30 minutes or until the resin starts to get a little tacky, then pour a second layer on the fill the bases close to the rims. At this point, I set some the reeds in place, and since the bottom layer is tacky they stick upright. I also sprinkle some autumn leaves on top of this new layer.
Let this dry according to the drying time of whatever resin you use. If like me, you've found that the resin shrunk through the night, just pour a new layer on and reapply the leaves. You'll have some sunken leaves but they just add to depth. I added various tufts around the base to start getting some vegetation going. Then let the resin keep drying.
If you like the look of these you can leave them here, but I opted for more greenery. I put some PVA down in a few places, making sure to leave some bare patches of earth, and then added static grass. Shake off any excess and hopefully your resin is dry otherwise you'll have grass all over it now.
As a last little step I added some flower tufts in areas I thought needed something. And with that you're all done! From here on out enjoy some glamor shots.
-The Space Dinosaur
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