Roads?

[olicana]

It has long been war game's standard that H&M roads should be 'rough track'.

I game in a wider field, I have stuff for the Punic Wars, the First Crusade, etc. But, I also have quite a bit of stuff for SYW and shortly (on the painting schedule) stuff for Peninsular War Napoleonics, and this is my major (road wise) interest.

I'm about to invest in new rubber road stock. Should any of it be cobbled. I need quite a bit (25'+). I'm probably going to go for this stuff:



http://earlywarminiatures.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=413_416&zenid=9d102337dd361dd09b051258c0639a77

This is the rigid road stock I'm replacing.



I need stuff that will go over hills, so rubber stuff seems to be the best way to go.

Your thoughts please,

James

[Norm]

I saw quite long lengths or rubber road being sold at a show and it struck me that they were useful from the point of view that there are less joins and because of that, going over high ground might look more natural.

I think it may have been Magister Militum that sold it, but I only saw it in narrow strips ...... say suitable for 15mm, they may have access to wider stuff. It wasn't cheap, but sometimes getting the right stuff in the first place saves money in the longer term.

[Pictors Studio]

I don't know if you are up for making roads, but one good way to do it is to get some crappy canvas and cut it into strips of the size you want.  Then put acrylic matte medium on them and smear it around to create the track look you want.  Paint that and voila! 

I have glued metal wargames accessory bases to each end of mine and use magnets to attach them to each other during the game. 

[Harry Faversham]

What's wrong with using brown flock for yer roads? You can go up hill and down dale then sweep it off with a soft paintbrush at war's end. Blue flock'll make a nice river too.

[PAULSPENCE]

Bonjour,

I've bought a lot from this chap through e-Bay and they are pretty good.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/wargames-flexi-dirt-road-20mm-28mm-warhammer-rapidfire-handmade-by-fat-frank/281725454605?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20140122125356%26meid%3Dd06262b830c04e4eab3d1f4676d4787b%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D271971864917

I'd buy more if I needed it.

Cheers,

Paul

[olicana]

Hi Paul,

thanks for that. I've dropped him a line.

James

[Ignatieff]

First Fat Frank samples have arrived and they are great.  Rubber roads of a good weight and lots of good hand applied texture.  Highly recommended.

[valleyboy]

James you are more than adept at making stuff and constantly turn out inspiring stuff. With your large games you'll also need quite to cover that huge table!
What about making your own from Neoprene?
The advantage is that you can make what you like or need in industrial quantities in all sorts of shapes allowing more a lot of variation
I turned these out some years ago

[olicana]

Bought four of the rubber track packs last week. It should run out to about 25 foot of roads for £150. Early War Miniatures were very helpful and let me change the contents of the packs quite radically - all straights with 30 degree bends exchanged for straights, six out of eight Y junctions exchanged for eight 45 degree turns. Looking forward to their arrival in a couple of weeks or so.

[Plutarch64]

I went for the Early War Miniatures roads myself, and could not have been happier with the product. Paul is also very good to deal with.

[katie]

Oh yes -- I went for EWM as well. Nice stuff and nice guys.

I put patches of static grass on them to help them blend into the table and drybrushed them to pick out the detail. Look brill.

Might get more in the new year if they're at Hammerhead.

[6milPhil]

What about making your own from Neoprene?

Those look grand, how did you do them?

[Captain Blood]

Generally I hate 'strip' roads - mainly because most people don't actually bother to join the strips up or align them properly, so they just look shit
It also makes a big difference if you edge them in places with a little loose scatter foliage - helps blend them here and there into the table top, and make them look less plonked on.
Kerry, I must say yours look pretty good though. And I do like the fact that you've laid out your sections of road on a section of road 

By the way, although the OP was talking about roads for the horse and musket era, this topic really covers all eras and settings, so I'm flipping it over to the Workbench.

[Bloggard]

Generally I hate 'strip' roads - mainly because most people don't actually bother to join the strips up or align them properly, so they just look shit
It also makes a big difference if you edge them in places with a little loose scatter foliage - helps blend them here and there into the table top, and make them look less plonked on.

kind of swings and roundabouts tho', as, ironically, this is exactly the problem I have with terrain boards (my bro has an extensive set-up based [ ] on them).

[6milPhil]

I'd like to have terrain boards but I don't have the storage for them...