Make Realistic Volcanic Lava Terrain For D&D and Wargaming! 

I am SO happy with how this project turned out! Look at that LAVA! The thumbnail gives you the best idea of what it looks like in real life, in the video its a bit overly bright in places but DAMN! Ahem. Yes, so I like my new tiles, and I hope you will too! 😁 SLOPE DIMENSIONS AND TEMPLATES Two 1" thick tiles of XPS foam, cut to 6" by 6", though you could use 4 tiles of 1/2" foam. I also made two of these half width (6x3") to work as thinner slopes. Link to the slope templates on patreon: www.patreon.com/posts/52477657 FLOOR TILES DIMENSIONS AND TEMPLATES The floor tiles were 1/2" thick XPS foam cut to 3x3" and 6x6" pieces, with a few 3x1.5" pieces which allow me to 'shift' the 3" tiles along wherever I want, so they're rarely in a weird looking grid. I also made 8 of each type of corner tile using these templates: www.patreon.com/posts/mountainblocks-42548273 These shapes were originally from the mountainblocks video, but were used to make special ground tiles in the grasslands video and caverns video. One type (convex) which can cover the top of the block, and another type (concave) which is slightly smaller and can slot up to the edge of a block to be used as a corner where the block is a wall. LED STRIP BUYING TIPS These LED strips you can get from amazon through my equipment list which helps support the channel, but you can also get from other places (which costs the channel if you don't buy from amazon, so please consider becoming a patron!) Ebay is a good source usually, and you can also try aliexpress. Both have a wider range of available strips including more varied lengths and cheaper versions without dimmers. For these lightboxes you want white (sometimes called daylight) LEDs, and you want to check the spacing of the LEDs, you should get 300 LEDs per 5 metres as a general standard - but it's good to check. Also check they can be cut! They're usually labelled with little scissors where it's safe to. Finally, I would not use RGB LEDs. They have far less LEDs per metre in my experience and don’t work well with using inks to get subtle colour differences - you're kind of locked into very specific shades. STEEL TIN CAN TIPS AND SAFETY Tin (Steel) is safe enough to use if you're reasonably careful, I cut most of mine from (steel) tin can lids with scissors. Made sure you're wearing thick gloves when cutting and handling, I use some woodworking gloves. If you want to make doubly sure the tin isn't sharp, use a metal nail file along the edges to round it off.

"I don't get any money from magnets..." Hmm, sounds like someone got paid off by Big Magnet.

9:50 As an American, I've never heard anyone say "Kitchen roll" in stead of "Paper towel"

Matt, you are getting better and better, the Tolkien of Wargaming. Can't wait for the sci-fi (Star Wars) stuff to arrive. Keep up the good work!

So was I just supposed to find out Hell is actually mostly blue from a RU-vid table top gaming diy video? Cause brimstone is just an old name for sulfur and sulfur = blue lava, apparently!?

Paper Towels - Im am 56 years old American and yeah, thats what we call them where I live. Enjoying catching up on your videos. Just got back into my gaming crafts.

These are excellent. Your best project idea yet. Really original and hands down the best lava tiles out there.

Incredible work as always dude! The lava looks so cool and the undertile lighting system is genius and opens up so many ideas! Liek blessed fairy pools or cave rooms with glowing mushrooms or crystals, your work is always a great inspiration!

This has to be the best lava effects of ever seen. If you ever make here on this side of the pond, I will buy you a pint.

Awesome video! Great lava effects! I know your players will love you for sending them to the elemental plane of fire! Glad it's not my characters! Take care and great work as always!

You and Wyloch bring back early 80's childhood in such stunning creativity. Back then it was graph paper. clever with the magnet.

These look awesome! I really have to spend more time crafting; I'm so far behind it's embarrassing! I love seeing all your new ideas and plans come out 😊 Keep up the great work!

Man, I am loving your videos. They are so easy to listen to and still informative. You are really tempting me to dive into terrain building...

really loved the way you did the lighting, Im currently working on a portal made with clear hot glue and the lighting effect I wanted were kind of a mystery but after seeing how well those LED strips worked I have a nice place to start with alot less trial and error. Thanks!!!!!

Amazing. Love the look, and am a fan of Lukes range as well.

The modular lightbox is genius!

As always brilliant! That translucent fimo is perfect for that kind of application but as far as I see there are more colours that means it may be used for water/fontain/portal/spell/magic gem/bottle/even stained glass window effects. Mixing several colours sculpture into some kind of whirlpool in frame and it makes perfect portal. Great inspiration.

Great video just subbed can't wait to watch the rest of your videos

Great video, love the way you produce this 👍🏻

I dig your videos man, keep it up

Once again you show us many different technics and the result is great

I feel you need a tea sponsor, fantastic video as always. Magic pools maybe a project in the future :)

Nice! I like the sandy blackish finish of the terrain. That really looks great! Cheers

American here...I've never heard kitchen roll in my life, they're paper towels to me! XD

Epic as always!

Looks hot enough to burn through your table! Fantastic work!

This video came just at the right time, as I'm currently thinking about describing a scene like this in my fantasy writing.

Great job 👌 Love the base ready’s.

Definitely gonna make some of those lightboxes. Awesome video mate!

Great job, once again cutting edge hobby terrain.

For black glass shards, you can get black glass beads for aquariums/vases... and a hammer.

An alternative to the LED's possibly is EL panels. come in a variety of colours and you can cut it down to shape. its a very thin sheet so you may not need the box either

Amazing as always.

Another great video as always!

Your skills are unmatched

It’s always a good day when both you and black magic craft upload

So much cooler than my painted lava river. Will be using this in the future.

I honestly have ZERO interest in playing DnD or other tabletop games - But I find making these terrain pieces incredibly satisfying to watch and when I buy a house I'm absolutely dedicating a large area to building.

Hey, Great video! Side note, American here and at least in the Midwest, I have never heard anyone call them a "Kitchen Roll" I have only ever heard them called Paper Towels or "a Brawny" (Brand Name) by about 2 people lol.

Now I have to think of a reason to go to a volcano lol! Fanatic video!

Very cool! I have been looking at a cheap way to light a board and this does seem like the best. Was looking at those cheap light boards at first but they aren't that bright and cost 15$ roughly.

Came from reddit staying for more terrain videos

Very impressive!

Very cool!

well i just learned something new and now i need to add another safety precaution to my prop making for if I plan on doing things with heat

50% of the comments are people misunderstanding what he meant about paper towels...

Once Again amasing.

Take a bow sir, as always a vid worth waiting for.

This is Awesome my dude!

9 out of 10 times when you go "in the US, I think you call it "this" " it's super helpful. All I could think about was who in the US calls paper towels "kitchen rolls" lol I think someone may have been messing with you there. Great video as always tho! The lava will definitely be my next project for a campaign finale coming up 😊

Someone seems to have pranked you, convincing you that Americans say "kitchen roll." Never in my 50 years of living all over these United States -- eastern, southeastern, southwestern, northwestern, and the Hawaiian islands -- have I ever heard a single person refer to paper towels as anything but paper towels. When you said "kitchen roll," I assumed it was a Brit-ism, related to bog roll (which for us is toilet paper). Whatever. :) Terminology aside, yours is still my favorite channel for learning terrain-building, and I'll be starting as soon as my order for foam comes in. Happy gaming, mate!

Sumptuously!

Love your videos. I'm from the US and never heard anyone call Paper Towels "kitchen roll", LOL Maybe it's a regional thing - some areas in the US have funny names for things.

With the crackled panels, you could also paint yellow or bright orange in then dry brush the black on for a lava under the surface look and more contrast to the panels color pallette

My lord. I have no idea how i ended up here but these tiles are gorgepus

I am British and I have always called Kitchen Roll by that name. I hadn't heard people say "Paper towels" until I saw certain American TV shows.

Very old televisions gad massively thick, dark glass screens. Consider shattering one and using the smaller bits as obsidian and the larger pieces can be used as practice for faceting paste jewelry. When finished, they can be mounted and used as paste jewelry sellable at your local theater company or markets.

Floor is lava challenge. No furniture to jump to though. The adventurers better use athletics well.

Okay that was awesome and I definitely think I'll have a go with it! (And where on earth did you get that awesome blue mug??)

Honestly, I love these and EVERY video you’ve done! I’m curious if you think your current system could be adapted to a sci-fi setting? Not just 40k, but say Star Trek RPG?

9:56 Dont know anyone who calls paper towels "kitchen rolls" maybe its outside where i live in cali Edit: I misunderstood what was said.

That lava did turn out awesome! I've nevee heard of transluscent clay before. Were you drinking only decaf tea? That was a lot of tea! I noticed you didn't have the "caffeine shake". Haha. With the lighting panel underneath your lava tiles, did you need to add spacer panels underneath the non-lava tiles to make everything uniform and flat?

As a native west coast American I've never heard kitchen roll and absolutely call those paper towels.

That amber glass is just broken beer and wine bottles, it's very affordable to make your own.

"Kitchen roll"? Lived in the states my entire life, this name is news to me xD

As an American, I’ve never called a roll of paper towels “kitchen roll.” That sounds like a very southern/mid-western thing.

Love your work Matt! Quick question, is it very important that the foam is 15mm or half inch thick? I have 20mm foam, will that cause issues down the line? Cheers.

As an American, i have never heard paper towels be called kitchen rolls

Glad to see you added milk after the water. I'd hate to have to unsubscribe.

Kitchen roll? I've never heard of them being called that. Volcanic glass can be lots of colors but usually it's black or dark green. I think I have heard of it being amber too though.

The stained play sand might not look as good for the rough, rockier terrain you were going for, but it looks very similar to the black sand beaches in Hawaii. So maybe still an option if you want a seaside volcano!

when sculping, use a plastic wrap to avoid sharp edges while using tools

This looks really outstanding! I have two questions though 1) Before i spend the money, resources and time making it, would it be reasonably simple to make these slope pieces as grassland pieces instead, as lighter slopes? 2) Have you thought of making a water tile system? (rivers, waterfalls, shores, marsh, etc)

I'm not sure how hot foam can go but modelling clay like Sculpey can be cured at much lower temperatures than it says on the packaging - as low as my oven will go. I've done this often and the only difference is you have to leave it in for a lot longer. It also has the perk that these low temps won't cause any blackening.

06:30 10/10 tea choice

You might consider artists light boards; they're pretty affordable, maybe cheaper than strips of LEDs even

Awesome video! Americans definitely just call it paper towel tho, I don’t know who’s telling you we say “kitchen roll”

Matt! We miss you!

Now I think I can finally paint lava thx - oh and completely off topic - I think you'd make an excellent Doctor Who - just a thought - Jodi is leaving after this season :-)

as an American i have no idea what kitchen roll is, we have always said paper towels.

I LOVE these but how do you play with something like this? Has anyone thought of a way to do a hex/grid system with them without totally destroying the aesthetic? (question applies to the grassland, caves, etc.) OR do most people do the Warhammer tape measure method? And if so how did it go?

I totally hear you on the hollow bases. But all my minis are based with clear bases because I HATE bases that don't match the surrounding terrain. I haven't been able to find Halloween clear bases. Any advice?

Great way to smooth polymer clay is to use mineral oil. You can brush it on very lightly and it will smooth down better than fingers can do :)

With limited funds I found blocks of colourless wax. Do you think that would work with foam?

This is great! You may have a tea problem tho

I have never heard of paper towels being called kitchen roll. Here in Michigan we call them paper towels. However, America is a big place... I'm curious if other Americans call paper towels kitchen roll.

What miniature range is that big baddie with wings near the lava at the 12:10 mark from?

I'd like too see a dragon skeleton in the landscaping

Love this! FYI I’m in the U.S. and have only called them paper towels. ??

I looked in your glue and sealant list and dont see a link to the "thick basing glue"?

As an american i've never once heard anyone refer to paper towels as kitchen roll

👌👌👌

Interesting, I've only ever heard them called paper towels, I've never heard kitchen roll before. I'm American.

The nine hells all these landscapes are vulcanic. Me who remembers, that the fith hell is made of ice: What?

I bet you could use the same method for swamp tiles.

American’s do NOT call paper towels kitchen rolls. I have never even heard of that term before now. I think someone was pulling your leg. We call them paper towels just like you. 😉

Normal person oven! Yay! 😂

I've lived in several states. I don't think I've ever heard anyone ever say kitchen roll. They've always been paper towels to me. Must be what they say in a corner of the US. Maybe it was up in New England? They speak funny up there.

Im from America and Iv never heard someone call paper towels kitchen rolls Iv only heard them get called paper towels for the past 20 years

Why can’t you get half inch foam?