Hi, all.

Thus is a quick showcase of a modular terrain project I've been building on and off for a little over a year (I think). These are not all of the pieces to the set, though it's around two thirds of it, especially if you count the pieces sitting below other pieces for elevation.

My friends got me back into Battletech and this just kind of happened. It's all built from cardboard, paperboard, or just card stock (for the full-water hex cluster). Artwork is created digitally and printed to cardstock, which is then pasted to the top and bottom faces of almost every piece.

The largest clusters are seven hexes across. Each hex is 1.25" across. The zero-elevation pieces are one layer of cardboard, give or take a layer of paper board, thick. The pieces representing one level of elevation are about 0.5" tall or three laminated layers of good condition product-container cardboard (who knew diaper boxes were an excellent building material?) I use school glue for laminating layers and modpodge for securing artwork and adding a water resistance layer. Anything one layer or less is cut with a precision knife or box cutter. Anything more than that is cut using a scroll saw.

The buildings are NGX foam board, as are some of the taller terrain clusters.

My gaming group and I have been quite happy to have this setup for our skirmishes, and the collection keeps growing as I make new environment types and specialized clusters.

Now for the question:

Can anyone recommend a new material suitable for this project? My toddler is, thankfully, growing out of the reason I have a steady cardboard supply. I'd also like something that will last better, anyway.

I was considering balsa or bass wood, and foregoing laminating by making the taller terrain pieces hollow. I have heard balsa isn't great for lasting work, and bass wood is generally a lot better, but the basswood terrain projects I see are a lot more intricate than what I've been making. Frankly, I wouldn't be opposed to using NGX foam, but I can't find it for sale in 0.5" sheets.

Simplified Hex Terrain (and Materials Question)