Have I ever posted about my model terrain hobby? I don’t think I have.
Well, now I am.
Like so many of us, I used the pandemic lockdowns as an excuse to dive into a hobby I always wanted to dive into. In my case, it was making model terrain from scrap crap. We had model railroads growing up and I enjoyed them, but it was my old man’s hobby, not mine. He did all the work. This would be like that, but different.
Years ago, I briefly dabbled in painting miniatures of the sort used in tabletop games and war games, but was never particularly good at it. My attention to detail just isn’t there. Over time, however, I started daydreaming about making a model railroad … without the railroad. I just wanted to make the landscapes, right? It would be akin to making scenery for miniature wargaming, such as Warhammer, except I don’t play Warhammer or games like it. Didn’t matter. I just wanted to make the scenery.
Thought about it for years. Then Covid came along and I said screw it, let’s give it a try.
So I made some scenery. A LOT of scenery. Like, I now have boxes and boxes of it, and I have no idea why. After all, it just lives in those boxes. No one ever sees it. Not even me. But I liked making it, so that was reason enough.
One of these days, I’ll post some of it here.
Anyway, this post is not about that stuff I made. It’s about the new stuff I just finished earlier today. This was my spring 2024 project, a little distraction from things and an experiment in making something that actually would be used for gaming.
BEHOLD! I made a dungeon:
It’s double-sided, one side a normal dungeon, the other side something dank and wet and filled with moss and mildew and mold and puddles and gunk. Wanted to get extra duty out of it, since unlike other pieces I’ve made, this one is actually intended to be gamed on.
The flooring is insulation foam. The walls dollar store foam core mounted on washers. The accessories are mostly dollar store junk. Tea lights, toys, sticks, foam core, and other bits of whatever. Oh, and the pillars are paper towel holders. Neat, huh?
It’s a bit janky – I’m pretty lax about getting accurate measurements – but all in all, I’m quite happy with how it turned out. It looks pretty cool and should be fun to have a D&D session or two on. Fun project to do … until the next one.
PS – The music in the video is also by me, and is a preview of a Second Slumber project I’m in the midst of finishing up.
