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How to Build Miniature Dungeons

Wargamers and role-players often find themselves with a need for a dungeon, tomb or cavern for their games to take place. While many people use wet-erase battlemats or abstract representations made from spare dice, pencils and pieces of candy, there are few things more impressive, from a miniature standpoint, than a well-made miniature dungeon.

Things You'll Need

Graph paper
Pencil
Chipboard
Insulation foam
Wire brush
Hobby knife
Acrylic paints
Paintbrushes
Superglue

Instructions

- 1
  Plan out your dungeon. Decide where rooms, corridors, stairs and natural features will go before trying to construct anything. Using graph paper can help with scale and measurements.
- 2
  Create a base for your dungeon. Using flat chipboard, create a stable base to lay out your dungeon. If you have a large dungeon you plan to transport, break it into modular pieces with rectangular or square boards.
- 3
  Draw the layout of the dungeon on the boards. Use your plan from Step 1 to figure out proper proportions for your finished dungeon.
- 4
  Cut floor pieces from insulating foam to match the location of the floor as drawn on the board.
- 5
  Scrape, score and sculpt shapes into the foam using a wire brush and hobby blades to represent the floor of the dungeon. Depending on the style, the floor can appear to be a natural cavern, dirt, gravel or stone slabs.
- 6
  Create walls with insulating foam, carving features into them in the same way as with the floor.
- 7
  Paint the walls and floor using acrylic paint. Grays and browns are recommended for rock and dirt, but green can represent moss or lichen and blue can be trickles of water.
- 8
  Glue the floors to the board in the proper layout.
- 9
  Glue the walls to the board on the edge of the floors.

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