Monday, December 11, 2017

Let's talk Terrain.

Over the last few years, some tabletop games have been moving over to using 2D terrain for wargaming. While I think it's a great for tournament organizers in so much that it's much cheaper, faster to setup and frankly less taxing on your painted models, I feel that it just looks and feels less immersive in the world that we create through our games. With this in mind, I set about trying to find great looking pieces of terrain that were also budget friendly.  If you have ever searched for resin terrain you will know just how expensive it can be, I stumbled upon Table Top World and I was just blown away. Their pricing is actually quite reasonable and the pieces are incredibly detailed (even the insides had details added!).

I chose the Inn as my first piece, mostly because I really like the look, and secondly because it was half off on Black Friday.

So here is what the resin looked liked naked. I found no mold lines and the only bubbles were tiny and on the bottom where no one will ever see them.






After a nice bath in warm water and Dawn dish soap to remove any leftover mold release, it was time to prime. I used Badger Stylrenze black primer on this (like everything else really), and let the primer cure for 24 hours. I then used Vallejo - Game Color Pure White to zenithal highlight before painting. I love this technique as it shows you right were your highlights and shadows need to be.






I started with the roof. I wanted to achieve an almost thatch feel to it, even though it's set up as wooden boards I figured the same type of coloration would really add to the overall look. For this, I started with Vallejo Model Color - German Camo - Medium Brown. for the exposed boards under the roof I used P3 Bloodstone. I carried the same color for the exposed wood on the sides of the house in these same colors. For the stone, I started with 3:1 Vallejo Model Color - Black Grey: to Vallejo Game Color - Stone Grey. I worked it up from there to a dry brush of 1:1 in the same colors.







After that t was time for the first wash. I used a basic wash of GW - Agrax Eathshade. On a model I'd generally use an oil wash, but this is a terrain piece and frankly, I didn't feel like varnishing and waiting and redoing the varnish etc.

After that, it basically became a matter of finishing up the details. I do want to speak to the windows as this was something completely new to me. I wanted to give it a reflective look but knew a metallic paint would not work. I found a solution by starting with P3 - Menoth White Highlight, and then glazing with Army Painter - Blue ink. I am really happy with the result. I think it gives it a good depth of color and a bit of a reflective look without overpowering the metal details in the windows. The windows metals and the door hinges were done with P3 - Pig Iron.

And here is the final product. I am really happy with this one. Please leave a comment and let me know what you think.