Collins builds the world of The Walking Dead

Well here we are at the end of the 4th board build for the walking dead all out war. You know, for a game I didn’t play the most (that would be Imperial Assault), I sure have invested a lot of time and effort into it. I look back and feel i should have gone to the bootcamp when the game was released and i wish i had done the whole ‘get yourself sculpted as a walker’ pledge too. If i had done that i think i would have asked to be made as a shorter model, perhaps with a smashed up leg, that way i’d be a different height to everyone else on the board, instantly viewable and different to every other walker in the game at the time. Anyway, enough from Captain Hindsight.

Given this was very much a recycling and saving something from the dusty bin (at penkridge wargames 2nd hand fayre which was also today!) i think it has come out adequately. To make this i spent the grand total of (maybe) £6 in materials. That was for the baseboard, everything else i had ‘in stock’ being purchased way back when TWD was all the rage. (edit, this is a lie! i had to buy the big pack of corkboard at £25)

In terms of levels, this map has two and arguably actually only one. the roadway and the gardens. they’re basically the same and really there is zero advantage to be gained by being in one or the other. The houses sometimes have added height to them (blue house) but the biggest bonus from them is cover, being able to shoot out the windows at your annoying neighbours.

In terms of playability, no idea. If i was to have this table at a tourney i think i would make the garage house and the damaged house the starting zones and then have people fight it out. I would also write some rules fluff about all the windows being accessible etc, the number of doors or routes out of some of the houses are limited (garage house) and so a little theatre of the mind is needed to make it a bit less asymmetric for a tourney. Also, if i was to make a tourney using these boards, id need to paint more moveable scatter as i naturally only have one set.

In terms of cool factor, it’s right up there. I mean come on, 3 fully painted, fully interior’ed buildings, a nice road with everything you could need on it, random debris and all sorts of tiny details like wallpaper, carpets and cocks! what more could you want? the only thing i think it is missing is maybe letterboxes and manhole covers. they’re made up by the missing posters on the trees though.

Would i play on it, yes! would you play on it? comment below your answer and support this terrainfest 2025/26 entry!

The sofas on this one were easier to do and look better to be honest. instead of being a flat purple the ripped up and knackered nature of them really gives a minor hint of interest to them. painted the inner an off-white then grey washed and black pin washed it to make it look like sofa sponge.

I decided that the house doesn’t look bashed up enough. so i took some more of the random debris and scattered it around inside the house.

makes it look a little bit more like it was ransacked.

Brace yourself… these are possibly the worst looking sofas known to man. I asked my wife which contrast colour to use and she said ‘go for the Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen hideous purple one’ aka magos purple. so now we have a tyranid sofa set in this gaudy house…

another simple paintjob. just the contrast paints i have in stock and then some ‘3 dabbing’ to make bee shapes, sort of.

I’m really surprised the owner of this house didn’t survive the apocalypse. they had literally everything they needed. loads of food on the shelves, boxes full of stuff, GerryCan of fuel and a gun safe stuffed with automatic weapons and side arms. To top it off they even have some computer games to keep them entertained too…

These were all whatever contrast paints i had in stock, random colours that looked roughly right, different browns for the cardboard, reds blues and yellows for the tinned food. eg yellow bottle with blue lid for the bleach bottle etc. I did use german grey and grey white for the packing labels for the cardboard boxes to represent stickers and delivery addresses. I think i went a bit too dark on the gun cabinet though, went for a grey/blue metal for it, but it does look a bit of dark blob and you cant see the guns that easily at a glance. C’est le vie

This was entirely done using contrast paints and relatively rapidly too in an evening between dog walks and bedtime routine for the kids etc.

quick block colours and a bit of minor patterning using contrast paint on the plates. gives them a good impression of what it should be (highlights the shapes) quickly but will never detract from the miniatures that will be on the board in front of them. perfect for background scatter/detailing.

this sheet was downloaded from the mantic’s walking dead fanatics page for free!

printed it off and tea stained it to get rid of the harsh white paper colour, this is a necessary step i feel to stop the jarring that would occur with fresh white paper. make sure the tea bag you use hasn’t been made in a mug with milk added, it will go horribly mouldy. Be civilised and use one from a full pot of tea.

you could try and place stuff nicely but that doesnt look real or random, i have a good way to achieve this. take your debris, hold it a good distance above (68.3cm above to be precise) and simply drop it. they’ll drop and flutter and end up all over the place. then simply PVA glue them down where they fell. if it looks pants, repeat process, or simply blow air over it to move them. simple.