Blog and News

shading mediums

Check out our shading mediums

Yes…here at last: 10 brand new acrylic based shading mediums, enabling you to add subtle tones, weathering, highlighting details and textures on your wargaming miniatures and terrain to make them sparkle or indeed, the exact opposite.

Perfect for beginners and pro painters, Our washes are carefully formulated to allow you to get creative, add 1 or multiple layers, mix colours and create your own shades and tones. Or you can simply apply over a white or black primer, or add over our base and technical paints for quick and easy shading.

These are easy to use, and also tricky to spill. Yes, we’ve taken your views onboard as painters, as well as being fellow victims of N*** O** syndrome – we know that you’d rather splash out on something you can use, than lose what you splash everywhere by accident.

Using some decent quality bases from our stocks of Legend Games bases, you can easily see the possibilities.

  • shading mediums
  • shading mediums
  • shading mediums
  • shading mediums
  • shading mediums
  • shading mediums
  • shading mediums
  • shading mediums
  • shading mediums
  • shading mediums
  • shading mediums
  • shading mediums
  • shading mediums
  • shading mediums
  • shading highlighting shading mediums
  • shading highlighting shading mediums
  • shading highlighting shading mediums
  • shading highlighting shading mediums
  • shading highlighting shading mediums
  • shading highlighting shading mediums
  • shading highlighting shading mediums
  • shading highlighting shading mediums

Our shading mediums come in 30ml bottles, and are priced at a very reasonable £3.95.

These come in a variety of carefully curated colours. All that is needed is a brush and your unlimited imagination.

We have the monochromatics of course – Black Smoke, Grey Day and White Fade which can be used undiluted, or watered down to produce a more measured effect. Then there are the coloured shading mediums.

Red or Bled can either be used for shockingly full-on grand guignol effects, or making red highlights on uniforms and panels stand out. Go for gory every time we say! Scruffy Green can be used from anything like tanks or landscaping to give an aged lichen effect in grooves or paving gaps, while Varicose Purple, Yellow Peril and Orange Venom are ideal for poisonous or grunging up a model.

Stargrave Mercenaries

Stargrave Crew and Mercenaries now in stock!

This brilliant box set allows you to build 20 Stargrave crew members, either as standalone crews, or as part of a pirate crew. With a fantastic mix of human and alien heads, you can create strange new worlds – especially when used in conjunction with other Stargrave box sets. These figures require painting and assembly.

We painted up 4 squads of 5 in complementing colours just to give you an idea of the different looks these guys can have, but really being Pirates…well, they could be painted whatever colours you choose!
We used Revell Contacta Professional Liquid glue for plastics to assemble this kit.

A quick spray outside with primer, using Dark Grey Expo Primer on these – we sell light grey and white too – and they’re ready to paint. Here you can see the finished items.

Stargrave crew and mercenaries

Here are the Moonhopper paints we used for each squad…

Light Blue Squad:

Fighter Blue, Sword Silver, Base Flesh, Base White, Base Black.

Camo Squad:

Base Black, Fighter Blue, Base Flesh, Base Brown, Khaki Dream, Pewter Paint

Orange Squad:

Base Orange, Base Grey, Desert Storm (Technical paint), Base Black, Base White, Base Brown, Base Flesh

Red Squad:

Base Black, Base Grey, Base Red, Tank Green, Base Flesh, Sword Silver, Base White

For our entire paint range please visit our shop and look at our paints.

Additional tools we used for painting the Crew were our detailing brushes set, and to finish the scene, we printed off and prepped some of our Space Station tiles from our 3D Download library.

Stargrave mercenaries and crew

For the uninitiated, Stargrave is set in a galaxy that has been devastated by a galactic war, in which pirates roam between planets pillaging, extorting, enslaving and generally causing mayhem. In amongst this all are the mercenaries, smugglers and freedom fighters that attempt to make a living or sorts.

Stargrave enables the players to take on any of these roles in the form of a crew, in which each character has their own strengths and weaknesses, powers and backstory. There are aliens, each with their own special abilities and technocrats that harbour specific skill sets that will be useful in a vast array of scenarios. In a Stargrave campaign, a crew will carry out numerous missions, whether it is to break into a fortress, freeing slaves, or battling the aforementioned pirate fleets. In doing so, the skillset of the crew will increase, and will naturally attract the attention and ire of the pirates!

Pop into our shop and have a look around. We have lots of new products coming up, and postage and packing free for orders over £30 in the UK, what’s there not to like? Alternatively, check out our Instagram feed for lots of miniature painting tips and hints or what’s to come for new product releases and news.

Free tape measure for the first lucky 50 shoppers!

Yes, that’s right – we’re going to bung in a free battle tape measure for the first lucky 50 people that put an order in. It has a nice sturdy grip, our logo on it and can measure up to 5 metres. Not dissing anybody in particular, but they’re way better than the crap orange ones doing the rounds.

Pop into our shop and have a look around. We definitely have something that’ll float your boat. And remember: postage and packing is free for orders over £30 in the UK.

And keep an eye out for special offers over the next few weeks – we have some fantastic surprises and prizes coming up.

(Offer closed Friday 11th August 2021)

Wound Marker sets for wargaming – now available!

We’re pleased to introduce our Wound Markers, especially designed for wargaming and tabletop strategy games. Available as a number of sets in different colours, or individually if you prefer, these are priced at pocket money prices. We have single, double, triple and quadruple markers to hold various dice types. Ours are based upon the standard 14mm D6 dice, and can hold those, as well as D12 and D20 dice.

These are 3D printed in PET-G plastic, both environmentally friendly and recyclable when you no longer need them. They can also be primed and painted if you prefer in your tabletop factions colours. So if you’re into Warhammer, Kings of War or other battle systems, you’ll find these useful.

The markers are available in Black, White, Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Purple, Clear and for a limited time only in Silver Grey.

More good news is that these are available to back order, so if we do run low on stocks, we can manufacture new ones within 1 week.

Up your game with our markers today!

Christmas is a coming…time to get the dice out!

It’s that time of year again, and boy have we got some surprises coming up! Time to forget about work, get your dice out and set the table up for hours of endless fun.

First of all, we have our seasonal Random Boxes ready to roll. If you have a friend, lover or other who’s into modelling, and you don’t know what to get them, why not buy them one of our Random Boxes.

A steal at £14.99, each box contains a random permutation of carefully curated Moonhopper Games products, along with some of on the shelf products that could be anything from a model to dice, tape measure, tools…literally anything. All you’re guaranteed of is a happy recipient, and that the value of the box contents is at least £14.99.

An absolute bargain, and limited to one per customer.

Dice wargaming tilewizard

And then there’s the new year. What will 2024 bring us all? Well, from us, the new year has come early – we have produced our very own Tile Wizard. Since Green Stuff World stopped manufacturing their Dungeon Plunger Cutter, we decided to develop our own system. And develop it we did.

Whereas the hardy GSW set had a number of cutters in the box, we have one robust 50mm x 50mm plunger/cutter assembly with five interchangeable stamps. These twist on and off with ease. Just clean with soap and water after use and you’re good to go again. It’s this easy…watch our video.

tilewizard scenics dungeons wargaming

The Tile Wizard is also made from recyclable PET-G plastic, so not only is it tough, it’s also very easy to clean. And we will be adding more stamps to the range that can be bought separately in the very near future. The Tile Wizard is designed to be the go-to weapon of choice for making tiled table layouts.

We still have a few limited number of the GSW Dungeon Plunger Cutter sets, but these are now down to less than ten – so, first come, first served. Once they’re gone…

And to top it all, we have also released the latest iteration of our Foamex Jig. This now incorporates extra holes so that you can drill holes in 50mm square tiles, as well as 150mm and 300mm square ones for pegs or our 3mm Neodymium Magnets. A cheap and useful tool to have on your workbench.

And looking forward to this coming year, we’ve got a number of things planned. The Annual pilgrimage to Salute in London in April which fills our hearts with joy, wears our legs out and empties our wallets is coming, our Paint Pixie has lots of things planned in the pipeline, and we have a few surprises in store as usual.

So, we wish you all a very peaceful and happy Christmas, and an equally successful and joyous new year.

To keep abreast of what we’re up to, why not check out our Instagram feed, as we regularly show off our new products and what we’re building if you’re looking for new ideas and building tips and tricks.

Have fun folks!

Get your rocks off – new additions to our terrain range.

Check out the new additions to our scenics range. To start with, we have five new terrain pots: Hell Alamein, Loony Moons, Atmosfear, Sparenobyl and Seacide. These are designed to cover a wide range of landscapes and genres, from sea battles, to aeronautic dogfighting boards, and assorted alien environments.

Hell Alamein is good old fashioned desert terrain, ideal for World War 2 skirmishes and insurgencies. Loony Moons is designed specifically for lunar and asteroid surfaces, blasted landscaping and desolate holes.

Three in particular have a luminous component. Not enough to blind the neighbours, but enough to give a hint of the otherworldly. Seacide is designed to be used as a seascaping medium, and when used in conjunction with resins and clear washes, will glow with a faint blue/green algae hint to it. Atmosfear has a discernably disturbing quality to it, with an eerie electrical luminescence when energised with a strong light source. This can also be used as a complement to one of our other terrain mediums. Terrorform.

And finally, there’s Sparenobyl. We just ran riot on this one; deliberately engineered to look like it’s been stolen from a nuclear reactor, drawing on orange and golden hues, with an unsettling green glow in between the rocks. It can be used for alien landscaping, or an enemy mine. As with all of our terrain pots, the only limit is your imagination and your resourcefulness.

These are best applied to scenery and bases by applying a PVA glue or clear resin, and then sprinkling as little or as much as you like over it using a piece of folded paper or card. Shake off the excess back onto the card, and pop back into the pot if the remaining material is untainted. Then, coat with a thin layer of the same adhesive again to seal the terrain if preferred, and add flock or tufts if desired.

And that’s not all (said he, sounding like one of those snake oil charmers from one of the shopping channels). We have also produced a brand new range of Rock Pots. Tiny little pots of fun that are the same size as one of our pots of paint, so you can compare and pair them up when producing figure bases or dressing scenery. Over the next few weeks we’ll be showing exactly how these new terrain mediums can be used – keep an eye on out on our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter feeds.

Obsidian is a black, evil looking rock, not out of place in hell or at the edge of a volcano. This one pairs up nicely with our Volcanic Rock Terrain Pot. Argentumite, as the name among any closet geologists reading this will know, is a silver rock, which can double up for ore and melted metal. Likewise, our Pot of Gold is a two-tone golden coloured product that simulates melted gold globules.

Aurumite is gold ore, although our rocks have very little in the way of a gold look about them, other than their cream coloured resemblance to their real world rock counterpart. This is more of a realistic small scale bog standard rock found in quarries and chasms, whereas Adularia, its twin in a way is a mineral looking rock, varying in size and tone to avalanche debris. And finally, Barney Rubble! (the ‘!’is important, well sort of), is a general rubbling material for war zones, battlefields and destroyed buildings.

Applying the rocks in these pots can be done in the same way as you’d apply our terrain pot materials. They are a cheaper and space saving way of having some terrain at your fingertips.

Salute 50 – A grand day out

We’ve made our first journey to the annual South London Warlords’ event, Salute 50 (and the pundits will say, what kept you?).  And the verdict?  Awesome doesn’t even cover it.  

So, while the glue is drying on a freebie we received from that said event on a gloriously dull Sunday afternoon, which has only been disturbed by the occasional National Emergency Alert, we’ll give you the lowdown of how the day went for us yesterday.

On the way there, we got a little lost on the DLR, and promptly jumped off at Canning Town when we realised we had to get off the train sharpish.  Luckily our Geekdar kicked in just in time, and we spotted four fellow travellers on the adjacent platform heading towards Customs House.  All we needed to say was ‘Salute 50?’, and they all said ‘Yes’ with exceedingly big grins on their faces.  We were certain that our early start to the day was a wise one, as most of the event’s stalwarts had arrived well before the 10am start.

Salute 50

Some likened the day before on social media posts as being like Christmas Eve, which we initially passed off as hype.  As soon as we got to the Excel centre in London and started queuing, only then did we get it.  Totally. 

As we stood waiting in the increasingly long line to go into the hall, the great and the good filed past.  Anyone who was anyone in this game would have recognised a few familiar faces, one of which was Duncan Rhodes who walked past the queue carrying a big cardboard box, flashing a big friendly smile back at us along the way.  Christmas Day it was…the very first videos that I watched when I started to paint were old Two Thin Coats’ guides to painting on YouTube.    

On arrival, we received our official goody bags with the programme in,  some useful blurb and a beautiful freebie 28mm resin model commissioned especially for the 50th Salute event made by  (somewhat appropriately) Warlord Games.   The details on the Viking Jarl with his flagon, shield and chest of plunder was designed by  Wojtek Flis, their resident sculptor based on drawings and concepts  fleshed out with Alex Hammond of the South London Warlords, the end result being a finely detailed cast. We’ll put pictures of ours online once we have painted  them.  We were also handed a nice solid commemorative dice with the Salute 50 emblem on the six side.  Nice touch.

Salute 50

We entered the hall and were immediately waylaid by people in various Warhammer costumes, lovingly built, and happy to have pictures taken along us gluttons for all things GW.  There were many signs of their products at the event, although they were not themselves there as traders.  The traders that were there all had put an incredible amount of hard work in, and the ones we spoke to were all as chuffed to be there as we were. 

From Green Stuff World showing off their latest toys, TT Combat with their laser cut sets, Wayland Games who sponsored the goody bags, Warlord Games and Mighty Lancer Games who we had a good old chinwag with…the great and the good were there.  From the favoured 28mm figures to the incredibly detailed 6mm set pieces, there was something for everyone.  And there were lots of smaller traders, not lesser in stature by any means, with lots to show off and displaying their technical prowess with justifiable pride.

Salute 50, as you will probably know by now is the 50th anniversary event of The South London Warlords’ (SLW) annual exhibition that consists of wargaming clubs showing off their talents, traders showing off their wares, and people swapping and sharing stories and tips.  It has been going almost virtually uninterrupted with the exception of the COVID lockdown for the last 50 years since the seventies.

Amongst the promo material the SLWs were selling this year on one of their stands were some of the tee-shirts from Salute 2020, which many bought for the irony and humour value.  The pandemic forced that event to be scrubbed, and the Excel where it was supposed to have been held at the time was temporarily converted into the first Nightingale Hospital.  Walking around the vast space, it made you wonder just how many casualties were being estimated by the powers that be if their projected worst case scenario had actually unfolded.

Salute 50 wargaming tabletop gaming

Counterintuitively, many of the traders there had actually made a profit during the pandemic as their sales went up.  Us modellers are a hardy and solitary bunch sometimes,  and like a lot of you reading this, we bought stuff online to keep us sane and amused during lockdown.  Moonhopper Games as a company itself was in fact a lockdown baby, as we started up in September 2020.

As we went around the floor, we were literally like kids in a sweet shop.  Our resident Paint Pixie Charlie suggested that next time we should attach a child’s wrist restraint to her in case she wandered off and bought too much stock!  We were practically dumbstruck by the sheer level of detail on the 6mm scale armies brought in by quite a few of the exhibitors, and there were also some 3mm tall figures. All of the tabletop games going on had upped the ante for the event.  As hobbyists ourselves, it’s given us something to aspire to.

Nothing was spared, and everyone participating pulled out all the stops and one or two others along the way for the hell of it.  Our jaws are still aching from all the gawping we were doing yesterday.  We must have looked like bailiffs, wandering around pointing at things and making notes of what to get next.

There was the annual painting competition, and we saw many prize hopefuls carrying their hard painted efforts in small boxes, all nervous and expectant. We personally wouldn’t have liked to have been judges as all that participated had set the bar high.  From Lisa Mason’s Snow Dragon for the Best in Show category, to Caleb Beaver’s Fulgrim in the Junior competition.  Everyone went all out in terms of effort.

As for the tabletop battles that raged across the hall, we were spoilt for choice.  From a fine re-enactment of Operation Barbarossa set up by Anschluss Wargames, albeit with some sneaky tank tactics that may or may not have been in keeping with historical record by their own amused admissions, and a very thoughtfully recreated table of the Dambusters Raid on the The Möhne and Edersee dams by the Peterborough Wargames Club, which included actual debris from some of the ill-fated bombers that went on the legendary raid, no detail was too much. 

Salute 50 Operation Desert Shield

The siege of the American Embassy during the Tet offensive and Operation Desert Shield were amongst the more modern historical battles raging, while naval battles from a different age such as the Napoleanic Wars were on separate tables.  We had a good old natter with the Cornwall Wargames Association with their fantastic Blackbeard against the Royal Navy battle table, and they were in fine fettle, dressed in character complete with uniforms and tricorn hats.  And the odd pith helmet, belt and braces were the order of the day with the Crawley Wargamer Association, who  replayed the 1845 battle of Ferozaphur when the Sikhs mounted a spirited attack on the British Empire’s East India Company.

Salute 50

Then there were the sci-fi and fantasy tables that were dotted around at Salute 50.  From Warhammer to Moonstone, Relicblade to a skirmish amongst asteroids with South London Warlord’s inventive game ‘To the Scattered Bodies Go’, every table at the event just popped, giving us new ideas and surprises.  For many societies, this isn’t so much an exhibition, it’s more akin to a pilgrimage to see their holy grail or to nod with their equivalents of the druids at Stonehenge on Midsummers Day.

Then there were the peripheral but no less important tables.  The colouring-in table provided by Bad Squiddo Games for the younger visitors was a neat idea and a very needed area for some of the kidults there.  The coffee area for weary travellers was at the back of the hall, which we found at the last hour; that’s our fault for not swatting up too much on the programme beforehand.  We’d dived in and out at key points of the event, the first time for a coffee break outside at Costas a third of the way round the event, while the second third was taken as an opportunity to get emergency Noodles for lunch in order to fuel up and rest our weary feet. The noodles were good. Really good.

The Kickstarter tables were also fascinating and there were some incredible concepts on display. The Tiny Conflict Universe created by the good humoured Department of Wargaming has developed a very cheap and cheerful concept, by the inventive use/reuse of old sprues for tiny spaceship fleets. We picked up their copy of the Milky Way Weekly and had a good chat to them. In this day and age where inflation is going stupid, this is a very affordable way of gaming for those on a very tight budget.

The Salute 50 café area was situated near ‘The Lard Zone’ an area dominated by some splendid games run by the Too Fat Lardies, who were having a whale of a time with games such as ‘Chain of Command, ‘What a Cowboy’ and the one that tickled us, ‘I ain’t been shot mum’.

Salute 50

There were speed painting tables for all to enjoy that were being run by Paint All The Minis and Trans Atlantis/Two Thin Coats, and in the discussion zone the Salute 50 panel guests were just the right mix of talent. Duncan Rhodes strutted his stuff as usual, and the Women in Wargaming panel was lively to say the least, very well received and enlightening.  With a decent panel of Hobby Heroes, as well as panels on game design and terrain building tips during the day, there was something for everyone at Salute 50.

By no means least, the Armed Forces charity, the Soldier, Sailor and Airmen’s Families Association (SSAFA) were also present with a a well manned and friendly stand.  It is perhaps more important than ever to acknowledge the positive value of our hobby in relation to mental health and wellbeing, so it was very appropriate that the charity was there, which supports ex-servicemen and their families in times of hardship and distress. 

So, we finished the day there at 4pm, one hour shy of the end of the event.  Happy but exhausted, not just from wandering about such a big space with lots of fellow enthusiasts, but also dog tired mentally – but in a good way.  This state of affairs was temporarily relieved with a can of lager and a packet of cheese puffs on the long train journey home from Waterloo.  An early night was called for after the excitement of the day, but it’s definitely on next years’ calendar for us.  To the South London Warlords and everybody who made it such a fantastic day at Salute 50, we thank you.

Roll on Salute 2024.

Salute 50

Helpful links

South London Warlords Homepage – Salute

Department of Wargaming

SSAFA The Armed Forces Charity

Oathmark Elves

Beware – the Elf Light Infantry are coming!

Elf Light Infantry, whether bow-armed Rangers or the swordsmen of the Pathguard, are tough and versatile troops, as likely to be tasked with scouting and setting up ambushes ahead of the army, as with defending supply lines or key objectives from enemy raids. This boxed set offers enough parts to build 30 Elf Light Infantry for the Oathmark armies. These make perfect adversaries to the Goblin Infantry and Dwarf Infantries that we also stock.

This set comes with lots of extra parts and square bases, allowing you to assemble the single figures together for any battle or weapons stance. The bows, arrows, shields and other accessories make it easy to make each Elf individual. We even popped a a spare Goblin head on one of the spears as trophy kill!

We painted the Elf Infantry in complementary greens and blues, and used a white wash on the shields to create the weathered look.

We used Revell Contacta Professional Liquid Glue for assembly. Then, we did a quick spray with primer using Expo Light Grey and White too in order to produce a uniform set of elves in all their ironclad combat finery.

Moonhopper – Games paints used here were:

Sword Silver
Base Flesh
Base White
Base Black
Base Brown
Khaki Dream
Base Grey
Base Brown
Base Red
Base Green
Base Indigo

Other materials we used were Sandy Grass tufts and DIY woody bark for basing cover.

To see more of how to paint the Elf Light Infantry, or indeed any of the other kits that we supply, check out our Instagram feed for tricks, tips and shares of other hobbyists amazing models.

Foamex – the new wonderstuff!

We’re a big fan of Foamex. It’s an amazing plastic to work with, can be heated, cut, sawn, drilled, carved, hammered stamped and engraved. The material is soft yet sturdy making it a perfect medium for gaming layouts, terrain, walls, bases and backdrops.

We did some test pieces to show how these could be textured and painted. They hold paint with or without primer, but we recommend using a primer to allow for more vigorous game play. Also, using a sealant is recommended for durability when gaming.

Moonhopper supplies Foamex tiles in two sizes: MG0008: 150mm squared and MG0009: 300mm squared. By using the 300mm squared tiles, with just 12 you can build a battlefield 1.2m x 09m – a decent sized arena.

By using our Foamex Jig, you can easily place holes in the sides of the tiles precisely in order to insert either magnets (we’d suggest our GT5500 Neodymium Magnets) or pegs. Once the holes are made, adjust accordingly, insert and glue (or seal) your magnets in place, making sure that the opposing magnet for the next tile is of the right polarity. It couldn’t be simpler!

Naturally we had to create a number of Foamex scenes to prove how versatile these are, so here are a few others that Charlie, our resident Paint Pixie created to do just that.

Hills and valleys

“Here, I used extruded polystyrene to build up the platform areas, based everything brown and added some DIY turf and stony ground cover.”

Ice Terrain

“Again, I used extruded polystyrene to create the iceberg platforms, painted white and added grey for depth and simply painted the base with blues, greys and whites using a sponge. A very simple effect that produces a very effective result!”

Boggy pond

“Here, the outside was built up with water and PVA soaked paper towel pieces, the rocks were Dammit Granite, and the green toxic pond in the middle was made from glue gun dots, paints, acrylic inks and a clear acrylic gloss.”

Cobbled Wall

“I used a dotting tool and engraver to make stone marks and cracks, adding greys, browns, yellows and turquoise. I’m quite pleased with the end result!”

Industrial/space age

“This piece is mainly silver in colour with a battle bronze background. To do this, I cut the foam shards out with a table saw and engraved the detailing on. The hot glue gun was my friend for this one, as there were lots of platform parts to this.”

Simple Road

“I cut some side pavements to build up the edges of this tile, painted with greys and black. I then added in some of our Ruin Dust technical paint for texture, and painted in some yellow lines. To finish, we added some debris and a wire spring to simulate barbed wire.”

Wasteland

“Once again, I was a bit handy the table saw, cutting pieces of Foamex to suit, although you could use also large craft knife if you have a steady hand. I used earthy tones here, engraved some texture to detail, and added a few grass tuffs for interest.”

  • Foamex - bog
  • Foamex
  • Foamex - Ice Scene
  • Foamex - landscaping
  • Foamex - road
  • Foamex - futuristic

To sum up, the possibilities are endless with these simple and inexpensive tiles. We hopefully have given you a few ideas to show what you can build with this wonder material. You could use both sides if creating just 2D tiles for backdrops or simple painted terrain. Storage wise, these are both manageable and modular. They cab be used together to create larger pieces of terrain, different floors and walls, and are ideal for dioramas.

For more information and updates on our stock of models and materials, what we’re doing, what you’re painting or building (because we always love to share other peoples work), please subscribe to our mailing list, or follow us on Instagram or Facebook.

Show us your miniature painting works in progress!

So, the weekend is here again, and what better way to pass away the time than to plough through the pile of shame you have built up mercilessly over the last god-knows-how-long. In the time honoured tradition of wargaming show-and-tell, post a picture of your miniature painting jobs here of what you’re working on at the moment. You never know, someone else on this feed may have some handy tips or words of encouragement.

miniature painting

Show us what you got!

#wip #wipsaturday #scratchbuild #kitbashing #warhammer #miniaturepainting #wargaming

PoorHammer – our guide to castle dioramas on a budget

We’re big fans of doing stuff on a budget. And by using some of the materials we supply, as well as some well chosen pieces of junk offcuts, packaging and other gubbins you can get from builders merchants, you too can create epic set pieces for your tabletop. Our PaintPixie has been very busy building a castle.

Follow this simple guide, and you too can build an awesome terrain piece.

Recommended materials:

• Extruded polystyrene 5mm thick – For walls and individual walls, bricks and ground decor.
• Mounting board for bases.
• Cylindrical tubing x 6.
• A single larger and possibly taller cylindrical tube.
• A rectangular box.
• Recycled board game counter cut outs (for use in the portcullis).
• Sand.
• All-purpose filler (for rendering).
• PVA glue.
• Spray adhesive.
• Matte decoupage adhesive and water (mixed to a 1:1 ratio).
• Terrain (Our very own Dammit Granite terrain and Moss Acre flock pots ).
• Technical paints (Digger Yellow, Khaki Dream, Base Black, Base White, Castle Grey, Quagmire Brown, Pastoral Green and Sword Silver)
• Primers- Expo Light Grey or Dark Grey spray primer.

Step 1:


Cut small brick sized shapes from extruded polystyrene for use on the castle and guardhouse wall sections and indent with balled up foil and blunt pencil to create the stone texture. You can also draw in cracked lines onto these walls sections by using a pencil or black biro. Follow a similar process to construct the castle base and gatehouse. In this case, that the castle walls have been made with double thickness polystyrene.

The walls and towers are then assembled and glued firmly to the base of the castle. Use cocktail sticks to align the walls to the base – this also helps to strengthen the overall brickwork structure. We have then joined up the walls and towers in the same way, and then once they are assembled, these have been grouted together with filler.

diorama

Step 2:

The all-purpose filler can be used to fill in any gaps, as well as creating further texture and strength. Once dried, mark out any cracks with a scalpel to create a weakened and decayed effect on the walls. Terrain rocks can then be placed in the top of the turrets, across the castle entrance base, and around the guard house door to fill any random gaps.

Glue bricks to the corner turrets as well, adding circular polystyrene turret platforms to the very tops of them, for your figures to stand on.

You can then cover a small box with a portcullis using old game counter cutouts. Entrance bridges walls and side walls can be created using the same polystyrene wall detailing method.

Step 3:

Base the towers platforms, castle floor and entrance with PVA, sprinkle with sand and once dried, cover with a light layer of Base Black paint to produce a weathered look, and to seal in the ‘dirt and grime’. Prime the model with Expo Dark Grey and/or Light Grey primers for any highlights – but please do this in a well ventilated area, preferably outdoors because of the fumes. Above all, use very delicate sprays, as this primer actually reacts with the foam, which helps to create further texture, enhancing the aged, distressed castle aesthetic). Then brown, white and grey paint is used to decorate the castle base.

Paint the black, white and grey stones in a random array across the structure of the model. You can vary the detail with a mixture of sponge painting, brush strokes and dry brushing, or you can apply detail to individual stones and across the walls. The Base Black and Castle Grey paints can then be used to create shadows and a damp look in all the right places. Highlight the turrets and edges of the stonework with Base White mixed with Khaki Dream. Mix small volumes of these paints to create new tones – these help to enhance details and add depth. Add flock (Moss Acre) to the castle corners and grassy surrounding areas.

diorama wargaming dwarves elves scenery

For this castle, the keep, guardhouse and entrance floor are modular, allowing for flexibility in gameplay scenarios, as well as allowing for extending and enhancing the layout later on. Because these are separate, they will also be easy to store. Whilst we here have chosen not to, we would recommend that you seal the model with a matte sealant that is suitable for use with extruded polystyrene. Should you need to preserve the finish, we suggest a water based primer as an alternative.

We threw in some of our own extra marsh-like pieces of terrain and fire pit that we had made earlier, and our 3D printed castle tiles (also shown here) are compatible with the guards house created.

If you are interested in our whole castle bundle then check out our WB0001 – Castle Bundle download, an absolute steal for 31 download print models for just £39.99. Also, take a look at our Instagram and Facebook feeds for updates on what we’re up to, what we’re building and what we stock, be it modelling staples to new product releases.

Our castle dimensions (of course, the size and scale you choose is completely up to you):

Dimensions: Entrance base: 300mm x 300mm
Castle base: 450mm x 300mm
4 smaller towers: 150mm x 90mm
Larger tower: 300mm x 100mm
Gatehouse: 900mm x 100mm x 110mm
Keep: 240mm x 170mm x 50mm

Have fun and good luck!