More Terrain Building

 I'm not sure what it is, but there's something just very peaceful and relaxing about making terrain, even if it's just building and customizing a kit. Gina got me a pair of modern MDF buildings from Atomic Laser Cut Designs for my birthday a few months ago, and I decided to pull one out and get it built up and customized. This particular kit is "Store Front 5" from their "Mean Streets" line of brownstone buildings, a single-story shop with a removable roof and opening doors. Despite the pulpy 1930s aesthetic of the Mean Streets line, there's plenty of buildings that look exactly like this within easy travel of my house (fun fact: because Buffalo, NY has so many old buildings still standing, films set in the first half of the 20th century are often shot here), so it's more than appropriate for the Rust Belt aesthetics of my modern games.

The pieces have been spray-painted, and I've applied graffiti decals to the exterior walls and given them a tan drybrush to weather the brickwork. The decals are a mix of Green Stuff World and Dave's Decals - the GSW decals go on more smoothly, but honestly half the decals on the sheets are misprinted and cut off, limiting their usability. I'll probably be putting another order in with Dave's Decals in the near future - I want to add some two-story buildings to my table, and "Ghost Signs" on the sides of the second story would be very fitting. Dave offers a variety of them. 

The fit on Atomic Laser Cut Design's buildings are very tight, necessitating some sanding on the pegs before painting - a lesson I learned the hard way! These were well-sanded before I got out the spray paint, but it's always worth it to continue to check fit as I go:

I'll be printing out a paper floor and some miscellaneous signage to glue in - a "no entry" sign on the back door, things like that, maybe some "lost dog" posters to stick to the sides near the front. I might talk to my 3D printing guy about printing up a rooftop air conditioning unit to add up top as well. I will be needing him to take care of printing some wall-mounted TVs and a bar for the interior. 

Speaking of the interior, I sprayed it a fairly obnoxious orange, with the intent being for it to look like the interior decorating hasn't been updated since the 1970s. 

I think it works.

To offer another update, I've finished pouring the resin for my gator-infested swimming pool. I haven't had a chance to get to the game store to pick up a bottle of "Dirty Down" moss effect, but I'm debating whether I even want to bother with it; this looks fairly decent as is.

The most I'd be doing with the moss effect would be some dirtying up of the rim. Not sure if that's worth spending $20. 

Figures Acquired in 2025: 127

Figures Painted in 2025: 124

WIP: Pool's Closed

 The mood struck me to start working on a bit of modern terrain again; I think this might be becoming a "hobby home" for me, something I can just always get stuck in with and putter for a while and have a smile on my face while doing it. 

This week I got out a piece my wife got me for my birthday - an above-ground swimming pool from Bad Goblin Games. The product photo on the website adds an alligator and UV resin "water" and I knew I wanted to do something similar. I'd gotten a pair of crocodiles from Wargames Foundry, and dug one out and got it primed and painted this week, with a coat of gloss varnish; they're a bit smaller than the one in the product photo but that's fine. I figure any crocodile in your swimming pool is a problem. 

The pool was sprayed white inside and out, and then I masked off the outside and sprayed the inner surface a bright blue. I gave a tan drybrush to the bottom of the outside and applied some Reikland Fleshshade as "rust" around some of the mechanical bits. 

After that was all dry, I started adding layers of UV resin. The first layer had a bit of GW "Athonian Camoshade" mixed in, a dark olive green shade. The second layer I mixed a bit of OOP GW "Waywatcher Green" glaze into the resin, which is a brighter green; once this layer was spread out but before I cured it, I put the crocodile in. The third layer also had some Waywatcher Green mixed into it, and was poured around the crocodile to help submerge him. 

I'm thinking I'll do one more layer of resin - I'd really like to have the crocodile mostly submerged. Then maybe apply some washes or glazes to really sell the algae-scummed look. 

This has been a really fun and really quick project; I'm now half tempted to get another swimming pool from Bad Goblin and make a "clean" version! Maybe see about getting a 3D printed pool floatie to have on top of the water in that version? 

Figures Acquired in 2025: 127

Figures Painted in 2025: 124

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today's my birthday, and while I took the day off work, I never made it down to my hobby bench - too busy running errands and getting the house ready to have guests tomorrow. I did receive some lovely gifts from my wife however!

Two more modern buildings from Atomic Laser Cut Designs - an Urgent Care and a blank storefront that has a really nice brick pattern over the entire exterior walls - as well as some 3D printed scatter from Bad Goblin Games - some disheveled cinderblock walls, an above-ground swimming pool and most charmingly, an on-fire dumpster that comes with a little flickering LED light and battery, so that the flames actually light up. That is going to be an absolute must to have ready for my game in 3 weeks!

And I think I want to recreate what the Bad Goblin team did for the product image on their site, and put an alligator and some scummy "water" in that swimming pool...

I have to thank Mike over at Lead Legionaries for turning me on to Bad Goblin's goodies. He's painted a lot of their scenic pieces, including a variety of ruined and armored trailers and a stunning water tower, over recent months, and has been putting on some amazing games showcasing them. If you're not following his blog you should definitely check it out. 

Gina was also kind enough to hand me her card and tell me to use it to buy myself some miniatures. By coincidence, Lucid Eye Publications put out a call on their Facebook group for what miniatures people would like to see go on sale this week. I requested their Cro-Magnons, and they were kind enough to do it, so I bought another Tribal formation's worth of warriors, as well as another few characters. 

Since I've ordered more figures, it's time to update the tracker:

Figures Purchased in 2025: 66

Figures Painted in 2025: 85