Jadeberry Hill

Scalene

Member
Following on from some of Drew's posts on Facebook, I thought I'd post this to track feasibility/preparation.

This is the suggestion of playing the classic Battle of Jadeberry Hill, WD #94, sequel to Battle at the Farm, orks vs Crimson Fists. I'm thinking that as the Saturday and Sunday have got a lot of prospective games, this might be a Friday game. We would need a couple of players and a GM. Could probably go up to 4-6 players if there was enough interest. Table wise we need:
- Crimson Fists. I think Drew has these
- Space Orks. Drew has some, I could probably supply about 20. Original scenario has 20 plus random reinforcements. I'm imagining we would beef it up a bit so all players get at least ten models. Also I suspect the orks could do with more heavy weapons and maybe even a light vehicle.
- Civilian vehicles. Map shows 4, as these will be basically the only cover on the approach we will need at least this number. I have two suitable vehicles and could probably rustle up a few more.
- A highway. I don't have one of these, but I'm planning to make one as I've started playing Gaslands and I've seen some really cool cracked tarmac done in cork which I've just got to have a go at.
- An orchard. I don't know what Jadeberry trees look like - I always imagined them as the red and green foliaged tree in Rogue Trader (which I have tried and failed many times to track down in aquarium shops etc), but I've got stacks of tropical trees, so that's fine.
- A river edge - top of the table shows the edge of a river, but I think we could leave that off-table.
- A massive hill with a big road tunnel going into it. The scale is hard to read because like the farm map, it doesn't feel like it's to scale, but it looks like the tunnel should be 8-12" across. I don't have anything like this so that's the main thing missing right now.

So the orks don't get slaughtered by dug-in marines, the ground could be littered with plenty of craters and maybe a few hedges, walls, burnt out sheds and that sort of thing.
 
I really surprised that this has not been run at BOYL already!

I had intended to put this together myself several months back, But I was only able to pain up 21 Ork Raiderz and 14 Crimson fists. I could probably pain up more if needed, but the part of the project I couldn't do, at this late hour, is to arrange for the scenery.

WE NEED one big custom hill with a tunnel entrance (roughly 3' long, with 2, 4-tier peaks), 10-15 orchard trees, 4-5 civilian vehicles including trucks, and a wide curving road. I'd suggest the ground be standard flock green. I could make these things, but couldn't bring them with me from San Francisco.

The craters you suggested would probably be very suitable as well, plus a farmers shed associated with the orchard. But I'd hold back from adding much more than that.

To increase the drama and play-time, Section Leader Huron Grimm and the City Guard could be represented by Imperial Army troops, And these are reinforced by Commander Cantor's surviving Crimson Fist marines. If asked, I'm betting Lee Morley could bring along his own raiders, which would make more than enough for Ork reinforcement rolls.

Suggestion: If anyone has a 4x4+ green flock battle matt, we might be able to drape that over some books from the Ansell library. If someone could do that, and Lee brought his Raiders, and you brought 4-5 civilian vehicles, 2-3 craters, and 1 rusty shed, and made those cork board road segments, I could provide orchard trees, a mock tunnel entrance, classic Crimson Fist miniatures, and maybe Rynnsguard (Imperial Army) as well.
 

Attachments

  • Jadebury hill.jpg
    Jadebury hill.jpg
    205.1 KB · Views: 1,587
Update:

Curtis just told me that he can provide the vehicles required, and he's also good to help make the faux underzoom entrance.

I myself, could mail enough orchard trees and the battle mat itself, if no one else happens to have one to share. If I buy my own, I might slice a gap into it to meet the underzoom entrance scenery more believably.

As for the figures, I can bring Pedro Cantor and his 15 marines form Battle at the Farm scenario, to reinforce Huron Grimm's 20 Rynnsguard. That's assuming that I'm not bringing my own Ork Raiders, IF Lee should donate his for the event.
 
I am happy to make the underzoom entrance. Drew said to make the hill from a throw/battlemat which I think he is ordering (!) with books/boxes under. I am happy to build an underzoom entrance bit it needs to be wider than the road. Scalene if you are making the road let me know the width!
 

Scalene

Member
Curtis - why don’t you come round and we’ll do another build. I’m not sold on the books and battle mat idea.i think this needs a custom hill. I’m inclined to use cardboard to block it out and then cover with polystyrene.maybe make it in two halves. I’ve got quite a bit of 1” thick extruded polystyrene that we could use for the tunnel entrance.

Drew - I’ve got loads of trees so don’t worry about them.
 
I agree that the mat/books solution (which Rick P. even suggested in the article) is a relatively poor one. But as I'm not committing more than 30 painted figures to the event, I'm in no position to ask anyone else to do more.
When I first proposed this scenario, I was planning to make the hill exactly as the diagram, and mail it ahead of myself to Tim Prow, or someone else I knew I would be visiting when I got there. But now I've run out of time for making it.

Here is an edited breakdown of the size of the Jadeberry hill piece (attached). I've no idea how much effort you'd want to put into it. But One suggestion could be to make the hill complete with the two peaks but leave the underzoom entrance as a custom-fitted accessory to fix against it. That way, you'd still have a generic hill you can use for other battles in the future. Since I was looking to drop $35 on a terrain mat, I could just as easily donate that to you for some of your time.

Like I said tho, I think we'd also need support from Lee to use his Ork Raiders collection. What I have is only enough for the Battle on the Farm, and even those need finishing touches and varnish. I can carry all the imperial forces in my luggage if I don't have to finish or bring my own orks.
 

Attachments

  • Jadeberry Hill Scale.jpg
    Jadeberry Hill Scale.jpg
    67 KB · Views: 1,568
Overall, the map size should be something like this....

At first I thought maybe 6 players (7 incl GM).

But if the table is going to be 4' x 4', then I doubt more than four players and a GM can attend play comfortably.

But that seems fine to me. As my biggest inspiration was that tidy McDeath table we had back in 2015.
 

Attachments

  • Jadebury hill size.jpg
    Jadebury hill size.jpg
    161.7 KB · Views: 1,567

Scalene

Member
I think make it in two halves, one with a generic hill and the other with the entrance in it. My biggest concern is the practicality. Normally I make hills pretty flat - less material, more realistic, easier to stand models on. In this case the hill needs to be about a 45 degree angle to get enough height for the tunnel. That implies it needs to be stepped, which is hard to make look good. As it’s meant to be agricultural, maybe it could be made to look terraced - little retaining walls and steps although that would significantly complicate the build. The orchard area in particular is likely to be used for fighting over but it’s a steep hill covered in trees - do trees need to slot into holes etc.

I’m inclined to use quite a bit of artistic licence to make it a more practical shape to build and game on. On the other hand I like the idea of faithfully reproducing the original.
 

Scalene

Member
On the orc front, I've got:
- The original box (about 17)
- The LE first space orc
- Another three or so RT orcs
- Five from my "Orc Invader Kickstarter" http://www.warfactory.co.uk/wp/2018/01/10/orc-invaders-kickstarter/

About 25 in all, but I can get more of my own sculpts cast up if we need to make up the numbers (so basically Lee's forces aren't a necessity).

I've also got some RTB01 marines unpainted/on sprue which could be pressed into service as Crimson Fists if we are short.
 
I have TONS of old metal, but I'm running out of time to finish painting it.

I have over 30 original 1987 metal Beakies with metal backpacks. 17 of which are painted Crimson Fists and ready to go.
I have over 40 original 1987 Imperial Army figures. 19 of which are strictly the Aly Morrison ones, and 1/2 painted up as Rynnsguard.
I have over 40 original 1987 Orks and Ork Raiders. Only 20 of which are half painted.

So we aren't short on figures... just time. If I had these all polished off, then I'd jump right into making Jadeberry Hill myself. Since yesterday I had put away my orks and started polishing up the 19 Rynnsguard and 17 Fists.

Y'know, we COULD just postpone Jadeberry Hill and work on nailing the Battle at the Farm instead. It's also a 4 x 4 map (attached), but with a much simpler hill. I could guarantee a handsome collection of figures ready for that. And you guys could focus on a sweet board for it. In my head I imagine that tidy McDeath table from 2015', with the custom flocked terrain, and shallow rises. I don't think anyone has build a dedicated Battle at the Farm board before. Not even the guys at GW when making the rules.

With your skills, you could make the farm look BETTER than the one on the RT book. ;)

We could talk about expanding into Jadeberry for 2019 while in person at BOYL. Much less hassle.

Food for thought.
 

Attachments

  • Battle at the Farm.PNG
    Battle at the Farm.PNG
    42.8 KB · Views: 1,527

Scalene

Member
I'm much more interested in Jadeberry Hill - the Farm's been done too often before (although granted many of them aren't very faithful to the original). Still feels very do-able, particularly if we can find another player to chip in with some orks.
 
Hell, if I had MY wishes come true, we'd be doing BOTH scenarios at BOYL 2018. First Farm, then Jadeberry.

I'm with you on the hill being less appealing if made tall enough to match the clearance of the underzoom entrance. That would be about 3' or so? Maybe 3 1/2". Even with 1/2" tiers, with the original footprint for Jadeberry hill, the steps would be very narrow in places. Perhaps the footprint of the hill could be broadened an extra couple inches in each direction, to make space for the tiers. Ahdunno. Part of wanting to just do Farm was to give us time to collab over beers and scribble out design solutions in person. ;)

EDIT: No, WAIT. Idea... How much of a PITA would it be to make a 2" thick foam-core table, 4' x 4' in four 2' x 2' sections? Don't modify the hill, keep it shallow. Instead, focus on the highway ramping down UNDER the hill, with a tilted faux underzoom entrance built into the terrain ground. Looking at the art, that entrance doesn't really go into the hillside at all. See attached diagram of my proposal. I haven't made scenery since working GW HQ 17 years ago, so maybe I'm assuming something.

PS: So I'm prepping 23 Crimson Fists Marines and 33 Space Ork Raiders. My pet Rynnsguard idea can wait for another time. Also, I'm supplying the jadeberry orchard.
 

Attachments

  • Jadebury hill test A.jpg
    Jadebury hill test A.jpg
    247 KB · Views: 1,046

Scalene

Member
That’s a beautiful drawing, I think it might be more realistic as an under zoom but it looks like more work and outcome would be a single layout table. Maybe if the Hill was moved north a bit it could be fitted on to two 2’ squares and the two in front could be flat squares with a road section on top.

On the Rynn’s guard front, I’ve got 30 or so painted imperial guard. Mostly the original metal range and done in grey with black armour as per wd 109.
 
True, those tiles would be dedicated parts, but then the hills wouldn't be. And the hills could then be in the shallower style that suits you best. Your idea about not having that ramp cut into all the terrain quarters sounds challenging, but at least not as big a headache as that first approach.

The challenge would be to not let the ramp suddenly DROP under the hill and appear clumsy. Using this revised art (attached), I'd propose that the road be exactly 7" wide, and that it follows the same sweeping curve indicated in the original art (C. Crichtlow, or D. Andrews?). Between the thorough sweep of that arc and the 7" span, the transition downward will appear relatively graceful at an length of approximately 13"-14". Resembling some of the more ambitious freeway ramps we know in RL; describing a modern road engineered for high speed travel.

With this, only 2 of the 5 component fabricated will be dedicated to the scenario, and the hill and two blank quarters can be used for any other game setting. :)

I suppose there is also the road pavement. It's to be made using sheets of painted cork? I'd affix them to the terrain with blue tack, and they should pull up off to be used elsewhere nicely, if they are sturdy enough.
 

Attachments

  • Jadebury hillB.jpg
    Jadebury hillB.jpg
    180.5 KB · Views: 1,040

Scalene

Member
Neatly replanned there. I was thinking that the hill would be cut from one big chunk (so not using the sheets of polystyrene as contours because that looks really artificial), however I would cut in terracing to make it look like the sort of thing you get in a Mediterranean olive orchard, for example, making it both playable and natural. The slope around the tunnel would be steep and more or less impassable. I think the top of the tunnel would need to be about 4-6" above road surface, but could go much nearer the top of the hill than is shown in the map - so hill maybe 4" above the main board surface. Maybe make the orchard end of the hill a bit lower than the tunnel end (because it can be).

I was imagining the hill being actually built into the terrain piece rather than removable. If the hill was shifted to the right, and the tile boundary ran through the left hand side of the C label, then there would be one tile with just a hill on it (i.e. generic hill), and the other tile would have the underzoom on it. There could be two plain tiles to the right, making it 4'x6'. As we are looking at scaling up the forces a bit bigger table seems reasonable.

The road technique I've seen is where very thin cork mat (2mm or so) is stuck to a surface, but you tear it up first so there are lots of random cracks between pieces. I was going to use 6mm hardboard (not sure what you call that in US, it's a sort of MDF stuff) and then it would just sit on top of the terrain. Where it's cut into the ground for the underzoom, it would be built in. I'm imagining the underzoom as a big concrete entrance like a motorway flyover (although it's just shown as a hole in a hill here.

As it's supposed to be an agricultural world, I've got a load of those fibre mats that look like fields of crops. Some of them would cover up the tile junctions, and provide a bit of interest. For the agricultural huts I could use some Warhammer townscape card buildings. They look a bit basic, but have great nostalgia value.
 
LOL And here I am trying to propose LESS labor. :grin:

I'll upload another sketch about my proposal for the tunnel just in case I wasn't being clear. It has to do with minimizing the workload, simplifying the approach, keeping as much produced generic, and hewing close as possible to the map for iconic reasons.

Scalene":166iuwww said:
I was thinking that the hill would be cut from one big chunk (so not using the sheets of polystyrene as contours because that looks really artificial), however I would cut in terracing to make it look like the sort of thing you get in a Mediterranean olive orchard, for example, making it both playable and natural.

I think if you seal & flock layers of 1/2" thick sheets of foam or corrugated card, it could still look classy for much less effort. Again, I'm reminded of that McDeath table. Those hills were subtle, and lovely. Not the "Cliffs of Dover" that we often see.

Scalene":166iuwww said:
The slope around the tunnel would be steep and more or less impassable. I think the top of the tunnel would need to be about 4-6" above road surface, but could go much nearer the top of the hill than is shown in the map - so hill maybe 4" above the main board surface. Maybe make the orchard end of the hill a bit lower than the tunnel end (because it can be).

If you use a little illusion painting technique, then the top of the entrance can remain flush with the plane of the terrain surface. By SLANTING the gap between the bottom of the ramp and the top of the entrance (which could be made using the bottom of the hill), you can make the 2" space 4". TRUE, the gap inside could not actually accommodate any vehicle models, but that space is not a playing area beyond the first few inches anyway. The underzoom is an objective piece. By painting the inside of the tunnel dark, you can create an illusion of depth. Enough to get by for the battle. The concrete detail defining the rim of the tunnel could be very minimal as well. Saving effort.

Scalene":166iuwww said:
I was imagining the hill being actually built into the terrain piece rather than removable.

Oh? You've no use for a modular hill? I'm surprised. Could you make it in the same way as that McDeath table I'm always on about?

Scalene":166iuwww said:
If the hill was shifted to the right, and the tile boundary ran through the left hand side of the C label, then there would be one tile with just a hill on it (i.e. generic hill), and the other tile would have the underzoom on it. There could be two plain tiles to the right, making it 4'x6'. As we are looking at scaling up the forces a bit bigger table seems reasonable.

Honestly, as I look over the limited time left and the preparations needed, I'm inclined to pull back my ambitions and try to keep this project closer to the original scale of 20 marines vs 20 Orks plus Ork reinforcements. If YOU guys should build a larger table with added figures for more players in a longer battle, I'll def wanna jump in that! But I feel we would be better off making as few changes as possible, to make sure we hit a clean target, and help me feel less guilty for prodding you guys into making it. :)

When you suggest shifting the hill to the defenders left, I worry that that could force the Marines backs into the corner, and cuts down the Ork's already limited tactical options.

So you're considering 4 plain 2x2 tiles, 1 generic hill tile, that aligns with 1 dedicated Underzoom Entrance tile? With the hill sculptures integrated to the tiles? I had assumed that 4 tiles would be easier for you, but if you're keen on 6 I'm surely not gonna try to stop you.

Scalene":166iuwww said:
As it's supposed to be an agricultural world, I've got a load of those fibre mats that look like fields of crops. Some of them would cover up the tile junctions, and provide a bit of interest.

First, those junctions won't matter much if the tiles match and everything else looks good. Moreover I think that if the entire landscape is flocked green, and the orchard looks good, then those two things alone will be enough to describe a fertile region. I think the scene will look best with just three types of obstacles: The abandoned/ruined vehicles on the highway, freshly turned-up impact craters in the middle of the open green fields, and perhaps 1 or 2 small corrugated metal storage sheds beside the orchard (which are usually beside orchards anyway). Between those details, the orchard and the highway, the narrative of the battle will read clearly "Verdant agricultural land, recently attacked/bombarded."

BTW, how many impact craters do you guys have on hand? Do either of you have a crashed ork or imperial flyer to place in the open field?
 

Attachments

  • Jadeberry tunnel.jpg
    Jadeberry tunnel.jpg
    217.3 KB · Views: 1,029
It's the elegance of this table that I keep thinking about. As a professional artist, I found it to be the most lovely and inviting table at BOYL 2015. My eyes ate it up like candy. :grin:
 

Attachments

  • mcdeathA.JPG
    mcdeathA.JPG
    131.4 KB · Views: 1,028
Here is that revised plan for Jadeberry Hill as a 4' x 6' that slides the Underzoom Entrance onto one tile only. Again, the span of the road should be no more than 7" with these proportions.

I still suggest that the hill can be made using fully flocked 1/2" thick contour layers, with no ridges or other changes. That approach will make the jadeberry trees much easier to position as well.

Note I've indicated 3 zones that could benefit from select scenery, the largest being on tile C, which now has the greatest amount of open space in the composition. I don't know what you guys have in stock, but scenery that I think would enhance the narrative of the engagement (and not dilute it) could be impact craters or downed flying vehicles. Everywhere else is best open and green.

How much will these supplies cost? I haven't done this sort of stuff in 17 years so I'm a bit out of touch. :lol:
 

Attachments

  • Jadebury hill C.jpg
    Jadebury hill C.jpg
    238.2 KB · Views: 1,013
Here is my plan for the Jadeberry Hill tiles with the Underzoom Tunnel only on the middle tile, and in a West/East orientation. I'm liking this one more and more. The Orks can appear anywhere on the South edge, giving them a great deal of advantage. There is even an opportunity to bring the Pakomak River back onto the scenery. I would suggest that the river prop be modular, not necessarily modeled onto the terrain. I also place suggested locations for impact craters and the downed flyer mentioned earlier. If you guys should make this, I think it will be very impressive, and make everyone at BOYL very happy to see. :grin:
 

Attachments

  • Jadeberry Hill D.png
    Jadeberry Hill D.png
    207.7 KB · Views: 989

weazil

Moderator
Hi chaps

I see that Scalene has some tables book for BOYL - I wasn't sure if one of those slots was to handle this game? If not, has a table been booked for this under a different name? I have assumed this is on the 6x4 for Saturday evening?

Thanks!
 
Back
Top