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Post-Apoc Neighborhoods, Part 1

Residential Ranch (Garage LHS) Phase 1 (2)
I finished blocking out the base colors on the outside only.

I chose to begin my post-apocalypse terrain journey with my copy of this kit by Sarissa Precision.  I’m a huge fan of their kits, and I’m happy they’re continuing to add to their Retro Americana 28mm terrain kit line.  If you follow me long enough, you’ll eventually see all of these Fallout-influenced businesses, an entire trailer park, and the rest of the cozy subdivision I’ve just started. Since I built these, Sarissa have also added a survivor shack, a fallout shelter entrance, and various smaller accessories that I’m bound to add to the collection sooner or later.

Residential Ranch (Garage LHS) Phase 1 (3)
So many windows! I lived in an older house with wooden siding and trim, and I hope to replicate some of the weathering I am familiar with.

I did a little research online for some accurate color schemes to use on this quaint little bungalow.  I’ll definitely switch it up a little for the other three similar homes that I have.  I used a wet-drybrush style to get the basic colors on (not as dry as a true drybrush, but hardly any paint on the brush and lots of back-and-forth sweeping motions).  This helped retain the laser detailing, and it gave an already faded/slightly weathered look.  I did something like this on my Wolsung shanty town buildings featured in this blog post, and I was very happy with the results.

Residential Ranch (Garage LHS) Phase 1 (4)
View of the front with the garage detached.

Now I’m to the (first) hard part: getting a good enough weathered effect for the house to pass as part of a nuclear wasteland.  This is new territory for me, so I may not get it right the first time.  I have some ideas, and my husband does, too.  If you have any pointers, feel free to leave them in a comment!

Like all Sarissa kits I’ve ever encountered, the roofs lift off from both the main house and the little garage.  I’m eventually planning to decorate the inside for full immersion, but that is a challenge for another phase of the project.  I already have many pieces of scatter terrain that would fit right in from several different ranges, as well as a bunch that I will eventually receive in the future from the TerrainCrate 2 Kickstarter campaign by Mantic Games.

 

As always, I’m not affiliated with anyone I link to in this post (although it would be a dream come true), but I like to give you the resources to find what I’m talking about in case you’re interested!

 

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I’m Back–and Switching Gears

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Twisted stairs, lamppost, and stair-steppers.

I hit a hobby slump several months ago after I’d made amazing progress painting so many of my buildings for Twisted and Wolsung.  A combination of factors and just life getting in the way made me take a step back from the blog for a time, but I am eager to get right back into it!

Part of what held me up was not feeling excited to paint a bunch of lampposts (I think I have about two dozen of them), stairs, and boardwalks.  These more tedious pieces all take a lot of paint and a lot more time than I’d like.  My husband and I also still haven’t played a game of Twisted or Wolsung since I started my blog.  Instead, we’ve focused on playing some of our other games (especially Adeptus Titanicus and Kill Team by Games Workshop).  My husband even got his Titanicus battlegroup all painted except for three Knights!  They look amazing!  I have one half-finished Knight…I’m not that great at sticking to painting models.

My husband’s Mortis battlegroup for Adeptus Titanicus

My husband did an amazing job on his 6mm-scale Mortis battlegroup for Adeptus Titanicus!  He has three Knights left to finish before he expands his force.

Since my last post, we also purchased quite a bit for Fallout: Wasteland Warfare by Modiphius.  We also have quite a bit for This is Not a Test by World’s End Publishing.  I already assembled so many retro/post-apoc. buildings for these two games, and I’m very excited to paint them up so that we can have some amazing games on a great table.

If you’re considering buying the Red Rocket terrain set Battlesystems made for Fallout: Wasteland Warfare, your money would be better spent elsewhere.  The playmat (not pictured) is great, but the cardboard terrain is flimsy and won’t last.  I couldn’t even get the rocket to attach properly, and I’m a very experienced terrain-builder.  However, I cannot recommend the ColorED post-apocalypse terrain by Plast Craft Games highly enough.  It is amazing!

I decided to start out with my trailer park and suburb from Sarissa Precision.  I have many other types of buildings (including 99% of the Retro Americana range from Sarissa) and a plethora of scatter terrain/accessories from a variety of manufacturers as well, but they can wait for another day.

Expect to see frequent updates on my quest to create a suitably-weathered trailer park and suburb for the post-apocalyptic wastelands of the worlds of Fallout and This is Not a Test.  Then we’ll see what area of the wasteland I want to tackle next!

Side note: I’m not affiliated with anyone I link to, but I like to give you the resources to find what I’m talking about!