I love and appreciate the beauty of a great looking wargaming table. Beautiful terrain is the perfect backdrop for an epic clash of painted armies. It affords us an opportunity to escape reality, and makes us feel as if we are standing on the battlefield with our army. One of the most majestic and visually stunning pieces of terrain you can add to your table is a river. While you could simply purchase a ready made river from the likes of Pegasus Hobbies or GaleForce Nine; I’m going to show you that making your own river is easier and a lot more fun than might think.
Step One – Materials
Here is a list of materials that I used to make my river. The list assumes you already have common supplies like tools, glue and brushes. Feel free to substitute to whatever brands you prefer or materials you already have on hand.
- ¼” Medium Density Fiberboard – I prefer to buy this as a 2’ x 4’ sheet.
- Extruded Polystyrene Sheet – Comes in either blue or pink sheet in various thickness.
- Magic Sculpt – Comes in an assortment of colors and sizes.
- Rock Mold – Woodland Scenics makes many different molds and they can be bought at Hobby Shop.
- Earth Unsanded Grout – Comes in a variety of colors.
- Sand – My preference is builder sand as it is coarser and will include small pebbles
- Raw Umber, Raw Sienna, Unbleached Titanium and Titanium White Paint – Comes in small or large tubes and can be found in a variety of brands.
- Dark Grey and Grey craft paint.
- Athonian Camoshade and Agrax Earthshade washes from Games Workshop.
- Matte Varnish
Step Two – Design and Making a Template
You want to build a river for your gaming table? Since a river can potentially have a huge impact on a game of Kings of War it’s important to take the time to understand the design considerations before diving headlong into construction. There are the same basic questions that we need to address about all terrain pieces; like playability, aesthetics, and versatility. But this is not just any other terrain piece, this is a river which is so, so much more.
Let’s start with how long do you want the river to be? The answer to this question is typically based on how big your gaming table is and what direction you want to orient it. As I have a standard sized 6’x4’ table that I want to split lengthwise with the river, I opted to go for a 6 foot river. However, other common sizes are 8 or 4 feet. Next, let’s talk about flexibility. If you wanted a flexible river layout you could go with a number of smaller pieces, such as straight, 90 degree turns, and fork sections. You can even create a pond at the end of the line for your river. As I really don’t envision myself changing the orientation, or layout, I decided to break the river down into three 24” sections that are roughly straight. This also has the added benefit the it keeps it nice and simple.
Next let’s talk about width and the number of crossing points. As the width of the river increases, so does the potential impact it will have on the game. Too wide and it will take several turns for most infantry units to cross, or too thin and it will amount to little more than a speed bump. This can also be impacted by the number of crossing points you decided on, as the more you include, the wider you can make your river. I decided to add a bridge and 2 fords; that count as open ground, and allow players to move their armies quickly across the river, which is treated as difficult terrain. Also, don’t forget that if you are using a bridge you should also consider the width it’s capable of spanning. With all of this in mind I settled on 4″ for the width.
Once you have these basic design elements nailed down, the next step is to determine the basic shape of your river. Just make a number of thumbnail sketches, on paper, until you find something you like. Once happy, make a full size sketch and start playing around with the width of the river bank. I settled on ¾” because I like the proportions when compared to the 2 ½” water. If you want more flexibility make sure to keep the connection points for your pieces straight. Finally make a pattern of your layout that you can trace your layout on the work pieces. Please notice that my pattern, made from Sintra , is 24” long and has two different sides so that I can make 2 different river sections with the one pattern.
Step Three – Base
For the base I used ¼” MDF. I use this thickness for all of my terrain because it’s not prone to warping regardless of how much water and glue you slather across the top. It’s also thick enough to give some weight to the piece and provides enough real estate to make a nice beveled edge.
I traced one side of my pattern onto the MDF. From this line I measured and marked the width of the river bank sand the total width of the river. I then traced my pattern 3 more times to indicate what the finished river would look like. I should note if you’re not a fan of symmetry you could easily flip the pattern around and use the other side of the pattern so that the left and right river banks are different. Then using a jigsaw I cut out each river section staying outside the lines. Finally, I used a scroll saw angled slightly to make the finally cut. The angle makes it easier to bevel the outer edge of the river.
Step Four – Foam River Banks
In the past, I’ve made the banks of my water features out of putty, such as Magic Sculpt of even DAS modeling clay. But to save some time and money, I decided to use ¾” extruded polystyrene to create the river banks. Using my MDF river bases I traced the inside profile (along the river), on the extruded polystyrene. I then cut it out with a hot wire foam cutter; making sure to leave extra material, so that the foam overhangs the outside of the MDF. Next, I glued the pieces of foam to the MDF, with PVA glue, ensuring that the inner bank lines up with the mark on the MDF. I added some painters tape to secure them and place a large weight on them while drying.
After 24 hours the glue is dry and I used a hot wire tool to cut the excess foam using the contour of the outer edges of the MDF.
Once the excess foam is removed, draw a line down the center of the river bank, as this will be useful in maintaining the height of the bank. Next use a sharp hobby knife to bevel the inside and outer edges of the foam. Be mindful of the center line to maintain the overall height of the piece of foam.
Next using 100 grit sandpaper, clean up the inside and outside edges of the river bank. Wrap the sandpaper around your three inner fingers in a half-pipe shape, as this will prevent the edge of the sandpaper for gouging or cutting into the foam. Also, through this process make sure that the ends of your pieces match up with each other and continue to sand until you have nice connection points. When you’re done you’ll have smooth looking river banks.
Step Five – Putty Texture Time
Pull out and mix up your favorite putty. I prefer Magic Sculpt because it’s relatively inexpensive and it cleans up with water. Start by filling any gaps on the outer edge where the foam meets the MDF base. Next roll out long sausages of putty, and push them into the space where the inside edge of the foam meets the MDF base. Use a wet finger to blend it in. Your goal is to have a radius transition giving the river bank a more natural look.
Then get a premade rock mold (these are from Woodland Scenics). Wet the mold (or spray with a mold release). Mix up some modeling putty. Press the putty into the mold – just get a thin layer to pick up the details (maybe 1/8”thick). Let dry for a couple of hours. Pull it out of the mold. You’ll have a small rocky surface that is flexible (it can also be easily cut to fit). Glue it to your terrain with CA glue, and it will contour your piece. Once dry use additional putty to blend it in with a wet finger.
Next it’s time to add a few materials to the river that will add visual interest, protect the foam river banks, and provide an easy texture to dry brush. I typically apply these materials from smallest to largest.
Apply a layer of glue to the river bend then dust the area with unsanded tile grout. Once dry, spritz the grout with water, and it will harden it up.
Next apply white glue to the foam river banks, and dust the area, use a sieve with sand. Additionally, you can add a few large “rocks” to the river bed using ballast or aquarium rock.
Finally, add a layer of white glue to the river’s edge, and add another layer of sand. When this is all dry I recommend giving all the texture a couple of thin layers of watered down PVA Glue to help seal and lock in the textures.
Here is my river and the bridge (from ForgeWorld) all assembled and ready for painting!
Step Five – Time to Paint
For my river, I decided to go old school and paint it with a brush. The heavy textures covering the pieces make it an ideal candidate for dry brushing. The key to good dry brushing is to move to harder brushes, and use a lighter touches the farther you get into the process. Keep in mind this river can easily be painted by an airbrush if you’re so inclined. For the first step give the piece a solid base coat with Raw Umber, ensuring to cover all the dirt areas. For this step it’s important to use a medium to soft brush as it allows you to get the paint into all the nooks and crannies. It also minimizes the potential to scrap away for damage of the texture. Once applied let this coat completely dry before moving to the next step.
After the base coat is completely dry it’s time to add the first highlight to the dirt. For this Iused Raw Sienna dry brushed over the Raw Umber base coast. I applied it with a large stiff flat brush that was very, very dry. It’s better to under do it and have to do multiple passes than overdue it and ruin the paint job.
In the final highlight for the dirt I used Unbleached Titanium, very lightly dry brushed over the Raw Sienna highlight. Again, I applied it with a large stiff flat brush, that was extremely dry, as you don’t need much of this color to make it pop against the darker background color.
With the dirt completed it’s time to pay some attention to the rocks. Start by base coating the rocks with Dark Grey. Apply multiple thin coats to ensure uniform, solid coverage using a large round craft brush. Once this is completely dry, apply a light drybrush of Grey overtop of the Dark Grey base coat using a small flat brush that’s relatively dry. To tie the rocks in to the river pull your highlights down on to the dirt with a very light touch.
Apply a final dry brush of white using a small flat brush. Less is more with this step, so be sure to use an extremely light touch, or you run the risk of ruining your paint job on the rocks.
Over the years one of the best things I have learned is that nature is never a uniform color, and it’s very easy to make realistic rocks by using washes. For this step I used Agrax Earthshade (Brown) and Anthonian CamoShade (Green-Brown), from Games-Workshop, but you could use whatever washes you have available. Start with Athonian Camoshade applied to the edges and the deepest recesses where algae and moss would likely grow. Apply the wash with a small brush, and then remove the excess with a dry cotton swab. It’s important to work quickly to avoid having the wash dry out and leave ring on the surface. Next apply small splotches of Agrax Earthshade to the flat surfaces of the rock, and quickly use a dry cotton swab to remove the excess wash just as before. When this step is done correctly it yields a subtle effect that gives a nice mottled, natural look to the rocks.
When the washes are completely dry give your river a spray of matte varnish, to give it a protective finish to your awesome paint job. At this point you have a usable dry river bed. But to take it to the next level I started to add water using Environtex Lite 2 part resin available from your friendly local craft store. You can tint the resin using acrylic paint, but make sure not to overdue it or it will inhibiting drying time. To give the river the sense of movement I brushed Gloss Mod Podge over the surfce and used an air compressor to “blow” surface into a texture resembling movement.
Finally, I used Water effects from Woodland Scenics to add more texture where there would be lot of turbulence. Once dry I gave the area a very light drybrush of white to complete the project.
