The Streets of Mordheim

Hey guys,

Originally I wasn't going to start more than one project log, but after massive inspiration from Theomar Pius, I went hunting for the ultimate modular city tiles system... and I may have found it!

My friend and I went looking for material. My initial plan was to buy small MDF squares, either 15cm by 15cm or 20cm by 20cm. I would then stick the purple styrofoam on top.

Imagine my surprise when I couldn't find it in our local DIY stores. I know it's available in Holland, just not there. Strange. So I adjusted my plan. I always thought styrofoam was too thick anyways to be able to properly use as gaming table set up.

So we went to a place where they sold flooring, to see if they had any thinner polystyrene sheets. They did. I was hoping for 3mm but they only had 5mm. It would later turn out to be better that way.

This is what we bought:
http://www.macleanproducts.nl/en/products/subfloor-tiles/comfort-super-5-mm_26/

Subfloor tiles. Bought at the Kwantum, for all you Dutch folk.

We went back to the DIY store to get MDF sheets, and I spotted 3mm Styrofoam sheets. At first I was bummed, but later at home I found out how much more pleasant this stuff is to work with.

So I went to work. I can only work at night because my kids would otherwise destroy my material, so the pics are a little dark, but you will get the idea.


After the first cut. I was going to place 2 sheets of the polystyrene on top of one another. Later you will see why.


Mock up stone tiles.


Getting to work. This piece will feature a statue later on.


A warlock for scale.


And a sister for scale.


Using tin foil to roughen up the surface to give it that real stone look.
I't actully better to do this before you start cutting in the foam for better definition.


Using a pencil to get some more definition in some of the tiles.


Glueing two on top of one another.


Ahhh, so that's why he uses two.


This way I can create pavements. Call me OCD but it just looks that much better. I do find the street a little too wide... It's good for a main street, but I am going to think up a way of getting some smaller alleyways in.


Why did the warlock cross the road?

As you can see I applied two coats of grey. I am going to apply another lighter coat later on, then I am going to paint individual stones slightly different hues of grey and brownish grey, to really liven it up.

The best thing about this product is not only does it work pretty much the same as styrofoam, the colour is dark grey, so if you can't reach the recesses that's not even a real issue. The density is slightly less than that of styrofoam, but honestly... once you apply paint, it's hardly noticable. I am glad I chose 5mm instead of 3mm. I think 3mm would get destroyed rather quickly once I started carving in the tiles.

I think we are going to have a very pretty modular Mordheim city.

Looks pretty well  

You achieved a SPLENDID looking stone effect. GREAT WORK!   

Good work, the thing with the foil ball is great, used it on sculpey before, and even on foam it turns out great, thumbs up!

Great work. Can't wait to see how this one develops.

Great find! Not sure if we have a similar product here in the States or not. I don't spend much time in the flooring aisle.

Yeah, that's somethign that will always stay an issue, whether or not a country has a similar product. Thanks everyone for the encouraging words.

Yesterday a friend and I built another two pieces, one road section and a section that will house a... house...

I felt the roads are too wide. It takes a model a full turn of running just to get to the other side. That doesn't make sense. I have an idea how to make them smaller, but I need to spend some time at the drawing board to make sure it all works out. In essence, I want to put the road sections on half a piece, then use the other half for houses, but the houses will probably end up pretty small.

I guess concessions are inevitable... oh well...

That looks brilliant, just the tutorial I was looking for. What did you use to make the indentation on the sheets? Did you use the pen for it?

Excellent idea sir, and well executed. My group were talking about how to create a 'city tabletop'. This is how!    

Thanks guys. It's for you that I created this log. I feel like I found the excellent way of providing modular gaming pleasure while still giving you plenty of detail, and I am happy to help.

As for the indentations, I should've expanded. The first two pieces I just use a ball pen to make the indentations but the second set, we first used a hobby knife to make nice straight lines, then use a ball pen to make the indentations. Make sure you have your pen diagonal so it dents it nicely.

Here it shows nicely why you really want to pre-cut with a hobby knife. It just looks so much better.





And while I am at it:

Top Tip: Take time planning your street tiles. Especially in medieval times, stones had various sizes and they wouldn't always match up properly, so the tiling would be somewhat irregular in places. Create some "oh crud, it doesn't fit properly" places where the tiles would suddenly be differently sized.

Disclaimer: I am in no way the most talented scenery builder out there, but I do like to help folks. So this here "tutorial log" is really nothing more than me being really inspired by some other forum members and writing it out for others to enjoy as well. Half of what I do here is merely me copying others.

This really does look awesome. Do the PS sheets need a coating to protect or harden them? Else it seems to me they would be a bit fragile.

LOOKIN' GOOD! The streets have a proper Mordheim feel to them. GREAT WORK!    
Contributing photos of your work make the Forum a Fellowship.   

I basecoat the sheets with simple black acrylic paint. It's still soft, but if you handle it with proper care, ie. not throw your miniatures on it, I can't see it getting damaged quickly.

We are probably going to use these sheets for the first floor of our houses as well, and in that case it may indeed be too fragile, but I am probably going to use something like plasticard or something for the inner walls so that it becomes somewhat stronger.

My friend has already started working on his house. Hopefully we can show some pics soon of more pieces and everything completely finished. I am heading to our club tonight, and I will bring with me some scenery pieces to place on this, so hopefully in the coming weeks I will have some buildings done.

Though I really want to finish some of my Dropzone Commander stuff too... Oh well, you can only do one thing at a time, right?

That does look good, nice stonework!

Thank you theomar. This wouldn't have happened without your inspirational log.

The stonework is going to look even nicer. Unfortunately this polystyrene is not as hard pressed as I'd like, so it bends back a little. I found out that by applying the tin foil trick before carving the stonework, I achieve a much rougher and realistic look. So...

Top Tip: Use a tin foil ball or rough rock BEFORE carving in the stonework for a much rougher look.

Phase 1 is creating the roads and providing bases for buildings we already own. Unfortunately, some of the buildings we own are "intact", but on the other hand, I can imagine some buildings would still stand, so I am not too bothered. If anything, they provide a very good example off of which we can base our ruins, as they are wonderful looking buildings.


Bertha Bestraufrung is about to smash a Warlock's face into the ground. Do expect blood spatters on the bases.


A basement entrance. And with that a top tip I just thought of...

Top tip: Start small. Start within the boundaries of what you can achieve right now. Once you have gotten a good grasp of the materials and have created some simple but cute details, you can start thinking about taking it up a notch.

I would agree that there should be some buildings that have more or less survived the Comet. This one looks SPLENDID...the basement entrance is a nice idea. Keep up the GOOD WORK!   

Daniel wrote:

Take time planning your street tiles. Especially in medieval times, stones had various sizes and they wouldn't always match up properly, so the tiling would be somewhat irregular in places. Create some "oh crud, it doesn't fit properly" places where the tiles would suddenly be differently sized.

Hmmm. I'm able to get things to not line up without planning.   

Looks great    

I'd definitely leave intact buildings intact. Someday you might want to adventure in cities that haven't been hit by comets.

Not sure what's up with the little pen/enclosed area behind the building, but at present I am not a fan of the pen.

Very nice, want see more    

That looks just great. Could you tell me name the place you bought the polystyrene tiles from? I went to the Gamma store but they didn't have it.

Von Kurst wrote:

Not sure what's up with the little pen/enclosed area behind the building, but at present I am not a fan of the pen.

You know what, I am not a huge fan either, but I needed something to break up the grey on the street level, and this seemed like a good idea. Obviously it's going to look different when painted.

My reasoning is, this house is one of a rich merchant, and ground is not cheap in Mordheim, so all he has is some room at the back of his house so that he doesn't need the cellar entrance to be inside his house.

Crap, did I just set myself up for a huge cellar scenario?

I'm a big fan of cellar scenarios, but the pendant in me is confused. Ground is at a premium so the merchant takes up MORE of it to add a cellar entrance?   

The choice of that style of wooden fence doesn't say rich merchant's house to me. My experience with the wealthy says they favor high fences and tend to like stone or iron.

A separate food preparation area was common in medieval times to reduce the chance of fire, or an out-door privy. The rich are also fond of gardens...

Also since the house is intact, perhaps the ruined area could be the back yard...

Ugh... I typed something up and it got deleted...

Anyways, thank you for your feedback and criticism. It is much appreciated. I want my stuff to look as cool as possible but also make sense, and my knowledge of medieval times or sense of logic is not that great, so I really appreciate your feedback.

I did find out the stuff is also perfect for making walls, so I may reconsider the fences. At least I got some practice in on fences, I am sure that will come in handy somewhere.

So, while we are at it, how would I "furnish" tiles with the following on it?
- Small Inn
- Blacksmith Forge
- Guard Tower
Your thoughts (all of you) will be much appreciated.

And once I am done with those... What next? Any ideas? My tiles are 20cm by 20cm and for the time being I don't want to go for multi-tile buildings, not until I get some small pieces done (start small, right?), but I would love some suggestions on what to do next. I am on a builder's high so in between maniacally painting up yet another two warbands (Beastmen and Marienburg, though the second is almost finished) I am keeping my building mojo strong.

Thanks!

Looks fantastic lined up with the house, look forward for more!

Great idea, your flagstones look really good. I had been toying with an idea of a gaming board to place on top of out gaming table, which unfortunately is only 90cm (3 ft) wide. I bought two 120x120 veneer boards, some acoustic panels (which are actually 4mm thick grey foamcore without cardboard on one side) and I am going to follow your footsteps at least in spirit.

In my opinion, modular boards are nice, but houses and ruins without bases make it easier to change the theme and layout of the gaming board so much easier.