Hands Up! - The Build part 2 'Getting serious'

I've made scenery with polystyrene, but as you may have discovered they have issues with getting a decent cut and shaping; lots of static small balls and it might melt if you've not protected it and use the wrong paint or glue.

Whilst the games boards made by the club in the past had been made from one or more layers of polystyrene based on chipboard; and have been very successful I didn't think a 100mm (4") height would work as well so I was seeking an alternative and as described in Cautious Beginnings I played with a piece of  the material used to insulate a flat roof in my home. It is Recticel Instafit Polyurethane Insulation board (Kingspan/Celotex).

Luckily the island is very flat plateau and windswept so the only real elevation was the cliffs and the valleys where streams cut through the island's plateau as the period picture shows.

I discovered that at 100 mm the material:.

1)Has two layers of glass fibre sheet reinforcement through it so gloves should be used, the good news is that this also creates two stratum lines in cliffs, issues in other areas can be 'filled', it also makes a fantastic break line for you to create a new  horizontal level area.

2) Is very resistant to vertical pressure but gives easily if you push sideways into it. This allows you to shape the material with your gloved fingers and use your gloved hand to 'sand/polish' the finish.

3) It also gives off an odour that probably shouldn't be breathed in, as well as a fine dust, non static and easily hoovered up, [Warning clogs hoover quickly and probably also lungs so use a mask].

The plan was to use chipboard as a base, and then I would glue kingspan boards on top. (You know what happens to plans!)

Went to the local store and bought the chipboard and had it cut to size, (a must) and now have 5 times 2' x 5' boards. and ordered the Kingspan, 8' x 4' so needed three in order to get 5 lots of 2' x 5' happily these were delivered for a small charge.

Cutting the Kingspan to size was easy using a 'ripsaw' but I suggest you sandwich the Kingspan between two lined up pieces of chipboard, clamped together you will avoid cutting at an angle like I did with my first one. 

I had intended to use some hot wire tools I'd bought to cut Polystyrene to shape it, however they proved ineffective the material won't melt the same way. Thankfully it cuts well with a knife and sculpts quite well too, a little messy but thank god none of those balls, but still statically charged. I used a bread knife as I needed the length of blade, felt this was safer and found the Kingspan had two lines of woven glass fibre inside that a serrated knife could cut through. 

A lot of the work had been done for me by Chris Hall as I used his 'Map' as my template.

With boards and Kingspan cut to size I placed the Kingspan and then laid the 'Map' over the top allowing me to measure the Kingspan, look closely you can see the island already in place.

Having cut the Kingspan to length I peeled the aluminium foil off what would be the base as I felt the PVA glue would adhere the two elements better without it.

Peeling off the top layer of aluminium foil I started carving and modelling the material. Do use a mask!

The red lines show where the fibre glass mesh is and I used it to my advantage, the lower line became the highest point of the beach and street level in the town. I used a model knife to cut a 'V' for the valley and then formed the shape by simply rubbing my gloved fingers like sandpaper over it pushing away the waste. The cliffs were cut with a bread knife the mesh adding an unexpected bonus to the look.

However I couldn't sculpt the beach to my satisfaction and ended up using corrugated card, a layer by the seawall to raise that end and then a full beach piece peeling the back off the last inch to give me a sharper slope.

As you can see the sea is patterned wall paper. I put PVA on my beach and poured sand on. I also reinforced the sea wall with mastic just in case.

Once shaped to my satisfaction I applied PVA glue and sand to all cliff edged and beaches, reapplying when dry, you may need three thin coats, beware of applying too much sand/PVA as the mix will slide down the slope. When ready I started painting with ordinary emulsion paint.

Terrain skeleton complete, time for dressing.

Whilst this was for a 20mm game, the scenery was so flat any scale game could be played on it, although we began to limit ourselves with the placements we inserted, but it had to be done. Nonetheless one set of judges deemed it was a 10mm setup for a 20mm game, they ignored our research and the facts, apparently field lines should be man height hedges not low scrub even if the map and photographs showed otherwise.

Did I care, yes, however the best accolade for all our work came from a Frenchman who saw the game at Crisis in Antwerp, who pointed at the layout and named both island and town, a Result! Merci monsieur, très apprécié !

Moving onwards I used cheap towelling from ASDA (rough ground) and thin corduroy (farmland) from a local sowing shop. Builders caulk was applied to all roads and an old child truck (to scale) run along it whilst still wet to give me the ruts in the muddy roads.

One of my dislikes with pieced terrain boards is the joins I tried to mitigate this having flaps of terrain cloth overlapping the boards. Field cloth would extend beyond the board to the road edge on the next board. if you can't see what I mean in the above I've highlighted it below.

Me OTT? Yup! In the end I followed this idea with the town and fortress, despite hours of getting it just right I removed Kingspan replacing it with a piece of MDF, with wall paper cobbles that the town's building could sit on.

As you see that cover a lot of the joint.

To make packing for transport between shows easy and we went to a few in the UK and Crisis in Belgium. Nothing was glued in place.

To avoid damaging the board by pushing in and removing trees I inserted and glued rawlplugs into the board that allowed me to insert and remove the K&M trees easily.

The two pieces of MDF on the right of the above picture were my templates for building the fort seen in the picture below. I used Railway Scenic card to cover the walls and hide the Kingspan core.

The finished town with port and overlooking fort. It was the guns on this fort that had to be taken by the allies.

Finished Project

Transportation and storage mode.

At Bovington Tank Museum the Allies commence their seaborne assault.

Other articles on Hands Up!

Hands Up! MadGame

The Build Part 1 - Cautious Beginnings

Hands Up! 2010 MAD game

Some time at the beginning of the year (2010) at our regular painting evenings one of the group announced a change of plan to our 'annual game, rather than the ACW scenario we were thinking of playing he informed us that we would be doing a Rapid Fire scenario he had found, we would do it in 20 mm.

I was informed, that we would need my conservatory so we could build the scenery there and it was suggested to Tallyho that he do some research on the subject.

I don't think he was prepared for our response to what he had delegated, our interest was piqued by this little known operation and we soon discovered there was far more to it than as suggested in the original scenario he had discovered. Unfortunately our desire to properly represent the thoughts and planning that had gone into 'Operation Chastity' and 'Operation Hands Up!' resulted in a parting of the ways as our good friend felt we had taken over his project.

As a result I found myself tasked with building a 10' x 5' gaming table. Previous to this I had only done small pieces of 28 mm terrain, Jungle scenery  and Industrial scenery, so I was a little disconcerted.

Tallyho spent a lot of time researching the island 'Belle Isle Sur mer, 'Le Palais 'and the projected landing areas. As a result he had printed off a 10'x6' tabletop map.
The image below is of the first trial practice game, you can see how the map alone began to shape the projected terrain.

After the trial game it became apparent that some changes needed to be made to the map and my argument to reduce it's width from 6' to 5' was accepted as we hadn't used the inland 12" strip, so now as I had hoped it would fit in most hatchbacks. 

When we had first discussed the possibility of the game I had wanted 'the team' to consider some alternatives to the usual polystyrene boards

In part encouraged by Alcal's [of SoGGs] beautiful creations I had also wanted to incorporate some of the textured finishes I'd seen

For example, this from WW2 built for RAF pilots and navigators to recognise what terrain looks like from a great height.

Stunning work and so realistic, look at the shadows for example.

So I had to start thinking about materials not only to finish off the terrain, but also to build the boards.

Doing a little research I came across examples of people using felt, corduroy, towelling and carpet.

Previously we had used chipboard with a layer or two of polystyrene on top, with 'Artex' rendered on that to protect it.

From the site Terragenius

(How many times had I created a depression when gaming as an elbow or fist rested on those boards while measuring or moving a piece?)

Although I wanted something harder I also needed a serious 3D look, I had cliffs to build, I considered both blue Foam and Kingspan.


I decided on Kingspan as it was the cheapest.

I discovered

1) It has two layers of glass fibre sheet reinforcement through it so gloves should be used, the good news is that this also creates two stratum lines in cliffs, issues in other areas can be 'filled', it also makes a fantastic break line for you to create a new level area.

2) it is very resistant to vertical pressure but gives easily if you push sideways into it. This allows you to shape the material with your gloved fingers and use your gloved hand to 'sand/polish' the finish.

3) It also gives off an odour that probably shouldn't be breathed in, as well as a fine dust, non static and easily hoovered up, [warning clogs hoover quickly and probably also lungs so use a mask].

The following pictures show the sculpted board before I added the 'surface' features.

Next stage was to 'paint' this 3D canvass to look like these.

I wanted to ensure that the terrain was level with no attached buildings/projections so that it would be easier to pack/transport.

This would be made easier as the island is essentially a plateau with deep scrub and wood filled valleys.

I achieved texture by using cheap [ASDA] towelling, felt and corduroy, wall paper was used for cobbled streets and sea waves, oh and sand for the beach 😁 .

Some part finished and finished views, sorry about the 'yellow' picture, poor lighting.

 White areas still need painting or application of printed card, the fort still needs to be built.

Close up of the 'dock/port', town & fort bases are removable mdf inserts that hide the joins.

Finished lots more trees need to be pushed into place.

Thanks for reading this.


Credit to various suppliers for the buildings although Russ (aka Rusty Bullet) built the windmill and a number of other items whilst I built the Napoleonic fort. 

Other blogs on the same subject.

The build in detail:
Cautious Beginnings

Getting Serious

Hands Up! - The build (1) Cautious beginings

Hands Up!

If you read the earlier blog you'll know this was a whole new experience for me.
I'd thought of using Kingspan, having rescued a small piece from a local skip (as you do) I set out to test my theories.


Part of the map was a small offshore island, an extension of the peninsular that had become separated by time and tide, this would be my test and if successfully the first part of my terrain.
Using a serrated carving knife to cut to shape and then 'sculpt' the cliffs I was able to quickly throw this together, I then glued a piece of material (cheap white towel) on top, painted it green and then when dry painted PVA to sides and part of the top before pouring fine sand on top (child's sandpit sand). 

Here are some views of the island with turf ready for use, maybe a bit of painting to touch up the turf, with no beach required it's ready to glue in place or just place it on the terrain board.  






Here is the finished island.

It never was stuck onto the board as I feared it would be knocked off in transit. 




Satisfied with the result I braced myself for the main project.

It's been a while but I'm back and WW2 NWE beckons

I've never really done WW2, the plethora  and variety of machines and men, and resultant variations on the tabletop have to a degree put me off. I'm not a great one for looking at charts to see if A has hit and subsequently damaged, destroyed or tickled B. Give me a hit on 4 and destroy on their failed 4 anytime. You can get away with this is ancients, less so in Black Powder BP and onward .

So after a hiatus of some considerable weeks, due to a serious accident which derailed me big time and from which, whilst medically recovered is still creating a different view on what I want to do, messing with my mind I find I now look at the effort I've put in to Post Velamentum and know that I will get back to it, but my interests are changed.

I've been playing a lot of Blitzkrieg Commander recently too. (V2) and version IV is out this April, it is less worried about the version of the Panzer IV that is shooting/being shot at and the variation of the Sherman at the other end of the barrel. There is also a degree of hit on 4 save on 4. So it allows for a broader paint brush of divisional responses as opposed to squad games, which I've discovered is my preferred go to.

My main opponent is determined to fight over the Russian steep, but armies I've acquired are from 1944 NW Europe. This was also the period I first played BKC2 against a group of Madgamers.

As stated I have had for a while a 10mm Late British NW Europe army, I also have a less complete German army to oppose it, gaps in the both armies are being plugged with metal from Pendraken.

Now as you will all realise if you've read anything I've previously written that I do scenery so I'm now looking at what I will need. I have some Normandy houses and church. Just need a few more and the odd barn or two and apparently a hell of a lot of hedges.

I found this article  https://www.dday-overlord.com/en/battle-of-normandy/tactics/hedgerow-warfare


I can see a game here where a force of Brits has to dislodge a much smaller group of Germans. As that fits in with my current models, I'm now off to prepare for making hedges, several meters worth.