Crafting Old Block Walls Scatter Terrain for D&D and Frostgrave

The second in our crafting series aimed at scatter terrain, this time around snowy ruined walls. These walls have been around for a long time, potentially in a setting like frostgrave.

Materials Required

  • Foamboard.
  • Black, Grey, Light Grey, Brown and Tan coloured paint.
  • Craft foam, polystyrene or insulation foam.
  • PVA glue.
  • Ballast or small rocks, poly filler and sand.
  • Liquitex modelling paste and white snow flock.
  • Grass tufts, crates and barrels (optional).

Preparing The Foamboard Bases

The first step is to prepare the foam board bases similar to our previous tutorial which can be found here. First we draw out some rough shapes, these will be thinner and longer than our previous bases. Chamfer the edges with a sharp craft knife and then move onto the next step.

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Cutting The Wall Blocks

Take your foam of choice and start to cut out cuboid shapes from it. Chamfer every edge until you have a smoother looking shape with no points. Then sand the edges either with some hobby files, sandpaper or just continue to cut away the sharper edges until it is relatively smooth. Then dig your craft knife into the blocks a little bit and twist to create little pock marks.

Using a less sharp knife dig straight lines into the blocks and then flick out larger sections of foam.

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Glue The Stone Blocks Onto The Bases

Next step is to glue the stone blocks onto the bases, this is simple, but there is a technique I used to keep everything in position whilst the glue set. Decide how you want your first base and then add PVA glue to the first block. Then skewer the block with a cocktail stick and push it into the base to keep it held in position, this is really useful for stacking blocks too.

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Adding Texture To The Bases

Next we need to blend the stone blocks into the base and make sure that the base has some texture to it. Make a mix of pva glue, poly filler, sand and small rocks/ballast. Then spread this all over the base to create a rock texture. Wait for this to fully set before you do any painting. You can also glue on some larger rocks to add some additional variation in the detail of the bases.

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Painting The Walls

Next we paint the whole thing with a black, wait for this to fully dry and paint the bases with a brown and then dry brush the base.

Finally paint the walls with a grey and dry brush with a light grey. This will pick out all of the foam texture and give it a great look.

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Adding The Final Touches

The last step is to add on any details we wish to add, like barrels, crates and grass tufts. Add a layer of liquitex over the stone walls and then sprinkle on some snow flock. Add the same to the base in patches or as I did add it on the majority of the base to create a thick layer of snow.

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Then add any additional details on top, like bones, treasure or anything else you wish.

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Good luck with your terrain and post your pics in the comments below!