The Railroad Hobby and Miniature Terrain

 If a miniature gamer ever needs help with making it look real, just talk to a railroad hobbyiest.

    They have loads of resources, techniques, and materials to build/fabricate/paint/weather a model to make it look like it should. This includes the time period and version of train or scenery they are working on. Railroad hobbyists also like to share information of how they worked out how to do things 

    My uncle has always been fantastic at this hobby and has slowly expanded what he had. It shows what patience and precision over time can achieve. He has even created ficticious buisnesses based on family's and friend's interests or ones that he has old photos of which no longer exist.

    Seeing his layout always wants me to work on more terrain. Standby to see more in the next year.

Lantzalot Games

The fantastic Lantzelot Games in Blockhouse, Nova Scotia, is a must see when traveling to the Maritimes between the highway and historic Lunenberg. Especially with a French bakery just around the corner. It's a converted old red house. 

    Boardgames, puzzles, and the cashier are on the ground floor. Miniatures and terrain are on the second floor. Storage and office are on the third (not open to the public). I spent a fun hour and a half looking around and chatting with the owner, recently retired from the military. 

    I picked up some scenery for the Batman, Marvel Crisis Protocol, and/or Malifaux miniature games. I also took a picture of others I am interested in...once I mostly finish my scenery for those game. Ha ha. Are we ever nearly done painting our models?

Batman...and Friends

"Bruce," Nightwing said while smiling, "you came. Thank you."

With a deep gravel-filled voice Batman said, "It seemed important to you. I was in the area."

"I think you'll like them. They have some skills that make them good informants and support for our activities in New York. Jenn's involved in the fashion world. Court is a chef. Phoeb knows several languages, has worked odd jobs, and plays music. Joe is an actor and has worked odd jobs too. Chandler knows statistics and data really well. Ross is a palaeontologist, works in a museum, and has a doctorate in philosophy."

"Eclectic mix. That's good. You mentioned the women first. Are you and Barbara on the outs again?"

"...Anyways, I'd like you to meet them. They're just over here." 

Jennifer, Courtney, Phoebe, Joey, Chandler, and Ross looked up at the Dark Knight. They were in awe, but not scared. Batman knew this meant they had potential.

"Batman," Nightwing said as he gestured to the six people below them, "I'd like to introduce you to my friends." 

(Cue upbeat music with short clips of the six gathering information, infiltrating criminal organizations, and defeating henchmen.)

So no one told you life was gonna be this way (Clap-clap-bam-bap)

Your job's not a joke, you're not broke, and you're keeping the villains at bay

It's like you're always a sidekick with really cool gear

Fighting crime every day, every week, every month, and even all year...

And I'll be there for you (When the Bat-Signal starts to glow)

I'll be there for you (Like I've been there before)

I'll be there for you (Cause I'm a hero now, too!)

*So, I saw the below Wrebbit3D puzzle at a thrift store. After doing the calculations, based on the height of the model written on the box, I bought it knowing it would be close to the scale used in the Batman Miniature Game. It was just over $6 and it would look good on the table until I put together and paint my Marvel Crisis Protocol NYC buildings. 

Here are some SWAT, led by Commissioner Loeb, doing a raid on Central Perk coffee shop. Gorden looks on and wonders if he could still get his espresso and make it to the station for the night shift.

Joker (Jared Leto) and his henchmen giving Captain Boomerang his next job.

Panda Man in position for the heist at a jewelry store across the street.

Finally, its open mic night at Central Perk. In a friendly challenge, Batman is going to perform a ballad with Black Canary against Harley Quinn and Mr. Freeze's angst filled rock/rap act. Hugo Strange has volunteered to officiate.

I've used 3D puzzles as scenery before. They are never a perfect fit for scale, but fill the gap until you can get better scenery. Don't be afraid to have fun with it.

Hot Wheels Bike Terrain

I've picked up some scatter terrain, over the last two months, for the Batman Miniature Game and Marvel Crisis Protocol at Dollorama. Now that I have them next to some models they are not quite to scale. I will still use them because they are cheap, pre-painted, and look cool.

I particularly like the Tesla cyberquad. They give off good James Bond villain henchmen vibes, so I bought four.

The delivery moped is perfect terrain for a food or courier storefront.

Some Italian style for Medditerainian themed scenarios.

Perfect for parks is a slightly souped up sit down lawnmower.

Lemax Large Landscape Accent Pebble Mat

On Boxing day I picked up two of these Lemax Landscape Accent large pebble mats at Michael's on clearance. Why two? Each of them are 36 by 18 inches so you need two of them for a three by three foot playing area.

 

They looked good in the bag it came in. Placed together there is a slight misalignment in the pattern of the stones which is not glaringly obvious while playing. I might give it a little dry brush to make the stones stand out more, but its not essential.

For a Malifaux game I played yesterday, it looked perfect on the table.

The plastic and texture helps to keep the models in place and not shuffling around when jostled, which is a bonus.

An extra mat could be sliced up and made into roads with little effort and made better with some hobby magic. There are other patterns available and can be seen here at Lemax's website (landscaping). When you click individual items there is a handy link button "Where You Can Buy" that takes you to webpage where you can select where you live in the world and find suppliers/stores that sell their products. 

Excellent product and reasonably priced, early on Boxing day, before clever shoppers snap them up.

Construction Vehicles Playset

Picked up this Cute Stone Construction Vehicles Playset from Amazon.ca a year ago and hadn't cracked it open. Wanted to get some construction vehicles to go with my Marvel Crisis Protocol and Batman Miniature Game figures and the MCP NYC Construction Site Terrain Pack (currently assembled and primed but not painted). Its important to think outside the box, so to speak, for interesting terrain for miniature games.

There is quite a lot in this set and although there are more larger items than are normally on the table for the size class it gives variety and flair to the tabletop. However the quantity will go nicely with the BMG.

The scale might be a little smaller than they should for MCP but...

...perfect for the big digger, bulldozer, and crane as well as the accessories.

The vehicles have some heft to them for keeping them in their spot, as light plastic ones would move by breathing on them too hard. The bulldozer can also switch out its scoop for a plow or roller too. 

Infinity Cardboard Terrain

A few years ago, when I was getting into Infinity, there was a scenery pack included in a box set (Moto.Tronica) plus I picked up another one in an Arianna large starter box (Navajo Outpost Pack). They provide the same number and sizes of easily put together cardboard buildings and containers, four large and six small. I decided to put together these for extra scenery for multiple miniature game systems.

    Below is a three by three mat with both assembled terrain packs. As you can see it covers an appropriate amount of table area. It just needs some scatter terrain. The only minor quibble I have are that not many metal models should be placed on the top of the larger buildings, but extra cardboard lightly glued inside will reinforce the roof.

    For 32mm models, like the Batman Miniature Game, the size is perfect. Although the look of them are futuristic it still fits, but the smaller containers would work well in a warehouse or dock themed scenario.

    For Battletech: Alpha Strike they can be stacked as buildings and work extremely well for city terrain.

    40mm Marvel Crisis Protocol models also fit well. Same issue as with the Batman game, in that the theme is futuristic. Would work well in an alien world themed table.

    These sets are not sold on the Infinity Corvus Belli's website, but several others are here in particular on page two. A similar assortment, with different art, is the Dawn-02 Aplekton scenery pack for a reasonable price. Two other good sets for the price are the Neon Lotus scenery pack and the Daedalus scenery pack.

Badlands Terrain from GF9

 I picked up some GF9 Badlands terrain boxes recently and am very glad I did. I had plans to build some, but these were already made, prepainted, and solid. Also, even though they are labelled as being for 25-35mm models, I have found they are useful for any scale models from Dystopian Wars/Uncharted Seas 1:1200 scale to Marvel Crisis Protocol 40mm scale (1:43).

Out of the four the company sells, I picked up these three. Here they are with Marvel Crisis Protocol figures...

...Malifaux models...

...Battletech models...

...and Batman Miniature Game models.

I intend on using these in any outdoor scenario or setting as they are very handy and much better then my carved styrofoam "rock" escarpments.

Bedrock, the Cursed Village

I picked up the 1960's Marx Flintstones Bedrock play set, or at least most of one, from a charity shop two years ago for dirt cheap. I thought it was time to paint it up as I needed more 3-4 inch high climbable terrain for Malifaux, as per their new 4e beta ruleset for moving onto terrain.

    I used dollar store paints and made the buildings less cartoony. For the figures I decided to paint them as statues with glowing eyes. You can almost hear the chanting whispers of"Yabba", "Dabba", and "Do".

    Once I was done, I realized I could also use the terrain for the Marvel Crisis Protocol and Batman Miniatures Game. They are a great scale for it. Never be afraid of picking up inexpensive children's toys for your miniature games. You might be surprised what you can find and they are built to be sturdy.

Other Half of Mantic's Wizard's Study

 Some time ago I painted several bookcases for terrain, in particular in my Frostgrave games. Now I have finished the Wizard's Study remaining items. They are made by Mantic in their Terraincrate line and were painted with cheap paints with some Privateer Press paints.

IMEX - Southwestern Alamo Accessories

I bought this kit a while ago and painted these IMEX Southwestern Alamo accessories. They were painted with cheap paints with some Privateer Press paints for highlights. At 1/72 scale, some items are smaller than than they should for tabletop miniatures but good enough to get a setting across. These kits are also quite inexpensive, especially as it comes with much more than pictured here, as seen on Plastic Soldier Review. 

Some of the larger cacti I am going to base on 30-50mm bases, once painted, so they can stand up better and the smaller ones are great for bases as seen below and at the link here.

Fuel Tank

This fuel tank was found in the discount bin of a games store during my travels a few years ago. Painted it up with cheap paints and a bit of Valejo mecha rust on the pipes and metal access hatches on the roof. Good for any 6-40mm scale minis. 

Pictured with it are my 10mm Mechwarrior figs for the Horizon Wars/Hardwar game as well as the 35.7mm or 1/47 scale  Star Wars Legion figs.