Creating the look of the American Southwest on the table

[oabee]

I'm planning to create a terrain board based roughly along the looks of this photo of Zion National Park:



Having never been in the American Southwest, I have to rely on photos like this to figure out basics like the colors of the rocks and soil. My guess is that this photo, taken early in the morning or late in the afternoon, tends to over-emphasize the reds. When googling photos of scenery, unfortunately most are taken at that time of the day, which I can't argue with: it makes for great photography!

Obviously for gaming purposes the terrain can't be anywhere near as vertical as the photo. I'll be using Battlefield in a Box's Plateau, Bluff and Rocks, which I intend to repaint in more appropriate colors. So the actual board will appear much flatter than the photo, tending more like Monument Valley in Utah/Arizona, but with a stream flowing across it. And I really would like to use a game mat as a base for all this, for various practical reasons (ease of transport, lack of time to create terrain boards, etc. etc.) But the problem I see with using gaming mats is that, as others have pointed out, the texture represented on the mats that are available just doesn't match what I see in photos of actual American Southwest terrain. It's either too cracked, or too rough, or too sandy, or just flat-out the wrong color (either too red or not red enough). 

I'll probably have to build my own terrain boards, or my own gaming mat, to get it the way I envision it. 

For those who been to or live in the American Southwest, any guidance would be appreciated. Like landscape photos taken on overcast days, or, say, noon, so the colors are truer. Or better yet, photos of your own gaming terrain solutions! And yes, I realize there is considerable variety of colors in the sandstone cliffs and bluffs. I just was taken by the look of the Zion landscape.

And for those who have created their own gaming boards,let's see 'em! 

[Elbows]

I had a huge folder of photos I took when I worked in the desert West of Tucson, AZ...sadly that hard drive burned up and I don't think I have any copies.  If I find some I'll post.  It's definitely more beige/baked in most areas, but there is a surprisingly large amount of robust greenery.  A landscape can range vastly from red to beige to grey etc.  You really can't go wrong as the desert is huge and varies immensely.

Creeks are rare in the lower desert except for runoff from mountain ranges and monsoon season.  Most of the creeks dry out and become washes (a hugely present feature which is awfully tough to put on the table, really).  If you did a proper board you could use 1" foam and have a lot of raised areas with many dry creek beds between them, almost trench-like.  Some washes are actually from rivers and can be 100-200 yards across etc.

Lots of mesquite trees (about 8-10' feet at most, green with exceptionally strong trunks/branches).  The trees and brush always like the mountain sides or the washes -anywhere there is minute amounts of water, etc.

This is a link to the Google Earth view of where I worked (predominantly).

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Sells,+AZ+85634/@31.8724075,-112.1541706,51280m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x86d500c56bf08e8b:0x3e107f88cb6e9c6a!8m2!3d31.9120215!4d-111.881234

Look between SR-86 (above Sells, Arizona) down to the border.  You'll see a large variety of colours and a ton of green, the washes are very easy to pick out, including the large one, called the Vamori wash (it actually flows South to North during the Monsoon season - big enough to swallow vehicles --- and it did).  You can distinctly see the washes form from the run-off of the mountains (namely to the East, the Baboquivari mountains with a famous observatory on the North end near the SR-86 etc.).  This kind of layout is very similar as you follow the border to the East toward Tucson etc. 

[guitarheroandy]

These are pretty cool - they look slightly darker 'in the flesh' as it were... Aquarium ornaments - £10 from Amazon. Bargain!



They do others too...



Ellie-Bo is the company. I have a few of their bits and bobs and just remove any plastic greenery that's on them...

I think they are pretty cool for Apache territory  I'm certainly going to use them for my SW America games...

[zippyfusenet]

Cool find andy, thanks for posting.

[oabee]

Lots of mesquite trees (about 8-10' feet at most, green with exceptionally strong trunks/branches).  The trees and brush always like the mountain sides or the washes -anywhere there is minute amounts of water, etc.

The "large amount of robust greenery" is what attracted me to this type of terrain. I already have acquired a mixture of sagebrush and juniper armatures from a Utah establishment called ModelTreeStore, and plan to construct a bunch of junipers and mesquite trees to populate the  washes and creek beds. And thanks for the google map link: it's very helpful. I tend to think you're right, that best results will come from doing a "proper board" with 1 inch foamboard. I hate the cracks between boards, so I was thinking of having Wargamers' Terrain build me a desert stream to place over the crack. Joe does custom orders, so he should be able to match the colors of the banks and riverbed with the surrounding terrain.

Andy, thanks for sharing the Ellie-Bo rocks: they look superb. They're naturally a little more expensive to get on eBay here in the states, about $25/£19 including shipping. If you have any of the Battlefield in a Box Badlands pieces, do they mix well with the Ellie-Bo rocks? I assume you would paint them all to match.

[Frontiersman]

The reds in your picture are not exaggerated. I make a pilgrimage to northern New Mexico once a year and there are rock formations and soils that are an iron hematite red. In some areas you might think you were on Mars.

[Carpathian]

Flying over the region is quite striking, as one really sees the layers of ancient sediments.   Driving across it, not always, since once weathered down to sand or gravel, it all gets blended to the same uniform beige color.  

Reptile habitats have some good stuff, although since it is often cast from a concrete aggregate, heavy to ship or carry around.

Have you tried Google Images?   100's of instant pictures

[Malamute]

The buttes are made from cork bark and the scrub bushes are rubberised horsehair.

Lots more photos in this link:

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=67562.0

[OSHIROmodels]

I did a stint out in Tempe modelmaking for a few months and one of the models was of a new development going up somewhere in a nearby desert and most of the groundwork for that was purple 

The fella making the model showed me the site photos and it was, purple.

Couldn't tell you where it was though is it was over 15 years ago and my camera film got confiscated for some reason (along with a nice little note in my suitcase telling me it had bee taken by the border services  ).

cheers

James

[guitarheroandy]

Andy, thanks for sharing the Ellie-Bo rocks: they look superb. They're naturally a little more expensive to get on eBay here in the states, about $25/£19 including shipping. If you have any of the Battlefield in a Box Badlands pieces, do they mix well with the Ellie-Bo rocks? I assume you would paint them all to match.

I don't have the Battlefield in a box things. I never paint my aquarium ornaments - just use them as they are. That's why I buy them in the first place. I find the slight differences in colour between various 'rocks' actually quite pleasing on the table top, but yes, they'd take paint well enough if you wanted to do it.

[Belgian]

You might also want to check out Wargames Terrain Workshop as Dave also makes some interesting rocks http://wargamesterrainworkshop.co.uk/?product_cat=rocks-and-craters

[oabee]

Thanks for all the fine comments and input, Gents.

I remember Mason had posted shots of his wilderness terrain (in that magnificent mountain of material on Upsheet Creek), and his Ellie-Bo rocks do indeed mix quite nicely with his Battlefield in a Box Badlands stuff.

The buttes are made from cork bark and the scrub bushes are rubberised horsehair.

Lots more photos in this link:

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=67562.0

Malamute, I indeed well remember this post. Wonderful stuff!  Your terrain boards are excellent, the color really works for me, and, it seems to me, that's the direction I should go with all this.

I don't have the Battlefield in a box things. I never paint my aquarium ornaments - just use them as they are. That's why I buy them in the first place. I find the slight differences in colour between various 'rocks' actually quite pleasing on the table top, but yes, they'd take paint well enough if you wanted to do it.

The Battlefield in a Box rocks are very dark--too dark, I think, and may need work. See below (not my photo...stole it from google):

The reds in your picture are not exaggerated. I make a pilgrimage to northern New Mexico once a year and there are rock formations and soils that are an iron hematite red. In some areas you might think you were on Mars.

I did extensive googling, and really fell in love with that photo, and others like it from Zion Natl Park. Thanks for your help on this! Same goes for you, Bibbly! Fascinating! Although I think I'll stay away from purple for now...

Reptile habitats have some good stuff, although since it is often cast from a concrete aggregate, heavy to ship or carry around.

I've noticed the same thing about the reptile habitats. Their weight is very off-putting, since I'll be taking this on the road.

[Johnno]

Just beware that Battlefields in a Box are OOP. Difficult to locate.

[Elbows]

Yep...sadly.  Really don't understand why - but a lot of the excellent Battlefield in a Box stuff was cancelled.

[oabee]

Just beware that Battlefields in a Box are OOP. Difficult to locate.

I have the complete Badlands set, got 'em all on eBay, and man, they didn't come cheap. 

Yep...sadly.  Really don't understand why - but a lot of the excellent Battlefield in a Box stuff was cancelled.

Agreed.