Quick & Easy Wargaming/RPG Roads

If you've been following my series of cheap terrain tips (for making hedges, trees, and bushes), then here's another quick tutorial that'll show you how to make a bunch of simple road sections in no time at all.

Note that the pictures that follow have come out a little darker than I would like, but they should give you a good idea of the procedure nonetheless.

Anyway ...on with the tutorial...

* * *

WHAT YOU'LL NEED

• A Vinyl floor tile with a self-adhesive back (I got a pack of four at these for £1 in my local 'Poundland' store).
• Some gravel (I picked up a 1kg bag of bird grit for £1 at my lock Wilko store)
• Some fine sand (I picked up a 1kg bag of bird sand for £1 at my lock Wilko store)
• A cheap tin of (waterbased) wood stain (I'm using my usual 'medium oak' colour).
• A sharp knife & a steel rule.

 * * *

STEP 1

Using the knife and steel rule, cut the floor tile into the shapes you desire.

In this instance, I've decided on a with of 4" for my roads (this is mostly due to the fact that the tiles are 12" square - so I've simply cut them into three equal pieces), and I'm also including a couple of angled pieces so that I can do arrangements like this:

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STEP 2

Flip the tiles over and remove the paper backing. Then sprinkle a few bits of gravel/grit over each piece, followed by a generous covering of sand.

Once you have shaken off the excess, you should be left with something like this:

(don't worry about there not being a lot of sand on the pieces )

* * * 

STEP 3

Now all that's left to do is cover each piece with a copious amount of woodstain (letting it pool in several areas)...

...and leave it all to dry.

* * *

And that's pretty much all there is to it!

The woodstain should not only stain each piece a nice brown colour (leaving a slightly shiny 'muddy' look where it has pooled) but it will also lock all of the sand and grit in place - making it a lot more durable.

Now, admittedly, these pieces don't look like anything special if you use them on their own - but if you combine them with some of the hedges that I made a while back, they should be more than adequate for the tabletop :)