You would think gluing your terrain to the appropriate base would be a cake walk, right? After all, this is a life skill you learned in kindergarten. Well, Padawans – think again. Glue in haste and your terrain will almost certainly warp and all that hard work thus far is for naught. Glue with pre-calculated planning and techniques and your 3D game board will flourish…let’s explore further.

First off, you can base your newly cast bricks on a variety of materials including:

• balsa wood
• cork board
• pink foam
• foam board

Certainly you want to go with what you’re most comfortable with but Ben’s biggest concern is always the bend probability. There’s great heartbreak in a finished piece having an upward slope like a troll bridge. For that reason, Ben recommends Elmer’s Foam Board (specifically the 20” x 30” x 3/16”) but get it in black if you can. You can readily purchase a sheet at Michaels, Staples or Wal-mart for about $7.

A hot knife or (really sharp) Xacto blade allows you to manually cut your bases to the proper dimensions but that does take some skill for some of us. So, Ben got the assistance of his father-in-law and one of his a big manly woodshop machines. His mighty electric saw cutting method was a huge timesaver (a mere 2 hours for a ton of perfectly cut pieces). And before you say you don’t have a saw, you can always take your stuff over to Home Depot and they’ll charge ya mere pennies to make the appropriate cuts.

Ben keeps some sandpaper handy post-cast so that his terrain glues on as level as possible (especially important when doing custom mold casts). This extra TLC makes a huge difference and is an overlooked step.

Two types of glue get the most love in a Hirst Arts terrain world: Titebond II Premium Wood Glue ($6.49) and Aleene’s Original Tacky Glue ($7.83). Ben actually prefers Wood Glue for your bricks as the plaster seems to adhere better to the foam core. Tacky Glue seems to have better sticking power for basing plastic minis (like MageKnight or Dreamblade).

When applying the glue, Ben likes the medium wood glue bottle nozzle. He also keeps a jar of sturdy toothpicks on hand to apply glue to smaller areas. He keeps a “glue rag” (fancy name for a folded up paper towel) to wipe away the excess.

To ensure your pieces are glued on straight/even, you can get your MacGyver helm on and make your own straight edge. Ben’s dad made him two versions: one for day-to-day and another for higher walls. Large Megabloks also do a fine job but sometimes a few rectangles from the Lego Duplo Brick Set are nice to have within arm’s reach too. The bummer with Legos is they can slide around on ya where as a larger straight edge with rubber stoppers on the bottom keeps everything stationary.

Once glued, some of the smaller pieces will typically turn out better if you immediately drop them into a hobby vice or clamp. That extra pressure just seems to end in a better final product (and helps those ugly seams).

When gluing floors, Ben tries to counteract the dreaded warp monster with a brick press. It sounds silly but it really has made a difference. Tiles are first glued to the foam core using all the techniques above and after about 5 minutes, Ben places them on two wood boards with a large garden brick on top. He leaves this in place for about 24 hours. Just don’t go from glue to brick too soon as the tiles might accidentally shift on you.

So you see there’s much more to this glue step than there appears. While these suggestions seem trite, they really do make a difference. Give ‘em a try and keep those chaotic warp devils away from all your hard blood, sweat and tears.

Questions to Ponder: Do you agree with Ben’s suggestions? What else have you done to ensure this glue step doesn’t ultimately ruin your terrain?

Now that we’ve got our project inspiration and custom molds in hand, let’s get physical with an actual casting or two. Roll up your sleeves with Ben as he shares several tricks of the trade so that you too, can behold the power of the brick.

Let’s start by saying Hirst Arts offers a comprehensive casting guide on their website that we would never dispute. Bruce also has a gargantuan tips and tricks index. So before you do anything, at least peruse these extremely thorough resources.

Still, we’ve learned a ton since our first humble YouTube video back in November 2009. Sure, everyone sucks in the beginning but you simply get better at casting terrain the more you do it (as in real life). Ben has a lousy memory though so he’s taken lots of notes over the years and has a tremendous resource with fellow co-Piler, Enygma. And when in doubt, the Hirst Arts Questions and Modeling Tips forum is as helpful as it gets.

Best way to share knowledge is to see what it looks like when Ben sits down to cast. There is rhyme and reason to everything on his table.

Kitchen Timer
You casting window is short or the material will harden pre-maturely. Two minutes for mixture and ten minutes to pour and scrape the molds.

Casting Material
The best bang for your buck is Hydrocal 105. You can typically get 50 lbs from a local cement or building materials supplier for $55. For this lil’ ol’ Egyptian project, Ben has been using Merlin’s Magic with great pleasure. It costs a lot more ($80-plus online for 50 lbs – nearly half of that shipping) and you can choose from several color tint options which can eliminate an annoying primer step.

Mixing Bowl
You need a container to mix your water and casting material. A traditional Tupperware bowl works fine but for less mess/cleanup, Ben urges you to try a rubber mixing bowl. He bought an iSi Basics Flex-it 1-Quart Mixing Bowl ($12, free Amazon Prime shipping) and it makes a huge difference. You must get this!

Scraper
After you pour your mold, you have to scrape off the excess. Ben has a 4” wide Flex Taping Knife for a regular Hirst Arts mold ($6.39, free Amazon Prime shipping) and uses a 12” wide Wal-board Taping Knife ($8.65) for his custom molds.

Metal Sheet
Enygma gets a lot of the glory on this brilliant idea. Casting gets a little messy so why not make yourself an aluminum sheet (from Home Depot – they’ll even cut it to the 16” by 24” dimensions for you). Ben added some padded corners to avoid scratching his arm and put a felt backing on it so it rests level on his office work table. This sheet skips the annoying garbage bag taping step and cuts down on the paper towels (simply scrape off the dried excess cast material).

Air Bubble War Gear
Oh those Bahamut forsaken air bubbles – they can be the bane of your existence (if you’re a perfectionist). Ben has four weapons to keep Balor’s belches to a minimum:

- Dental Table: Ben bought his a #78RK Atlas Heavy Duty 115V for $186.27
- Almore Debubblizer Surfactant: Bruce has a vid ($12.50 for 8 oz)
- Wet Dry: Soak your molds in Finish Jet Dry for prior to casting
- Material: No real proof but Merlin’s Magic Buff Tan seems to produce fewer bubbles

Pre-measured Cups & Bucket
Ben hopped over to the Container Store for to get some items to hold his pre-measured casting material and water cups. That may seem silly but when you’re in Chinese-assembly-line-mode, it’s nice to have these done ahead of time. Ben also keeps his core ingredients in a Home Depot, sealable bucket.

Speaking of measurements, here’s what Ben swears by:

• Regular Hirst Mold: 10 oz of Merlin’s Magic | 3.5-ish oz of water
• Custom Mold (depending on type): 15-20 oz of Merlin’s Magic | 7-10 oz of water

Accodemtal Chemist Note: Your final mixture should have the consistency of a milk shake. Don’t over water it…always easier to slowly add a little more liquid in if you measured wrong.

Hope you enjoyed all our casting XP. Next week we glue down and start the basecoat painting process!

Questions to Ponder: What other tips and tricks do you recommend? Do you plan on giving terrain casting a try in the coming months? Why or why not? Do you cast outside or throw caution to the wind and do it inside?

See Roving Band of Misfits Hirst Arts Buying Guide | Visit Void Gamers

The foundation of every new terrain environment starts with the selection of your molds. The Pile begins that process with the Industry’s best – Hirst Arts and then created custom molds from those original casts to ultimately support the high-volume pieces of the set. Join Co-Piler Enygma as he shows us how he made these unique works of art.

So why go through all the trouble and expense of making one-of-a-kind molds? You’ve already got the originals from Bruce. Isn’t that enough? Well if you have the Gandhi’s patience and the Pope’s time, read no further. However, if you’re a man of the town like most of us, these larger molds are a lifesaver. Instead of doing essentially a single floor tile, you can create an entire room. Forget doing 10 floor squares in a single cast, how does 100 sound instead via a home-brewed custom mold?

Mold Selection
For starters, Ben’s Egyptian environment utilized the following Hirst Arts molds.

• Tower Mold #93: hieroglyph columns
• Temple Mold #94: more hieroglyph columns
• Basic Block Mold #95: your bread (walls)
• Pyramid Accessory #96: columns, door, sarcophagus, etc
• Tomb Accessory #97: door frames and statues
• Temple Accessory #98: mighty columns and lion statue
• Fountain Accessory #99: water accent pieces
• Floor Tile #290: your butter (floors)
• Weave Floor Tile #291: decorative floor accents
• Decorative Floor Tile #292: more ornamental floors

Now it’s time to identify the critical, mass production pieces of our terrain build. Again, the goal being let’s make larger mold forms here to save us a mountain of precious time. Don’t rush this step. Inevitably though, you will say to yourself, “Why did I pick that particular piece to mass replicate?” Typically, you will need 10 casts of the final pieces.

Go Shopping
So now get out your pen, it’s time to make a shopping list of all the ingredients that go into creating the actual forms and pouring the new mold. Don’t worry many of these items are re-usable.

• 1 sheet of 20”x30”x3/16” Elmer’s foam core ($3, Walmart)
• 1 roll of masking tape ($1, Walmart)
• 1 bottle of white tacky glue ($1.50, Walmart)
• 1 utility knife/paper cutter. ($5, Walmart)
• 1 can of silicone mold release ($10.80, Aeromarine)
• AM 128 Pourable Silicone Rubber, 1 gallon, 2-part kit – 8.8 lbs. ($101, Aeromarine)
• 2 wooden spoons ($1.00, Walmart)
• 2 plastic measuring cups ($1.50 per, Walmart)
• Digital scale ($25,Walmart)
• Cooking timer ($5, Walmart)

This is a two-part process. The first is building the form that will hold the silicone rubber solution. Make the mold form 12’x12’ so you can use a drywall scraper to scrape the form after casting. This configuration gives you 100 square inches of Hirst art floors and walls which is about as fast as you can safely cast.

Pre-glue the original Hirst Arts floor pieces together to dramatically cut down on assembly time. For example, pour a 4×4, 4×3, 3×3, and so on.

Create a Box
With all that said, let’s create the actual form/mold housing:

Step 1: Measure a 12”x12” foam core square and cut with a utility knife.
Step 2: Measure a 1.5”x11.5” foam core side piece and create 4 with a utility knife.
Step 3: Run a piece of masking tape across the whole length of the side piece. Make sure that half of the tape is hanging off and there is an inch hanging off each end.

Step 4: Attach the side piece to the 12”x12” piece. Do the same for all 4 sides.
Step 5: Take tape and run it inside the seam of the 12×12 piece and the side piece.
Step 6: Add tape to each corner (3 pieces, center, left and right of each corner).

Step 7: Run a bead of glue on the inside of the seam of the form and up the corners.
Step 8: Glue casted pieces into box with about a ¼” space between the pieces/sides.
Step 9: Allow it all to dry. The beads of glue will become clear.

Pour the Mold
Now let’s do a step-by-step on the actual mixing and pouring of the mold:

Step 1: Zero out and set your scale to metric as you will need to do some simple mixture math.

Step 2: Pour the first part of the mixture, the silicone (white), into the cup. It comes out thick and takes a good amount. Depending on the size of your mixing cup, you can pour about 180 grams of the white solution into the cup. Mark how much you poured so you can divide it by 10 for the Catalyst.

Step 3: Double check your measurement of the white solution

Step 4: Zero out your second mixing cup. Pour the Catalyst into it at one tenth the amount of the white solution. Example: if you poured 180 grams of the white solution, you would pour 18 of the purple. Tip: it’s best to pour about 1-2 grams extra because you will not get all the Catalyst to come out of the mixing bowl.

Step 5: Double check the measurement.
Step 6: You have 20-30 minutes to combine the two mixtures together.
Step 7: Use the wooden spoons to mix for 10 minutes (on your timer) so the chemical solution fuses together. The latex is thick and will take a lot of mixing.

Step 8: Did you stop?! Keep mixing. You MUST mix for the full 10 minutes.
Step 9: Double check your form and make sure everything is glued properly placed.

Step 10: Pour the Latex in slowly at each of the 4 corners and in the middle. Make sure you pour at least 1/4 an inch above the highest piece your casting. So if you’re casting floor tiles make sure its 1/4 above the floor tile.

Step 11: Once the mold is filled, let it sit for 24-36 hours then strip away the foam core form. This is where you can use some of that silicone spray release product to get the first couple of castings out of the mold cleanly.

Quick-hit Tips and Tricks
Here are some helpful tips that make the whole process go a little smoother:

- Match Pieces: Make sure that you pour all the like pieces together. That means pour floors with floors, walls with walls, and similar pillars together. Make sure all the pieces are the same height (saves on latex).

- Heavy Duty: Don’t be stingy on your form bead of glue around those seams of your box and you double up the tape on both sides of the forms. Can you imagine what would happen if you do this step poorly?

- Level Playing Field: Pour on a level surface. This is a must or all your work is for not. Bust out a level to be sure.

- Pouring Angle: Pour at 70 to 80 degree angle for better settling and an easier bottle pour.

- Detailed Piece Brush: For detailed pieces, it doesn’t hurt to use a paint brush and go over them with latex before you pour the main mold.

- Slow and Steady: Pour gradually as this reduces air bubbles (latex is thick).

Once you make a custom mold you will never want to use anything else. It takes about the same time to cast the custom mold as a Hirst Arts mold (once you get the measurements down). So your doing a 10-1 ratio on your casting time!

Finished Product
After repeating the above process, you walk away with a bevy of Egyptian mass molds.

• Floors: Utilizing #290 to make 4×4, 3×3 and 3×4 in pre-formed bulk pieces
• Walls: From #95, you can mass produce the other core component
• Ornate Set 1: Hallway, doors and columns pieces
• Ornate Set 2: More decorate column, pedestal and statue elements

So with a little extra thought, preparation and elbow grease, you can turn your most important pieces into a well-oiled casting assembly line – drastically cutting down your mold time and ultimately…giving you more time to play.

Questions to Ponder: Have you ever made a custom mold before? Why or why not? What worked well and where were there improvements to be made? What other Egyption pieces would you use a lot of? What set would you mass produce (cavern, field stone dungeon, etc)?

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Let’s ring in the New Year with a brand new terrain-building blog series. Code named, Project Red Rover (Red Rover), Ben will provide step-by-step posts for his next D&D game environment – 4e’s the Pyramid of Shadows. Our first blog post will talk all about the inspiration for this amazing new terrain. Ben can’t build anything unless he’s got the itch. So what were his motivations exactly?

Motivation 1…The Module: So obviously we’re talking Egyptian-style terrain here and that sounds just lovely. Ben’s group has been crawling around fieldstone brick dungeons for the better part of two years now with the playing of Keep on the Shadowfell and then Thunderspire Labyrinth. His game group will be thrilled with the change of scenery in the final module of this series…keeps the ongoing game fresh.

Motivation 2…Gen Con 2011: Six years in the running, a great Wisconsin buddy puts forth a special 4-day adventure at Gen Con entitled The Tales of the Short Nine. He writes the story from scratch and builds out a full Hirst Arts terrain board. Jeff’s stuff is ingenious. This past year, he created an entire Egyptian stetting for our party to explore. It was a mixture of standard mold pieces and his own unique creations. Watch for more insight here in future posts as Ben tries to replicate and in some cases build upon his work.

Motivation 3…Movies: Now think of all the great movies that have turned Egypt into such a captivating RPG haven. Indiana Jones is iconic but the Mummy series was no slouch. Cable chipped in with two rivoting seasons of Rome on HBO and STARZ joined the blood bath with Spartacus. Combine all that violent bliss with the Clash of the Titans remake (with the sequel coming out in March 2012) and its party, people.

Motivation 4…Dark Sun: Certainly you want your terrain environment to have many uses and thankfully, this very same Egyptian terrain blends in nicely with WotC’s outstanding Dark Sun campaign setting. That crossover softens this hobbyist’s hefty time commitment.

Motivation 5…Sample Hirst Arts Build: What ultimately pushed Ben over the edge was this absolutely stunning game board from a fellow Hirst Arts enthusiast out of Toronto, Ontario. He posted a stunning array of images in the Post Your Pictures forum in July of 2010. The quality and detail of his work is beyond words. Once Ben saw this masterpiece, he knew it was time to take the sand plunge. Plus, he now had a really nice set of images to help guide and inspire him along the way (a critical factor in terrain building).

Here are just a few of the photo highlights:

• Intricate Hallways
• Menacing Mummies
• Daunting Monuments
• Raised Stairs
• Decorative Doors
• Mighty Obelisks
• Watering Holes
• Resting Sphinx
• Ornate Walkways
• Colorful Columns

So now that we have our motivation for this brand new environment, it’s time to get building! Next week, we’ll start with the actual piece selections and in some cases, the custom building of the molds themselves.

Questions to Ponder: So now that we have our motivation for this brand new environment, it’s time to get building! Next week, we’ll start with the actual piece selections and in some cases, the custom building of the molds themselves.

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Well, well, well – we’re nearly to the end of our letter-laden journey and what a ride it’s been. Sure we had some obvious choices with this week’s entry but we kinda already did walls and water. So, time to dig deeper and see what actual D&D-style wells are resting in the Pile.

Pegasus Hobbies lays down the circular stone as Ben’s favorite choice. Sadly, this watering hole is out of print but it’s the perfect spot to drop a bucket and grab a fresh drink. It seems like this well would fit best outside a small village setting.

For a city square, Miniature Building Authority has a slew of nice aquifer holders. Try this smaller number if you’re after that simple-settler- kinda-feel. Or, there’s a more ornate option if you’re going for a solid stone look. Ben’s not even sure where this one came from?

If you want to get your hobby on, Hirst Arts has a swell multi-use piece from its Cavern Floor Accessories #282 mold that practically spells well. Often used as a door arch, it also lays flat to form a nice agua container.

Need portable, quick and effective piece? Pop out a square from Wizards of the Coast Dungeon Tile series. Ben’s mixed all his tiles from the sets into one disorganized cardboard pile so alas, he can’t tell you specifically where this piece originates. These always seem to fit nicely into a dungeon setting (as long as you level them off with the rest of the floor).

And if you want a little half-and-half terrain experience, you can get a pre-cast well from Acheson Creations and brush on your own color scheme. You certainly can’t beat the price and time savings but there’s a little bit of elbow grease in the paint prep.

But what kinda monsters could pop out of a well, you ask? Certain pre-requisite traits may apply such as wings, strong claws and an appetite for unfortunate player characters. Well, there’s certainly plenty to choose from but Ben snapped a shutter of a few of his favs.

Ben doesn’t have a great finish here so he’s going to go out on an 80s tune. Take it away, Terence.

Questions to Ponder: What else could one find at the bottom of a D&D well? Given the chance, what would you wish for at your new-found well. Do you recall a particular well encounter from a module?

Get the Original A to Z Book

Let’s take this letter marathon to another level with a deep, dark look at the underworld. Stay close to Ben and see what happens when you go down under…into the earth that is (ya dirty birdie).

Caverns pieces are your core component of the underworld. Thankfully, you have two industry behemoths to choose from in Dwarven Forge and Hirst Arts. And better yet, the pieces intermingle better than wood Elves and tall trees. But Ben – please, tell us more.

Dwarven Forge has built a dynasty off its unmatchable quality and detail. And it’s never more apparent than in their cavern series. Ben’s already done a nice review here but this stellar series is worth another mention. As the scenario calls for it, Ben gleefully chooses from a slew of interchangeable pieces from all five sets. The Chasm Set is particularly hallowing with its array platforms and stalactites.

Of course, you can always swap ready-out-box-dollars for a me-time-hobbiest-investment. Hirst Arts give you immense artistic freedom and personal pride with its own set of cavern molds. If you’re planning on making a large environment, you can even craft your own custom unique molds to speed up the factory production line. You can even pick between a traditional cavern and rock formation.

Even more helpful, the Hirst Arts forum community will inundate you with countless inspirations. This sacred ground is a weekly bookmark stop for Ben as he trolls for new ideas and innovations.

Of course, the proof is in the (ogre) pudding:

• Enter at your own risk and always innovate (by jbmallus)
• Explore the unexplored (by dukedreal)
• Meet in the middle (by caveman)
• Avoid the flames and look around those corners (by starmaster)
• Swab the deck with Pirate Isle Platforms (by Dungeon Brawl Gaming)
• Notice the transition from stone to cavern (by Ghalgor1)

Quick tip: don’t feel like you always have to wall the entire cavern game board. Intermixing walls here and there can sometimes give you more playable combat space.

Ben has many underworld inhabitant favs such as hyenas and bats but you’ve got a host of miniature monster options.

While going underground certainly isn’t meant to be a playground, the right terrain can be a difference maker here. Ben encourages hobbyists everywhere to dig deep and put forth a cavern encounter to remember.

Questions to Ponder: Do you have a favorite cavern-setting D&D module? What was your roughest underground encounter? What’s the first word that comes to mind when you hear the word “cavern”. Got a favorite cave dweller monster?

Read the entire Transition thread | Read the entire Lava Cavern thread

Traps have resided in deep dark dungeons everywhere since the dawn of Dungeons in Dragons in 1974. So most certainly these deadly contraptions deserve a spot in our little ol’ letter series.

Dwarven Forge nearly opens and shuts this category with their amazing Trap set series. Ben literally trolled eBay for months until he got a winning bid for the original Trap Set 1. There are a slew of modular pieces but the grand daddy has to be the Indian Jones-style ramp and boulder combo. Several pokey items even let you do some helpful terrain cross-over. Trap Set 2 while smaller and less flexible is still a worthy Pile addition on the stone blocks alone.

Thunderspire Labyrinth’s Proving Grounds was another recent trap haven for Ben’s game group. There’s a slick video on the encounter’s deadliness here. But the best part – the module inspired Ben to craft a deadly trap mini from scratch. The beloved Doom Sphere will forever live on a shelf for the world to see.

Mage Knight also has a toe in the water with its 3D Dungeons Trap Pack…incredibly handy but really hard to get. This is Ben’s current eBay white whale. There’s an immediate out-of-box-utility-and-use here: any of the spike options are prime examples.

Got a craft itch for traps? Consider a falling wood beam (just a sawed off wooden dowel and some string) or drop down some good old fashioned spider webs (which should be on clearance by now). Ben even removed the center out of one of his terrain boards for a slick cut-away-scene after the party has fallen through a pit trap.

As for Ben’s bookshelf, it’s dominated by Flying Buffalo’s Grimooth Traps series (many of which are available at DriveThru RPG. If the trap you desire isn’t in one of these babies, you’ve failed your perception check.

Even certain types of flock can play a handy role. Ben used Reindeer Moss from Skullcrafts with great success in his vine pit trap for the 2011 Comicon Ark of Souls module. Ben is still pondering how to make a good quicksand trap with flock though.

Last but certainly not least, you can create your very own motley crew of traps with some Hirst Arts bricks and a little twisted thinking. Spikes, swinging blades, axes and floor traps can be set off at any moment.

Ben doesn’t have a great closing line for this week’s entry so we’ll leave it to Sheldon to bid adieu.

Questions to Ponder: What’s trap killed your character? What’s the best trap you ever disabled? What was the most creative trap you ever encountered? Have you ever made your own trap from scratch?

4E Trap List | 2011 Comicon Arc of Souls video

Where would the D&D landscape be without rocks? Face it – they’re the bacon bits of any good encounter. Join Ben as he pulls some rubble representatives from his Pile to see what might be useful in one’s game board.

Hirst Arts gets a gold star for their Rock Cavern Root Molds (#83 and #84). You can build some pretty amazing environments with these diverse pieces. The interwoven trees are a really nice touch. You get some crumbling columns and skulls in the molds as well.

Sadly, Ben’s never been able to get Bruce’s slick brown paint scheme down and is actually begging for suggestions/help to match it. Thus, he uses the classic rock gray scheme:

• Base with Black Primer and touch it up with soft black
• Heavier dry brush of Games Workshop Codex Gray
• Lighter dry brush of Games Workshop Fortress Gray
• Even lighter dry brush of P3 Menoth White Highlight

Don’t forget to dip into the train hobby arena. Woodland Scenics has all sorts of rock molds – big and small. Ben is eager to try out their Earth Color Kit.

For out of the box rocks, look no further than Dwarven Forge and their Realm of the Ancients 2 set. The single and double boulder piles are perfect for a quick throw-down obstacle. The material and paint jobs are once again top shelf.

A terrain collector always comes across some wacky one-offs. Ben nabbed these oddballs from an old Pegasus Hobbies close-out. These outcroppings got a bit of an oversized, prehistoric-feel to ‘em.

Expectedly, the miniature earth buffet is plentiful here:

• Medium Earth Elemental (Archfiends, #06)
• Large Earth Elemental (Harbinger, #09)
• Loyal Earth Elemental (Underdark, #08)
• Earth Titan (Against the Giants, #33)
• Earth Archon Rumbler (Legendary Evils, #14)
• Earth Mephit (Night Below, #06)
• Elemental Wall (War Drums, #06)
• Galeb Duhr (Against the Giants, #36)

Lastly, look at all the uses rocks have to offer D&D 4E. Rubble provides handy cover. A Rogue can duck behind some rocks to aid a stealth check. You can climb rocks to reach some treasure and even leap from them to aid an attack. That’s just good livin’.

Questions to Ponder: How do you interweave rocks into a storyline or encounter environment? Ever have a character meet its demise from a rock? What’s your favorite earth mini? Know any good rock-rock jokes? Sorry, that last q crossed a line.

Read our Woodland Scenics Rock Mold Review

Ben is often asked, “What’s the most unusual thing in your D&D collection?” Well, that’s a difficult question indeed. That’s like asking one to pick a favorite ice cream flavor. They’re all good in their own special way. But alas, Ben definitely has a favorite item or two on his RPG shelf that possess some quirky qualities.

If forced to place one peculiar item on his table, Ben would have to lay down the Witch’s Cabin from Pegasus Hobbies. This quaint little terrain building is the definition of quirky.

But what makes this particular piece a true original:

• Hastily boarded windows
• Sinking roof
• Animal clothesline
• Cracked door
• Imposing tree

Best of all, Ben has some nice accessories to go with this piece. For your villain miniature, you can’t go wrong with the Howling Hag (#18 from Dungeon of Dread).  She’s the total package.

An adventuring party palm reading might be in order and for that Hirst Arts provides the perfect crystal ball from its Cavern Accessory Mold (#85). You can use that same mold for your boiling kettle – a great way to introduce a little pungent odor into the encounter.

A nice plot point could be stealing or retrieving the old Hag’s broom. For that little nugget, Ben picked up the Farmstead Accessories pack from Miniature Building Authority.

Finally, this bitch is sure to have a creepy pet or two lying around – the wolf skeleton from WotC;s Harbinger set or bad kitty from Dreamblade’s Baxar’s War set make auspicious animal companions.

Ball all this quirky stuff into a dungeon delve style encounter and you just found a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon with your gaming buds.

Questions to Ponder: Do you have something an odd or eccentric in your personal RPG collection? What was it in particular about that item? Do you have any wish list items that fit this oddball bill?

Glory is swell but all that fame doesn’t really pay your character’s (bar) bills. Adventuring really boils down to getting a bunch of stuff. And as the DM, your encounters need items of all sorts. So, let’s take a look at some of your terrain-ical options.

Ben best items’ source comes from the local game store’s bit box. That land of misfit minis is chalk full of itemized dungeon loot. Just eagle eye the appropriate gear and start the snapping and sanding process. Once you removed all the monster’s hands and arms, you’re ready to give them a good painting.

Your weapons arsenal could include a:

• hero’s sword
• sturdy shield
• precision bow
• large ax
• loaded weapons rack

To get your magic on, pick up some pre-casted resin pieces from Itar’s Workshop. He’s got books and bottles of all shapes and sizes. Ben just snagged some cool vases and containers at Gen Con which now gives him all sorts of new magical liquid possibilities.

If you want to roll your sleeves up, the Hirst Arts’ accessories mold (#85) is an item cornucopia. Barrels, chests, pedestals and doors are just a few of the many wonderful things. Of course, nearly every Hirst mold has a useful item within it.

Dwarven Forge is still the market leader in this area with its plethora of accessory sets including dungeon, medieval furniture, tavern and a now out-of-print treasure set.

Finally, who doesn’t love a good random roll to determine a room’s contents? Ben’s game group has a home-brewed Gen Con chart but he raised the bar by creating an even fancier one with Phelanar’s Den. You can download that game sheet and template here. The web also has plenty of resources in this area.

Items have a real place in your terrain. Go the extra mile to obtain some unique flair (13 is the rumored number) and watch how the world around your characters comes to life.

Questions to Ponder: What’s your favorite item find? What do you find the most of? What do you wish you found more of? Is a bag of holding pretty much standard gear in your party? Do you adhere to the weight rules?

See a Dungeon full of items