Squishy Hills Upgrade

For various reasons, I try to limit my terrain and scenery to a single storage bin. Since I game in 54mm, it's a decent sized container mind, and with the exception of the buildings I made for WWII skirmish gaming (visible in this post), I really don't want to go beyond it.

One way I've managed to accomplish this is by using cushion foam for my hills. It's the kind of foam you might use for making a seat cushion, not Styrofoam or pink foam or anything like that. My supply came as  packaging - I think it came with a shelving unit, but I can't recall, as it's been years.

The point is, it's squishable and can be mashed into available space with ease, which makes it perfect for fitting in a crowded storage container.

I've used these as is for years - I did paint one, but they soak up paint so I skipped it on the rest. The ones I didn't paint were black/grey anyway and while they didn't look great, they worked for me. Plus, most times I would just shove them under the cloth I game on.

However, I really like the look of the typical step hill for wargames (it's possible I've been looking at too man Warhammer images of late) and thought I might give a similar look a try with my squishy hills.

Here's what I mean (apologies for not white-balancing the pictures):

A hill in the raw. Used them like this for years.

As you can see, when I first cut these out years ago, they were left with smooth sides.

To get that cliff-side/rocky look, I hacked them up with scissors, making vertical wedge cuts all along the edge before painting the whole thing black.

A hill after painting. This one is a different kind of foam - yellow, much softer.

The above hill is the one I tried painting years ago, so instead of painting it entirely black like I am doing for the others, I've clipped the edges and then hit just the edges with black. I'll do a second coat because I was running out of paint and I thinned it down too much - there are some yellow bits showing through.

It takes a LONG time to dry - basically cushion foam is a sponge. If you've ever spilled a drink on your sofa that isn't Scotch-guarded or similar, you know this.

Once the black is dry, I coat the top of the hill with brown. 

The sides then get a wet-ish brush of dark grey(not a dry brush, the sponge is too absorbent, but not a full wet brush either, as I'm not trying to cover the black entirely). I use Delta CeramCoat Hippo Grey.

 Followed by the same with a light grey (with less pressure on the brush) - this time, Delta CeramCoat Bridgeport Grey. 

Finally I paint on a light amount of white (also Ceramcoat!). 

Once that's dry, I coat the top with ModPodge and start laying down flock - repeating a few times until I get the coverage I want.

These are black/grey hills after finishing.The figures are some W. Britains that never get on the table.

I realize that painting foam with ModPodge, all over first makes a lot more sense to lessen its absorbency, but I'm concerned that this will negatively impact the squishability. In this case, the top is fairly solid post-ModPodge (and the flock isn't going anywhere), but you can press on it and the hill will squash and then return to original shape with ease..

The end result is what I was hoping for. Yes they kind of look like cliffs or plateaus but since I game a lot set in Italy, that's OK! And they still work under the cloth, too.

I acquired them for a tiny fraction of the cost of buying hills pre-made and without the hassle of buying, let alone using, a wire foam cutter (I don't have any place to use one except my kitchen or living room which is a big no-no).

There are two left to finish up and then I might actually be inspired enough to put brush to figures again.