McPherson ridge project (part 4: The Flock)

 where was I?  Oh yeah, singing the best song EVER..

"The ACW
known as the BEST CW,
go on and tell your crew.
That the ACW
is the best CW
for all your friends and you." 

Also, I was making terrain.  Part Three can be seen HERES

McPherson's Ridge Continued (part 4)

Though the pics won't really show it, there was some time and effort to get this part done.  I LOVE time and effort.  You don't need talent or skill as long as you got time and effort.  Yesiree as long as you got the time and put in the effort then everything is possible....

Though I've been low on time, so it's mostly been effort.  The children are in full summer mode now which means instead of going to bed at a reasonable hour because they have school early in the morning; now they stay up late every night because they can sleep in cutting into MY precious hobby time that only happens when everyone goes to bed.  I still gotta get up and go to work.  So it's been late nights for me, with Effort and Caffeine.  

Simple Painting

As we left off; the soon-to-be-hills have been sanded smooth and covered in ground texture.  Next step was simple and just painting them brown.  

Tadaa!
Brown. 

I decided that since the whole surfaces were going to be covered in flock that I really didn't need to dry brush the tops.  

I did give the sides of the railway cut a dry brush of grey.
To give it that 'cut through the earth' look.
Looks alright.  Not great, but alright.

Next step: Time to rock out with your flock out.

Flock It

There's not much to say about flocking, as I think most people know how to do it.  There are a ton of online videos about flocking.  How to get good at flocking, how to get a good flock, sometimes you watch flocking videos so you can flock yourself at home.  There are magazines and books on flocking with lots of close up pictures.  Yes, these are double entendres.  I know what I am doing.  

But just in case your a flocking virgin, here is a basic outline of the process:  

My flocking bucket.

First you create a Master Mix of the materials that will make up the base color.  And then there is the important step of writing that down somewhere.  I like a little mix of static grass and flock.    I shall record my master mix  now for all posterity (and to help me remember for later in life):

2 parts Summer green lawn, 1 part dark green lawn, 1part 2mm bright green static grass.  

Second: Cover the hill with watered down PVS / White glue.

Third: Put your master mix into the glue: 

You can buy a tool to do it,
But I like to shift the flock through my fingers over the glue,
and feel the fibers fall away while I think of moments of time from my youth
now long gone.

Where was I?  Oh, wasted youth.  I mean flocking! 

That's basically it.  Let dry and shake off the excess somewhere you can make a mess.  It's really easy. Relax.  Some men have trouble getting started in flocking because they have a lot of anxiety about the flocking being good.   

Repeat this process many nights in a row.  

All the elevations flocked.
Standing together by the fire place like a family picture on a Christmas card.  
I added a yard stick (36" long) to get a sense of scale.

Moment of Truth

I made my wargame mat YEARS ago and didn't write down what flock mix I used.  So I was anxious to get my newly flocked hills on it and see how well they all matched up.  I don't need exact, but hoped for not a startling difference in shades like super strong tan lines.  

Some parents have their children clean up their toys to teach them about personal responsibility and cleanliness.  I made my kids clean up their toys just so I could roll out my game mat and take these pictures late at night.  I am Father of the Month.

Pretty good actually.

yes I see that smear on the bottom left hill.
That's where I dropped a tub of dark flock on wet glue and forgot about it till now.
I'll fix that later. or just cover it up with a field or something.

Dare we do one more picture? as bare hills are super exciting.

It won't stay bare: there will be a river and houses and fields and fences all over it.

I think this was the hardest part, as the elevations are the biggest features and the foundation for the rest of the terrain.  Overall I think they came out fairly well.  

A Date to the Ball

I decided to attend Pacificon in September over the Labor Day weekend.  It's in the Bay Area (about 2.5 hours away) so I would travel and stay the night in a hotel for the weekend.  Something I haven't done in years and years being cheap and a homebody.  But this battlefield build is shaping up well and could be fun to bring.  

That gives me a deadline of September to finish it the battlefield.  Which should provide motivation to keep at it.  Ideally, I would like to finish it all this month of July and be able to play a game on it next month at the comfort of my own home before taking it out on the road.  

The plan also nicely coincides with the SCENARY CHALLENGE being sponsored by Dave Stone at the Wargames Terrain Workshop.  

Wasn't it?

That was a fun bit about flocking hills wasn't it?  Yes it was.  But no need to over do it.  The whole thing is not that impressive..... YET.

Thanks for reading.

Double Thanks for writing a comment.

Till Next time.

McPherson's ridge Project (part 3; the sanding)

 

"The ACW,
is the best CW, 
I'm not tryin' to wound!
But the ACW, 
is MY CW, 
and makes me sing in tune!"

(Part two can be seen HERE.  This is part three.  Part 4 can be seen HERE

McPherson's Ridge Project Part 3

What? another update so soon? That's because I have been CRUSHING IT lately on the hobby front.  Crushing hard like a high school kid on an attractive English teacher.  

I've overcome a major hurdle, in that I've finished sanding all the hills.

Here is an exciting picture.

This was a major hurdle because use of the power sander required that it be done during daylight hours (so I could see what I was doing and not bother anyone with the noise) and outside.  /Shudder.  Gah, the outside.  Is it always so bright out here?  Why is it hot?  I'm pretty sure I am surrounded by dangerous animals like ladybugs and butterflies.  And reverse Werewolves.  Surely there is another way? but there isn't. 

Really the main hurdle is that daylight hours are usually booked with family activities and childcare.  Experience has shown that I can ignore the 2 year old, the 5 year old, and the 9 year old for only about 20 mins at a time.  Longer than that ends in someone crying.  Sometimes it's me.

So sanding had to be done by the principle of Specific Periods Of Reduced Activity Dedicated Indirectly Carefully Adding Little-by- Little Yo!   or S.P.O.R.A.D.I.C.A.L.L.Y for short.   

Since I happened to a game table out,
I put the hills out to see again how it was all shaping up.

Cut and sanded hills look more like hills.

Neil would like to know that THIS time I made sure to go over the crest several times to try to make sure that it beveled more smoothly.  time will tell if I was successful. 

It's slightly deceiving; I feel like I got a lot of work done,  but it's hard to show in pictures.  I guess I could of shown me covered in pink dust from the sanding, but then ya'll might just think that I had a bender on cotton candy flavored cocaine.  

No rest for the wicked, no peace for the just.  Wasting no time I've began coating the hills in ground texture.  Brushing on slightly watered down glue and sprinkling on the sand / coffee ground mix.  I tried to use a box lid to catch the sand so not to make a huge mess.  Only slightly successful.

The ground texture step will take some time, and then it'll painting them all brown and such.  

Looking Ahead

As one phase nears completion it's useful to look ahead and plan the next steps, so that it'll be ready go when the time comes.  I don't plan well in real life but in hobby world I am a master strategist.  

Flock Comparisons

I know I don't have enough flock and grass to cover these massive foam hills.  While I had my homemade mat out, I tried to re-find the mix of flock that I used to make the mat by taking little bits and doing color comparisons.  I'm not gonna get an exact match and now I am KICKING myself for not writing down the exact mix that I used.  But I don't want the hills to be severely different in color than the rest of the mat; like I don't want them 3 tones brighter or darker.  My body has some mean tan lines where I go from pale to ghostly white but lets see if we can avoid such stark contrasts on the table.  

Successful Field Experiment:
Original color on the left, painted added on the right.

The battlefield has several wheat fields on it and I've seen some really good fields on the internet made of teddy bear fur.  I've done that before so had some scraps lying around.  In my previous life I just cut the fur to shape and put on the game table; but there are several tutorials on-line of how folks add extra goodness by adding some paint, so I gave it try.  The results above.  WOW.  The differences are spectacular so that will be the go to method.  Now I need more fur.  

Failures
Left to right: Woods base, Orchard base, and railway base

The battlefield will also feature areas of woods, orchards, and I'll need an unfinished railway strip.  I want these areas to be easily defined by having a base / foot print.  I thought I would try using felt with some flock glued on.  I have this old felt gaming mat (from Monday Knight I think) that I haven't touched in years because I've upgraded.  I cut out some sections and did some experiments. 

This was a failure, as the felt is too think and doesn't really drape over contours after the glue and flock is added.  I think the mat is made from extra think felt.  I'll have to try it again with some regular felt or some fabric.   

The extra thickness isn't a problem for the railway strip, as it will sit flat on the table.  I glued on some ground texture and gave it a dark grey base with a white dry brush.  I just don't like the way it looks. The grey looks more lie pavement, or gray stucco, then stones.  I was thinking a grey color because it would make the railroad cut different from a brown road.  But it doesn't look right.  What color is an unfinished railway cut in the 19th century anyway?  All this stuff needs more time and experimentation; like my sexuality in college.  

Bonus Bocage

Did I mention that I was crushing it?  Crushing hard like a preteen on his babysitter. 

I had another game last weekend.   Three Saturdays in a row?!! Unheard of. Crushing.  IT!!

3 in a row? That my online friends, is called a wargaming hat trick.  

Fate collided with luck, and after several years of separation; good blogging buddy Dai (from the Lost, Damned, and Stunted Blog) and I were finally able to get together in the same room to play a game together.  I also had over my good friend Mr. PC.  

It was kinda short notice.  So I decided to play What A Tanker by Too Fat Lardies as it's a simple game and Dai and PC both really like WWII tanks. So do I obviously.  

I have a lot of WWII terrain, if by WWII terrain you mean Bocage.

Game table set up

Suitably claustrophobic
What's around the corner?

this stuff hasn't seen the table in so long that I had trouble finding it all in the garage, I mean miniature storage shed. 

Since we had 3 players, I set the game up that the Germans would be played by 1 person with tanks with higher point values and the Americans would be played by the other 2 players with more but lesser point tanks.  Worked out to be 4 Panthers vs 6 Shermans or M10s (3 per player and they could choose).  Since Dai and Mr. PC both happened to have olive green T shirts on, they took the Americans.

Tanks in the Bocage.

In What a Tanker,
each tank needs a HUD

TFL games are so hit and miss with me.  Some rules are a hit and some are very poor.  All of them need better editing.  But WaT is a fun game.  But big tanks can cause a problem; while the points were even the Panthers absolutely dominated the table.  So much so that 3/4 of the game through we gave the Americans 3 more tanks just to have chance...

We all had a fun night.  And it was great to see Dai in person again.  Good friends can pcik up right where they left off; rolling dice, playing games, and trading back handed compliments.  "You look good for someone your age."  "Dude, we're the SAME age."  

All Good Things Must End

Like my gaming streak, as I can see that the next 3 weekends are already booked with family events.  Like the best day in your life.  Like a vacation.  Like childhood, like this post.

Thanks for reading.

Double thanks for writing a comment.

Till next time.

The McPherson's Ridge Project (part 2: The Cutting)

(Part 1 of the project can be seen HERE)

Oh... the ACW,

is the best CW,

so no old terrain will do.

For the ACW

the best CW,

we'll make hills perfect and new.

McPherson's Ridge Part 2

Or kinda perfect.  Mostly perfect.  Because having some imperfections is a form of enhanced perfection, or so I tell my wife about my personality.  

I've had a good chunk of hobby time of late; so am plowing along with the McPherson's ridge.

The 2 hills from part 1 are covered in ground cover and then painted brown.
The ground cover is a mix of fine ballast and coffee grounds.
The coffee grounds make the hills smell tempting.

Since I'm planning to cover these entirely with flock and grass, I'm not sure the texturing with ballast and coffee grounds is necessary.  I figure it couldn't hurt, and maybe provide some extra durability though this stuff is already pretty durable.  My original idea was to do the first two hills to completion as a proof of concept, so the next step would be to give a dry brush to the top and to flock them.  However it suddenly struck me that I was family free for two nights and therefore had the WHOLE house to myself.  Big open spaces that I could work in and walk around in my underwear.  So while the hills were drying I cut out the rest of the elevations.  Because what else was a I gonna do? paint miniatures?  Blech! Sounds awful.  

The pieces were sketched out on the foam and cut out following "the plan." 

"the plan"

When all was done, I laid them out on the playroom floor,
amazingly clean with the children not being home.

Put down some buildings where the ought to go (McPherson farm, Thompson house, and Lutheran Seminary), and stood back to take a looksee of how it was coming together.  Not too shabby.  

kinda looks like a cactus.
Or someone giving the bird.

It occurs to me that if I did a better job of rounding the top of the slopes then you probably wouldn't have that definition line that can bee seen on the painted hills, where the slope clearly hits the top.  I 'll need to work on that.  

Now hobby time is spent making a big mess
by cutting out the slopes with sharp things.
I can see why people who do this a lot invest in hot knife or wire cutter.
it gets tiring.

I still haven't cut myself though.

Got a few more slops to carve out, and then it will be sanding all the pieces, applying the ground texture and flocking.   So far, the whole project is bigger than I first expected but also going by much faster than I thought.  Kinda like being a parent.

Maybe in a month or so these might be ready for some FUN ACW gaming.

Speaking of Fun ACW Gaming

I had my first ever remote game with the unconquerable Jonathon Freitag, on the unmatched Palouse Wargaming Journal blog.  He's been doing a lot of remote gaming of late, and it always looks like fun, so selfishly I wanted IN on the action.  Especially when he started to set up an ACW (the best CW)  game.  I practically invited myself.  

Being a complete rookie to remote gaming,
I didn't take any pictures.  Not sure I even know how.
JF sent me some he took just so I'd have something
pretty to post.

I wouldn't say that I was skeptical about remote gaming, but I'll admit that I secretly thought that it wouldn't be as fun as in-person gaming.  That remote gaming was something you did when you couldn't get in real gaming.  That remote gaming is to real gaming as pornography is to sex.

And I was wrong, because it was DAMN fun.  It was so much fun that when the game was supposed to end at 9PM, I subtly suggested that we keep playing for awhile longer "because I wasn't going anywhere or had anything needing to do.....maaaaybe do another turn?"  

I played the Union.  Here we are pressing the attack.

There are several things that worked really well; Using hexes / grid makes it easy to move troops and probably cuts down on measuring and sentences like "move that unit to the left, little more.. maybe a little more... To far!  back to the right..."   I even got used to units facing the hex point versus the hex side.... like driving on the wrong side of the road.  The rules were simple and effective and I was able to pick them up pretty well.  But of course Jonathan did all the work and just told me what to roll.  I didn't even print out the QRS he sent me, what a rookie!

The biggest attraction to remote gaming is being able to have a game with other bloggers.  Many of us have been following and commenting on each others blogs for YEARS now, and I've often suspected that many of you would be fun to play games with.  I'm sure you've felt the same way about me.  I definitely am.  But it was very nice to put a face and a tone of voice to the name on the screen.  

The only thing that gnawed at me which I didn't become conscious of until about 3 quarters of the way through; was that Jonathon couldn't see my dice rolls.  I would just tell him how many successes I had.  I couldn't see his dice either (he would roll them on the table on camera but I couldn't read them).   I said something like "I feel weird that you can't see my die rolls."  He said "Why, are you tempted to fudge the numbers?"  "No," I said, "because I am a grown up and that would be stupid and what's the point?" 

We laughed.  But it's the only thing that I can think of now, that was in anyway, substantially different than playing games face to face.  I really don't think that dishonesty runs high in miniature wargamers, but there are horror stories.  It's not that I wanted to verify what Jonathan was rolling, but more like I missed the ability for him to verify what I was rolling. Especially when I was rolling HOT.   And I roll Hot a LOT.  

And in any game there are those moments when both players are paying close attention to the dice, and that aspect was kinda missing.  (Like your leader dies on a 4+, and we both watch the roll).  

Though I'm probably over thinking it; I'm making it sound like a bigger issue than it actually is.  Through work I spend a lot of time with lairs and manipulators, rapists and murders, so I think my mind has gone slightly twisted.  

I mean; cheat in games with your children so that they win once in awhile?  Sure.

cheat on your diet? once in  awhile.

cheat on taxes?  all the time.

cheat on your spouse? depends.

cheat in a miniature wargame?  NEVER.

I enjoyed my first remote game ever and that's largely thanks to Jonathan.  Game was fun and the company good.  Makes me want to play with more bloggers.  

Thanks for reading.

Double thanks for writing a comment.

Till Next Time.

(EDIT: Part 3 can be seen HERE

Last in Space

 

It's Memorial Day weekend and that means all the cool gamers in CA. head off to Kublacon; the largest, most diverse, most fun convention on the west coast.

I am not a cool gamer, and I didn't go.  Again.  Life is lame.  Now it's been several years and I am out of the loop.

Instead, I had over some other non-cool gamers for one last super big, GIANT, but actually medium sized space battle; before I pack away all these starships and give space a rest for awhile.  I managed to entice my good space buddy Mr. DJ (from the Lasgunpacker blog), Mr. PC, and Mr. AM.  As a bonus everyone had played this game before within living memory.  So it wasn't so much teaching the rules as it was recovering lost memories...

Pew Pew!
Zip Zip!
And other Spaceship noises.
(except there is no sound in space,  I KNOW!)

I Shouldn't Host at My House Anymore

Because it's embarrassing.  My family had multiple meltdowns the morning of the game while they were getting ready to get out of the house (I never tell my family they have to leave.  And I don't mind if the kids see me play miniature games or want to come hang out and whatever, but on this occasion my wife decided to take them to her parents house in the bay area kinda at the last minute) so while my friends are pulling up and getting out of their cars; We are all in the driveway yelling at each other.  I'm yelling at my daughter for being spaz and over reacting and just get in the damn car already, my wife is yelling at me to stop yelling  in front of the neighbors, and etc..  

So friends get of their car, wave hello, realize we're having a big fight, and then stand there awkwardly for it to finish.  

Family finally drives away and then they have to stand around some more while I finished setting up the game because I was too busy yelling.  And now I am grouchy.  Grouchy on Game day no less.

Sometimes families are hard.  Sometimes more than sometimes, it seems.

BUT!  I recovered quickly, the game sets up fast (a hex mat, a few asteroids, oh look done!)  and we're off zooming in space.  

 

The scenario was a simple shoot the other side's ships till they die and the bodies of the crew are blown out to the vacuum of space.  That's right;  I said blown out to space, not sucked out.  That's correct, look it up.

Players were able to choose their fleets using a pool of victory points.  Each Federation player would have 16 points, and each Klingon player would have 14 and be able to cloak two ships at once.  

For the Federation: I chose a Galaxy class (8), an Akira Class (4), an Excelsior class (2), and a Defiant Class (2).  Mr DJ chose a Sovereign class (10) and 3 Excelsior class (2 each). 

For the Klingons: Mr. AM chose 3 Vorcha class (4 each) and 2 Kvort (1 each, but not worth any points if it's destroyed because it's so small).  Mr PC chose 2 Vorcha Torpedo Module class (4 each), a Vorcha class (4), and a Makesh class (2).  

I know that many of you while reading that your brain went "blah blah blah - spaceships."  Don't worry about it.  My brain does the same thing on posts about Napoleonics: I read dragoons, cuirassiers, carabiniers, lancers, or chasseurs and my brain says  "blah blah blah - cavalry."  then I look at the pretty pictures.  

(you can look at this previous post HERE if inclined to read about ship classes).  

Here are some pretty pictures.

Players could deploy half their fleet at the start of the game and the other half were off table.  During the end phase of each turn each off table ship rolls a die and keeps a running total.  When it hits 7 or greater the ship arrives, "it warps in" and is placed on the table and is available next turn.

Which means that a ship MIGHT arrive at the end of turn 2, would most probably arrive at the end of turn 3, VEEY LIKELY to arrive at the end of turn 4, and anything beyond that is just your bad luck stop rolling 1s and 2s already.

Victory was set at half the total points for the entire enemy fleet (so the Federation had to destroy 14 points of Klingon ships, while the Klingons had to destroy 16 points of Federation ships).  Ships that flew off the table or into an asteroid count as destroyed.  Ships that used their warp drives to escape would count as half victory points.  

We all had a good time.  The Starmada Unity rules with my small tweaks seem to be working great, and are a lot of fun.  Plus, when the game ended I was family free for the evening.

I Should Host at My House all the Time

because people bring gifts.  When the game was over and we were all kibitzing about Star Trek This and Star Trek That, whether the old style ships of TOS are better than the TNG ships, attractive alien women, and why haven't I done the Romulans yet?  Good space buddy Mr DJ presented me with a gift of a DS9 style starbase that he 3D printed...

HOLE-LEE Crap.
That is Awesome.

Size reference shot.
The Defiant class ship in the pic is about an inch long.
Huge bonus points for it being in the same scale as my ships are.

I was bound to get one of these, eventually, one day.  That day has come a lot sooner thanks to Mr. DJ's generosity.   

Thanks again Mr. DJ.

Also, my long time buddy Mr. PC brought over a tub of Star Wars X-Wing (1st edition) stuff and told me to take it because he hasn't looked at it in years and years.  "there's more somewhere in storage too."

Course, I haven't touched my X-wing stuff in years and years (and years) either.  But these are small details best forgotten.

Thanks again Mr. PC.  

So all this wonderful stuff just for having people over
to play a game I WANTED to play and the cost
of two frozen gluten free pizzas.

Miniature wargamers are the best people and this is the best hobby.

And to think that when I go over to someone else's house to play a game; I don't bring bupkis and I steal the toilet paper out of the bathroom.

Thanks for reading.

Double Thanks for writing a comment.

Till next time.

The McPherson's Ridge Project (part 1: The Plan)

 Sing it! 

OOOOOHHHH

The ACW

is the best CW,

All you other CWs are through!

Because the ACW

is the best CW

with armies of Grey and Blue!

The ACW

is the best CW,

come on, you know it's true!

that the ACW

beats your CW,

the ECW, SCW, just to name a few!

oooo-OOOOHHHH

The ACW

is the BEST CW

All the rest to the back of the Queue!

Time for ACW

(the best CW)

ACW time with Stew. 

That's me. 

--that's an original composition and I am insanely proud of it.  Though I admit that it looses something without the accompanying musical score; mostly kazoos and cymbals.   

Time for some ACW

terrain.  Because I am SO tired of painting miniatures.  In the last year and a half or so I've probably painted over 200 miniatures.  GAH! it's soooo many.  It's exhausting. How can anybody paint so many  miniatures all the time..... 

HEY!  I can feel you smirking through the internet.  You, Jonathon.  Mark S.  Probably Keith.  Probably Iain.  Definitely Norm but he's too much of a gentleman.  Lawrence H, you too.  Matt C.  Carlo.  Dave S.  maybe Neil.   Point is... that's a lot of smirking.  

 200-ish is a lot for some of us mortals.  Especially because painting miniatures is a tedious business and If I had more money I'd be paying one of you to paint them for me.  

Maybe I should of done model trains as a hobby?

maybe I should get a box of those speed paints?  

maybe I should get over myself.

The Hills That I Always Wanted.

Besides, I have plent-tee of miniatures for the ACW (the best CW), so what I really want are some gorgeous battlefields.  Previously in my ACW (the best CW) games to make elevations / hills I placed materials underneath the mat.  It worked, but it was sometimes hard to represent features that I wanted, and my favorite gaming mats are the canvas, caulk, and flock creations that I did YEARS ago and they tend to to do large hills really well but smaller or rolling hills tend not to show through.  IN those cases I've used my fleece mats from Cigar Box miniatures which are really nice and the job gets done and the game get's played.  

Because of the under the mat technique I've never really made hills.  I'm so bored of painting miniatures that it seems like a good time to do something really exciting and expand my terrain collection and skill set and make some cool hills.  

I have lots of ACW (the best CW) scenario books and lots of the scenarios have specific elevations that represent key features on the battlefield.  One scenario that I've always wanted to have in my arsenal is the fighting outside Gettysburg on McPherson's Ridge.  One unique feature of this battlefield is that there is an unfinished railroad cut that literally goes right through several hills; which I always thought would be hard to feature with my previous methods.  The fighting on Day 1 of Gettysburg is so fascinating, and I love it all so much. that these are the hills that I always wanted, so a good place to start. 

And I love me the rules Regimental Fire and Fury (they're my favorite rules out of all my rules, just like YOU are my favorite blog reader out of all the others) aaaaaaannnnnddddd there just happens to be a RFF scenario book that just happens to have a McPherson Ridge scenario with a really great map and now you know where this is all headed.  To McPherson's Ridge! 

Actually it's a two-fer!  Because the same ground is fought over in the morning and in the afternoon; two scenarios for the price of one.  

Instead of making some generic hills, I'm gonna make the rollin hills of Gettysburg.  

Specifically I'll try to match the terrain as laid out in the RFF scenario book.   

Morning Scenario 

Afternoon scenario
Images of the scenarios from the 
Regimental Fire and Fury Scenarios Vol 2
are shown with permission from Mr. Hasenauer.
I emailed and asked, he said Yes.
He is a nice man.

The full scenario is a 5x7, which fits well in my standard 6x8 set up.  The map is really nice but doesn't provide exact measurements, and I'm gonna make some small changes just to make it a little easier. 

I can omit the dip in elevation around the stream and I don't trust my geometry skills enough to try some of those angles, especially of the angle unfinished railroad cut.  

I took pen to graph paper with each square representing 2 inches to simplify the map just a little bit, straighten some things out, and came up with this master blueprint:

I added some color pencils just to make it pretty for the internet.

I think overall it comes close enough to the actual scenario map while offering a more precise guide going forward.  I made the railroad cut parallel to the pike and slightly changed the orientation to make it easier to measure.  Why are roads during the ACW (the best CW) called Pikes?  Now your just fishing for trouble.  

Where to Begin?

Where it matters least of course.  As this is a new project without much experience for me I'm gonna start with hills the hills at the bottom left and top left from start to finish as a proof of concept.  These hills won't matter much for game play as it's just the CSA starting off point.  Least  that's what I think.

There are many ways to make hills, but the most common way is to carve them from foam and flock them.  Since I'm initially thinking of placing these on top of the mat that's what I'll do.

Starting with 2 squares of the pink home insulation foam from Home Depot
that come in 2 foot by 2 foot by 1 inch thick.

Using my Master Plan; draw out the shape.
The carpet in my hobby room really is kinda ugly.

Cut out the shape and then carve out the slope using a variety of sharp cutting things.
I can do this without cutting myself because I am grown up
and in Boy Scouts I learned to cut away from myself.
(you know who you are)

I tried to get 3" of slope for the 1" of elevation.  

Once the slopes were rough carved I used my palm sander to smooth it all out.
This is already more exciting than painting miniatures because I got to use power tools.
But then again I had to go outside...

There's no point in having a slope if miniatures can't stand on it.
otherwise might as well do terrace hills.

Not bad.  The regiment on the right is supposed to be at that angle.
How many pics have had my socks poking into them?
that's embarrassing.

And that is where the project stands for now.  If anyone has any advice on such matters as Hills and foam please do share. 

This was a Long Winded Post Just to Say You Started Two Hills

Yeah it was! That's very 'on brand' for me. But it was also something of a mission statement.  

More to come. Just gotta go buy a gallon of glue.

EDIT: Part two can be seen HERE

Thanks for Reading

Double Thanks for writing a comment.

Till Next Time.