Merchant's Store for My Medieval City

    3-D printed medieval building from the Ferisia line from RRB Minis & More - Merchant Store B

After building another of the large buildings last month from the Ferisia line carried by RRB Minis & More, I decided to build a smaller one next. As opposed to the towering ones composed of 4-5 levels/roofs, Merchant Store B had only two pieces. The lower one was the house itself while the upper one was just the interesting looking roof. What I liked most about it was the covered patio attached to the house, where the merchant would ostensibly sell his goods. It was a unique design and matched the overall look of the buildings I've been painting up, so far. The STLs for the Ferisia line are from Dadi Dungeon & Dintorni. They've created a number of other, very interesting lines, and I highly recommend folks to check them out. 

    Side and rear of the merchant house, with a good look at the wooden tile roof

As much as I like the 3-4 story Duncan and Catrin Houses, I assume that most medieval cities would have a limited number of buildings that tall. The bulk of the homes would more likely be one or two stories tall. Because of that, I'd picked this building up from Rich Brown of RRB at Cincycon, and fast-tracked it to be the first one that I painted up. Of course, I bought another tall one at the same time, simply called the "Merchant's House," that is four stories tall (interestingly, the roof being part of the 4th story). Considering that I just came back from Little Wars 2026 yesterday, where I bought three more buildings from him, I have a feeling this is going to be a routine for this year. See Rich, buy buildings! Ha, ha!!

    My favorite part of this building is the roofed patio and its counter where the merchant sells products

Anyway, back to the Merchant Store B! I painted this one up using the same system as the others, with a black spray prime followed by a 50/50 mix of water and acrylic black paint. Once dry, I completed the stone sections first. I gave them a dark gray wet brush over the black, then a light gray dry brush. Next, I painted the wooden sections dark brown, followed by two highlights -- a medium Camo Brown from Howard Hues and a Khaki dry brush. Next, I painted up the metal components on the two doors and pillars holding up the open air, covered patio. I base coated them in Iron Wind Metals Steel first, followed by Bronze. I wet brushed the window panes and frames in Iron Wind Dun yellow.

    A look at the interior of Merchant Store B and its patterned wooden floor & fireplace

The results on the building looked good, but I thought it needed more. I decided to do a checkered pattern on the stone tile covered patio. I used a very light dry brush, alternating the colors of the square sections in Dun yellow and a light Wedgewood blue. I liked how that looked, so added those colors to the raised arc of stones surrounding the front door to the house and the side door from the patio to the home. Finally, I echoed those colors again on the rooftop's conical decorations. I had gone back and forth on whether to portray those finals as metallic or simply painted wood. In the end I went with painted wood in pastel blue and yellow.

    Front doorway with its 2 torches,  blue & yellow stone archway, & decorated wooden door

There are also two torches flanking the front entrance. Originally, I was worried they might be fragile, considering they are 3-D printed. However, I never brushed them accidentally during painting, so I think they'll be fine. The torches were completed with a wooden handle, metal rim, and very bright yellow and orange. I admit I am a bit worried about the conical decorations on the roof's spine. I snapped a couple off in transporting the building home from Cincycon, but luckily Rich had the foresight to include extras. This is a similar to a problem with the finials on the railings of the Catrine House. You really have to be careful where you put your hands on the model to pick it up. No "claw" grips! Watch where you clasp your fingers around it to pick it up! Otherwise, these 3-D printed buildings are sturdy and solid state. I have no worries about breaking off any other sections. As you can tell from how many I have bought, I really like this line of buildings and Rich does a great job on printing them.

    I wasn't sure how to paint the wooden tile (or 'Shake') roof -- decided to go with a new wood tone

The roof of Merchant Store B obviously looked to me like it had wooden tiles -- not terra cotta ones. I was tempted to paint it with the same red brown base coat and orange flesh dry brush anyway, but decided not to, instead.  I did a handful of Google searches on wooden or "shake" tile roofs. Based on those, I decided to do a different tone of brown. I wet brushed the tiles with a medium leather craft color called Raw Sienna. Next, I did a dry brush of craft paint of a darker Khaki color. I liked the different tone it gave from the wooden beams and patio pillars. In fact, I liked it so much that I chose not to do a black wash over it for fear it would "gray out" the colors too much. Same with the gray stone sections of the store. I did the black wash only on the wooden beam/pillars, the metal, and the Dun yellow windows. I really like how it came out!

    I did a blue and yellow patterned tile flooring to the patio, which comes off of the side of the house

So, what's next on my painting desk? I'm hurrying to get things together for my scenario that I will be running at Drums at the Rapids, May 15-16. I'll be using my medieval town terrain for it, and I want to get as many structures completed as possible. So, in that light, I'm painting up two of the smaller ones that I bought this past weekend from him at Little Wars (see them in an upcoming post on the convention). To go with that, I'm also working on a batch of eight figures that can pass for medieval townsfolk. You know how it goes -- if I am not rushing to get something completed it time for a game I'm running at a convention, things just aren't right! So, considering the upcoming deadline, hopefully you will see more updates soon!

    A final look at the newest addition to my medieval town, which will be used this weekend in a game!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 159
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 91

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 3
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 23

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 16
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 56 

A Dwarf and a Specter Walked into a Graveyard...

    A 3-D printed specter from A Critical Hit haunts a Dark Ages 'dwarf' in a graveyard

I needed a batch of something "old" (bought prior to 2026) to paint up. I also needed a dwarven adventurer for my next game of Four Delvers. Did I own a figure that could be both of these? No...and yes. I actually own zero dwarves in my collection of 28mm figures. However, I decided to go through my unpainted Dark Ages miniatures to see if there was something in there that could reasonably pass as one. Sure enough, I found this old Grenadier miniature from the 1980s, I believe. He was crouching down, fully mailed, and more in 25mm scale than more recent 28mm. He was missing a weapon hand, but in my unused weapons bag I had an axe I could use...with a hand attached to it! Seriously!! I think it was from one of my Gripping Beast figures where you have a choice of weapons to attach.

    This figure was the closest thing among my unpainted lead that could be used for a fantasy dwarf

I super-glued the slightly larger hand (don't notice that!) onto his right stump and voila! An axe-armed dwarf!! He was quick and easy to paint up, being mostly chainmail. As dwarves HAVE to have beards, I tried to make it stick out more by painting it an auburn/red. The figure's could be a bit bushier to really pass as a full-fledged cousin of Gimli. It'll do, though! I gave it some dwarven runes on its shield and a bit of fancy decoration on the clothes peeking out from underneath the mail. 

    The entire 3-D print was in this sparkly, black-green filament - I painted the skulls & black hood

The specter is actually a 3-D printed figure from A Critical Hit. I bought it because I thought it simply looked bizarre enough to be an alien monster for my Majestic 13 games. However, once I got it home and examined it more closely, I could see the skulls. It is printed in a sparkly, dark green filament material. I painted the hollow hood of his cloak black. The skulls I painted up as...well, skulls! The figure seems to be materializing out of the mist, which actually forms its base. I added a piece of magnetic material underneath it to make it stand up in place in my storage boxes and also to give it more stability on the tabletop. For just a buck or two, I really like how it turned out! I'll likely include it with my fantasy monster collection, though, instead of my Majestic 13 monsters.

    These 3-D printed tombstones & plinths I picked up from RRB Minis & More at Hold the Line 2025

The last items in this batch aren't really miniatures -- they're scatter. I decided I needed to bulk out this batch of "old" miniatures, though. One dwarf is hardly a batch (shhh...I bought the specter this March at Cincycon!). These are about miniature figure sized, though, so I decided they would fit. I bought them last November at Hold the Line 2025 convention from my friend Rich Brown of RRB Minis & More. I based them up on various miniature bases (See? They're miniatures...! Ha, ha!!). 

    I based the headstones on figure bases and added the slightly raised mound of flocking for the graves

There were five tombstones and three plinths (that's what Jenny said they're called) in the little bag I bought for all of $2. I liked the gargoyles atop the plinths, and the slightly ruined state of the tombstones. The coolest part of the tomstones were the ones with burnt-down candles placed atop them. That was a nice touch! I based four of them up on horizontal cavalry sized bases. Then, I took rubble that I had bought for various ruins and poured it in a heap atop a blob of Tacky Glue. I flocked over the grave with my fine brown ballast, then did it again when I did the rest of the base. I think it created a believable mound where the body is interred. I gave the bases some grass, tufts, and the leaves to give it more of a disheveled look. 

    I decided to base everything individually for flexibility - unlike my graveyard in the background

The plinths were the easiest to do. Black base coat, and two dry brushes of gray and the painting part was complete. I used square miniature bases and flocked them like I did the tombstones. I intentionally painted and based all of these individually rather than as a group. My giant 28mm graveyard I built awhile back (and in the background of these photos) is a great piece of eye candy, but functionally, not very useful on the tabletop. I wanted something more flexible so figures can get around and amongst the tombstones...and plinths! All in all, a quick batch of "old" figures that keeps me in line with my alternating system. I think they turned out well, and hopefully, will see use in a game of Four Delvers or something soon!

That's it for a while, though! I'm heading overseas on vacation, so won't do any updates for at least a week and a half. When I come back, I'll be finishing up some more 28mm Elves next!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 159
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 85

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 3
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 22

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 16
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 56 

Two Medieval/Fantasy Stone Buildings

    These two 3-D printed buildings from Sword & Scabbard are my latest addition to my medieval town

After being excited about how my Watchtower and Duncan House came out, I wanted to paint some more medieval or fantasy type buildings. I'd purchased this pair of buildings from my friend Scott of Sword & Scabbard Games at Advance the Colors 2025. They were also 3-D printed and I liked their somewhat ramshackle look. I think painting medieval buildings is going to be a bit of a side project for this year. Two more finished gets me closer to eventually being able to run a Medieval Town skirmish scenario!

    I'm looking forward to collecting (and painting up) enough buildings to run town skirmishes

However, painting these two were a night and day different experience than the previous ones. The way these buildings were laid out with taller walls and more cramped quarters (part of the look I liked) made them VERY difficult to paint the interiors. The initial base coating and dry brushing the stone wasn't too awkward, though I did have to find an angle to tip the building towards me to really see what my brush was doing. However, getting at the various beams in the walls, doors, window sills, and wood beams along the floors (!!) was a nightmare! These two buildings are smaller than either the Watchtower and Duncan House, but they easily took two to three times as long to paint. There was simply an excess of interior details, in my opinion. I would be very surprised if the designer (unfortunately, I didn't ask Scott who created the STLs) actually painted one of these prints up! If so, my guess is he (or she) would have made some changes...haha!

    Close up of a courtyard created by setting the two at right angles and on my new stone surface mat

This issue is certainly not Sword & Scabbard's fault. This was simply me not examining the buildings carefully enough. I just looked at the exteriors, which I loved. The exterior details were very easy to get at and painted up easily enough. Well, then again, when you factor in all of the different types of surfaces -- stucco, stone, wood, roof tiles, window slats, window leading, metal on doors, etc. -- the exteriors were not too bad to paint...ha, ha! The interiors were simply miserable, though! I will have to remember that and more closely examine the interiors of any new buildings before I purchase them! 

    The one story building - easier to paint because it did not have that cramped, tall upper story

I began, as I usually do with 3-D printed buildings, spray painting them with Krylon Fusion Matte Black. I then brush on a 50/50 mixture of acrylic black paint and water, which sinks into all those crevices the spray can may have missed. And there were LOTS of little crevices on these buildings! I did a wet brush of dark gray followed by a dry brush of light gray. Sometimes, I do a three different shades of gray atop the black, but I didn't this time. The next step took me several days to finish, though. I painted all of the wooden surfaces with a dark brown paint. This was when it really hit home to me how painter unfriendly these designs were. Things got only a little better when I did the first dry brush on the wood with a medium tone called "Camo Brown" from Howard Hues. The final Khaki highlight on the wood took another day. Throughout the process, I had to go back and clean off splash-overs on the interiors -- especially from trying to paint those stupid wooden beams along the floors! I'm sure the designer thought it looked atmospheric, with all the wooden surfaces intermixed with the stone. 

    A view of different sides of the one story building and some of my 28mm civilian figures

I was also painting the roofs at the same time. There was only one small stone section on the roof of one of the buildings. Both roofs are mostly covered with tiles and wooden beams, with the two story building also having its upper level attached to the roof piece. The one story building has what looks like standard clay tiles, while the two story has what appears to be wooden tiles. I thought about differentiating the wooden and clay tiles in different colors, but decided to go with the same color for both. I did a craft red-brown paint for the wet brush and another Howard Hues color that I try to keep in stock, Middle East Flesh, for the more orange dry brush highlight. Unfortunately, I am running low on that particular pot of paint and probably won't see my usual vendor for it until April. After that step, it was time for Dark Brown nightmare, Part 2. There is a LOT of wood on these roofs, but since it is all "exterior," it went much easier than the interiors of the buildings. I followed up with the same Camo Brown and Khaki I used on the bottom levels and interiors.

    Even though it was a pain to paint up, I love the way the building overhangs its entrance way

These two buildings also have an unusual amount of doors and windows as part of their design. A medieval fire safety inspector would doubtless approve of all the emergency exits! Each door has what appears to be metal parts, too, so that was another two-step painting job (Gunmetal Gray and Bronze). I went back and forth on what color to use for the stucco sections (mostly the upper section of the two story building. I decided that the one story would have a pale yellow stucco, while the two story would have pale blue. I like pastel colors for stucco or daub and took out my various bottles of pale colors, placing them next to the buildings before making my choices. For the interior stucco on the two story, I decided to go with a more tan/white look. Done, now? Nope! More to do!!

    2 more sides of the 2-story -- I really like the ramshackle look of these Sword & Scabbard buildings

For a brief moment, I considered putting clear plastic on the inside of the window frames. Perhaps I could even color them with transparent markers to look like decorated or stained glass? In the end, I decided that the interiors would look awkward then, with the criss-cross black leading behind a solid sheet of clear plastic. Speaking of which, the narrow bars on the windows I decided to do in black, while the thicker wooden slats would be lightly dry brushed with a faded color. For some reason, I like how dark red looks on windows of medieval buildings, so decided to go with that on the one story. On the two story, I decided to dry brush a medium blue as a faded coloring on its frames, to go with the pale blue stucco.

    The interior of the 1-story...take a look at the wooden beams going along the floor & wall line - ugh!

Once again, I wanted my medieval buildings to be as "generic" as possible, so I did not add signs or any unique decorative modifications myself. Also, I worry about a black wash possibly obscuring the highlighting on dry brushed gray stone, so passed on that step for both of these. Same with the tiled roofs. However, I covered the stucco sections with a dark brown or black wash in the end. Same with the metal on the doors. I like how a black wash ages metals. 

    The interiors of the two floors of the 2-story - hopefully my players will think they turned out well!

And I think that finally -- other than a matte spray coat -- finishes these two medieval sagas! I like how they look -- especially the upturned wooden beam decorations on the roofs. Speaking of which, the roofs fit on nicely, as does the upper section of the two story. These will make great additions to my eventual medieval town board. I do have another medieval building on the way. My friend Rich Brown from RRB Minis & More, who printed both the watchtower and the Duncan House, has his 3-D printer back up and running. He had some sort of glitch that derailed his printing for months. He has promised to print up the Catrine House for me. It's from the same Dadi Dungeon & Dintorni range as the Duncan House, so should look great. I will be seeing him at the end of this month at Cincycon 2026. If you're going to Cincycon, he will be there as a vendor. So reach out to him if you want something printed -- his prices are unbeatable!

    Final look at the two buildings together as a street scene - that one lady is sure angry at a lot of folks!

So, what else is on my painting desk? The first batch of 28mm Elves from Warhost are nearly done. Look for a post on them very soon. So far, I am keeping my pledge to alternate batches of figures from current projects with something I purchased pre-2026. I have primed and ready to go two giant spiders (from the Wargames Atlantic kits), along with four not-so-giant ones. I picked them up last year from Firelands Games at Hold the Line 2025. Rusty and James sell individual sprues, which is a great resource to the gamer! I picked up two sprues of the spiders. I also have a 3-D printed fantasy Ancient Deer that I bought from Beldolor Studios at Origins 2025. It looks almost alien, so I figured it could possibly be used as one of the aliens my Critter Control dudes have to fight. They're waiting in the wings. Terrain-wise, the bullet impact markers I picked up at Michigan Toy Soldier are next in line. So, lot's more on the way!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 95
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 34

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 0
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 21

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 2
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 24

Moss Mats -- A Replacement for My Strene Area Terrain Pieces?

    My new area terrain pieces using 'Moss Mat' found at Michaels -- looks like jungle undergrowth!

While scouring the aisles of Michaels craft store, I came upon something interesting to me. It is called a "Moss Mat" and comes in a number of different sizes. The one I bought was 16"x18" and had an adhesive backing. For all the world, it looks like shredded pieces of lichen or moss that has been tamped down into a relatively flat surface. I thought it might make an interesting material for  pieces of area terrain, especially for jungle or woods. I have been using my same flocked pieces of styrene for decades, now, placing model trees or scatter atop them. Would this look better and more 3-Dimensional?

    The package caught my eye while wandering the store's aisles -- I like the sticky back, too!

I thought so -- at least for my Vietnam games. I bought one pack, though I briefly considered purchasing the 18"x48" roll instead. The roll gives you three times the surface area at only double the price (but without the adhesive backing). Since this was an experiment, I went with the spending less money! The moss mat was folded into quarters inside its plastic bag. I unfolded it and tried to flatten the creases with heavy books. The creases seemed to stay, though. So, I decided to cut it into four pieces, leaving the creases out. This wasted only about a 2" strip of material horizontally and vertically. The next step was to cut four rounded rectangles of MDF material, roughly about 7"x8" (slightly smaller than my four quarters). Honestly, cutting the MDF was the hardest part! I either need to use thinner MDF or find a better way to cut it than my carpet/utility knife.

    Underside of the moss mat -- you can see the material is dense & thick -- there are no holes or gaps

Once the shapes were cut, I flipped over each square of moss mat and peeled off its back. I centered the piece of MDF on it and pressed it down. After doing this for all four pieces, I used a good pair of scissors to trim the material so that only about a 1/2" was overlapping the MDF. I figured that way I wouldn't have to paint the side edges of the MDF material. You wouldn't see them on the tabletop. The flexible moss mat fabric would likely hang down a bit to cover up those edges, which honestly, were brown anyway.

    I affixed the mat to four MDF pieces that are roughly a rounded 7"x9" in size

As I was working with it, I encountered the number one problem I figured that I might run into with this material. It sheds. Significantly. So, I would need to find a way to fix the material into place so that I don't leave a Hansel and Gretel trail of tiny pieces of moss/lichen behind me after every game I run. I also don't want the material to fray and fall apart, though it does seem that the adhesive backing is fixed to the mat very well and gives it strength. There's definitely no "daylight" showing through! So, there's enough of the moss adhering together and to the backing that it should never become patchy and ragged...at least I hope!

    Close up of the surface of one of the pieces -- I think it really looks like tangled, jungle undergrowth

Step One to fixing the moss material together so that it doesn't shed was to give it a heavy spray of the acrylic matte can that I normally use on my miniatures. After drying, I was curious if this in itself would be enough to keep the moss from shedding. I decided that it probably wouldn't, so dug out a spray bottle filled with a mixture of acrylic matte medium and water. This is what I use when I create battle mats using ordinary felt and Woodland Scenics flocking. It typically does a pretty good job sealing flock in, so I figured that I would give it a try, too. From this point on, it will be testing out the pieces in games to see how much they shed. If they require more spraying, so be it.

    Some of my 28mm Viet Cong prowling through my jungle scatter placed atop my new area pieces

I do like the way they look on the tabletop. It definitely gives it more of a thick undergrowth look compared to my venerable styrene with its irregular patches of earth brown and green grass flocking. Look for me to buy more ("Shocker!", I know...) and use them to be used in a game soon!

    Definitely need to create some more of these pieces -- 4 areas of terrain isn't enough for a jungle!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 95
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 34

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 0
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 21

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 2
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 24  

    One final close up of figures and jungle scatter on the surface of the moss mat pieces

Crashed Spacecraft Sections & Alien Tech Gems

    My crashed spacecraft sections made from various random things I had & a cheap plastic toy

This post probably exemplifies the cart-before-the-horse idea. For this past Sunday's game, I needed to build individual sections of an alien spacecraft that had come apart on crash-landing on a planet. My intention was to scatter the components in the center of the game and having my players searching among them for objectives, aka Alien Tech. Well, I have already posted about the game and you've already seen pictures of the items I'm describing in the post. So, cart in front of horse...!

    This section probably had the most random pieces glued onto it, including scatter from A Critical Hit

I had an idea for those and they were the easiest part. Long ago, a friend handed me a quart ziplock back of 3-D printed tires of various sizes and shapes. While going through all of my bins looking for parts that might look like bits and bobs for an alien spacecraft, I came upon the bag. I pulled it out, sorted through them, and found that some were the exact size to fit a craft store "gem" onto. So, first, I pulled out the various colors of gems I would be using, deciding in a completely random way to make eight of them. I found eight of the tires that the gems would rest upon with part of the tire showing as a rim around the colorful, glowing alien power node (or whatever it was that I was creating!).

    Created my 'Alien Tech' objectives with cheap craft store gems glued to 3-D printed tires & a washer 

I based the tires on appropriate sized metal washers, first. Then I epoxied the gems onto the 3-D printed tires. Next, I did a base coat of Iron Wind Steel -- a very dark metallic -- on the tire, making sure I also covered up the little wave-shaped edges of the gems, as well. Next, I chose one of my dozen-plus metallic paint colors that somewhat matched the gem color. I painted the outer edge of the tire that color. Finally, I chose a different metallic to paint the washer base and voila! These glowing Alien Tech objectives pieces were finished! 

    Many of the bits I glued onto the pieces of the plastic toy were to break up the outline & complicate it

Now, it was time to tackle the spaceship sections! My thought was to find a cheap plastic spaceship at the discount store or failing that a piece of construction equipment. I found an earth excavator for a couple bucks, and took a pair of wire cutters to it. Well, after buying -- just to be clear! I disassembled it into various mechanical component looking pieces. I based those on pieces of styrene plastic, epoxying them into place with space around for various pieces that had fallen off. Even the four tires were set on their side and became a piece of the spaceship. Now, it was time to junk them up! I had a pile of various pieces from a number of sources. I simply began epoxying them onto the plastic excavator sections making it look more mechanical and interesting. Some sections got more junk added to them, some less. Once I was satisfied they looked like a complicated mechanical and futuristic spaceship section, I pronounced myself done.

    It's probably easy to see the cab for the excavator here, but I tried my best to 'tech it up'!

Then, I flocked the base so that it looked like it had sunken a bit into the ground from the impact. I waited for a reasonably warm winter day and spray painted each base and components on there black. The next step was to go over everything in a craft Gunmetal Gray metallic paint. I didn't want to use up my precious Iron Wind Steel -- I'm down to my last bottle! Hopefully, I can pick up a re-stock at Cincycon at the end of February. Once it had dried, I looked at my various metallics and decided that the dark red would look the best for the accent color on the spacecraft sections.

    After my lovely accent painting, you could NEVER tell this was one of the excavator's tires, right?

This step was the most time-consuming of the process. I did each piece, one by one, deciding what part of the piece was accent color and what would remain the dark metallic. Some sections got more accent color than others. It took about four days or so to go through all of the pieces. I decided that I wasn't going to spray coat these pieces because they honestly won't get a lot of use (my guess). Plus, I was worried about a matte coat dulling the gleam of the dark red metallic down too much. The gems were then added to the top of the four wheels, hopefully forever disguising them from looking like giant truck wheels...haha!

    I even tossed random bits of scatter or pieces inside this open area on this piece of the excavator

The last step was to add fine black ballast (meant to be coal for railroad hobbyists) to the base. I went back and forth whether to go with sand to match my Tatooine or black. I finally decided that the black looks like the ground was burnt from the spacecraft's thrusters desperately trying slow the impact. Honestly, no matter what color I chose for flocking the crashed sections, it was going to look out of place on some gaming surface. Perhaps I was choosing black as the simplest and most expedient method of flocking these. I would need them on a Sunday and I finished the flocking only the day before!

    Note how I matched the objective tokens' metallic bands with their gem colors -- or tried to!

They looked okay on the tabletop. I had considered blackening sections of the spacecraft to represent scorched surfaces. In the end, I decided not to do that. The idea for the scenario was that the ship's emergency thrusters slowed the decent enough that it did not explode and burn up on impact, but instead merely broke apart. Plus, if they're not burnt, they can be random, generic, Sci-Fi bits of mechanical terrain for other games. Jenny and I are talking about re-starting our Space Station Zero adventures on weekend evenings when we want to stay in and play a game. So, they can join the tons of other Sci-Fi scatter I have on hand for that.

    This was one of my favorite pieces for looking like random machinery

I realize that, by no means, are these the greatest scratch-built pieces of terrain ever! I hope they're passable, though. And they cost next to nothing to make! The only thing I went out and bought for all of the things pictured on this post is the plastic toy excavator. As I mentioned in the previous post, the spacecraft sections I'm counting as "Terrain" and the objectives are "Scatter."

    I'd been wanting to pick up this solo/coop alien hunting rules set and finally did, recently

So, what else is on my painting desk, at the moment? I have six 28mm orc casualties that I will be using for my "Battered" markers for Dragon Rampant games. They're about halfway done, I think. I also have begun working on five modern figures that I bought as part of my 28mm Vietnam figures from Crucible Crush's Black Sun range. They're from the Children of Hastur line, supposedly whacked out cultists. Instead, I'm going to use them as my "team" for games of Majestic 13, which I bought recently. More on that potential solo gaming project when I finish them, though!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 6
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 24

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 0
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 17

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 0
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 24 

Elephant Grass, Take 2 (Three??)

 

    One of my 28mm Vietnam figures trying to find his way through my 3rd version of elephant grass

My readers here on my blog gave me a thumbs up on my first attempt at elephant grass for my 28mm Vietnam. Over on the Lead Adventure Forum, though, some commenters echoed some concerns that I had about how my first few bases came out. The blades were too wide. It was way out of scale. The stalks of the "grass" didn't mimic what pictures of elephant grass from Vietnam depicted. So, I decided to do a "Take 2."

    Snipping off the cat tail itself, I thought these O Scale JTT scenery products might work

 

The more I looked at the JTT Cat Tails scenics handing from their hooks at Hobby Lobby, the more I thought they might do a better job of looking like grass instead of some random jungle plant. Yes, I would have to cut off the one brown cat tail amongst the green stems shooting up, but that would be easy. I figured that four of them would look right on one of the 1.5"wooden discs. So, I flocked up one of the discs first, then drilled holes with a pin vice where the stems of the plant would go. 

    

    I trimmed off part of the bottom stem & put 5 plants per base, filling the gaps with JTT bushes

After putting four of them a disc, I decided the ground area looked pretty blank and I would need more vegetation on the disk. I added some of the green bushes I used in the first attempt at elephant grass, placed in between each stalk and also in the center of the disk. Next, I added green flocking tufts in the gaps between the bushes. I showed it to Jenny, and she echoed my concern that it looked a little bare. Plus, she said the fact that the cat tail piece went straight up then suddenly flared out halfway up looked odd. It didn't look like long stems of grass. 

    This view from above shows how there are 3 levels - grass tufts, JTT bushes, & the trimmed cat tails

So, on version 2.1 I cut the cat tails down and also added in a fifth piece in the center instead of a bush. I still put the buses in between each cat tail piece and the tufts between them. I liked it a lot better. I dry brushed the tips of the stems the same Maple Sugar that I had done the plastic plants in my first attempt. I showed it to Jenny and she agreed -- definitely better. Neither her nor I were happy about the very "stepped" appearance. You have the flocking tufts that go up a certain height. Next you have the bushes that go up higher. Finally, you have the cat tail pieces which go up more than twice as high as the bushes. if all those stalks were intermixed amongst each other, that might look okay. However, I still wasn't 100% sure this was my elephant grass solution.

 

    I had never heard of 22mm tall grass tufts! I like how lush & dense they are (& easy to make!)

Enter Version 3 -- or at least 3.0, haha! I visited Michigan Toy Soldier with my friend Mike a day or so later. Mike had to go up to Michigan to pick up some painted figures from the amazing Ted Bender. I pitched a visit another hour and a half north to the store as part of the trip, and I'd go along and buy him lunch. He agree. Well, at the store, which has an amazing selection of modeling materials and paints, I found 22mm high tufts from Green Stuff World. Think about that. The minis I'm using for Vietnam are 28mm. These tufts are almost as tall (and would be based on a wooden disk). I took one look at them and grabbed all three blister packs of them they had hanging from the pegs.

    Looking down, you can see how much thicker they are, plus they have a little lighter yellow color, too

I took it to the counter and explained what I was looking for to the store manager. He opened one of the blisters up and I pulled out the painted figure I'd brought along from the Crucible Crush Black Sun range. We both agreed that the flocking looked good coming up over his chest. Honestly, I had never seen a tuft 22mm tall! Actually, Green Stuff World carries four different colors of them. Thankfully, all three they had hanging on the peg were the same color! I picked those up, along with a number of other scenic items. They didn't have any of the miniatures that I was looking for, so I didn't come home with anything but flocking or scenic items.

    I bought mine at Michigan Toy Soldier, but your local shop might be able to order them

For Version 3.0, I simply did my normal flocking job on three wooden discs. Once that was done, I opened up a pack of the 22mm tufts and found that the diameter of each piece was a bit smaller than I thought. I ended up having to put four tufts on each circular 1.5" base. I did the math and the three packs I bought of these tufts would cover 16 bases (4 pieces of elephant grass terrain?). That should be enough for just about any game. I am still thinking of dry brushing the tops of these stems of grass with the same Maple Sugar color. I'm curious to hear what my readers and those on the Lead Adventure Forum think, though.

    One final look at Version 2 -- which do you like best? Version 2 or 3??

    

Which version do you like best? I really want to hear your vote! The original, very tall but broad elephant grass? The stepped Version 2 using the JTT Cat Tails? Or Version 3.0 with the 22mm tufts? Please respond in the comments if you have time -- I would certainly appreciate it!

 

    For those who don't know, here's what it is SUPPOSED to look like...

Meanwhile, what else is on my painting desk? The next batch of orcs (and armored troll) are very close to being finished. You will probably see a post on them within a day or so. I also have more terrain besides the elephant grass that I am working on. I have the crashed spaceship sections primed and ready to be painted on my desk. Once I get this batch of orcs off of the table, I will have room to work on those. So, they're next, then my penultimate group of orcs. Woo-hoo! Almost done with another painting project!!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 6
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 15

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 0
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 2

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 0
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 5