3-D Printed Spider Hole Guerrillas and Some Waterfowl

    5 'Spider Holes' for my games of Surviving 'Nam - they are 3-D printed from Discount Hobbies

As I mentioned in my post about my purchases at Advance the Colors 2026, I picked up five spider holes (individual, tunnel-like fighting positions) with Viet Cong soldiers emerging or shooting from them. They were 3-D printed by a new vendor to our con, Discount Hobbies 3-D Printing. Harold, the owner, also carries my Surviving 'Nam rules, and has been enthusiastically printing up stuff to sell for the game. I know I had kind of sworn off buying 3-D printed figs because of their fragility, but I couldn't pass these up. It would save me a lot of time scratch-building my own spider holes and finding soldiers to cut in half to put inside them. MUCH more convenient!

    Close up of a Viet Cong rifleman emerging from a spider hole fighting position - I liked the bamboo!

I decided to base them on 1.5" birch wood circles from the local craft store. The circles are thick, so the positions will be raised up off the surface of the table a bit. However, I figured that would be an advantage to seeing them hidden amidst the terrain! Many of us remember a game in which we found a hidden soldier while picking up at the end. Their "commander" had forgotten about the well-camouflaged soldier and lost him in the terrain! Anyway, epoxying the spider holes atop their base and adding magnetic material underneath was step 1 (or 1 & 1A). Next, I primed them with Liquitex White Gesso. I decided I would wait to build up the vegetation around the fighting position until after I painted the soldier.

    I picked out a variety of poses emerging from the spider holes & think they turned out well

The flesh on the figure was done first, then the uniform color. I used a mix of colors like I have done with the rest of my Viet Cong soldiers -- black, khaki, gray, and faded olive drab. The next step was to do the straps and ammo pouches. Most were done in tan or light olive drab. I did the same colors on the soldier's helmets. Each helmet also had a band around it, so those were done in the appropriate, matching colors, as well. While I was painting, I kept wondering what the big hoodie-looking thing creeping down their back was supposed to be. I finally decided it must be a really big scarf. Many of my other V.C. from Crucible Crush or Gringo40s had scarfs around their necks. Even U.S. soldiers in Vietnam began to wear them around their neck to prevent chafing. In keeping with my previously painted V.C., I did their scarfs in red.

    In my game, they're all armed with small arms, but I liked how some had binoculars like this one

As I did each step, I would dry brush it in a lighter shade after it had dried. Once the clothes were all done, it was time to paint their weapons. There seemed to be at least a couple different types of small arms they were carrying, though I don't particularly worry about that. The Viet Cong did not always have the best equipment, so a mish-mash of weaponry was actually a bonus. I painted the guns in Iron Wind Steel first, then the wood parts in a medium brown, and finally Pewter highlights on the metal bits. A couple appear to have rifle slings, which I missed until the end -- oops!

    I also like how the resin plants I'm adding to the bases turned out - nice mix of vegetation

The eyes were next, and they turned out fairly well. A clay colored line was all I did for their mouth. I also added black for their hair peeking out from underneath the helmet. The skin and clothes were given a brown wash, while the weapons received a black one. Each fighting position is designed with a cover to conceal it, some in the hands of the soldier and others tilted up against it. I painted these earth red, which I typically do for the bases themselves. Now it was time to camouflage the position! First, I painted the cover and ground with white glue and then sprinkled on Woodland Scenics Blended Earth Turf. Once dry, they got their first spray of clearcoat. Next, I added Blended Green Grass on top of most of the turf, leaving the dirt showing in a couple places. 

    In addition to pose variety, I mixed things up with uniform colors - black, khaki, & gray

Now it was time to add in resin plants I've begun using for bases of my Vietnam figures. Most are from Green Stuff World, and show various types of leaves. These are were epoxied onto the ballast, and once dry, painted a dark green and then dry brushed a lighter one. Next, I glued tufts from various sources onto each tunnel cover and around the bases. Once this stage was done, they received a final clear spray coat. In the end, I felt that these went fairly quickly. Now, I have actual, cool-looking spider holes to place on the table when an Event Card calls for it in my game! If you don't feel like scratch building your own spider holes, I highly recommend these from Discount Hobbies 3-D Printing! Thanks, Harold, for making my crafting a bit easier!

    Inspired by other painters, I decided to add these 3 waterfowl to my 28mm Vietnam collection

While I was painting these five bases, I was also working on three waterfowl that I had purchased from Miniature Building Authority at ATC, as well. They are sold as a goose, swan, and a Pelican. For the heck of it, I Googled for images of waterfowl common to the Mekong delta. Thus, the goose and swan became a Bronze Wing Jacana and the pelican a Greater Egret. Why paint up waterfowl for a Vietnam skirmish game? I have to confess that the amazing terrain of one of my play testers -- David Frederick (on Lead Adventure Forum as "Digits"), is responsible. Blame him! I am trying to copy some of his amazing modeling details, and his random waterfowl in rice paddies or rivers just look so good to me!

    Two Bronze Wing Jacanas floating in the mangrove swamp in Vietnam

I trimmed the legs off of the goose and made sure it and the swan had a relatively flat surface on the bottom. I wanted to put them on clear bases so it looked like they were floating on the water's surface. The one flapping its wings would hopefully look like it is getting ready to take off and the other would simply be paddling along. I painted the Pelican/Egret's post he was standing on like it was a tree stump sticking up out of the water. I'll stick these birds here and there on the board in my next game and see if they player's notice...ha, ha!

    Greater Egret posing on a stump in front of my recently-created mangrove trees

Otherwise, what else is on my painting desk? Nearly completed are four LED-lit Giant Mushrooms from Bad Goblin Games that I will use in this Sunday's game of Devilry Afoot. There is a type of terrain called "Hungry Grass" in the game. Instead of grass, mine will be a fairy forest of glowing giant mushrooms! I am also working on five Dark Age mounted troops that have been sitting for quite some time in my unpainted collection. Hopefully, they will be done in time to use Nov. 6-7 at my game at World at War game day(s) at Fort Meigs, Perrysbury, OH. So, stay tuned for more stuff soon!

    One final look at the five spider holes ready to surprise my players in games of 'Surviving 'Nam'

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 234
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 232

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 22
• Terrain painted in 2026: 44

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 50
• Scatter painted in 2026: 75

Mangroves: Scratch & 3-D Print Combo

    Mangrove trees for my Surviving 'Nam scenario that is set in the Mekong Delta

One of the scenarios ("A Muddy Slog") in my Surviving 'Nam Vietnam rules takes place in the Mekong Delta. It was inspired by a Vietnam Veteran's account of a series of missions in this damp and uncomfortable area. In my take on his experiences, the entire battlefield is flooded in the scenario. The main channel of a Mekong tributary runs down the center, and everyone is knee deep in water. The players must search four areas of higher ground for a Viet Cong encampment (just like in the account I read).

    Trees are 3-D printed and painted, the vegetation for the leaves is from craft store plastic plants

Luckily, I have a mat that I can use for the muddy, greenish-brown river surface. However, I don't have any mangrove trees. So, I asked my friend, and usual Sunday Night gaming host Mike W (who'd recently purchased a Bamboo 3-D printer), to create some for me. He searched online and found some STLs and printed up a handful to see if they would work. They were various shapes and sizes, mostly single trees, but one with two trees on one base. They looked great except they had no vegetation on them -- just bare roots, trunk, and branches. So, what to do for the vegetation?

    The plastic plant that I eventually chose after much searching to be the leaves of my mangrove trees

I considered two main options. One that I tried and gave up on early was clump foliage from Woodland Scenics. It was a mess and stuck poorly. No way I was going to do that! The other choice was to find plastic vegetation at the local craft stores and attach it to the various limbs of the trees. I made a few trips to Michaels and Hobby Lobby, finally settling upon one style of plastic plant. It had the smallest and most correct shape of "leaves" -- though perhaps a bit bulbous. The plant I purchased looks a bit like a greenish-white hydrangea. Each round sphere was composed of many tiny plastic pieces that could be pulled apart and then trimmed to create little clumps of the leaves. One $3 piece of plastic vegetation created about 150 or so leaf clusters that I could use. 

    Tiny clusters of vegetation pulled off of the plastic plant, trimmed & ready for painting

The plastic would need to be colored, though, as it faded in parts from light green to white. First, I tried soaking a half dozen of the clumps in watered-down green paint for several hours. Nope -- the surface didn't soak up any of the color! So, I would have to hand-paint the leaves. I wrapped the stem of each little clump in poster putty so that it would stand upright on my cutting board that I use as a painting surface. First, I did a broad wet brush of the little clumps with a craft paint called -- who'd believe it? -- Leaf Green. Next, I dry brushed them a very light green for highlights. I would end up using less than two of the sphere clumps for my first test batch of five mangrove tree bases.

    Clusters of leaves after they've had their base coating of Leaf Green craft paint

Mike printed the trees in black filament, at my request. Nevertheless, I spray painted them with Krylon Fusion Acrylic Black Paint, After they dried, I brushed on a 50/50 water and acrylic black paint mixture to fully coat each branch and root in black paint. Once dry, it was time for my usual wet brush of Camo Brown on them, followed by a dry brush of tan. I left most of the places between the roots black, as I was still thinking about what to do down there.  

    This 3-D print had two trunks with their roots joined together at the base

Now came the tricky part! With my pin vice, I drilled holes at various places in the branches. Then, I took a clump of leaves and whittled down the stem enough with an X-acto knife so it would slide into the hole created by the drill bit. This was a learning process, and my later stems fit much better fits than my early attempts. Once a hole was drilled, I would trim down the stem of a piece and place a drop a blog of super-glue over the hole and surrounding branch area. I inserted the stem into the hole, holding it for about 30 seconds. In the beginning, half or less stayed in place, it seemed. There was a lot of cursing at that point, but I slowly got better at it. By the end, only an occasional cluster would not stay in place and have to be re-glued. It was time consuming attaching one plastic clump of leaves at a time to each mangrove tree, but I liked how the trees were starting to look.

    Trunks & branches of all five mangroves are different, which I think adds to the look on the tabletop

The smallest of the mangrove trees had upper branches too thin to pierce with a pin vice. So, instead I slopped super glue on a group of facing twigs and forced one of the clusters down onto it. I hoped the tension of the branches would initially hold the leaves in place, and then the superglue would take over and more permanently bond it. It seemed to work well. The lower trunk of it was wide enough to drill holes in and attach clumps the usual way. In the beginning, I was despairing of the time it would take to do just a single tree. However, as I got better, they proceeded much more quickly. Now, I'm glad I did them this way. Just to be on the safe side, I also painted my 50/50 mix of earth brown paint and white glue I used for bases on the stems and branches where they connected to give an extra adhesion. It wasn't as time consuming as I thought it would be, and will hopefully -- once clear coated -- prevent me from losing any bunches of leaves in handling the trees during the game. 

    I was happy with this mix of 3-D printing & scratch-building to create my 1st batch of mangroves

Next: what to do with the black areas inside the root tangles? I decided to paint most of them to match the dull greenish-brown mat that I will be using for the Muddy Slog scenario. I added smaller dots of a lighter green to those areas to simulate bright reflected sunshine on the surface of the water, too. Once that was done and dry, I coated everything but the leaves with my brown vehicle wash. This would give a smoother progression of brown shading to the wood while also dulling down the water between the roots even more. Finally, I felt the root areas could use a three dimensional aspect to them. So, I added bits of clump foliage in and amongst the roots. Although the clump foliage has a completely different look and texture, I liked how it added to the verdant nature of a cluster of mangroves. So, what do you think? Do these look enough like mangrove trees to pass on the tabletop? Obviously, I will need more of them. However, I wanted to complete these five first so that I knew which size and shape to request. 

    My friend Pete in UK (play tester for Surviving 'Nam) created these goods baskets for me

One final bit of scatter on this post is something that I didn't do at all! My friend from the UK, Pete Smith, sent these baskets of goods to me as thanks for his copy of Surviving 'Nam rules. He and his gaming mates Bob and David were play testers for the rules and contributed so much to their production that I wanted to give them their own copies. I had a friend visiting the UK and going to the same convention that they would be attending, so had him hand-carry their copies. Much to my surprise, Pete included a return gift -- these various, scratch-built baskets of goods. They are very cool and saw use in a recent game. Thanks, Pete! You didn't have to do that, but know they will indeed get used regularly!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 234
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 224

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 22
• Terrain painted in 2026: 44

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 50
• Scatter painted in 2026: 75

A Raid on Asia Minor's Coast with 'Ilium: A Game of Heroes'

    First off the ships to raid the village was Diomedes & his Argive warriors with their tower shields

A squadron of black galleys containing the contingents of the Achaean heroes Achilles, Diomedes, and Idomeneus prowled along the meandering coastline of Asia Minor, seeking a target for their fury. Spotting a settlement, they rowed rapidly and leapt ashore. Wailing and shouts of alarm rang out from the settlement as Trojan warriors equipped themselves and readied for battle. Waiting amidst the buildings already was the contingent led by the Trojan cousins Sarpedon and Glaukos. Achilles and his men raced towards them, but his companion Diomedes was already in amidst the mud brick buildings. They seized a wealthy noble while two shield bearers advanced, ready to block any rescue.

    Trojan heroes, from left, Joel (Sarpedon), Allen (Asteropaios) & Keith (Memnon) face down Mike S

It was good that Diomedes' men were ready, as Asteropaios, Chieftain of the Paionians, was racing forward. Asteropaios outstripped his men and crashed into one of the shield bearers, knocking him to the ground and stabbing him with his spear. He then turned and slew the other one, shouting a war cry. His feeble shout was drowned out, though, by the mighty battle paean of Diomedes, which boomed throughout the village, inspiring the Achaean warriors. Diomedes hurled his spear at the Paionian chief, gravely wounded him. He then drew his bronze sword and sprang to engage Asteropaios, slashing him and drawing blood.

    On the left, Achilles, Patrokles, & their companions race into the village, searching for plunder

The battle raged around the heroes, and soon the crackle of flames and smell of smoke filled the air, as well. One of Diomedes men, carrying a torch, had set the neighboring building afire. Enraged, Asteropaios' companions sprang forward, and another of Diomedes Shield Bearers fell. The noble who had been seized was able to slip his captor's grasp and scuttled towards the Trojan warriors. Meanwhile, on Diomedes right, Idomeneus and his Cretan warriors were hurrying forward, too. Soon, the closest building to them went up in flames, as well. The Cretan archers rounded the corner of the building and began to shoot arrows towards Trojan targets.

    Diomedes' men set fire to a home & grab a town noble (center right), while the Paionians charge up

It was good that the Cretan king arrived, as Diomedes' men were sorely pressed. Memnon and his Aethiopians has surged forward to help the Paionians. However, none attempted to intervene as Diomedes and Asteropaios were locked in combat, even though neither had challenged or jibed at the other. Soon, the King of Argos struck down Asteropaios, and once again the battlefield resounded with his mighty battle cry. Diomedes and one of his companions dragged the Paionian chief away from the reach of his men and stripped off his armor. Diomedes handed the trophy to his shield bearer and told him to dash back to the ships and stow it safely aboard. Two Aethiopian arrows whipped by the Argive warrior, but he had cleverly strapped his tower shield to his back, and their darts bounced off the stiffened cowhide. Meanwhile, Diomedes advanced back into the fray, shouting in anguish as another of his Argive warriors fell.

    Infuriated, Asteropaios slays two of Diomedes companions while his men rush to keep up 

Meanwhile, the forces of Sarpedon and Achilles were engaged. Wisely, Sarpedon avoided the famous Greek hero, and instead he and his cousin Glaukos encouraged their men. At one point, Glaukos stood alone against Achilles, Patrokles, and one of their companions. The Trojan warrior bravely blocked each mighty thrust, slowly backing away from their attack. Sarpedon saw one of Diomedes' men with a torch approaching another building, but he collected several men and interposed themselves. The lone Argive warrior saw the error of his ways, and fled back towards Diomedes.

    Shouting his war cry, Diomedes hurls his mighty spear, gravely wounding the Paionian chief

Memnon and his men rallied the remaining Paionians and hemmed in Diomedes on all sides. Arrows bounced off of his shield, but none dared charge the mighty hero. Memnon roared in anger at his men's timidity and hurled his spear at Diomedes, wounding him. He then raced into contact. Diomedes evaded his swordthrust and wounded Memnon in return. The Aethiopian archers feared to shoot at the battling pair for fear of hitting their king, Memnon. Idomeneus' men were under no such worry. The Cretan king raced to Diomedes' side, also striking and wounding Memnon. Then another Cretan warrior crept up from behind and thrust his spear into Memnon's back. The Trojan hero fell, and with his loss, the Trojan defenders lost heart and began to flee.

    Diomedes follows up his success and slays Asteropaios, while his. men try to hold off the Paionians

It was another Achaean victory in our third game of Ilium: A Game of Heroes. We had three players per side, each commanding one contingent. We were playing a double-sized version of The Settlement Raid, with four buildings, two wells (that the Greeks wanted to poison by tossing in a dead Trojan warrior), and two notables we wanted to kidnap. We also accelerated the time frame of the game, with Sarpedon's Trojan contingent deployed in the center of the board, and Asteropaios' within 8" of their left edge. The Greeks similarly had two contingents start on board, Achilles on their left and Diomedes on the right. The third contingents for each came on board on Turn 2. We did this because we didn't want any players sitting around for two turns and not doing anything.

    Promachoi vs. Promachoi! The very cool baskets of goods were a gift from my friend Pete in the UK

This game was also an answer to our desire to have other ways to earn Kleos (Honor), which act as the victory points in Ilium. The Greeks can earn them by setting fire to the buildings (+1 each), kidnapping the nobles and getting them off-board (+1 each), and poisoning the two wells on board (+1 each). The Trojans earn +1 Kleos for each unburnt building and each unpoisoned well. As it was, the the Greeks set fire to three of the four buildings, but were unable to poison either well or kidnap notables. So, the game would have had a 3-3 score, except for the slain heroes. Diomedes killed Asteropaios (+1) and stripped his armor and got it off-table (+1). Idomeneus' men killed Memnon (+1). So, when we called the game on Turn 5, the Achaeans were ahead 6-3. The Cretans could easily have tossed the body of a Trojan promachoi in the well, too, during the remaining two turns. 

    Diomedes & a companion drag Asteropaios away from his men & strip off his armor as a trophy

The game played fast, and I think our changes didn't unbalance it. It is difficult for the Trojans to prevent the buildings being set on fire, but equally difficult to poison the wells. It takes two Promachoi to carry a Trojan body towards the well, which they might not get a chance to do in the middle of a melee. We were able to get our hands on one of the nobles, but (once again) my companions were falling too quickly to get him off the table. That, in particular, is really an odd thing. A Shield Bearer Promachoi should be very survivable, but mine seem to die like dogs. We were joking that my tower shields must be made of cardboard and our armor of paper! "Join Diomedes' Promachoi and Die!" we laughed. I lost four of six in this game and five of six in the previous one.

    Sarpedon's companions chase off a lone Argive with a torch, preventing him from burning a home

Although Diomedes' companions were falling all around him, the King of Argos continued to be personally victorious. He killed his second hero (Asteropaios) in single combat in as many games, and aided in the death of a third (Memnon). Achilles was not having a lot of luck in this game, though. Joel, playing Sarpedon, wisely used one of his actions to give his companions +2 Defense most of the game, which made them much harder to kill. Of course, Mike S rolling nothing higher than a "3" on a d10 when attacking didn't help matters much either! But hey, Mike improved on last game in not having Achilles' cousin and dear friend (and more?) Patrokles die...ha, ha!

    Achilles & Patrokles & their men wage battle against Sarpedon & Glaukos' Trojan force

We continue to enjoy playing Ilium. During the week, the Sunday Night gang chose playing it over Dragon Rampant, much to my surprise. So, I guess that means I'm safe in painting up more figures for it? Of course, that means I would have to get more. I have been holding off until I even up my Painted vs. Acquired for the year. The whole point of tracking these totals is to ensure I'm a little more disciplined in my purchases, so it'd be foolish to ignore the numbers, right?  

    Diomedes is beset! Most his men fallen, he is surrounded by Aethiopians & fighting Memnon

And speaking of the numbers...

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 234
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 224

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 22
• Terrain painted in 2026: 39

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 50
• Scatter painted in 2026: 75

  

    Cretan hero Idomeneus arrives to succor Diomedes & together they slay Memnon & rout his men

  

    Post-battle 'jibe' - Mike W teases Keith about twice slaying his hero in Ilium with his companions

Robot Legion for Pulp Sci-Fi Game

    I love the Retro Raygun line from Hydra Miniatures, including these five from the 'Robot Legion'

Now that Advance the Colors 2026 is over, I'm cranking projects out! As part of that, I continue to work on my "next year's" project of a Pulp Sci-Fi game set in a City in the Clouds. The third of six planned forces for the game are from Hydra Miniatures' Robot Legion figure line. I bought these a few years back, and have been looking for an excuse to paint them up. Part of Hydra's "Retro Raygun" line, they have that 1950s aesthetic that really makes them stand out. They'll work great on my game above the surface of gas giant...um, however I manage to pull that terrain board off!

    Tall, angular, & fearsome - the Robot Legion are the dread enforcers of....Who? Haven't decided!

I picked out five of the large 28mm (32mm?) figures -- three troopers, a heavy weapons specialist, and a leader figure. My favorite is undoubtedly the leader figure, with the single eye in the center of his head, radio antenna backpack, and upraised pistol-type weapon. All of them are incredibly cool. The power plant on the back of the heavy weapons robot is very retro looking, and all of their weapons have a very 50's "Buck Rogers" vibe.

    These are two great poses -- a single-eyed leader figure & powered up heavy weapons trooper

I tried to play off of that as best I could with the color scheme. Unlike the earlier Robot Legion figure I'd painted up for my Star Wars skirmish campaign, these robots had a dark look to them. I brushed prime the entire figure in Iron Wind Steel, an almost black metallic that I often use as a base coat for metallic objects. I decided not to do the usual Liquitext brush prime. I was worried about covering all those white spots in the recesses. I guess I could have bought a bottle of their black Gesso, but didn't think about that until afterwards. Come to think of it, that might be a good investment for miniatures that are going to be black or dark colored.

    I had fun painting these robots, & have wanted to field in a game since first seeing them years ago

I highlighted the dark steel color with a brush on dab of Pewter here and there for the parts that light might be shining off. Also, I wanted the accent color on these to be a metallic red craft paint that is one of my favorite tones I picked up at the local hobby store. It is an almost burgundy red and I love using it on terrain and minis. I pretty much followed the pattern of what would be colored metallic that I'd done with the earlier Robot Legion figure, using the red instead of the lighter metallic turquoise. I decided a copper accent would accentuate the red even more, so went with that on various rivets and other spots. 

The weapons were also painted similarly, with a Brown metallic handle (what might be the wood stock on firearms), and red gold and copper accents. The glowing tips of the weapons were painted in a metallic pink to match the eyes on the robots. The leader and heavy weapons trooper were the only robots that had equipment other than their weapons. The leader has what appears to be a radio while the heavy weapons trooper has some sort of backpack that likely powers his weapon. I was actually surprised how quickly these figures painted up. The most time consuming part was the metallic red -- there were lots of spots to paint up. Otherwise, the figures had little extraneous equipment. Plus, there were only five of them -- not one of my usual batches of 6-8 figures!

    Robot Legion squad searches a spaceship for their prey, ready to identify & eliminate them!

I finished the robots off with a black vehicle wash, which I think has a good effect on metallics. Finally, I pulled them off of the cardboard bases I'd glued them onto when I trimmed them off of their metal bases they were cast on. I touched up their feet and then they were ready to epoxy onto their clear bases. Once the epoxy dried, I brushed on clear gloss from Vallejo. It seemed only a few days of work from priming to finishing, but another Pulp Sci-Fi faction is complete!

What else is on my painting desk? I have those five Viet Cong emerging from spider holes that have their base coat completed, but no other figures ready to go, currently. Instead, I'm going to work more on the 3-D printed mangrove trees that I need for a particular Surviving 'Nam scenario. Doubtless, I imagine that I will slot in another batch of figures soon, and get them cleaned and based up. Not sure what they will be yet, though! In the meantime, you'll notice that I am only 10 miniatures away from evening up my Painted vs. Acquired. So, whatever I do decide to get ready to be painted next will be the batch that puts me over the top! Finally -- it took till late October, but I finally caught up!!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 234
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 224

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 22
• Terrain painted in 2026: 39

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 50
• Scatter painted in 2026: 75

Werewolves for Devilry Afoot

    8 Werewolves from Wargames Atlantic plastic kits for my frontier America Devilry Afoot games

As I am getting ready to restart my Devilry Afoot campaign set in frontier America, I figured these werewolves from Wargames Atlantic would be a good fit. I picked up two sprues from Firelands Games back at DayCon earlier this year, which would make eight miniatures. Typically, I am not a big fan of plastic kits because I dislike the "assembly stage" -- and am not good at it! Despite having only two arms and a head to attach (simple, right?), these figs did not change my opinion of assembly your own kits. I struggle to figure out which arms will look good on which body, and even some of the heads looked a little awkward on their necks.

    I painted these werewolves in a variety of 'wolf-like' colors using my 28mm wolves as guides

I got through it, though, with some assemblies looking fairly good while others looked like the werewolf was having a seizure. There were some fragile parts such as the fingers and ears, so I decided to strengthen them with a spray coat of Krylon Acrylic Black paint. Following that up with a 50/50 water and black paint brushed on made them feel a bit sturdier in my fingers. Next, I had to decide what color to paint them. I chose to mirror my 28mm wolves I painted up for this project (and my Dragon Rampant Orc & Goblin army). I pulled out half a dozen wolves of different shades and lined them up. The unpainted figures were lined up next to each wolf that I would try to match the coloring. 

    I am not the best at matching up arms, heads, & such - not to mention assembling - in plastic kits

Each miniature got a base coat that I think I used for his wolf twin. When the paint had fully dried and "shrink wrapped" onto the figure, I did a darker dry brush for each. Once that was done, I used black as a final highlight dry brush in certain spots, trying to imitate the black hairs that often stand out on the coats and the coloring of wolves. The main body of the werewolf was now done. 

    The plastic kit werewolves turned out okay - I think a well-sculpted metal figure would look better!

Next, I picked out details in black -- the dark eye sockets, nose, mouth, and claws. Once dry, I added a Blood Red inside the black area for the mouth and a yellow slit for the eyes. Next, the pupils got a black spot for the eyes. The last step was to take my tiniest brush and paint their teeth in a off-white color. I really like how this made them look more ferocious.

    If nothing else, they painted up VERY quickly and will add some enemies for my monster hunters

Only a few of the lighter colored figures got a wash -- the grayish-white one a black and the lighter tan or yellowish ones brown. With that, I was done except for flocking the base. These eight werewolves painted up VERY quickly, which I guess makes sense with no clothes, equipment, or weapons to do. I am fairly happy with how they turned out, though still not crazy about some of the poses I created. I guess that is another reason I don't like plastic "kit figures" as much as metal. I am not a figure designer, and would rather leave the creation of dynamic poses to the sculptors. However, everyone once in awhile I get lucky with these, and in general I feel my werewolves will look fine on the tabletop.

    Final look at my 8 plastic werewolves that I picked up from Firelands Games by the sprue

There are a lot of other things on my tabletop, too, at the moment. I have begun painting another force for my City in the Clouds Pulp Sci-Fi game. These are the Robot Legion figures from Hydra Miniatures. I had painted one up previously as a droid for one of the rebel factions for my Star Wars skirmish campaign, and love the way they look. Primed on the tabletop are three waterfowl from Miniature Building Authority as eye candy for my Vietnam games, and five bases with a 3-D printed figure emerging from a "spider hole" for my Surviving 'Nam games. In addition, I have the painting done on seven mangrove trees that my friend Mike W printed for me. Next up is the trickiest part -- attaching their vegetation. More on all of these coming up on Lead Legionaries!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 234
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 219

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 22
• Terrain painted in 2026: 39

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 50
• Scatter painted in 2026: 75

Two Medieval Buildings - One to Go, One to Stay

    Stretching 4 stories tall, the Blue Crab Tavern is a 3-D printed building that I painted for RRB Minis

When I stopped by the Hubbard Ohio Gaming Guild last month, Rich Brown of RRB Minis & More had an offer for me. He knew that I wanted two of his 4'x4' cloth mats (he had been out of stock at the last show). He said he would give me two free if I would paint one of his 3-D printed buildings for him. It was a large, 4-story one, but I agreed. Since I would be painting that one up for him, I decided to work on a 2-story one I bought from him awhile back at the same time.

View of the front of the Bakery, which I was painting up simultaneously with the Blue Crab Tavern

The thought was that doing buildings is kind of an assembly line process. Base coat the walls, dry brush the walls, base coat the trim, highlight the trim, etc. Perhaps it would go faster if I did both at once? That meant six levels of building with two roofs, though. Now, I'm not 100% sure it was a good idea to do them side by side. Not only did they take up a LOT of area on my occasionally crowded painting desk, they also shoved aside other projects I was working on for a couple weeks. I think it would be a good idea to do two buildings simultaneously, but only if they smaller buildings. This was quite the undertaking!

    Although it is a very cool building, I agreed to paint it for Rich because the exterior was fairly simple

Rich's 4-story "commission," of sorts, is the Blue Crab Tavern from the Ferisia line of 3-D printed buildings which I have done so many of in the last couple years. They are quality prints, go together well (especially since Rich adds in pyramid shaped notches for the underside of one layer to slot into the one below).  Rich said he didn't have any big preferences for colors, but I still verified with him what my plan would be. I decided on a tan or off-white stucco for the interior walls and a faded, light blue for the outer walls. The stone trim, corners, balcony, and such would be shades of gray. The roof would be a typical red-brown/orange Terra Cotta. In fact, Rich's building was relatively simple, with fewer decorative flourishes. It was much easier to paint than the one I had chosen to do alongside it, the Ferisia Bakery. 

    Rear of the Bakery - the exterior was considerably more involved with wood trim & lattice work

Rich knew I like to start with a black prime, so had already completed that stage for me. I decided to do the stucco interiors first, with tan walls and a white highlight. I used a dark charcoal gray for the stone trim, dry brushing it with a medium gray then a lighter one. The floors were depicted as wood with nice, deep grooves in the grain. I did a dark brown wet brush, followed by Camo Brown then Khaki highlights. The roof portions were wet brushed red brown with a Middle East Flesh highlight. The wood trim around the roofs were also done in the wood recipe above.

    I was pretty happy with the sign and thought my little crab and lettering came out fairly well

There is a tavern sign attached to the side of the second level. I like how it is nice and sturdy and should not come off unless it is dropped from height. I went back and forth over what to do for the sign after I had done my usual wood recipe on it. I ended up texting Rich to see if he had any ideas. He said that the name of the Ferisia tavern was the "Blue Crab," so maybe I could paint one of those? I did a Google Image search with "Crab" and "Clipart." I've found if you put the word clipart in your image searches, the results tend to be more simple. I practiced drawing the crab with my Sharpie on cardstock before undertaking it on the sign itself with my Micron pens. I even practiced spacing the letters out before adding them to the sign. I used my smallest diameter black micron pen (.005) to draw outline of the crab, then painted it in with a fine brush. I'm very happy with how it came out, and so were Rich and Gwen (his wife).

    Interior floors to the Blue Crab Tavern - also a bit simpler in decorations than the Bakery

My own building was the Ferisia Bakery. I liked its "corner of two streets" layout and picked it up from Rich sometime in the last year. The building got its usual black base with spraying and brushing. I looked at my other buildings in my growing medieval town to see what pastel color I hadn't used yet. I had light blue, light green, pale yellow, and light orange varieties already. I did not have a pale lavender one yet, so decided to go with that. The interior would be a light orange. There was a LOT of wood trim on the Bakery! Several wall faces that had a diagonal lattice design on both the inside and outside. That would be fun...ha, ha! What was I thinking when I picked this building out? 

    Interior floors of the Bakery - the built in shelf was easier to paint than I thought it would be

Once again, I started on the inside. Rich had also printed up and included a lot of bakery scatter pieces, which I set aside to do later. Still, the Bakery's interior was also fancy, including a shelf with various containers on it, stone half wall dividers on one level, and plenty of windows. I did my best to parallel work on it with Rich's building, doing the Terra Cotta wall color first, then dry brushing it khaki, etc. I went with the wood trim next, doing my usual recipe. However, there were extensive stone elements inside as well. So, that was the next step, as well. Same three-color recipe as above. I tackled the shelving unit and the doors last. 

    Look at the Terra Cotta roofs of the Blue Crab Tavern & the cool 4th floor balcony

I also worked in each building's roof while I was doing the interiors. Rich's one was Terra Cotta, as I mentioned, but the Bakery had wood shingle. I did it in a lighter wood, starting with a medium to light wood color, dry brushing it khaki, and then doing a very light lavender highlight. The idea is that the shingles for the bakery's roof were once solid purple, but faded from sun bleaching over the years. I hope the effect came out subtle. This roof also had extensive wood trim receiving the usual treatment, color-wise.

    Bakery's wood tile roofs - I wanted the lavender paint to look like it had faded and mostly chipped off

The exterior was essentially a repeat of the interior, except less cramped for my brush and quicker to do. Here is where the Bakery really began to lag behind the Tavern. I had a deadline looming, and needed to deliver Rich's building to him by Advance the Colors, Oct. 9-10. So, I intentionally set is aside on some mornings, knowing if my own building didn't get done by the con then no biggie! All in all, I am happy with the Bakery, too. I like that it doesn't have to be a bakery and can be any two story medieval building I desire. I think sometime in late October I want to pull out all of my Medieval buildings and set up photo shoot for them. Look forward to that soon!

    2nd Story balcony of the Blue Crab Tavern - for rent to private parties, perhaps?

What else is on my painting table? Once all the ATC projects were cleared off, I had zero miniatures primed and ready to go. The Knights and Priests had been "old" miniatures, so it was time for something new. I glanced through my list on my iPhone and chose the two sprues of 8 Werewolves I'd purchased from Firelands Games at Daycon earlier this year. They are from Wargames Atlantic, I believe. I also have primed up and ready to paint the five spider hole Viet Cong I got from Discount Hobbies 3-D printing. Bringing up the rear are five Robot Legion figures from Hydra Miniatures. I have already trimmed them off their metal bases and glued them to cardboard for painting. Terrain-wise, I have started on the 3-D printed mangrove trees that my Sunday Night Gaming friend Mike W created for me. Lots to keep me busy over the next couple weeks!

    I liked the odd 'corner of the block' shape of the Ferisia Bakery, and apparently so do these citizens!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 234
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 211

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 22
• Terrain painted in 2026: 39

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 50
• Scatter painted in 2026: 75

 

    Final look at the entrance to the Blue Crab Tavern, with its bronze door and horse hitching rings