Rocky outcrops seem to be a staple piece of scatter terrain for all sorts of skirmish gaming. I've wanted to try may hand at crafting crystal terrain for sci-fi gaming and role playing for some time. I have never tried any sci-fi skirmish gaming so I though this might kick-start that with a bit of cool and adaptable terrain.
Here is a quick summary of the project!
The The base structure is built out of 30mm and 50mm XPS insulation foam from Kanuf. I used the 30mm for the base and (a combination of both for the crystals.
The cutting was all done with a craft knife with a new blade so as to minimise tearing. The best result visually is achieved if you have an odd number of crystals per base and a range of sizes - I didn't always follow this rule, though! I used angled cuts with the knife to give texture to the edge of the base and to great some cracks in the crystals (see below).
Then, I applied a stone-like texture to all the surfaces (before gluing) with a ball of aluminium foil. The crystals were hot glued to the foam base and in some cases I used a toothpick to help reinforce the join.
The whole piece is then coated with a sealing coat of Matte Mod Podge with black acrylic paint. The mix is roughly made up as follows: 4 parts Matte Mod Podge to 1 part black acrylic paint. The ratio is not critical - just use what looks good to you. I left these to dry completely. It looks glossier in the picture below that it does in reality.
The first top coat is a dry brush with Mont Marte Emerald Green for their Dimensions acrylic paint range. You can use any cheap paint you like but I did find this colour was particularly good for this project. I left a fair bit of the black undercoat showing through - especially in the thicker sections of the 'crystals' to create a sense of shadow and lower opacity.
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