Spending my time reading more while the model kits and paints remain locked away in our soon to be finished renovated home. Frustrating but lucky I have a decent supply of interesting books to fuel my hobby urges.

This one is all about scratch building terrain for your wargames table. Making terrain is one of my favourite parts of the hobby and I am always keen to read about how other people do it. What techniques they use, how they decide on what to build, and what materials they turn to. It is a very satisfying feeling to produce your own terrain and really not as difficult as some people may think. Using household items and readily available products you can achieve some really good results with some patience. Of course everything always boils down to how much time do you have? Buying houses is a much quicker option, but home made results I think are usually better.

Tony Harwood, in his book, goes through five or six of his terrain projects in detail and shows us clearly how he achieved his excellent results. This book is aimed at the Napoleonic period, but do not be put off if you are interested in World War Two (me) or the ancient world or anything else. It has relevance to anyone who wants to learn more about building terrain in any period in any scale. Tony starts with a sketch of the piece he wants to build, usually inspired by a photo or something he has seen in a book. Then a framework of cardboard, foam board or foam is built up to create the basic shapes. For extra strength he covers structures in paper and PVA glue. One thing he does not seem to do is leave window openings or removable roofs. Both for realism and playability I do like to leave windows as proper openings into the building and have removable roofs if possible to allow troops to be placed inside.

The go to material for Tony is DAS clay which he uses liberally in every project. This fast drying clay is brilliant for creating terrain as it can be moulded into anything and can be cut and carved. Once you have covered your structure in clay you can carve texture like bricks or stonework into it and make some very realistic effects. What I liked about Tony’s projects is he is happy to change his idea during the process and add and subtract bits and pieces to improve his design. Roofing is dealt with either store bought pantiles or cardboard roof tiles, both inexpensive or free solutions. There is an abundant use of bits of foam, balsa wood, plasticard, paper, card and even skewers. All stuff you can get hold of very easily.

I really enjoyed this book. Its a nice quick read with very clear and concise instructions. Tony’s techniques can be applied to any terrain structure you can come up with in any period you are keen on, so do not be put off if Napoleon is not your cup of tea. I love making terrain and this just adds fuel to my itchy fingers!