From AndrewG: A Head in the Sand and other Desert Terrain (35 points)

 

Our group is planning to run a Pulp era skirmish game set somewhere in Egypt, so I’ve been beetling away at getting some scenery done for the board. I have to say this has been one of the more fun building projects for me lately, as it’s a rich setting with plenty of inspiration in both history and film readily at hand.

Before I bought my own 3D printer I used to shop for pieces on Etsy, and as I’m sure many know the quality on there is sometimes a hit or a miss. When I purchased this half sunken Pharaoh’s head and ruined pillars set for an Ancients battle, I was initially a bit annoyed. It was clearly a rushed print, with striations visible throughout from a job that either didn’t bother using a smaller nozzle or didn’t iron any of the surfaces (both of which add time to the print job). I ended up not using them and put them away.

When I pulled these out of storage for this project, I realized the poor layering could actually work in my favour for a 20^th Century era game – a bit of careful weathering and dry brushing made the pieces look like they’ve suffered a few millennia of getting pelted by sandstorms and baked by the sun. Done and done.

The three rocky formations were simple plastic 3D prints that were then slathered with Vallejo Desert Sand (26.217) diorama FX. I found, however, that this basing material has more of an egg yolk yellow colour about it rather than a more traditional beige look, thus I gave these pieces several overbrushes, washes, and dry brushes to dull it out a bit. Also, of all the Vallejo FX materials this one has to be the messiest to work with, so I’m open to any suggestions for alternates.

A trip to the local dollar store provided ample materials for making all the terrain pieces. The palm trees are cake decoration toppers, while the shrubbery comes from a mix of cut up cheap aquarium plants and a piece of fake golf turf. I printed out a variety of puddle bases in different sizes, then went about making the scatter terrain using Vallejo desert sand, tufts, and small rocks from the driveway. I also made one larger piece as I wanted something that figures could move through.

Overall, an inexpensive but effective project that gives me plenty of terrain options. And while I'm happy with how everything turned out, I may go back and dry brush some of the Vallejo desert basing as it still seems too yellow toned for my liking. 

Thus in this batch (no figures – included just for scale comparison)

1x large Pharaoh’s Head

1x ruins

3x rock formations

8x vegetation pieces

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Some very nice pieces here Andrew, and your description of the issues with the 3d printed head fit my issues with even well printed filament prints, I hate those lines!  However the price difference between filament printing terrain and resin printing terrain is still big enough that my cheap nature wins out most times.  You are also 100% correct in that the lines actually help you in this case as it does look like its wear lines from wind and sand in the great desert.

As for points, I think both the head and the ruins would probably take a few hours each of painting so 10 points each, the hills are super easy to paint up and so are the tree bases as its just the groundwork that looks painted (not the actual trees, although the palm tree trunks maybe drybrushed) so as with past tree bases and hills, just a few points per as there is not much painting to be done on them, however the hills and some bases are bigger so I am going to go with 15 points.  This gives you a grand total of 35 points and a whole pile of great looking terrain.  

As for your comment on the colour being to yellow, I dont think so on most of them, other than the last picture of the tree bases and the first one of the head in the sand.  Maybe its just those pictures? or those pieces?  I know how photos sometimes colour phase things a bit.  If they look like those pictures in real life, I agree with you and would lighten them up, if they look like the hills and ruins, I think those are a perfect desert colour.  Completely up to you though, and very hard to comment for certain without seeing them in real life.

 - Byron  

AndrewG - Scatter Terrain part 2 (25 points)

This week I got another small batch of scatter terrain done. These were mainly just things that had been sitting around the workbench for some time in various stages of completion, so I was happy to finally push them along.

 

I always try and max out my materials, so the two kidney shaped pieces were built from scrap bits laying around from other projects. All the wood came from the backyard, the axe and arrows were leftovers from various medieval kits, and the red bird sitting at the top the dead tree is an old Warhammer extra bit from the bits box.

The barrels and the well were cheap rubbery plastic pieces that came out of a medieval scenery kit I bought ‘back in the day’ before the newer plastic kits arrived. As such they had heavy mold lines and didn’t have the best detail overall, so I tried to hide what I could and make them a bit more interesting. As for the tables, these are a mix of plastic and metals, again some old extras just kicking around waiting to be painted up.

For the last piece, I had the wheelbarrow but wasn’t sure what to do with it, until I remembered that I had bought a pack of the Perry Miniatures metal Wars of the Roses period labourers. Thus this little piece will add some interest to my WoTR battles, with this gent hanging in the back of the field looking across and wondering what all the Ruckus is about.

That’ll likely be it for scatter terrain for the time being, I have some larger buildings I need to finish off so they will be the subject of my next terrain posts. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

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Another great little terrain submission Andrew.  While small these little bits add a ton to a battlefield and are a great idea for people to copy and add to their own. These however had a lot less painting and work than the last batch of scatter terrain, but are still lovely. I am going to award points as follows, 15 points for the scatter terrain bases, 5 points for the tables, and 5 points for the painted figure for a total of 25 points.  Great work and thanks for the submission!

- Byron 

ErikP Scatter Terrain 28 mm Wheat bundles (5 points)

 

Hello everyone,

Here are a few bases of wheat bundles (28mm) scatter terrain that were part of a civilian pack from Wargames Foundry.  See my Wednesday post for the civilian farmers.  These were just a few bundles that I did up with the figures and they really didn't take too long to do, but I like scatter terrain and adding bits to the game tables is just fun. But, every point counts. 

Three (3) bases are 30mm, 25mmx40mm and 25mmx50mm. This is a small bit of fun only 2" by 2.5" 

I used Army Painter 2.0 and dry brushing, paint the cords a couple of times to get it right, a Quick Shade and a little more dry brushing, it's all very quick to paint these.  

The basing probably took more time. PVA glue to fix a mix of Woodland Scenics ballast, let dry fully. Then cover ballast with a 50/50 mix of water and PVA glue, again let dry fully.  Putting the glue again on top the ballast keeps it in place for the next step and makes it less likely to flake off during games.

Then dry brush with Vallejo Stone Gray.  Add a mix of green flocks, again Woodland Scenics, but just a few dabs of glue at a few places on the base.  (I make a mix of the flocks, browns, tans and greens, and keep it in a separate container.)

Then I used the scraps from straw colored floor matt that a lot of people use make fields out of.  I also put a few clumps on the civilian farm figures bases to tie it all together. 

Cheers

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 I am like you in that I love random little bits of scatter terrain around the battle field, it adds a lot to the overall table look, all while being very easy to make up.  These are great little pieces and will add a lot to any farmland type game table. I am going to count them as about the same amount of time as doing a single figure, so 5 points and great work here.

Byron 

From AndrewB - Orcs and Craters! On Mars? Children’s Book! (105 points)

Smaller week than normal this Wednesday, but after my haul seven short days ago, I’ll let it slide.  

First, to go along with my Martians I painted last week, fleshing out the terrain for a wonderful game coming up, I ran through a load of craters for some good scatter terrain on the Martian surface!  

I’m not 100%sure these won’t get some tufts or somesuch into the future, but for now they’re ready to rock, and performed sterling service in a full test and lay of the scenario yesterday!   Turns out, getting some textured grit on really takes away from the visual layer lines from where I 3D printed these bad boys!  I tossed in a ruler this time, and some are just over, and some are just under 6 inches   I couldn’t get them to all stand up on top of one another, but at somewhere around 3/4” tall, they stack right up to about filling a 6x6x6” cube!   More of these are probably in my future!  I make a large mat to play this game on as well, but I have no idea how I’d score that, so it’s a wash   

Next, as a bit of a breather, and straight out of 11-13year old AndrewB’s favorite book series, Lord of the Rings!  Some old GW orc models, as well as some I 3D printed from Medbury Miniatures on myminifactory!  Tolkien had a huge impact on my childhood with his writing and the later movies, and it’s cool to get a crack at these minis, which are a long-term (can check previous AHPCs).  

They’re wild figures, but so like them, and they get me one step closer to fielding a massive host of Orcs!  

In terms of points this week, I have 20 for the terrain, 12 28mm figures, including one mounted, for 65, and 20 for the Children’s Book section!   Total of 105, but I’ll come back next week swinging!  See you then!

 

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Hi Andrew - that does seem to be a LOT of craters, but when I look at those crazy cool photos of the Martian surface that NASA releases courtesy of their various rovers, it seems like a good idea to have plenty of them on hand if you want a Martian gaming table.

 

The Orcs look very nice too - although it would be great if you could take some close ups so we could see them. Interesting to see 3D prints for the Tolkien setting (don't let GW's lawyers know!) - from what I can make out, I see a lot of looks that remind me of the Orcs as presented in the Peter Jackson films, but also some unique or more classical aspects too. Are those the reasons that drew you to the 3D option? Or was it price? Availability? All of the above, or none? Just curious. 

 

Another 105 points for you!

 

GregB

BrianC: I missed 2 weeks! Life Happens. Greeks, Zombicide, Reaper Miniatures (240 points)

Oh boy! It's been a couple of weeks since my last submission. A lot of work and life in general happened. Anyways! Here we go! I have some Zombicide, More Greeks, yes more! Ha! A Reaper Miniature, scatter terrain, 15mm terrain, and some 15mm Werewolves! 

 

Warlord Games Greeks (28mm) (21)

More Greeks are on the way!

15mm Werewolves from Blue Moon Miniatures (15)

They're well-detailed, too.

Now some more Zombicide minis!

Women of the night and runners (6)

Zombicide Toxic City Zombie Walkers & Runners

You came at me like a Wrecking Ball! Zombicide 2nd Edition "Billie" aka Miley Cyrus.

This will be for the "Famous Person" category.

Another Zombicide Survivor, Kyoko aka Lucy Liu

This Zombicide Survivor, Louise, is from The Rue Morgue core box. 

Next is Zombicide 2nd Edition Supernatural TV Series Vampire

For my Children's book topic (Paul Bunyan), I will use Reaper Miniature Lumberjack.

Here are 2 Zombicide runners from The Undead or Alive Core Set.

Next are more 3D printed terrain and scatter terrain. I uses the "cube" method for scoring.

15mm Sci-Fi desert buildings and 28mm log piles.

There you have it! That's all I have done for now. 

SCORING:

34-28mm x 5pts = 170pts

15-15mm x 2pts = 30pts

Terrain = 20pts

Children's Books Topic = 20pts

Famous Person topic = 20pts

TOTAL = 240PTS.

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So...like...I have questions...did Paul Bunyan survive the Zombie Apolcalypse? Did they hide out in a lumber yard, and overcome some werewolves and a...vampire...did the Greek infantry form a phalanx and keep the zombies at bay? A lot going on here...

For scoring, I detected one bonus, but not a second...I'm pleased to count Paul B as a "Famous Person" - it is not clear to me from this post how it (or the other elements) would count as a "Children's Book". So with that correction we have 240 points - well done. 

GregB