Some great pictures of caves

[Rhoderic]

Maybe spelunking photo-tours are a dime a dozen, but I found this website I thought I'd share with you: http://www.comperes.org/

There are some great photos there of caves and abandoned mines with all their atmosphere and ambience. Fantastic inspiration for anyone wanting to model an underground board. I certainly feel inspired to model one for my swashbucklers (I could use it as the catacombs of Paris, a pirates'/smugglers' cove, the secret sub-Andean way to Eldorado, and more). If anyone has found other nice websites like this, please post them here.

These guys' hobby is so much cooler than ours, by the way  

[PeteMurray]

Oooh. Very cool!

One of my favorite trips as a kid was going to Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. It had a narrow squeeze in one spot called "Fat Man's Misery." There was also a mummified bat hanging in one corner. He was held up by only one leg--the tour guide called him the "acro-bat". These are the sorts of things that give you hours of enjoyment as a kid, or as an adult Plynikes.

[Rhoderic]

The only cave I recall having been to, aside from in Gibraltar, was one in western Ireland. Very cool experience. Yet, the way those French guys do it, actually exploring and not just taking guided tours inside known tourist attractions, must be so much cooler.

The site seems to be part of an urban explorers' webring, with more interesting sites. You might have to dig (no pun intended) a bit to find more pictures of caves. But I'm sure there are more proper spelunking sites elsewhere on the net, too.

[plastic scouser]

Cool site .....Lara Croft springs to mind

Cheers Ian

[Gluteus Maximus]

Cool site .....Lara Croft springs to mind

Cheers Ian

 :: Happens to me quite a lot!

Very good site, though. Caves are definitely on my "to-do" list.

Cheers,
Another Ian

[PeteMurray]

For building a cave I would certainly consider using one of the Hirst Arts moulds, especially as the rocky cave mould is one with pretty wide application outside of caves. In our local group, Deathwing has been threatening to buy the Dwarven Forge cave setting for the last couple of months or so. Since this means I would get to play on it without having to shell out the dosh, I have been encouraging him to do so.

I encourage you to encourage him to do so.

Really, caves are one of those settings you can use for dang near anything.

[Rhoderic]

The Dwarven Forge cave is one of my main sources of inspiration. But I can't afford it.

I didn't know Hirst Arts made cave moulds. But looking at them now, I'm not sure I want to spend money on them. They're nice, but it just seems simpler and cheaper to make my caves out of pink foam, rocks and modelling clay.

[Howard Whitehouse]

Caves are easy. All you need is styrofoam (the hard type used for insulation) an old bread knife and the usual glue, plaster and paint. Here's a scene from my 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth' game:
 

[Howard Whitehouse]

More from the same cavern set up. The figures are semi-glossed, and reflect the light too much - sorry about that! H

[Prof.Witchheimer]

damn, that looks awesome! More pics?

[Gluteus Maximus]

Caves are easy. All you need is styrofoam (the hard type used for insulation) an old bread knife and the usual glue, plaster and paint.

Howard,

you forgot one more vital ingredient ....... modelling skill!  

That's beautiful scenery and it must be a hugely entertaining to play games on it.

Ian

[Rhoderic]

That's a marvellous board alright. The gloss doesn't bother me, I use satin varnish as a final coat on my own miniatures (don't believe in the matte stuff).

I might rethink whether to use modelling clay at all, now. Styrofoam might be all I need.

[Howard Whitehouse]

A couple more photos --

[demi_morgana]

heck, amazing!
do You have pic of whole game table from a distance maybe?
and hey, why there's water instead of running lava? it's earth's guts after all! :mrgreen: :wink:

[Howard Whitehouse]

No pics of the whole board - because I prefer to cut out the lower stomachs of surrounding wargamers  - but here's one of the same board used as a Norwegian fjord in my "Biggles defies the Swastika" WWII game;