Ghost Archipelago scenics - walls, pits, and such

A Mouse Vine Warden surrounds himself with barriers of Brambles in  Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago

 The last things I needed to get done before this coming Sunday's first Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago game were various small, scenic bits. The rules allow for characters to magically create pits or walls made of stone, earth, or plants. Rather than set up a (hopefully) beautiful tabletop and then throw down pieces of felt for these things, I set out to create them in flocked, 3-D.

I created four Brambles - the core of which were hedges from JTT Scenery Products, with copious clump flocking added

First up, my favorite: Brambles - a spell cast by Vine Wardens. This creates a 6" long, 1" high and wide barrier of vegetation. I made four of them, and was really happy with how they turned out. I started out with some purchased product -- one package of Long Hedges, 2/pack, by JTT Scenery Products. I bought mine at Hobby Lobby, but I've seen this line carried at a number of hobby and model railroad shops. The hedges are rectangular, green-dyed foam, which I cut and attached to appropriate sized bases of styrene plastic. To help them stay put, I stuck two straight pins through the bottom of the styrene base, impaling the curving piece of foam to hold it in place while the Tacky Glue dried. Next, I flocked the base - first with brown fine ballast, then Earth Turk and Blended Green Grass from Woodland Scenics.
I could have stopped at this point, but they would have looked very plain. I then put on three different tones of Woodland Scenics green clump foliage with white glue. After the first batch of clumps, I actually went back and added more to make it look more wild and overgrown. As a final touch, I took some JTT Scenery Products flowers and glued one on each side to give it a splash of color. These were definitely my favorite of the magical walls I created.

Two Earthen Walls cast by a Satyr Earth Warden, created by flocking atop Hirst Arts plaster molds

Next up, were Earthen Walls. In Ghost Archipelago, Earth Wardens can create a 3" long, by 2" high, and 1" wide wall of earth to block enemies. For this, I dug up some unused plaster castings from Hirst Arts molds given to me long ago by my friend Zeke. As it turned out, a half dozen of them arranged in a 2x3 rectangle were the perfect size. I glued these in place with Tacky Glue, once again onto the correct size of styrene plastic. Next, I coated them just as I do my standard base flocking. I begin by painting the base with a mix of white glue and brown paint. This is coated with brown, fine ballast. Once dry, I paint the ballast with a 50/50 mix of white glue and water, and sprinkle on Woodland Scenics Earth Turf. Finally, once dry again, I paint it with white glue and sprinkle on Woodland Scenics Blended Grass.

A Pine Marten Earth Warden shelters amid four Parapets he has cast, also created from Hirst Arts molds

The third magical wall is a Parapet, also created by the Earth Warden. This stone barrier is the smallest, at 2" long, and 1/2" in height. It is intended (I believe) to be a place to shoot from cover, whereas the other barriers are meant to block line of sight. For this, I once again dug out some unused Hirst Arts plaster castings, and glued them to a base. All the bases also have magnetic material underneath for my storage system. This stone I painted black, then drybrushed a darker then lighter gray. Flocking was done as above, and these were complete, as well.

A Weasel Earth Warden amidst four Pits cast earlier to entrap enemy characters or monsters

The final scenic item was four Pits - another Earth Warden spell meant to be cast underneath a player, hopefully forcing them to all into it and spend time climbing back out again. The size of these was driven by my figures' bases. So, I cut four squares that would leave room for one of my bases and scenic buildup all around it. As the core of the ring of built up area are small stones glued in a rough circle around an area slightly larger than my hexagonal bases. I covered these with the same mixture of ballast and turf detailed above. Finally, the inner circular area was painted in three darkening shades of brown. Nothing spectacular, but nevertheless better than a piece of felt.

I also created "Blood burn" markers from wooden cubes. I painted then dark red, then speckled them in a brighter red pattern to evoke blood. On each cube, I numbered in black Sharpie #1-#6 (for how many times that Heritor has attempted to use an ability on that turn), along with the appropriate modifier for casting/utilizing it next time. I even placed a small arrow showing what direction to rotate the cube...! They are functional looking -- nothing spectacular.

With that, I am all set for next week's game! It has been a long time coming, but I am finally ready to begin running my Ghost Archipelago campaign!!