Tofu Bar from Miniature Building Authority

    One of Miniature Building Authority's unique terrain pieces -- a 28mm tofu bar!

I admit that a 28mm Tofu Bar is probably one of my stranger purchases for my modern (or post-apocalyptic) games. I picked it up a year or two ago at Advance the Colors when Miniature Building Authority was there as a vendor. I always like to buy terrain off Kirk -- his products are superb and look great on the tabletop. But a Tofu Bar...?

    A look from behind the counter of the MBA tofu bar

Maybe it will seem less strange if you think of it as a street vendor or market stall. I already have a half dozen market stalls that I regularly put on my tabletops. This simply gives it more variety. I'm sure it will look good mixed in with the vendors selling fish, fruit, meat, and vegetables. Personally, I don't eat tofu...ha, ha! However, it is certainly a unique item. I bought it think it could be a little street bar, but the chopsticks and plates of tofu and rise are cast onto the counter, so tofu bar it is!

    My original thought was to make it a generic street side bar, but you can see chopsticks & rice bowls

If I were to go back and redo this piece, I would NOT black prime it. I would have primed it in white so that I wouldn't have to put in two or more layers to fully cover the counter tops, plates, etc. I decided to go with a pale blue and very light gray booth and countertop. Behind the counter, I made the preparation counter an yellowish ivory. The bowls, plates, condiments, and such I painted in brighter colors. Make no mistake about it -- even though this is a small piece of terrain, it took a LOT of time to complete. With the base that I cut and glued the bar and four stools onto it is about 3" square, to give you an idea of its size.

    View from above shows the scrap booking paper I put behind the counter and my paving stone base

There were some small amounts of flash to trim off with an X-acto knife here and there on the piece. The legs of the stools come solid, so I had to paint the "empty space" black and the legs themselves Pewter metallic. I don't think it is too distracting, so am okay with it. For the floor behind the counter, I added a piece of color printed scrap booking paper. I think it really adds a lot to the overall look. For the base itself, I decided to go with a stone or tile pattern. I painted the base light gray and then added a diamond and square paving stone pattern with a micron pen. I know it is kind of shaky in parts. Once again, if I had to redo it, I might put the paving stone pattern on BEFORE I glued down the bar, or at least the stools. Oh well -- live and learn!

    A good look from behind shows all the details this model includes -- even cabinets and cutlery!

I like how the tofu bar looks, but like I mentioned earlier, it took quite a few painting sessions to complete. Counting it all up, there are more than two dozen individual details, from plates to cups to cabinets behind the bar. For each of those, I did a base color and dry brush or highlight. I think all of the colors and highlighting makes the tofu bar look more realistic, though. In the end, it was certainly worth the effort. Look for it to appear in another one of my post-apocalyptic or modern games soon!

What's up next? I have begun working on a 28mm resin Viking longship that has sat in my closet for literally decades. I won it at a DBA Tournament years ago in Pittsburgh -- so that may give some of my friends an idea how long ago I acquired it. I will use it as eye candy on the tabletop for my Viking Raid game I am running at Cincycon, DayCon, Drums at the Rapids, and Origins 2025. Otherwise, I have six 28mm Dark Age warriors nearing completion on my painting desk, as well. So, stay tuned for more updates! Plus, this weekend I am heading south to visit my friend Jason in South Carolina and attend Siege of Augusta wargaming convention with him. I'm sure I will have updates from there, too...!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 0
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 4 

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terain acquired in 2025: 0
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 4

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 0
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 1

Ah, the Good Old Days -- 3 Acheson Creations Medieval Buildings

    3 Acheson Creations Medieval/Dark Age huts picked up on sale at Drums at the Rapids 2024

When I first began to make the switch from 15mm to 28mm wargaming, Acheson Creations were the first buildings I bought. I picked up quite a few for both the Medieval and American Frontier periods. They were a great introduction to buying and painting 28mm terrain, mostly buildings. They were easy to prepare, paint, and flock. Their deep grooved detail made it easy to simply base coat, wet brush, then dry brush -- and voila! Your terrain piece was ready for the tabletop. I was very disappointed when they scaled back production as Craig Acheson went into semi-retirement.

    The two bigger huts -- SO easy to prepare and paint up-- and one of my 28mm Dark Ages villagers

At Drums at the Rapids 2024, a regional distributor of their products was also stepping back from attending gaming shows and selling his stock at 50% off. In addition to a number of other items, I picked up three of the thatch-roofed Medieval buildings produced by Acheson Creations. I had all but forgotten about them in the intervening months since last May. Luckily, last year I created a note on my iPhone that documents all terrain and scatter I have that is unpainted or unassembled. I saw these three buildings and immediately added them to my Short List which sits on my desktop to help me remember what I planned to do next.

    The smaller of the three medieval huts -- I like the stonework lining the bottom of the walls

One drawback to Acheson products if you are unaware, though, is that the mold release agent is very powerful and lingering. Long ago, my friend Jason -- He of the Great Suggestions -- told me about his trick of running them through the dishwasher machine. Next, I spray them with Krylon Fusion Acrylic Matte Black paint. This is followed up, as usual, by brushing on a 50/50 mix of black acrylic craft paint and water (which I keep remixed in a plastic bottle on my painting desk) to get into all the recesses. Once dry, the item is ready to be painted.

    Acheson buildings often don't have a way to keep roofs on - my solution is pieces of black foamboard

The buildings come in two pieces, roof and the main body. Another drawback to some Acheson products is there are no "tabs" or ways to keep the roof from sliding off. I have tried various things over the years, such as magnets. However, I find the best method is to take some stiff black foam board and glue to the underside of the roof with epoxy. This keeps the roof from sliding and is hidden from the eye when the roof is placed on top of the building proper. For one of these three, I tried a new experiment, gluing bamboo skewers into the inside corners of the bottom half of the building. I gouged out some material from the underside of the roof where the skewers would line up. In the end, I probably should have done the foam board on all three. Historically, I prefer this method and think it is the least fiddly -- no worries about lining up the skewers and holes.

    Although intended as Medieval/Dark Ages huts, they can be used for a variety of periods

All three buildings were painted identically, and are intended to add to my Anglo-Saxon village for my Viking Raid scenario I will be running this year at conventions. The bottom half received a base coat of "Maple Sugar" craft paint, a first dry brush of tan, and a second highlighting of white. The wooden corners, as well as the window and door wooden pieces were done in dark brown with a Howard Hues Camo Brown wet brush and finally a tan drybrush. I went back and read some early entries to my blog to remember how I did thatch for my Acheson buildings. After the black prime, I did a wet brush of Camo Brown, dry brush of Iron Wind Metals Dun, and very highlight of light gray. Both the bottom half and roof half each also received black vehicle wash.

   The two larger buildings without their roofs - I really like the muddy look my color combination gave

I really like how the walls look -- very muddy -- what you'd expect from a Dark Ages Anglo-Saxon village. Or, at least what I would expect...ha, ha! The thatch looks nice, too, I feel -- not too bright and not too gray. I realize my thatch is likely very new looking compared to what it looks like after its aged a few years. However, I feel it looks more like what we expect thatch to look like. Just like how we make wood more brown on the wargames table than the very grayish color old wood looks. It conforms to our expectations and having more color says, "wood" to us -- or in this case, "thatch."

    A look from above at the thatching -- Acheson buildings have great, deeply grooved detail

I flock the bases in my usual way, as well, and was done with these three pieces much more quickly than the one very small building that you will hopefully see in the next post. Then again, that has always been something I love about buildings from Acheson Creations. They are soooo darned easy to get ready for the tabletop! So, what's next? That mystery small building (or is more like a market stand?) that I alluded to is almost finished, as well. At the same time, I am working on a half dozen Dark Ages warriors to be available for players to choose for their characters in my upcoming semi-historical take on Sellswords & Spellslingers. More on those soon...!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 0
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 4 

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 0
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 3

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 0
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 1

Refugee Car & 4 New Survivors

    Four more survivors protecting their belongings piled upon a MBA 'Refugee Car'

Happy New Year! I hope you had a good set of holidays. Mine were fairly relaxing, which is nice, and also helped with my productivity! I'd begun both of these projects well before the New Year, but they were slow going -- especially the refugee car. The resin car is from Miniature Building Authority and is an awesome piece of eye candy for the tabletop. I picked it up at Historicon 2024 this past July, among other things I purchased from Kirk. Three different manufacturers are responsible for these four survivors: Foundry's Street Violence range (Crisanto), Copplestone Castings' Future Wars (Martina & Reef), and  Battle Valor Games. Thanks to my friend Jason for correcting me on Martina and Reef's manufacturer!

    This resin car from Miniature Building Authority has a LOT of detail that took serious time to paint!

Starting with the refugee car, as you can tell by looking at it, there was a LOT of detail. Now, I could have taken a short cut and made all the bags tan, etc. However, I didn't think it would look as nice. So, I was determined to look at each item affixed to the car and decide what color to paint it. I was hoping the riot of different colors would really make the model stand out. I tried to go with a more dull slate of colors, except for maybe the bright blue couch! I figured the less bright colors, the dry brushing, and the overall black wash, would unify the look enough once I was done.

    You gotta love the couch heaped up on the car - I mean, wherever we're going, we need comfort!

It took more than a week, picking out maybe a half dozen items to paint each session, then dry brushing them the next day. I would then pick out a new group of things to paint, dry brushing them the next day. I actually started with the body of the car and tires first. After priming everything black, I painted the body a Pewter metallic color. Why that color? Mainly because there are a lot of silver sedans driving through our neighborhood with what appears to be a recent arrival to the U.S. being taught how to drive! So, the color choice was an inside joke for myself -- plus, when rusted and dirtied up, I thought silver would look good.

    I was pretty happy with the rust effects that I added -- it looks like a beat up car barely on the road

Speaking of the rust, I used Autumn Brown first for the areas of rust, then filled it in with fluorescent orange. Once the entire thing was done, I gave it a black vehicle wash. The windows, which had previously been painted solid flat black, were painted a bluish glaze at the top to give the effect of reflected sky. I have done this on other cars, and it tends to look good and work about half the time. You be the judge whether it worked this time...! All in all, I'm very happy with the car, and it will likely appear on the tabletop in my next post-apocalyptic or zombie game. Pick one up from Kirk next time you see Miniature Building Authority at a show!

    My favorite of this batch of survivors, a tough-looking ex-marine with braided hair - Martina

The four survivors are the heavier armed ones from the batch of eight I'd picked out from my unpainted lead a few weeks ago. Three are armed with assault rifles and one with a shotgun. I really like how all of them look except maybe the cop in riot gear. I think I simply made his color scheme too black and gray and he looks like a dark blob unless you pick up the miniature and examine it closely. My favorite of the four is Martina. She is from Copplestone Castings' Citizen Militia pack. I love the long, braided hair going down her back. I decided to give her woodland camouflage pants and a tan colored shirt. I gave her a darker skin tone, too, using a leather color with a lighter tan dry brush. I also gave her some tattoos because she looked like a tough lady. I'm not sure if you can read the "USMC" on her right forearm. I was tempted to call her Vasquez from Aliens ("Hey Vasquez! Have you ever been mistaken for a guy?" "No...have you?"). However, I figured that one day I make actually pick up the Vasquez figure from the Another Glorious Day in the Corps board game, and that would make things awkward between the two...ha, ha!

    Surfer dude Reef is an interesting figure with sweat pants and 'slides', or sandals in old people speak

My next favorite is Reef, who I thought looked like a surfer dude armed with an AK-47. He appeared to have sweat pants and "slides" (we call them sandals, but kids today call them slides). So, I gave him blond hair, purple sweat pants, and a bright green shirt. His slides are white with purple trim, and in true surfer fashion, his mirrored sunglasses having matching purple lenses. The green of his shirt was considerably darkened down by the black wash that I did, so it looks less like beach wear than I was hoping. I also gave him some tattoos. I was tempted to give the shirt a Ron Jon surf wear logo, but once I pulled up an image of the company's symbol, I didn't think I could execute it with my micron pens! He is also from the same pack as Martina.

    I like how Crisanto's urban-style camo pants turned out - he is a 28mm Foundry 'Street Violence' fig

Next in line of my favorites of this group is Crisanto. He is from the "SWAT team Alpha" pack in the Street Violence range. I used my Asian flesh that I'd mixed up to paint my Saga Mongol army. Once I painted his black hair and mustache, I thought he looked more Filipino than anything. He wears body armor and elbow and knee pads, which was going to be a challenge to make gray yet still give some color to the figure. So, I decided to give him urban camouflage patterned pants and a dark bluish-green shirt. That proved to be enough lighter colors to avoid the "dark blob" look that his buddy Hondo suffered! I lined the dark gray pads with a lighter gray rather than dry brushing them. I wanted to make sure they stood out more distinctly, so chose that method. The only part I don't like about the miniature is the assault rifle slung over his shoulder. The strap was messing with my mind, trying to figure out where it started, ended, and connected to the gun. Otherwise, I really like how he turned out.

    Did I do a good enough job making the detail visible? Or is Hondo a 'dark blob'?

The final figure, Hondo, is a Battle Valor Games policeman in riot gear. Like with Crisanto above, I tried to make color choices that would keep it from looking like a dark blob, but I honestly think I failed here. I should have rethought how I painted his riot gear rather than going with standard black or dark gray. I have more than one of these left from my pack of police in riot gear, so if I paint more, I will get more creative. Perhaps doing Google Image searches will reveal somewhere in the world that has more brightly colored riot police. Anyway, four more survivors are done, which is just in time. I will likely be running a game of Zombie RV for my Sunday night gaming group soon.

What's next? Terrain-wise, I will be painting up three Acheson Creations Dark Ages thatch roof huts. They are spray primed and have also had their 50/50 mix of black paint and water brushed on. As for miniatures, I debating between a couple choices. Stay tuned to see which ones I decide upon!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 0
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 4 

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 0
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 0

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 0
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 1

My Hurried Week of Dark Age Town Additions

    Much to my amazement, I got all of this prepped and ready for the tabletop in one week!

Knowing that I was going to be running my playtest of my Viking Town Raid using Sellswords & Spellslingers this past Sunday, I spent the week leading up to it hurriedly getting some more stuff ready. I wasn't 100% sure I actually needed any of it, but figured it would be nice to have them. I readied two Dark Age buildings for the table, painted up nine more armed peasants, added four highland cattle, two oxen, and a burning fire pit with flickering LED light. 

    This Dark Age hut by Tim Peaslee needed only a minor fix to become part of my Anglo-Saxon town

Amazingly, I ended up getting all of it finished, which honestly surprised me. When I first set up the raid's terrain on my hexagonal gaming mat, I felt it could use a few more buildings. I glanced through my unpainted terrain list that I keep in the Notes section of my phone and saw a couple items I likely could get finished in time. One was a gift from master terrain maker and friend Tim Peaslee. A year or so ago, he had handed me a Dark Age/Medieval looking home that he'd created out of insulation foam and wood. He does the thatch, I believe, by running a wire brush through the insulation foam to give the pattern. Tim then paints the thatch and you would never know it was originally pink foam -- except the one he'd given me you could barely see glimmerings of the pink beneath the thatch color. Being anal, I wanted to get rid of that before I used the building, of course! So, I watered down Walnut brown acrylic paint by about a third and brushed it on thickly. It soaked through, covering any pink. A tan dry brush brought the thatch highlights back, and voila -- one more building was ready for the tabletop!

    My "Made in China" rustic stable needed only a black wash and flocking to be ready, as well

The next building is a rustic-looking stable that originally came from Michaels or similar craft store. I bought this resin piece years ago at a flea market and it still has the "Made in China" sticker on the bottom! It had been obviously mass produced in China, but needed only a little more work. I did a black vehicle wash on the wooden timbers and wattle walls. Next, I painted the green base with my usual earth brown that I use for bases. I flocked it with fine brown ballast and then Woodland Scenics Blended Earth flocking. A second building was ready for the table!

    The Reaper Bones oxen in their stable, happy to be finally painted up and part of a game!

Now, I needed more animals for the stable, right? The stable is rather large, scale-wise, and my current collection of 28mm animals would look diminutive inside of it. Luckily, already based but not painted up, were two large Reaper Bones oxen. I primed them with gesso white, even though I know you supposedly don't need to prime Reaper Bones figs. They got a quick paint job as they were the last things I was working on. I did a base coat of acrylic Bambi Brown and dry brushed them Wild Rice. Next, I painted the thatch of hair on their shoulders Autumn Brown, their horns ivory, and their eye sockets, nostrils, and mouth black. A brown vehicle wash over them and they look very passable for a quick, two-day (?) paint job!

    Four 28mm Gripping Beast (I believe) highland cattle wondering what all the noise of the raid is...

Also already epoxied onto bases were a family of four 28mm highland cattle from Gripping Beast. I had put one adult and one calf on each round base back when I was basing them up as objective markers for Saga (that never got painted). They also received a gesso primer, then a "Georgia Clay" acrylic color base coat. I did a tan dry brush, and picked out their eye sockets, and facial features in black. I did their horns ivory, as well. Once they were dry, I did a brown wash on them, as well. At first, I wasn't too happy with how they looked. Now that they are all flocked and based up, I'm much happier. More animals were in place for my Viking players to steal!

    Three of the 28mm peasants I added "just in case" cluster near the Bad Goblin Games firepit

You have also likely noticed, by this point, the flickering fire pit. This is one of the three 3-D printed LED fires that I bought at Historicon from Bad Goblin Games. This one was the most "Medieval" of the three, so I snatched it out from its brethren to add to the atmosphere of the tabletop. The piece comes with the LED light and the watch battery you slide into the slot ready-made for it. The fire pit itself comes in four pieces. There is the cylindrical, stone base, which I painted black with shades of dry-brushed grays. The orange plastic flames and wood pieces are the second piece. I painted the pieces of wood rather than leave them brown, but left the flames, "as is." I have heard some add a reddish wash over the orange flames. Maybe I will try that on the dumpster and garbage can fire from Bad Goblin Games that I still have to paint? There is also a bronze colored ring that goes atop the pit, which I just gave a clear gloss.  Finally, if you want the fire to be "out," they include a circular disc of "ashes," which I once again did in black and grays. I really like these flickering LED scatter pieces. They are incredibly affordable -- just $5 or less. Bad Goblin will be at Siege of Augusta this January, and I will be sore tempted to pick up more of their incredible terrain!!  

    Next batch of three peasants take their turn faithfully defending the oxen, who watch with interest

Last but not least, I spent most of the week working on nine more 28mm peasants I can use for Dark Age or Medieval games -- especially the raid! Some of them are Ancient Germans from Foundry, while others are Scots/Irish (or Welsh, I forget...) from Old Glory. I needed to put weapons in the hands of some of them, so used some of my spare axes or short swords from my unpainted weapons stash. Other than that, I wanted these to look as poor and simple as possible. So, no patterns or checks or stripes or anything, even though I knew it would make them look nicer. Also, I was in a hurry...ha, ha! I used earth tones -- tans, browns, grays, and some grayish greens or blues. I think they turned out pretty good for a quickie rush job. Did I end up needing them for the game to reinforce the peasants I already had? Well, not really! But hey -- I was prepared! 

    The final group of three Anglo-Saxon peasants ready to heroically chase off the Viking raiders

What's next? I have a couple Sci-Fi pieces of scatter on the paint desk right now. No miniatures, as I'm taking a breath after this hurried week of painting! After that, I am thinking of working on some of the MDF scatter that I bought from Dad's Armies at Advance the Colors...

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 227
  
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 254 

More RRB Minis Domed Habitats

    Two of my recent Rebels figures guard their small out post of RRB Minis & More Pod Habitats

I am on a bit of a tear right now painting up Sci-Fi terrain. Two more items were finished today that I picked up this past October at Advance the Colors 2024 from my friend Rich Brown at RRB Minis & More. While shopping at his booth, I added two more "3D Printed Pod Habitats" to my collection. If you remember, RRB was also where I got the tracks for some of my modified droids. Rich prints the Pod Habitats in three sizes, and I think the two I purchased (in the foreground above) are the "Large" variant.

    You can see the three sizes of habitats here, with the 2 in front being my most recent purchases

I had three of his habitats painted up already, two small ones and one "Very Large." They paint up very quickly, I've found. I do a black prime on them, followed up by painting them one of my favorite craft metallic paints, Chocolate Brown. I did the structural support pieces in Gunmetal Gray. At that point, I pulled out my old ones to make sure I was doing them the same. Oops. I wasn't! So, I went back and redid the trim on the two small ones I'd previous painted to match the "new" scheme which I'd used on the Very Large one. Now, all five have the same look. Whew -- these things are important! Ha, ha!!

    The habitat on the left has my replacement MDF door, but I think it fits the look rather well

In addition, I used a Turquoise metallic for what I am interpreting as the windows or skylights. The door control panels I paint black and then gave glowing red,  yellow, and green buttons. Speaking of doors, I somehow lost the door on one of the habitats in between the time I bought them and went to prime them. I looked all around, but couldn't find it. I'm sure Rich had included it in the bag. It probably fell out either when I took pictures of my ATC 2024 purchases, when I stored them away, or maybe when I pulled them back out. No biggie! I was able to find a couple MDF pieces that looked good and glued them on to cover the missing door.

I really like these 3-D printed models, and will be picking up more of them next time I see Rich at a convention. I think I'll buy the "Very Large" size from now on. It is in the middle in the above pictures, and was big enough for me to add some miscellaneous Sci-Fi machinery (which I also bought from RRB!) to the the top of the door's roof. If you like them, I encourage you to pick some up from him. He's got quite the selection of retro Sci-Fi looking terrain and models like these.

Get ready for more updates coming soon. I finished four more survivors for Zombie RV just this evening. Well, I still have to put their names on their bases, as soon as I think of good names. What should I call them...? Schmoe? Trunk Monkey...? Ha, ha - nope!!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 227
  
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 235

Giant 28mm Water Tower from Bad Goblin Games

    28mm water tower, 3-D printed from Bad Goblin Games -- a bargain at only $20!

Some of my favorite purchases this past summer at Historicon 2024 were from the Bad Goblin Games booth. This water tower was one of them. It has been looming over my painting desk since I brought it home in July, impatiently waiting for me to get it painted and ready for the tabletop. It'll be perfect for modern and post-apocalyptic games, and a nice piece of eye candy on the tabletop. Probably the most amazing thing about it to me was that it cost only $20! They also make a ruined one, by the way...

    Big Bass or my survivor group the Bass Reeves checks out the view from halfway up the tower

It is 3-D printed, so I gave it my usual treatment that I do for terrain. I spray painted it black first with Krylon acrylic paint and then went over it with a 50/50 mix of water and acrylic black paint when dry. I went back and forth about what color to paint it. My current water tower, a 15mm MDF one bought years ago from Impudent Mortals, is painted in a steel color. I like how it looks and have used it numerous times in my 28mm games, too. I mean, how tall is a water tower supposed to be to be "in scale?" So, I decided to copy that minus the rust effects I gave the MDF one. I struggled over the "to rust or not to rust" decision for awhile, too, but in the end thought it might look best with no rust on it.

My base coat was one of my favorite metallic craft paints, a Folk Art bottle called "Gunmetal Gray." I left the grooves between the square steel plating black, but painted the rest of it entirely in that color. Next, I used another Folk Art craft metallic called Pewter and did highlights were I thought the sun would be shining off of the tower. Parts that were underneath or would likely be in shadow I left that base coat. Finally, inside the irregularly shaped patches of Pewter, I added a splash of Bright Silver.

    I went back and forth how to paint the water tower but ended up going with boring steel...ha, ha!

This is typically the recipe I use for large, steel-colored metallic areas on miniatures or terrain. I really like how it looks once I put a black wash over it. The effect is to soften the lines between the different colors and blend it all together. Except this time it didn't. To me, the Pewter and Silver patches stand out too brightly still. At first I thought maybe I was being too critical of my work. Once it is all flocked and on the tabletop, it will look great, I told myself. Except I am still unhappy with it. No, I'm not going to repaint it or sell it or throw it away, or anything like that. It's just that normally I am fairly excited about how my terrain looks. The water tower is an exception.

    Out of breath from the climb, Big Bass admires the view from high above the tabletop

I would love to hear from readers of the blog what they think. Am I being too critical of myself? Who knows? Maybe next convention I see Bad Goblin Games at I will buy another one (it's only $20!) and try again next year...ha, ha! The flocking was done similar to how I do my standard bases with an irregular dirt and grass look. After finishing it, I also debated whether to "junk it up" with trash, discarded machinery bits, or whatever. In the end, I decided not to do that. Still, there certainly was a lot of indecision and self-doubt going on with this terrain piece!

Either way, though, the water tower itself is an amazing piece of 3-D printed terrain. The only modification I did to mine was to cut a hole in the upper platform so that the ladder comes up from the basket and through the hole. I had to cut to size the two 3-D printed ladders that came with the model. I took the trimmed off pieces and placed them along the railing inside the metal cage halfway up. I actually snipped a piece awhile back to use for my "Zombie RV" that I converted from a die cast pizza truck. Next time I am going to see them, I may ask them if I can buy more of those ladders. They could be useful for a number of things. Sure, I can scratch build them, too, but these are certainly more convenient!

    This very tall terrain piece will definitely catch the eye of passers by at a convention or game day

I highly recommend Bad Goblin Games 3-D printed scenery and buildings. I have more of it to be painted on my "short list," so you will likely see more from them here in the future. If you get a chance, please let me know what you think of the water tower and any changes you would suggest.

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 226
  
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 235  

Tatooine Sci-Fi Buildings from Diabolical Terrain

    3-D printed Sci-Fi buildings in the vein of Star Wars Tatooine from Diabolical Miniatures

One of the bigger purchases I made at Advance the Colors 2024, at least size-wise, are these three Sci-Fi buildings from my friend Ron at Diabolical Terrain. Fans of Star Wars will recognize them right away as being a great stand-in for the desert planet, Tatooine. On his web page, you can find them under "Science Fiction: Tatooie Desert Buildings." Note that prices on his website defaults to 15mm size, so make sure to hit the drop-down menu to get the right size. Mine were printed at 32mm, or so his website informs me! Anyway, these are great 3-D prints and are incredibly quick and easy to paint up.

    These are printed to '32mm scale' according to Ron on the Diabolical Terrain website

 Unlike most 3-D terrain, I spray painted these buildings a "Sand" color purchased from the local Menards store. I made sure I covered them thoroughly because I was going to skip my usual 50/50 water and paint step. I simply dry brushed them white next. With that, most of the surface area on these three buildings was done! Next, I used both Iron Wind Metals Steel and Folk Art craft metallic Gunmetal Gray to pick out the pipes, doors, window grilles, and various other details. There doesn't appear to be anything made of wood depicted. It's all metal and the adobe/mud brick inspired by the Tunisian desert town of Tataouine. In case you didn't know, that's where George Lucas got the inspiration for the setting of the first Star Wars epic.

    These buildings were SO easy to paint up and look great on the tabletop - highly recommended!

After picking out the metal pieces, I highlighted them with craft paint "Pewter." Next, I painted some of the doors Chocolate Brown, one of my favorite craft paint metallics. I did a dark vehicle black wash over the metal pieces once they were dry. The final step was to use my brown vehicle wash over the mud brick surface of the buildings. These were thirsty buildings, though, and it took up quite a bit of wash. I doubled up in cracks and crevices to give it a more dirty look. 

    The 'back sides' of the 3 buildings -- I will definitely be picking up more of these

And then I was done! Seriously -- these went about as fast as any building I have painted in a long time. I will likely pick up more of them the next time I see Diabolical Terrain at a convention. His website shows six different styles and I bought only three of them this time. I highly recommend these! They make great Star Wars terrain (despite the tongue-in-cheek disclaimer on his site). No Jawas were harmed in the making of these buildings...

    The largest of the 3 buildings that I painted up - can't wait to use them in some Star Wars skirmishes

What else have I been working on? Speaking of Star Wars skirmishes, I have been thinking that I need a new mat for my games. I anticipate that I will have six players regularly. Since it is technically every faction for itself, though some may have common goals, I wanted to make sure deployment is fair. What better way than to have a hexagon shaped playing area? Not being a math whiz, I found the dimensions and angles for a hexagon which is four feet across from one flat side to the other. 

    My 4' hexagon shaped battle mat (flat sides are 4' from each other) made from felt and flocking

I picked up a likely color of felt from the local JoAnne's Fabric store. I got out my yardsticks and a Sharpie, and measured out the dimensions. Jenny helped me out, especially with her angle finder to make the required 60 degree lines. We used her uber-sharp rolling wheel cutter, too, ensuring the sides were straight and smooth. I flipped it over so that the Sharpie lines were on the bottom, and put a plastic sheet underneath it.

Next, I filled a screened sifter with Woodland Scenics Blended Turf. I dug out my spray bottle filled with a 50/50 mixture of water and Liquitex Acrylic Matte Medium. I sprayed the surface down relatively thoroughly -- my squirt bottle unfortunately doesn't do a fine mist and instead is only slightly more diffused than a squirt gun. Once it was wet with the sticky liquid, I heavily sifted the turf onto it. I refilled the squirt bottle -- I really can't believe it hadn't dried up in the years since I used it! Then I squirted the area down again. I made quite a mess on the plastic sheet, but I avoided getting any matte medium on the floor or chairs surrounding my 8'x5' table.

   Close up look at the mat with the Woodland Scenics flocking affixed with Liquitex matte medium

I waited for it to dry overnight, then sprayed it with some acrylic clear coat. I just used the same thing I use on my miniatures. Voila! In just one day of work, I had a 4' across hexagon battle mat that looks really nice. I will also likely use this same mat in my playtest of my Viking raid using Sellswords & Spellslingers rules. In fact, that will probably happen before my first Star Wars skirmish (which will likely be in January). I need to decide on rules and scenario and everything for the games I will run at Origins Game Fair by the first of the year.

Anyway, lots of production in the past few days. I'm very pleased with both how the mat came out and these "not-Tatooine" buildings came out! Stay tuned for more...!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 226
  
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 235  

Two Styles of Acheson Creations Barricades Painted Up

    Concrete barriers from Acheson Creations manned by some of my post-apocalyptic survivors

My favorite terrain manufacturer for many years was Acheson Creations. Through my decades of miniature gaming, I've bought many buildings, walls, scatter terrain, and more from this company, which unfortunately has stepped back from active production. There are a few companies out there, such as Miniature Building Authority, that carry some of their scatter terrain. Another was a regional vendor at local conventions, Armory Hobbies. At Drums at the Rapids this May, he also decided to hang up his business and was selling his remaining Acheson products at 50% off.

    I got 8 of the barriers for 50 cents each -- an awesome deal from a vendor going out of business

I snagged two types of barricades up there, among other items. I figured it was time to get them ready for the tabletop. I had no pressing need for them in an upcoming scenario, but these concrete barriers and tire and oil drum barricades are generic enough they'll fit with just about any modern, post-apocalyptic, or Sci-Fi period. The one thing you have to know about Acheson Creations products when painting them, though, is to beware the very strong mold release agent. I have always been able to remove it by placing the pieces in the dishwasher and running them on a quick cycle. This time, I made the mistake of not adding soap because we had switched from the powdered to the "pods," and I didn't want to use up a full pod. As Short Round said in my favorite quote, "Big mistake, Indy!"

    Concrete barriers can be used in various modern, post-apocalyptic &  Sci-Fi games -- you name it!

I detailed that a couple posts back when talking about the Acheson Sci-Fi building I had painted. Once taking them out of the dishwasher, I spray painted them with Krylon Fusion Acrylic Matte Black. I followed that up with my usual 50/50 mix of acrylic black paint and water. However, I noticed quickly that any light scratch or rough handling of the barriers was removing the black layer. D'oh, not again! I touched them up and decided to be even more careful handling them during the painting progress. I would definitely NOT be using the same clear coat sealant on them as I did on the Sci-Fi building!

    What are the barriers keeping out? Zombies? Rival gangs? It's up to you and your scenario...

Anyway, painting the concrete barriers was easy and quick. I did a medium to dark gray wet brush, then a lighter gray dry brush. I went over them with my black wash, and then did the bases my usual brown ground color. I painted the surface of the ground with white glue and then sprinkled on Woodland Scenics Blended Earth Turf. After it dried, I did a couple green grass patches and glued in some clump foliage, as well. I went back and forth whether to put graffiti on the barriers. However, I felt this would make them a bit less generic, so decided to keep them plain. Finally, rather than spray sealant on these pieces, I painted them and the flocking with a 50/50 mix of white glue and water. Hopefully, that does the trick on protecting them from wear and scratches!

    I bought six of the tire and oil drum barricades at Drums 2024 - should I have bought more?

The tire and oil drum barriers took a few more steps, of course. I prepped them exactly like the others (yes, they were in the same dishwasher batch as the Sci-Fi building and the concrete barriers). Once ready for the brush, I did a wet brush of a dark gray over the tires. I followed that up with a medium gray dry brush. Finally, I painted the rims on the tires in Iron Wind Metals Steel. 

    It was a great idea to design these pieces as Acheson did -- they look realistic and convincing!

Switching to the oil drums, I pulled out six colors: pale blue, pale green, Parchment Yellow, terra cotta, tan, and a lighter gray. I did the math. There were four oil drums on each barricade piece and six pieces. That's 24 drums to paint. So, I used each color on four drums -- never using the same color twice on a single section. I tried my best to mix it up, so the green and blue ones weren't always together, and so on. I let them dry overnight and then dry brushed them in an appropriate lighter color.

    I was happy with the rust effect on the oil drums -- these are very handy and versatile terrain pieces!

Finally, it was time for a rust effect on the drums. I pulled out my brown Rust color (appropriately enough), and did various splotches and speckles and lines of rust to match what I saw in some Google Image searches. Once dry, I used my bright international hunter orange and dabbed specks of it inside the rust. Finally, the drums and tires got a black wash. This was followed up by flocking them with just the blended turf. Both the flocking and the paint was sealed in with a 50/50 mix of white glue and water. I'm thinking this worked. I believe I have averted the disaster of not sufficiently getting rid of the mold release agent before painting.

The pieces look great on the tabletop. It was nice to be painting Acheson products, again. I understand Craig Acheson's desire to retire -- heck, I'm retired! I just miss his excellent, easy-to-paint, affordably priced terrain...!

What's up next? I have six 28mm Sci-Fi figures that I have begun sitting on my desk right now. They're meant to be random figures that could be used by a number of factions. They're definitely unusual figures, so I'm looking forward to how they turn out.

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 226
  
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 208