Green zone terrain board (update with new pictures)

[Garder]

Hello

I want to show my first attempt at making a modular terrain board depicting the Green Zone in Helmand province, Afghanistan.

First I would like to show a few pictures taken from my tour in the Green Zone in 2007/2008 with the Danish army.









As you can see the Green Zone really is green. At least in the summer/early fall months.

I want to recreate the rather claustrophobic feeling that the compounds, walled-in fields and corn fields created. This will allow for a lot of tactical interesting situations. 

My plan is to construct six 60x60 cm. boards. Each board has a 4 cm. foam base, which allows me to cut irrigation ditches in the board. Below is my plan for the layout of the six boards. The blue lines represent irrigation ditches.



The layout of the roads and ditches allows me to put the boards together in almost 10 different ways, dependent on where I want the ditches. Before I started construction I drew all six board layouts on a piece of paper, which I then cut out. This allowed me to test how many different ways I could arrange the overall layout.   

I have only made one terrain board. These pictures show three different layouts of the board with the same four terrain tiles. Two tiles are green areas, one is a field with a haystack and the last tile is a graveyard with a Taliban bunker.








Each board is 60x60 cm. with a fixed road/path grid. The road divides the board into four 25x25 cm. areas, where I can place interchangeable terrain tiles. In this way I can depict a wide range of playing areas depending on the scenario. Some tiles will be 25x25 cm., while others will be 25x50 cm. I also plan to make one or two 50x50 cm. tiles with large compound complexes. 

Here are a couple of detail shots of the board. The miniatures are Empress Miniatures British. I apologies that the bases are not finished. I am still waiting for the basing material.


Murder holes


A taliban bunker indicate that not all inhabitants of the graveyard is among the dead.


British paras moves tactically through the area. 

The board is primarily planned to be used for 28mm Force on Force games but by exchanging some of the tiles I will also be able to use the board as a backwater desert planet, or as a futuristic desert environment.


I hope you like my board.

Thanks for looking.

[grant]

Great idea. I have been thinking of doing something similar with the insert blocks, so it's nice to see how flexible it is, and that it can work!

[von Lucky]

Very nice, and welcome. I will follow this with interest.

[Suber]

This project is most interesting! I'll keep an eye on this thread!

[sundayhero]

That's "modular inside modular" design is a really good idea !

[Garder]

Thanks for the comments.

That someone actually follows my progress will hopefully help motivate me

[Sendak]

Hello Garder,

Thanks for the pics.

Your terrain board is outstanding!

Best.

Sender

[Garder]

Well, time for an update on the project. Since last posting in this thread life and other projects demanded time away from my terrain project. But now I am finally able to post an update. The boards are not finished yet, still missing a few things like trees.

The first two images show a setup with the irrigation ditch running along the edge of the board, while the last three images show a setup with the ditch in the middle of the board and a large compound in the middle of the board.











Overall I am happy with the result but I would in time like to add a few boards that breaks up the roads running through the board.

[Lardy Rich]

I must say that you are really doing a great job of representing compounds as they actually are.  The whole project is really very nice iondeed.

Keepup the good work!

Rich

[tinned fruit]

Really lovely stuff.

Phil

[Marine0846]

Well done.
I was not quite sure how you would do the irrigation ditch.
Really like how it turned out.
Look like some interesting battles can be played.

[Dr. Zombie]

Wow!

This is already looking awesome. Great work.

Would you mind sharing a bit on how you buildt it and what materials were used.

[Mason]

Brilliant!
 

And the modular setting should allow for some interesting combinations.
Very versatile too.
 

[Ulu Elsomalien]

Nice board.

Would you mind sharing a bit on how you buildt it and what materials were used.

That would be great to see some WIP and how to, for the irrigation ditches especially.

[Garder]

Thanks for all the nice words. Especially from my "Wargames Hero" Rich

I have always been fascinated by the compounds that are found all over the Green Zone. When you are standing next to them many really are quite enormous and foreboding. Also because it is impossible to say if a compound is five years old or three hundred years old, and because some compound complexes are like mazes, you sometime feel transported back in time when moving through narrow winding streets surrounded be these massive walls.

I unfortunately have no WIP pictures but I will try to explain my technics. If you have any questions please just ask.

I cut 60x60 cm. wood boards an glued 4 cm. thick foamboard on top. I made the roads by carefully measuring 25x25 cm squares in each corner and then lining these squares with wood lists cut from balsa wood. I then filled in the space between the lists (what would become roads) with polyfilla from the DIY store. I then painted the roads a mix of warm grey and raw siena (Amsterdam colours) on a brown base. When dry I rubbed MIG pigments (dust) onto the roads with my finger and blew of the excess pigments. Then I added grass and vegetation (mostly from Woodland Scenics)

The ditch was cut into the foamboard and lined with polyfilla and painted as described above. I then added three layers of Deluxe Materials solid water (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liIMs1-40dg) mixed with green paint. I was really easy to work with and I recommend it highly. When dry I added some grass turfs on top of the water.

The compounds are made of balsa wood, which I covered in polyfilla with my finger and then painted as described above. I used some of my own pictures, and pictures found online as inspiration. I was careful to make all doors (except the exterior gate) really small. I never saw a compound door I did not have to bow down to enter through. I also added murder holes in some of the walls, to aide in the defence of the compound. I plan to add one or two small mouseholes to allow the defenders to slip out, when the coalition forces are getting to close for comfort.              

The bushes are old sponges cut to shape, glued to bases and spray-painted green. When dry I glued clump foliage (again Woodland Scenic) onto the sponge base, and painted it with white glue mixed with water.

I hope that answered your questions.

It was a rather complicated build, but I cannot imagine any other method that both allows for features cut into the terrain and a modular structure.