Hills from Cardboard

[Techpriest]

I have tried all sorts of ways to make gaming hills over the years. My current method is very cheap and produces decent looking hills that are light weight but sturdy. The process is not overly messy, I can make them in the living room while watching TV with the wife, not an option when I tried pink insulation.

I use standard brown cardboard which can be easily gotten for free. I draw the shape I want the top of the hill to be then cut it out. Place that level on a new piece of cardboard and trace it, then cut it out. Repeat until you have enough pieces to make a 1" tall hill. Always use the piece you just cut out to draw the next layer, as you trace each level it will naturally be slightly larger. This will give the hills slightly sloped sides. I like to number the layers as I go so that I don't have to waste figuring out what goes where later.

Use white glue between each layer of cardboard to hold the hill together. On the top use a glue stick and a piece of green construction paper to top it off. You can use white glue as well but it tends to show through the paper.

To make taller hills stack smaller ones on bigger ones. I like to have three hills 1" tall each I can stack or reorganize than a single 3" hill.

Cardboard Hill

by techpriest_ks, on Flickr

[sharkbait]

That's a pretty cool and cheap idea! I've done something similar with cork tiles. I'll try to dig up the source I stole the idea from.

[Dagger]

Apr 27, 2015 20:55:54 GMT -5 Techpriest said:

I have tried all sorts of ways to make gaming hills over the years. My current method is very cheap and produces decent looking hills that are light weight but sturdy. The process is not overly messy, I can make them in the living room while watching TV with the wife, not an option when I tried pink insulation.

I use standard brown cardboard which can be easily gotten for free. I draw the shape I want the top of the hill to be then cut it out. Place that level on a new piece of cardboard and trace it, then cut it out. Repeat until you have enough pieces to make a 1" tall hill. Always use the piece you just cut out to draw the next layer, as you trace each level it will naturally be slightly larger. This will give the hills slightly sloped sides. I like to number the layers as I go so that I don't have to waste figuring out what goes where later.

Use white glue between each layer of cardboard to hold the hill together. On the top use a glue stick and a piece of green construction paper to top it off. You can use white glue as well but it tends to show through the paper.

To make taller hills stack smaller ones on bigger ones. I like to have three hills 1" tall each I can stack or reorganize than a single 3" hill.

Neat... I like the way the hill looks similar to how hills are represented on a topographic map, it fits right in with the Battletech scale mechs.

[sharkbait]

Okay, I found a couple of the cork tile terrain inspirations:

tinysolitarysoldiers.blogspot.com/2012/10/scratch-built-cork-tile-hills.html

twobrotherstales.blogspot.com/2014/02/running-gauntlet-arr-using-fubar-with.html

[Techpriest]

The cork terrain looks great. If I ever have a regularly used game room that is something I would like to setup.