Hi guys, I've built a castle board basically for skirmish games, but I'm a bit stumped on what kind of stuff would look good / be playable for the courtyard. The courtyard dimensions are roughly 40x40cm.

Lately, I have watched a few videos about creating magnetic terrain and battle mats and I wondering if y'all think these things can be merged. My idea is this:

Use a standardish canvas/caulking battle mat process except add either iron powder or iron oxide to the mix prior to smoothing out the base layer. My thought is that this approach should make a ferro magnetic substrate to which minis and magnetized terrain would hold.

As I have never made a canvas mat what are your favorite base mixes? I have seen caulking alone, caulk+paint, caulk+grout/dirt/sand, Some people seem to put caulk base and then cover with sand and pebbles then seal down. Obviously, I will want to add the my iron to the caulk.

My initial thought was something like a caulk + cheapy burnt umber acrylic paint+iron smeared onto the canvas. Add some sand/dirt mix to the top. Seal the whole surface with a PVA/water matte sealant. Maybe follow up with various colors of wash to get natural dirt colors.
Does that seem like a practical solution?

I think I am going to try to make some magnet patches of grass to stick down on the mat rather than put grass on the mat base. Thoughts?

Another question, how do you go about making sure the mat isn't too magnetic such that every time a magnetic mini is moved it moves the play surface? Suppose there is a perfect cocktail of iron to goop that results in enough to hold terrain and minis a bit, but not enough to move the weight of the mat? Perhaps adding true corner magnets to the back of the mat and double sticking magnets in the table would be sufficient to keep it put.

Is this a terrible idea and would it be better to go back to building terrain on sheet metal bases? I really like the light, roll-up of a battle mat...

Hi, I recently got into terrain building and just started my first attempt on modular terrain but i keep failing as i dont have a proxxon and my cuts are there by "questionable" any help, tips or whatever would be appreciated thanks!

https://preview.redd.it/o4ru01oz325e1.jpg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b77fe5ee4564093220f0b5a661f4fd9381b83bfd

I'm making some concrete-looking tiles with XPS foam and, following SmolWorld's tutorial, am putting a base color of Deck Tan on after sealing it. This time I sealed it with what I thought was a pretty universal method of using Black Magic Craft's black paint + Mod Podge mix - but I ended up having to apply like 4-5 coats of the deck tan on top of the black in order to get decent coverage, obscuring some detail.

Is the Black Paint + Mod Podge technique only good when you're making stone or grey tiles, like to be drybrushed on top of? Should I instead be a) mixing a lighter color in with the Mod Podge for my seal or b) just use plain, slightly watered down Mod Podge and paint on top of that? Or some third thing I don't know about?

Seems like a lot of crafters on Youtube have no problem getting good coverage with like one or two coats with any color after the BMC method is used...

https://preview.redd.it/91lh6io3z15e1.jpg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=25f2e4a045a0bd53c611d214b5605149e7301278

https://preview.redd.it/rsettio3z15e1.jpg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=22d2d5bb9efcd498b4f10dbc10b332d4462d6865

This has been the most positive and helpful group of mixed modellers and hobbyists I've found in a while and just wanted to say thank you all for being so pleasant and welcoming.

Does anyone know if shifting lands products work on most hot wire cutters, or do they only fit/work with proxxons?

It's called down from 32mm by 60% and 8nshould have added a layer of 5mm xps to the top. Looking at that for future tiles. Now I'm trying to come up with a way to add stonework/cobbles to the road and fountain area. Thanks.

I remember years ago, looking at Warhammer fantasy boards on YouTube and seeing one that was a flat green field with a cliff with a cave with mushrooms and like a grass on top, it was specifically designed for orcs and goblins and had a ramshackle elevator thing

it’s awesome and i loved it, if might have been green leaf terrain or an older creator- any help or leads would be great

or similar projects

As in title, I'm looking for a free, intuitive software to design MDF/HDF/Plywood lasercut terrains (3mm thick).
I've tried InkScape, but it's more like a vector illustrator than CAD software.
FreeCAD is too much focused on 3D designing in my experiece.
Since lasercut designing is based on 2D drafting, I'm looking for a software that focuses mostly on 2D with an option to turn the elements into a 3D parts (mentioned 3mm thickness as a constant Z dimension) in an assembly mode.
On daily basis I'm working with PCCAMPLUS and it works wonders with it's simplicity of CAD module. On the other hand it's very limited with it's functions and I use it only to design building frames.
Is there any free software that may meet my requirements?