Making Isengard – Making the Terrain Modules

Making the Terrain Modules

On these pages watch the progress to see how Isengard is coming together. It is to be constructed for 1/72nd scale (25mm:6ft) miniatures for use with the Lord of the Rings Battlegame by Games Workshop.

It had to be playable for wargaming and able to be transported in 1 car (not 3 cars like Minas Tirith). Thus it had to be made quite robust.

The modules started with an MDF base. To this were added a frame of pine vertical sides. These sides protect the polystyrene foam, especially on the corners.

A slab of polystyrene foam was inserted into the frame, being glued in place with liquid nails. You must be careful to choose a glue that does not dissolve the polystyrene foam.

The foam I had was higher than the vertical sides, so I used a hot wire cutter to trim the foam back and shape the contours on it.

When I was happy with the contours, the foam was given a coating of Agnew’s Water Putty for strength and texture. This is a powder that is mixed 3 parts powder to 1 part water. It is like plaster or fillers such as Polyfilla or Spakfilla but dries in several hours rather than a day and seems just a little tougher.

It is also a pale yellow colour so it is easier to see the texture rather than the alternatives which are white. The actual colour is closer to the picture at left rather than those above. This could be used for desert terrain without too much extra painting if you wish.