Making 3D Fantasy Terrain: Castles

[SgtSlag]

I started my cardstock terrain making in the early 2000's, with the original CastleWorks set, by Denny Unger and company.  Here is one of my early projects:  I made the tower in B&W, with color floors, to make it less expensive to print, and to really add some contrast to it.  Back then, WorldWorks was the only game in town.

Today, however, there are several 3D castle terrain PDF kits available on DriveThruRPG.com.  One of my favorites, is BORDERLAND KEEP: Deluxe Edition.  I love these PDF cardstock designs, but I hate making them out of 110# cardstock!  I made mine using 110# cardstock, originally, but they got beat up, too fast, in gaming usage.

The greatest factor in using these PDF models, is that there is minimal painting!  Yes, unfortunately, there is some painting required, to cover up the white, cut edges of the paper.  This can be done in a few different ways, but the effort is worthwhile, as the white edges are way too distracting to leave them as they are.

Whether you print them using inkjet printers (ink will run if you get it wet!), or laser toner printers (toner is microscopic plastic beads of color, melted into the paper's surface -- won't run when wet, but the paper will be still be damaged by the water...), both are uber expensive to print with, as the density of ink/toner applied to the paper is heavy, draining your ink/toner cartridges quickly, and expensively...

I hit upon the idea of printing on full-sheet label paper, 8.5" x 11", then applying that to 2mm thick chipboard.  I have to cut these, and assemble them differently than the designer's tab system, of course, but when finished, they have strength, stability, and endurance lightyear's beyond cardstock.

Here are some example photos of my finished builds:  Square Castle Towers, Wall Sections, and a Gate Entrance representing a besieged city; a Siege Tower, made using 2mm-thick chipboard; a front view of a ladder assault against one of the wall sections; a table view showing the setup before the battle began, using 2e BattleSystem rules; two Battering Rams, the left made with chipboard, and the right, made with cardstock.  A Siege Tower of cardstock, and a Siege Tower of chipboard.

Now, compare the above chipboard examples, to a resin-cast castle...  Obviously, the resin-cast model is vastly superior, but it came out of the box, ready to put on the tabletop -- no painting, no building, no challenge, no enjoyment of creating something with your own hands!  LOL!  This resin castle is owned by a friend, and the photo is from a 2e BS game he put on:  he supplied the scenario, and the castle, I supplied the gaming table, and the majority of the figures.  A good time was had by all, except for the figures which died, again, at the hands of their giant Generals.

Using the same full-sheet label technique, I was able to cover some heavy cardboard tubes, making them into Round Towers.  Here is a view inside.  I Hot Glued a piece of vinyl floor tile to the top of the tube, covered that with appropriate floor label paper.  Then, I applied the battlement printout to a toilet paper roll tube, cut open -- it had the appropriate curve already, so it was a simple matter to trim it, then Hot Glue it to the edge of the tower.  I added a hatch door, from another PDF set, stuck onto the stone floor label paper roof of the towers; the rusted iron door entrance to the Tower was from a dungeon set, cut to size, then applied to the stones of the base of the tower.  By mounting the round Tower on a base, it really looks the part (the differences in color saturation are due to a low toner printout for the wall sections, while the battlements were printed with fresh toner cartridges).  Easy-peasy, Baby!  Cheers!

[jon_1066]

Nice idea.  Something free is always good.  I do use card buildings but only in small scales (6 mm).  I think the smaller the scale the less you would expect to be able to pick out texture (which flat printed buildings obviously lack).

I presume you are in the USA as chipboard in the UK is something else entirely.

[SgtSlag]

Yes, I am in the USA.  Chipboard, here, is 2mm thick cardboard.

Oops!  I forgot to mention some critical details in making chipboard buildings...

Long stretches of chipboard will warp, over time, unless they are reinforced somehow.  Enter the square wooden dowels, available at crafting stores!

I found that if I glued square wooden dowels in corners, and along long, flat runs of chipboard, it would prevent most warping.  This gives the finished models strength, and quite a bit of heft -- they won't blow over when someone walks by them on the tabletop!

Here is another terrain project using the chipboard and square dowel construction technique:  a Fat Dragon Games modular bridge.  This project was recently completed, with plenty of photos to illustrate how it was done.  Note that I made numerous modifications to the original design, as I was building it out of chipboard, not cardstock.

The chipboard was purchased from my local framing shop -- a large piece, intended for custom framing of a picture or poster.  I printed the designs on full-sheet label paper, then I applied these to the chipboard, minimizing waste as much as possible.

Initially, I glued everything using Wood PVA Glue, as paper and chipboard, are made out of wood pulp fibers.  I eventually discovered that Hot Glue was faster, and more effective, so I switched to using that, and I will never use Wood Glue again...

I also learned that Wood Glue, specifically, is acidic:  it will cause paper fibers to become brittle, and crumble, over time (years).  Hot Glue is plastic, and pH Neutral.  Did I mention that Hot Glue was faster?...  I also filled some cavities with Hot Glue, to add weight, and to strengthen the structure (the rectangular buttresses on the bridge benefitted from this effort, as they were originally assembled with just a thin bead of Wood Glue, and their seams were actually quite weak prior to being partially filled with molten Hot Glue).

It took some trial and error to figure out how to assemble the Bridge using my dowel and chipboard methods, but it worked out, really well, I think.

Fat Dragon Games recommended applying strips of PVA Glue on the ramps, to give figure bases something to grip, so they would not slide down.  For this, I had a bottle of Archival Quality pH Neutral White PVA Glue.  I bought this for making ribbon page markers for my RPG books, and I had almost the entire bottle left over, as the page marker project required very little Glue!  This pH neutral Glue remains mildly tacky, so far for months after drying clear, and I have to pull the figure bases off of it to move them.  Hoping this will not lift any toner when I pull -- so far, not an issue.  Cheers!

[SgtSlag]

Nice idea.  Something free is always good.  I do use card buildings but only in small scales (6 mm).  I think the smaller the scale the less you would expect to be able to pick out texture (which flat printed buildings obviously lack).

I presume you are in the USA as chipboard in the UK is something else entirely.

Yes, this is true.  Some folks have created texture by cutting out separate bits, and adding another layer of chipboard beneath them, to raise them up.  I don't normally do this, so I can't show any photos of it.  As an example, however, to do this, I would cut out the printed image of the railings along the sides of the bridge, apply this to another chipboard layer, cut to size and shape.  I would then glue that piece in its proper place on the bridge model, effectively raising this out from the flat bridge surface.  It does not create a huge amount of depth, but it is perceptible.  PDF models are not perfect, but they have serious advantages, such as minimal painting required, and relatively low cost.  Cheers!

[Melnibonean]

Great post. I have a large collection of cardstock building - a medieval town, a modern inner-city and a 6mm walled city. I printed mine onto 300gsm watercolour paper. This will go through a printer and is fairly thick & strong with good tooth and gives a nice rough, matt finish. I also modify the models and attach the pieces to of 2mm very ridged card that we call mounting board in Australia. It's used for mounting artwork.

I like your idea of wrapping the print around a cylinder to make round towers. I've been wondering about a solution for this and never even thought to just wrap it around. We can get large cardboard cylinders for postage over here so I might have to buy one and chop it up.

Cheers.

[jon_1066]

Great post. I have a large collection of cardstock building - a medieval town, a modern inner-city and a 6mm walled city. I printed mine onto 300gsm watercolour paper. This will go through a printer and is fairly thick & strong with good tooth and gives a nice rough, matt finish. I also modify the models and attach the pieces to of 2mm very ridged card that we call mounting board in Australia. It's used for mounting artwork.

I like your idea of wrapping the print around a cylinder to make round towers. I've been wondering about a solution for this and never even thought to just wrap it around. We can get large cardboard cylinders for postage over here so I might have to buy one and chop it up.

Cheers.

I believe what you refer to as mounting board is the self same chipboard referenced in the OP.

[SgtSlag]

Great post. I have a large collection of cardstock building - a medieval town, a modern inner-city and a 6mm walled city. I printed mine onto 300gsm watercolour paper. This will go through a printer and is fairly thick & strong with good tooth and gives a nice rough, matt finish. I also modify the models and attach the pieces to of 2mm very ridged card that we call mounting board in Australia. It's used for mounting artwork.

I like your idea of wrapping the print around a cylinder to make round towers. I've been wondering about a solution for this and never even thought to just wrap it around. We can get large cardboard cylinders for postage over here so I might have to buy one and chop it up.

Cheers.

I have a very great many 3D building PDF's I've never built.  I collected free ones offered by Mage Knight, and TSR, in the early 2000's, on the Internet.  I never built the majority due to my poor experiences with cardstock being too delicate in my ham-fisted hands -- the ink was terribly expensive, and the models ended up too damaged to keep, after a couple of uses on the tabletop.  Having switched to a color laser printer, using peel-n-stick full-sheet label paper, and 2mm thick Chipboard + square wooden dowel construction techniques, I know my models will last decades (longer than I will last...).

Last night, I visited the local Michaels crafting store picking up two sheets of chipboard, and three, 36" long, square wooden dowels.  I have a number of models (free downloads, and some that I purchased) which I've never built.  I need to get busy...

I picked up a tabletop game, years ago, called, When Good Villagers Go Bad, which requires a number of smaller buildings for game play.  The players run Adventurers who are running amok, in the local village.  The shenanigans of the Adventurers elevate the stress level of the Villagers, until they finally go berserk, attacking the Adventurers, en masse'.  It's a fun little game, but I need huts and store buildings that the Adventurers can set fire to, to trigger the peasants.  Haven't played it in many a year, but I am now accumulating the necessary buildings within my collection, so I need to dust off those old game rules to give it a shot again.     Cheers!

[Dubbya]

Hi SgtSlag, loving this thread and your others! I'm a big fan of card terrain, there are lots of tricks to make it work. I haven't used hot glue, yes that certainly sounds faster.

One thing, do you ever attach photos rather than links? I'd hate someone to skip a thread just because it looked like a wall of text.

[SgtSlag]

 I agree, I need to find a host service as Google Photos won't allow me to post more than a link.

I started on a new batch of buildings today.  Working on an octagonal 4-story tower, from TSR, along with more small buildings for a town/city.  I need a photo host...  Cheers

[Dubbya]

Hi, I mean attach via the forum upload? I must admit it's a little fiddly and the file size limit is... limiting!

Either way loving your advice and info. Do you find battlesystem complicated for this size game? If you have been playing for years I guess familiarity makes it easier.

[SgtSlag]

BattleSystem is a kitchen-sink game:  it covers just about every possibility you can come up with in a game, and so it has a lot of things it covers.  You can ignore the bells & whistle stuff, and play the simpler rules and situations, and this makes it much more digestible, at the table, during game play.  They have some nice scenarios you can play, at each level of the game, and I recommend taking that approach, even if you choose not to play their supplied scenarios.

Today, I built what I will use as a good-sized stable for horses -- useable in my RPG sessions, as well as 2e BS games  Here are some photos of it:  Front Doors, with uninvited guests looking for horses -- not theirs, but these will taste just fine; a 3/4 view, with the hungry visitors sizing up the new buffet offering of man-flesh.  The square dowels, Hot Glued inside in the seams, adds strength, durability, and heft.  I added a heavy bead of Hot Glue to the roof seam, pressing it together while the Hot Glue hardened.  The roof seam is not a 90-degree angle, so I'd have to use a round dowel, with plenty of Hot Glue to hold it all together....

One of the tricks to use on such cardstock/chipboard models, is the need to blacken the edges.  The best way to do this is to use an acrylic black paint pen.  Paint pens work sooo much better than ink markers, as the paint flows much, much better.  I always run the black a sage distance from the edges, to make certain the white does not show.

I started working on a 4-story, octagonal tower...  Complex shapes are really challenging to line the seams up, and this is a classic example of such a challenge.  The octagon seams are an odd angle, so for these, I did, in fact, Hot Glue some round wooden dowels into them, holding the two halves of the seam together.  Unfortunately, this is not work as well as I had hoped.  I might try a new technique on the mis-alienged seams:  print a second tower side sheet, on label paper, so I can overlay it over the open seams.  Cheers!

[SgtSlag]

I dug up my old TSR cardstock building PDF files, along with my old Mage Knight cardstock building PDF files. I printed out enough copies of the MK Towers 1 & 2, to build out three of each. I don't have any images of the finished Towers -- yet!    

Note that these PDF files were freely offered for download, years ago.  They are not currently available that I am aware of, but the WayBack Machine might have them for you, if interested.

I hope to finish the first couple of models of these MK Towers this weekend. I printed using my color laser printer (some did not fully melt the toner into the paper, so there is some rattiness on some of them...). Here is one chipboard mostly covered in them, with some cut-outs from the previous chipboard piece -- I used it for TSR buildings, and the cut-offs were big enough to use for several pieces of the MK Towers.

The TSR PDF's feature an octagonal, 4-story tower, which is magnificent. Unfortunately, complex shapes, such as octagons, are challenging to fit together nicely. While it is easy to think that I was sloppy in my cutting of the chipboard, it isn't that simple...  Alignment by the designers is capital, and I don't believe I was this sloppy in my cutting...  I have some ideas on how to cover up the gaps, but it will be a lot of work.  I may print out another TSR Tower to make certain my cutting is not to blame for this issue.  More to come later. Cheers!

[SgtSlag]

I finished cutting out the MK Tower pieces. Did some calculations as to how many square dowels I need for building them out, adding them up to see how many square, 36" long, dowels I need for these buildings… Around 120", just for the MK Towers! I need a total of four dowels, plus another two or three, for the TSR buildings.

More photos will follow after I get the dowels cut up (need 4" lengths for the 3-story Towers, and 6" dowels for the 4-story Towers). Glad I installed a new blade on my bandsaw a few years ago, as I have a lot of cuts to make. LOL! Cheers!

[SgtSlag]

Some progress made over the weekend, and today. Finished models include: a Mage Knight Tower, four tiny houses (same as before, just more of them), and a second barn/stable building (same as the first, now I have two of them).

I am nearing completion on several more models. Some of which are: three MK bump-out top levels of towers (first two on the left, and the last one with the bump-out top attached, on the right), two straight-up three-level MK towers, and a generic temple building (far right of the photo) from FDG's Basic Keep Set (OOP, replaced by the Deluxe Keep Set).

In addition to these, I have:  the MK Gatehouse (all sides, top exterior floor, and battlements printed, mounted on chipboard, cut out, and ready to be assembled), the TSR Octagon Tower (4-5 stories tall?), a TSR Huntsman's Hut (x2 models, conical roofs assembled, walls mounted to chipboard, cut out, and scored, ready to be assembled), and a few other sundry bits and bobs.

I am switching gears on the square wooden dowels: for the multi-faceted buildings (gatehouses, octagonal towers, and the octagonal Huntsman's Huts), I will Hot Glue round wooden dowels into the bent wall sections, as a square dowel will not work without infilling with a hefty amount of molten Hot Glue… The round dowels will still require healthy portions of Hot Glue to stabilize and strengthen the models, but they should require far less molten Hot Glue to get the job done. More photo's to follow as work progresses. Cheers!

[mikedemana]

You've got quite the town going there...! They'll look great all together on the tabletop... 

Mike Demana