Building a Chain of Underground Chasms

8/11/2019 Building a Chain of Underground Chasms

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Building a Chain of Underground Chasms

The world is never truly at rest. The constant push and pull of forces below the surfaces of

land masses often cause ruptures in the landscape. These tectonic shifts can be quite a

problem for those who choose to dwell beneath mountains! As the tortured ground buckles

and tears, emergent chasms can turn once-useful, Dwarf-hewn tunnels into etremely

dangerous pitfalls. esides the obvious dangers of tumbling into the yawning abyss, you "ust

never know what#ll crawl out of a newly formed chasm!

$hasms make great barriers that can split the battlefield and give your standard games of

%arhammer or %arhammer &kirmish a fun twist. 'enerals will have to ponder the best way

to navigate and utili(e these natural formations to their advantage. The following pages show

you how to make a series of simple chasms in a modular fashion ) kind of like a big terrain

"igsaw pu((le. This way, each time you use the pieces in a game, you can mi things up and

get the most use from your hard work. &o, gather the materials below *or substitute suitablereplacements for stuff you don#t have+ and get to work!

TOOLS

ong-laded etractable o $utter

/obby 0nife *1-Acto+

2elt-Tipped 3ens

4etal uler

3aint rushes

/ot %ire 2oam $utter

&andpaper or elt &ander

$ircular &aw or 5igsaw

MATERIALS

67-mm *89+ 3olystyrene :nsulation 2oam

4D2 /ardboard

$oarse and 2ine &and

%ood 'lue

iquid ;ails Adhesive

arge 3ebbles

Thin alsa %ood &trips

Aves Apoie &culpt or 4odeling $lay

Since this project is modular in nature, a bit of planning is necessary. Sketch out

on paper how you want your chasms to meander across your gaming table.

Above are some of the quick sketches used to guide this project. Next, gure out

realistic measurements for the boundaries of each of the individual chasm

sections. !hink in terms of basic boxes and rectangles. !ry and keep the whole

modular thing in mind when you plan, so that a few pieces could be useful in

more than one layout.


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"nce you have all the measurements set, trace them onto the hardboard and

start cutting #as always, be careful$. %e sure to make the cuts as straight and

smooth as possible where pieces will line up with one another. After you&ve made

your initial cuts, line up your pieces and trace the outer shape of each chasmpiece onto the hardboard. !o keep things modular, the ends of each base need to

match up with each of your others. !he examples above show how two di'erent

pieces can match up with each other. "ne is a straight extension of the chasm,

while the other is an (end cap( piece.


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shape of the side of each base. 4ove slowly and do not force the saw or you might break the

blade or make a ragged edge that requires ecessive sanding.

%ith all your bases cut from the hardboard, it#s time to bevel the edges a bit. =sing either a

belt sander or handheld sander, start sanding along the curved edges. evel in about >?89

around the curvy edges, but make sure you don#t bevel the straight sides so the varioussections will sit flush against each other. ;ow it#s time to make the actual chasms.


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)ut out an appropriate rectangle of *(+thick insulation foam to form one side of a

chasm #the length and width should correspond to the hardboard base$.

emember, these rectangles only need to cover half of the base lengthwise.

-ay out the foam rectangle over the hardboard base and trim it down to match

the base&s dimensions. %e careful not to cut o' too much foam, though.


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ith a felt+tipped marker, draw out the chasm boundaries on the foam. /or the

rst terrain piece you make, you don&t have to worry too much about how you

draw these lines. 0owever, for each subsequent piece, you have to be aware of

how each foam piece ends so the modular terrain concept will work. 0owever,

don&t worry about that just yet 1 we&ll get to that problem later on this page.

/ire up the 0ot ire )utter and slowly trace the path of the line you&ve drawn. 2ig

your hand a bit as you go to make the cut more textured. 3t&s very important todo all your foam cutting work outdoors or out in the garage due to the noxious


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fumes this activity produces. After all, you can&t make terrain if you&re

unconscious4 Seriously, be careful with this step.

5o back over your previous cut, but this time at a steeper angle relative to therectangle. 6ake deep cuts and grooves to get the most craggy appearance you

can. 7o these cuts a few times until you are satised with the chasm edge

you&ve created.


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;ow it#s time to give the back edge of the chasm wall a slope to make it look more natural.

%ith a retractable blade, cut down the back corner of the rectangle so it angles down to

almost meet the beveled edge of the hardboard base. &mooth this slope with a quick run overof the hand sander or fine-grain sandpaper. This step does not have to be perfect as we will be

filling in this gap between foam and board soon enough.


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Spread -iquid Nails onto your nished chasm half and rmly seat it on your base.

-eave about 89*( of the base exposed behind the chasm half for miniature

placement. 3t&s not a bad idea to place some weights evenly on top of the foam

until the glue dries. 3n the meantime, you can begin to make other foam chasm

halves, though you have to plan them out after this step.

%efore making another chasm half, line up the cut foam section with an uncutrectangle and mark where the foam ends on the cut piece. :ou&ll need to make


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two marks; one where the top foam surface ends, and another where the bottom

edge meets the base. 3n the example above, we used solid and dotted lines to

distinguish between the two marks. 7o your best to be accurate here, but know

that it doesn&t have to perfectly precise since a chasm is an irregular surface

anyway.

ith your new end points mapped out, cut up another chasm edge, then

another, and another, and another until you have all your chasms laid out and

glued down. :ou should now have a collection of modular pieces that, for the

most part, match up with one another.


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Now it&s time to ll that annoying gap behind each chasm wall. 6ix up some

epoxy putty #Aves Studio&s Apoxie Sculpt works well$ or modeling clay and

spread it over the foam and base. ork the material into place so that the gap

becomes more a gradual incline up towards the chasm&s edge. 3t&s okay to leave

nger prints and depressions behind< in fact, it&s encouraged. !he more natural

and organic the surface, the better.

2ab some larger pebbles into the gap ller while it is still wet. !hese stones will

reinforce the whole (rocky( feel you&re after. 3t&s almost certain that when the

chasm rst ruptured, large rocks and debris were dislodged and pushed to the

surface.

ith plenty of pebbles implanted within the gap ller, put the chasm aside to dry.

ork on your other pieces while you wait. After you have nished with all of

them and they&re dry, dig up your wood glue and sand.


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!ime to nish this sucker and get it ready for painting. =sing an old brush, spread

wood glue across a chasm edge while being careful to avoid the larger pebbles.

%efore the glue dries, sprinkle coarse sand9gravel over areas near the large

pebbles...

...followed by a coat of ne sand over the rest of the exposed glue. epeat.


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At this point you should have something that resembles the piece above. Set the

newly nished chasm aside until the glue dries completely.


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ith the chasms made, it might be a good idea to build a few pathways for

models to cross them4 !he simplest route is to grab some thin balsa wood and

carve them into several ramshackle planks. !hese boards paint up easy and look

great. Alternately, consider making an ornate bridge or fallen column to span the

gap 1 it&s really up to you.

!here is one thing to remember when you paint your chasms. >aint over any

exposed foam areas by hand before you break out the )haos %lack Spray >rimer.

Spray paints will eat through the insulation foam. "ther than that, the rest of thepainting is up to you. >aint it to match your gaming table, or use whatever


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colours that strike you as appropriate for a giant rent in the earth. hen the

paint dries, you&ll have a nice network of interchangeable chasms that you can

over which you can battle or plummet to your doom4

Building a Chain of Underground Chasms

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