Tutorial: Felt terrain and mat

I've earlier had succes with making my own cheap felt mat - with an urban look. See it here.

That earlier mat gave me the idea to make even more felt terrain. Cheap and easy to store.

Here's some various stuff I've made with a few words on how they're done - and insanely hard to capture a good photo off. Easiest to see the details when they're placed on another mat, there's a few shots at the end.

And afternoon of cutting and painting, and you'll have a lot of stuff. Cost nearly nothing. And can be held together with a safety pin (a needle) and put in the closet with a pants hanger.

Before storing these, you can iron them and they are completely flat.

Materials

• Cheap felt - only 20% wool, 80% fleece 
• Cheap spray paint
• Masking tape

Rivers
Bought some light blue felt. Cut it into various lengths and with some bends. Made sure to have at least one in full length (3'), to add a single river to a board.

The the rivers a darker blue with a spray in the center along the river pieces. Then i sprayed the edges with green (still showing the blue felt beneath) and the used a brown spray on the edges, a bit slimmer than the green.

Dirt roads

Wanted some dirt roads as well. These will add to both my fantasy games and when making a forest or farm on a modern board. Cut some brown felt in various lengths (made sure to have a 3' one). Used cheap grey, dark brown, green and black spray cans. Just sprayed here and there on roads. 

Make sure to spray along with the road pieces, giving an effect of the movement direction on the road. 

Lakes

Using a darker blue felt I cut out a few lakes. Using a lighter blue spray, I lightened from the center and towards the edges. I then did like the rivers, using green and brown along the edges. Looking like algae and a dirt bank. 

Asphalt road

Using the same grey felt I used for the city board. I cut out some sections of road, making sure they were the same width at the ends. Again making a 3' piece, that can run the length of the 3'x3' mats.

 Using masking tape I marked out some stripes on the road. Spray the entire thing black. After it dries give a few places another layer of black - it'll make a nice effect.

Remove the masking tape. Using a permanent marker, you can draw some cracks onto the road. 

Grass mat

Wanted a green mat for making forests, farmland, for fantasy games, burrows and bagers, KoW: Vanguard - you name it.
Using a 4'x3' light green felt piece. I've went over it with different browns and green sprays. Making various spot, areas and nuances. Also marked out some small trails on it. 

All together now!

Time for some better photos of the various pieces in use. Took these before giving the a round with the iron - still looks good. The felt will 'stick' to itself, making it easy to place and keep right. 

Success. This is a nice base for Burrows and Badgers games, KoW: Vanguard games and my modern ones. Add a few hedges, fences, houses and objectives.

Also want to build a jungle add some point. This amount of water is perfect for a lot of the scenarios in Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago. We haven't gotten around to it yet, but we will.

I've also made a few smaller squares of green and grey. These can be used to add a park to the city map or a concrete area to the green. Great for making a prison or gas station on a road. Also it can be used to make a smoother transition from city to country. 

Check our blog posts and tutorials for most stuff below on the terrain page

A small army base made with a small grey square on the green mat with an asphalt road added.