Hurrying to Get Things Done for my Medieval Town Game

    Fountain for my fantasy or medieval games (from the Ferisia line called 'Dwarven Stone Fountain')

I'm scheduled to run my first medieval town skirmish in two weeks or so at Drums at the Rapids, May 15-16, at Fort Meigs. Since Rich Brown and I are still working on tweaking Four Delvers, I decided to not use it and instead run the game with a system that I am satisfied with already. So, I'll be using my Mean Streets gang warfare game, with modifications made for a Fantasy/Medieval setting. Even though there will be some tweaks to that, too, I know the basic command & control and combat systems work well enough already. So, with a deadline looming, I am hurrying to get some buildings, scatter, and miniatures done in time for the game.

    Stone Cutters Yard -- which could also be used as a stable, also from the Ferisial 3-D printed line

These items represent the bare minimum that I wanted to get done for the game. The two smaller buildings (Stone Cutters Yard and Dwarven Fountain) are also from the Ferisia line carried by Rich at RRB Minis & More. The pair of two-wheeled carts and the four-wheel wagon are from A Critical Hit that I picked up at Cincycon 2026. I'm also working on eight miniatures from Gripping Beast and (I think) Old Glory to add to my Dark Ages Saga figures that I already have painted up. I hope that I will also get one more of the larger Ferisia buildings done, but we will have to see. Those take time with all the different levels and having to do both the interiors and exteriors. Still, I wasn't expecting to run a medieval town skirmish till later in the year. So, getting one on the table in spring is way ahead of schedule!

    A look at the wood tile roof for the fountain -- dwarven runes carved into stones on the corners

Both the Stone Cutter's Yard and Fountain are very simple buildings to do, requiring fewer colors and details than the Duncan or Catrine House. I started out with the usual black spray prime and then 50/50 water and acrylic paint to make sure all the crevices were fully covered. For the Fountain, I did a dark gray wet brush over the entire bottom half of the structure. For the roof, I used a medium leather color for the wooden tiles, much like I did with the Merchant Store B I finished a week or so, ago. The Stone Cutter Yard roof also got the same initial coating of medium leather. Its floor appears to be stone tile covered in dirt and mud. So, the floor received a dark gray wet brush, too. However, the two walls are obviously wood, so I wet brushed them dark brown. 

    Jets of water emerging from the mouth of the carved faces are fiber optic wire glued into place

Since the Fountain was going to be all gray, except for its roof, I did a medium gray dry brush, too, to give it more depth. Once that had dried, I highlighted it with a light gray. The bottoms and sides of each basin were given a light blue color on the walls so that people would think "water" when they saw it. Yes, I know that if a gray stone basin has water poured into it, the sides don't suddenly turn light blue! However, the key is for people seeing a piece of terrain to make the right connection. Light blue often means water in our brains. And who's to say that it isn't reflecting the blue sky above? Ha, ha! All doubt would be removed with the "water" I crafted from fiber optic wire pouring out of the dwarves' mouths. It turned out much better than I thought it would, and encouraged me to paint some white splashes and wavelets in each basin.

    Stone Cutters Yard without the roof -- nice & simple 3-D building to paint up!

The wood tiles on the roofs got a Khaki highlight, like with Merchant Store B. The other wooden portions of the two buildings were done exactly as I typically do wood. After the dark brown wet brush, I do a dry brush of Camo Brown, and then khaki. For the sections of the floor covered in mud/dirt, I painted in my usual Earth Brown that I use on my bases. Next, I flocked it as I typically do miniatures, with Woodland Scenics Blended Turf. I decided to do a black wash on the wood tiles on the roofs for these buildings. In hindsight, after I had finished the Merchant Store B, I thought perhaps it was a little too bright. This gave it a more weathered, darker look.

    One 3-D printed wagon & a pair of 2-wheel carts from A Critical Hit

Moving to the carts and wagon, they were also quick and easy to finish up, too. I was surprised that I had to improvise something for the wagon's axle, though. Of all the many pieces of scatter that I've painted up from A Critical Hit, it was the only thing that needed anything additional. The carts wheels attach directly to the body of it with no axle. Luckily, the print was done very cleanly and all I had to do was find a piece of piano wire that was closest to the diameter of the holes in the wagon wheels and the shaft underneath the wagon.  The brass wire I used for spears was too small, and all of the dowels I have were too big. Luckily, I had some thicker piano wire leftover from a previous project, and it worked fine. Afterwards, I thought that perhaps a toothpick might have worked, too? Otherwise, everything fit together easily with superglue.

    I had to use piano wire to thread through the wheels and bottom of the cart for an axle

Rather than spray prime them, I brush primed them with black paint. The color of filament that A Critical Hit prints them in is too light or brown for my liking. I prefer the grains in my wood to be darker. After it dried, I simply did a dark brown wet brush, Camo Brown dry brush, and Khaki highlight. The metal parts of the wagon were done in Iron Wind Metals Steel. Quick and simple! And they will look good as random scatter on the streets of my medieval town. I would have bought more of them at Cincycon, but I cleaned them out of their wagons there. Next time I see Blair, hopefully she will have printed some more.

    Two-wheeled carts from A Critical Hit -- bargain price at just a couple bucks each!

As you will see in the next day or so, both buildings and the carts/wagon saw use in a game this weekend. So, what else is on my painting desk? Well, those 8 townsfolk miniatures are about halfway completed. I also spray primed the medieval building I bought from Phalanx Games & Sundry at Little Wars. It is the smallest of the three medieval buildings I have left, so I am hoping I will have it read for the tabletop when I run my medieval town game at Drums at the Rapids in less than two weeks. Wish me luck!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 176
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 91

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 7
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 25

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 17
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 59