Tag: terrain

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Miniature painting Miniatures Painting tools Terrain Warhammer 40k

Time to bone some wraiths

When I finished varnishing Squad Caedes on Friday night, I checked the weather and saw that the only day in the next two weeks that might be spray-paint friendly was Saturday, and sprang into action.

I built as much Manufactorum terrain as I could handle before bed, which turned out to be three pipes and two buildings.

This terrain is awesome!

I’ve never built (or painted) terrain before, and I was surprised how cool the stuff in the Vertigus set is — although, in retrospect, I shouldn’t have been: GW is pricey, but they tend to nail it on sculpt quality, details, and feel. I cannot wait to see how this all looks when it’s painted up.

Next stop was an overnight glue-curing session (this stuff uses a lot of plastic glue), followed by checking the weather again on Saturday — and then shaking the everloving shit out of my can of Wraithbone spray and testing it out on a piece of sprue.

No expense was spared on this painting booth

The instructions say that it shouldn’t be raining (check) and it should be at least 59 degrees Fahrenheit, but come Saturday 52 degrees was the best I could do. And in Seattle, in winter, having a temp over 50 and sun rather than rain is pretty special, so I figured it was worth expending a bit of paint on my test sprue and hoping for the best.

The verdict? This spray paint is great, and 52 and partly cloudy works just fine. It went on smooth, with no pebbling, and it’s a nice even coat. It genuinely seems to deliver on “primer and paint in one,” and as I’d heard it doesn’t seem to be Contrast Paint-specific in any way. I remember ruining minis at both the primer and sealant stages with spray paint in the past, so this is pretty exciting.

For comparison purposes, there’s a piece of bare sprue in the top right corner:

Wraiths: boned

After another 2 minutes of can-shaking (always be religious about this!), I moved on to my actual terrain.

Actual sun! That’s gotta be good for a couple extra degrees

I don’t know if I’m going heavy on it, but it feels like two medium/large terrain pieces and four small ones ate up about 1/3 to 1/2 a can of Wraithbone. The time savings is incredible, though: Applying primer and then a base coat to these pieces would have taken me hours, whereas all of this took me about 75 minutes — and most of that was waiting for paint to be dry enough for me to turn the pieces, and then shaking the can again.

Squad Caedes moving amongst the (Wraithbone-sprayed) ruins

Next stop, a nearly all-over wash in Seraphim Sepia.

I’m using a cheap, flat-edged 5/8 brush for this dirty job
Freshly washed vs. not yet washed
Drying time

I love washes because they’re such a cheap date. Pound for pound, no other step breathes as much life into a miniature in so little time — and that appears to go double for terrain. I could already slap these on a table and not be sad, so I can’t wait to see how they turn out after drybrushing, spot painting, and weathering.

Unlike in my primary reference video for these pieces, a Warhammer TV how-to for Manufactorum terrain, I didn’t thin down my Seraphim Sepia at all. (They use Lahmian Medium in the video.) This approach is faster, and in my experience all-over washes always look quite dark until you highlight the model — and besides, I quite like the slightly darker tone of my buildings.

This approach has at least one downside, though: I used 2/3 of a bottle of Seraphim Sepia on two medium/large pieces and three small pieces. At that rate, I’ll need a couple more bottles just to get through the rest of the Vertigus box.

Out now: The Unlucky Isles

The Unlucky Isles [affiliate link], the first system-neutral guidebook for my Godsbarrow fantasy campaign setting, is now on DriveThruRPG.
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Deathskulls Orks Miniature painting Miniatures Terrain Warhammer 40k

Trying out two ideas on Brother Test-Mech

My first 40k scenery just arrived, the absolutely massive Vertigus set. I’ve been kicking around the idea of Zandri Dust for the stone and Khorne Red for the metal, the former coming from a Warhammer TV video aimed at the Kill Team Imperialis terrain (rather than this Manufactorum set) and the latter being the studio color for this set. But I wasn’t sure how it’d look — a job for Brother Test-Mech!

Spray-painting the base coat is going to be a must for this much scenery!

I did two panels of his skirt armor in Zandri Dust, bracketing one in Khorne Red. Neither is the final color either of those would be (no wash, no drybrush, etc.), but this should be in the ballpark.

Zandri/Khorne/Zandri

I like it, but I’m not completely sold. How about Zandri/Leadbelcher?

Nope!

Yeah, that’s not enough contrast — and it’s the color I’d expect, which is less fun than an unexpected one.

Literally as I was writing this post, I found a Warhammer TV how-to for this exact terrain, which told me what color to swap for the studio-recommended base coat: Wraithbone, which comes in spray form. There’s more steps in the floors than I’d like (easily replaced with “bung on some Mechanicus” from the other video), and a different recipe for the red, but seeing “aged white stone” in action sold me on the white/red/metal scheme.

Oi, dat’s mine

While I had him out, I figured I’d try another half-baked idea: Having my Deathskulls Orks mark their looted wargear by sloppily painting over Space Marine colors and heraldry. As it happens, most of Brother Test-Mech’s painted bits are dark red, so I half-drybrushed, half sloppily painted it with Macragge Blue.

Hmm

That…kind of looks like ass. I can’t decide if it’s an Orky amount of ass or too much ass. I’m not loving it, in any case. This idea’s going back in the oven to bake a little longer.

Out now: The Unlucky Isles

The Unlucky Isles [affiliate link], the first system-neutral guidebook for my Godsbarrow fantasy campaign setting, is now on DriveThruRPG.
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Blood Angels Space Marines Deathskulls Orks Miniature painting Miniatures Warhammer 40k

A quick note about three 40k pages on Yore

This past week, most of my writing here on Yore has been on three pages, rather than in posts. That’s because I’m partway through the shift from painting one army to painting two — and terrain — and need to do some planning. Planning, which benefits from centralization, is sometimes better done in pages than in posts.

My Blood Angels army got the first “omnibus page” I created for my 40k hobby activities, and as I’ve been painting Angels for eight months now it’s the most developed of them. It features links to each post showcasing finished minis, my current 2,000-point army list, my larger force organization, and links to color guides for each unit type.

My Blood Angels army as of…a month or so ago, I think?

The moment I decided to start a second army, I created a page for my Deathskulls Orks. That’s a big ol’ mess of ideas, plans, and half-baked notions at the moment, but it will firm up over the coming weeks and months as I finalize things about my army and begin painting Orks.

The cover that, unbeknownst to me, planted the germ of the idea “You’ll start a Deathskulls army someday” back in 1990

Today’s addition was a page for my 40k terrain. I don’t even have any terrain yet — that’s how fuzzy and notional this page is, really just a skeleton. But I’m gathering references for painting and weathering, and jotting down thoughts about the amount of terrain I might need. Eventually, pictures will follow.

An article on weathering I’m planning to try out (White Dwarf #457)

I don’t know if this is the best way to structure the site, but at the moment it’s working for me. If you’re reading my hobby posts, take a peek at these pages; you might find something fun or useful there.

Out now: The Unlucky Isles

The Unlucky Isles [affiliate link], the first system-neutral guidebook for my Godsbarrow fantasy campaign setting, is now on DriveThruRPG.
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Frostgrave Terrain

Frostgrave: 9 out of 10, would frost these graves again

I got a chance to play my first game of Frostgrave (paid link) last night. My friend Bobby and I got together, made warbands, talked about the rules for a bit, and dove right in. It was awesome!

The city felt right to me, crowded and full of interesting elevated positions. (Here’s my Frostgrave setup, with links to all of the terrain that goes into it.) Using Pathfinder Pawns for minis worked out great: They didn’t feel out of place at all, and having lots of variety was a big plus.

I stuck little sticker-dots on each base (front and back) so we could tell our pawns apart. (You can see them in this photo .)

The game itself is a blast. It’s easy to pick up — simple without being at all simplistic. It feels like a refined, tested design; there’s no fat on it, and everything that’s there is interesting. Quite a lot of D&D pokes through, too, even though the game has nothing to do with D&D.

I absolutely love the turn structure, with each “mini-turn” offering interesting things to chew on: the order in which they occur, how you position soldiers for group activations, the way leaving a bunch of soldiers until the final phase can feel like a bum rush, etc. Attack resolution is brilliant, and keeps things moving briskly.

We learned a lot, and although we called the game after about two hours (it was my bedtime), we could tell we’d be able to speed up play in the future. Even after just one play, spells started to come into focus: three Leap spells in a row got Bobby’s wizard to the tallest point on the board, and then off the board with a treasure.

I like the swinginess of the d20-based resolution system. It keeps things surprising. We had a thief/thug fight where one hit completely annihilated my thug, as well as a lucky arrow shot that knocked off 50% of Bobby’s wizard’s health in one whack. (In the photo below, his wizard is atop the tower, and my archer is in the foreground.)

Sitting here writing this, I’m already thinking of things I’d do differently next time, and rethinking my wizard and warband. I lost the game, which isn’t uncommon for me, but I had a fantastic time losing. That’s one of the surest signs of a great game for me.

Frostgrave (paid link) is a brilliant game, and I highly recommend it.

Out now: The Unlucky Isles

The Unlucky Isles [affiliate link], the first system-neutral guidebook for my Godsbarrow fantasy campaign setting, is now on DriveThruRPG.
Categories
Frostgrave Miniatures Terrain

My Frostgrave setup

My first game of Frostgrave (paid link) is tonight, so over the weekend I spent some time setting up a sample city — “my” Frostgrave. I’ve done proofs of concept before (most of which resulted in buying more terrain), but this is the first version I really like.

I spent a lot of time researching terrain and looking at other folks’ takes on Frostgrave, and I often wished they’d break things down a bit more. This post is my answer to that wish: Along with pictures of the finished city, I’ll share my goals and list everything that went into my version of Frostgrave.

(Here’s a larger version of this top-down view.)

Goals

Here’s what I had in mind when buying and setting up my city of Frostgrave:

  • Don’t paint or build anything. I don’t really enjoy painting minis, and I have no interest in painting or making terrain.
  • Make it look as good as I can. I tried to get the most bang for my buck with every terrain element.
  • It should be crowded. Per the rules, line of sight should never exceed 24″ (and should usually be a lot less). It’s a knife fight in a phone booth, not a battle in an open field. I’ve seen some otherwise gorgeous setups that have lots of wide-open spaces in them, and to me that isn’t Frostgrave.
  • Incorporate elevation. Everything in Frostgrave can be scaled by default, and elevation is fun.
  • Make it feel real. Real ruins are cluttered (and some Frostgrave tables looks too clean and tidy to me), so I added clutter. Real cities are rarely just one color, so my Frostgrave isn’t mono-colored either. A city full of undead servants and crazy wizards, like Frostgrave before the big freeze, would have a death motif, so I added one. It would also be a weird place, so I tried to make it feel weird.
  • Keep it portable. Except for the battle mat, it all fits in a plastic storage box.

The other parts of the equation are miniatures and storage, which I’ve written about on Yore in the lead-up to this post:

My Frostgrave

I took photos of the city from all four sides, and then took a few “in-the-streets”-style shots to round things out. Weird factoid: I don’t own a table large enough for Frostgrave (although our coffee table is close), hence the carpet.

From all four sides

First view (larger version):

Second view (larger version):

Third view (larger version):

Fourth view (larger version):

Street views

Street view one (larger version):

Street view two (larger version):

Street view three (larger version):

Street view four (larger version):

Looking at the photos, I can see a spot or two where I’ve got a sight-line over 24″, but I have plenty of stuff to drop in or move around to eliminate that. I assume it’s easier to police LOS during setup with two people looking at it, too.

Maybe it’ll feel different in play, but just messing around with it I’m happy with how my Frostgrave turned out. It’s crowded and death-y, with lots of elevation, and there’s plenty of variety to the terrain.

Terrain elements

Hold onto your hat! Here’s everything you see in the pictures above:

  • F.A.T. Mat Alpine 3×3 (paid link): Holy shit are there a lot of battle mat options! But this one was my favorite by far. It’s basically a huge mouse pad, complete with a smooth-but-not-slick play surface and a neoprene bottom that makes it roll up smoothly, lay perfectly flat, and stay in one spot. The graphics are great, and I was surprised how big a difference this made over the piece of plain white felt I used in earlier incarnations. It’s worth it.
  • Battlefield in a Box terrain (the irregularly shaped dark grey ruins): These are out of print, but they’re awesome if you can find them. I have Collapsed Corner (paid link), Fallen Angel, and Buried Monument, and I love all three. Collapsed Corner, which is the tallest and most impressive of the three, is the best value.
  • LEN Design Concepts custom pieces (big grey squares, bridge, wide stairs): I was amazed how hard it was to find “hills” that don’t look out of place in a city, but this Etsy seller offers just the thing. I got in touch with him and asked if he could take the mossy green out of the paint job, and wound up buying four risers with fieldstone sides, a bridge, and two small sets of stairs as a custom order. They’re all prepainted, and the risers in particular are great for giving the city a much-needed “crowded streets” feeling. He was awesome to work with, too.
  • Mage Knight Castle Keep (paid link) and Gatehouse (paid link): These are awesome! (Here’s my Yore post about them.) I’ve got two keeps and one gatehouse in my Frostgrave, and they’re one of the best values in prepainted terrain. They’re out of print too, but often available cheaply (at least for now).
  • A big aquarium decoration (paid link): Aquarium stuff is an interesting option for prepainted terrain, but it’s often out of scale, expensive, or both. This huge head is perfect.
  • War Torn Worlds terrain (smaller square ruins, walls, tiny rubble piles): They’re out of business and this stuff is tricky to find, it’s worth the hunt. It’s made of recycled tire rubber, and it’s tough and looks good. I have 8 Ruinopolis sections, a host of walls (curved, ruined, modern, and fieldstone), and a few rubble piles.
  • Legendary Realms terrain (all the little stuff): This is my clutter — little resin bits and bobs scattered all over the place. (Here’s the Yore post about it.) I have large and small trees, graves, skull piles, seated skeletons, lizard god statues, stairs, knight statues, skeletons on slabs, 2″ bubbling pools, and wooden treasure chests. These folks are currently producing terrain, so for once I’m not recommending something out of production.

I’ve had a lot of fun writing about Frostgrave over the past few weeks, and I can’t wait to actually play it!

Hopefully this breakdown was helpful to you. Thanks for reading!

Out now: The Unlucky Isles

The Unlucky Isles [affiliate link], the first system-neutral guidebook for my Godsbarrow fantasy campaign setting, is now on DriveThruRPG.
Categories
Frostgrave Miniatures Terrain

60 quarts of Frostgrave

The compactness of Frostgrave (paid link), both in terms of the size of the play area and the amount of stuff you need to play, is one of the things about the game that appeals to me most.

I started with none of what I needed, and went from “zero to Frostgrave” pretty quickly. As I picked up pieces of terrain, played with sample layouts, and thought about how to maximize my budget, I kept another end goal in mind: I wanted everything for the game to fit into a single box I could toss in the truck and take to gaming venues. I came pretty close!

100% of my Frostgrave stuff fits into this 60-quart Ziploc WeatherShield (paid link) storage box, excluding the battle mat:

It ran me about $20 locally, and it’s one hell of a sturdy box. It includes a foam seal that’s supposed to keep out moisture (handy in Seattle), and I like that it locks in six places for a snug fit. We’ve got some holiday decoration storage tubs that only have two latches, and they don’t hold up all that well.

I also like that its more squared-off than a lot of similar boxes. Sometimes they have deeply curved corners, bulges on the bottom to facilitate stacking, etc. that cut into the usable storage space for terrain. This sucker can swallow a lot of stuff.

Inside are three big pieces of Battlefield in a Box terrain, an aquarium decoration, a Plano box full of Pathfinder Pawns (plus a sidecar baggie of monsters), three Mage Knight Castle pieces, a ton of War Torn Worlds rubber terrain elements, the rulebook, some stickers for the pawns’ bases so we identify who’s pawns are whose, four custom “risers,” a little bridge and some stairs, and a big baggie full of Legendary Realms clutter to round things out.

I’ve finally got everything I need to actually set it all up and take some photos of my Frostgrave. When I do, I’ll include an itemized list of what goes into my take on Frostgrave to help folks track down things they might like to include in theirs.

Out now: The Unlucky Isles

The Unlucky Isles [affiliate link], the first system-neutral guidebook for my Godsbarrow fantasy campaign setting, is now on DriveThruRPG.
Categories
Frostgrave Miniatures Terrain

Legendary Realms prepainted clutter for Frostgrave

Legendary Realms makes a host of prepainted terrain and scenery, including some dungeon dressing that I thought would be a perfect fit for my take on Frostgrave (paid link). Noble Knight had a bunch of it in stock (as opposed to waiting for LR to make it to order), so I ordered some.

I picked up some lizard god statues, knight statues, crypt skeletons, crypt skeletons on thrones, and wooden chests. Here they are all together (larger version):

Piece by piece

The lizard gods are the best value in terms of size — Noble Knight had them for under $3 a pop. They add a much-needed dash of weird to my Frostgrave (larger version):

The knights are a decent size, too, but the sculpt is kind of crappy. Still, they do look appropriately aged/ruined for Frostgrave (larger version):

I love the crypt skeletons. Their little eye sockets are red (gems, maybe?), and although one of mine is missing its head, that totally works in this setting. Frostgrave was a city that used necromancy in daily life, so having skeletons in its ruins makes sense to me (larger version):

They also do a seated variety, which feels very sword and sorcery to me — also a part of my Frostgrave (larger version):

Lastly, I snagged enough treasure chests for four players (larger version):

Overall

I don’t love the knight statues, and the enthroned skeletons are a bit small for the price (though as dungeon dressing for a setup with walls and so forth, they’re a good size), but the lizard gods, crypt skeletons, and treasure chests are solid.

On the whole, I’m happy with my Legendary Realms stuff. Being made of resin, they’re reasonably tough. The paint jobs are serviceable, and they fit well into a city that’s been in ruins for a thousand years.

In fact, I wound up placing a second order for some more bits and bobs to round things out — dead trees, graves, skull piles, some rubble, and one or two other things.

Out now: The Unlucky Isles

The Unlucky Isles [affiliate link], the first system-neutral guidebook for my Godsbarrow fantasy campaign setting, is now on DriveThruRPG.
Categories
Frostgrave Miniatures Terrain

Battlefield in a Box Fallen Angel and Buried Monument terrain

I’ve been picking up prepainted terrain for Frostgrave (paid link), and have had good success with Mage Knight Castle pieces and War Torn Worlds ruins and walls. Like those two lines, the segment of the Battlefield in a Box series that’s a good fit for Frostgrave is out of print, but I was able to snag a couple of pieces on Ebay.

Both looked like they’d block LOS and take up a good amount of space — important traits for Frostgrave terrain! — and from what I’d seen online they seemed to be painted up pretty well. Let’s take a peek.

Buried Monument

Of the two I picked up, Buried Monument has the smaller footprint, but it’s more consistently taller than the other (Fallen Angel). (Larger versions: one and two.)

I like the mix of cover, accessible elevation, and atmosphere that this piece brings to the table. It’s sturdy plastic, it sits flat, and the paint job is solid.

Fallen Angel

Fallen Angel is larger than Buried Monument, but it doesn’t entirely block LOS in as many places. It’s got a splash of color — that tile floor — and I like the angel detail. Of the two, it’s the more involved piece. (Larger versions: one and two.)

Another cool thing about that angel? A variation on the same statue appears on one side of Buried Monument, too! That really ties them together as being part of the same ruined city. Neat.

Buddies

Here they are together, in a top-down view:

And from the side, with a 28mm miniature for scale (larger version):

I’m happy with both of these pieces, and I’d love to find the rest of the “Gothic” portion of the Battlefield in a Box line, especially Ruined Fountain and Blasted Terrace.

I’ve spotted a couple more online, but at well above MSRP (fair enough, since they’re out of print). I’ll keep looking, though, because these definitely fit the aesthetics of “my” Frostgrave.

Out now: The Unlucky Isles

The Unlucky Isles [affiliate link], the first system-neutral guidebook for my Godsbarrow fantasy campaign setting, is now on DriveThruRPG.
Categories
Frostgrave Miniatures Terrain

Mage Knight castle terrain for Frostgrave

While on the prowl for prepainted terrain for Frostgrave (paid link), I came across two easy decisions: the Mage Knight Castle Keep (paid link) and Mage Knight Castle Gatehouse (paid link).

I remember these being on super-clearance a few years ago, so maybe the Castle line didn’t do so well? Whatever the case, they’re still quite cheap — around $20 each on Amazon, including shipping (with Prime).

For large, light, and durable prepainted terrain, $20 is a steal. I snapped up one of each, and I liked them so much that I went back and ordered a second keep. Frostgrave wants a lot of terrain, so I’ll take any chance I can get to acquire larger pieces on the cheap.

Remember, the ruins of Frostgrave are crowded and maze-like, so there should be lots of terrain on the table, and there should be few areas where line of sight extends more than a foot or two, if that.

So how do they look out of the package?

Mage Knight Keep

Pretty damned awesome, I’d say! Here’s the front of the keep (the back is identical):

And here’s the side:

You can see the slot in the middle, which is for plugging into the walls (none of which come with the keep). I don’t have any matching walls, so I’ll be using it as a standalone tower — or maybe adding some short ruined walls to either side. I like that the slot is fairly unobtrusive.

Lastly, the roof:

The weird knob on top is the Clix dial, for using the keep as a unit in Mage Knight.

Mage Knight Gatehouse

Stylistically, the gatehouse is a great match for the keep. Here’s the portcullis side:

Unlike the keep, the back isn’t identical to the front:

It actually comes with a little bar to put across the door, which is a neat touch. I almost broke the doors trying to get it on, though, so off it will stay.

Here’s the side, with its wall slot:

And finally, the top, with the same dial setup as the keep:

Comparisons and scale

The gatehouse and keep are about the same width, but the gatehouse is slightly taller (about 1/2″) and much thinner. Here’s a top-down shot to show the most dramatic difference between them:

Being designed for a 28mm skirmish game, it’s no surprise that both keep and gatehouse are perfectly scaled for Frostgrave. Here’s one of the MK minis they came with to put their size in context:

I’ve closed the doors and lowered the portcullis, but it’s worth noting that all of the doors open and the portcullis can be raised and left up if you like. The gatehouse is skinny enough that you can move a mini through it, turning it into a big archway, but the keep is not. (And of course both are hollow.)

There are also walls to connect the Castle elements (paid link), as well as a nifty-looking tower (paid link), but they both command high price — when you can find them at all. I’ll keep an eye out, but I’m not optimistic.

For my money, the Mage Knight Keep (paid link) and Gatehouse (paid link) are both great deals for prepainted terrain. I like the paint job on both, they’ll stand out on the map, they offer elevation (with plenty of room for minis at the top — and remember that by default all Frostgrave buildings can be scaled!), and they fit right into how I picture “my” Frostgrave.

If I was picking one, I’d pick the keep — no question. It takes up more space on the battlefield, and the added functionality of the portcullis on the gatehouse doesn’t seem like it’ll be too important in Frostgrave.

Out now: The Unlucky Isles

The Unlucky Isles [affiliate link], the first system-neutral guidebook for my Godsbarrow fantasy campaign setting, is now on DriveThruRPG.
Categories
Frostgrave Miniatures Terrain

War Torn Worlds prepainted terrain for Frostgrave

In getting into Frostgrave (paid link) — which I first wrote about here on Yore just a few days ago — I’m basically going from zero to Frostgrave — I don’t have stuff from other games to pilfer to use for this one.

I’m not a minis — or terrain — painter by nature, so along with buying Pathfinder Pawns to use as minis, I also want prepainted terrain.

Which shouldn’t be a problem, right? There has to be tons of prepainted terrain out there . . . right? Not really!

Most of the good options I found are either not ideal for Frostgrave (Dwarven Forge) or are out of print (Battlefield in a Box, which does have tons of non-fantasy stuff, War Torn Worlds, and Terraclips). War Torn Worlds actually appears to be out of business, despite a functional website — their email address bounces, and their phone number is out of service.

So I haunted Ebay and spent a bunch of time poking around in dusty corners online, and I was able to turn up a sizable stash of War Torn Worlds stuff at Wondertrail and a smaller stash at Noble Knight.[1] Wondertrail’s inventory looked suspiciously well-stocked, so I called them to ask what they actually had on hand. They were lovely to work with, and I ordered most of their stock (and Noble Knight’s).

War Torn Worlds ruins

It looks just how I expected: like it’s been sitting in a dusty back corner of a brick-and-mortar hobby store’s inventory for several years. Which is fine by me!

Only the bags were dusty. The terrain inside — which is made primarily of recycled tire rubber — is brand new. The main thing I ordered were sections of Ruinopolis, WTW’s line of modular ruins tiles. They come in three finishes that I’m aware of, and gray and “brownstone” both looked like a good fit for Frostgrave.

Here’s brownstone:

And here’s gray:

Gray says “fantasy ruins” a bit more loudly, but beggars can’t be choosers — and in any case, when I look out my window the buildings I see don’t all match. To my eye, the gray and brown tiles go just fine together.

I also bought most of their walls, which include large cutstone, small battle-scarred cutstone, and small battle-scarred modern (WTW calls these “flex ruins”):

I figured that in a game with spells like Grenade — not to mention Frostgrave’s weird denizens and phenomena — battle-scarred walls, even modern ones, wouldn’t look out of place.

They look pretty sharp up close, too.

All in all, I’m thrilled with the War Torn Worlds line. I can’t wait to see how it looks on my battle mat (a square of white felt, at least to start with), and mingled with my other terrain.

In addition to looking good, it’s also light and durable. That’ll make it easy to transport and forgiving of bumps, which I like.

It’s a real shame that it’s not more readily available, and — assuming I’m right — that War Torn Worlds went out of business. Reasonably priced prepainted terrain is a boon to folks like me who can’t be arsed to paint things, but who still enjoy miniatures games.

[1] I also found some good Battlefield deals, which haven’t arrived yet, and one or two other things. I’ll probably wind up posting about them here sometime down the road.

Out now: The Unlucky Isles

The Unlucky Isles [affiliate link], the first system-neutral guidebook for my Godsbarrow fantasy campaign setting, is now on DriveThruRPG.