Wow! Those tiles look amazing! Love your DIY static grass tool! I have been meaning to add outdoor themed tiles to my dungeon tile collection and can’t wait to get started!
Wow these look beautiful, congrats! I love the idea for static grass, so practical. I'm making wilderness tiles at the moment, so I'll definitely be adding some of these techniques to the tiles!
Amazing modular tiles! I was wondering how you dealt with the polarity of the magnets (and is there a pattern you use for maximum flexibility) so the sides attract and not push each other away
Thank you! RP Archive has a full video on the system, but basically one magnet is north-facing and the other is south-facing so that all sides of every tile can match up!
super cool. if you haven't already you should check out, DM-scotty, Black magic craft, Dungeon craft, Marklinofsweden, there are a ton of great crafters on you tube! just found your channel today.
Oh absolutely! Watching Black Magic Craft and RP Archive helps me to balance between refined modularity and overall practicality. I'm honoured and humbled to start out in the community that they've all worked hard to build.
I never thought of using a balloon for static grass, what a brilliant idea! I also really admire your modular tile design. Looking forward to more from this channel.
Naa, can't recommend it. Tried it once before, either it does not work at all "at best extremely poorly, or all the grass will be lost on the balloon itself. I hand placed my grass upwards directly into the clue, it was much better and not any less of a hazzle then trying to use a balloon.
To sanitize soil or any natural debris you might want in your terrain, you can bake them beforehand. Preheat the oven to 200°F (90⁰C). Spread the soil/branches/twigs out on a baking tray. Heat the soil to an internal temperature of 180°F (80⁰C) and keep it like that for about 30min, (or just keep it in the oven for like...45min?) *MONITOR CLOSELY in case the fire fairy comes to visit.* Then shut off the oven and let cool down to room temperature with soil inside. I'm no scientist, but this has worked for me so far. Don't @ me if your soil comes to life in 3 years. 😬 (Also beware the interesting smell that will likely fill your kitchen for the next few hours... Thanks @The8BitDuke for the added note!)
Things like this are why I absolutely love your presentation. You go above & beyond to educate your audience about the steps you've taken to accomplish your project, with annotated references to where you learned certain techniques & in depth instructions to how to accomplish what you have shown in an incredibly digestible way to the most layman of us all. I can not wait to see how you progress in your career & your business grows. You are going to be an absolute giant in this industry if you just keep doing what you're doing and improve upon the formula as you see fit. Your presentation is already phenomenal & so personable that there's nowhere to go but up in this business. Keep up the phenomenal work & I'm absolutely positive that your dreams will come true.
@@digidragon1 Oh no that's crazy! I honestly don't know why it would do that unless there was something in the wood or soil that would catch fire at lower temperatures. And just to confirm it was 200⁰F and not ⁰C? Either way I'm glad you caught it! I'll put in a stronger warning of potential fire in my original comment for others.
The pacing, the editing, the craft - this is an excellent video and I am very glad YT recommended your channel to me today! I also greatly appreciate you placing the sanitization recommended method in the comments, as videos that say "just sanitize it" (or worse, don't mention how essential it is) never helped me find a good method for doing so safely/easily, but it is nice to have some possible instructions in 1 place and by the same person showing the results! (the smell is always fun for those new to doing that....!) Really loved the way you did the wave across the drawing to the tiles themselves, and how you pace the instructions so well. Using a carpenter's square on the Proxxon is a great idea, as I have tried the other fence guides and all that and still have trouble with pushing too hard and making my tiles a little lop sided. I actually almost went with deciding not to do any "tiles" anymore and just big boards, but the modularity (and storage!) would be nice - you've rekindled my interest in making something like this, so thank you!! Keep the great work - subscribed for sure!
Wow, I greatly appreciate the elaborate feedback--it really helps me to know what viewers find helpful and enjoyable in their experience so I can continue to improve/what to continue doing. I'm definitely going to add a note about the smell from soil-sanitizing haha. I admit that getting the tiles to be a perfect 90 degrees can be somewhat tedious and infuriating, especially if it's repeatedly crooked (sigh), but yeah I found the carpenter square helps. One tip I would say is to actually invert how it's lined up against the fence guide, (and to accommodate the extra width of the ruler by calculating your cutting distance from the ruler itself), because it kept wanting to fall before I started by cuts with the heavy overhang, and there's enough to worry about movement-wise as it is. I hope that's useful to you and that you do find success in trying again!
Alternatively you could make 64 squares and create a very unique dnd oriented terrain looking chessboard. Get yourself 32 dnd oriented models that could represent chess pieces and nerd out 😅
@@raecheldoes I'm quite confident such a project would generate a lot of views. Chess is timeless. Combined with every modern nerd's favorite pastime, seems like a no brainer such a video would do really well and inspire many people.
Love the video and I can't believe I didn't think of a balloon before! Tip though, please turn down the music. I found it very distracting and competing with your voice.
I personally haven't because my group is pretty good at understanding that to move across a small tile = 3 spaces. You could groove the grid lines into the foam before the dirt/mud phase or what I've seen on Dimension 20 is they put dots in the corners of the grid lines so it's a dotted grid. Hope that helps!
Great video - really expanded on some of RPArchives stuff. Love the grass/dirt edging technic to make it all fit together. One question - do you no put any wooden/chipboard base on your tiles? I notice everyone else does this - not sure if its just because here in the UK 1/2 inch foam is hard to find or to stop bending.
Great work. IMO, you'd use 1/2 as many magnets if you put the magnets on the bottom and played on a magnetic surface. Our local "big box" stores have dry erase boards that are also magnetic. i strip the frame off, lay down a 1" grid with heavier lines every 5" for easy counting. Just using two gives us enough room for any situation. JC Magnetics (the place I buy mine) are great, but they aren't cheap when one thinks of doing 20-40 tiles.
yes i actually wanted to say, this whole video is excellent, the editing and the walkthrough, plus the static electricity i never thought was a great ideia
I would add, as long as you're not texturing the top, you could save a bunch of money using Styrofoam. The stuff is pretty much free and once sealed (mod podge or primer) it's plenty durable. It's easier to experiment when the materials are free. If using a hot wire to cut Styrofoam, get proper breathing protection - not just a dust mask!
Excellent work, this is a great video! I’m curious if you’ve had any issues with the krylon matt varnish melting your foam? I’ve heard that some people have had that issue.
I just found your channel today & this is the first video I've seen & I'm only about halfway through it, but I already had to stop so I could subscribe & add a comment to show my praise & admiration for everything you are doing! Your presentation is fabulous, your on screen presence is top notch & extremely personable & your artistic merit is absolutely phenomenal! These tiles are absolutely gorgeous and realistic beyond words. I absolutely cannot say enough good things about this video & I cannot wait to go through your entire catalog & see what I can add to my own personal repertoire. Thank you for everything you've shared in this video & all those I'm about to binge watch. I especially liked that you gave credit to those who you've taken inspiration from in creating your own designs. That shows a tremendous amount of maturity & humbleness that I personally feel is too often missing nowadays. I absolutely can not say enough good things about this video.
Thank you SO much for your incredible feedback! I appreciate how much time you've given here to say such wonderful things. I am humbled, flattered, and encouraged to keep crafting and entertaining! Thank you as well for acknowledging credit where credit is due! I wouldn't be here without the work already laid by members of the crafting and terrain-building community, so the least I can do is acknowledge their work!
Fantastic production quality and do informative! Thanks for sharing your techniques. I didn't have dirt handy, somehow, so i mixed in some used coffee grounds as an experiment!
amazing work! Wondering whats the best size though, seems like 3x3 is unneccessarily small, perhaps 6x6 works just as well but smoother with less seems and a more 'calm' look (less individual designs of bases, however impressive it it!) thanks!
Yes! It really depends on your game's/table's needs. A lot of people mentioned they would use the techniques but upsized to 6x6 and even 12x12 boards. The goal is to provide tips that hopefully can be transferred to whatever you might need/want to make! I personally find the 3x3s are great for smaller-scale battles (like for dnd) and add flexibility to map arrangements in tandem with 6x6s.
Brilliant! This has just solidified an idea I've been tossing around for years. My mistake was in visualising larger tiles, I think. I never would have thought of spraying matt varnish over the top of grass though. I would have thought it would become more brittle, rather than stronger. The snow effect you get from using the varnish is usually if the air is too humid, by the way. I tried varnishing some models after a storm and they all came out frosted. This was solved by a second layer of varnish, though.
Woohoo! Glad to inspire. Both RP Archive and Geek Gaming Scenics sprayed their grass, so I gave it a go. It's honestly really worked for me. And thank you for the matte varnish tip! It's good to know that it can be solved with another drier attempt haha.
Hello Rae'Chel. Thanks for the video. Nice to see a new hobby channel surfacing. My question is, since we would want to use these tiles for TTRPG games, how would we store them? I guess not on top of each other. Maybe it's and idea for the next video.
Thank you and glad to join the hobby channel party! RP archive actually has an immensely helpful video for storage of tiles like this. I think it's part of his cave tiles video or grass video. tl;dr is that I put them in a narrow box sideways lol. And the big pieces on like shelves similar to what RP built. I'll definitely consider making a storage-oriented video in the future if I think of something different to contribute though!
Thank you! I personally bought them off of ebay! There's a seller in Canada that prices them really decently. Matt at RP Archive has a bunch of links in his equipment list on where to purchase magnets as well.
Can we be friends? I loved so much of your puns! The videography was on point, the techniques were accessible and the aesthetic was beautiful. Automatic subscribe , and like!
Two questions about using the balloon- do you find that balloons work on static grass longer than 2-4mm, and, have you found a decent way to recover the grass that clings to the balloon? Or is that just a sacrifice to the scenery gods?
LOL. I don't see why it wouldn't work on longer grass, although it will probably require more frequent... charging. I have also tried wiping them off with a wet paper towel and vacuuming them off to no avail, so for now I continue to appease the seemingly insatiable scenery gods.
Yeah to be honest I was semi-inspired by those really old-school square-piece puzzles (very clear description, I know 😅). But glad someone else also uses it! And for storage yes I store the small pieces on their edge, but I follow a storage system that RP Archive made on his channel. Very useful!
Great Video! I'm just getting into terrain building and really love RPArchive's modular system, but I'm also always on the look out for ways to add variation and new techniques within that system. This is perfect for that! You also probably just saved me $75 I was eventually gonna spend on a static grass applicator☺
Awsome idea! Excellent job you did and I am stealing this and will probably follow your steps to the letter as it looks perfect. How does the grass stand up to minis placed on it? Thankyou for the video.
Thank you very much and I hope the instructions serve you well! I took into serious consideration RP Archive's advice for basing and got/made hollow bases for a lot of my minis, or at least any 2" and bigger minis. It holds up just fine with smaller minis though!
Oh no... you must definitely appease the mafia enforcer. ...I mean, your own free will. Unless the mafia enforcer is named Euron Freewill.. Now THAT would be crazy.
Wait until it's all dry to the touch and not squishy. You'll see a pretty distinct change in colour as it dries, too. For how thickly I put my mud on, I can usually dry brush within a couple hours. Sorry for the delayed reply! 😅
This is the incredibly fun and inspiring tutorial. Love all of those video edits (and puns), they are just brilliant! And the final terrain pieces look gorgeous 🌲 Subscribed & waiting for more!
Yes exactly that! My players know that each tile is 3 spaces so we know how to count it out. In the case of longer distances or bigger tiles I just bring out a ruler. You can mark them with dots if you like to make a grid that way.
Those look awesome, but how do you store them to not flatten all that grass and shrubs? I guess you can't stack them on top of each other anyways because of the tree logs and stumps... 🤔
My party is pretty good about visually identifying that a 3x3 tile takes 3 spaces of movement to get across. That being said, Dimension 20 does a pretty good job of using white dots on their terrain to indicate the grid if that's a helpful compromise!
@@raecheldoes Ty for your advice, I made them now like in the video, but three woodplanks in the length symbolize one grid tile, but without the grid if you get what I meaning. ^^"
You. Are. Brilliant. Seriously, I have followed many creators and the balloon hack is perfection as is the key to modularity is corner to corner terrain split in half.
Absolutely love your style and method to sharing your work - great job! I'm thinking about attempting this, targeting a 3' x 3' table for skirmish type wargames but likely wanting to expand a 6' x 4' table to support regiment style war games. Even if I did this with 6" x 6" tiles (36 tiles for the starting 3 x 3 table 😬), do you even think this would be a good idea? I'm worried about: tiles being shifted around easily because of the lightweight foam, durability due to heavier models (like vehicles, big ruined buildings, etc.) being placed on top, and uneven ground being difficult for regiments (on movement trays). Would you still want to go modular tiles and maybe just change up the surfaces to be flatter, or go with a different approach to the table altogether?
For bigger wargaming set-ups, I would definitely consider what are the most important considerations. Is storage an issue? Do you want the terrain to be able to change often? It sounds like durability and playability are top contenders. For tiles shifting around, there are ways around that, like adding weights underneath or an outer frame to hold a full board together. I also would consider going right up to 12"x12" tiles if your table to going to be that big! You can cut 6"x12" strips and glue them together. Also, I would consider using flocking for grass if it's going to be handle a lot and/or have heavier models on top. Static grass is visually appealing, but considerably less durable than flocking in my opinion. Another alternative would be a roll-up battle mat. Luke at Geek Gaming scenics has made a really cool durable roll-up battle mat, and Jeremy at Black Magic Craft also just recently made a wilderness battle mat video.
@@raecheldoes Thanks much for the reply - lots to think about there. I, too, am considering a battle mat for tables in the 3x3' or bigger range, and then maybe using tile setups for encounter type situations ala D&D. Too many projects!
Just have to 'leaf' a comment here. The crafting community should 'log' this as one of the BEST tile videos out there. Nicely done. Only ONLY *ONLY* critique is that some of the music was a tad loud compared to your voiceover. And this may just be my aging ears!
Ah thank you for the support and compliments! I'm super flattered! And yes thank you for the feedback about the music--I've gotten this a couple times so I'm for sure going to adjust for future videos. Your delivery was very diplomatic and well-received haha.
