How to Make Scatter Terrain With a Stack of CD's

One of the easiest ways I have found to create modular terrain for my table is by using CD scatter bases. Essentially terrain pieces built on top of an old CDs. I discovered how to make these off of the Terrainiacs Facebook page, and I have been slowly constructing a tabletop forest ever since.

So here is how you can build your own...

What You Will Need

1. CD that you do not want to ever use again

2. Thin plastic or paper card

3. White Glue

4. A few Cheap Paint Brushes

5. Flocking Sand

6. Some flocking Grass

7. Maybe some Fake trees or something?

Step 1. Get a Stack of CDs.

Obviously you are going to need a bunch of CDs to create your bases from. Since I work in IT I had an old stack of blank discs lying around. So that was no problem for me, but you can easily get these from Staples, or just raid your old CD collection. Honestly when was the last time you actually played them anyways?

Step 2. Cover that Hole!

One of the clear problems with using CDs as bases is that there is a big hole in the middle. So unless you are going to glue a solid piece of terrain large enough to cover the hole then you are going to want to cover it up.

I use a thin piece of plastic (about a thick as a sheet of paper). Don't worry about being neat. It is all going to get covered in flock anyways.

Step 3. Prime the Base.

Now that you have a solid base without a hole in it, it is time to give that base a quick prime. Again you don't have to be neat. This is simply to help the flock stick to the base and to help prevent any silver from the disk showing through when you are finished.

(Note that in the next image I actually re-did them with spray paint, as I am experimenting with fast ways of creating these bases.)

Step 4. Flock Your Sand!

Take a minute and without gluing them down, place any trees or other items you want to include. Trace your white glue around these objects, and then remove them. Then just like you did in kindergarten pour that sand all over the white glue, and dump away the extra to get the right texture!

Step 5. Paint the Sand.

If you are flocking your bases and not painting your sand, I have some bad news for you... It is going to fall off. The only real solution you have is to paint your sand.

As I mentioned above I am experimenting with basing colours with Spray Paint. What do you think?

Step 6. Add the Plants.

You may need to flip steps 6 and 7 around depending on what you are doing. But the next step is to add your grass flock, and any plants, etc. that you also want to add to the base.

Above I have also included a small island that has been floating around the tabletop for a while. Now it has a home.

Step 7. Glue Down Those Extras.

As I mentioned above you may want to flip these two steps depending on what you are up to. But after gluing down any cool terrain pieces (like this 3D printed Eldar Webway Gate)  your base is complete. Now you can throw it down on your tabletop with proud, and await the "ooohs" and "ahhhs" from your fellow gamers.

And that's it! That's all you need to do to create some scatter terrain and spruce up your tabletop!

Written by: Andrew Gregory