Purchases from DayCon 2024 (More 3-D printed Goodies!)

 

    Some 1:50 scale 3-D printed vehicles that I purchased at DayCon 2024 from Diabolical Terrain

I went to DayCon 2024 this past weekend, looking forward to Adrian John's Saga tournament. I was also looking forward to Diabolical Terrain being there, as well. Ron has been a regular vendor at DayCon and makes it to Advance the Colors in Springfield, OH, as well. I have purchased a number of his 3-D printed items and his prints are always of high quality. Lots of 3-D printed scatter or terrain has the little ridge lines, but his are almost always smooth and clean. 

One of the main things I wanted to see was his collection of 1:50 vehicles meant for modern or post-apocalyptic games. I brought along one of my 1:48 scale die cast vehicles that I'd purchased for my upcoming County Road Z games to see how they matched size-wise. They definitely looked close enough. Ron was having a buy one, get one free sale, so I picked up two land cruiser jeeps and two SUVs. My recent die cast purchases included pickup trucks and vans, mostly. So, these would round out choices for my players as their "ride" in the games I'm planning.

    Some more Sci-Fi scatter terrain that I picked up from Diabolical Terrain at the show

A couple posts ago, I had featured some of his Sci-Fi scatter terrain. I saw more pieces that I hadn't seen before, so picked up a good double handful of them, as well. I really liked the small ones that looked like...um, not sure what they were. But they looked science-fictiony! Ha, ha! These could be power stations or whatever, so they'll come in handy to make my Xenos Rampant games look better.

    Rocky formations of various sizes that caught my eye at the convention - they should paint up easily!

Finally, Diabolical Terrain's booth had a large selection of rocky outcrops of various sizes. I was drawn to the really big ones, but decided instead to purchase more of the small and medium sized ones. These will really make a tabletop look more wild and foreboding. I'm drawn between basing them on plastic styrene or just painting them up free-standing. If I don't put them on a base it will likely be harder to add various bits of vegetation around them, which I think will really make them blend in well on the battlefield.

    10-drawer organizer that I picked up from Container Store to house my scatter terrain

With retirement only about five weeks away, I wouldn't be surprised to see these get painted up sooner rather than later. Where will I store all this stuff? Well, I recently made another purchase to help out with that. I went to Container Store and found a standing cart with 10 drawers to store my scatter terrain. I put white felt on the bottom of each drawer to keep it from moving around, and didn't install the clips that prevent the drawer from coming out. That way, I can just pull out the drawer and walk it over to the tabletop to help with setting up. I liked this cart so much I am thinking of going out and buying a second one! Not sure if Jenny will like how the gaming closet is migrating outside its double doors and taking over the basement, though...ha, ha! We shall see. I put a lot of things in the cart that I might put back onto the shelves in my gaming closet. There's a lot more free space in there than before!

    

    A closeup of one of the drawers already filled up with scatter terrain

What's next on my painting desk? Two things are primed are started, currently. I picked out a bunch of miscellaneous items from the Terrain Crate uber-box I'd purchased at a flea market from my friend Bryan Borgman. I'll need these for objective tokens for County Road Z games. So, they are black primed and sitting on my desk alongside my first batch of 3-D printed zombies. I even have "flesh" painted on those, so my next update will likely include the first zombies I have ever painted up...

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 64
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 47

Sci-Fi Scatter Terrain from 3 Companies

    Three Sci-Fi scatter terrain pieces (power generators?) from Diabolical Terrain

As I get closer to staging my first game of Xenos Rampant, I felt that I should paint up some of my recent acquisitions in Sci-Fi scatter terrain. These primarily came from three different sources. One is a regular attendee at area conventions -- Diabolical Terrain. Owner Ron Weaver is big into 3-D printing. I have purchased post-apocalyptic terrain from him, ruined buildings, wrecked vehicles -- you name it! Last October, he had some Sci-Fi scatter terrain on his shelves that I picked up. They are from the Lunar Kolony range. If you're interested in picking some up, Diabolical Terrain will be at DayCon 2024 in a few weeks. I know that I will likely be buying more stuff from him there!

    This large drill unit is 3-D printed from Sea Dog Games (makers of the game Sailpower)

Another vendor is a relatively local one, Sea Dog Games. The owners live in the Central Ohio area, and are regular dealers at many regional and national conventions. You've probably seen them running their large-scale sailing ship game, Sailpower. They were one of the early adopters of 3-D printing, and have quite a diverse range of terrain. Some of the modern dumpsters you see in my Mean Streets games are from Sea Dog.

    The largest of the scatter pieces I just painted (refinery?) and two smaller ones from A Critical Hit

Finally, at Cincycon 2024, I discovered a new vendor in 3-D printed terrain: A Critical Hit (link to their Instagram page). I showed a number of the things I bought from them in a blog post a week or two back. You are seeing of those painted up in this post. Blair uses a number of interesting looking colored materials in her prints, intending for them to not necessarily need painting. All of the ones in this were painted up, of course. Two of them are probably my favorite pieces from this batch of scatter terrain. I hope to keep seeing Blair and A Critical Hit at upcoming shows - great stuff!

    This is probably one of my favorite pieces of the lot - another power generator from A Critical Hit

For all of these pieces, I prepped them identically. I start with a spray of Krylon acrylic matte black. Once dry, I brush on a 50/50 mix of water and black acrylic paint to make sure all the crevices are filled. I like to use metallic paints for my Sci-Fi scatter. For example, I have four different shades of what would be considered steel. The darkest is Iron Wind Metals "Steel." Next up, are a trio of craft paint shades from Folk Art, continuing from dark to light: Gunmetal Gray to Pewter and finally, Silver. My favorite accent color is also from Folk Art and is called "Metallic Brown." 

   Another 3-D printed piece from Diabolical Terrain and another thing I'll call a power generator!

I actually purchased and used something very new that I only recently became aware of in painting. Have you heard of "color shift" paints? They go by other names, too, but typically involve the color painted on looking different (or "shifting") depending on the angle you view it and how the light strikes the painted object. I first saw it at Cincycon 2024 in a game run by John Leahy (owner of JS Wargamer Printing -- more 3-D printed goodies!). John had painted a unit of flying Arachnids in iridescent colors. He explained what color shift paints were, and said his had come from Vallejo. Another model paint maker, Turbo Dork, also makes them. At a recent visit to Michaels Crafts, I was surprised to find that the craft paint brand Folk Art also make color shift paint. I bought a bottle of their "Black Burst" to try out, because it looked like a good metallic color for scatter terrain.

    A color shift paint from Folk Art called "Black Blast" - can't really tell from the picture, though

How did I like it? Well, I feel it does gleam and reflect light more than a typical metallic paint. This was not one of the prismatic color shifting paints, though. Maybe I'll try those next. Anyway, it goes on much thicker than typical craft paint. It says it is acrylic, but it has an odd smell. Most craft paints are relatively odorless, I think. What's more, it is self-sealing, Folk Art's website says. In other words, you don't want to spray seal it. I accidentally got a bit on my thumb and can verify it did not come off when I first washed my hands. I had to specifically try to scratch and rub it off. Their website also recommends black priming first, then doing a gloss coat over the black. I did the first, but did not try the second because I didn't read their website till after I'd painted that terrain piece. More experimentation is in order, I think...

    A second look at the Diabolical Terrain (you guessed it) power generators!

Speaking of techniques, what I have begun doing on my Sci-Fi scatter terrain (or even the weapons of Sci-Fi miniatures), is to paint it gunmetal gray first. Next, I highlight areas in pewter, with only the brightest highlights in silver. Finally, I do a reasonably heavy black wash over the piece. Take a look at the really large piece in this update -- an oil tank? That demonstrates how I have been doing this type of terrain. It goes very quickly and look good on the tabletop, I feel.

Cincycon 2024 Purchases

    Some of the 3-D 'Scatter Terrain' I bought at Cincycon for my Sci-Fi games

Heading down to Cincycon 2024, I had a pretty good Miniatures Purchased to Miniatures Painted Ratio for this year. I had painted 31 figures so far, while purchasing only 15. I knew that once the convention season arrived my surplus would take a hit. Well, it did in a big way, as you'll see below.

    Not sure what they are supposed to be, but they'll look cool on a Sci-Fi tabletop!

Despite buying from only two stands at the convention, I still dropped about $100. I do feel an obligation to support the vendors at shows I attend. They take time out of their schedule to show up and give us somewhere to browse and shop. Often times it is a money-losing proposition for dealers. They go more as a form of advertising, to get their name out. They hope that, later on, people will remember them and make purchases from them online. Or at least that's my take on it!

    Mounted gorillas for my Planet of the Apes force - these are 3-D printed from JS Wargamer Printing

The first vendor I bought from is one that I've mentioned on here before. Cincinnati area gamer John Leahy started JS Wargamer Printing a year or so back. My Terminators that I painted up where from him. He carries mounted "Planet of the Monkeys" gorillas. I thought they'd be a great troop addition for my Xenos Rampant "Planet of the Apes" detachment. I have three mounted gorilla figures from Battle Valor Games, and I need some more to flesh out a squad of them. There's a troop type called Berserk Infantry (or something like that) in the game, and gorillas charging in to close combat would be perfect for these.

    I am a big fan of 'The Last of Us,' so if I'm purchasing zombies I'll definitely get some infected!

My other purchase from John was part of a new project that I will be working on after I get Xenos Rampant underway. I have finally decided to take the plunge and do a zombie branch-off for my post-apocalyptic games. My idea is it will be a mash-up of Gaslands Refueled and Wiley Games rules. Each of my players will have a vehicle -- pickup truck, SUV, van, whatever. They will have three characters in it and will be road-tripping across the United States. They're heading from the zombie-infected and densely-populated East to the wide open spaces of America's Great Plains and West. Less people means less zombies, so the thought is to make it to the relative safety of "flyover country."

    John from JS Wargamer Printing had three types of zombies -- this was the other type I ordered

The problem is that I own no zombies. Well, I didn't before Cincycon! I sent a message to John asking if he had any zombies he could print up. He did have some files. One is of standard zombie apocalypse folks and the other is the "infected" variety from the great streaming show, "The Last of Us." His prices are hard to beat, so I ordered two packs of 10 each. So, that's 40 zombies plus 4 mounted gorillas. John also gave me some freebies -- 3-D printed figures of Planet of the Apes Dr. Zaius, Cornelius, Zira, and the humans George Taylor (Charlton Heston) and Nova. 

    More of the 3-D printed scatter terrain I purchased at Cincycon - this from A Critical Hit

Since they were free, should I count those as purchased? Well, I guess I could technically call it "Acquired," just in case I trade for miniatures in the future! So, I added in 49 miniatures. That raises my total to 64 acquired for 2024. And no, I haven't finished any other batches, so I've sunk to 31 painted vs. 64 acquired. Oh well...it WAS a good ratio while it lasted!

    Two picnic tables, a phone booth, and Coca-cola machine from A Critical Hit

The other purchases were from a vendor that was new to me. They are called A Critical Hit (Instagram link), or email Blair Oyler at dungeonmaster@acriticalhit.ne. Critical Hit's shelves had quite a bit of 3-D printed scatter and buildings. Much of their printing was done in appropriately colored material so that they wouldn't technically require painting. I would at the minimum do a wash on these, but will likely paint most of them up. I showed my friend Keith their tables and he immediately snapped up even more than I did! Good stuff!!

    A few more from A Critical Hit -- I will likely paint the pipes but do a black wash on the container

Most of these purchases were Sci-Fi related. They'll likely end up on the tabletop for various Xenos Rampant games or Wiley Games skirmishes. It's been awhile since I've painted up a big batch of terrain, so I may likely pop in these pieces and others ones I purchased at Advance the Colors last October from Sailpower and Diabolical Terrain. You can never have too much atmospheric scatter on the tabletop. Now, storing all that terrain is a different thing entirely...!

    You can see the interesting colors that A Critical Hit print their terrain in with the second piece

What's next? I am almost done with the next batch of five "Blue-Skinned Aliens" squad. At some point, I really do need to come up with a name for that faction! With that squad complete, they will be ready for the tabletop. So, look for that update soon...!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 64
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 31

More Sci-Fi Terrain & Ruined Buildings

    All that remains of this ornate church is its ruined facade -- a 3-D print I purchased at ATC 2022

I'm really enjoying cranking out more ruined buildings for my post-Apocalyptic games, as well as Sci-Fi terrain for Space Station Zero. This update includes the last of the ruined buildings that I bought from Rusty of Jarls Workshop at Advance the Colors 2023. I am really happy with how the two-story facade of a ruined church turned out. I am looking forward to running another post-Apocalyptic game and getting all of these on the table together! Likewise, I'm itching for Jenny and I to get in another game of Space Station Zero soon. This batch of fairly small buildings or scatter terrain should add some variety and color to our exploration of the derelict space station. 

    The rear of the 3-D print -- you can see there is room for 28mm to fire from the 2nd story platform

The two-story ruined church is the eye-catcher of this batch, I think. It comes in two parts, and I used 5-minute epoxy to affix the top half to the bottom part. Rusty's print was exceptionally clean, as always, and required almost no cleanup prior to priming. I followed my usual black spray prime, followed by a 50/50 mix of black paint and water, to get it ready. A dark gray dry brush with light gray highlights was all that was required to paint this model. Next, I did a black wash, which I think "blends" the dry brushing strokes well, giving the model a smoother looking appearance. I added in patches of green grass flocking with white glue to break up the all-gray look. Otherwise, this was an extremely fast model to paint up. I thought about putting more debris like bricks and ballast on there, but as tumbled stones were already sculpted into the model, I didn't think it was necessary. I think a mix of different heights of ruins will add to the look of the table, so I am really glad I picked this one up from Jarls Workshop!

    This Acheson Creations chimney ruin has been sitting unpainted for years

Next up, is an Acheson Creations building that I have had sitting in my unpainted tub for a number of years. It is originally meant for their Frontier America line, but in the end, it is a ruined building and won't look out of place mixed in with the other ruins.  It is a square chimney with some stones tumbled down. I believe it is modeled to represent the rest of the house having burnt down, leaving only the chimney standing forlornly. I really miss Acheson Creations. They were my favorite building and terrain producing manufacturer. Fortunately, some companies like Miniature Building Authority and RRB Minis & More are carrying some of their pieces, and you can still see their stuff at conventions where vendors bought up some of Acheson's products.

    The Green Dragons prowl amidst the ruins of a house where only the stone chimney stands

This was done with the usual method above, except an added preparation step at the beginning. Since Acheson pieces sometimes have a paint-defying mold release agent on them, I run them through the dishwasher at low heat first. I did an extra black wash on the inside of the chimney to represent its smoke-darkened stones on the interior. The wooden beams were done in Howard Hues Camo Brown dry brush and tan highlight. Looking at it now, I should probably added more shrubs or flowers or something growing amidst the ruins for a more 3-D look. Oh, well - I made up for that on the next piece!

    See the lizard outline beneath the flocking going up the column? No? Good - that's how I wanted it!

I almost didn't paint this last piece. I bought it when our former Acheson Creations local rep, Bryan Borgman, was selling off most of his stock. It is a ruined, circular pillar. Sounds great, right? Well, molded into one side of the pillar is a bizarre statue of a lizard with outstretched arms and holding a dragon-headed staff. Obviously, it is meant for fantasy games. However, as I was painting it up, I got the inspiration to simply cover the lizard and staff with flocking and flowering plants. I really liked the way they disguise the outline of the lizard. One more piece for my ruined post-Apocalyptic tabletop!

    This piece is also from Acheson Creations (I believe) that I picked up from RRB Minis & More

Now, on to my smaller terrain pieces for Space Station Zero for part two of this post. These were actually finished several weeks ago, but I simply hadn't had time to take pictures of them and write up a blog post. Speaking of weeks, it has been awhile since Jenny and I played out a mission in this cooperative, solo/multiplayer game. Hopefully, we will get in mission #2 in soon! Anyway, I really like the look of the dark green metallic craft paint that I have used for some previous Sci-Fi terrain. The snaking light green hoses came out really nice, being a three-color base coat, dry brush, and highlight. The dark metallic gray and copper for machinery components looks cool. I went with a slightly darker metallic grayish-silver for the base of the miniature.

    Sci-Fi domed building from RRB Minis & More - will work great as a stand alone small terrain piece

Next up is a piece 3-D printed by RRB Minis & More. I picked it up from them this past December at Shore Wars 2022 in Mentor, OH, I believe. The roof comes off on this one, but I decided that since I am using it for Space Station Zero, I really won't need to remove the roof for games. So, I epoxied it down, and added it a control panel I also bought from them atop the entrance to make it look even more high tech. The color is technically metallic brown, according to the craft paint maker, but I like how it looks for Sci-Fi stuff. I did the accent pieces in Pewter and Metallic Gray. For the glowing control panels, I painted them black first and did tiny dots of red, yellow, and green to look like lights. I like how it looks and am pleased with how it turned out!

    Another Acheson Creations Sci-Fi terrain piece picked up (I believe) from RRB Minis & More

The next piece features a new metallic cover I'd purchased when painting the flying drones for Space Station Zero. Like with the Dark Green, I really like how this Dark Red looks on surfaces that are supposed to be metallic or otherwise shiny material. This one was incredibly easy to paint. I gave it a black base coat and then a couple coats of the metallic red and metallic pink (NOT how it was marketed...it was supposed to be red!). The black base coat would show through, requiring multiple coats to look like this. 

    The final terrain piece is another from Acheson Creations, which I did in a blue metallic

Finally, a smaller version of the Acheson domed structure was done in blue, as well. I probably should have jazzed this one up with one of the control panels I bought from RRB Minis & More. However, things were pretty busy and hectic for me at that point. I just wanted to finish them and feel like I was getting things completed. 

All in all, I am happy with the additions to my Sci-Fi and post-Apocalyptic terrain. Next up, is some even smaller pieces of scatter terrain from Acheson Creations. So, stay tuned!

More Terrain for Space Station Zero

    The interior of Space Station Zero with my combination of scratch-built and purchased components

I have been working steadily on my terrain for Space Station Zero. This post shows another of the larger, 6"x4" pieces, as well as five of the smaller, roughly 2"x2" pieces. Both are a mix of store-bought components and scratch-built portions using pieces bought from the local craft store. After this batch, I have one more larger piece that is about halfway complete. Perhaps one more evening's worth of work is all that is needed on it and I should be done with terrain that I have to complete.

    Two smaller terrain pieces, mostly from the Star Wars Legion line of plastic terrain

I was at another of our local game stores, Dragons Lair Comics and Games (in the Polaris area), when I saw the Star Wars Legion "Priority Supplies" box on their shelf. The box contains four moisture evaporators, five supply crates, and three communications stations that were perfect for random terrain to affix to a base. I tossed in a wooden barrel from the craft store on one of the bases to fill up the area on the base. Just like pretty much all the other terrain that I have painted up for this project, I began with a black spray prime and 50/50 acrylic black paint and water base coat. Next came an overall covering of Metallic Battleship Gray. I applied Metallic Pewter highlights for the evaporators and communication stations. I also applied a coppery gold as highlights in various panels The crates were given various other metallic colors. Finally, a black wash was applied overall. The communication stations received a pastel colored panel with bright yellow, red, or green "buttons" or lighted switches.

    Some items from the local craft store with a panel from RRB Minis & More made for more terrain

The Priority Supplies box gave me four bases worth of Sci-Fi terrain. For the fifth base, I used a wooden spool from the craft store, with a round disc atop it. I added three computer panels which I had purchased from RRB Miniatures at Shore Wars last month. I had to take a large craft knife and shave off part of the panels so they would look like they belonged on the rounded surface of the wooden spool. I prepared the piece the same way I had the others. I decided that the cylindrical portion should be a metallic green. I would say of all the craft metallic colors I've been using, I like how the green looks the best. It is more subtle than the blue and red (looks pink) shades. I gave the panel the same combination of Metallic Gray and Gold accents like the other pieces. I figured if the pieces looked like they belonged together, thematically, that would help the overall appearance of the spaceship.

    Another larger piece of Sci-Fi terrain, most of which comes from a Mantic Games terrain box

The larger piece is mostly from the Mantic Games "Industrial Accessories" box I mentioned in previous posts. It contains a big diameter section of piping coming out of and going back into the floor. It also contains one of the large pieces of machinery that the plastic terrain box. You can see in the photo some scratch-built pieces to fill out the area, too. The upright piece is a collection of wooden pieces from the craft store with various MDF gears that I had also picked up at the same spot. Around them are conical beads topped with a large sequin. Since this is an alien space station, I feel it is within keeping with the them to have unexplained terminals and other bits on the pieces.

    The other two small pieces created from the Star Wars Legion Priority Supplice pack

I really like how the terrain is coming out, though I may rethink my bases. I applied Metallic Gray to them and pretty much left it at that. In the pictures at least, they look a little dark next to my texture paper space station floor. After playing a game and seeing how it looks, I may go back and use a lighter color that matches the silvery color for the floors I created. We'll see.

    My most recent batch of Space Station Zero terrain on my gaming boards

What's next? Like I said, one more piece of large terrain needs to be finished. And also coming soon should be a game report! Woo-hoo!! My girlfriend Jenny and I may play our first cooperative game of Space Station Zero as early as this evening...!

Space Station Zero - Creating a Framework of Corridor Walls

    My newly-created foamboard walls for games of Space Station Zero

As you may remember from my previous posts, a new project for me is trying out Space Station Zero from Snarling Badger Studios. We'd enjoyed their Reign in Hell rules, so I picked them up from Wargame Vault (nice deal on print and PDF). Reading the rules, I was intrigued, so began building terrain to create my own dilapidated space station somewhere lost in the depths of space. An earlier post showed you the six 10"x11" battle boards I created to piece together for the 30"x22" board.

    Another look at the walls, with images that I had downloaded off the internet glued onto their sides

The more I began to think about it, though, I felt I would need walls to give the real look of a space station. I looked around for something commercially available, but didn't find anything in a reasonable price range. So, like with my boards, I figured that I could create my own. Wandering the aisles of the craft stores is usually where I get my inspiration. I came upon a black, foamboard trifold that I have often seen my students use for project displays. That made me think, "Hmmm..." The trifold would already have the fold in it for each of the 90 degree angles needed. That would work! 

    As you can see, I used about a quarter of the trifold, foamboard display

I stuck a tape measure next to some miniatures and chose to do my walls 4" tall. Since the playing area is 30"x22", I figured four corner sections placed together would work. One arm could be 15" for the long side and the other arm extending out from the corner could be 11" for the shorter side. Placing them all together in a rectangle would create the 30"x22" frame. It was an easy matter to cut the foamboard with a sharp X-acto knife. 

    An exploded view of the four sections, each with a long 15" and short 11" arm

Now, I could have left them like that, but felt that gluing on images of space station corridors could really make the walls pop. I went online and Googled various images of space station corridors, downloading a number of images. I resized these in Photoshop to 4" tall. I then duplicated the image and flipped it vertically so that it could wrap around the top edge of the foamboard and extend down to the bottom, enclosing the foamcore in an upside down "U-shape." I took these images to the local office supply store and printed them out on their color laser printer.

    I used doors/portals glued to cardstock to clamp the four sections together with magnets & steel bases

 The trick was accurately pasting them onto the foamboard. I used Gorilla Glue spray adhesive, spraying both the back of the image and the foamboard. This kept the foamboard from warping, like it may have if I slathered the whole thing in white glue. I was fairly happy with how this process (which took several hours) went. I did screw up, though. One of the four pieces had its image glued on upside down. Much to my surprise, it did matter for everything to line up and have the "raw" foamboard edge facing down onto the tabletop. 

    Bonus pic of a recently-painted Dr. Zaius from Planet of the Apes investigating Space Station Zero

While trying to get to sleep the night before, I thought about how to clamp the four sections together so that it didn't get knocked over during play. I hit upon the idea of using the image of a door or portal glued on a piece of cardstock and placed over where each section joined the neighboring one (at the center of each long and short side). But how to clamp them? I decided to glue steel bases near the bottom corners of each side of the cardstock door. I placed magnets on the steel bases, peeled off their backing, and then pressed the door into position. Squeezing the door attached the adhesive backing to the wall section in the exact correct position. I was delighted to see the doors peel off and reattach easily with the steel and magnet connection. Success! I love it when a concept like this actually works out...ha, ha!

So, here are some pictures of my space station walls with the boards in between. I was very happy with how these all turned out. I think the walls make it look much better than simply using the boards would have looked.

Assembling Space Station Zero Terrain

Combinations of industrial elements from various sources were used to create my space station terrain

One of the things I like to do is scratch-build terrain on the cheap. I usually assemble it using various items I've found at craft stores, so creating terrain for Space Station Zero was definitely going to involve a scouting visit there. My usual choice is of the various shapes of wooden pieces you can find there, much like my peg and drawer pull droids from last post. In addition, on my last visit to Dragons Guildhall, I'd picked up the Mantic Games "Industrial Accessories" from their Terrain Crate line.

    My second piece of terrain has ruptured pipelines from one of the Mantic Games Terrain Creates

My follow up to last post's 3-D printed piece would be a combination of bits from the Industrial Accessories box mixed with things I'd grabbed from the craft store or my bins of various bits and pieces. I actually sat down a couple weeks ago and assembled five 6"x4" styrene bases using these sources. It was several nights of gluing various things together to fill up the base. I followed that up with spray painting all five, and then going over them with a 50/50 mix of acrylic black paint and water. There the five sat for about a week or so until winter break from school hit.

Despite a rough start to break (I tested positive for Covid last Friday), the Paxlovid medication had me feeling better within a couple days. I found myself tiring easily, though, so I worked on and off on the terrain for several days. Still, they took much less time to paint up than the 3-D printed power plant. My second terrain piece for this project was a section of burst open pipeline along with some various industrial fans and vents. These pretty much all came from the Mantic Games box.

    Another view of my two terrain pieces with 28mm Sci-Fi figures from my Post-Apocalyptic forces

With the black base coat, I decided to layer my metallic coloring to give the pieces a somewhat run-down look. Metallic Gray would be applied over most of the pipe sections, leaving only small joins in the base black color. I would apply a Pewter color over the top portions of the metallic gray, and then a small line of silver over that to give an effect of light reflection off the pipes. I used a copper/reddish gold as accent color as I did on the power plant. For two upright pipe pieces with fans atop, I used a Metallic green to add a new look. Finally, after it was finished and fully clear coated, I forced cotton ball material down into the burst open sections to look like steam or gas escaping the ruptures.

    A train store electrical transformer is the centerpiece to my second piece of Sci-Fi terrain

The second piece used a Walters electrical transformer made of plastic for model railroad terrain as its centerpiece. Surrounding it are wooden pieces from the craft store - different size wooden barrels with colored gem stones atop them. I followed the same painting scheme with metallic gray and pewter, but this time with a metallic brown to go with the copper accents. Each piece also receives a black wash to give it a more grimy and less pristine appearance. I was really happy with how the orange gem stones look like glowing power sources. It was the effect I was hoping they would create. I did dry brush silver to bring out the coil rings atop the transformer.

So far, I am happy with how these are turning out. They are not show-stopping pieces, but they look the part, I think. They will look passable on the tabletop and give the proper effect, I hope. Look for more of these coming soon, as another one is currently in progress on my painting desk!

Space Station Zero - a new project begins

    My first Sci-Fi terrain piece sits on my newly-constructed gaming board for Space Station Zero

I had been seeing posts on Facebook about a new miniatures rules set put out by the company that wrote the "Reign in Hell" rules we've played a number of times. This science-fiction game, by Snarling Badger Studios, is called "Space Station Zero." The idea is that there is a derelict space station lost somewhere in the depths of the universe. Starships end up stranded there when their warp drive or hyper-light travel systems fail. Players each take on the role of crew of one of those ships exploring the sprawling, dark, but still functioning, interior of the station. I liked the activation system of Reign in Hell. Its game mechanics played smoothly enough, so I figured I'd spend the less than $20 to give it a look.

    Space Station Zero is a Sci-Fi miniatures rules set by Snarling Badger Studies

The mechanics are different than in Reign in Hell, but seem like they'll work well enough. The same system is used throughout: Roll a certain number of 12-sided dice to pass tests. Even numbers pass, odd numbers fail. Yep - you read that correctly. An "11" is a failure, but a "10" is a success. Some tests toss in target numbers, so you may need to score 6+, for example. That would mean 6, 8, 10, and 12 pass, while lower even numbers and all odds fail. 

    Some of my Post-Apocalyptic forces on the Space Station Zero gaming boards I created

Players determine which type of ship they are from, which will give them a list of types of crewmen (or women or aliens!) to select their force from. The types include medical officers, soldiers, engineers, etc. Players also select how many figures they want in their crew, either 4, 6, or 8. The fewer figures, the better each individual crewman's statistics. The players similarly equip their leader (who does not count towards the 4, 6, or 10). Finally, they select an "Edge," which is a special ability or equipment type that the entire crew possess.

    Close up of the silver, textured paper from Hobby Lobby and my Sharpie grid of plates and rivets

I liked that the game can be played cooperatively or competitively. So many miniatures games we play on Sunday evenings are competitive, that I thought it might be interesting to try something cooperative, for once. However, I think before I spring it on the Sunday night crew, Jenny and I will try out a few games as a two-player cooperative game. In this case, the denizens and dangers of the space station that we will face are controlled by an Artificial Intelligence, essentially a priority list that determines how each droid or crazed alien mutant will act.

    Extreme closeup of applying rivets and grid lines - a functional (if not spectacular) playing surface

Everything seemed to be moving along on this new project, but there WAS a major barrier. I own only a handful of miniatures that could be used in a Sci-Fi game like this, and I own pretty much zero terrain. Well, painted up, that is. And I don't have a playing mat or board that looks like the deck of a space station. Perhaps curiously, that is where I decided to start. I had seen a patterned silver paper at Hobby Lobby when looking for something else awhile back. I went back, checked it out, and felt it would do. The playing area is a weird one (though Snarling Badger says its common??) - 22"x30". Doing the math, that meant if I could produce six tiles of 11"x10" they would cover that area in a 2x3 arrangement. 

    The creases I put in the paper kind of disappeared once I glued the paper to the acrylic tiles

Each piece of silver paper was a foot square, so I cut them to size with scissors easily enough. Then, I decided to crease them to hopefully give the board slight, 3-D look of depth. I reinforced by lining the creases with black Sharpie. I ended up gluing them with spray glue to a smoky, acrylic material which I scored and snapped to the same size. Once attached, I added in a pattern of rivets at each intersection to give the effect of a space station floor made up of rectangular plates. The board is by no means perfect, nor is it the most beautiful playing surface anyone has ever designed. It is functional, and was quick and relatively inexpensive to produce.

    The rear of the power generator - an excellent 3-D printed terrain piece from Jarls Workshop

But what about terrain to put on the boards? "I thought you said you had none?", I hear you ask. Wellll, I did buy one incredibly cool piece of Sci-Fi terrain from Jarl's Workshop owner Rusty Parker at Drums at the Rapids 2022. It would be my first piece to be set down upon my newly-constructed space station floor. As cool as the piece is (Power Generator?), it was an absolute BEAR to paint! I spent more time painting this piece of terrain than nearly every piece of terrain I have ever done. There are just so many recessed grooves, cool lines, and supports, etc., that I think I spent four of five nights on it, several hours each evening! I like how it came out, though. I used metallic craft paints for most of it. I am happy with how the light blue metallic contrasts with the dark gray metallic (and especially the copper accents that make it pop). 

    Side view of this large, 6"x4" terrain piece - it took me LOTS of time to paint all the details

When it was finally done, I was happy with the result. I'm a bit leery of going to such lengths, again, though! Future pieces of terrain are definitely going to have to paint up quicker, or this project will never see its first game. To set up a game, players roll randomly to see how many 5"x5" or 2"x2" pieces are placed on each quarter of the table. So, each board will have a minimum of four pieces and a maximum of 20 (!!!). Now, this power generator WAS one of the big pieces. The smaller ones -- and hopefully subsequent big ones -- will likely take a lot less time to paint up. So, no worries...right??

    Wooden pegs, drawer pulls, brass wire, and beads are the genesis of a force of space station droids

The skeptical second-guessers among you are probably smirking, now. You're just waiting to say, "But what about figures?" Well, I likely have enough figures in my Post-Apocalyptic forces to represent the player crews. So, I'll be set for Jenny and I to test it out. I know, I know...I see your grin! "Enemies?", you ask. Yes, yes, yes, I know. So, I went through the dozens of scenarios in the rulebook and catalogued the enemy creatures or mechanical forces that the players have to defeat. I'm happy to report they break down into essentially two categories: mechanical "drone sentries" (Laser-armed, Medical, Guard, Repair, Worker, etc.) and "mutants" (Starving, Deranged, Experimental, Drunken, etc.). 

    "Intruder Alert!" the space station's droids whir towards a crew investigating the power plant

So, that led me to my first scratch-build - generic drones for Space Station Zero! I modeled them on the only vaguely humanoid worker ones from Star Wars. I used two pieces of craft wood as the body -- the upper body is a wooden peg and the lower is a "drawer pull." Think BB3 with arms. For said arms, I drilled through the upper body with my pin vice and ran brass wire through. I slid beads onto the wire, bent the arms at various angles, then glued aluminum tube over the brass to be a gun barrel or holder for a melee weapon. Parts of this were more fiddly than I expected (particularly using pliers to re-open the crimp caused by cutting a length of aluminum tube). I also used styrene tube as an outer barrel for the gun weapon. It came out better on some of the droids than on others. Same with the weapons. I kind of like how the lengths of dangling chain look for a melee weapon. I'm less happy with the hammers. Oh well. This IS to test out the game and see if I like before I go out and buy commercial models, right?

    Although not originally designed as armed sentries, the droids have repurposed tools for defense

Once the bodies and arms were completed, it was time to paint them. I decided to go with a pearly white body (once again, ala Star Wars) with metallic gray arms and weapons. I also made the lower part of the peg's head a bright steel to give the suggestion of a head and sensors. I painted stripes in bright colors, making each different for ease of identification during game play. Finally, I added tiny gemstones along the centeral torso to represent glowing panels. How do they look? Passable, I say. Hopefully, they look better once they are battling it out with investigating crews amidst the background of laboriously-painted Sci-Fi terrain! Ha, ha!

    Hopefully, these 8 scratch-built droids can cover me for a couple missions of Space Station Zero!

Anyway, more Space Station Zero stuff is on the way, so stay tuned!

    I bought these smaller Sci-Fit terrain pieces from RRB Miniatures at Shore Wars 2022