Step 1

Determine the size of your board. Mine is roughly 2ft x2ft – I didn’t want it too big, more for moveable dioramas!

Step 2

Cut out several islands for your board – I used off cuts of foam board. When I ran out of that I used compressed polystyrene. Bevel the edges of the foam board and shape the polystyrene using a knife. Stick these down in various places, try to leave about a 3-6” gap between the islands. For bigger marshes, you can make larger islands (obviously!).

Step 3

Give the entire Marsh – the remaining hardboard showing – an undercoat of a mix of Goblin Green,Scorched Brown, and Ultramarine Bluein equal parts. When this is dry, repeat this – you will get a more even covering. Don’t worry is the mix is not exactly the same – the marshes weren’t all the same colour!

Step 4

Stick down patches of foliage on the marsh. I used coarse turf. Around these, stick small clumps of gravel – this gives the impression of slightly raised ground.

Step 5

Stick on any dead warriors of The Last Alliance. This involves cutting one in half lengthways and sticking it down! I only used one, as it is hard to cut a warrior in half, and I only had one elf to spare anyway.

Step 6

Give the entire marsh a wash of Flesh Wash and water – even the foliage! This unifies the colours, which may have been different when you mixed the colours up, and makes the foliage look muddy. It gives a dirtier colour to the marsh.

Step 7

Paint the entire marsh in a thin layer of PVA glue. Don’t do it over the foliage this time. This will dry clear and shiny, a watery effect. If you apply it too thickly, then it will have a slightly white look – this just makes it look misty, so no trouble there.

Step 8

Apply sand and bark granules to the Islands and Banks – I forgot to do the banks at first, hence the lack of sand in the picture! Do this by covering the banks liberally in PVA glue, and putting on bark granules in several places. Sprinkle on sand over this, until the foam board is no longer showing underneath.

Step 9

Now, undercoat the sand Chaos Black. Drybrush this with Scorched Brown, then Scorched Brown mixed with Goblin Green. A final drybrush of Bleached Bone gives the ground a slightly rocky effect. Apply foliage to it now – I used Fine and Coarse turf, static grass, and tall grass. To apply tall grass, I find the best thing to do is to make a hole in the foam board you are putting it in, and getting a small amount of the grass, apply some PVA glue to the middle. Place this so the PVA is over the hole, and using the blunt side of a craft knife, push it in. This will make the grass stand up! Add other foliages to the marsh as well, to add further effect.

Conclusion

Now you are done!

This marsh layout is incredibly quick to make (Mine took me two days!) and looks pretty effective. Although it is small, it can be expanded easily by adding modular boards, or by simply using a bigger base! One of several ways to change this board is to sprinkle on bits of sand while you are undercoating the marshland – I did this by accident (It was windy and sand from my pot blew up and landed on the wet paint!) and I was pleased with the result! You can easily add more warriors of the last alliance, or an old, gnarled tree – as with all terrain, the only limit is your imagination!