Trench Crusade: Terrain by Redwetskeleton

A Life Entombed.

Recently, we commissioned Redwetskeleton to create a Trench Crusade Communicant. It is a stunningly grotesque model that fits perfectly in the horrific setting. In addition to having him create the Communicant, we asked if he could also create a few pieces of terrain to accompany the miniature. He ended up building a small board’s worth of terrain pieces, which I wanted to showcase here.

Painting Sector Mechanicus Terrain

Dead Industrial Atmosphere

Although we have been building and painting miniatures for years, long before even the start of this blog (2013), we have never really painted any terrain, despite collecting a variety of the plastic sets Games Workshop released over the years. Ten years after starting Between the Bolter and Me, we decided we should change that. To our good fortune, Ana Polanšćak from Gardens of Hecate, recently released a tutorial for quickly painting derelict machinery and industrial terrain. The process looked quite easy, relying primarily on using a sponge to apply an interesting pattern of rust, so I found the Sector Mechanicus terrain I had sitting around since the release of Shadow War Armageddon (2017), and decided to give it a try!

WilhelMiniatures Bone Trees

The stuff of nightmares.

Recently, the prolific and incredibly talented Helge Wilhelm Dahl, of WilheMiniatures, created a macabre series of trees that resemble cyclopean bones sprouting from the ground. He created these “bone trees” from real pig bones that he boiled and cleaned. Fortunately for us, he created silicone molds of the trees, and started to sell them them via Etsy! We were able to get the entire set of five of the trees, and wanted to let people know our thoughts about them!

Plast Craft Games: Malifaux terrain review

In a quest to find good terrain for Malifaux, I decided to give Plast Craft Games a try.

In a hobby that is focussed around building, converting, and painting model soldiers, it is easy to forgo putting as much effort into creating equally evocative terrain for them to battle over.  But, just like playing with painted models, having them on a carefully constructed gameboard elevates a game immensely.  Thankfully, a wealth of companies have sprung up to produce attractive looking terrain that is easy to assemble, without requiring a huge amount of time investment to get it playable.  For example, Mantic games released a line of buildings that they created for Deadzone that is excellent for most science fiction games. The kits are fairly easy to assemble and largely modular.  There has also been a rise in laser-cut, medium-density fibreboard (MDF) terrain, like Tectonic Craft Studios and Sarissa Precision.  While the material is often very nice, in my experience, it is somewhat hard to work with, particularly if the pieces are not cut out properly.  Recently, I found that Plast Craft Games makes a line of similar terrain that is made out of pre-cut PVC plastic, a medium that promised to be much easier to work with.

Deadzone (Mantic) Modular Terrain Review

The assembled Deadzone terrain looks good at first glance.

In my last Deadzone unboxing post, I talked about how the modular terrain included in the box was a primary motivator in my decision to purchase the game, due to its ability to be used in a wide variety of miniature games that I currently play.  When I wrote that post I had not yet tried to assemble any of the terrain.  Over the last few days I was able to assemble the majority of what came in the box, only stopping when I ran out of connecting pieces.  I ran into quite a few snags along the way, and wanted to let everyone know about them in hopes it improves other peoples’ experience with the terrain or allows new buyers to be more informed of what they are getting themselves into.