Making hills

Most of my wargaming table hills are styrofoam mounds cut with a foam cutter and flocked. I hate these hills. They're messy and a bit fragile. I hosted a gaming session with a few friends from out of town. They supplied the terrain and gaming pieces. The one thing that caught my attention was the hills they used. These things were indestructible! To demonstate this one hill was banged quite hard on the back of the chair. Amazing!

The photo above shows one of the hills in action. So how are they made? The list of ingredients is the following:

1. upholstery foam padding.
2. terrycloth towels
3. white glue
4. hot glue gun
5. spray paint

The upholstery foam is a bit of a bugger to cut. I found an electric carving knife (used for slicing up the turkey) works best. Once you have the shape of your hill place it on a flat surface. Make sure it's flat to the surface. Now take your terrycloth towel and drape it over the foam. Take your glue gun and lift up the towel at one end and start gluing it down to the foam. Now trim the towel around the edges of the foam hill. Make sure you leave at least a 1/2" past the foam edge.
The next step is to fill a pint size container with 50/50 ratio of white glue and water. Brush this mix over your terryclothed hill. Let dry over night. It will be hard to touch but have some flexibility in it.
The last step is spray painting it. I used 2 shades and later dry brushed on some lighter colours to highlight the cloth texture.

My first batch of hills.

The underside of a hill. Note the towel is trimmed past the foam. This will make sure it sits flat.

One of my hills on the gaming table. The towel texture replaces flocking and eliminates the mess.

For more details on how to make these please see my friend's blog.
Hill making 101

The great thing about these hills is how cheap it costs to make. I bought my towels at a dollar store for a few bucks. You will go through a lot of hot glue sticks and white glue. I recommend you invest in a good glue gun. It will make it easier. I think I made about 7 hills for a combined cost of $10.
I highly recommend this technique. Give it a try!