Hills for 10mm

Started by Chad, 05 August 2021, 05:18:15 PM

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Chad

Can anyone recommend any suitable model hills for games? I am looking at the Western Theatre of the 1866 campaign. The terrain is predominantly wooded hills with valleys. Many of the combats involve figures moving onto and across hills and so the terrain pieces should not be overly steep and have a reasonably flat summit.

jimduncanuk

What.

You don't make your own hills?

Easy enough to do.
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fsn

Lord Oik of Runcorn (You may refer to me as Milord Oik)

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3 votes in the 2016 Painting Competition!; 2017-2019 The Wilderness years
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Scorpio_Rocks

I find that hills like those made by Kallistra are too rounded / slippery to accommodate figures.

Personally, I prefer flat / stepped hills so figures can move over them better.
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FierceKitty

Quote from: Scorpio_Rocks on 06 August 2021, 04:26:48 AM
I find that hills like those made by Kallistra are too rounded / slippery to accommodate figures.

Personally, I prefer flat / stepped hills so figures can move over them better.

You are not alone in this preference.
I don't drink coffee to wake up. I wake up to drink coffee.

fsn

I flock mine and don't have a slippage problem.
Lord Oik of Runcorn (You may refer to me as Milord Oik)

Oik of the Year 2013, 2014; Prize for originality and 'having a go, bless him', 2015
3 votes in the 2016 Painting Competition!; 2017-2019 The Wilderness years
Oik of the Year 2020; 7 votes in the 2021 Painting Competition
11 votes in the 2022 Painting Competition (Double figures!)
2023 - the year of Gerald:
2024 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!

Lord Kermit of Birkenhead

QRF have/had a BOGOF on, at least last week
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Westmarcher

Quote from: Scorpio_Rocks on 06 August 2021, 04:26:48 AM
I find that hills like those made by Kallistra are too rounded / slippery to accommodate figures.

Personally, I prefer flat / stepped hills so figures can move over them better.

I think I may have acquired my flocked 'rounded' hills from S & A Scenics (unfortunately, business operations currently suspended until September for 'personal' reasons) - I've had them for so long, I can't recall. My miniatures bases have magnetic bases (from, yes, Magnetic Bases) which also tend to slip when the slope gets too steep.

My solution is to have on hand a few thin steel paper bases with thin felt pads stuck on underneath (the type of very thin self adhesive felt pad you can buy for porcelain ornaments). The thin steel paper bases are cut to exactly the same dimensions as my miniatures bases so are unobtrusive and the felt undersides stick the bases to the slope admirably.
I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.

Leman

06 August 2021, 09:41:00 AM #8 Last Edit: 06 August 2021, 09:42:39 AM by Leman
If you like stepped hills then the answer is some sheets of mdf of an appropriate thickness, eg 10 0r 15mm if such a thing exists, then cut out some stackable shapes. the straight edges are great for hills which start somewhere off table. You can do the same sort of thing with hardboard, a system we used down the Liverpool club for several decades, see below:



Figures are Pendraken and Old Glory 10mm SYW.
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Raider4

I've done the same, but using cork wall/floor tiles (which B&Q and Wickes no longer stock :().

John Cook

I put styrene pieces underneath my games mats.  Looks much better than hills placed on top and models don't slip.  I think hills tend to be exaggerated in wargames.  You don't need anything more than 1cm per contour maximum in my view.

Orcs

Quote from: Westmarcher on 06 August 2021, 08:56:56 AM
I think I may have acquired my flocked 'rounded' hills from S & A Scenics (unfortunately, business operations currently suspended until September for 'personal' reasons) - I've had them for so long, I can't recall. My miniatures bases have magnetic bases (from, yes, Magnetic Bases) which also tend to slip when the slope gets too steep.

My solution is to have on hand a few thin steel paper bases with thin felt pads stuck on underneath (the type of very thin self adhesive felt pad you can buy for porcelain ornaments). The thin steel paper bases are cut to exactly the same dimensions as my miniatures bases so are unobtrusive and the felt undersides stick the bases to the slope admirably.

I have recently exchanged e-mails with Simon as I was concerned with the message on his website.

S & A Scenics has recently acquired a large part of the Hinchcliffe Range, and to sort it out has been quite an undertaking, so rather than delay orders Simon is sorting the range out and is due back to full production in September I believe. 
The cynics are right nine times out of ten. -Mencken, H. L.

Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well. - Robert Louis Stevenson

Orcs

Quote from: Lord Kermit of Birkenhead on 06 August 2021, 06:25:18 AM
QRF have/had a BOGOF on, at least last week

Yes but only on 40mm high hills
The cynics are right nine times out of ten. -Mencken, H. L.

Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well. - Robert Louis Stevenson

Westmarcher

Quote from: Westmarcher on 06 August 2021, 08:56:56 AM
.... My miniatures bases have magnetic bases (from, yes, Magnetic Bases) .....

Correction: the magnetic strips and steel paper are from Magnetic Displays (that's what happen when you do things in a rush!  :-[ )

[p.s. I also use variously shaped polystyrene pieces under my table mat.]
I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.

Ithoriel

Quote from: Scorpio_Rocks on 06 August 2021, 04:26:48 AM
I find that hills like those made by Kallistra are too rounded / slippery to accommodate figures.

Personally, I prefer flat / stepped hills so figures can move over them better.

Several years ago I was gaming with a bloke who bought unflocked hills, I think from S&A, and then "flocked" them with iron filings before painting them. Our magnetically based figures did not slide down hills. :)
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