Terrain pieces and recycling

This will be a slightly odd post, all I'll be posting has been seen on the blog before, but very long ago and in different shape. 

This is a collection of terrain pieces or tabletop accessories that I put together with previously discarded items or broken models. As some might remember, I moved back to Italy last summer and, although the move was fairly smooth, there were some casualties.

Whatever could be salvaged in some way was repurposed and turned into terrain pieces. I also have more old banners from our very early days as hobbyists that became baggage train decors and a few very very old fences that my brother built in the early 90s that after laying around and broken for over thirty years, were finally restored and painted, the principle being that anything that involved some work should not be wasted and turned into tabletop usable items.

Following you can see the eclectic mix of pieces that I repaired and painted for a whole different set of settings and games.

One of the casualties of the move, one of my beloved three winter Panzer IVs. The turret was caved in, it lost a few roadwheels and the tracks were broken in a couple spots, it was definitely not fixable, so I decided to put a ton of snow on it and use it as a piece of terrain in a winter setting of WWII.

 

These are the fences that IlVJ built circa 1993, there were actually more, but after traveling through different boxes, shelves and cabinets, this is what I could salvage. I based them and gave them a quick paintjob and they are ready for the table.

These are the banners from the first incarnation of my dwarf army, built between 1989 and the end of the 90s. Around 2000 I decided to strip them all down and repaint them (I still have 2 units and a catapult to complete). These were the banners that proudly flew over some of the units, now they will serve as a reminder of the old glories of Warhammer third edition on the background of future battles.

This was a 3D printed Daedalus industrial mech that someone from my Canadian gaming group printed for me for a campaign, its loading arm and a leg snapped during the shipping, it now sits as a wreck on the field of battle.

All these were completed on the side, while painting other stuff, so just came along as I was doing something else.

I enjoy giving a second life to little bits and stuff that would otherwise end up in the garbage, with a bit of work anything can be reused and serve a new purpose.

Terrain pieces

 This has been a slightly unproductive week, I've been busy with other stuff and I got stuck on restoring a model that is almost done and you will see next week that took quite a bit of time.

What I have this week is a set of hedges that come form some boardgame, I can't remember which (maybe Battlemasters?). They are basically 2D pieces with some shallow details, it took literally no time to finish them, not the greatest, but they are decent enough and, as per my usual policy, anything with some paint on is worth of a gaming table, so they'll add to the terrain collection which is never big enough.

The second thing I'm posting is an old banner that used to be IlVJ's wood elf army standard. When he stripped that army, we saved it, mostly out of a nostalgic feel and now, after many years, I had the idea to put it on a base with some rocks and use it in a baggage train setup (if we'll ever use one in a game).

Following this I am currently doing the same with the banners from the first incarnation of my dwarf army, it is a small thing, but brings my memory back to 30+ years ago when we were young and had that kind of enthusiasm that gets lost (or better changes) over the years.

Field hedges. 28mm, unknown manufacturer, painted by Ginzio.

Wood elf army standard. 28mm, built and painted by IlVJ in the mid 90s

Japanese terrain

 This week I have three small pieces of Japanese themed terrain.

They were given to me by IlVJ who got them cheaply in Japan, they are rubbery plastic pre painted collectibles that are very popular there.

I spray painted them with a clear varnish, then gave them an oil wash and finally drybrushed them. The result is pretty good and after basing they look good on the tabletop.

I plan to use them with my Samurai in 1/72 scale, or with the few 28mm Rpg pieces I have, I'm not too worried about the scale, on the table they will just do.

Temple and stone lanters. unknown scale, unknown manufacturer, painted by Ginzio

Dungeon furniture

 Hello everyone, this is the third and last post about the stuff I got from my friend Luca.

It is a beautiful selection of dungeon furniture from Metal Magic. I remember looking at this collection on the catalogue in the 90s and thinking I didn't have enough money for dungeon furniture, what little I had had to go into "soldiers" to build armies.

Now I was lucky enough to receive all this as a gift, so I gave everything a quick touch up and I'm going to use if in my next D&D session.

Treasure chests and piles. 28mm, Metal Magic, refurbished by Ginzio

Bed and weapon rack. 28mm, Metal Magic, refurbished by Ginzio

Potions rack and chest. 28mm, Metal Magic, refurbished by Ginzio

Tables and chairs. 28mm, Metal Magic, refurbished by Ginzio

Metal trapdoor and well. 28mm, Metal Magic, refurbished by Ginzio

Trapdoors and floor grate. 28mm, Metal Magic, refurbished by Ginzio

A few poieces of sci-fi terrain

These are a few pieces of sci-fi terrain I recently finished.

The Battletech buildings are made with orange juice bottle caps, I saw some similar ones online somewhere and it seemed such good idea, they took very little work and are very nice.

The pallets are from some note pads that a freight company gave us at work as promotional material, I just stuck some pipes and crates on them and gave them a quick paint job, pretty nice result.

Buildings for Battletech. 1/285, scratch built and painted by Ginzio

Pallets with crates. 28mm, scratch built and painted by Ginzio

 

Battletech terrain pieces/Elementi scenici per Battletech

 These are a trio of terrain pieces I made for Battletech, as it is easy to see, they are deodorant containers I converted to make them look like terraforming pylons.

The idea is to use decals and weathering to make them look like they have been on the planet for a couple of centuries at least and, their job done, are left to rust uselessly.

I tried a sponge chipping technique for the first time, instead of just paint the chipping, I'm not familiar with this technique, but I have to say I'm not super satisfied with the result, but for some quick terrain pieces it's totally fine.

Un tris di elementi scenici che ho fatto per Battletech, com'e' facile notare, sono dei contenitori di deodorante che ho convertito per rappresentare dei piloni di terraformazione.

L'idea e' di usare decalcomanie e invecchiamento per dare loro un aspetto abbandonato, come se, compiuto il loro dovere, siano stati abbandonati ad arrugginire inutilmente.

Ho provato la tecnica della spugna per scrostare per la prima volta, invece che dipingere le scrostature come al solito, non sono pratico di questa tecnica, il risultato non mi ha soddisfatto completamente, ma per dei rapidi elementi scenici va benissimo.

Terraforming pylons with detail inserts/Piloni di terraformazione con inserti di dettaglio. 1/285, converted and painted by Ginzio 

Ruined walls/Muri diroccati

 This week I only have a few pieces of terrain. A bunch of ruined walls that my friend Cyrus build, but never got around to finish.

We have recently started a loose campaign with Chaos Warbands using WFB 3rd edition Realm of Chaos rules, so I painted these walls to have more terrain for the games, you can see them used in my Old School Wargaming blog.

They are simple pieces of terrain, Cyrus actually cut individual bricks and glued them together, I based and painted them, adding some vegetation for colour.

Questa settimana ho solo alcuni elementi scenici. Una serie di muri diroccati che il mio amico Cyrus ha costruito, ma non ha mai dipinto.

Abbiamo recentemente incominciato una campagna leggera con le Warbands del Caos usando le regole di Warhammer terza edizione e di Realm of Chaos, quindi ho dipinto questi muretti per avere piu' elementi per il tavolo, potete vedere alcune foto delle partite sul mio blog Old School Wargaming.

Sono dei pezzi abbastanza semplici, Cyrus ha tagliato mattoni individuali e li ha incollati assieme per fare dei muri, io ho aggiunto dei piedistalli, li ho dipinti e aggiunto della vegetaione per un po' di colore.

Ruined walls/Muri diroccati. 28mm, Build by Cyrus, painted by Ginzio

WWII terrains/Elementi scenici per la Seconda guerra mondiale

 Just a few pieces of terrain I finished recently, the idea is to mount the bridge and check point on a base with a chunk of river when I finally get around to make one.

Alcuni elementi scenici che ho finito di recente, l'idea e' di montare il ponte ed il posto di blocco su una base con una parte di fiume, quando finalmente midecidero' a farne uno.

Bridge and check point/Ponte e posto di blocco. 1/76, Fujimi, painted by Ginzio

House/Casa. 1/76, Fujimi, painted by Ginzio

Bridge check point and building/Ponte con posto di blocco ed edicifio

Sci-fi Terrain/Terreni di fantascienza

 These are some sci-fi terrain I recently painted, the ammo dump is from Games Workshop, the missile silo is from Kriomek with some GW bits added, the third one is (quite obviously) an old computer mouse with some tank bits glued on, it looks pretty bad, but I figured it is a cheap piece of terrain that, mixed with other terrain pieces should do the job.

The last few pieces are just some chunks of plastic tubing glued to spare bases from other kits, same principle, just something quick and cheap to throw on the table.

Questi sono alcuni pezzi di terreno sci-fi che ho dipinto di recente, le munizioni sono della Games Workshop, il silo missilistico e' della Kriomek con alcuni bitz della GW ed il terzo e' (ovviamente) un vecchio mouse con alcuni pezzi di modellini, e' abbastanza brutto, ma e' un pezzo in piu' da mettere sul tavolo e si mimetizza abbastanza bene.

Gli ultimi sono solo dei pezzi di tubi di plastica incollati su dei piedistalli avanzati da altri kit, nulla di che', neanche come pittura, ma il principio e' sempre lo stesso, giusto per avere qualcosa da mettere sul tavolo.

Ammo dump/Deposito munizioni. 28mm, Citadel, painted by Ginzio

Missile silo/Silos missilistico. 28mm, Kriomek, paitned by Ginzio

Fuel silo/Silos carburante. Recicled computer mouse, painted by Ginzio

Scatter terrain/Terreni misti

Barricades/Barricate. 28mm, painted by Ginzio

A few terrain pieces/Alcuni elementi scenici

 These are a few terrain elements that I quickly put togehter and painted recently. I still don't have the space for a permanent table, but I have a mat that I can use on a big kitchen table, so I manage a few games here and there, therefore it makes sense to slowly build up on terrain.

Questi sono alcuni elementi scenici che ho velocemente assemblato e dipinto di recente. Non ho ancora lo spazio per un tavolo da gioco permanente, ma ho un tappeto che posso stendere sul tavolo della cucina per una partita ogni tanto, quindi ha senso avere alcuni elementi da metterci sopra.

WWII North African ruined building/Edificio diroccato nordafricano della Seconda guerra mondiale. 1/72, Matchbox, painted by Ginzio

Science fiction barricades/Barricate per giochi di fantascienza. 28mm, scratch built and painted by Ginzio

A few new terrain pieces and preparation/Alcuni nuovi pezzi scenici e preparativi

Canadian fall is here, temperatures are close to 0C and it becomes harder and harder to prime and use spray cans outside, so I'm almost done with prepping for winter.

I got about 250/300 models ready for painting, e.i. cleaned, assembled and primed. This includes mostly historical, a few rpg large mosnters and adventurers, about 55 old Star Wars Grenadier models a good bunch of 1/72 WWII infantry and tanks and very few (amout a dozen) Battletech Mechs.

I think I'm good until march or april of 2021, I probably prepared too many miniatures, but as usual, I don't want to risk running out of stuff to paint. 

This also helps me to stay focused and not start other projects until these figures are all done.

While preparing all this stuff, I only manage to paint very little, so I threw together a few terrain pieces that didn't require too much work to complete.

L'autunno canadese e' giunto, le temperature sono vicine allo 0 e diventa difficile primerare modelli fuori casa con bombole e aerografo, quindi mi sono mosso in temopo e ho quasi finito i preparativi per l'inverno.

Ho preparato circa 250/300 miniature, lavate, limate, assemblate e primerate. L'elenco include principalmente pezzi storici, alcuni per GDR, mostri ed avventurieri, circe 55 vecchi pezzi di Gureer Stellari della Grenadier, un buon numero di truppe della seconda guerra mondiale in 1/72 e giusto una dozzina di mech per Battletech.

P3enso di essere a posto fino almeno a  marzo/aprile del 2021, forse ho preparato troppa roba, ma almeno non rischio di rimanere senza niente da dipingere e questo metodo mi permette anche di rimanere concentrato so quello che ho pronto e non incominciare altri progetti finche' non ho finito tutto.

Mentre preparavo tutte queste cose, non sono riuscito a dipingere molto, giusto qualche pezzo di terreno che non richiedeva troppo lavoro.

A destroyed Panzer IV in the desert of North Africa/Un Panzer IV distrutto nel deserto del Nord Africa.

1/72, unknown manufacturer, "restored" by Ginzio

Fantasy or Sci-fi jungle plants/Piante della giungle fantasy o fantascientifiche. 28mm, unknown manufacturer, modelled by Ginzio