"They Have a Cave Troll...!' Goblin Archers and 3 Trolls

    Latest additions to my orc and goblin horde -- 8 Gripping Beast goblin archers & 3 trolls

I have my Dragon Rampant 2nd Edition rulebook -- woo-hoo! James from Firelands Games dropped it off to me at World at War gaming convention this past weekend. I can't wait to start looking through it and receive more inspiration to work on my orc and goblin army. Speaking of which, I finished a batch of eight 28mm goblin archers from Gripping Beast's Ragnarok line. I also completed my first set of three Ragnarok trolls. I had ordered two of the trolls from Firelands previously, before knowing I would get a bumper crop more of them from Jeff G when I bought my orcs and goblins off of him earlier this year. So, my orcs and goblins don't have "A cave troll...", they have about a dozen of them for me to paint up!

    Ragnarok 'Hill' goblin on left & 'Mountain' on right -- you gotta love those faces & expressions!

The goblins are from three different "packs" of Ragnarok goblins. I'm not sure I buy into their division of them into various tribes or localities, but the figures are nice. Three of the archers have only a loin cloth and are mostly flesh. Ragnarok labels them Mountain goblins. These are the most Tolkien-looking of this batch, in my opinion. One of the figures is from their Hill Goblin line and wears a long robe from neck to feet. The other four are from the Forest Goblin line, and have an large, animal-skin cloak thrown over their shoulders and a loin cloth at their waist. Weirdly (in my opinion), they wear cultist-like hoods with only tiny eye slits. I don't think I have ever envisioned goblins or orcs that way, but it makes them pretty interesting looking!

    'Forest' goblins -- I get the fur cloaks and loin cloths...but cultist-like hoods?? Not sure about them!

I used my normal orc and goblin process for these figures: Liquitex white Gesso primer, then for the skin, a Walnut brown base coat, Raw Sienna dry brush, and Khaki highlight. Their clothes I painted in a variety of darker or paler tones, each with an appropriately colored lighter highlight. For the Forest Goblin fur cloaks, I did two in a gray and the other two in a brown fur. One gray and one brown was lighter toned, while the other was darker. Each received a lighter dry brush to make the detailing on the fur stand out. The inside of the cloak was painted in a leather color. 

    More Mountain goblins -- these are the most "Tolkien" looking of the three types, in my opinion

Once again, I scribed Orc-like writing on the quivers, with my micron pens. The quivers themselves I painted in pale or leather colors. These goblins progressed very quickly as they had little to no equipment -- no pouches, knives, or anything besides their clothes and bow and quiver. To be honest, I did set them aside for a few days last week when I was hyper-focused on getting Vietnam terrain done. Even doing that, I feel like I am making good progress on my orc and goblin army. Once I read through the rules, I'll have a better idea if there are any other troops I need to paint up besides the orcs, goblins, and trolls which I bought back in June.

    I guess you could paint these guys up as generic fantasy evil cultists and the hoods would work great

Speaking of the trolls, these were easier still than the goblin archers. I read up some discussion online on troll skin color. Tolkien describes them as covered in green scales, but these miniatures are obviously inspired more by the Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies. So, I decided to go with a gray skin tone for them instead of green. I used a base coat of Charcoal gray and a Rain gray drybrush. I wanted to do a highlight of pale green, just to give a hint of Tolkien to their appearance. First, I used a sage green and it looked okay. Then I went with a light olive drab called Timberline Green, and I liked its look much better. What I didn't count on was the final dark black wash muting that green so it is almost invisible!

    Despite my devotion to Tolkien, I went with the Peter Jackson look for my trolls because of the figs

The troll's loin cloths and weapons were the next thing I had to paint. I used leathery colors for the loin cloths, except for one I painted tan. These received their usual dry brush, of course. The weapons were done in a medium brown for the wood parts, with lighter highlight. The metal portions in Steel, bronze, and pewter, while the stone club and axe I painted dark gray with a lighter highlight. I went back and forth about how to do the shields. I'd chosen three different types from the selection that came with the miniatures. I decided to make one a beaten bronze shield, another leather, and the third a black-painted, iron-bound one. Variety is always good, and with these three figures being almost identical, painting their shields differently will add to the look.

    'Gorka' (as Ragnarok calls him) is my favorite pose of this amazing line of 28mm metal trolls

The next decision was whether to do shield designs or not. Since all the orcs were going to have their individual patterns, it didn't make sense to leave their shields plain. So, I went back to the tribal images I'd downloaded off of Google, and used the designs for inspiration here. Somehow, I did the one on the leather shield off center, and no matter how much more I added to its face, I still think it looks a little off, unfortunately. The iron-bound one with its black face and red design is probably my favorite of the three. The triangle image on the bronze one is hard to see, but it does look pretty cool when you pick it out.

    I love 'Bor' (as he is called), but the pose leans forward too much & I'm afraid he'll tip often...

Since I based these big, clonking heavy metal figures sideways on pill-shaped bases, I added some various sized rocks to the flocking. Otherwise, it is similar to the other figures in this army and my new "standard" miniature base flocking. I was encouraged by one of the readers on Lead Adventure Forum to do a group photo of the horde so far. I've painted 45 orcs and goblins and 3 trolls since starting in mid-August. If I remember correctly, I have about that many more to go, too! I have the next eight primed and ready to go on my painting desk, so hopefully progress will continue to move along.

    My weapons may not match what GB's site shows, but I like Urug's pose a lot, too

What else is on the desk? I continue to work on bamboo stands. However, that's it, besides the eight primed orcs and the five woodland animals I hit "PAUSE" painting a few weeks ago. I'm sure I'll slip them in the queue sooner or later. The next blog post will likely be about my two games of Surviving 'Nam that I'm running this weekend at Hold the Line. I'm gratified to see the Friday event is booked full already, though there are spots available in the Saturday game. Hopefully, they'll go as well as the ones did at World at War!

    My three shields for my trolls -- I'm not as crazy about them as I hoped that I would be...

Scroll down for BONUS PICTURES of my entire orc & goblin horde so far...!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 290
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 269

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

 

    Bonus pics! My horde so far -- 45 orcs & goblins and 3 trolls...it continues to grow!!

    Someone on Lead Adventure Forum thought I should do a "horde so far" pic, so here it is...!

Surviving 'Nam at World at War convention

    I ran two play tests of "Surviving 'Nam" at World at War convention this past weekend

I'm lucky in that my games tend to be popular at regional conventions. Whether that is because of setting up a pretty tabletop or reputation for running a fun game, I don't know. So, I would normally feel bad about running a game that could take only four players. However, World at War at Fort Meigs, Perrysburg, OH, is a smaller convention with fewer attendees. So, it seemed a perfect fit to take Surviving 'Nam up there and run a couple more play tests. Each game would have four players --- the most I've had yet. And it was also the first time I have taught the rules in a convention setting. My good fortune continued as the weekend arrived, and I had a full table in each game.

    Villagers arrive at the weekly Stone Buddha Market in Piit Baub village unaware soldiers are coming

Throughout the course of my previous four play tests, and based on feedback from more than half a dozen playtesters in the U.S., U.K., and Italy, I have been steadily scaling back the lethality of the event cards and mechanics. Not only would I see how my rules played out with four live players (not me running solo), I would also get a good feel for how deadly the newest iteration of these cooperative miniatures rules would be. I was very pleased to see that both games played out similarly, and it was not too lethal at all. In fact, both Friday afternoon and Saturday morning's games saw the fewest casualties inflicted on U.S. forces yet in one of my games. I feel I may have adjusted the danger level correctly. Now, it will simply be tightening up things here and there and writing some actual rules for, say, when the Viet Cong have suffered enough casualties and break contact (ending the game). Players could continue taking turns until every U.S. soldier has withdrawn from the table, but I found that there comes a point in the game when the outcome is obvious. Either the U.S. is going to be able to withdraw with no problem, or the V.C. are reduced to so few figures left that realistically they would break off contact and not continue the fight.

    I had two full tables of players over the weekend -- here is the Saturday group moving troops

The mission for these two games was my version of a "Market Day" scenario my U.K. play testers, Bob F and Pete S,  ran a few weeks ago. My game -- "Stone Buddha Market" -- would have the U.S. enter from one of the short edges of a 3'x4' board. They would move to the center of the table where a small village was hosting a weekly market in its center, alongside the river (one of the long edges) and where a wooden bridge crosses the water. The four U.S. squads (Fire Teams, actually, in size) had to search two designated larger hooches, the market itself, and both sampans tied up beneath the bridge. Once they had done that, the whole platoon could exit on their choice of three board edges. 

    Sgt. Rogers motions the platoon forward as the Big Red One soldiers arrive on the table edge

My games feature a pre-battle portion of the game called "Countdown to Contact." During this phase, players do not roll for activations. Each soldier receives one and they move onto the table and can make progress towards their objectives before the V.C. launch their ambush. At the end of each turn, a die is rolled to see if Countdown to Contact ends and the V.C. arrive. At that point, I deploy a number of enemy soldiers, dictated by the size of the U.S. force for balance purposes. There was a mosquito in the ointment in this game, though. The game begins with 12 Vietnamese civilians scattered across the table, but mostly in the market near the riverside. At the end of each turn, the players roll on a chart to see what each villager does. They could be freeze in fear, move away from the U.S. troops (or V.C., if present), panic and sprint towards a board edge, or are revealed as a V.C. If they are V.C., they immediately move into cover and fire on the U.S. soldiers.

    1st Lt. Xavier 's column heads towards the first hooch in Piit Baub while a farmer is in the rice paddy

Both games saw more villagers than expected turning out to V.C. and opening fire. This automatically brings a halt to the Countdown to Contact type of movement. From this turn forward, players do the normal movement turn sequence -- rolling one or two 20-sided dice to activate each of their men. However, I decided that I would not deploy the ambushing V.C. until the end of the turn when players rolled a single d6 score high (as would normally end Countdown to Contact). That would spring the ambush. On Friday, this happened at the end of the third turn. However, on Saturday, it did not occur until the end of the sixth turn. This gave the U.S. forces time to deal with the locals turned V.C. and any enemy that arrived via the event cards (which are turned over, one-for-one, when players fail their activation rolls). I think this helped the U.S. players survive the initial V.C. attack. In effect, it simulated the V.C. committing themselves piecemeal rather than in one massive hammer blow.

    Two squads of the platoon march along the river, while the rest move in from the jungle fringes

Both games progressed similarly, with the soldiers of the Big Red One (U.S. First Infantry Division) taking surprisingly few casualties. One scary moment occurred in Saturday's morning's game. Just as 1st Lt. Xavier's column of five men took shelter behind a small hut on stilts, someone's failed die roll resulted in the placement of an enemy bunker with a machine gun team inside. Random roll had it show up directly behind Xavier and his men! They were bunched up close enough that all five were pinned by the fire, with Xavier going "Down." My Saturday players got VERY lucky, as the machine gun's fire seemed to have rejuvenated their dice rolling abillty. There were no failures of consequence by players on their activation rolls until after they had managed to take out all three members of the machine gun team. The medic was right there, too, and checked on Xavier. He discovered that the C.O. was only lightly wounded. Apparently, he was also pissed off at the Vietnamese! He and his men sprinted towards the market.

    Bad place for a bunker to show up! As the lieutenant's group passes by, it opens up on the soldiers

Once there, Lt. Xavier managed to get on the radio and call in a series of Fire Missions on the growing number of V.C. all around the board. Squad after squad was decimated by mortar and helicopter gunship fire. From looking very bad, suddenly the board began to open up. The only V.C. remaining were in remote corners of the board where their fire was relatively ineffectual because of long range and cover. The battalion's lieutenant-colonel chimed in on the radio calls and ordered the platoon to abandon the search mission and simply rack up the body count, then exit the battlefield. There is an Event Card in the deck called "Colonel on the Horn" which can cause various things to happen. It is shuffled into the deck on the first reshuffle, and actually came up and both days, helping players each time. Potentially, it can make a mission harder or easier, or simply waste the platoon commander's actions as he gives "sitreps" to the micro-managing senior officer.

    "The L-T is down!" Members of his platoon cluster around to check on their C.O.

Both Friday and Saturday's players ended up having to carry only one comrade off the table -- not counting any Lightly Wounded who could walk off on their own. Sitting back after the game was concluded, we judged both times taht the platoon had completed their mission. One of the players commented that, having read all my previous posts with after-action reports, these two missions at World at War were probably the two most successful, so far. I definitely agree! Even more heartening was the fact that the game flowed very smoothly and did not bog down at all with four players. In the beginning, I admit that I would play "border collie." I would urge the next player in turn order to select his figure to activate and roll immediately after we had resolved any event cards for the previous player (while that player was resolving movement or firing). The players got in the habit of anticipating their turn and being ready to go. With only a three hour time slot for the games, I was happy to see both games easily finished in time.

    Incoming V.C. mortar fire lands amongst members of the platoon as they dash towards the ville

Speaking of happy, all of the players said they had a lot of fun. A number of them are also regular players of a different Vietnam rules set, so I wondered if they might be predisposed to question the rules mechanics when they differed from what they were used to playing. However, they all internalized the rules quickly and figured out tactics to take advantage of the mechanisms. Everyone said they enjoyed themselves. At the end, when I asked for feedback or suggestions for the rules at the end, there were no real rules quibbles. The one or two comments were more cosmetic, like perhaps have linear templates for a gunship's fire mission, or maybe wrapping their heads around the scale of visibility and shooting. They felt that the ranges I was using were a good compromise and "looked right" for 28mm figures shooting.

    Viet Cong guerrillas lurk at the edges of the rice paddy ready to open up on the platoon

The next two play tests are less than a week away. I'll be headed up to the third annual Hold the Line convention in norther Ohio, run by the Firelands Game Group. I'll do the same thing (once each on Friday and Saturday) and same scenario. I'll be curious with a larger sampling pool (four games as opposed to two), will I see worse activations rolls and thus more struggles for the Americans? Or will the scenario play out like the previous games and see the U.S. handle the V.C. at Stone Buddha Market? Stay tuned to see!

    U.S. soldiers begin to enter the market place, ready to begin searching for V.C. & contraband

So, what else am I working on, in the meantime? I probably will continue to create more bamboo stands. I have another 15 bamboo trees finished and ready to glue onto their base. My two larger rice paddies are ready for the edging strips to represent the rice plants. Figure-wise, I also have eight 28mm goblin archers that are in the flocking stage. Just this morning, I pulled out three of the Gripping Beast trolls I bought earlier this year, and epoxied their weapons and shields onto them. They also received their White Gesso primer, and will be started on tomorrow. Oh, and James from Fireland Games was at World at War on Saturday and hand-delivered my copy of Dragon Rampant, 2nd Edition rules. Woo-hoo! I'm looking forward to reading over it this week.

V.C. reinforcements appear near the bridge, ready to ambush the American soldiers

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

    U.S. troops enter the market place, driving off the V.C. so they can begin to search 

 

    A lightly wounded Lt. Xavier calls in fire missions to clear the way for the platoon to extricate

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

Vietnam Terrain: Rice Paddies & Bamboo Stands

    Vietnamese villagers tend to their rice paddies during a moment of peace during the Vietnam War

Although I already had created plenty of jungle pieces for my 28mm Vietnam games, I did not have two of the more iconic types of terrain in that country: rice paddies and bamboo stands. I had an idea of how I would do the rice paddies, and luckily it worked out fairly well. The bamboo was going to be more of a challenge. I saw one video on YouTube where someone scratch builds amazing stands of bamboo. However, the amount of time each stand of trees would take, and the fact that I don't have an airbrush, meant I needed to come up with my own idea on this.

    28mm Viet Cong guerrillas patrol through my scratch-built stands of bamboo 

First, the rice paddies. My own travel photos from southeast Asia show various sized and shaped paddies surrounded by earthen dikes. The color of the water in some of my photos was a brilliant green, which is what gave me my inspiration. Hobby Lobby has scrapbook paper that is a mottled bright green, and also has a bit of texture to it. They also sell thin clear plastic sheets. My idea was to attach the green paper to the underside of the clear plastic so that light would reflect off the surface -- just like with water. The various colors of green on the paper would give the impression of depth. Then, I would attach some form of flocking or tufts to the top of the plastic to represent the bamboo shoots in their rows.

    Scrap-booking paper that I bought at Hobby Lobby which I felt would be perfect for rice paddy water

The berms or dikes that enclose the fields I decided to build up with wood -- either bass wood, balsa, or pine pieces I had laying around. I shaved each side of the dike with a utility knife to give sloped edges and a relatively flat top for people to walk along. I used up most of my various lengths and shapes of wood that I had accumulated making the dikes for the first three paddies. So, I had to go out and buy more more wood. So how did I assemble this list of materials into a rice paddy? I started with cutting very thin styrene plastic sheet for the base. Next, I glued the green scrapbooking paper atop it. After trimming and shaving the berms to size, I put two-part epoxy on their underside and placed them atop the clear plastic. I had to build up the corners so they would be evenly sloped all around. I did that with white glue and coarse ballast or sand.

    Yes, they look like picture frames! My wooden berms glued to the clear plastic with 1st coat of flock

The next step was to flock the berms. I started with a 50/50 mixture of brown craft paint and white glue. I brushed this onto the berm surfaces and then poured Woodland Scenics Fine Brown Ballast over the glue. This gives it a bit of a rougher, earthier surface. Once dry, I brushed on a 50/50 mixture of white glue and water over the ballast. I sprinkled that heavily with Woodland Scenics Blended Earth Turf. I tapped off the excess and set them aside to dry. Astute readers may have noticed that this is very similar to my flocking method for miniatures, and it is! I've found I like the look of ground produced this way, so why change it?

    You can see the 2nd (turf) layer of flock on the short sides with one of the 1st layers coated with glue

Normally, if flocking a miniature's base, this is the step where I do my first clear spray coat. However, I was worried about my clear matte spray paint "fogging" the plastic. I wanted to shine as if light were reflecting off of it. So, I applied blue painters masking tape to the exposed surface of the plastic. Then I sprayed each set of dikes. Once dry, I apply white glue from the bottle along the edges of the berms, smoothing it out with a wet brush. Then I sprinkle Woodland Scenics Blended Grass atop it. The very final flocking step is to add tiny pieces of green clump foliage to represent scrub and other weeds growing on both the inner and outer dike slopes. The dikes then received a heavy final clear matte spray coat.

    My first three rice paddies with the strip foliage (not cheap!) applied in uneven rows

Since the dikes are done, I can take off the blue painters tape at this stage. The most expensive step is the final step -- the rice plants themselves! I found something from Woodland Scenics called "Edging Strips" at the local train store. They are narrow strips of tall grass in various shades of green. I simply cut the strips into various lengths and affixed them in rows to be the growing rice plants. I decided to not make them continuous, solid rows, though. Instead, I left empty spaces between the strips, showing that some rice seedlings have poked above the surface and grown faster than others. For example, some rows may be in three pieces while others two. This not only looks more irregular, it uses fewer pieces of the edging strips. Those boxes are not cheap! Each strip has an adhesive backing, which is how I attached to the plastic pretty. It seems on there pretty good. 

    I like how the clear plastic surface reflects light, but you can see the green paddy depths beneath

I am happy with how the rice paddies look. Yes, I have seen other miniature gamers build much more beautiful ones, but these look serviceable and I believe will give the right effect on the tabletop. I have started two more rice paddies that will be bigger than the three smaller ones that were my first batch. I think that will help make the rice paddies look more realistic if they are of different sizes. I like how the pictures turned out, too, but I'm really looking forward to seeing how they will appear on the tabletop of the first game I run using them!

    My next two paddies will be bigger than these three - I like how the figures look on the berms

Now, on to the troublesome bamboo. I went to the various craft stores hoping to find some plastic plant that looked like bamboo with little modification. No such luck! So, I followed the YouTube video's basic method, shortening the process drastically. My prototype piece looked awful. I chucked it into the garbage can and did some serious brainstorming. I looked at Google Image Searches of bamboo and stared at the pictures, hoping for inspiration. I pulled out my plastic tubs with my various scratch-building craft items and picked through everything. Only one idea came to mind. Why not use bamboo to represent bamboo groves? Specifically, bamboo skewers! I decided to use still use the plastic plants I'd first bought from the craft store, but only as the vegetation at the top of each bamboo stalk, so to speak. The sides I would leave smooth. The first step would be to trim off a section of the plastic plant for the top and then poke or drill a hole in its bottom center. Then, I apply Tacky Glue to the pointy tip of a bamboo skewer and impale the plant into the plastic. I used a brush to spread out the Tacky Glue over the bottom part of the plant and an inch or so down the skewer. I then set the bamboo piece upright to dry.

    First step is to trim off a section of the plastic plant and poke a thumbtack through the bottom

Once dry, I marked a spot along the skewer that would likely be the bottom of the stalk. I painted both the plastic plant top and the skewer stalk a medium green. I set it upright to dry, then later dry brushed them a lighter green to give some depth. Once dry again, I painted a series of horizontal lines about an inch to 3/4" inch apart in a very bright green. This is to represent the segmenting of bamboo, which is a lighter color. After the first experimental batch, I improved upon my method to stand the stalks upright. I used a scrap of foam board to poke the bamboo into to stay upright while drying. I also decided to paint the individual bamboo trees BEFORE gluing them down onto the base. The final step for each bamboo tree was to give both the tuft of vegetation on the top and the long trunk of each bamboo piece a brown wash. 

    Next you put some Tacky Glue onto the end of a bamboo skewer...because bamboo, you know!

These shafts would be set into pre-drilled holes in a 1.5" circular piece of birch wood. I purchased a whole bag from the craft store for $2.99. The holes were made with a pin vice. I did one hole in the center, five evenly spaced in a ring around the center, and then a further ring of nine around the five. In all, I used 15 bamboo skewers for each 1.5" piece. Once the bamboo had been all painted, I used wire cutters to make the final sizing trim, and then an X-acto knife to sharpen the bottom so it would go into the hole easily. I applied a blob of Tacky Glue to the bottom of each skewer and then forced it into its hole in the wooden circle. I started in the center and then progressed outward. Usually, I would have to trim off a few of the plant "leaves" so that I could crowd the trunks even closer together. That was an idea I kept from the YouTube video. Otherwise, the branches or leaves of the plastic plant stick out in all directions and push neighboring plants away. I would snip off the branches from the side facing those already in place to make sure they fit together properly.  I also tended to make the center bamboo shafts taller than the outer ones, which also helped with everything fitting together.

    Forest of skewers with their plant bits atop (I have since switched to sticking them in foam board

I noticed at this point that the circular base was very top-heavy. So, I went to the hardware store and found heavy steel washers that would fit under the wooden bases, and epoxied them into place. All that was left was to flock the surface of each base. It was easy to take a brush and paint between the bamboo stalks with my 50/50 mixture of brown paint and white glue. I then followed with my usual method and poured Fine Brown Ballast across it first. Like above, I followed that up with 50/50 white glue and water and sprinkling the Blended Earth Turf. After a spray clear coat, I dabbed in full strength white glue mostly around the other edges, and sprinkled Blended Grass. The last step was to glue in various leaf scatter, and the bases were done.

    Paint each skewer with its base coat, dry brush, and section lines BEFORE putting them in the base

Yes, it seems like a LOT of work for just a single 1.5" base, especially since each base contains 15 individually painted bamboo trees. However, if you would have seen how much time following the YouTube video would have taken, I think that would have been much, much more! I figure I'll need about three bases placed atop a piece of styrene to represent each thick bamboo groves. The plan is to do nine of these circular bases of bamboo, so I can have three medium-sized bamboo patches on the table. We'll see if I actually make that many -- it is somewhat time consuming a process! I have gone out and purchased another one of the plants I cut up for the tops ($2.99 each), so I'll be working on them for at least the next week or so, I imagine. I am also working on the two larger rice paddies. The plan is for them to get as much possible done in time for this coming weekend's game at World at War convention at Fort Meigs, in Perrysburg, OH. 

    Pre-drill all the holes in the wooden bases first, then attach their metal washer weight

    Stick them in the holes from the center outward (early version before deciding to pre-drill all holes)

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: 66

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 136
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 201

    I used 15 bamboo skewers per 1.5" round wooden base -- labor intensive? Yes, but I like them

    Final look at some V.C. patrolling through a bamboo thicket (heavy vegetation in my rules)