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 

Please Keep Off the Elephant Grass!

    Do these bases of plastic plants do the job as giving the effect of elephant grass in Vietnam? Or no?

I have been slowly working on terrain for my 28mm Vietnam games. I started with a couple different sizes of jungle scatter, added in rice paddies, and most recently worked on patches of bamboo. Only one type of iconic Vietnam natural vegetation was left -- elephant grass! This can grow in height over a man's head. I looked at how other miniature gamers had done it and also paged through a lot of Google Images. Armed with that knowledge, I headed off to Michaels craft store with my Christmas present of a $50 gift card. 

    The giant mat I found composed of individual circles with long blades of plastic 'grass' attached

Unfortunately, I didn't find anything that jumped out at me at Michaels. Boo! Next, it was off to a nearby Hobby Lobby. There I did find a very interesting square mat of plastic plants that looked like it would work. And yes, I had brought along a 28mm miniature in my pocket to hold up to the various options to see if the sizing would be right. The mat passed the test, and what's more, would supply more than enough pieces for all of the elephant grass that I'm likely to ever create. The mat consists of multiple circular pieces (with long blades of grass) attached to a square plastic mat. It looked like three of the circles would fit on 1.5 " wooden disc. However, the center of each circle of grass was completely bare. 

  'Green bushes' from JTT Scenics that I would apply in the center of each circle to hide the bare area

I would need to find something to fill that bare circle, though the blades of grass did a semi-decent job of covering it up. Still, I kept shopping and found a sheet of small green bushes from JTT Scenics that would fit inside of the plastic grass. They would end up being the more expensive part of the components, as the grass mat and 1.5" wooden circles were incredibly cheap. Now, to get it all home and see if it looked halfway decent once I put them all together!

    One base with the first circle & bush attached and the second one epoxied & tacked into place

I decided to paint the base first with the earth brown ground color I use. I did a light coating, which soaked into the wooden surface, and hopefully would not get in the way of the plants adhering to the surface of the wood. To attach them, I decided to use 5-Minute, two-part epoxy. Knowing the grass blades stuck out pretty far in all directions and might "push" neighboring circles away, I epoxied one circle at a time, waiting for it to cure before attaching the next piece. In fact, I decided to wait about an hour or so rather than the five minutes it normally takes. Plastic can be slippery, and some of these did not sit 100% flat, meaning I could have a tricky bonding situation. My fears proved well-founded, as supposedly cured pieces of epoxy came unstuck once or twice during the process. So, I began using a thumbtack to affix it to the wooden base while the epoxy cured. In the end, all three circles of grass were attached to the bases. At that point, I put the scenic bushes inside the center of the grass circles. Once they dried, flocking was the next step. I brushed my premixed 50/50 white glue and brown paint in the gaps between the circles of grass and along the edges of the base. I sprinkled Woodland Scenics Blended Turf atop the glue-paint mix and set them aside to dry. 

    Ground level look at a squad of my 28mm American infantry advancing through the elephant grass

The next step was to trim the blades of grass. I pulled out some of my Vietnam figs and placed them between the four bases of elephant grass. I trimmed off the "wild hairs" and shortened the longest pieces down. It was an eyeballing thing, of course. Yes, I realize the individual blades of grass are still wildly out of scale for my figures. It is the effect that I am shooting for. Once I was happy with all four bases, the last step was to dry brush them. Many of the photos of elephant grass I had seen showed the stalks yellowing and turning brown. I went back and forth on which color to use, but ended up choosing a yellowish-brown craft paint called "Maple Sugar." I took my widest flat brush and dry brushed the grass here and there to give a more varied effect. I was pretty happy with how that transformed the look of the grass blades and made it look way less "plastic-y." At that point, I decided that I needed some green grass tufts to mask where each pair of circles joined. I chose the largest size and they did a nice job of making the surface of each base look more natural. The only remaining thing to do was the acrylic matte spray coat. And just like that, my first four test bases of elephant grass for Vietnam were done. 

A look from above at my first 4 test bases of elephant grass next to some 28mm miniatures

I let them sit a few days before taking photos of them with some of my 28mm Vietnam miniatures. I am very curious to hear what you think about whether they look good or not. The individual grass blades are wider than what would be 28mm scale, but do they give a good effect? Or does it look like some large jungle plant instead of elephant grass? I won't be offended if you give them a thumbs down. I just wanted to get some feedback before doing any more bases. Thanks!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

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

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: 4 

Stone Tower & Duncan House Medieval Buildings Finished

    Ferisia Ironhorn Fortress from RRB Minis & More - my first painted project of the new year!

Welcome to my first Lead Legionaries post of 2026! Why not start things off BIG -- as in two very big buildings? I picked up these two 3-D printed, medieval buildings back in September at Battles at the Brewery in Chillicothe, OH. My friend Rich Brown of RRB Minis and More had shown up to sell his products at this game day run by the Chillicothe Area Wargaming Group. I went there expecting to pick up the Duncan House building, but the four story stone Watchtower was an impulse purchase. The price ($29) was simply too good to pass up, so I brought both of them home. They are nice print jobs that fit together easily with notches at the top of each piece that align nicely into a cavity in the level that fits atop it. Each has a door that swings open and closed -- another nice touch. If you like them, Rich does have some in stock, he told me recently. However, supplies are running low, so contact him quickly! He will ramping up production in the new year, though, he promises.

    The 3-D printed Duncan House, also from the Ferisia City line by Dadi Dungeon & Dintorni

The Duncan House looks like a town building from either the late medieval or early Renaissance era. Rich bought the STL from Dadi Dungeon & Dintorni. Check out the link! Both buildings are from their Ferisia City line. The company (an Italian one from Torni, Italy, perhaps??) has an amazing line of incredibly cool buildings. More on that below. The Duncan House has a variety of surfaces textured onto the exterior and interior -- stone, wood, plaster, and a tile roof. On the other hand, the stone tower -- known as the Ferisia Ironhorn Fortress on the site -- looks more like a watchtower in a mountain pass or guarding a frontier, and is perched atop its own small rocky outcrop. Its interior and exterior surfaces are mostly stone, with a pyramidal tile roof. The windows in the Duncan House have diamond shaped panes, while the much narrower windows in the tower are merely gaps in the stone. I was tempted to cut some clear plastic and glue it up against the panes of the interior of the Duncan House. It might look nice on the exterior (especially if colored with transparent markers), but I felt it would look silly on the inside with the panes behind a solid sheet of plastic. So, I left them black.

    Rear of 3-D printed watchtower - my 'impulse purchase' from RRB Minis & More at the game day

I prepared both buildings by spray painting them black with Krylon Fusion acrylic. Next, I went over the paint with a 50/50 mix of acrylic black paint and water, doing the insides first, then the exteriors after the insides had dried. This is by far the messiest part of getting them ready for the tabletop, with drips on your working surface being an unavoidable annoyance. Once completely dry, I did the stone surfaces of the two buildings first. I did them in a dark gray followed by light gray dry brush. The doors, wooden floors and ladders on the interior of each level were done in a dark brown, with Camo Brown then Khaki dry brushing. The interior plaster walls were done in a tan with lighter tan dry brush. The exterior ones were done in a light orange color called Terra Cotta, followed up by a tan dry brush. Some of the exterior wooden surfaces of the Duncan House are molded in what looks like wide wooden panels. I did these in a lighter base coat (Autumn Brown) with tan dry brush. So, there is a bit of a two-tone look to the wood on some sections.

    Rear of the Duncan House - I like how the wooden portion overhands the ground level

The metal fittings on the doors and trap doors were done in Iron Wind Steel with bronze accents atop it on the flat parts. The raised bolts were left Steel (or touched up where my brush went astray). The window panes on the Duncan House were done in Moroccan Red with a Salmon dry brush to show some sun bleaching. The tile roofs were done in a red brown base coat with Howard Hues Middle Easter Flesh dry brush. I really like the way all of the colors went together on the Duncan House. I also like how both buildings are not straight up square columns. They bow out in some places and have stone arches supporting the wider levels above. 

    Close up of the stairs, entrance & rocky crag with a 'Dirty Down' moss effect on the boulders

I'm actually kind of strangely sad that I went to the Dadi Dungeon website and looked at the buildings on there. I am now very tempted to pick up more of them for some medieval town skirmishes. They have several different lines. The buildings of the Ferisia line have a very solid, stone look about them. Some are classified as "Dwarven" buildings, which makes sense with the look and name. Silverlake City has a very Lord of the Rings "Lake Town" vibe. Some of the buildings look very hodgepodge and like they've been added to higgledy piggledy to over the years. Many have balconies or rest upon wooden or stone pilings. You will definitely be reminded of the look of Lake Town in the Peter Jackson Hobbit trilogy. 

    Entrance to the Duncan House with lion crest above the door and the stone & plaster surface

Salmystia is VERY much modeled upon Renaissance Venice. In fact, some of the bundles are even labeled "Venezia." To me, Venice is the most architecturally beautiful city in the world I have visited (currently at 104 countries). I would love to have a tabletop Venice to do skirmish games upon. As much as I would like to do it, I am definitely daunted by having enough room to STORE it all...ha, ha! Crazy to even consider, eh? There is also a fourth line called the "Damned City," which looks like a classic medieval ruined city. Peruse the pictures on the website at your peril...!

    Interior floors of the watchtower with their plain stone interior, wood floors, ladder & trap doors

Once the five levels (counting the roof) of the tower and the four levels of the Duncan House were completely done, I stacked them back together and let them sit for a day. It wasn't just to admire them. I was contemplating whether I would do a brown or black wash over the interior or exterior surfaces. I ended up washing the wood sections with my black vehicle wash. The plaster sections were done with the dark brown vehicle wash. Also, for the tower, I used my Dirty Down Moss effect stain for the first time ever on some of the rocky outcrop's surfaces (deciding which side was "north" and doing only those very roughly facing that direction. Once the moss effect was dry, I flocked the lower portions of the rocky outcrop with grass. I wanted it to be mostly stone, but I also felt it would be a more striking look if grass had grown over some portions and moss was on other parts. I added tiny bits of clump foliage, too, to give the crags a more 3-D look. 

    Interior floors & tile roofs of the Duncan House - which I actually won as a prize from RRB!

All in all, I am very happy with how these two very tall medieval buildings turned out. What's more, they are the very first things I have completed in 2026. I am honestly not sure when I will get them on the tabletop, yet. I would love to do some medieval town skirmishes use Sellswords & Spellslingers. Hmm...maybe I should use my Christmas money and purchase a cloth or neoprene cobblestone mat? Speaking of purchases, I have (so far) held off on the temptation to buy any more of these medieval buildings from Rich. I do have two more medieval town buildings that I bought from Sword & Scabbard Games at Advance the Colors last year. I should probably paint those up first, right?

    Zooming in on the 3-d printed stone work which I did in black, dark gray, and light gray dry brush

So, what else is on my tabletop, to start off the new year? I have a batch of nine Gripping Beast armored orcs that are underway. They had arrived already based up and primed black, and some having various stages of armor or other colors on them. I am essentially repainting them so that they match my current orc and goblin horde using the Ragnorak figures. In addition, I have six Reaper wolves of various sizes (Warg, Dire Wolf, Wolf Pack blister packs) that are primed and awaiting their first base coat. I will also begin working on some elephant grass for my Vietnam games soon. I bought the material last week for them and will likely do my first test batch in the next few days. 

I hope everyone had a good set of holidays! Happy New Year!!

    Zooming in on the side of Duncan House building - I will definitely be buying more from this line

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 6
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 0

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: 0 

Rural Interlude: Asian Water Buffalo, 2-Wheel Cart & Wattle Fences

    Some 3-D printed rural scatter terrain and water buffaloes that I painted up a week or so ago

All of these items were finished more than a week ago. However, I never got a chance to do a blog post on them before leaving for vacation to Dominica last week. I pulled them out after painting up the Japanese Fishing Village scatter set from Miniature Building Authority. I remembered that I had also picked up a couple 3-D printed Asian water buffaloes from them, as well. I pulled them out, and said, "What the heck?" Let's go full-on rural and get that 3-D printed cart from A Critical Hit done, as well. And while I was at it, I pulled out the wattle fence sections I bought at Advance the Colors 2025 from Diabolical Terrain. The cart and buffaloes I simply primed with Liquitex White Gesso. The fence sections I figured it might be better to do an acrylic black spray prime with my usual Krylon Fusion. Next up, was a 50/50 mix of water and black acrylic paint. There are a lot of crevices and recessed areas in the wattle as the branches thread in and out of the posts. I didn't want any gray peaking through.

    3-D printed 28mm Wattle fences (one section with gate) from Diabolical Terrain I got at ATC 2025

For painting the wattle, I scaled my usual wood tones a bit lighter. Instead of using a dark brown base like I normally do for wood, I went with a wet brush of a medium to lighter brown called Autumn Brown. The next step was a Khaki highlight. I skipped the brown wash with the black undercoat still showing in some places. I flocked them and added a couple tufts on each side, and these were done! Quick is the theme for this update. All three items painted up extremely quickly. My biggest decision was whether to put them on a base or just flock the thin base they come printed on. Or I could also make them into an enclosed field using the gate sections...what to do? In the end, I decided to leave them "as is" and place the wattle fence directly onto the tabletop when I use them. That gives me flexibility in both length and width of the enclosed field. Of course, if I don't like using them this way, they are so inexpensive I could buy more from Ron the next time I see him. In fact, when I picked them up from him at Advance the Colors 2025, I joked, "Do you know how much time you saved me for just over a $1.50?"

    Miniature Building Authority sells a pack of 2 3-D printed water buffaloes for my Vietnam games

The water buffaloes painted up very quickly, too. I pulled up a Google Images page on them and they look pretty dark furred, in general. So, I used a dark brown base coat. I did a medium brown (Autumn Brown from Ceramcoat) dry brush over that to bring out the highlights on the figure. Next, I did a khaki dry brush along the undersides of the buffaloes, as some of the photos showed them a lighter color underneath -- like many animals. Their wide, curving horns were dry brushed a light tan ("Wild Rice" from Ceramcoat, again). The only real details I had to do with a small brush were their black eyes and detail around their mouth. Yep, painting buffalo lips! 

    Base coat and a couple dry brushes and these big boys were done and ready for the tabletop! 

I did a brown wash on the horns, but none of the rest of the figure received a wash. Once again, I was concerned that it might cover up the medium brown and khaki dry brushing. Flocking was done in my normal method. The large round bases came with the figures, and I went ahead and used them. Of course, I forgot until AFTER the figures were done to put some magnetic material underneath. Sigh. Still, my Vietnam rural scenes just got a nice bit of eye candy, as they two took very little time to get ready.

    2-wheel carts for only $1.50 from A Critical Hit - I need to pick up more of these next time!

The two-wheel cart was even easier. It comes in four parts -- the main "basket" of the cart, the undercarriage with long handles, and the two wooden wheels. The hardest part was epoxying it all together, as I had to dig out the notch for the wheels fit into. As printed, the wholes weren''t big enough. No biggie! Just using an X-acto knife widened them enough to dry fit them into. I pulled them back out and used some gray tac to hold the cart in place and epoxied them all together. 

    Wattle fences and carts will also work for Fantasy, Medieval, and about anything up to modern age

Once that was done, it was simple. I did a dark brown base coat, Camo brown dry brush, and khaki highlight (my typical wood recipe). There were a few metal bits to paint Iron Wind Metals Steel, with a dab of Bronze for the bolts. Once dry, I did a black vehicle wash over the cart and it was ready for the clear spray coat! And actually, that's where this update ends. The wattle fence sections still need their 50/50, so I guess it wasn't a "full-on" rural post. Still, I was happy at getting the water buffaloes done and the cart. I know that when I see A Critical Hit next (Cincycon 2026?), I will definitely be buy several more of these. I think they cost like $1.50 each. How can you beat it?? They work for a huge number of periods and regions of the world. If you see them at a show anytime soon, pick some up (after I am able to get mine, of course...ha, ha!).

    I went back and forth whether to base the fences as an enclosure or keep them as separate pieces

On the painting desk at the moment is my Orc and Goblin horde commander and his bodyguard. They're mostly completed, though, I still have to do some details like their shield design and eyes, teeth, etc. This morning, I pulled out another batch and attached their weapons and shields. It will be four orcs/goblins and two more trolls. For terrain, I have a giant stone tower that I bought from RRB Minis & More spray primed. I may. not work on it much, though, until I even things up in the Acquired vs. Painted for Miniatures. I am have 27 more figures to complete to do so, and 19 days to do it! Will I make it...? Time will tell...

    Final look at the 'Rual' items I painted up, accompanied by my 28mm Empress Vietnamese civilians

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 306
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 279

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 62
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 80

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 144
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 213 

Desert Buildings - Five Done Already!

    Stormtroopers inspect one of my latest 3-D printed buildings to ensure it is up to imperial code

So, remember the great deal I got at Hold the Line on those 3-D printed buildings? Well, they turned out to be very easy to paint up for the tabletop, too! Originally, I was going to paint up the three smallest that I bought from Jeff G in time for this coming Sunday's game. After my friend Mike S handed me two more that fit the theme perfectly, I said what the heck? We'll get five of them ready. 

    'I saw the rebels go this way!' These buildings will see use as desert Tatooine buildings very soon

Fortunately, the weather in Columbus cooperated at the start of this week, being sunny and good spray priming weather. I primed all five in a Camouflage Tan acrylic spray paint that I bought at Menards. Unlike the Tatooine buildings I bought from Diabolical Terrain, these have a lot more nooks and crannies that may have been missed by the first coat. So, I decided to brush paint them a similar "Bambi Brown" craft paint. This ensured everything got a good solid base coat. 

    All of the roofs come off, some are in 2 parts like this one, others of the ones I bought are 3 piece

Next, I dry brushed them a craft paint called "Wild Rice," which is a very light tan. I know that I did a white highlight on the Tatooine buildings, but since the Bambi brown is a little darker than the Camouflage tan spray paint, I went with a slightly darker highlight than white. I was doing all five buildings at the same time, moving from my painting desk out on the big 8'x5' gaming table. I set out a bunch of cardboard boxes and other things to set them on to dry after I painted them, too, so I needed the space.

    This 2-story building comes in 3 parts -- bottom, upper level, and roof for upper level

Now, it was time for the detail work. Frankly, there wasn't a lot of ornamentation or other things to paint up besides the walls on these desert buildings. The rooftop access doors, wooden adobe parts, and the one that had a wooden floor I base coated a medium brown called Autumn Brown. It received a khaki tan highlight. There was one building that had what looked like a tile floor in a square grid pattern. I decided to do a checkerboard of pale blue and yellow. I dry brushed those colors over the tan very lightly and not completely, leaving some tan showing. I am incredibly happy with how the tile turned out!

    Obviously, these buildings will also be usable as historical Middle Eastern ones & for the desert SW

The exposed mud brick areas I painted a lighter brown called Raw Sienna. This was probably the most time-consuming step in the entire process! There were a lot of exposed brick areas on these five models, and I kept finding new ones as I spun the building around to paint it. Or I should say, spun each level of the building around, as all of them had at least two levels and some three. All except the domed building fit together nicely on the provided tiny conical projections and holes they aligned into. It looks like the projections on the domed building (one of the ones Mike S gave me) had a bit of a printing problem and didn't fully print.

    Mon Calamari search the interior of the bottom level - note the notches at the corners so it fits tight

Speaking of which, I think you can see a quality difference in the ones I bought from Jeff G and the two I was given. The purchased ones have markedly less visible print lines and are crisp and a better overall quality. There are some issues with the printing of the smaller two buildings I was given, but nothing too drastic. They painted up nicely, and in the case of the tiled building, have a great design and layout.

    On to the upper floor -- I really like the staircases and courtyards on these buildings

The final step was to do a watered down brown vehicle wash on the surface of all of the five buildings. This was a messy step and I'm glad I seem to have gotten through it with neither any major spillage nor places where I handled wet surfaces and marred the wash. I really like the way the wash softens the dry brushing and gives a smoother tone and texture to the buildings. I think the buildings are a richer shade when seen in person than in the bright light of my photographs. 

    The Empire sent battle droids to check out another of my newest buildings - they like the view!

I will still have to clear coat these buildings, but it is rainy and humid in Columbus, now. Hopefully, I get better "spraying weather" before the weekend when the five will be part of the tabletop for my next Star Wars skirmish using Space Weirdos rules. In previous tabletop, I've been pulling out all but the kitchen sink to fill a nice cityscape. These five buildings should go a long way towards providing a more unified look to my take on Mos Eisley. So, expect to see more photos of these buildings in the background next week!

   'Cool building...' says one droid to another -- the photos make the surface look brighter than it is

So, what was on my painting desk while I was out in the other room working on these buildings? I have a group of eight 28mm armored orcs from Gripping Beast that are more than halfway done, I think. I am also working on two 3-d Printed Asian water buffalo from Miniature Building Authority. And (of course!) I have another stand of bamboo on my tabletop. Now that these five desert buildings are done, I can resume my normal pace working on the other stuff. So, stay tuned for more output soon!

    This is probably the smallest of the ones I bought from Jeff G -- but I think they all turned out great

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 306
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 269

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 62
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 72

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 144
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 212

    Look who's back! It's my group from Five Parsecs from Home admiring the lovely tile floors

    Gunny approves of the views from the rooftops, staircase and tiled 2nd story patio

    The smallest of the five, it was also probably the least well-printed with 'strings' here & there

    I think the dome on this building will help it fit in with the Tatooine vibe of mine from Diabolical

    Poor Sci-Fi Gatorfolk -- they have yet to make it into a game since I painted them...!

    No floor on the interior room -- I considered adding one of styrene plastic myself, but decided not to

Table All Set Up for Surviving 'Nam Playtests at World at War

    A view of my table set up in the basement to prepare for running Surviving 'Nam this weekend

It has been a busy last two weeks getting things ready for two upcoming conventions -- World at War at Fort Meigs this weekend (Nov. 7-8) and Hold the Line at Camp Perry, OH, the following weekend (Nov. 14-15). I've mainly been working on three things -- more bamboo and rice paddies as mentioned in the last post, and a couple sampans and Japanese Fishing Village items from Miniature Building Authority. I would like to get more bamboo stands done, but I have enough of the rest of the stuff ready to go. I proved it to myself by setting up the game table this afternoon.

    View from the back corner of the table looking towards the market (Viet Cong's view...?)

It turned out that I don't need the two large rice paddies that are nearly completed. Oh well, the sooner they get done, the better...right? I am using all of the MBA market stuff and sampans, though. I'll include pictures of them in this post, along with views of my table. In fact, it was setting up the table that made me realize I really didn't need the larger rice paddies. The board was crowded enough with my various Vietnam buildings, river, and jungle. There definitely wasn't room for them! 

    Close up of Stone Buddha Market, with various market stands and types of food for sale

I'm trying to duplicate one of the scenarios my most prolific play testers, Bob and Pete, ran. Thus was born the ville of Piit Baub at a river and trail crossroads in the territory assigned to the Big Red One (U.S. 1st Infantry Division)! The center of the board is Stone Buddha Market, a weekly trading place for villages and hamlets in the area. The market is adjacent to a wooden bridge crossing the river. Two sampans are pulled up alongside the bridge and shore, selling their fish (and other illicit wares?). Fanning out from the marketplace are my two scratch-built jungle huts, my resin MBA farmer's house and barn, and two 3-D printed hamlets on stilts that I also picked up from MBA. Beyond them is the jungle. Abutting the river are the ville's rice paddies. 

    One of the two sampans I painted up, along with some of the fishing village items

I think the table looks really nice, and I'm happy with seeing all the various elements I've been working on come together. Hopefully, I will have enough stands of bamboo for a second patch of heavy vegetation done, but if not, it is no biggie. The plan is for the U.S. infantry to enter on the left board edge (as you're looking at the market from the bridge), search several hooches, the market place, and sampans, then exit on the right. I'm sure the Viet Cong will have something to say about that, though! Jenny and I got in a last-minute playtest of the scenario this evening, and it went well. No blow-by-blow of the game, as I plan to do that for my games at the two conventions.

    Close up of the Buddha altar and a few more of the fishing village items in front of it (and on table)

I think the game went well. When it looked like the U.S. infantry had things in hand, we called the game and headed for bed, as it was getting late. Out of 17 U.S. infantry that marched onto the table, all but three were able to walk off. Since this was a one-off play test, I didn't roll for their recovery in the rules. One of Jenny's two squads really took it on the chin, so to speak. However, my HQ element and 3rd Squad came away fairly unscathed. We did lose our M60 gunner, though, which would have been a bad thing in the long run. However, the M79 grenade launchers and the lieutenant's fire missions were making up for the loss of our heavy hitter.

    The U.S. infantry marched onto the table from the left hand board edge in the above photo

Will I change anything because of the play test? I think I will add a fifth squad member to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Squad (HQ already has five figures). I was trying to imagine an individual player controlling Jenny's 1st Squad when two (or was it three?) of their men went down. It might not be that fun having only 1-2 figures to control. It also helped me remember that I needed to print out enough copies of the Civilian Random Movement table so that everyone can help with moving the villagers. It also encouraged me to create a couple smoke templates in case any of the players decide to throw a smoke grenade to cover their movement or block a firing lane for the V.C. And finally, I'm going to reprint my event card deck. The one I had been using was my first draft with hand-written changes. Might as well have a fully armed and operational Death Star, er event card deck at the game's first public showing! 

    A look at 3rd Squad and HQ elements entering the outskirts of the village

Technically, I had not actually decided on what the scenario parameters were before the play test. I'm glad that it forced me to commit to a force of V.C. to arrive on table when the "Countdown to Contact" phase ends and the enemy springs their ambush. I thought the size of the enemy force worked out well. I will likely reduce the number of civilians on table, too. It took awhile at the end of each turn to move them all. I also reduced the number of search points the U.S. soldiers have to investigate to make the game fit in the three hour window. Similarly, I will give them a choice of three table edges to exfiltrate from. Everyone who signs up knows that it is a play test of the rules, but nevertheless I want to give them a satisfying game.   

    One of the civilians was secretly a V.C. -- jumping down off the bridge into the cover & opening fire

Otherwise, I need to go back up to Office Max and print off some stuff and then pack everything up so we are ready to leave for Fort Meigs Friday morning. I hope my players have fun. I promise a more extensive battle report for those two games. I expect that I will have four players for each, but it is no biggie if not. Being a cooperative game and with the enemy force tailored to the size of the friendly forces, it would be easy to modify. Expect to hear back from me on either Sunday or Monday!

    A final look at the center of Piit Baub before the action commences

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 290
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 258

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 53
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 67

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 136
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 212