I've needed some swamp terrain for a few games, and after trawling eBay and various web stores, I decided that instead of purchasing an existing piece, I'd create my own.
Perusing YouTube lead me down a bit of a rabbit hole, but ultimately I found a couple of videos from the Terrain Tutor. He made it look simple enough, so I thought hell I should give it a try.
Thinking about a layout I knew that I wanted at least a couple of trees, and though that the Games Workshop Awakened Wyldwood (http://"https://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Awakened-Wyldwood-2019") looked like a good fit. Spooky and they were close enough to a stylised mangrove from me. In this attempt, I would make four swamp bases. This would allow me to try some new techniques. If I needed more in the future, I should hopefully be able to reproduce the efforts.
My first task was to come up with the layout for the individual pieces. I knew that I wanted a corner piece and a larger, deeper swamp piece. I'm afraid that I didn't draw any plans, I just took some 6mm MDF and drew directly on to that!
(https://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/48/2367-281020133912-48970503.jpeg)
As you can see, the first picture I took was when construction had already started. What isn't depicted here is the age I spent sanding the areas of standing water. I must have removed approximately 2mm to create the depression. This was a very messy process that was speeded along by a Dremmel. I also took some safety precautions by using a hoover as a dust extractor and worn an appropriate mask (seems quite apt for the current climate). The GW trees are glued down to the base in this picture. However, the poly cement I was using took an age to dry, hence the highly technical supports!
The next stage was to add texture and additional depth. Again I'm remiss for not taking a photo of this stage! Here I created uneven ground by adding undulations formed of filler. I also added some filler to the depressions to remove the rough edges and generally smooth it out. The blue foam was used to build up the slope on the cliff. At this stage, I also added ground texture. This was completed by using several different grades of sand and some larger stones.
(https://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/48/2367-281020133912-489711989.jpeg)
It felt pretty good to throw some paint on it all. I find that this always gives me a bit of a boost as the disparate elements all start to blend together. I used my regular colours for the ground (Burnt Umber/Mid Brown/Earth Brown, followed by a very light highlight of bone). The stones were painted Vallejo Cold grey and given several washes, and finally, I painted 'sludge' green to display under the water effects.
(https://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/48/2367-281020133912-48972122.jpeg)
Watered down PVA and a mixture of my usual Woodland Scenic Turf and grass mix over the model added some basic vegetation. Followed by a sealing spray of PVA.
(https://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/48/2367-281020133912-489731641.jpeg)
I then added additional vegetation; grass tufts, flowers, lichen, and clump foliage. I also attempted to add some long grass to the standing water. I'll be honest; I hated this. I really struggled to get the grass to stay up. I honestly think that I would probably avoid doing this in future as it by far, became the most time-intensive part of the project. In the end, I only added grass to a couple of pieces.
(https://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/48/2367-281020133913-489741179.jpeg)
Next came the bit that I was most apprehensive about- pouring the water effect. For this, I chose Envirotex Lite. A two-part clear resin which can be coloured. My first attempt at mixing up the resin failed as I didn't realise that both parts had to be warm. Luckily I didn't actually pour the resin, as the mixture had far too many bubbles in it.
Attempt two came a few days later once I had built up my confidence. I dutifully heated the resin in a bowl of water and then mixed. The mixture became very cloudy, but after a few minutes of mixing this cloudiness cleared. I coloured the liquid using some Vallejo inks and poured. I then dutifully removed bubbles from the curing piece using a straw. Overall it worked pretty well for a first attempt.
(https://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/48/2367-281020134100-48975871.jpeg)(https://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/48/2367-281020134101-489762350.jpeg)(https://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/48/2367-281020134101-489771176.jpeg)
Those who have been paying attention will have noticed that there are only 3 finished pieces. That is because I ran out of Envirotex before starting the fourth piece. It's arrived now, and I'll update soon with the completed piece.
Overall I'm pretty happy with the project. I got to try some new techniques, most of which worked very well. I've decided that I hate long grass, and resin isn't quite as scary as I thought. There are some blemishes in the water effects, where not all the bubbles escaped. However, I'm over the moon as a first attempt.
(https://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/48/2367-281020134101-489792491.jpeg)