Scenery tiles- if I can ,make these, so can your kids!

Cakeboards.  Seriously! 
They can take a lot of weight.
Do not warp.
Cheap!
Cut and work with craft knife.
Takes papier mache without hassle.
(my first attempt was so wet it took 4 days to dry.  Warping?  Not a bit!)



Each stage takes minutes.  I find a batch of 4 is easy, the limit is drying space.

The stuff- mostly from Poundland - they changed cake-board suppliers, some of my first efforts are a few mill wider and slightly thinner.  So what!

Generic no-more-nails (I can use a tube a day-) and The Works burnt umber are my "go-to" products for all scenery & basing.

The process.

These are compressed, layered cardboard.  I removed a layer for the tracks and a slightly deeper layer for the river. This is the one part that may need adult supervision.  I taught my sister to use & care for a knife to dig arrows out of trees & field-fletch arrows at age 7.  I never told mum(-) and when she got to school in cookery she was the only one who was confident & competent in using the knives.

Then I cover the other bits with a thin layer of no-more-nails.  Painted the river 1 coat of sample pot paint.

LEAVE TO DRY OVERNIGHT! 

When dry a wash of the burnt umber.  Your kids can probably keep within the lines.

LEAVE TO DRY OVERNIGHT! 

Now I add flock, you can see that the no-more-nails gives a bit of depth & texture.  The wash does show through in parts.

This is the ready for first use stage.  The river needs more paint, the path a bit of colour, possibly.  But after a good coating of extra hold hair spray (Poundland again) it's ready to go.

I added a few tufts.  I'll probably add more if I find more scruffy ones.

Clean the edge.  I didn't do that, plus table was a bit mucky from the making.  Both stop good alignment.

My discipline now is, polystyrene foam - use it or dump it.

Here's the other 2 I started at the same time.  I'd marked these out a while ago, as it became obvious that the rules we are using fit well on one of these boards.

Plus, 7 Samurai.  The "old" board above was inspired by the border post in Hidden Fortress.  The first 2 by those marches with the wind & rain in so many Kurosawa films.

This one is based on the centre of the village in 7 Samurai.  I removed the top layer on the road, leaving the building bases a bit proud.  The part-paddy field got cut back as the family above.  A scrap of papier mache made that funny lump in the middle.  Then a very thin seal of no-more-nails.

 I've given it a wash, the uncut are needs a better paint, but it'll be built up.

Here's a mash-up.  Bottom area needs a river running past it.  Needs better barriers.  I prefer to make these bits removable so I can use the board for non-related games.

The forest entrance.  This is the area where the bandits are held up & let in one at a time.  There's a hint of a building and barriers, possibly along the road further but I think this'll work. 

Same basic process as above.  I've ordered a forest-floor cover.  I'll pritstick 2p coins onto it then flock around them.  All my scenery bits are based on same, so it's easy to change to bamboo, trees, shrub, rocks rather than keeping to one theme.

 

That's it.  My suggestion is that you chain kids to a table loaded with stuff-.  If they want luxuries like food, drink, sleep - they crack on and produce.  Character building I call it!