Ground Worth Fighting For

It has been a good long while since I've posted something here, over a year as a matter of fact. It is not that I haven't been busy, far from it. My shame pile has been shrinking to the point where it may well disappear in the near future. Most of what I have left tend to be scale models rather than miniatures, and for both, I have been staying away from online shopping in order to avoid growing the pile anymore, not that there has been much that I have been interested coming out of late.

For a rundown of what I've been doing you should definitely visit Little Mangs of War which is now the home of my miniatures painting progress, and I haven't been feeling the need to post as often as I used to, which allows me to focus on quality again. I've even dusted off the SLR and practiced lifting my photo game and I have to say, the results have been promising.

Anyway, my dad has been keeping himself busy during lockdown with his 3D printer. Which is interesting because I have found myself in a situation where anything I find on thingiverse I can have in quantity if I want it, and all I have to do is ask. Since the printer in question is not a resin job, the print quality is not there for miniatures, but for terrain it has been perfect.

To that end I have decided to continue my half abandon terrain projects that I've had on the burn for a long while, especially for game system that I play more regularly than others. This does mean my dad's 3D printer will get more of a workout, but I have no doubt that terrain crate, or any of the other non-gw manufacturers of fine wargaming terrain will get some of my business.

Completed Projects

The Reclaimed Sector

I started building this one some time ago as my go to set for almost all systems at the 28mm scale. It is a combination of assorted wargaming trees that I build up over the years combined with some MDF ruined wall sections that I've done up to simulate water damage, moss, and rot.

Not pictured is my box of rocks and hills. To provide some elevation, and for variety I have a box of aquarium features, some lumps of coral and modular wargaming hills, both 3D printed and from manufacturers.

The Imperial Ruins

I have a decent collection of the usual modular 40k ruins which work great for games of regular 40k, Necromunda, and Kill Team, but I find them distinctly jarring when using them for other systems and settings. I have enough to set up a regular ruined cityscape, the close confines of the underhive and these also pair well with my Reclaimed sector board if I want to do a semi-industrial landscape or the fringes of a barely colonized Imperial world.

With this in mind I have a few ideas for a couple of new projects I've been kicking around mentally, and stand to be a lot cheaper than usual due to the access to a 3D printer.\

Upcoming Projects

Gaslands

Gaslands is a great little game, but due to the strange scale I'm going to need to have a serious think about a Mad Max style desert map. I've already got enough rocky outcroppings to break up the lines of sight a bit, now all I need are some drivable hills, appropriately scale vegetation, buildings and ruins, as well as some rusted out hulks from former battles. This is probably going to be the most challenging of the projects.

Battletech

A set of Battletech terrain shouldn't be too hard to resolve, most of my smaller trees would look quite at home on a Battletech board, as will my rocks and hills. However, the built environment is going to be a challenge. Fortunately thingiverse has plenty of options to explore and even better, they are easy and quick to paint. I think will be able to throw up a variety of  desert and woodland battlefields before too long.

Stargrave

The drive for this project has definitely been a desire to play some sci-fi skirmish games on a board that doesn't resemble the usual grimdark horror of the 41st millenia. This will mean a lot of 3D prints to fill out a frontier spaceport or colony world, and Mantic have a lot of options with their terrain crate offerings, though I am open to other suggestions.

Anyway, as I start to finish these projects I'll remember to throw up some photos as I go, that is all for now.