I like to use terrain and miniatures when gaming. Although I lack the talent to paint my own miniatures (I rely upon pre-painted figures), I do like to build terrain. Below you will find pictures and descriptions of some of the projects, tips and techniques presented in the pages of Iridia.

Projects

Village; Iridia 42
My wife and I got lost while driving and ended up in the nearby city of Gardenia. We despaired at ever making our way back to civilization until we found Marukai (marukai.com), which is the equivalent of a Japanese 99¢ store. Hooray for a nifty shopping experience to take our minds off of the unfamiliar surroundings!  Whenever I go into stores I’m always on the hunt for anything that can be used for gaming. While sifting through a bargain bin full of knick knacks used to make a wee zen garden, I hit pay dirt. I managed to find a bunch of thatched roof huts and a well that would make an awesome halfling village. Best of all, each piece was only $1.50. For just six dollars I now have a nifty battleground!

Lava Field; Iridia 39
While at work one day, I was inspired to build a lava field. I created this terrain with three sheets of color butcher paper, scissors and Elmer's spray adhesive. To make the terrain more useful for D&D 3.5, I perforated the paper in 1" squares. I think it's a nifty piece of easy-to-make terrain, although some might prefer creating a 3D effect with the use of foam core. You can read about the techniques I used in Iridia 39.

House; Iridia 10
I built a command house for a ruined village. I experimented with a few construction techniques that I shared in Iridia 8. I think I finally mastered a method that works for me and I shared it in Iridia 10. If you download the issue, you'll even see an interior map. The home is very easy to build, requiring only foam board, balsa, paint and cardboard. It's not the most detailed model, but it's quick and easy to build. In the future I am going to experiment with a glue and spackle mixture to simulate plaster walls.

Low Walls; Iridia 10
I wanted to build some low-cost walls that still looked great. They needed to have plenty of detail, so that it looked like each section was comprised of individual stones. The walls also had to have a rough texture and be painted in such a way as to give the appearance of stone. A trip to the art supply store yielded some paint, balsa, wood glue and craft sand that were put to good use. Although the walls are a little time consuming to build, they do not cost a lot of money. I am shocked at how expensive pre-painted, resin cast walls are. You can read about my modeling technique in Iridia 10.

Rocks; Iridia 3
Rocky outcroppings make great places for battles. There is plenty of cover, the rocks can disrupt charges, line of sight is diminished, etc. Rocky areas also favor mobility and provide special advantages to those capable of flight. Combined with a sheet of green felt, rocks are also an easy way to create decent-looking battle area. In Iridia 3 I detailed a simple method for carving rocks out of styrofoam. They are simple to paint, too. You only need three colors of Citadel paints!

Ruined Cottage; Iridia 2
I wanted to re-create a ruined village that I used in a D&D 3,5 campaign called "The Winter War." It was a damn fine game that pitted an army of undead against an order of holy knights. The terrain featured lots of ruined cottages. I figured out a technique that works great for creating quick, easy ruins. I detailed my modeling technique in Iridia 2.