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

Prizes for ATC 2026 Saga Tourney - 3 Knights, 3 Priests

    Here are the prizes that I painted up for this year's ATC Saga Tournaments - 3 Knights & 3 Priests

I have been painting up miniatures for prizes for the Advance the Colors Saga tournaments for a number of years, now. Even though I don't run or play in them anymore, I like to give back to the local Saga Ohio community because they're a great set of guys. Plus, I feel a wee bit guilty for helping building up the community, being "all in," then dropping the game a couple years ago. 

    Here are the 3 Priests (a type of mercenary hero in Saga) that they will be giving away as prizes

Anyway, one of the usual tourney directors, James T of Firelands Games, asked me if I would be willing to paint up some special figures instead of the usual pair of command stands. He wanted three priests and three mounted knights for use in the tourney and also to give away as prizes. I checked to make sure I had sufficient 28mm miniatures that could pass as these. I did, though my knights are earlier than the full plate armor era, being from the Gripping Beast Spanish Knights army box that I never painted up. The three priests are from a variety of sources. The one clutching the holy book to his chest has been in my unpainted lead for more than a decade. He's actually a Ral Partha figure. The priest reading from the book is a Reaper Bones miniature (Cultist with Circle). Finally, the one with the conical hat is a colonial or Pulp Egyptian. All of them looked like they'd pass the "close enough" test, so I told James I would do six individual miniatures this year instead of the usual two command stands.

    This priest is a Reaper Bones 'Cultist figure -- I tried to do an illuminated letter in his Bible

First, I made sure there were no special basing requirements. You know how those tournament games are picky about things like that! Anyway, I gave two of the knights swords (one from the box another from my unpainted lead collection). The third got a brass wire spear. Otherwise, none of these required any conversion other than with the paint brush. They sat on my desk brush primed with Liquitex White Gesso until recently when I had a "Holy crap -- the convention is next week!" moment...ha, ha! I was also painting a very large 3-D printed building for my friend Rich B of RRB Minis & More that also had to be done in time for the convention. Add that to getting my first batch of Mycenaeans done in time for this past Sunday, the deadline pressure was intensifying!

    This pose goes way back -- a Ral Partha figure I had in my unpainted drawer for years!

I painted the knights in a weird order for me. First, I did the chainmail (Iron Wind Steel with silver drybrush), then I switched to the mounts. I did their coloring and manes, reins, bridles, and straps before switching back to the riders. I was painting the fancy details (shield pattern and cloak) way earlier than I normally do. Usually, I save those things for last. For these three, who were being painted the same time as the priests, the boots or shoes were last! I had their eyes done before their footwear...ha, ha! I don't know if the deadline was making me panic or what, but the order that I painted their equipment was odd compared to the way I usually do.

    I figured I would paint one of the three so that he didn't necessarily have to be Christian priest

Part of the reason may have been that I wanted their cloaks to be done in their Heraldric colors. So, until I had a shield design -- or at least a color combination -- I couldn't get too far. Heraldry is fairly simple, as I taught my 7th graders many years in my History classes. You have two "metal" colors (Yellow and White), and five "colors (Red, Blue, Black, Purple, Green). The rule is you can't put a metal on a metal or a color on a color. So, a black hawk on a read shield would be "illegal" and wouldn't follow the rules of Heraldry. So, I chose my colors first, one would be yellow and black, another blue and white, and the final one purple and yellow. I ended up choosing a checkered pattern for the yellow/black one with a black cross inside the yellow fields. And as you can see, I chose not to go with madness and give him an entirely checkered cloak -- just the shield!

    Three 28mm Gripping Beast Spanish knights were my figure of choice for the Knight prizes

I "quartered" the blue and white one, with a white moon inside the blue field and a blue fish on the white field. Like the yellow/black knight, I went with a fancy border for the cloak rather than trying to do something decorative on the entire billowing cloak. The purple/yellow's shield turned out very nicely, probably my favorite. I divided it in half with a purple seahorse on the yellow field and two yellow crowns on the purple field. I gave in to the voice telling me to paint his cloak with horizontal purple and yellow stripes. All in all, he's probably my favorite of the three and I think he came out the best.

    I really like how the purple seahorse & 2 crowns came out on this knight's shield

Without horses, the priests went much faster. The Egyptian one was almost completely done before I got past the base coat of the Reaper cultist figure. He was probably the simplest to do, with nothing in his hands and no equipment. I made sure to give him a nicely decorated robe with intricate hem designs along the bottom and cuffs. I think his face is the best of all six. I jokingly called him Father Fistbump while I was painting them for his raised hand...ha, ha! Of course, once I said that I couldn't "unsee" him raising his fist in a hipster greeting!

    I really like how the banner sets the figure off and compliments how I painted his heraldry

The Reaper cultist looked like a relatively boring figure until I got done with the robe and hood. After the medium gray dry brush to make the folds stand out against the black robe, I noticed all of the other detail. He ended up becoming the most elaborate of the three. Yes, the circular badges with crosses inside obscure skulls and other occult symbols that the figure was designed with. I really liked how his book was turning out, so I decided to go one step further. I painted black scribbles for the lines of text and gave a large, boxed illuminated letter like you see in medieval bibles to start off one page. His face is a little odd, seeming to being caught in mid-snarl. Makes sense for a cultist, of course, but for a priest? Well, maybe he is calling down God's curses on his enemies!

    I tried to give a fancy cloak & shield design for each knight -- hope whoever wins them likes them!

The final figure is amazingly a very old Ral Partha one -- probably at least three decades or more old. I'm sure I picked him up in a flea market. I had in a bag labeled "Bizarre Religious Figures" or something like that. I never noticed his bible had a raised Christian Chi-Rho symbol on it -- a pre-cross symbol used by early Christian communities. So, he ended up being even more appropriate of a choice of figures than I initially thought! His size is a bit slighter than the more modern figures, but not ridiculously so. I own some Ral Partha 25mm figures that look like 20mm minis next to today's figs, but this one I think fits in well.  

In the rush to get everything done, including the building, I fell down on my attempt to paint my own two-story building step for step alongside Rich's larger one. The interior got finished, and about a third of the exterior, but finally I had to give up on it to focus on getting the "commissions" done. Just because I did these two things for others, though, doesn't mean I'm going to go back to my college days and paint commissions. Heck no! I have PLENTY of my own stuff to paint to keep me busy!! And thankfully, even though I am retired, I am not short on funds. So, I don't need to earn extra money to pay for my hobby.

So, what will be next, then? I think I will do some of the newer miniatures I bought for my Devilry Afoot campaign set in frontier America. Since these three knights and priests were all "old" miniatures, I need to do something "new" to maintain my system. I am also getting closer and closer to evening up my Miniatures Painted to equal or exceed my "Acquired." Stay tuned, though, and see what's next!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 217
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 211

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 14
• Terrain painted in 2026: 36

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 34
• Scatter painted in 2026: 75

Minaret (or Observatory?) and Butcher's Stall

    My medieval/fantasy town just got a new building -- a minaret...or observatory??

At Historicon, I picked up this 3-D printed Arab Mosque Minaret from my friend Ron at Diabolical Terrain. I thought it would look great in my medieval city -- maybe as an observatory instead of a minaret? It would definitely be a change of pace in styles of buildings, but it's stone texture would make it fit in, as well. I also picked up this Street Bucher Shop from the Shantytown line that my buddy Kirk at Miniature Building Authority makes. Although it is a fraction of the size of the minaret, it has so many details that it would end up taking twice as long to paint up!

    This mosque minaret from Diabolical Terrain is TALL -- 15.5" from bottom to crescent!

Let's start with the minaret, though. It comes in several pieces -- a hexagonal base section, a round upper section, and the rooftop. Although I glued the roof to the upper section, I decided not to permanently attach the two tower sections together. It is really tall (15.5"), and I felt it would be both difficult to store and to transport that way. So, I drilled two holes in the bottom of the door pillars of the upper section and inserted thicker brass wire (cutoffs from my spears). I super glued those into the holes I'd drilled, then marked where those wires would touch when I set it on the platform atop the base section. I drilled matching holes in the platform so that the wire would fit into the top of the hexagonal base section and keep it stable while sitting on the tabletop. I didn't want some to bump it and the whole tower crash down on miniatures or other scenery!

    Birds-eye view looking down from the top of the tower to the streets far below

Once this was done, I primed the entire structure with Krylon Fusion Matte Black, and followed that up with my usual 50/50 mix of acrylic black paint and water. I had decided to go with a gray stone look so that it would match the rest of my growing medieval town. I did a dark gray wetbrush over the black, and then followed that up with a medium gray dry brush on the stones. I did a final highlighting with a very light gray in a few spots where the sun might strike the structure most noticeably. 

 

    My medieval/fantasy town just got a new building -- a minaret...or perhaps an observatory?

Now it was time to decorate it! Mosques and minarets in Islamic architecture are usually always fancy. Blue seems to be an almost required color, so I went with bright coral blue and very light green. I did these in an alternating pattern on the stone archways all around the building, so the pillars of stone went blue-green-blue, etc. This was definitely the most time consuming part of this model. It was worth the effort, though. As I finished more and more of the archways, I began to be happier and happier with how it was turning out. Once all the blue and green decoration was complete and dry, I did a very light gray dry brushing of those colors to make it look a little weathered. I didn't want it to look chipped and falling apart or abandoned -- just a little more sun-bleached. 

    I took advantage of some 'blurry detail' on the sides to cover it with moss growing up the tower

I'd noticed while dry brushing that the detail on two faces of the lower hexagon was more blurred. Almost like it was hot and had melted. However, my friend Mike S pointed out that perhaps the lower, hexagonal section of the model was originally intended to be a corner tower. And the smoother sides were where they joined the walls? Perhaps -- I had not considered that! I'll ask Ron when I see him in October (he will be coming, as usual, to Advance the Colors 2026 in Springfield, OH. Anyway, I decided to disguise this intentional or unintentional blurring by going over this area with Dirty Down Moss Effect. Once dry, I painted white glue onto about half of the mossy area and added in Woodland Scenics Blended Grass. So, the "blurred areas" would actually be where vegetation was growing up the tower sides. I felt that was a good solution.

The last part of the structure to paint was the globe and crescent atop the minaret. When I bought it from Ron, I was thinking of sawing that off and putting something more generic atop the roof so it could be something besides a minaret. However, a crescent works very well for an observatory, too, doesn't it? I painted both Iron Wind Metals Ancient Bronze first. I gave them a gold highlight, and then added an even brighter metallic yellow light shining metal effect on the uppermost parts. Once dry, I gave them a black vehicle wash to "blend" the highlighting together and give it a less pristine look. All in all, the minaret ended up taking very little time to paint, as it turned out. So, my medieval/fantasy town continues to grow with the addition of a "observatory" (or minaret).

    This Miniature Building Authority Street Butcher Shop packs in lots of detail & features

The MBA Butcher's stall came in four pieces -- the three walled, open air structure of the stall, roof, metal wire with hunks of meat hanging from it, and a stump with meat and a cleaver atop it. I decided to be clever and paint the stall first, before hanging the wire, putting on the roof, or gluing down the stump. That way, my brush wouldn't have to get around or under things blocking my brush's access to the areas behind. The walls and roof of the stall appear to be corrugated metal applied in various patches. I like the effect of different colors of metal sheets on a run-down structure, so painted each separately, let them dry, and dry brushed them. Once the interior and exterior metal walls were done, I did the table, boxes, meat hanging from the walls, etc. I used Iron Wind Blood Red for the meat, and added in highlights of brighter red, too. The table, boxes, and such were painted brown as wood, with a few other colors here and there. 

    Perfect opportunity to break out my butcher figure to photograph alongside this cool piece of terrain!

Once the stall itself was completed, which took more than a week doing bits here and there, I attached the wire with its hunks of hanging meat. It set nicely on rests for it on either side wall. I painted it and then glued down the stump (which I had worked on while doing the stall). Finally, I did the bottom of the roof and glued it into place. The roof's top was also cast to look like it had several pieces of corrugated metal, so I had to do those individually and dry brush them, as well. There was one final step, though. I used my Dirty Down rust effect liberally over the interior and exterior walls on the corrugated metal. I've found if you brush some of the liquid solution on thinner and other areas dab it more thickly, it gives a nice variety of rust colors. Now, finally, the roof could be glued down (and rusted), as well. 

    I think the 'Rust Effect' from Dirty Down does great weathering & making things look run down

The entire piece got a black vehicle wash to give it more of a grimy, "street butcher" appearance, too. I used my Blended Gray Ballast for a gravel effect on the base, giving it a black wash also to darken it. That is the basing effect I go with more often in modern street terrain and scatter. DONE...finally! As I said, it was definitely a labor intensive piece of scatter terrain. Unfortunately, the corrugated metal means it can't really be used for my medieval town, but it will work just fine with any of the modern or even post-apocalyptic terrain that I have. It is definitely a nice looking piece -- and not expensive, either!

    This plastic toy well ended up painting okay - not as nice as items from MBA, of course!

The last scatter item on this post is a very, very old plastic toy well that has been sitting in one of my boxes for decades. When I was getting the Diabolical Terrain Town Well painted up, I was reminded of it. I decided to get it out, mount it on a round MDF  base, and prepare it alongside the others. It was painted with a mix of my base coat and dry brush method for gray stone and brown wood. I gave it some Steel for the metal mechanical parts and some flocking and leaf scatter on its base. Not the prettiest and most detailed piece of scatter, but it will be yet another water well for my growing medieval town. 

    Even though you can see the flaws close up, this well will look fine on a crowded medieval tabletop

This update finishes off the massive batch of scatter and terrain that has been crowding my desk over the last several weeks. Currently, there is no terrain or scatter waiting to be painted. So, I will have to remedy that situation first thing, tomorrow morning! Stay tuned for another update on the miniature painting kerfuffle (as my friend Allen likes to say) that I had this week. No painting disasters, but a moment of panic did ensue!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 210
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 179

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 14
• Terrain painted in 2026: 36

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 34
• Scatter painted in 2026: 75 

Some Scatter Terrain & an Alien Monster

    Town scene set up with my 3 new pieces of scatter -- the shrine, town well, and campfire logs

For the last month or so, batches of scatter terrain in various stages of painting have been mixed about on my desk. As I get to a stopping point on whatever figures I am working on, I pick them up and do some more work. Maybe I'll add a base coat, dry brush - whatever. However, it feels like there is little organization, so that's why this update seems to have little rhyme or reason to it.

    'Town Water Well' from Diabolical Terrain - assembles nicely and paints up very easily

One of the scatter pieces is a Town Water Well that I picked up from Diabolical Terrain at Historicon last month. Its four pieces glued together very easily with two-part epoxy. I decided to permanently attach the wooden lid to the ring of the well, as I couldn't envision a need to have to remove it during a game. It isn't big enough to fit a figure inside, and doing it in one piece would make it go much faster. I spray painted the well with Krylon Acrylic Matte Black, following that up with my usual 50/50 mix of black paint and water. Once it was dry, I decided to start with the wooden parts using my normal wood recipe. That is a dark brown wet brush, Camo Brown dry brush, and khaki highlight. Then I did the stone base with two dry brushes of a medium and lighter gray. Finally, I did the details. I decided to paint the wooden tiles of the roof in a light blue, weathering them with an even lighter blue. I finished off the metal bits with Iron Wind Metal and Bronze. The tiny bits of rope you could see I did in a lighter brown with Dun Yellow dry brush. The town well received a black vehicle wash to complete it. I really like how it looks, and am glad I picked it up from Ron at Diabolical.

    I modified this 'misprint' from Miniature Building Authority by adding in the saint in the shrine

Next up was a 3-D printed shrine that Kirk from Miniature Building Authority had sold me at a deep discount because it was a "misprint." One small corner of the roof of the shrine had not printed well and was turned up. I added some pieces of craft sticks to that corner to make it look like it had been damaged and shoddily repaired. Once again, I started with the wooden part of this structure. I used the same recipe as above on it. The tiles on this model looked more like standard ceramic ones, so I did them in a red brown with Middle East Flesh dry brush. I picked out some metal bits on the structure in the same Iron Wind Steel and Bronze as above. I also painted the cobblestones stone surrounding the shrine as above, too. With that, the exterior of the shrine was finished.

I decided to add a miniature to the interior of the shrine. I searched my unpainted lead collection, looking for something that could perhaps pass for a saint. I wanted it to be a little roadside shrine or one in a square in a town. I finally found this miniature, which for all the world, looked like a Byzantine noble lady. I base coated her black, and then followed my normal stone recipe for her. I glued her in place, then unhappy with which of the four sides of the shrine she was facing, popped her off and reattached her inside. And yes, this statue counts as a miniature painted for the year! I really like this little MBA shrine, and plan on adding it to the tabletop with the Diabolical Well next time I set up my medieval town.

    This campfire ready to be lit came with my Bad Goblin Games campfire & bonfire purchases

This campfire in ready to be set aflame actually came with the two Bad Goblin Games scatter pieces I finished up a week or so ago. I guess it was included as the "Before" and the LED-lit campfire is the "After"? Not sure why someone would expect that to be included, but the folks at Bad Goblin are awesome. This type of extra touch fits their personality, for sure! I'm really excited that they are coming this October 9-10 to Advance the Colors 2026! Anyway, I think you can guess how I painted this pile of logs surrounded by a small ring of stones. And you also see why these all were finished around the same time, as I was doing lots of stone and wood on these pieces. I'm sure I will find a use for this campfire on the table in one of my games, someday.

    Pre-painted hot dog cart a friend gave me years ago -- I did some weathering on the tires & cart

Yes, that is a hot dog cart! My friend Derek from Indiana bought it for me as a birthday gift a couple years ago with a bunch of other cool, modern scatter terrain. It is probably a little small for 28mm scale, but hey -- it's a hot dog cart! Do YOU have one for your miniature tabletop? Boy, that sounded a bit like my friend Keith...ha, ha! Well, if you're my friend Bill who I will be visiting in update New York next month, you do have one! And it was his post on Dice, Doubloons, and Random Musings about his own hot dog cart that inspired me to get this one readied for the tabletop!" This pre-painted piece is either plastic or resin. I am not sure which. The tiny metal pole holding the umbrella up was probably the trickiest part -- gluing the pole in and then making sure it was set in place without too much lean. After it was all assembled, I thought it was a bit bright, though. So, I did some weathering on the cart with my black vehicle wash to tone its bright, plastic look. I also painted the tires dark gray and added lighter gray highlights. Otherwise, they were too Matchbox car shiny black plastic. So, I DID do brushwork on this, but the signage, little hot dogs, condiments -- all of that, came pre-painted. Still, I'm glad I finally got it ready for the table. Thanks, Derek!

    3-D printed 'Megaguirus' which will stand in as the next alien monster for 'Critter Control' to fight 

And finally, the other miniature in this batch. When I attended Cincycon 2025 earlier this year, I was searching for minis I could use for alien monsters in my solo games of Majestic 13. At the booth of my friend John from JS Wargamer Printing, I found two I could use, including this one. It was labeled Megaguirus, which is apparently a Kaiju that fought Godzilla at some point. It certainly looks like one, but next to a 28mm miniature, its size is a perfect alien monster for my Critter Control team to fight. In fact, the whole reason I pulled it out and painted it up was because I was getting ready for another game. I rolled up my opponent and this figure seemed perfect for the alien my team would fight.

    Closeup of my 'Rakire Winged Hunter' -- I used a bumble/dragonfly look to its paint scheme

Thankfully, the wings are already in place and it is a one-piece print. The only gluing needed was to attach it to an MDF base with a piece of piano wire. There was already a notch on his underside, but my piano wire was probably a bit too thin for it to fit firmly. The whole time I was painting it up, the creature wanted to rotate slowly around on its post. After attaching Megaguirus to hits base, I did my usual Krylon black spray to prime it, hoping to strengthen the fragile nature of 3-D prints a bit. I went back and forth in my head on what color scheme to use. I never did a Google search to see what Megaguirus is supposed to look like. Remember, this wasn't supposed to be a kaiju. According to Majestic 13, it is a Rakire Winged Hunter!

    Back of the model, showing the detailing I did with my micron pen on the wing fabric

I finally decided on a metallic brown and Iron Wind Steel alternating banded pattern -- kind of like a bumblebee's stripes. I painted the entire model -- except the wings -- Steel first. I added the alternating pattern of Metallic Chocolate Brown in, adding in gold highlights on the spikes, talons and such. I painted his six smaller legs Pewter, and gave them black striping, as well. I left the wings for last. I decided continue the metallic brown for the "fingers" of the wings, so to speak. The thin material in between I first painted pale yellow. I drybrushed it white and was immediately unhappy with the look. So next, I decided to give it a faint orange wash. I liked that color much better! Finally, I did an image search on dragonfly wings and found some pretty cool photos. I decided to mimic the veining or pattern on on one of the pictures with my smallest nib micron pen. I really, really like how the wings came out. This afterthought is actually my favorite part of the model -- even more than its yellow jacket looking eyes.

    Hungry yet? A look at the other side of the cart with its drink case -- nicely frosted window!

I worked on this figure during breaks between painting my Valkeeri faction and the almost completed Viet Cong women soldiers. All together, this small group was perhaps not worth their own update. However, I decided to go ahead anyway and take pictures and write them up. I'm happy with how all of the pieces of scatter and the miniatures came out. Doubtless, this post will be followed quickly by those V.C. fighters in the next day or so. Definitely soon!

    Another look at the town scene and my newly-painted scatter terrain

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 210
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 173

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 14
• Terrain painted in 2026: 36

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 34
• Scatter painted in 2026: 75

Medieval Extravaganza of Terrain, Scatter & Minis

    Big batch of Medieval townsfolk miniatures, various scatter, and a 2-story building

I decided to go ahead and make this a big update covering of all the various Medieval things on my painting desk. After buying a good amount of scatter at Historicon a week or so ago, I decided to get a bunch of old and new pieces done while I was painting up the latest medieval building RRB Minis & More. To stick with the theme, I also decided that my next batch of "old" figures would be these medieval townsfolk. Why not? Plus, it made sense to combine them into a single update, even though some pieces were done more than a week before the last ones.

    I added the cross and the water spouts to this 'misprint' from Miniature Building Authority

The first to get completed was a "misprinted" 3-D Town Fountain that Kirk from Miniature Building Authority had in his discount bin. I had already begun painting the smaller Celtic Cross B before I left for Historicon, and thought setting it atop the fountain might jazz up the look a bit. The fountain was done very simply with my standard "gray stone" recipe: black base coat, wet brush dark gray, dry brush medium gray, and highlight a lighter tone. I painted the basin of the fountain sky blue and dry brushed it with a very light blue. Then I decided to add in streams of water flowing from the central part of the fountain into the basin. I used the same method I did on my Dwarven Fountain I'd painted up back in early May. I took fiber optic material, trimmed and bent it to the correct size and shape, and simply super glued it onto the fountain. I painted some white ripples in the water, then gloss coated the "wet parts" (but not the fiber optic). The dryer parts of the fountain I gave a brush-on matte coat. Simple and quick, but I think it will look nice on the tabletop!

    Brunbir Blazeforge House - 3-D printed building from the Ferisia line picked up from RRB Minis

Simultaneously, I was working on the two story Brunbir Blazeforge House from the Ferisia line that Rich printed for me. I really like the look of this house with its angles and second story balcony. I'm trying to slowly do more of the two story and smaller medieval buildings that I've purchased for my growing medieval town. I have plenty of skyscrapers (3-4 story, in medieval terms) already. I think that more variety in height will improve the look of the town. This 3-D printed building was done in my usual way -- spray prime with Krylon Fusion acrylic black, go over it with a 50/50 black paint and water mix, and then dry brush the same stone gray method I used on the fountain. The wood was also done with my standard recipe (wet brush dark brown, dry brush Camo Brown, highlight Khaki). 

    Close up of the very cool balcony & roof of this newest of my medieval town buildings

I went back and forth on what time of metal to make the roof trim, and finally went with Iron Wind Metals copper. Roofs made of copper were a thing at one point in our history, and I also decided that the inhabitants of the house would keep it burnished brightly and not let it fade to green verdigris. For the roof tiles, I decided to go with a faded craft paint called Leprechaun Green. The tiles received a light green highlight, as well. I also decided to do a slighter darker green on the window frames and lintels of both levels, as well as the "shield" around the axe decoration and the frame of the doorways. This color was called Seminole Green, and was probably the most time consuming part of doing this model, since I was doing both the inside and outside for each window. I also did the usual Steel and Bronze for the metal parts for the doors. 

    First floor of the interior of the Brunbir Blazeforge House -- I love the stairs!

    2nd floor of the house, with door leading to the small balcony & trap door to 1st level

I finished the building off with a black vehicle wash. Although many of the Ferisia buildings are technically labeled "Dwarven," this one was the first with an overtly Dwarven look. With the window panes being in a runic shape and and the axe decoration on the roof, it definitely says "Dwarves" to me. However, the building is not so overly Dwarven to  prevent me from legitimately using the house for a human town, as well. All of the little touches and decorations really make this building stand out, and it is definitely one of my favorites that I have purchased from RRB Minis & More.

    This side view gives you a look at the decorative elements that make this a 'Dwarven' building

On to the miniatures! Most of the figures in this batch of eight have been sitting in my unpainted lead drawer, primed and with their flesh base coated for more than a year. At some point, I was painting medieval civilians. I must have prepared these, then midstream decided that I had enough (or ran out of time). Six of them are Reaper Bones minis, with its soft plastic. The shouting baker is Old Glory, as I already have one of them painted up. The last one, an ox handler, may be Gripping Beast. Compared to the super-detailed and decorative Warhost Elves that I've been painting, these seemed to go very fast. I used a mix of faded and dull colors for all except the noble ladies and priests. They got brighter colors and a bit more decoration. 

    2 Noble ladies from Reaper and a couple townsfolk -- baker is Old Glory & other is...??

I'm not sure why Reaper made the noble ladies so freaking tall, though, but they tower over the other figures! Oh, well. Maybe they have high heels on under their long dresses? These were probably the most simple of the batch, and were fun and easy to do. I wanted to make their dresses somewhat decorative, so I went with a contrasting border and -- of course - dots! Lots of tiny dots!! The two churchmen I decided to paint up as priests rather than monks. For one, they don't have the "bald spot" in their tonsure, but do have the Norman "bowl haircut." Plus, I already have plenty of 28mm monk figures, but very few priests. Along with the brighter colors, I gave their robes and mantles a border with decoration. I really like these portly-looking figures and am glad I painted them up. The town women in aprons are also nice figures.  I probably should have modified them, though. Their pose appears to be holding something up in the air (chicken for sale?), but both hands are empty. Rather than rush into painting them right away, I should have added something to these models, but unfortunately I did not. 

    All 4 figs are Reaper - I like the portly priests and the stout common women in their bonnets

I used a variety of relatively faded and simple colors for their clothes. Same for the Old Glory baker, though I admit I looked up images of the first one I painted up earlier to make sure the two weren't "twinning" on the tabletop...ha, ha! The last unidentified townsman I did in faded or dull greens. I also could have put something in his open hand (which I think is supposed to be gripping the lead of his oxen). I wanted more flexibility, though, and left him open handed. This batch of eight figures will be perfect for either my Medieval (or Fantasy) town games.

    I definitely need more scatter for my medieval town - this Bulletin Board from MBA is a good start!

Simultaneous with these buildings and miniatures, I was painting a number of other miscellaneous town scatter pieces, including this MBA Bulletin Board. I think it intended for more modern games, but notices could easily have been pinned up in the center of town during earlier times, as well. Speaking of which, since I wanted to make it usable for either, I decided to not go crazy on the notices themselves. No "Wanted" posters or notices that might otherwise date it. So, the script is all tiny slashes, lines and blobs done with my smallest nib micron pen. As fun as might have been to call out one of my Sunday Night gamer friends for cheating on a notice, I decided not to do so. I painted the frame of the board with my usual (above) wood recipe, while the tiles on the top were done in red-brown with a Middle East Flesh highlight. I added a large rock to the base to give it some visual interest, and not call attention to the fact it is on a big base. The papers pinned to the board were done in a slate stone color, highlighted white, and given a brown wash.

    This Celtic cross will be a nice, free standing scatter piece in town, as will this dead tree

Also included in the scatter was this larger, MBA Celtic Cross A. It is printed with a wide enough base so that it doesn't need a separate base. It was actually the first of all of this scatter that I finished. I gave it my standard stone recipe and simply added some flocking. I likely picked up this resin 3-D print at a convention Kirk was attending and bought it because I wanted to thank him for supporting our hobby so faithfully. I believe the scraggly, bare tree is a 3-D print from A Critical Hit. That means I likely bought it either at Cincycon or Origins Game Fair. I found a likely base size, added in a rock, and whipped through this, as well. I did a black wash over my standard wood recipe, hoping it would give it a more dead and gray look. 

    This 3-D printed boulders and crags were picked up from my friend Rich at RRB Minis & More

Finally, there are some round boulders and crag pieces that I bought from RRB Minis & More at different times during the last year. I noticed in setting up games on my desert mat that I don't have a lot of appropriate terrain pieces to put on it. So, these got a Khaki colored spray paint, a very light tan drybrush, and finally a brown vehicle wash. I thought about putting tufts on them, as well. However, I flet that would "size" them and lock them into 28mm scale (admittedly, most of my games). However, these pieces can work for other scales, too. They simply become larger boulders or crags!

    I have very little terrain that looks good on a desert board, so I picked these up from Rich at a con

Yes, this is a big update with lots of stuff! I must have enjoyed the experience, though, as I have an encore of more medieval town scatter on my desk. In addition, I have the final (REALLY this time!) batch of Warhost Elves. which I've started on. Not sure what I will do next for an "old" batch of figures. I have a game in mind for the Hydra Miniatures Pulp Sci-Fi figures I've bought and painted only a few of. Perhaps it is time to start working them in? Stay tuned, and we'll see!

    These boulders are fairly generic - I left them un-based so they could be used in a variety of setups

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 210
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 160

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 14
• Terrain painted in 2026: 33

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 34
• Scatter painted in 2026: 69