Getting Bogged Down

"Oo, I like a nice bit of bog, me. Makes me think of my Nan."

One of those challenges on Twitter poked me to do something about an idea that I've had in back of my head for years.

My terrain inventory has been lacking wetlands but I really didn't want to get involved with water effects and cutting bases out of MDF. 

#Terraintober prompted me to make some experiments in cheap and easy swamps with a scavenged sheet of 1/32" thick clear plastic.

I cleaned one side with a damp paper towel and then squirted on a good sized blob of dark blue. I ended up using my hand to spread it as  evenly as I could manage to minimize streaking. I didn't try to get right to the edges as that would get trimmed off later.

Painted side

Once dried I cut it into assorted irregular shapes. The flock would be glued to the shiny, unpainted side. 

Shiny side

I was going to use a tube of brown latex wood putty that I had bought years ago thinking to experiment with making flexible roads. But I never did and the tube had set up solid. Ho hum. 

So I ended up digging about on the shelves to find something else to stick flocking to smooth plastic without flaking off, because it was late and I didn't want to wait 5 days to get to the hardware store. 

With Swamp Mk 1 I used a tube of rubber cement. But it was drying very quickly as I spread it with a toothpick so I didn't get as good coverage as I wanted. 

Swamp Mk 1

I added some more glue and a few tufts to fill in some of the gaps. Although I do rather like the effect of water and grass together giving the look of very marshy ground. 

Bit more flock and tufts added

For Swamp Mk 2 I used a tube of latex caulking and smoothed the bead of caulk out with my fingers before dumping the flock mixture on and letting it dry for 24 hours. 

Coverage is good, but the sharp angles in the pools look unnatural and need to be hidden by tufts.

Swamp Mk 2

The beads of caulking are also thick so you end up with more grass and less open water. Still, not bad and warrants another attempt. 

Swamp Mk 2 with tufts

For Swamp Mk 3 I've gone BIGGER, about twice the size, and controlled the caulking a bit better to leave more open pools. I've also remembered to take some WIP photos, while trying not to get latex caulking all over my phone! Terrain making always seems to be messy!

Caulking spread

I had to make up some more flocking mix too. Making terrain really eats up the flock!

Buried in a pan of flock for 24 hrs

Swamp Mk 3 after a second round of caulk and flock to cover some thin spots. Added a trimmed down twig and tufts

All three together

Unit of orcs for scale

The proof will be in how well they hold up over the years to usage. Chunks of flock and adhesive flaking off will be something to watch for.

That's enough wetlands for now. Some rocky hills next I think.