Using the depth in kallistra

[colingee]

I have sought permission before I made this post and subsequent posts on this subject. I hope it will help people decide on Kallistra for their wargames.
My oppo and I thought long and hard before we went for Kallistra hexon, and we were not disappointed. We havent seen anything that comes close when it comes to a variable set up for wargames. Obviously, fixed set ups can look fantastic.
One of the things we wanted to exploit was the 12mm depth in Kallistra.
Here are some examples of how we have started to do that, and in doing so have created trench, sunken roads,and rivers that go below ground level and really create a feeling of contour and depth in the wargame table.
The hex are 12mm MDF cut to hex shape, 100mm from flat to flat, the same as Kallistra.
They look perfectly good alongside normal Kallistra stuff, and will look better and better as our method of preparing them improves. They are designed to complement Kallistra, as the existing system is fantastic in its own right.

[colingee]

And more. Work in progress and finished article. We will improve our finished product as we go along. Weathering will certainly be required.

[colingee]

I used split firelighters and floral oasis pva'd in place. Flocked and then tufted. weathering to come. I didn't edge them properly. All hexes are chamfered to ensure the hexes are still wholly apparent. Alas I think I didn't flock up to the line well enough, but this was first effort. Hexes were purchased from a reputable company, and have the advantage of all being the same as their machining standards are high, plus the 25mm trench cuts all align

[Norm]

Very nice, did you do the cuts with a router or was than done by the company?

[colingee]

Done by the company. I figured that it was best to have them all cut to spec rather than me get alignments a little messed up and out of line. I will be using a router to make things less uniform, and also a modelling knife is good enough to take hard edges off. The rivers will be a bigger challenge as they will be poured resin to a depth of about 5mm or thereabouts. I have asked the company about producing larger boards and they can produce to my spec, fully routed, so larger rivers, wadis, et al will be on the cards. I have so many plans but so little time...

[colingee]

Some more trenches done. Only another seventy hexes to do However, either streams or bocage next on the list

[glasman]

Nice.
Been thinking alomg the same line. The ability to have sunken trenches and especially streams are one of the main benefits of modular tables.
Have not started my Project yet, but was thinking of using the template sets. Not having seen them I was wondering whether that was possible.
Or even placing river and trench sections between regular hexons building up the borders to fit.

[colingee]

Apologies. Ive only just seen this. Busy scribbling and with Xmas I'm afraid. the short answer is no. Raising the edges on hexon boards to 'tuck' things under is a non-starter for me. Others may disagree, but it puts them out of alignment and spoils the lines. The templates [I assume you mean the ones supplied by Kallistra in the same colour as the boards?] would obviously fit but would leave rising square edges where they butt up to existing boards, unless you use the slopes Kallistra supply. That will increase your costs, unless you make your own slope with oasis/foam/plaster or whatever floats your boat. Ive looked a few ways [even tried to persuade Kallistra to manufacture their own reversed hexes] but the mdf one is the best so far. I have a 3d printer so will also try and produce copies of my mdf pieces to see how that goes.

[colingee]

streams set on a corner of our board. the church is yet another masterpiece from my oppo, who created two; one intact and one decidedly otherwise :-)

Here is a quick picture of the streams completed. Took me ages as real life interfered, plus I made some errors; first time with resin was a journey I can tell you! However, the end results are most acceptable and look better in place than a photo allows for. That 12mm depth in Kallistra makes all the difference