Tofu Bar from Miniature Building Authority

    One of Miniature Building Authority's unique terrain pieces -- a 28mm tofu bar!

I admit that a 28mm Tofu Bar is probably one of my stranger purchases for my modern (or post-apocalyptic) games. I picked it up a year or two ago at Advance the Colors when Miniature Building Authority was there as a vendor. I always like to buy terrain off Kirk -- his products are superb and look great on the tabletop. But a Tofu Bar...?

    A look from behind the counter of the MBA tofu bar

Maybe it will seem less strange if you think of it as a street vendor or market stall. I already have a half dozen market stalls that I regularly put on my tabletops. This simply gives it more variety. I'm sure it will look good mixed in with the vendors selling fish, fruit, meat, and vegetables. Personally, I don't eat tofu...ha, ha! However, it is certainly a unique item. I bought it think it could be a little street bar, but the chopsticks and plates of tofu and rise are cast onto the counter, so tofu bar it is!

    My original thought was to make it a generic street side bar, but you can see chopsticks & rice bowls

If I were to go back and redo this piece, I would NOT black prime it. I would have primed it in white so that I wouldn't have to put in two or more layers to fully cover the counter tops, plates, etc. I decided to go with a pale blue and very light gray booth and countertop. Behind the counter, I made the preparation counter an yellowish ivory. The bowls, plates, condiments, and such I painted in brighter colors. Make no mistake about it -- even though this is a small piece of terrain, it took a LOT of time to complete. With the base that I cut and glued the bar and four stools onto it is about 3" square, to give you an idea of its size.

    View from above shows the scrap booking paper I put behind the counter and my paving stone base

There were some small amounts of flash to trim off with an X-acto knife here and there on the piece. The legs of the stools come solid, so I had to paint the "empty space" black and the legs themselves Pewter metallic. I don't think it is too distracting, so am okay with it. For the floor behind the counter, I added a piece of color printed scrap booking paper. I think it really adds a lot to the overall look. For the base itself, I decided to go with a stone or tile pattern. I painted the base light gray and then added a diamond and square paving stone pattern with a micron pen. I know it is kind of shaky in parts. Once again, if I had to redo it, I might put the paving stone pattern on BEFORE I glued down the bar, or at least the stools. Oh well -- live and learn!

    A good look from behind shows all the details this model includes -- even cabinets and cutlery!

I like how the tofu bar looks, but like I mentioned earlier, it took quite a few painting sessions to complete. Counting it all up, there are more than two dozen individual details, from plates to cups to cabinets behind the bar. For each of those, I did a base color and dry brush or highlight. I think all of the colors and highlighting makes the tofu bar look more realistic, though. In the end, it was certainly worth the effort. Look for it to appear in another one of my post-apocalyptic or modern games soon!

What's up next? I have begun working on a 28mm resin Viking longship that has sat in my closet for literally decades. I won it at a DBA Tournament years ago in Pittsburgh -- so that may give some of my friends an idea how long ago I acquired it. I will use it as eye candy on the tabletop for my Viking Raid game I am running at Cincycon, DayCon, Drums at the Rapids, and Origins 2025. Otherwise, I have six 28mm Dark Age warriors nearing completion on my painting desk, as well. So, stay tuned for more updates! Plus, this weekend I am heading south to visit my friend Jason in South Carolina and attend Siege of Augusta wargaming convention with him. I'm sure I will have updates from there, too...!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 0
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 4 

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terain acquired in 2025: 0
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 4

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 0
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 1

Refugee Car & 4 New Survivors

    Four more survivors protecting their belongings piled upon a MBA 'Refugee Car'

Happy New Year! I hope you had a good set of holidays. Mine were fairly relaxing, which is nice, and also helped with my productivity! I'd begun both of these projects well before the New Year, but they were slow going -- especially the refugee car. The resin car is from Miniature Building Authority and is an awesome piece of eye candy for the tabletop. I picked it up at Historicon 2024 this past July, among other things I purchased from Kirk. Three different manufacturers are responsible for these four survivors: Foundry's Street Violence range (Crisanto), Copplestone Castings' Future Wars (Martina & Reef), and  Battle Valor Games. Thanks to my friend Jason for correcting me on Martina and Reef's manufacturer!

    This resin car from Miniature Building Authority has a LOT of detail that took serious time to paint!

Starting with the refugee car, as you can tell by looking at it, there was a LOT of detail. Now, I could have taken a short cut and made all the bags tan, etc. However, I didn't think it would look as nice. So, I was determined to look at each item affixed to the car and decide what color to paint it. I was hoping the riot of different colors would really make the model stand out. I tried to go with a more dull slate of colors, except for maybe the bright blue couch! I figured the less bright colors, the dry brushing, and the overall black wash, would unify the look enough once I was done.

    You gotta love the couch heaped up on the car - I mean, wherever we're going, we need comfort!

It took more than a week, picking out maybe a half dozen items to paint each session, then dry brushing them the next day. I would then pick out a new group of things to paint, dry brushing them the next day. I actually started with the body of the car and tires first. After priming everything black, I painted the body a Pewter metallic color. Why that color? Mainly because there are a lot of silver sedans driving through our neighborhood with what appears to be a recent arrival to the U.S. being taught how to drive! So, the color choice was an inside joke for myself -- plus, when rusted and dirtied up, I thought silver would look good.

    I was pretty happy with the rust effects that I added -- it looks like a beat up car barely on the road

Speaking of the rust, I used Autumn Brown first for the areas of rust, then filled it in with fluorescent orange. Once the entire thing was done, I gave it a black vehicle wash. The windows, which had previously been painted solid flat black, were painted a bluish glaze at the top to give the effect of reflected sky. I have done this on other cars, and it tends to look good and work about half the time. You be the judge whether it worked this time...! All in all, I'm very happy with the car, and it will likely appear on the tabletop in my next post-apocalyptic or zombie game. Pick one up from Kirk next time you see Miniature Building Authority at a show!

    My favorite of this batch of survivors, a tough-looking ex-marine with braided hair - Martina

The four survivors are the heavier armed ones from the batch of eight I'd picked out from my unpainted lead a few weeks ago. Three are armed with assault rifles and one with a shotgun. I really like how all of them look except maybe the cop in riot gear. I think I simply made his color scheme too black and gray and he looks like a dark blob unless you pick up the miniature and examine it closely. My favorite of the four is Martina. She is from Copplestone Castings' Citizen Militia pack. I love the long, braided hair going down her back. I decided to give her woodland camouflage pants and a tan colored shirt. I gave her a darker skin tone, too, using a leather color with a lighter tan dry brush. I also gave her some tattoos because she looked like a tough lady. I'm not sure if you can read the "USMC" on her right forearm. I was tempted to call her Vasquez from Aliens ("Hey Vasquez! Have you ever been mistaken for a guy?" "No...have you?"). However, I figured that one day I make actually pick up the Vasquez figure from the Another Glorious Day in the Corps board game, and that would make things awkward between the two...ha, ha!

    Surfer dude Reef is an interesting figure with sweat pants and 'slides', or sandals in old people speak

My next favorite is Reef, who I thought looked like a surfer dude armed with an AK-47. He appeared to have sweat pants and "slides" (we call them sandals, but kids today call them slides). So, I gave him blond hair, purple sweat pants, and a bright green shirt. His slides are white with purple trim, and in true surfer fashion, his mirrored sunglasses having matching purple lenses. The green of his shirt was considerably darkened down by the black wash that I did, so it looks less like beach wear than I was hoping. I also gave him some tattoos. I was tempted to give the shirt a Ron Jon surf wear logo, but once I pulled up an image of the company's symbol, I didn't think I could execute it with my micron pens! He is also from the same pack as Martina.

    I like how Crisanto's urban-style camo pants turned out - he is a 28mm Foundry 'Street Violence' fig

Next in line of my favorites of this group is Crisanto. He is from the "SWAT team Alpha" pack in the Street Violence range. I used my Asian flesh that I'd mixed up to paint my Saga Mongol army. Once I painted his black hair and mustache, I thought he looked more Filipino than anything. He wears body armor and elbow and knee pads, which was going to be a challenge to make gray yet still give some color to the figure. So, I decided to give him urban camouflage patterned pants and a dark bluish-green shirt. That proved to be enough lighter colors to avoid the "dark blob" look that his buddy Hondo suffered! I lined the dark gray pads with a lighter gray rather than dry brushing them. I wanted to make sure they stood out more distinctly, so chose that method. The only part I don't like about the miniature is the assault rifle slung over his shoulder. The strap was messing with my mind, trying to figure out where it started, ended, and connected to the gun. Otherwise, I really like how he turned out.

    Did I do a good enough job making the detail visible? Or is Hondo a 'dark blob'?

The final figure, Hondo, is a Battle Valor Games policeman in riot gear. Like with Crisanto above, I tried to make color choices that would keep it from looking like a dark blob, but I honestly think I failed here. I should have rethought how I painted his riot gear rather than going with standard black or dark gray. I have more than one of these left from my pack of police in riot gear, so if I paint more, I will get more creative. Perhaps doing Google Image searches will reveal somewhere in the world that has more brightly colored riot police. Anyway, four more survivors are done, which is just in time. I will likely be running a game of Zombie RV for my Sunday night gaming group soon.

What's next? Terrain-wise, I will be painting up three Acheson Creations Dark Ages thatch roof huts. They are spray primed and have also had their 50/50 mix of black paint and water brushed on. As for miniatures, I debating between a couple choices. Stay tuned to see which ones I decide upon!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 0
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 4 

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 0
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 0

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 0
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 1

Giant 28mm Water Tower from Bad Goblin Games

    28mm water tower, 3-D printed from Bad Goblin Games -- a bargain at only $20!

Some of my favorite purchases this past summer at Historicon 2024 were from the Bad Goblin Games booth. This water tower was one of them. It has been looming over my painting desk since I brought it home in July, impatiently waiting for me to get it painted and ready for the tabletop. It'll be perfect for modern and post-apocalyptic games, and a nice piece of eye candy on the tabletop. Probably the most amazing thing about it to me was that it cost only $20! They also make a ruined one, by the way...

    Big Bass or my survivor group the Bass Reeves checks out the view from halfway up the tower

It is 3-D printed, so I gave it my usual treatment that I do for terrain. I spray painted it black first with Krylon acrylic paint and then went over it with a 50/50 mix of water and acrylic black paint when dry. I went back and forth about what color to paint it. My current water tower, a 15mm MDF one bought years ago from Impudent Mortals, is painted in a steel color. I like how it looks and have used it numerous times in my 28mm games, too. I mean, how tall is a water tower supposed to be to be "in scale?" So, I decided to copy that minus the rust effects I gave the MDF one. I struggled over the "to rust or not to rust" decision for awhile, too, but in the end thought it might look best with no rust on it.

My base coat was one of my favorite metallic craft paints, a Folk Art bottle called "Gunmetal Gray." I left the grooves between the square steel plating black, but painted the rest of it entirely in that color. Next, I used another Folk Art craft metallic called Pewter and did highlights were I thought the sun would be shining off of the tower. Parts that were underneath or would likely be in shadow I left that base coat. Finally, inside the irregularly shaped patches of Pewter, I added a splash of Bright Silver.

    I went back and forth how to paint the water tower but ended up going with boring steel...ha, ha!

This is typically the recipe I use for large, steel-colored metallic areas on miniatures or terrain. I really like how it looks once I put a black wash over it. The effect is to soften the lines between the different colors and blend it all together. Except this time it didn't. To me, the Pewter and Silver patches stand out too brightly still. At first I thought maybe I was being too critical of my work. Once it is all flocked and on the tabletop, it will look great, I told myself. Except I am still unhappy with it. No, I'm not going to repaint it or sell it or throw it away, or anything like that. It's just that normally I am fairly excited about how my terrain looks. The water tower is an exception.

    Out of breath from the climb, Big Bass admires the view from high above the tabletop

I would love to hear from readers of the blog what they think. Am I being too critical of myself? Who knows? Maybe next convention I see Bad Goblin Games at I will buy another one (it's only $20!) and try again next year...ha, ha! The flocking was done similar to how I do my standard bases with an irregular dirt and grass look. After finishing it, I also debated whether to "junk it up" with trash, discarded machinery bits, or whatever. In the end, I decided not to do that. Still, there certainly was a lot of indecision and self-doubt going on with this terrain piece!

Either way, though, the water tower itself is an amazing piece of 3-D printed terrain. The only modification I did to mine was to cut a hole in the upper platform so that the ladder comes up from the basket and through the hole. I had to cut to size the two 3-D printed ladders that came with the model. I took the trimmed off pieces and placed them along the railing inside the metal cage halfway up. I actually snipped a piece awhile back to use for my "Zombie RV" that I converted from a die cast pizza truck. Next time I am going to see them, I may ask them if I can buy more of those ladders. They could be useful for a number of things. Sure, I can scratch build them, too, but these are certainly more convenient!

    This very tall terrain piece will definitely catch the eye of passers by at a convention or game day

I highly recommend Bad Goblin Games 3-D printed scenery and buildings. I have more of it to be painted on my "short list," so you will likely see more from them here in the future. If you get a chance, please let me know what you think of the water tower and any changes you would suggest.

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 226
  
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 235  

Two Styles of Acheson Creations Barricades Painted Up

    Concrete barriers from Acheson Creations manned by some of my post-apocalyptic survivors

My favorite terrain manufacturer for many years was Acheson Creations. Through my decades of miniature gaming, I've bought many buildings, walls, scatter terrain, and more from this company, which unfortunately has stepped back from active production. There are a few companies out there, such as Miniature Building Authority, that carry some of their scatter terrain. Another was a regional vendor at local conventions, Armory Hobbies. At Drums at the Rapids this May, he also decided to hang up his business and was selling his remaining Acheson products at 50% off.

    I got 8 of the barriers for 50 cents each -- an awesome deal from a vendor going out of business

I snagged two types of barricades up there, among other items. I figured it was time to get them ready for the tabletop. I had no pressing need for them in an upcoming scenario, but these concrete barriers and tire and oil drum barricades are generic enough they'll fit with just about any modern, post-apocalyptic, or Sci-Fi period. The one thing you have to know about Acheson Creations products when painting them, though, is to beware the very strong mold release agent. I have always been able to remove it by placing the pieces in the dishwasher and running them on a quick cycle. This time, I made the mistake of not adding soap because we had switched from the powdered to the "pods," and I didn't want to use up a full pod. As Short Round said in my favorite quote, "Big mistake, Indy!"

    Concrete barriers can be used in various modern, post-apocalyptic &  Sci-Fi games -- you name it!

I detailed that a couple posts back when talking about the Acheson Sci-Fi building I had painted. Once taking them out of the dishwasher, I spray painted them with Krylon Fusion Acrylic Matte Black. I followed that up with my usual 50/50 mix of acrylic black paint and water. However, I noticed quickly that any light scratch or rough handling of the barriers was removing the black layer. D'oh, not again! I touched them up and decided to be even more careful handling them during the painting progress. I would definitely NOT be using the same clear coat sealant on them as I did on the Sci-Fi building!

    What are the barriers keeping out? Zombies? Rival gangs? It's up to you and your scenario...

Anyway, painting the concrete barriers was easy and quick. I did a medium to dark gray wet brush, then a lighter gray dry brush. I went over them with my black wash, and then did the bases my usual brown ground color. I painted the surface of the ground with white glue and then sprinkled on Woodland Scenics Blended Earth Turf. After it dried, I did a couple green grass patches and glued in some clump foliage, as well. I went back and forth whether to put graffiti on the barriers. However, I felt this would make them a bit less generic, so decided to keep them plain. Finally, rather than spray sealant on these pieces, I painted them and the flocking with a 50/50 mix of white glue and water. Hopefully, that does the trick on protecting them from wear and scratches!

    I bought six of the tire and oil drum barricades at Drums 2024 - should I have bought more?

The tire and oil drum barriers took a few more steps, of course. I prepped them exactly like the others (yes, they were in the same dishwasher batch as the Sci-Fi building and the concrete barriers). Once ready for the brush, I did a wet brush of a dark gray over the tires. I followed that up with a medium gray dry brush. Finally, I painted the rims on the tires in Iron Wind Metals Steel. 

    It was a great idea to design these pieces as Acheson did -- they look realistic and convincing!

Switching to the oil drums, I pulled out six colors: pale blue, pale green, Parchment Yellow, terra cotta, tan, and a lighter gray. I did the math. There were four oil drums on each barricade piece and six pieces. That's 24 drums to paint. So, I used each color on four drums -- never using the same color twice on a single section. I tried my best to mix it up, so the green and blue ones weren't always together, and so on. I let them dry overnight and then dry brushed them in an appropriate lighter color.

    I was happy with the rust effect on the oil drums -- these are very handy and versatile terrain pieces!

Finally, it was time for a rust effect on the drums. I pulled out my brown Rust color (appropriately enough), and did various splotches and speckles and lines of rust to match what I saw in some Google Image searches. Once dry, I used my bright international hunter orange and dabbed specks of it inside the rust. Finally, the drums and tires got a black wash. This was followed up by flocking them with just the blended turf. Both the flocking and the paint was sealed in with a 50/50 mix of white glue and water. I'm thinking this worked. I believe I have averted the disaster of not sufficiently getting rid of the mold release agent before painting.

The pieces look great on the tabletop. It was nice to be painting Acheson products, again. I understand Craig Acheson's desire to retire -- heck, I'm retired! I just miss his excellent, easy-to-paint, affordably priced terrain...!

What's up next? I have six 28mm Sci-Fi figures that I have begun sitting on my desk right now. They're meant to be random figures that could be used by a number of factions. They're definitely unusual figures, so I'm looking forward to how they turn out.

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 226
  
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 208

Fortified Trailers for Post-Apocalypse from Bad Goblin Games

    The first of the two fortified trailers with some of my survivors keeping watch

My favorite "find" at Historicon were the products from Bad Goblin Games. Even before I played in their Trailer Park Apocalypse game on Saturday, I had snapped up two of their 3-D printed, fortified trailers. They had six different varieties. I purchased my two favorites (#1 and #6 on their packaging). I wanted to use them in my Zombie RV games at the upcoming Hold the Line convention in Port Clinton, Sept. 13-14. So, it was time to put work on the horde of zombies on hold and get cracking on "them thar trailers!"

    The rear of the trailer - note the gaping hole and the cracks...this trailer has seen some battles!

They were incredibly easy to prepare for painting. I saw no flash or strings or anything that I needed to clean up. If I were to do another one, though (check that -- when I do another!), I would shave some material off the top, bottom, and side of the doors. They open and closes easily until you prime and paint them, and or in my case, put patterned paper down as the flooring. All those layers of paint and paper add to the thickness, so to speak, and I would rather it not scratch it every time I opened or closed it in a game. This is an incredibly minor point, though. I am very happy with these models.

    Roof of the first trailer. All of the fortifications are part of the 3-D print -- none of this was modified

I cut a piece of 9"x5" plastic styrene to base each trailer on and used two-part epoxy to attach them. I did my usual method of prepping -- spray painting it first with Krylon Fusion Acrylic Black Primer, and then following that up with a 50/50 mix of water and acrylic black paint. For the base coats of the colors, I had to apply two coats to get it to cover over the black undercoat, though. For the first one, above, I used a light straw color and then did a white dry brush over it. Next, I painted the brick a dark red and dry brushed it Howard Hues Middle East Flesh. I used a light Terra Cotta color for the trim to keep it in the same color tone. I dry brushed the trim pieces tan. The door was painted a dark red with window frame.

   Zooming in on the first trailer -- I did a heavy black wash over the surface once it was all painted

The roof was painted Georgia Clay, then dry brushed with Middle East Flesh. All of the woodwork was painted dark brown first, dry brushed Camo Brown, and then tan. I thought it was cool how they added street signs into the fortifications, too. So I painted them up to as "STOP" and "YIELD" signs, with appropriate gouges in them. The oil barrels were painted a light blue, dry brushed a bluish-white, and then I made them rusty with several colors: light brown, Georgia Clay, and then bright orange. 

The interior was purposely done in what I felt would be tacky, "trailer park" colors. For this one, I chose a light salmon color. Once again, I needed two coats to cover the walls sufficiently. However, with all of the explosion or fire damage on this model, I did a lot of black dry brushing to simulate smoke stains or fire damage. For the floor, I used patterned scrapbook paper from Hobby Lobby left over from an earlier project. It is a light gray, which I dirtied up a bit with black dry brushing to simulate smoke and dirt accumulation since the apocalypse.

    The floor is patterned scrapbooking paper dirtied up with black dry brushing

I admit I was definitely going for an Appalachian vibe in my decorations for the walls. There are pictures making strident statements about gun rights. There is a hunting painting. And, since you-know-who seems to be very popular in Appalachia, there is a political poster honoring their leadership choice. For these, I simply did Google Image searches, downloaded suitable files, and resized them, gave them a reddish brown border for a "picture frame," and printed them off on a laser printer at the local office supply store. I cut them out, painted white glue onto the backs of them, and applied them to the walls. 

    Another look at the trailer without any miniatures to clutter up the picture. The couches are my own.

I gave the trailer a couple coats of clear matte spray. I did have to go back and add a black wash over the warning signs on the doors, too. They looked too bright white without it, I felt. Note in the photographs, I posed some couches, love seats, and recliners sitting outside and look worse for the wear (in true hillbilly fashion). These are my own and were not included. A friend of mine molded them in dental plaster -- not sure where he got them from (maybe Hirst Arts?).

    The front of the "blue" fortified trailer, with its bullet holes, rounded end, and cinder block stairs

One of the things that I really liked shopping at Bad Goblin Games booth at Historicon was the sheer variety. If I remember correctly, there were six varieties of fortified trailers and just about that many of ruined or partially ruined trailers. It allowed me to pick out the ones I liked best and were different from each other. If you go to their website, I'm not sure why they are not showing up, yet. Maybe they don't want to put them up there until the convention season is over and they've built back on their stock. By the end of Saturday at the convention, their shelves and racks were looking pretty sparse. I wasn't the only one who was buying up their stuff (which is very affordably priced, by the way)! Another thing I liked was the choices they give in staircases leading up to the doors. They give you both the wooden one shown in the yellow trailer, and the cinder blocks in the blue one, above.

    The rear of the trailer, which has two doors, allowing me to use both types of staircases on this model

I used a pale blue for the exterior of this one, dry brushing it a light, bluish-white. The trim was done in a Denim Blue craft paint, also dry brushed to give it a worn and sun-bleached look. For the roof, I decided to go with a light gray-green, dry brushed a very light gray. I love the wooden boards covering the windows and the crack in the walls. As with the previous one, I did a black wash on the exterior to make it look dirty, run-down, and possibly abandoned.

    A look at the roof of the blue trailer, which is a completely different style than the first one

Not only is the vinyl siding pattern different on this model than the first, the roof is completely different, too. Rather than a ribbed, almost corrugated steel look, this one looks more lilke siding. Instead of the sandbags and wood barricades atop the roof, this one used piles of cinder blocks. Apparently, Bad Goblin Games also sells bags of 3-D printed cinder blocks, but they were so popular they were sold out by the time I made it to their booth! I love the tire, open hatch, and random cinder blocks that come printed on the roof. These would normally be a customization done by the modeler, but Bad Goblin does it for you! This saves tons of time compared to my MDF trailer from Sarissa Precision, which I spent hours and hours modifying!

    A good look at the posters I put up on the walls of my trailer -- "America" & "Dogs playing poker"!

Really, the only thing I tricked out on these two models is the interior. My choice of tacky colors were blue and green for this one. I painted the walls a medium "Leaf Green". Next, I dry brushed it a lighter green, and finally went over it in a dark, black wash. The interior door was painted dark green. For the flooring, I cut more of the patterned paper you can find at craft stores (I think they are intended for scrap booking). For this one, I also did a black wash on the flooring after I had glued it in place and done a first spray clear coat. Big mistake! After a few minutes, the water began to warp the paper. I took a paint bottle and smooshed it down (technical term). Then, when it was drier, I smoothed it down with my fingers. It looked better. Unfortunately, the black washing of the surface was left a little streaky. In the future, I will follow the method I used on the yellow trailer, above.

    A look at the interior, with the ugly leaf green walls clashing with the blue and white flooring

For interior decorations, I kept up the tacky, hillbilly kitsch. The famous painting of dogs sitting around a table playing poker had to be in there. An "America - love it or leave it" belonged in there for that well-known, rural patriotism. I also threw in a hunting painting and a Jesus one. I have gone back and forth about furniture on the interior, and have pretty much decided not to do it. I want my terrain pieces to look good, yes. However, I want the miniatures to be able to move around inside, as well. 

    A close up of the blue trailer, including the classic door sign warning away trespassers!

These two post-apocalyptic trailers will see playing time in about a week when I run Zombie RV at Hold the Line in Port Clinton, OH. I have other things from them that I need to paint up and get ready for games, too. The tall water tower will be an eye catcher on the tabletop, as will the dumpster fire and other fun pieces using LED lights. Stay tuned to my blog for those!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 168
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 140

Drums 2024 Purchases

    'One of these days...' I will get around to doing Mesoamerica gaming, so I bought some more terrain

In reading Convention Director Doug Johnson's posts about last weekend's Drums at the Rapids 2024, I saw something about Armory Hobbies going out of business and liquidating their stock at the convention as a vendor. The name sounded familiar, but I couldn't place what they carried. Turns out it was convention regular Dan Straub and he was getting rid of as much as people would buy - 50% off. One of the things he carried regularly was terrain by my favorite, Acheson Creations. I knew that I would be picking some stuff up, as I love me some Acheson!

    A nice-sized Sci-Fi building, and at 50% off, was definitely worth picking up for current projects

He brought quite a few things I had not seen anyone stock for awhile, including the pier/bridge set, the American Frontier blockhouse, Native American palisades, and more. However, I had enough of those, so concentrated on things for current or potential future projects. An example of a "one of these days" projects is my growing collection of Mesoamerican terrain and figures. I currently don't game Maya, Aztec, or Incan periods, but plan on doing it one day. When my friend Bryan Borgman was getting rid of his Acheson stuff, I picked up some of the Acheson line he had in stock. So, I snagged all three of Armory's Olmec heads, his only reclining Chac Mool god, and a more generic tumbled ruin.

    A Marx footbridge (or gallows?) that will also work great in 28mm scale for a number of things

In the category of good for current projects, there was a nice, big Sci-Fi building that I picked up, as well. I have a number of smaller Acheson Sci-Fi scatter buildings that I'd painted up, but this was a bigger one, and I could use a few more bigger ones. It will paint up quickly, I'm sure. Once I get my first game of Xenos Rampant under my belt, I am sure I will snag this one off the shelf and get it ready for the tabletop soon. There was also a pair of non-Acheson pieces that caught my eye. They look like a small wooden plank footbridge, but it could be used for multiple things -- even a gallows! It is probably meant for Marx's 54mm scale stuff, but hey! A bridge is a bridge and it will work fine for 28mm, too.

    At $1 each, it was hard not to pick up a handful of these concrete traffic barriers

And finally, I could resist picking up some more urban scatter for barricades or walls. The tall, concrete traffic barricades can be used in anything from modern to post-apocalyptic games. I have a set of 15mm that I picked up (I believe) from Miniature Building Authority. These were painted up with appropriate African graffiti for my 20mm modern Africa games. I will likely leave these 28mm Acheson ones more generic, though I will doubtless be tempted to paint some graffiti tags on them to make them look more worn and urban. They will also paint up quickly and will supplement my existing (and growing) collection of urban scatter.

    28mm Acheson tire and oil drum barricades -- a bargain from Armory Hobbies at 50 cents each!

The last piece of urban scatter was one Acheson piece I hadn't seen, yet. It was another barricade, but build from a combination of stacked tires and oil drums. I have quite a few Acheson tire scatter, but collected into a barricade was something new. These were marked $1 each, and at half off, were only 50 cents each. I was definitely envisioning these for my post-apocalyptic games. Like all the others, they should paint up quickly, too. By this time, I have painting Acheson terrain down to a system. Its deep detail makes these pieces fairly leap onto the table with just black priming, dry brushing, and a few details. So, hopefully, with me being retired now, they will see the tabletop very soon!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 64
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 67

More Zombies and Urban Scatter

 

   Some 3-D printed zombies pick through scatter from my Terrain Crate uber box - Campbell Heights

Since painting the first batch of 3-D printed zombies recently, I thought I may as well do a second batch while how I did them was fresh in my memory. They are the same 10 poses as before, but I tried my best to change the colors so that they weren't identical. Also featured in this entry are a handful of urban scatter that I picked up at a flea market a year and a half ago. They are from the Mantic Games Terrain Crate line. I had been wanting to get them ready for the tabletop for months, and finally got around to prepping them a few weeks ago.

    Flea market purchase 'Campbell Heights' Terrain Crate contains tons of modern scatter!

All the pieces are from the Campbell Heights mega box that I bought from my friend Bryan's flea market table. The huge box contains the Crystal Peaks Camp, Abandoned Office, Two Trees Mall, and Survivor's Stronghold boxes. After picking it up and looking through it, I remarked that I should be set for quite awhile on scatter! If you're looking for similar things, Terrain Crate items are available in just about every hobby store, nowadays. They're made of hard plastic and I feel they paint up nicely. With this batch, I wanted pieces that I could use as location markers where players might find salvage in either my post-apocalyptic campaign that I've been running or upcoming County Road Z games.

    Piles of boxes, crates, and picnic items were just some of the many things I picked up to paint up

With both the scatter and the 3-D zombies, I spray painted them black first with Krylon Fusion matte primer. I followed that up with a 50/50 mix of acrylic black paint and water. Especially on lighter shades, the black shows through a bit, and has the overall effect of "toning down" the colors. I like how this gives it a bit of a dirty, abandoned look. All of the pieces received a dark black (or for a couple, brown) wash to dirty them up even more. I'd picked out the pieces from the mega box that I thought worked well for piles of potential salvage, or pieces that will look good in a variety of modern-esque games.

    I thought the small propane tank and trash bin were clever items, so were definitely ones I picked out

I'd already picked through the set last August for the really small pieces of scatter, such as backpacks, med kits, briefcases, and small boxes of canned goods, etc. I don't think I ever did a post including them, so I found the pictures I took and am including one of them here. I wanted them for my post-apocalyptic campaign, pieces that I could set up next to the figure who had grabbed them. I particularly like the backpacks and the briefcases/medkits.

    The smallest scatter from the Campbell Heights box that I picked out and painted last August

When figuring out how to paint some of the various items, I reverted to what I currently own or have owned. The large cooler was painted blue and white (just like the one in my basement, now). The tackle box atop the styrofoam cooler was green and tan like one I have somewhere around here. Of course, the gasoline can was red.

    I actually have a large cooler like the blue and white one and a tackle box like the green and tan one

All of the pieces of scatter were glued down on various round or rectangular bases I had laying around. Some were plastic, some MDF, and others birch wood discs I pick up at craft stores. I flocked them like I have been doing the zombies, though without the added details. I chose bases so each piece of scatter barely fit on it -- mostly to give me something to hold onto while painting. I think the mixed gray ballast with a black wash over it looks fine, and blends into the tabletop.

    Boxes and crates were easy to paint -- I added scribbles as writing on the paper labels

Probably the easiest to paint up were the cardboard boxes. I used a darker tan with a dry brush and wash. I painted the paper labels affixed to the boxes a bone color and used a black Micron pen to add scribbles to simulate writing. I was tempted to add Amazon swooshes but figured Billionaire Bezos didn't need any more advertising from me...ha, ha! Plus, that would "date" the boxes and I wanted this modern scatter to be as generic as possible. The wooden crates were easy, as well, and I followed my usual wood recipe for base coat, dry brush, and highlight (followed by a black wash).

    Close up of the 'picnic' scatter, along with a tumbled cooler and the gas tank and rubbish bin

I found that the more colors involved in painting up the scatter, naturally the more time they took. The tumbled small cooler probably took the most time of any of the pieces. I wanted to paint all the different packages a jumble of colors so that it actually looked like things from a grocery store shelf. The wicker box with the preset picnic is fairly unrealistic, of course. All the food would have long since rotted away in most of the game settings. It looked fun, though. So, I painted it up as if just set up and the picnickers had stepped away for a moment.

    The pile of duffel bags & cooler in the middle were nice, I thought - perfect scavenge material

The ultimate goal of painting up this scatter was to use as objective markers in my post-apocalyptic or County Road Z games. To that end, I really liked the pile of duffel bags and cooler, above. It was the last piece in this batch and unfortunately I feel I was rushing it to get done. The straps could have been done a little better, I think, and given some highlighting in a lighter blue. Oh well -- considering how much attention they'll actually get on the tabletop, that's probably not something to beat myself up over!

    Do you dare risk fighting the zombies to pick up this freshly-painted, Mantic Games scatter?

I am going to take a break from scatter and zombies for my next batch. I'm not 100% sure what it will be. Likely choices include painting two Saga warlord stands to donate as prizes for the upcoming Origins tournament. Another possibility is begin working on the vehicles my players will be using for their County Road Z "road trip" across America. With this batch of zombies, I am now back in the "plus" side of Painted Miniatures vs. Purchased. Woo-hoo! And that's not even counting scatter terrain or similar things...!

    The scatter will be used in more than just post-apocalyptic games - it will work for any modern ones

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 64
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 67