Some palm trees

I've had zero time to paint these past few months but I did manage to finish some terrain, inspired by Bruce's latest addition to his Vietnam collection.

These are cheap cake decorations and came 12 to a pack (I bought 36). The palm fronds come a nice two-tone green and I left them as-is. The trunks were a dark brown and I did the sloppiest wet-brush I could to bring up the highlights. 

I also glued them to washers for stability and sanded the bases. Bruce used poker chips for his bases and I think his wider base was likely the better choice. When combined with some bushes and some figures, I think the effect is good enough for wargaming.

Up next: I have some more Indiana Jones figures from the 1980s on the paint table, if I can find some time to sit down and get to them.

More bunkers

This is the second batch of bunkers that I got from Scott last year. These had been primed but otherwise were untouched. Based on the undercuts, I think these are 3-D prints.

These are roughly 20mm scale and could work for 15mm or 25mm or even 28mm in a pinch. Here I have them set with some old 25mm West End Games Star Wars figures (which happened to be at hand).

The roofs lift off and they have rudimentary interiors. I just did a grey spray, dry brush, wash, dull coat and then some scenic texturing to match my stuff.

In addition to the two large bunkers, there are four smaller ones plus a giant gas tank. These are slightly bigger than the bunkers from last week (compare below) but are close enough that they'd work together. 

I'd say I have enough here to put together an Imperial or Cylon outpost for a game of Fistful of Lead, which might be my next project. In terms of painting, I have some long-waiting fantasy to get finished up.

15mm bunkers

This week, I completed some minor finishing work on some 15mm bunkers I bought from Scott last year.

These came well painted and based and looked like they were fresh off the drop ship. I added some dry brushing and a dirty wash to make them a bit grittier and then redid some of the basing finishes to match my collection.

The roof-mounted stuff (gun, dish, antenna) lift off and swap out. The solar panels on top are a nice touch (shhh, don't tell Danielle) and the two barricades are lovely pieces.

Up next: Probably the remainder of the 15mm terrain, including a bunch of bunkers that are unpainted. I have also run to the end of my last bottle of Future floor wax (which they apparently discontinued in 2022?) and am now experimenting with a replacement. Pray for me!

15mm tanks and 25mm Star Wars

A bit of a mixed lot today.  First up are some 15mm storage tanks. These were part of a job lot that I bought from Scott. They came painted and I just added a bit of grit and some highlights.

The good news is that they work for anything from 15mm to 28mm, which is super useful.

Dave printed some 25mm taun-taun riders for me a while back from some files I bought. He scaled these to 25mm scale so they fit in with the Battle of Hoth figures I have plus my old West End Games Star Wars guys.

 

My goal here was to give the rebels another unit type in the board game to match the AT-STs I added for the Imperials. I'll probably play these as the analog to the Empire's probe droids.

They are maybe a touch too big (my fault--I should have asked for 20mm prints) but the sliding scale of Battle of Hoth figures is so elastic that it isn't a big deal. The prints turned out super well.

Up next: Probably more 15mm sci-fi terrain.

Random Star Wars painting

This week is a bit of a grab bag. First up are some game pieces from the game Star Wars Rebellion (these are from an expansion, I think).

Dead simple painting and they will work with 15mm (and smaller) sci-fi troops.

I also painted up some AT-STs from the same bag. Again, dead simple paint jobs.

These guys I will be using to add a new unit type for the Empire in the Battle of Hoth game with its sliding scale miniatures.

Up next: Some actual 15mm sci-fi terrain, I think.

Terrain painting

Terry kindly gifted me some 3-D prints over the holidays and I quickly painted up three of them over the holidays.

First up is this large stone outcropping. A pretty slap-dash paint job (two dry brushes over black then some green and a wash) yielded a great result.

I used a similar process on this wood pile and it looks fantastic.

And finally there was there was this set of mysterious doors. It could lead to a cellar, a mine, or a crypt.

Super fun painting of super useful terrain items. Thanks Terry!

Forest terrain for smaller scales

Most of my gaming is on hexes these days and I needed some indicators for forested areas that were suitable for 3mm to 15mm figures. I looked at some commercial options but didn't want to pay the high price so I decided to just make some using stuff I mostly had laying around.

I cut some floor tiles into hexagons and then bisected them. I wanted a mixed of conifers and deciduous. The conifers are made from wavy pipe cleaners (in eye-searing Christmas green) that I glued to the base.

I then spray primed it black and hit it with some matt sage green. This dulled the pipe cleaners (mostly!) and matched the base to the rest of my terrain.

I then filled in the spaces with train foliage.

The result, seen from above and three feet away, looks fine and is hazy enough it can work in multiple scales. I didn't want to haul out a hex mat so I just pulled a single hex to photo-illustrate the finished effect. The hex can be fully filled with trees.

If there are units, they mostly fit with half of the hex open. A green felt hex laid underneath would allow removal of all the trees but still have the space marked as forest. So now I'm off to look through the bins for some dark green felt.

I have a small number of hex bases left that I didn't turn into forest. I'l; have to have a look through the rule book to see if there are other kinds of terrain I need to model.

2mm towns

I've been prepping a Rommel game and looking at what I have for 2mm terrain. I decided I would pick up a few more pieces to mark urban areas from Irregular Miniatures to match a couple of pieces I already have.

Right out of the bag, they don't look like much. But a quick painting and they quickly take on the look of a European village.

I also got a few city pieces, which can be connected together to make a larger piece.

Since these are mostly viewed from above, the lack of detail on the buildings isn't apparent.

The fellow I bought them from also threw in a few small pieces (like finger nail small).

Overall, these were a quick paint and a fun project. My next terrain task is to do some 2mm forest sections.

2mm prepared positions for Rommel

Bruce and I have been playing a fair bit of Rommel this summer and, in prepping to get my 2mm tanks on the table, I needed to create some markers for prepared positions. I could have used counters but it has been forever since I have modelled anything.

We play Rommel on a hex grid and my hexes at 4" across so the prepared position indicator needed to fit along with up to three bases and some terrain. I decided on a 2.0" by 0.5" base and that I'd just model some barbed wire coils.

The base was grid plasticard that I had (which is easy to cut into square sections). I use plastic toothpicks to make the posts. Overall, this is a bit out of scale (more 6mm) but it creates the impression I wanted at a size I could still see and work with. Then I textured the base and tried to match the colour scheme from several years ago (a struggle since I never write this stuff down). The colour palette is a vague khaki colour that can do for the desert (if you squint), Italy, or Europe.

The upshot is not bad. The posts are too thick and the coil is a bit big but good enough for my purposes.

I ended up making 12, which is likely way more than I will ever need, but since I was doing it, knocking off a few extra was no big deal.

My next task is to look at doing some markers to denote a forest that I can set atop a green piece of felt.

Even more sci-fi terrain

Terry traded me some additional sci-fi terrain so I decided to paint it up while I still remembered the colours I used for the last batch!

The five pieces he gave me include two tables (one map and one gear) as well as two projector screens and a computer bank. These certainly help break up LOS.

The projector screens are double-sided, which increases their flexibility. They came with recessed graphics etched into them but I decided to cover them with some images I nicked from the web.

They fit in pretty much perfectly with the terrain I already had, which is awesome.

Up next: Maybe some Xenos Rampant AARs.

More sci-fi terrain

And a bit more sci-fi terrain today, this time some bridge pieces. I dithered between bright white and grey and eventually just decided grey was easier to match later on.

There were some cool computer databanks and a bunch of bridge consoles. The large screen above is a printout of the 1979 BSG graphics. These will work with pretty much any race/genre, even with the Cylon below posed like he's giving a powerpoint presentation.

I also got eight of these map tables. They are nicely done with interchangeable planets.

I experimented to try and get a 3-D translucent projector effect on the Death Star (meh, almost). But who needs eight of these? Fortunately, I was able to trade away four to Terry.

Up next: Maybe some Xenos Rampant with Bruce.

Sci-fi terrain

Three-D printing has really revolutionized terrain for me. I had an unexpected windfall recently and dropped it all on some generic sci-fi terrain. This came printed in a hard, white plastic. I finally finished painting the first batch.

I picked up a canteen set, which included tables, dispensers, and such. i think I may have missed an opportunity to paint up one of the garbage cans as R2D2.

There was also a bunk house set, which included shower and toilet pods and sinks.

The set also included lockers and bunks.

The couches. tables and planters were a part of the canteen set.

Overall, a super fun project and I now have some stuff to fill out a sci-fi skirmish set-up.

The bridge set I also ordered just arrived so it is next on my list of things to paint.