Comrade's Wargames

Earlier this month I finished up two little terrain pieces to bolster my collection of rusted industrial scenery, which has been used over the years for a variety of sci-fi games such as Grimdark Future and Necromunda.

These pieces follow a successful formula I’ve used quite a bit in the past, which is technically termed “gluing stuff onto cardboard boxes.” Yes, it’s true, this minimalist approach is a great way to literally throw stuff against a wall and see what sticks.

The boxes here are sturdy Magic card boxes, upon which I affixed all manner of greeblies, doodads, and textures. The hexagonal grid on the bottom piece always prompts questions – yes, it is a sheet of punched-out cardboard tokens from a board game. Just goes to show you … don’t throw anything away! It might be needed one day.

Painting was a simple affair conducted with a big sponge and large brushes. I sprinkled sand and grout onto patches that I really wanted to rust up.

In retrospect, I think I went a little overboard on the whole rust effect; these pieces are a bit brighter than the other stuff in my collection, so I may go back and tone them down. (Or not; I’m famous for almost never returning to a project after it exits my painting table.)

The best part about these terrain pieces is that they’re 100% modular. They can even be stacked up to make a decent LOS blocker.

The overall effect reminds me a lot of some of the levels in the new Darktide video game that are set near the hive surface, with sun-blasted corridors and rusting machinery lying around. Good stuff!

Hopefully these rusty edifices will see some action in early April, when our group has a game of Grimdark Future Firefight scheduled (the first in our casual escalation campaign!). I’ll be bringing my Dark Mechanicum warband, the Seekers of the Fractal Schematic, with some … reinforcements, per the campaign guidelines. Stay tuned for more!