Welcome to Pathfinder Wargames first guide!

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Pathfinder Wargames

Taking your first steps down the versatile road of terrain making can be a daunting experience. Like anything new, you can be overwhelmed by information.
Torrents of new words which will later become second nature, for now look like a strange jumble of meaningless letters.

So whilst it can be an exciting world to jump headfirst into, it may pay off to take small steps initially and make some simpler terrain pieces first.

Tackling a Titan as a first build for example, whilst being a great accomplishment would probably put off most builders even before the legs are completed.

As you progress you will pick up plenty of new techniques, so for now just experiment and have fun.


Sections:

1. Don’t be intimidated
2. My first build
3. Starting off simple
4. Doodle pads
5. Summary - Because TL; DR can bore the best of us.


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1. Don’t be intimidated

If you are just starting out in to the world of terrain, don’t be intimidated by all of the new terms and equipment. Later on, you may want to use high density polystyrene and foam board, you might venture into the world of drybrushing or stippling. Maybe getting to grips with a hot wire cutter or an Xacto knife, but for now, all you need is creativity.

If you rush out and buy all of the new supplies and tools, you can end up spending a lot of money and having no experience on how to make it all come together as one interesting piece, this route can be really discouraging for a beginner.

My advice is simple, use everyday materials such as:

Cereal boxes
Pringles tins
Water bottles
Cans of beans
Scissors
Drinking Straws
PVA glue
and so on.

Making terrain should be an enjoyable process. Think of an idea, do you want a basic hill? Or something more army specific?
Write your ideas down and draw basic sketches of what you want to make, this not only helps you remember what you are creating but lets you know whether you achieved what you wanted at the end.

There are a lot of good articles and websites out there that can help terrain builders both old and new, do a quick google search for 'terrain making' or check out these links:

Terra Genesis
Terrainaholic

Dont be afraid that your design will come out wrong.
There is no wrong!
Each time you make terrain you should think about what you did well and how you could do it better next time, what new materials you could use, what you could add and even take away.

Just have confidence in your abilities and give it a go!

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2. My first 'build'

Was an Ork village made from pieces of paper folded into buildings, completed with felt tip pen chequered patterns and Ork symbols.

I was 12 years old and quite impressed that I had made an Ork village out of paper, pen and glue. Looking back, it was a pretty awful build, but I had learnt a lot from it!

I learnt how to make buildings more stable [<st1:stockticker>DON</st1:stockticker>T USE <st1:stockticker>PAP</st1:stockticker>ER!] and how to support structures so that my orks could be placed on the buildings.
I learnt that I should measure and check angles before I cut, and that card is an awesome way of adding detail.

You should never be ashamed of your first build, looking back it might have looked bad but at the time just the knowledge of accomplishment was an awesome rush.
So what if it wasn't a professional standard, I had done it on my own and had learnt as I progressed with each piece.

Here are some pictures of old terrain pieces that I have found in my gaming room cupboards:

This first piece was made from the cardboard packaging of a kettle. I painted it in a camouflage style and believe it or not, it was actually quite hard to spot on a green flocked table surrounded by trees.



This Next piece was a raised shooting platform made entirely from cardboard and sand.


These next few industrial pieces were made from an orange juice bottle, toothpicks, cardboard and plectrums.




This industrial piece was made from toilet rolls, foamboard, toothpicks, plastic straws and some netting.


Here is an industrial purifier made from straws and match stick holders:



This was my first piece of jungle terrain, made from a cereal box [the base] painted green and flocked. I used GW trees and made a river from blue paint and varnish. The river banks were layered cardboard.


Hopefully you can see from these that whilst they aren't great, I learnt valuable lessons along the way.
They should hopefully give you some ideas in making your own pieces, even if it’s just ‘I don’t like that bit’ you might have thought what could go there instead.

Everyone learns along the way, and whilst you shouldn’t really use cardboard as a base [it warps] it’s fine in my opinion to use cheap materials until you get a grasp on what you want to accomplish. I still sometimes use cardboard to make sure my project fits together before transferring it to foam board for the real build.



As you progress you learn how to make certain shapes and what shapes work well together - these cheap and easy materials help you learn and grow without any real loss of money.

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3. Starting off simple

As you can see from the above pictures, it’s easy to make scenery from anything around you!
Try water bottles, egg boxes and keep hold of polystyrene packaging! [Terrain builder’s gold]

Here is a simple idea to try:

Grab a toilet roll.


Carefully put toothpicks through one side of the toilet roll


Paint the whole thing silver


And there you have it, one sewer entrance! From a toilet roll, toothpicks and some paint.
To make it look like its emerging from somewhere, cut a toilet roll shaped hole out of cardboard and insert it, paint the cardboard in a grey colour for an industrial look. I also used sand to texture the pipe. Textured buildings give a more realistic feel and stand out more once painted.


Take a bottle:


Cut off the top 1/4 and build a base with a bottle shaped hole cut out of polystyrene, a yoghurt pot or anything you have to hand.
Paint the bottle silver and the base grey.
If you have trouble painting the plastic, mix pva glue with the paint - this should help it coat the bottle. One suitably Orkish Missile Silo!


With the rest of the bottle, dry brush from a dark colour to a very bright one. I have chosen blue here but have another one done in green.
This gives the effect of glowing terrain. - Perfect for a plasma generator!



Just go mad with ideas, these were really simple thoughts created for this tutorial that i was able to make quickly and with cheap materials.
Just think of what you can do, and get to work!



Here are a few other simple designs:

Industrial site:
Coke can - with a card strip glued on and painted in warning colours.
Smarties tube, yoghurt drink and straws. All of the detailing was done in cardboard!


Barbed Wire:
Made from: Sprues, guitar string and a troop base.


The main thing is to just use what you have at hand.

Even if it doesn't turn out great you will still gain experience and get plenty of ideas for next time.

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4. Doodle pads!

In short, draw.
I am rubbish at drawing, but I still do it. If anything it just makes sure you maintain a strong idea and direction during your project.

I have a few pads that I use for sketching - both terrain and sculptures.
Every now and again I flick through these pads and sometimes a design or concept will jump out at me and I will get inspired to create a new piece of terrain.

These pads don’t just have to be drawings, some pages just say "For the Emperor" or "War, War never changes". Anything that can inspire you, write it, draw it, and take a picture of it!

Browse google for images and ideas but most of all use your imagination. Think inside of the box, on top of the box and outside of it, combine all of your ideas and break each individual component down. Mess about with everything, so you have a missile silo made from a bottle, what next? Make a network of them! Make a tall building as a control tower and mount the silo on top of it, build an entire military complex. Just go mad.

Of course, you don’t have to write or draw your ideas; you can always just pick up a toilet roll and get to work. But as soon as you sit down and start doodling ideas, they can surge like a tidal wave until you have no more paper left.

If for nothing else, it helps to keep track of how your ideas have progressed with experience.

Maybe in the future you will even find an old concept that you weren’t confident enough to build all those years ago.

*Cough* Titan.*Cough*

Give it a go.
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5. Summary

Here are just the basic points you should be able to take away from this article:

1. Build.
Don’t get too wrapped up in all of the new materials and terminology.

Find things lying around the house and use them.
Don’t just think how a straw looks whole, but how it would look cut up in different ways? How would it bend if melted?

Take your time to have fun; don’t rush into a mammoth build until you have a grasp on the basic things, It may just put you off.


2. Your first builds may not look amazing, but not many people's do!
Learn from each build and find a new technique to build with next time. Use each stage as a learning curve.



3. Bottles, straws, spare miniature parts and sprues! It’s all useable. Think of new ways to use it, and maybe even make a tutorial on it.



4. Write and draw your ideas. Keep notes on how you think things went and what you could do better in future projects.



Most of all; have fun.


I hope this has been useful to you, please send me a message if there is something more I can add to.
Or if you would like a more detailed tutorial on any builds.

Thanks
Simon
Pathfinder Wargames