Bloody Big Battles! with lighter-coloured hills

It was pointed out in the Bloody Big Battles! Groups.io group that the hills in my last post ought to appear lighter than the lower ground, and certainly not darker. So I've set about correcting this with a new approach. The green felt patches are a clever solution if placed on top of a gaming mat, but not worth the effort if placed underneath. I will keep them as an option if not using a plastic tablecloth.

First step in the new approach is to lay down some foamcore. I'm just using odd offcuts in the photo above but I intend to cut more regular shapes. The foamcore is 5mm thick. A single layer (5mm) is hardly noticeable. Three layers (15mm) is unnecessarily high. Two layers (10mm) seems about right.

The foamcore is laid inside - not to the edge - of the hill's footprint. It doesn't have to be exact and the shapes can be rectangular. The closer it follows the hill the better, but the important thing is to leave a gap between the edge of the foamcore and the contour on the map. 

 

Next step is to soften the edges of the foamcore by laying some white felt. These are 1ft/30cm squares. They don't have to match the hills. They just have to cover them. (This photo is from an earlier experiment with larger pieces of foamcore.)

 

The finished hill with the top (tablecloth) layer back in place. 18mm WoFun standees are able to sit on it without falling over or sliding off, hence the decision to make them 10mm high. The hill is subtle and continuously sloped. The game edge is defined by the traced contour lines. If using multiple-level hills, I could add more layers of foamcore, but height is still demarcated by the drawn contours.