TWD: Barn

The barn is an iconic piece of terrain for The Walking Dead. I still remember the first time I read the comics and they survivors figure out what Hershell is hiding in his barn - and the TV show where Sophia is found as a walker inside.

This barn kit is from Figurebitz (now owned by Laser Model Store) and made from mdf. Gary Robertson who's the designer, has plans to expand the kit with a removeable interior. And insert with hay loft and rooms for animals. I build my own from ice pop sticks.

Base
I based the barn on a large piece of 3mm thick cardboard. Whenever I use cardboard for terrain, I always add a cross of duct tape on the back. This will create tension and prevent the cardboard from warping when glue and paint dries on the other side.

Beams
Needed some beam to hold up the hay loft I wanted to make. I cut of the ice sticks and glued the together, for a nice 28mm scaled beam.

Loft
Glued the beams to the cardboard base with super glue. Then make planks from ice pop sticks. I just went with it, didn't care too much that the loft was crooked, it should look old, worn and repaired.

The 'rooms' on the floor are thought for animals and is made from bbq-sticks of bamboo.

Painting
Most of the paint job was done with cheap rattle cans and the entire barn then had a wash of thinned down Army Painter strong tone wash. This ties the building nicely together with the farm house I've made - giving it all the same 'filter'.

The barn goes together very well with the other farm terrain I've made, including hay bales from hessian fabric.

TWD: Farm House

I've wanted a farm house for TWD for a long time, but haven't really found a good one (that was within a reasonable price range). Red Beam Designs have made some nice wooden house for their not-woodbury range of products.

I painted this up quickly, with rattle cans. Using masking tape and paper, I covered of the different rooms and spray painted different colours. After base coating and assembling the house, I've given it all a wash of watered down Strong Tone. Around the roof, I've made some run off with Dark Tone.

The climbing greens is mixed up foam flock. It's glued on with super glue and have super glue dripped on it after drying - to make it much stronger.

At some point, I'll make a porch from ice pop sticks. That would add just the last, this piece needs to be a great farm house.

All the Red Beam Design buildings come with some furniture detailing, it was a nice little surprise. The bed seemed a bit flat, so added a piece of fabric to it as a blanket.

This little house has a decent size for gaming, enough room to play inside it and it's a great center piece for a 2'x2' board.

Related blog posts
See the Greene Family models and check out the fences, hay bales and tractor here.


A fully fitted 2'x2x' board with farm house terrain. The mat is normally with an asphalt road, but with dirt road mouse mat piece on it.

Hershell and Billy outside their family house.

Dungeon Saga: Mortibis Legendary Necromancer

Playing through the core game and first expansion of Dungeon Saga will let the villian become powerful as well. Mantic have released a nice metal model for this guy, I really like him. The model has a really nice Diablo Necromancer vibe going for him.

Painted him like the non-legendary version, same colour scheme. Could also see myself using this pair as wizard and apprentice in Frostgrave.

Tutorial: Modular tin can silos

This is some old school terrain, the kitchen scrap terrain. I wanted some easy to build, line of sight blocking, modular terrain for my industrial board. These terrain pieces was the last I needed for it, to fill it out.

The resulting terrain is perfect for Deadzone, Necromunda, Scrappers, 40k and even works for 20mm vehicle combat like Auto Kill.

Build the silos from tin cans and various bits I found in the bit box.

Painting tips and photos of the done pieces are at the end of the blog post.

Step 1
Find the right cans. I took a 3" battle system tile to the grocery store, because I wanted my silos to fit into the Deadzone grid system. Found some with a top fitting perfectly into a 3'' square and 4,5'' high.

Step 2 - bit box diving

Found some different bits in the terrain bit box. Ladders are from Mantics battlezones, hatches and top pieces are from cheap russian Tehnolog, lamps are from Games Workshop. 

Step 3 - detailing

Added ladders to two of the silos. As you can see, 1,5 ladders pieces is a perfect fit. 

To give the hatch doors a curve, fitting the can, I heated them up with a candle - easy to bend them after that.

Added the same detail bit (the ending of a tehnolog pipe system) to the top of each silo. As well as some half pipes on each silo.

Step 4 - pipes

I wanted to have some pipes for the silos, for a better modular feel to them. Tie the entire silo complex together. The piping is made from a cut up dinosaur toy (a big dinosaur cage). Great detail and it was nearly free at a charity shop. 

I've glued some small magnets to the ends up the pipe, so they can be switch around the silos with no problem.

Mix and match
Time to put together some silos.

Painting
I wanted to match the terrain for my other yellow and grey industrial terrain. I base coated the silos with a cheap gray spray paint. The hatches, lamps and top pieces got a single burst of brown spray. The piping was spray painted brown.

Went with the freehand hazzard stripes on the top of each silo. I tried using masking tape, but it didn't work for me.

All the metal detailing (including pipes) was done with a wet palette mix of different brown, rust and iron colours. Not done nicely, just splashed together for some easy nuance differences.

The lamps were painted flourescent green, that I also used for some ooze from pipes.

The grey was a bit boring, so I added some extra detail with white stencil letters / numbers on the front and back (freehand painted though).

I used some near black (super dark brown) wash for run off weathering from rusted details. And the entire silo was given a wash of watered down strong tone as a last layer.

Showcase
Two evenings of work. One night building and base coating. Another night of painting the pieces. Six pieces done.

Had a lot of fun trying out different configurations of the tarrain.

Frostgrave: Goblin Thief and Chaos Dwarf Barbarian

A couple more models for my growing warband of Chaos Dwarfs. The barbarian is a model from The Russian Alternative and the goblin is from Zealot Miniatures and sculpted by my good friend Matte (of Admiralty Miniatures).

For the barbarian I've kept the colours in the same style as the other warband members. Different reds and grey beard/hair).

The Warband
My Chaos Dwarf warband is becoming rather large and I should really get them on the table. I think, I'll be running these guys as a Summoner warband - having some demons around fit the theme.

Dungeon Saga: Legendary Heroes of Dolgorath

In Dungeon Saga the heroes become Legendary through the course of the campaign. Mantic have released Legendary versions of all the heroes - bigger, badder, broader metal versions of the plastic heroes.

I got a set, way back in the day, when I preordered Dungeon Saga - when it first came up for retail sale. My set of legendary heroes, I've painted in the same colours as the original miniatures.

The Orlaf version is my favourite, such a brute! I like how all the gear from the orignal models is carried by the legendary version. The way he's carrying his old two handen axe in a single hand. Very nice model, will also serve as a barbarian captain in Frostgrave.

I like the look of legendary Rordin, but the model is actually really tall. He's as tall as most human 28mm models. I've added some gold to this version, to better show his status.

Madriga is a cool ranger model in the orignal, but the legendary version is even cooler. I like the bigger armor and her pose is super cool. I've added a bowstring to the model, as I always do to bows.

Danor is the model with the weirdest legendary version. The campaign with the heroes is one long quest, but it doesn't take the amount of years for such a beard to grow. The wizard model is super cool though. I've added a greenstuff beard to the original Danor model, to make the leap between the models smaller.

Frostgrave: Ragnar and Beserker

Liking the TV-series Vikings, I had to get this model of Ragnar Lodbrok when I found. The model is a resin miniature from Brother Vinnis. The huge beserker is a Reaper Bones model, he was cheap and I really like his pose.

The model will both be going in a barbarian warband, but will also serve in my witches warband as a man-at-arms and an infantryman. Viking models fit well into the frozen city.

For the Ragnar I've been using lots of different brown colours, trying to match the look of the character on the TV show.

Frostgrave: Geralt of Rivia - Witcher

This is a nice model from Artel 'W' Miniatures - they've done some nice resin models from a 'russian view on trademarks' point of view.

I'll be using this Witcher model as a demon hunter in Frostgrave. But to really fit the rules I've added a chopped up crossbow to his back. The crossbow is from one of the Frostgrave sprue - can't remember which one.

Frostgrave: Dwarf Warband - 5 dwarfs ready

Just a quick group shot of my Dwarf warband project for Frostgrave. Five models done:

Wizard, Enchanter, Treasure Hunter, Demon Hunter and Captain.

This is gonna be a nice looking group when finished. I have an old GW hammerer to use as a Templar and an extra HeroQuest dwarf to become an infantryman.

Frostgrave: Dwarf Captain

This is another lovely Avatars of War dwarf model. A grumpy, stoic old dwarf, with a bear cloak is perfect for a Captain model. But for the new Frostgrave warbands this guy can double as a thug (hand weapon), infantryman (two-handed weapon).

I've painted this guy in some regal looking deep reds, I feel it adds to his noble look.

The smoke is made from some discarded aquarium filter and super glue.

Frostgrave: Dwarf Enchanter and Apprentice

I love fantasy dwarfs, there's so many characterful models on the market. For an enchanter warband in Frostgrave dwarfs are an excellent choice.

The wizard is a nice model from Avatars of War. Originally wanted him as the apprentice, but since he has so much bulk he's taking the lead.

The apprentice is an old Warhammer runesmith.

I want all my dwarf models to have many different colours, fitting the style from an old The Hobbit graphic novel I've read.