Movement Trays for Miniatures – Make or Buy?

February 14, 2020October 29, 2020 wilburLeave a comment

I “played” Warhammer 4th edition as a kid. The one with the High Elf and Goblin armies. The box provided enough miniatures to form up several units, and I’m sure there were a few plastic green movement trays that came with it too.

For some reason though, we never seemed to use them. I’d play on my pal’s bedroom floor, and we’d move units one miniature at a time. I think the reason was essentially that we’d created loads of very small units in order to make the game seem “bigger”. Or for the armies to look like they had a bit more variety.

Anyway, fast forward 25 years, and a recent return to the hobby. Two games I’ve discovered and have really enjoyed are Open Combat and Kings of War.

Both take place in a medieval/fantasy setting, but one is a small scale skirmish, whilst the other is a grand, sweeping ‘rank and flank’ experience. KoW has all the elements that attracted me to Warhammer Fantasy Battles, back in the day.

I’ve been keen to base the figures I’ll use in Open Combat on round bases (I simply think it looks better, when viewed in isolation). However, I wanted to form up these same units into regiments, for Kings of War. The bottom line? I needed movement trays.

I thought I’d have a bash at making my own movement trays, because the regiments I wanted to form were all different shapes and sizes. To do this, I took a thick piece of card, some little wooden dowels cut to size, and (randomly), some wall filler to stick them down with. Use whatever you have to-hand, right?

I ended up making quite a few of these over the past few months.

I’ll then paint them green as a base layer, then coat with sand, then paint a second coat of green.

Some movement trays I’ve coated with flock, but the flock tends to be a bit messy and sheds like a permanently moulting dog.

These minis are far from finished, but here’s one of my movement trays, with the sand-based coating.

I did actually base a lot of miniatures on square bases before I got into Open Combat. The above units (GW chaos warriors, and Perry Miniatures knights) I glued down permanently onto these movement trays.

I did the same with these Perry Miniatures crossbowmen. You might see that I’ve filled them out a little too, using the wooden stake pieces from the box on every second base. On hindsight, I could’ve gone without the individual bases all together and just created a mini diorama on the movement tray.

So I tried it with these bowmen…

I was quite pleased with the result here.

However, I recently discovered that the simplest solution to getting movement trays of any shape or size was right here on my doorstep the whole time.

Warbases are a company who’re located very local to me, and I was fortunate to be invited over for a look round after reaching out to them.

There’s nothing movement tray-related that they don’t seem to do. The above photo shows five of their trays (all in various stages of completion), alongside my own home-made effort on the front right.

The ‘Infamy Mob’ one on the left is great for less organised regiments, like goblins, or zombies. The single line movement tray with the bowmen on it is perfect for archers of any type too.

The large tray at the back can be used to house square-based miniatures, or you could just chuck a load of round-based troops on there to create a mass mob.

Warbases movement trays are excellent, and ultra-cheap. The prices for these trays are all in the single figures.

They just need a lick of paint, and some sort of base (sand or flock), and they are table ready.

I’m happy enough with the movement trays I made myself, but to be honest, it simply isn’t worth my time, when you look at the cost and quality of the Warbases stuff. I’d much rather focus on painting miniatures, and actually getting a game in now and then!

September 2020 Update: Warbases Movement Trays

I’ve been working on my latest batch of Infamy Mob movement trays and wanted to share a few pictures.

The above shows 2 movement trays in different stages of completion.

Here’s one of my village militia units.

Militia on Warbases infamy movement tray

And here’s the other village militia.

I’m also using an Infamy Mob movement tray for Krell and some modern GW skeletons.

And for a gang of GW Chaos Marauders.

Next up, snotlings!

More snotlings, with a few goblins thrown in for good measure.

goblin archers in Warbases miniature movement tray

And finally, my goblin archer warband on a one row, six miniature movement tray.

As I said before, the Infamy Mob movement trays are perfect for units that wouldn’t look right being formed up into neat and organised rows. You can pick them up from Warbases. If you do – tell them Bedroom Battlefields sent you!*

So that’s my chat on movement trays, for the time being. Feel free to drop your own hot takes into the comments section, below.

*No affiliation at all here, incidentally. I just really like their stuff!

Next up: 8 Tips to Rekindle Your Miniature Painting Motivation

February 2020: Hobby Productivity Blog #3

February 13, 2020February 14, 2020 wilburLeave a comment

Stop-start progress for me over the past month. I am nearly finished Demon Prince K’thul from Knightmare Miniatures. I love their miniatures, they have a very Oldhammer, nostalgic aesthetic.

I’m still trying to become a barely competent painter and a lot of my miniatures are getting the “minimum effective paintjob” treatment. K’thul here being no exception.

This involves a black undercoat, then a drybrush with both Bronzed Flesh and Snakebite Leather, two remnants from my childhood paintset. This gives minis a sort of rustic and earthy look, but it works well enough for me on the tabletop for now. I’ll finish him up with a wash, probably.

This is also the first time since my hobby comeback that I’ve attempted something “adventurous” on the base. This lad had a lot of room at his feet, so I used some little stones and a GW skeleton to liven things up a bit.

I’ve made little progress on Isaac Bonefingers skeleton guard (below). The skellies themselves have all been done with citadel contrast paint Skeleton Horde. I still need to do their armour and weapons.

Basing is all done, bar a final coat of goblin green, on everyone but Isaac himself. The unit leader and his Ghoul assistant got the minimum effective drybrush treatment, as mentioned above. I added some bits and pieces to his little barrow, too. I imagine them touring round the battlefield, picking up bits of his defeated warriors and putting them all back together.

This is a home-made movement tray (here’s how I made it). I like to have round-based minis to use in skirmish games like Open Combat, but also the ability to form them into a unit to use in Kings of War.

In the background, you’ll also see the hay barn and cart I got from Warbases, which I’ve now painted up.

On the subject of Warbases and movement trays, here are some of theirs I picked up recently. My home-made one is front right. The middle 3 I’ve painted with a green undercoat, prior to adding sand. The front middle one is in a more complete state, with the sand added, and a coat of green spray over it.

The ‘Infamy Mob’ tray on the left works really well for these snotlings/goblins because they’re not in a strict, organised formation. Whilst the archers in the middle line up well in the single row formation. No danger of a rogue arrow in the back there!

Movement trays from Warbases, and one of my home made efforts

And finally, the “I wont buy any more stuff until I’ve painted what I’ve got” thing didn’t quite work (does it ever?). These 6mm-scale soldiers were a recent purchase from Irregular Miniatures. Most of them fit well on existing 28mm-scale bases that I had, though the archers in the middle needed custom bases built. I did this with Fimo Clay, which comes in handy now and then.

By mid-March I want to have these little guys finished, my skeleton guard finished, and all those movement trays totally finished too. Feel free to give me stick if/when I don’t achieve it 😉

PS – What are you up to yourself, hobby-wise? Give me a shout on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook!

January 2020: Hobby Productivity Blog #2

January 23, 2020April 3, 2020 wilburLeave a comment

Progress has been fairly slow so far this month. But I’ve not actually bought any new miniatures this year, and am determined to work through a bulk of my to-do list first.

I’m trying to improve on the brush care front too. And I’m making an effort to paint from a wet pallet as much as possible.

I got myself a better light last month – an LED one. I was just painting with a normal lamp until recently and minis that looked okay in the evening, turned out to be utterly horrifying in the daylight. A familiar old story eh…

Anyway, I did some archers and knights from my Perry Miniatures boxes. The two-sword fighter and halfling are by Midlam Miniatures.

I visited the Warbases HQ this month and was lucky to come away with some freebies. Painting these up is on the to-do list, and I’ve even made a start on some of them.

In December, I bought my first Games Workshop miniatures in a couple of decades – a unit of skeletons. I’ve just started painting these. I’m creating a warband led by a plague doctor from Warmonger Miniatures. I’ve named him Isaac Bonefingers, and he’s backed up by his faithful servant, who’s an old GW ghoul.

Finally, this big guy is Demon Prince K’thul from Knightmare Miniatures. He’s primed black and ready for a drybrush (pretty much the extent of my talents at the moment). I did spend a wee bit of time on the base, using stuff from the skeleton kit to liven it up.

So that’s my workload at the moment. I’ve also had my head turned by these vikings from Victrix and I think they might be my next purchase. Still showing iron resolve and not splashing out though. Not that I’ve any money to spend anyway… been hit with a few “life” bills this month!

That’s all for now. What have you been up to? Let me know in the comments below!

A Visit to Warbases: Terrain, Miniatures, & Movement Trays

January 16, 2020January 17, 2020 wilbur1 Comment

I had the pleasure of visiting the Warbases HQ today. I’ve only recently just got back into the hobby after a long exile, and in that time I’ve been discovering great looking companies on a weekly basis.

I’d seen Warbases mentioned a lot on Twitter. It was clear that they were a very established and well respected company. What came as a complete surprise to me though, was that they’re actually based about 30mins drive from my house here in Scotland.

I reached out to them to say hello, and the owner and founder Martin very kindly invited me down to their workshop for a tour.

As someone who grew up with little access to the hobby (aside from a monthly copy of White Dwarf and a yearly trip to the GW store) it was a brilliant experience to be shown round behind the scenes of a company like Warbases.

The Warbases Tour

The workshop of this small but thriving family business was busy with activity. I saw terrain and miniatures being created, orders being fulfilled, and parcels being prepared to be sent as far afield as Australia.

As Martin showed me round the various benches, machines, and bits of kit, I learned about the work that goes into creating their superb looking products. They create miniatures (most recently, a new range of 28mm fantasy pieces under the Bifrost Miniatures banner), movement trays, scenery and terrain.

As I’ve mentioned, Warbases are a well thought of company in the hobby. They’re used by many a celebrated wargaming brand, including the legendary TooFatLardies. Looking round their stock and various products it’s not hard to see why, and I was very grateful to be sent off with a handful of free samples too!

Martin very kindly gifted me a movement tray for a unit of 16 miniatures on 25mm bases, a little hay barn and cart, and a cool wee Warbases hit counter. I look forward to painting these up.

One particular highlight of my tour was to meet the company “foreman” Scout – a beautiful and friendly 4 month old German Shepard.

Another pleasant surprise about Warbases was the value of their products. You can buy grand and intricate buildings to decorate your battlefields for £10-£15 each. They’re creating stuff in the fantasy, historical, and sci-fi genre, and in various scales, from 10mm to 28mm.

The Local Miniature Wargaming Scene

I’d always just assumed that companies like Warbases would be based down in England (Nottingham, in particular!) or further afield. However, Martin told me there were a decent amount of other companies up here that they work with. On top of that, he gave me info on a number of events coming up in the first half of 2020. Vapnartak in February in York, Carronade in Falkirk in May, and the Glasgow Games Gathering in June.

In all, it was a really enjoyable experience today, and Warbases have certainly won themselves a new lifelong customer!

Your hobby is a journey, not a destination

January 9, 2020January 9, 2020 wilburLeave a comment

If you’re like me, you’ll probably have a hobby to-do list. A list that always seems to get longer, rather than shorter.

There’s a growing pile of unpainted miniatures on your shelf. There’s new stuff you want to buy. There’s other games you want to play.

It’s easy to fall into the “it’ll all be great, just as soon as I…” mindset. But this is like chasing the metaphorical pot at the end of the rainbow.

Imagine you somehow lived forever. Had owned and painted every single miniature. Had played every game there was to play. What then?

Without sounding all touchy-feely, we often overlook what we already have, in place of looking at what should come next.

Pleasure Vs Contentment

Pleasure and contentment could initially be mistaken for being two words for the same thing.

The hobby can offer you both. But far more folks will pursue pleasure, which is temporary, as opposed to enjoying a sense of contentment, which can be permanent.

To-do lists, to-buy lists, challenges, and goal setting is all part of the fun. But if you don’t enjoy the process, then you’re missing out on a lot of what the hobby has to offer.

To be able to relax into the act of concentrating on the 2-3 minis on your painting desk. That can have tremendous value for you. Sure, there might be 250 more waiting to be painted, and another 400 that you’re planning to buy, but try simply bringing your attention back to what’s there in front of you.

When you manage to get a game in, do you look at the table and think “once I just get that extra unit bought and painted, this will be great”, or, “If I can only get those terrain pieces finished, THEN, this’ll be good fun”?

Or do you give what’s in front of you your full attention, appreciate the opportunity to play, and have an enjoyable time?

Either way, you’re still physically doing the exact same thing. But it’s a small mindset shift that can help you get the absolute most from your experience.

the to-do list — “There’s always something to be done next. And there always will be.”

Sustainable Gaming

I thoroughly enjoyed the recent conversations on sustainable gaming on the Paint All The Minis Paint Ramble Podcast.

I think it’s healthy for people to become more aware of why they’re doing what they do. What do they get out of it? This act of “looking inwards” can make you much more conscious of what you’re actually doing.

Before buying that next thing, you’re able to ask yourself “do I really need this right now?”. Will spending money adding to your lead or plastic mountain increase your long term contentedness? Sure, you’ll experience the short term pleasure of getting a new thing. But at what cost?

Few people are able to feel positive about having a huge amount of stuff to paint. It can cause disillusionment, and even anxiety in some. Why turn what should be a meditative and cathartic pastime into a chore or a slog?

Let’s face it, there’s always something to be done next. There always will be. The sooner you can make peace with that, the more value you’ll take from your overall hobby experience!

Winter 2019 Achievements: Hobby Productivity Blog #1

January 1, 2020January 1, 2020 wilburLeave a comment

A New Year is an opportunity to move forward. But I think it’s also important to look back at what you’ve achieved in the last one.

I’ve only just recently returned to the hobby. These are my tentative first steps. I managed to work on a few different projects from around September to December 2019.

I’m still trying to find my feet with the building and painting. I’ve noticed that, as a kid, I didn’t really have any fear of just splashing paint on and experimenting. Getting back to the painting desk all these years later, I’ve probably been guilty of being over cautious. That’s something I need to work on in the New Year for sure.

Anyway, I’ve been focused on building forces for 2 games I’ve gotten really into since my return – Open Combat, and Kings of War.

Both these games are in the medieval/fantasy genre, so I can pretty much use my minis in both of them too. I’d just need to stick the round base guys on square movement trays in KoW, and come up with some “counts as” stats for them.

I’m not interested in tournament or “serious” play, so I decided simply to use the KoW system to start building 2 generic armies, a “good guys” and a “bad guys”. As much as I love the KoW rules, as well as the general ethos of creators Mantic, I never really bought into their lore. I prefer to mix in my own worldbuilding endeavours with elements of the Warhammer Old World I grew up with.

Anyway, here’s the bits and pieces I’ve put together so far.

This warband of rabbits and hares are by Oathsworn Miniatures, created primarily for their game Burrows & Badgers.

This village militia are mainly made up of Midlam Miniatures, but their leader (I’ve named him Raving Rufus) is an old Citadel Miniatures Empire Flagellant.

This little warband are from Knightmare Miniatures‘ Pantheon of Chaos range. I love the aesthetic of their minis, very oldhammer-esque. I bought a good deal more but have had a lot of false starts with the paint jobs.

My greenskin ankle biters warband are predominantly Citadel snotlings from many moons ago. The standard bearer is from the Knightmare Miniatures‘ Green Skin Wars range. The little guy charming the snake came as a freebie with an order and I can’t for the life of me remember where!

The early core of my “bad guys” army. Lots of old Warhammer stuff here, Chaos Warriors, Plaguebearers, Chaos Spawn, a Champion of Nurgle, and a Beast of Nurgle. Using my greenskins here too. Note the square movement tray I built to house them in games of KoW.

For my “good guys” I bought a few boxes from Perry Miniatures. Lots of medieval French/English soldiers, ranging from mounted knights to men-at-arms and archers.

As you’ll see from the pics, I managed to get my hands on some incredible terrain too. This stuff adds a whole extra dimension to the gaming experience, and is a million miles better than anything I could hope to make myself.

And yes, my miniature painting is very much in the “rookie” stages. Most of the stuff I see posted online looks world class. It’s amazing what some folks can do with a paintbrush, but I figure they didn’t get that way overnight. 2020 is a new year and an opportunity to put more time and effort into learning, improving, and getting stuff done 🙂

Happy New Year everyone!

Best Places To Buy Miniature Wargame Terrain (All Budgets!)

December 6, 2019August 27, 2021 wilburLeave a comment

Miniature wargame terrain brings your games to life. A few well crafted scenery pieces can turn a plain old tablecloth into an immersive, blood soaked battlefield. It can transform the experience of standing round a table full of static models, to peering into a living, breathing world.

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There are many different ways to get miniature wargame terrain. Some hobbyists love to make it themselves, and can sculpt the most beautiful buildings and scenery out of items that others might seen as junk.

Making your own miniature wargame terrain can be enormously satisfying. But as I’ve talked about before, there are many different layers to our hobby. Whilst some love to craft, paint, and create, others are simply desperate to get their figures on the table and take on their next opponent.

You only have so much time to dedicate to your hobby, so use it wisely. If it’s the gaming that’s your main passion, why pour time and effort into things like building scenery? If you don’t enjoy it, you’re unlikely to create terrain pieces you’re truly happy with. Why not let the experts make this stuff for you, and spend more of your time doing what you enjoy best?

With that said, if you do opt to buy in your miniature wargame terrain, where are some places you can start looking?

Heads Up: I use some affiliate links here which means I may earn a small commission should you choose to buy through them, though at absolutely no extra cost to yourself.

Splendid Scenery Sellers, & Terrific Terrain Traders

There are loads of different (and fantastic) options out there these days, so I aim to build this list out on an ongoing basis. If you’re a miniature wargame terrain manufacturer or distributor then please get in touch if you’d like me to have a look at anything.

In the meantime, based on my own experiences so far, here are my favourite places to buy miniature wargame terrain.

Amazon Miniature Wargame Terrain

You can buy almost anything on Amazon these days – and that includes top notch miniature wargame terrain. You’ll find anything from war-torn rubble and dungeon tiles, to creepy mausoleum and cemetery layouts, and miniature villages. Necromunda and Kill Team players will love this industrial multi-level platform, and ruined building.

medieval fishing village on etsy — *A medieval fishing village, available on Etsy*

Etsy Miniature Wargame Terrain

Etsy is by far the most diverse and varied miniature wargame terrain marketplace I’ve come across. No matter what games you play, you’ll find building and scenery pieces that take your tabletop to the next level. I thought this platform was worthy of an article in its own right, so I decided to put together a roundup of my favourite Etsy wargaming terrain pieces for D&D, 40k, and Warhammer.

Miniature wargame terrain from GameMat — *My medieval/fantasy terrain, by GameMat*

GameMat.eu

GameMat are my absolute favourite to-date. I’ve picked up their Medieval Houses Set and Medieval Castle Set, along with some scatter terrain and a double sided rubber gaming mat from them. Their site is a treasure trove of miniature wargame terrain. I could spend my life savings here, if I had any.

Their resin terrain is all pre-painted too, so they’re table-ready right out of the box!

Mantic

Mantic are a company I soon discovered following my return to the hobby. Their gaming rules and general ethos quickly won me over, and Kings of War is one of my favourite games of all time.

Mantic are a multi-talented company who create their own range of terrain too. You’ll find stuff for all genres right there, but they particularly seem to excel on the “dungeon bash” front!

Games Workshop

The big dog themselves have always dabbled in terrain, though are obviously a lot more famous for their games and miniatures.

There’s some incredible miniature wargame terrain for sale on their site these days. Their stuff ranges from fantasy to the futuristic, and many pieces will work well in either setting.

I particularly love the look of the environment sets for Warcry.

Another great thing about the GW range too, is that they’re always so easy to assemble!

Goblin Gaming

Goblin Gaming are actually a distributor, rather than a creator. They’ve got an incredible amount of miniature wargame terrain stocked, from historical and fantasy, to modern and sci-fi. They also stock some lovely gaming mats to lay it all out on.

You’ll find Games Workshop, Mantic, and GameMat stuff over there. In fact, that’s how I initially discovered the medieval/fantasy terrain by GameMat in the first place.

28mm Buildings — *Just some of the buildings you can buy from Warbases*

Warbases

On a shoestring budget? Look no further than Warbases.

They make MDF terrain for 10mm up to 28mm scale. You’ll find stuff for virtually any setting, from dungeons and sci-fi tunnels, to Napoleonic and Wild West.

MDF terrain does take a bit more work to get it table-ready. But the cost is super low, so you can buy much more of it. You can pick up some great looking pieces from Warbases for less than £10!

If you’re going down this route, I’d advise starting with similar, smaller pieces, before jumping in to building houses and strongholds.

Best Places To Buy Miniature Wargame Terrain

I realise I’ll barely be scratching the surface just yet. Go easy on me, I’ve only just got back into the hobby 🙂

These are the folks who’ve jumped out to me so far, but I want to build this roundup out over time to make it comprehensive. As I mentioned before, if you’re a miniature wargame terrain manufacturer or distributor then please get in touch if you’d like me to have a look at anything.

And if you’re a mere hobbyist like me who’s looking to create an immersive tabletop battlefield, I hope this has been useful and given you more than a few options. Just don’t go and blow your rent money on miniature wargame terrain. A fortified city of small plastic houses are no use to you if you get chucked out your actual house 😉

Finally… be sure to check out the Tabletop Miniature Hobby Podcast for your audio content fix!

From Drunken Weasels to Mole Friars: The Loveable Charm of Oathsworn Miniatures

November 27, 2019November 28, 2019 wilburLeave a comment

Oathsworn Miniatures are a company who produce wonderful anthropomorphic animal characters. These are sculpted predominantly for their flagship game Burrows & Badgers, but they fit nicely into any game with a fantasy setting. The miniatures work particularly well for skirmish games – I’m currently painting up a rabbit and hare warband for Open Combat.

In my post about recently returning to the tabletop miniature hobby, I talked about only being aware of Citadel Miniatures back in the day. And as much as I’m still fond of the Games Workshop range, it’s been a joy to discover companies like Oathsworn.

There’s a real charm to these little creatures. They have everything from Raven Mages and Shrew Pirates, to Mouse Burglars and Wildcat Hustlers.

As a kid, I was a massive fan of Brian Jacques’ Redwall novels, and the Oathsworn range reminds me a lot of that legendary series.

The company also has a great looking range of buildings and scenery available on their site. I’m a lover of tabletop terrain, and will definitely be looking to pick up some of this kit myself.

Furry Fanbase

Oathsworn Miniatures is based in the North East of England, and was started in 2013 by professional sculptors Michael and Jo Lovejoy. They initially launched the Burrows & Badgers range via Kickstarter in 2015. Recently, they returned to the platform securing over £36,000 to fund a new range of miniatures, including mice, cats, hares, ferrets, dogs.

The latest Kickstarter had 559 backers, and the Oathsworn Miniatures Facebook page has over 3000 fans. It’s clear to see that they’ve build a dedicated and enthusiastic fanbase around their beautiful sculpts. That’s not at all surprising, and I expect they’ll continue to grow from strength to strength.

Oathsworn Miniatures

I’ve not had the opportunity to dive into the ruleset of Burrows & Badgers yet, but it’s definitely on my radar.

As I’ve said already though, the miniatures can work in virtually any fantasy game setting. And building a warband of little animalfolk is a lot of fun.

If you’re purely into the painting and collecting too, then I’d urge you to treat yourself to a handful of Oathsworn miniatures. I’m not a confident or experienced painter, but I’ve been happy with what I’ve achieved so far with my hare and rabbit warriors. They’re extremely satisfying to paint, and I’ll certainly be getting more in the near future!

Castle Terrain for Your Medieval and Fantasy Tabletop Battles

November 22, 2019April 20, 2021 wilburLeave a comment

My first ever piece of castle terrain was the plastic tower from the game Battle Masters. I still have it too. It was recently dug out of a box in the attic following my return to the miniature wargaming hobby.

Castles, forts, and strongholds have always given me a sense of awe when I see them on a tabletop. There’s just something about them that really brings a miniature battlefield to life.

You could lay out your game with two largely unpainted forces and a smattering of home made scenery, then add some castle terrain and the whole setting will look fantastic.

Castle terrain from GameMat — *Sorry lads, but it’s a private function and you’re not coming in.*

The Search for Castle Terrain

The Battle Masters tower is still a fine addition to my games of Kings of War and Open Combat.

But it’s more of an outpost than a fully fledged “castle”.

It was on a recent visit to Bamburgh Castle that I decided I needed a miniature fortification in my life. Something to tell a story about. To defend. To attack. To build a world around.

I’m a member of a few different online communities full of disgustingly talented hobbyists. Not only is every painted miniature I see a masterpiece, these folks can really build scenery too.

After witnessing a couple of people building scratch-built pieces of castle terrain, I toyed with the idea of having a go myself.

But I’ve written recently about terrain creation and how I don’t feel it’s the most effective use of my time.

I’ve come to realise that I’d rather take the hit financially, and have something of superb quality, instantly. The alternative, of course, is that I could build something for almost nothing, but it’d take me a long time, and the quality would be average at best.

Castle terrain by GameMat — *My GameMat terrain*

Miniature Medieval Worlds

I had recently invested in this glorious Medieval Houses Set from GameMat.eu.

This kit was intricately crafted and robust. It was hand painted, right out of the box.

Returning once again to the GameMat website, I unsurprisingly found the perfect castle terrain in the form of their Medieval Castle Set.

Just like the houses set, these buildings are of a quality that I never could dream of making myself. I couldn’t wait to get them on the tabletop. You’ll have a glimpse of how it looks from the photos I’ve added in here – but they barely do the terrain justice.

What’s in the Box?

You can pick up GameMat’s spectacular castle terrain for 105,00 €. Here’s what you’ll get…

1x Gate. Measures: (LxWxH):in cm 14x5x14.5 (in inches: 5.5x2x6)
4x Wall. Measures: in cm 14x5x14.5 (in inches: 5.5x2x6)
2x Tower. Measures:4x Wall. Measures: in cm 10x10x24 (in inches: 4x4x10)
2x Ruined Tower. Measures: in cm 10x10x24 (in inches: 4x4x10)

As I’ve said, it’s all pre-painted to the highest standard too. The terrain is ready for the table the minute it arrives.

It can be set up in any way you like, so you can create an enclosed fortification, use it to split the battlefield, or have it running along the side as more of a backdrop.

On thing’s for sure though. With all this magnificent terrain now at my disposal, I’ll really need to up my miniature painting game!

Next Up – if you’re looking for more terrain options, be sure to check out these handy guides…

In Bed With: CryinMo of Tabletop Alchemy

November 12, 2019November 12, 2019 wilburLeave a comment

A Q&A with CryinMo of Tabletop Alchemy

My online name is CryinMo, my IRL name is Ignatius Fischer, I’m a filmmaker, video producer and a hobby podcaster. I used to play Minecraft a lot and I’ve just returned to all the tabletop gaming hobbies I used to do 25 years ago.

CryinMo

What originally brought you into the hobby?

All right, let’s see … so I got into Dungeons and Dragons when I was 16. I don’t remember how I came to buy this particular book, but my first real introduction to the fantasy genre was Dragons of Autumn Twilight, the first book in the original Dragonlance trilogy, and I bought it one day in a Waldenbooks in my city mall.

I think ultimately my first introduction to the fantasy genre was the Disney movie Peter Pan, which I saw when I was 5, even before Star Wars. And later on I really enjoyed the Disney movie Robin Hood. When I was 9 or 10, my parents read us kids The Hobbit, but I remember just sort of tuning out lol, it did nothing for me, really.

It was definitely picking up that first Dragonlance book that hooked me into the sword-and-sorcery arena. Soon after that I learned that one of the guys I worked with at a movie theater was running a game of D&D and I asked if I could play and that was it, I was sold on the whole D&D thing.

I spent all my cash on D&D rule books which were relatively difficult to get, there was only one store in the mall that sold them and the selection was thin. After playing D&D for a couple years, I enlisted in the Army for 2.5 years and travelled to Germany where I ran games for fellow troops.

When I returned to the US I ended up living in an apartment down the street from a full-service genuine hobby store. It was there that I learned about miniatures and other games. That’s how I got into Warhammer and painting miniatures.

I actually painted miniatures first for D&D and then for Shadowrun, which we played for a year straight, pretty fun. Then came Warhammer and 40k and Epic and Blood Bowl and all that stuff.

If you had to pick between collecting/painting and gaming, which one would you choose, and why?

I would 100% select collecting/painting over gaming. The simple fact is that even though I like and/or want to game as much as I can, I have only played probably 5 game sessions in the last 2 years, those being D&D and Frostgrave.

I love painting and collecting miniatures and I do so with the idea that I’ll use them in multiple types of games whenever I can, but the “hobby” side of gaming is always available to me and the “gaming” side of gaming occurs at a very low frequency. And even if game sessions were more prevalent, even if they were once a week or twice a month, that means there’s still a ton of time on the hobby side anyway.

Fantasy, sci-fi, or historical? What’s your preferred gaming sandbox?

Fantasy by far. That’s not to say sci-fi isn’t on my radar or that I don’t like it, I just sort of lean more toward fantasy. Like I mentioned, I played Shadowrun for a full year (I know playing something for a year is probably a low bar for most of your audience, but for me that was a significant run!), but of course there are fantasy elements in Shadowrun.

Genre-mixing usually turns me off but for whatever reason Shadowrun 1st edition just worked for me. But my first love is D&D, after that I enjoy skirmish games set in fantasy realms, especially Frostgrave, which I really like because of its production value (the book designs, writing, rule set, etc) and its miniature-agnostic approach.

I haven’t played any of the current GW rule sets even though I have a lot of their miniatures.

Historical does nothing to capture my interest or curiosity – that’s been true of my entire reading hobby from childhood to now, I’d much rather watch or read a piece of fiction than a documentary. Of course there are amazing documentaries and historical books out there and I enjoy those when I come across them! It’s just that my attention is grabbed, for whatever reason, by fiction first.

Do you prefer to make your own terrain, or buy pre-made stuff?

I make my own terrain and this is an interesting thing – I don’t hardly do any miniature conversions, but if I purchase any terrain, which is a rare occurrence, I automatically assume I’m going to convert it or build it in addition to some custom terrain.

Prefab terrain I think gets real expensive real fast and that’s what keeps me away from that, although this is all considering only the fantasy genre. I think if I were into sci-fi more, like Necromunda or Kill Team, building terrain for urban settings is probably way more time consuming than stuff I do for fantasy-based or non-urban based boards. Purchasing terrain for that would become more cost-effective.

Do you have a favourite miniature wargame that you can play through in an hour or less?

Currently Frostgrave is my favorite and I’m about to start playing Blood Bowl again after 25 years away from it. I think Blood Bowl, while not necessarily a “war-game” is the fastest miniature-based game that I own.

I think Warhammer Underworlds is supposed to be even faster, match-wise, but while I have collected figures from that game, I don’t own the rule sets for it.

I’m also about to start playing Rangers of Shadow Deep in solo format and I’m very curious to see how that goes.

What are 3 tabletop, miniature, or hobby related podcasts you enjoy?

I’m a huge fan of the Paint All The Minis Paint Ramble (as if that isn’t obvious from my own podcast lol) and I also really enjoy Dungeon Master of None.

I’m gonna cheat and call out two podcasts that I’ve just recently discovered as a tie for the third choice: Trapped Under Plastic and The Havoc Cast. I’m actually really jealous of The Havoc Cast’s format and if I had known of it before starting my own, I would definitely have been inspired by it.

Which God of Chaos would you serve, and why?

So I’m not a Warhammer lore guy, and while I know who the four chaos gods are (I think there’s four lol), I would not be able to choose among them.

To answer this question, I might like to say that I would join the House of Black and White from Game of Thrones, but to be honest, there’s probably a D&D deity that would fit my bill or life philosophy best. Again, I don’t know much about the pantheons out there, but I would like to follow the footsteps of some sort of zen master who walks at twilight under the gaze of both the moon and the sun and practices some sort of balancing with universe.

I suppose if I were a Jedi, I would definitely be a part of the Gray Side. Maybe the Light Gray Side. (I’m sure I’ve angered all the Star Wars fans out there, just chalk me up as a heathen, I’m fine with that – big grin)!

You’re being evacuated to a space colony and can only take 3 games with you. What are they?

Minecraft. Frostgrave. Blood Bowl.

Do you have an outright favourite army or faction out of all the gaming universes?

It would be practically impossible for me to choose a “favourite faction”. I really like the aesthetics of skeletons and vampires (definitely not zombies), I like elves a lot and I like magic. I like half-orcs and half-elves. Hybrids, the way of the future.

I also like orcs and goblins. And humans. It’s probably easier to select a few factions that I dislike!

I don’t care for the Tyranids (this is nothing against folks who do, these are just my things I don’t wanna paint), I don’t care for most Khorne stuff or the new Ossiarch things, and while I like Plague Marines, pretty much everything else Nurgle is too gross for to want to paint ’em, lol. I don’t even really like Space Marines when looking at the lists of what I want to paint. Although I have two sprues of (I think) some Infiltrators I am actually looking forward to painting one day as a palette cleanser between fantasy stuff.

Is there a specific miniature wargame you tend to dig out when introducing a friend to the hobby for the very first time?

To be honest, the only miniature war-game I’ve introduced to anyone so far has been Frostgrave. And I would probably use that as an intro to new players. Really, D&D can be a good game to intro people to miniatures as well.

Tell us where we can find you online, and check out what you do.

You can find me and my podcast, Tabletop Alchemy, at CryinMo.com, where people can find links to podcast apps, my Facebook and Instagram, my Youtube, etc.

Huge thanks to CryinMo for taking part! If you’re interested in doing a Q&A on the site in future, contact us.