Over the Christmas and New Year holiday of 2021, I took on a project: to return to my (temporarily) shelved 15mm pike & shot / Renaissance era rules… and the pile of terrain waiting to be finished for it.
I’d end up building and basing a few buildings, some elevation pieces, modular roads, rivers, and applying the finishing flock and foliage to all of it. It was a few weeks of regular weeknight work.
Here are some photos.
15mm Buildings
Here are some WIP snapshots of some of the terrain.
![](https://tabletop.willphillips.org/wp-content/uploads/log-211231-06-bldg-start-1024x1024.jpeg)
![](https://tabletop.willphillips.org/wp-content/uploads/log-211231-07-bldg-midpoint-1024x1024.jpeg)
![](https://tabletop.willphillips.org/wp-content/uploads/log-211231-08-bldg-painted-1024x1024.jpeg)
![](https://tabletop.willphillips.org/wp-content/uploads/log-211231-09-bldg-tree-1024x1024.jpeg)
There was so much terrain to work through that eventually I setup the folding table in my office to give me extra space to arrange everything:
![](https://tabletop.willphillips.org/wp-content/uploads/log-211231-10-worktable-1024x1024.jpeg)
Hillside Paths and Elevation Changes
My 15XX rules use a large zone-based grid system that I’m aligning my 15mm terrain to. I’d already build a “clockwise” 2x1sq hillside road and a smaller 1x1sq ramp, but wanted a “counterclockwise” 2×1 version to increase my layout flexibility.
While I was at it, I figured I might as well make another 1×1.
- Based on extruded PVC (like all my 15mm terrain) and build up with cardboard and hot glue.
- Covered with a mix of grout and/or PVA glue and aquarium sand.
- Then painted and finished.
![](https://tabletop.willphillips.org/wp-content/uploads/log-211231-01-ramps-1x1-start-1024x1024.jpeg)
![](https://tabletop.willphillips.org/wp-content/uploads/log-211231-02-ramps-1x1-wip-1024x1024.jpeg)
![](https://tabletop.willphillips.org/wp-content/uploads/log-211231-01-2x1-ramp-1024x1024.jpeg)
![](https://tabletop.willphillips.org/wp-content/uploads/log-211231-04-figures-on-ramp-1024x1024.jpeg)
Eventually I ended up with this:
![](https://tabletop.willphillips.org/wp-content/uploads/log-211231-14-pieces-1024x1024.webp)
![](https://tabletop.willphillips.org/wp-content/uploads/log-211231-05-ramp-finished-1024x576.jpeg)
Cliffs, Flat Hills, Big Blocks of Elevation
The use of the grid system extends to elevation changes.
When I first started designing these rules, I went with a 3x2ft board, but playtesting showed that the game played just as well on a smaller 2x2ft space. I chopped up my painted, caulked, and glued terrain board and kept the remainders.
I turned them into more hills. Everybody loves hills.
![](https://tabletop.willphillips.org/wp-content/uploads/log-211231-11-cuts-scaled.jpg)
![](https://tabletop.willphillips.org/wp-content/uploads/log-211231-12-texture-1024x1024.jpeg)
![](https://tabletop.willphillips.org/wp-content/uploads/log-211231-12-paint-1024x1024.webp)
It All Comes Together
![](https://tabletop.willphillips.org/wp-content/uploads/log-211231-15-scene-1024x1024.jpeg)
It took a fair bit of time, the buildings, the elevation pieces, and the modular road and river terrain (in a later post) gives me lots of options to work with… if I could ever find someone to play and test the rules with.
Ah, the bane of an indie wargamer designing rules in a niche era or genre!
For now, everything’s gone back in the tubs, but at least I don’t have the specter of “you should get this done” lingering in the back of my mind!
![](https://tabletop.willphillips.org/wp-content/uploads/log-211231-16-storage-1024x1024.webp)