Wargames Terrain Workshop

Jungle Bases from Wargames Terrain Workshop

As you saw in my Sculpting Jungle Bases for the Maya post, I have been putting together jungle terrain for the coastal area of the Yucatan. These are for my Feudal Patrol^TM game of the Battle of Centla using my Civilizations Collide supplement. To recap the battle history:

The scenario involves a beach area with a jungle nearby and a Maya city. The Conquistadors start on the beach and try to move inland. You can see a description of the game in my recent TotalCon 37 recap post. Below is a set up of the battle – note the seven printed green card stock areas at the juncture between the jungle and the beach near the ends of the jungle paths. These areas I described as being easy to cross (no movement penalty) but providing a degree of concealment and cover – basically a scrub-type area.

I used these card stock pieces in lieu of the 7 scatter terrain jungle bases that I ordered from our blogger friend Dave Stone of Wargames Terrain Workshop in the UK back at the turn of the year. I even sized my card stock pieces to match the ones that I ordered from Dave.

Dave built them post-haste – and sent them to me via the Royal Mail on January 11th – so we both thought I’d get them in time to prepare for the February 23rd TotalCon37 convention. Unfortunately, a combination of a cyber attack on the Royal Mail and labor strikes in the UK combined and conspired to keep them from arriving at my home until Wednesday February 22nd – one day before the convention. As I wanted to detail them for the game, and I did not have enough time to give them the justice I wanted with less than a day’s preparation, I decided to work on them after TotalCon 37 so that they’d be ready for Cold Wars. I want to say that Dave was great in following up with me and this situation was definitely not his fault. The seven bases that I bought were as follows:

2 of the Scatter Scenery – Jungle Base (large), Dimensions: 11.25″ Length x 5.9″ Width x 0.2″ Depth; (metric) 285mm L x 150mm W x 5mm D
2 of the Scatter Scenery – Jungle Base (Medium), Dimensions: 7.9″ Length x 6.3″ Width x 0.2″ Depth; (metric) 200mm L x 160mm W x 5mm D
3 of the Scatter Scenery – Jungle Base (Small), Dimensions: 6.5″ Length x 5.33″ Width x 0.2″ Depth; (metric) 165mm L x 135mm W x 5mm D

I started them on February 27th and worked on them alongside some Winkie cavalry (that I will post about next). All of the 7 bases came unpainted with a very generous supply of different plastic foliage on sprues – which allowed me to customize them. The bases themselves were resin with multiple small conical prongs with which to attach the plants. Dave recommended attaching them with green stuff – but I went with Apoxie Sculpt as I had some mixed already for a box handle I needed to repair.

The first steps were to wash the resin and the foliage so that paints and washes would adhere properly.

Washing the plastic foliage and the bases.

Two of the washed resin bases showing the prongs, right before priming – on the right!

I primed the bases green-brown and let them dry overnight. I list all the paints and other materials at the end of the blog for those interested in that type of information.

Five of the seven bases primed and drying.

Then, I then mocked out where I would apply the foliage with 1.25″ washers. When I was happy, I applied the foliage with Apoxie Sculpt to 5 of the bases and let that cure overnight. Why five and not seven? Well, as I said, I was also working on Winkie cavalry, and two of the primed bases were hiding under a paper towel and I missed them.

Small base with foliage affixed with Apoxie Sculpt.

The 5 non-missing bases with the foliage attached as above – plus the extra prongs have been removed down to the base level.

The next day, the Apoxie Sculpt had cured, I did a quick inventory and I was concerned that I did not buy enough bases! After finding the hidden two, I decided that I did not have the luxury of time to wait another day to wait for Apoxie Sculpt to cure on these last two – so I went with hot glue – which worked great and instantly. I then painted over the Apoxie Sculpt and glue with a couple of green craft paints. Next, I applied three successive green hobby washes to the foliage, and let that dry. Then I cut off the remaining prongs, and applied brown texture paint over the places where the prongs had been removed.

The 7 bases are shown here after I added the brown texture paint over the removed prong locations. These are shown over the card stock stand-ins I used at TotalCon 37 – so size-wise I was pretty close. Note that the washes on the foliage have lessened the plastic look significantly.

At this point I moved on to adding multiple pigments (like 7!). My goal was to blend the edges to look as if they bordered a beach, with a more jungle-like ground surface towards the centers of the bases. I added the 7 pigments, and fixed them with Vallejo thinner and let them dry.

I was not satisfied with the first go with the pigments. I felt that the blends could be better – especially the transition from the beach areas inward. I also was not happy with the beach-bordering areas themselves. With that, I gave it a second attempt to address the shortcomings. That did address the issues – and then I added some scatter leaves and some laser cut low lying Gamers Grass plants that I bought from Things from the Basement at TotalCon – plus some Shadow’s Edge Miniatures jungle tufts.

I was pretty happy with the final products seen below.

The seven bases completed. Note the added low-lying plants and tufts.

Close up of a medium base with a conquistador halberdier and an “underdressed” Maya novice for scale. For the Maya’s sake, let’s hope there are very few thorns.

I can see using these bases for many other games – and I believe that they work well with my jungle bases with the palm trees. As to now storing and transporting them – I modified a 32-liter Really Useful Box with hot glue and posterboard/foam board into a three-level “apartment” Jungle Box. The bottom level is lined with adhesive magnetic sheets (my jungle bases with the palm trees have steel washers embedded underneath). The jungle paths also fit in here rolled up with the trees being upright. The next two levels fit the seven bases described here – four on one, and three on another. Both levels are made of posterboard and are resting on posterboard pieces that I hot-glued to the walls of the box. I did need to make the level that is immediately above the trees into three pieces so that I could get it by the supports of the top level (which is in one piece). No levels will crush any foliage (thankfully). Voila – a Jungle Box ready for Cold Wars transport!

The top level – rests on one solid piece of foam board.

Side view of the Jungle Box showing the three levels.

I hope this was useful to those of you considering similar projects. I do highly recommend Dave Stone’s stuff – I also previously shared his Aztec Style Serpent Statues that have been very popular at my games. Check him out!

My next post will be coming (hopefully) somewhat quickly as I need to finish preparations and packing up for Cold Wars. It will show my Winkie Zilk-riding cavalry – stay tuned! For my fellow bloggers, I’m trying to keep up with you, and know that I always read your posts and try to give you feedback. This month is, however, nuts, so I might be a bit tardy, mea culpa. As always, much thanks for taking a look – and let me know what you think!

Miscellaneous details and references for those interested in that sort of thing:

For all of my previous posts on games, units, and other projects for my 16th Century Spanish Conquest supplement for Feudal Patrol™ – “Civilizations Collide” – please see this page.

PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, SHADES, WASHES, PIGMENTS, FLOCKING, GLUES AND MORE THAT I USED ON THESE JUNGLE BASES:

2 of the Scatter Scenery – Jungle Base (large), Dimensions: 11.25″ Length x 5.9″ Width x 0.2″ Depth; (metric) 285mm L x 150mm W x 5mm D
2 of the Scatter Scenery – Jungle Base (Medium), Dimensions: 7.9″ Length x 6.3″ Width x 0.2″ Depth; (metric) 200mm L x 160mm W x 5mm D
3 of the Scatter Scenery – Jungle Base (Small), Dimensions: 6.5″ Length x 5.33″ Width x 0.2″ Depth; (metric) 165mm L x 135mm W x 5mm D
Vallejo Primer “German Green Brown”
Apoxie Sculpt
Hot Glue
Americana “Apple Green Satin”
Americana “Hauser Light Green”
Coelia Greenshade (wash)
Poster tack
Biel-Tan Green (wash)
Hexwraith Flame (as a wash)
Vallejo “Earth Texture Acrylics”
Vallejo “Desert Dust” (pigment)
Vallejo “Light Yellow Ochre” (pigment)
Vallejo “Dark Yellow Ochre” (pigment)
Vallejo “Natural Umber” (pigment)
Vallejo “Burnt Umber” (pigment)
Vallejo “Faded Olive Green” (pigment)
Vallejo “Green Earth” (pigment)
Vallejo “Airbrush Thinner”
Shadow’s Edge Miniatures “12mm Jungle Tufts”
Gamers Grass “Laser cut plants – Elephant’s Ear”
Gamers Grass “Laser cut plants – Black Magic Taro”
Elmer’s PVA Glue
4-Ground TSW23 “Loose Foliage – Brown Leaves”
4-Ground TSW22 “Loose Foliage – Green Leaves”

Aztec Serpent Statues

When it comes to building Aztec scenery in a city – I have found symmetry to be a very important consideration both in regards to your design scheme and placement of terrain pieces. Over the last couple of years, I also have found it difficult to find appropriate pieces that fit what I am attempting to build and are not either ruins or priced way too high to consider buying.

In December, I was speaking with Dave Stone of Wargames Sculptors Blog on Zoom (he is in the UK). I had wanted to have a chat with him and we set up something. I knew he had a hobby business, but really I thought he was interesting and someone I’d like to chat with over Zoom. We had a nice talk.

Over the time we spoke, the subject of war canoes came up – and Dave did have an African hollowed out canoe for purchase on his website. After we spoke, he was kind enough to cast one for me to see if it would work, and sadly it was too small. But, in his terrain pieces he did have “Aztec Style Serpent Statues” that looked pretty cool – so I ordered 4 – and Dave cast them up and kindly threw in the canoe (which you can see in my last post here).

The statues went for £6 each. They are resin, and scaled for 28mm gaming. I got the four in December, just in time for (ironically) Dave Stone’s “Paint What You Got” painting challenge (which you should join if interested). Why four – well, yes, this was for that symmetry I mentioned! I also got some LITKO 60mm bases for them as well as I thought they needed them – both for aesthetics and to reduce the chances that they’d get knocked over on the tabletop as they are pretty massive for resin pieces. I washed them and scrubbed them to prepare the statues for priming. They were excellent casts, with a few areas that needed some green stuff in a few bubble holes, but certainly much less than one might expect to find. One was a little lighter color than the other three, but that didn’t matter at all.

I decided that I needed to walk a fine line with these as they are supposed to be statues, and not giant monsters. They had bands on them that could be made of gold, as well as a “skull collection nook” on top that was very Aztec. So I tried to paint them such that they would have an Aztec color flair, but look like they’d fit in Tenochtitlan. I wanted to base them such that they would be centered and strongly affixed to their 60mm bases/plinths. Thus, I decided to make a template and drill out the bottoms for 4 screws.

The template, the model base, and the underside of the model. I used a 7/64″ drill bit and four #4 x 3/4″ screws in each base.

Then it was time to prime them. I went with an brushed application of Vallejo “German Green Brown” primer, then I followed that with an airbrushed layer of Vallejo “Dark Yellow”. After that, a good washing with Secret Weapon Washes “Sewer Water”. As usual, you can see the list of all the paints I used at the end of this post if that interests you.

Doubly primed, looking too much like somebody didn’t clean up after the dog!

After priming, a deep series of washes to get into the recesses.

Then it was time to get base colors onto the models. I went with a yellow theme and a red theme.

After heavy dry brushing. I liked the yellow but the red seemed too dark, so I used a lighter shade on a subsequent drybrush application.

A comparison of the lighter color on the right.

I proceeded to paint all the other aspects of the models – but I wanted to use inks to bring out the features on the serpents’ faces. For that, I use an off white and then add ink in layers.

I decided to do a test of possible inks for the heat sensors on the serpents’ heads.

Which green to pick? I chose the Secret Weapon Washes Green ink as it looked almost turquoise. The eyes would have reversed colors (red and yellow) as you see here.

Models all painted here – all I needed to do was add texture to the bases, dry brush that, and varnish!

Top view showing the “skull collection nook”.

I thought it would be useful to show the Aztec Serpent Models with some of the other tabletop figures and terrain I may use.

The four with an Aztec warrior to show scale.

With the Aztec Temple High Throne – my only wish is that the heads could have been mirrored for better symmetry…

…of course I could always do this with 4.

Lastly, I needed a way to store them for transport – and I had some extra space in my 32-liter Really Useful Box that I have my buildings in – so I modded up some poster board with hot glue and made a little cubby for them.

I’m pretty happy about these and I will be having them in my cityscape! Do you prefer the yellow or the red – let me know!

Thanks for checking these out.

Miscellaneous details and references for those interested in that sort of thing:

For all of my previous posts on games, units, and other projects for my 16th Century Spanish Conquest supplement for Feudal Patrol™ – “Civilizations Collide” – please see this page.

PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, SHADES, WASHES, PIGMENTS, FLOCKING, GLUES AND MORE THAT I USED ON THESE AZTEC SERPENT STATUE FIGURES:

LITKO 60mm bases
Vallejo Surface Primer “German Green Brown”
#4 x 3/4″ screws
Gorilla Glue
Green stuff (kneadatite)
Vallejo Surface Primer “Dark Yellow”
Vallejo “Flow Improver”
Vallejo “Airbrush Thinner”
Secret Weapon Washes “Sewer Water” (wash)
P3 “Sulfuric Yellow”
Americana “Primary Red”
Army Painter “Light Tone” (wash)
Citadel “Astorath Red”
Army Painter “Red Tone” (wash)
Vallejo Mecha Color “Off-White”
Citadel “Morghast Bone”
Citadel “Waaagh! Flesh”
P3 “Red Ink” (ink)
Vallejo Game Ink “Yellow” (ink)
Secret Weapon Washes “Green” (ink)
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Ork Flesh”
Citadel “Contrast Medium”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Skeleton Horde”
Citadel “Armageddon Dust” (texture)
Vallejo Model Air “Gold”
Secret Weapon Washes “Golden Brown” (wash)
Citadel “Nuln Oil GLOSS” (wash)
Vallejo “Satin Varnish”
Citadel “Tallarn Sand”
Citadel “Karak Stone”
Vallejo Mecha Varnish “Matt Varnish”

Aztec War Canoes for the Spanish Conquest

During the 16th Century Spanish Conquest of Mesoamerica, much of the combat occurred on and around the capital city of Tenochtitlan. That city was built on an island in the middle of Lake Texcoco – effectively making it a fortress city connected to the mainland by multiple causeways. Those causeways had removable bridge sections to hinder any enemy from using the causeways to take the city.

The Aztecs built roads around the lake for trading and military purposes. But also the surrounding lake provided a great opportunity to use war canoes as means to deploy their warriors either on the lake or onto the shoreline. This allowed the Aztecs to dominate Lake Texcoco and its environs for centuries.

In researching possible scenarios to game the period, I found that the need for war canoes (and other aspects) kept coming up. So first, I needed rules for their use – so I wrote them! And now you can have your own free copy of the new and updated 2nd Edition of the Civilizations Collide supplement for games of Feudal Patrol^TM just by clicking here and going to the Sally4th website. Again THIS IS FREE!!

I have identified at least 4 scenarios where war canoes would be needed:

July 1, 1520 – La Noche Triste – Bloodbath on the Tacuba Causeway (the final breakout attempt by the Spanish continues on the Tacuba causeway out of Tenochtitlan as he is harried on all sides to include by war canoes).
Early 1521 – Aztec Raid on the Conquistadores’ Brigantines (The Aztecs attempt to burn Cortes’ assembling fleet before it can set sail on Lake Texcoco).
May 22, 1521 – The Battle of Tlacopan (The Aztecs counterattack an attempt by Olid and Alvarado to seize and destroy the aqueduct at Chapultepec which supplies much of Tenochtitlan’s water. The battle takes place on a causeway with the Aztecs able to use war canoes on both sides of the Spanish and the Spanish have brigantines).
June 1, 1521 – The Battle of Lake Texcoco (Cortes leads his brigantines and allied war canoes against the massed Aztec war canoe fleet to seize naval control of Lake Texcoco and begin the siege of Tenochtitlan).

There easily could be other scenarios involving war canoes.

However, finding and sourcing reasonably-priced war canoes was problematic. As readers of this blog know – I was lucky to be able to trade 19 painted Viking figures to my friend Greg Priebe in Maryland for 19 3D-printed canoes. I also got a Blood and Plunder one from Firelock Games at their Historicon booth (for $20 – yikes), as well as a single scratch-built balsa wood one (for $3) from a table at Wally’s Basement at Historicon. Lastly, I got a canoe from Dave Stone of Wargames Terrain Workshop (priced at 2 pounds). That made 23 canoes for me to paint up of four different types.

Luckily, Dave Stone is also running a “Paint What You Got” painting challenge over on his page – for stuff you had unpainted from December 26th to the end of January. So these (and some other cool stuff from Dave I’ll hopefully put in a future post coming shortly). But back to the canoes and how I completed them all.

Greg’s stuff arrived safely just before Christmas, as did the one from Dave. I sized up Greg’s – and it looks like they will fit 4 figures well – but 5 was too many as you see below on the left. I gave the Greg canoes a good washing and tried to get as many of the little strings off as I could.

As arrived (with some cannon Greg printed for my future brigantines)

Next, I looked at the other three types. The Blood and Plunder resin one can handle 5 or 6 figures, while the scratch-built balsa wood one would need some seat removal to handle 4 figures. The resin one from Wargames Terrain Workshop is really nice – but was too small to accommodate my 1″-based figures. I can use it as additional nice eye candy on the tabletop, so I put it into the painting queue.

The three types I can use to transport troops

In mocking up the possible transport capabilities of each war canoe model, it became clear that they needed magnets inserted to hold the figures in place during game movement. Otherwise I would risk having figures get damaged or just not be aesthetically pleasing.

I worked out a template plan and drilled out 9/64″ inch holes for 1/8″ neodymium magnets as you see below. Note that I mark the top of the magnets with a red sharpie so that all of the magnets have the same direction of polarization. I also used a similarly-oriented stack of magnets on the underside of the war canoes to properly seat each one on the drilled side in its Gorilla Glue-imbued hole. Otherwise it is VERY easy to have magnets go onto other unwanted ones in other holes. Generally, I stacked two magnets in each of four holes in the war canoes.

Checking to see how the figures would be held in the canoe by the magnets underneath – concept did work!

The next step was to do the same with the other types.

Checking the hold on the balsa wood model – also worked.

Then it was on to priming. In order to really protect the models and to fill in as much of the 3D printed lines, I double-primed these. First, with a brushed on MSP “Black”, then after that dried with an airbrushed application of Vallejo “German Green Brown”. As is my custom, I listed all of the paints that I used at the end of this post for those interested.

After the black priming but before adding the brown green primer.

I wanted to make a nice wooden appearance to these – so I decided to serially airbrush a somewhat zenithal series of applications of sequentially-lighter colors on the canoes. Then I would add a sepia wash and see if I needed a darker one inside the canoes (I did).

I went left to right with these colors – followed by a wash. It was a bit tedious as I had two sides to do – and I had to allow enough drying time before reversing the models in order to paint the other sides.

I think I achieved my goal with regards to the wood tones. The balsa wood and B&P models ended up a but darker, but I think that is fine as complete uniformity would not be great. With that said, let’s see how they look on the tabletop with some Aztec Warriors as passengers!

Eye Candy

The Blood and Plunder war canoe version with a commander and some warrior priests inside.

The balsa wood war canoe will serve as a command canoe in most scenarios I run, as will the B&P model.

Close up of the front of one of the 3D models.

Cuachicque (“Shorn Ones”) and a warrior priest in a war canoe. Normally I will have a designated paddler, likely a novice warrior, in the back of each canoe.

A view of the side of the Jaguar Warriors’ canoe – this shows the wood tone nicely – not too streaky, but naturally not uniform. It also shows that the magnets are holding the figures well.

I was able to fit all 23 of them in a 3-liter Really Useful box with some room to spare. You can see the little Wargames Terrain Workshop canoe nestled in the larger Blood and Plunder model.

I hope that you enjoyed this post. Let me know your thoughts and feedback – always appreciated. And more is to come for sure.

Hint: more Wargames Terrain Workshop terrain coming very shortly!

Miscellaneous details and references for those interested in that sort of thing:

For all of my previous posts on games, units, and other projects for my 16th Century Spanish Conquest supplement for Feudal Patrol™ – “Civilizations Collide” – please see this page.

PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, SHADES, WASHES, PIGMENTS, FLOCKING, GLUES AND MORE THAT I USED ON THESE WAR CANOE FIGURES:

Gorilla Glue
1/8″ x 1″ Everbilt Fender Washers
Neodymium magnets
MSP “Black Primer”
Vallejo Surface Primer “German Green Brown”
Vallejo “Flow Improver”
Vallejo “Airbrush Thinner”
Vallejo Model Air “Berman Green Brown”
Vallejo Model Air “Desert Yellow”
Vallejo Model Air “Light”
Vallejo Model Air “Sand/Ivory”
Vallejo Model Air “Ivory”
Vallejo Mecha Color “Sand Yellow”
Citadel “Seraphim Sepia” (wash)
Citadel “Agrax Earthshade” (wash)
Vallejo Mecha Varnish “Matt Varnish”

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