Twinhammer Part 2: Exterior Paint Part 1: Base Layers

The Twinhammer, last seen in July 2023, has finally gotten a start on its exterior paint. I had a few evenings this week without the kids around, and I used it to work on the messy, space-consuming process of priming and sponging this two-foot-long ship.

The paintjob isn't finished by any means, but she looks a lot better than the unassembled, unpainted white/grey/black PLA that's been sitting in pieces on my shelf. Here are the colors that I used:

• Primer: Liquitex Basics Acrylic Fluid "Mars Black"
• Base layer: Craftsmart "Dark Grey"
• Layer: Craftsmart "Grey"
• Dark layer: Craftsmart "Deep Grey" 
• Accent: DecoArt Americana "Deep Burgundy" (DA128)

The Liquitex primer isn't something I use on miniature figures, but it's great for terrain and ships like this. It's opaque, matte, strong, and dries quickly. Also, the coverage is fantastic, so it usually only needs one pass.

While this ship will hopefully get more love before 2027, it's currently in a place where I can display it on my shelf without feeling bad about its state of disrepair.

Urban Terrain: Pizzapocalypse

My fair city has gained another fast food option with the addition of Pizzapocalypse. This single-story building, shown with Mr. Whisper for scale, sits on an 8x8 "double" lot.

The building was 3D printed in two main pieces, with the roof (and top three layers of bricks) as a separate piece that attaches to the bottom with magnets. The sign, door frames, and window frames are also separate pieces. The window frames are each split into two halves, with "window glass" of transparent acetate (overhead projector sheets) sandwiched between them. The current sign design is a stand-in until I can design more appropriate signage.

This puts our fair city to a total of 12.5 lots out of the 14 needed to fill the board:

• Biggut's Fish (Fast food restaurant): 1 lot
• Urban Residence: 1 lot
• Urban Shop: 1 lot
• Bank: 3.5 lots
• Bus Stop: 1 lot
• Subway Station: 1 lot
• Pool Hall: 2 lots
  
• Pizzapocalypse: 2 lots

Using three of my 2-inch (half lot) alleys would be enough to make up the missing spaces. This means the basic urban table is practically done!

Urban Terrain: Bank

Here's a bank that I designed in Blender and 3D printed. It was a huge project; it took a while in the design phase, the printing phase, and the painting phase. With a base that fills 14 inches by 8 inches, the bank makes quite an impression on the tabletop. For superhero RPGs, heist games, or just general modern-era skirmish games, this bank has a lot of possible uses.

The front and side walls were printed in Creality Matte White, then spray primed on the outside with Army Painter "Skeleton Bone." I then sponged/stippled on Apple Barrel "Haystack," which I have discovered that they no longer produce. Then, I sponged/stippled on a mix of Haystack and Craftsmart "Vanilla." The end result was somewhere around good enough. The interior walls are Ceramcoat "Medium Foliage Green." The rear walls are just sheets of black-core foam board, cut to the right size and painted with the same colors.

The roof is magnetized to attach onto the lower part. It doesn't quite sit flush, due to my misjudgement of printing tolerances, but it holds on snugly. For texture on the roof, I used Woodland Scenics "Medium Ballast Gray Blend" (81394) to mimic roof ballast.

The bank could use some additional decoration (and furniture), but I'm going to let it sit for now. This project has taken more than long enough. It especially needs some color to pop on the exterior, like signs and banners. While the bland beige is very emblematic of the banking industry, it doesn't look as interesting as it could on the tabletop.

While these shots don't show it, there is a vault inside, situated under the removable upper balcony area. It has a working vault door (magnets!) and some non-working safety deposit boxes inside, ready for a heist.

This hulking structure more than doubles the footprint of buildings I've finished for my urban terrain board. Since I divide my urban board into 8x4" lots, this one fills up 3.5 lots. My total produced is now 6.5 lots:

• Biggut's Fish (Fast food restaurant): 1 lot
• Urban Residence: 1 lot
• Urban Shop: 1 lot
• Bank: 3.5 lots

I'd like to have 14 lots completed for this project, so I'm almost halfway there. Next up, I plan to finish a bus stop and subway station that were the first things that I originally designed for this project.

Urban Terrain: Residence and Shop

In this picture, we see Scrapper facing off against Caldwell and his henchmen on a city rooftop. The Mechanic has wandered in at ground level for additional scale reference.

I designed two more urban buildings in Blender, and I 3D printed them on our Creality K1 with Creality Matte Black filament. The one on the left is a shop, with the door at ground level. The one on the right is a residence of some kind.

Both buildings are built on 4x8" bases, in keeping with my modular urban board project. While I didn't do anything with the interiors, they are fully playable; each floor (and each roof) is fully magnetized so they hold together well but can be pulled apart easily. Interestingly, all of the floors are magnetized the same way, so they could be put together to make a 4.5-story building (and a 1 story building) instead of the 3-story and 2.5-story buildings shown here.

The paint job isn't amazing, but it gets the job done. The brick is a combination of various reds and a bit of brown. The trim is FolkArt Matte Coffee Latte with some splotches of FolkArt Camel (maybe?). The front of the residence is Ugly, but it's Heavy Warmgrey with a brown wash.

There are some additional details (like rooftop HVAC and accessories) that I haven't painted up yet, but it's just nice to see this part of the project finished.

Urban Terrain: Biggut's Fish Franchise

I've been learning how to use Blender for 3D modeling, and I used it to design (and then 3D print) this 28mm-scale building. It's a small, modern fast food restaurant that specializes in fish, loosely based on "Urist Biggut's Fish Franchise" from our homebrew D&D world.

The restaurant is printed on a 4" by 8" base so that it can be used as a modular component of a larger board. The base and walls were printed together, then the roof was printed separately. (The small beam across the top of the skylight was also printed separately, using less than one gram of filament.)

While I'm not finished painting (with mostly weathering to do), it's currently in a table-ready state. First, everything was primed with Craft Smart Black, as usual. The brick is a haphazard mix of FolkArt Imperial Red (4669) and FolkArt Matte Coffee Bean (940); having a bit more or less on each brushstroke gives some nice color variation. The blue is Vallejo Blue (70.925) and the grey is Vallejo Heavy Bluegrey (72.144). The front concrete is actually a different grey, Ceramcoat Rain Grey (02543), but the two are very similar. The roof was a progression of dabbed colors with a coarse brush, though a sponge may work better in the future. I went with a mix of Black (70.950) and Basalt Grey (70.869), then some haphazard mixes of that with Luftwaffe Uniform WWII (70.816) and Rain Grey, then some FolkArt Real Brown (231) and Coffee Bean. The metal bits are a mix of Gunmetal Grey (70.863) and Oily Steel (70.865), with a bit of that mixed with Craftsmart Orange Spice for a little bit of rust.

The closed security gate at the front is actually a piece of thin cardboard. I scored lines into it with an old ballpoint pen, then painted the whole thing with Oily Steel. I then dabbed on some Real Brown and Coffee Bean—especially around the base—to dirty things up.

The big sign is just a placeholder, as I hope to make up a bunch of (scale) signs, posters, and other things, put them all onto a single sheet at high DPI, and get them professionally color printed. I may also finish the interior with scrapbook paper (for flooring and wallpaper); scale restaurant furniture is possible, but unlikely for the foreseeable future.

I hope to design and print more modular tiles for this set soon!

Graveyard Walls

Here are eight wall pieces to act as movement blockers (though only two are pictured). They're the same set as the ones I used in Skeletonland, and they come from Reaper Miniatures. I'm counting these as Mordheim terrain, for what little good it'll do my total.

• 3 Small pieces: 2" x 0.5 in" (3 in²)
• 4 Long pieces: 4" x 0.5 in" (8 in²)
• 1 Gate piece: 4" x 0.5 in" (2 in²)

Total Wall Pieces: 13 in²

Total Mordheim terrain: 135.56 in²

As noted in a previous post, I'm eventually aiming for 576 in² of terrain to have a quarter of a 4' x 4' board covered. 135.56/576 = 23.5%.

The Broken Watchtower

I scratch-built this 17" watchtower as a Mordheim centerpiece back at the beginning of the year. Now, it's painted!

The rocky base and the stone bricks are made of solid pink insulation foam. The round bit was a cut-out from a terrain board six or seven years ago. The bricks were hand carved with a craft knife. The stone color formula was Black (Craftsmart), Zinc (DecoArt Americana), Graphite (Craftsmart), and Rain Grey (Ceramcoat).

The main structure was made of black foamboard with half-inch wood rods for the corners. All of the wood is painted a mix of Black (Craftsmart) and Coffee Bean (FolkArt 881), which was then drybrushed with just Coffee Bean.

The plaster on the walls turned out exceedingly well. It's Vallejo Diorama FX Dark Earth (26.218), which is what I used as the ground cover as well. I drybrushed it with very old FolkArt Camel (953) and then a lighter drybrush of very old Delta Ceramcoat... um... it doesn't even have a color name? It's an off-white and the bottle has a copyright date of 2003. I also have an old Apple Barrel Haystack (21179) that might have been substituted for the Camel at some point in the process (they're very similar).

The roof tiles are cut-up strips of cardboard about 3/4" tall. Each shingle is a half inch wide and cut up about 1/2". They're all connected in strips, which makes them easier to work with. The lower shingles are smaller. The color is a base of Ceramcoat Cardinal Red mixed with Craftsmart Black, then a drybrush of just Cardinal Red. Some lighter and darker colors are also drybrushed on for some variation.

Broken Watchtower: 8" x 8" (64 in²)

Total Mordheim terrain: 122.56 in²

As noted in a previous post, I'm eventually aiming for 576 in² of terrain to have a quarter of a 4' x 4' board covered. 122.56/576 = 21%.

Shuttle Alpha Exterior

Over two years ago, I put together this beautiful 28mm spaceship designed by 2nd Dynasty. Now the exterior is painted! There's a lot of information about the model in the previous post, so I won't repeat it here.

I started with a few coats of cheap Craftsmart "Dark Blue," but it wasn't giving the paint the sheen that it needed. I then applied a coat of Vallejo Model Color "Blue" (70.925) and that made it pop. As a secondary color, I used Vallejo Model Color "German Camouflage Extra Dark Green" (70.896). The metallic bits are a layer of Gunmetal Grey (70.863) with a drybrush of Oily Steel (70.865). I then applied some light sponging of random browns, greys, and metallics to weather the ship. There were some washes with Nuln Oil and Agrax Earthshade as well.

Maybe in two more years I'll have the interior painted...

Mordheim Terrain: Pie Shoppe Ruins & Fish Plaza Statue

I love the aesthetic of Mordheim ruins. With a campaign soon to start, I figured now would be a good time to make some terrain. Here are the two fruits of my labor: a ruined pie shoppe and a huge fish statue for a plaza.

First, we have the Pie Shoppe. This building is a staggered ruin with about a 6" square footprint. It stands 9.75" tall. The shoppe is made entirely of black foamcore and craft wood (dowels, coffee stirrers, popsicle sticks, etc.). This is my second attempt at making a ruined building; the first was a few years ago, and take my word for it when I tell you this building is a lot better.

The exterior is Craftsmart Brick Red mixed with varying levels of black paint. The interior is Craftsmart Dark Blue mixed with, as you might guess, varying levels of black paint. The wood is FolkArt Coffee Bean (940) mixed with... varying levels of black paint. Finally, everything was drybrushed with FolkArt matte Coffee Latte (2559) to really tie it all together. Then I added some fine turf flock ("Weeds") and clump foliage ("Conifer") from Woodland Scenics. When everything was complete, I heavily sprayed the whole thing with a Mod Podge mix which, while it made it a little shiny for these pictures, should also protect the paint job and flock during play.

Second, we have the Fish Statue. This is a large statue with a 4.75" square footprint that stands about 8.5" tall. The base is some kind of bumpy cardboard shipping material that I painted up like stone. The big fish statue is a Reaper Miniatures "Gulper" that came with the Bones 4 Kickstarter; I had no idea what to do with it, but since Mordheim has a fish motif, I rolled with it. The skeleton on the gulper's fin is from Wargames Atlantic, one of the torsos with no attached legs; I'm pretty happy with how he turned out. The smaller pikemen statues on each corner are Warlord Games Landsknecht Pikemen. Both the fish and the pikemen were painted up with bronze (or another, similar metallic paint), then covered with Citadel Nihilakh Oxide. I'm not sure if it's quite the effect I was going for, but it looks fine.

Pie Shoppe Ruins: 6"x6" (36 in²)

Fish Plaza Statue: 4.75"x4.75" (22.56 in²)

Total: 58.56 in²

A 4'x4' table (48"x48") is 2,304 in². If I were to aim for terrain coverage for half of the board, then it would mean it needs 1,152 in² of terrain. So, 58.56/1152 = 5%? If I aimed for covering one quarter of the board with terrain, that would mean 576 in², which would be about 10% done. That seems more manageable, so I'll set that as the goal. (I don't know if I'll even try to hit that goal, but it's a number to aim for.)

Dungeons and Dark Souls 1: The Board

The board in situ at the con.

For a couple of months, I've been working on a secret project called Dungeons and Dark Souls, based on a scenario that a friend ran with modified Dungeons and Dragons rules. I finally got to run the game at a mini-convention, and it was phenomenal.

To the right, you'll see the map. Made primarily out of foam, the main portion began life as packaging for a flatscreen monitor (seen in the lower picture). The different elevations were pretty inspiring. Later, I decided to expand it and used insulation foam sheets to expand the map some more. Currently, it covers a 1/4" plywood sheet that's two feet by four feet (so I can also use it for Mordheim).

Most of the fittings (such as the fences, the mausoleum, the tombstones, the cart, and the statue) are from Reaper Miniatures. The trees (and flocking) are from Woodland Scenics. The chests are from the Bloodborne board game. The wooden planks, the little doors, and the other wooden stuff is built from coffee stirrers and little craft wood stuff.

The ground is textured with Vallejo "Dark Earth" earth texture gel. Two 200ml bottles were enough for the whole thing, with some left over (which I will use to finish a couple of spots). I then painted it up over a black primer with a layer of FolkArt Matte "Real Brown," then a drybrush of "Coffee Bean," and finally a light drybrush of "Coffee Latte."

I attached the flocking and clump foliage with Mod Podge Ultra matte spray-on glue and sealer. This also sealed the board and made it much more resilient. (As a side note, the sprayer top on the bottle was absolute trash, so I just poured what I needed in to my Woodland Scenics spray bottle and it worked really well.)

An early photo, laying everything out on the styrofoam.

Some of the walls were covered with 1/4" corkboard sheets. Others were textured with the same Vallejo earth texture gel as the ground. The walls were layered up and drybrushed with whatever grey paints I had lying around.

All of that said, it was a ton of fun to run this game and the players all enjoyed it. There will be a few more posts about other parts of this project, like the player models and the skeleton horde. There's a lot to go over!

Starlink Ships

Serendipity.  At a local dollar store, I found a shelf full of starter sets for a 2018 XBox One game called "Starlink: Battle for Atlas." While I have no interest in the game, the sets came with little plastic ships (the "Zenith" model) that are basically 28mm scale. I picked up several boxes.

The ships are modular, too, which is fantastic. For miniature gaming purposes, it allows easy customization of the ships for whatever role they're meant to represent. To the left, you can see a ship with wings but without weapons. You can see some other configurations I've put together in the picture at the bottom of the post. They look surprisingly good.

The ship is a little over six inches long, about seven inches wide (with a pair of wings and weapons), and two and a half inches tall to the top of the orange circle thing.

For as cheap as they are, these are fantastic. Maybe at some point I'll paint one, but for now, they're good to go as terrain right out of the box. The modular weapons look good even when they're not attached to the ships. The three-barreled cannon and blue missile launcher, especially, could be turrets or other weapons emplacements.

Several groups browse at Discount Starfighter Warehouse.

A Package Arrived!

Just over a year ago, I backed the Fantasy Wargames Terrain from Battle Systems™ on Kickstarter. Today, almost exactly on time, it has arrived.

As you can see in the picture, it's a solid stack of cardboard, dwarfing the brave Coinpike who volunteered to demonstrate the scale. Not including the yellow padded envelopes (which hold the plastic clips), the stack is three inches of flat-packed terrain! I have some of Battle System UK's other terrain (the cyberpunk set), so I look forward to cracking this one open and taking a look.