2024 Hobby Log

After a good few months of working on big projects, I decided I wanted to work on something more contained. Something that could be done in a month and possibly get a game in. I’m working on Burrows and Badgers but that is mainly just terrain as the warbands are already painted up.

Going into the stash, there were several options jumped out but I fancied a little something sci fi. I’ve had a Deadzone starter box in there for a while so out it came.

There aren’t a lot of models to [paint up (24 in total) but there is a bunch of terrain. Until I figure out what arms etc to stick on the models, I thought I’d pick out and clean up the terrain first. Part way through I remembered that someone I was on a discord with a couple of years back gave me a bag of Deadzone tiles so I have a few extras. I  also added in an extra Terrain Crate (one of the £30 booster sets, £24 from your online discount retailer of choice) to have access to more intact walls.

Then, before I did anything else I went back and re-read all of Draconis’ magnificent Delving back into Deadzone project here on OTT.

My whole plan had been to be mostly intact buildings but once I got started putting everything together, I really liked the look of the ruined bits. It makes every space playable and while that might not make sense if we want to get into the woods of what each building is designed for, it’ll make for a more interesting play experience.

So I stuck on Fellowship of the Ring and got to cleaning and dry fitting some buildings. As designed, the terrain comes with these little plastic tabs that mean you don’t need to glue anything and every piece can be modular. Possibly I’m just a pathetic nerd with no upper body strength but I found the piecing together just annoying enough to realise that I don’t want to have to do it every time I want to play a game. After a bit of online research, I decided instead to stick with a couple of fundamental footprints (2×1, L-shaped and a small tower) that I could glue together and some scatter for cover. It was important that it fits back into the starter box for both storage and ease of taking wherever I can get a game in.

I know that the conventional wisdom says terrain shouldn’t be too colourful or it up-stands the minis. I get that, I do. But… Look at this stuff from a Kickstarter a while back? Doesn’t that look neat? I have a second table planned for Deadzone that will be more neutrally coloured so in the meantime I’m going to live my colour loving life.

As it is terrain, it seemed like a good opportunity to use up some cans of white primer that I’ve not really been impressed with. The TT Combat sprays have been great but for some reason the white is always a bit spluttery and this can in particular is really bad. After trying to battle through, it was making such a mess I had to chuck it and go for a can of Colour Forge’s Wight Bone.

Next was some masking tape. The band at the bottom of the buildings was to be quite narrow with a wider one at the top. This secondary colour is Army Painter Deep Blue. Unfortunately the white primer had done a bit of a number on the plastic in places but some weathering should cover up the worst of it.

I went round with Wraithbone in a pot and tied up the little spots of bleed once the masking tape was off; not an exact colour match (the pot is a little darker) but it won’t be very noticeable on the final product.

I wasn’t going to spend a lot of time on details but going through and picking out a metallic vent here, exposed rebar there. I do want this terrain to look like a clean version of sci-fi (the planet has only recently been declared a Deadzone). To look a little more fancy I went with a Vallejo Black Metallic paint for the vents, door panels etc. I then went over the exposed rebar with some Citadel Leadbelcher.

All this was done over the course of a day with lots of time waiting on primer drying. This is where it will have to stay for a few weeks as I’m on a bit of a slog at work and I want a nice clear weekend for the next stage.