So, I have recently decided that I am no longer happy with my simple "brown paper=dirt road, grey paper=paved road, blue paper=water" system, and want to make som proper roads, dirt paths and rivers. Any advice on how to do it (the budget way)? I have loads of the cardboard they make transport boxes out (2 layers with something in between) and cheap paint, but no foam of any kind and no talent for painting stuff either .

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"... Telchar wrought it in the deeps of time."
-On Andùril, The Lord of the Rings

There are a lot of tutorials everywhere, it is very easy to find information. I suggest youtube.

For road: glue some sand, rocks on a cardboard, and paint it.
For river: make the way of the water, glue there some sand also, paint it, paint the deep part darker. Add a few layers of static water or PVA glue. For the finish add some glossy varnish, and its done

Check my albums also: https://picasaweb.google.com/112456808824539717337/OsgiliathiRomokOsgiliathRuins#

There is a good river tutorial in the Fellowship journey book. I cheated and bought some from here:

http://www.flamesofwar.com/Default.aspx ... ageIndex=2

They are very nice: modular, heavy, tough, flexible, etc. The only complaint I have is they are a bit too narrow. By SBG rules, most models could jump them, so I modify the rules for that.

I got the Battlefield in a Box: Fords set, and I like them, but as Whafrog noted, they are a bit to narrow. I found this link: http://wargamesandstuff.blogspot.com/20 ... ivers.html and followed that to make some of my own rivers (http://bensminis.blogspot.com/2012/03/r ... ished.html) which I thought turned out fairly well.

Cardboard or card as a base is cheap and readily available, but has an annoying tendency to warp when wet (paint, glue) or if not stored perfectly flat.

Care can be taken to overcome this while making the rivers or roads but ideally try and use a non-porous material such as thin MDF (2mm is available from picture framers, while 3-4mm is widely available from DIY/hardware stores. Hardboard is another alternative for thicker bases).

You may wish to consider making only river banks, rather bank and water sections. That way you can have whatever width you need for a particular scenario, putting various-sized sheets of coloured plastic or whatever under one bank and stretching across to the other. This is a little fiddly, and you'd need lots of different-sized water sections, but it would be far more flexible and easier to store.