If you aren’t familiar with Twisted by Demented Games, you should really check it out. It’s a great skirmish game with a whimsical steampunk setting and some of the most beautifully detailed miniatures you’ll ever find. I found it, as I often do, on Kickstarter. The Servants of the Engine faction was calling my name, and as soon as the Egyptians were revealed, I was hooked!
I’ve always had a soft spot for archaeology and a certain wonder about the mysteries of the past (and I am a history teacher, after all). My childhood was filled with Indiana Jones, and my favorite movie is still the original Stargate. Indiana Indigo Jones Ford, the female archaeologist, can be found cracking her whip on the Twisted Kickstarter page, but she is not available just yet. My favorite author is the great Agatha Christie, who is also included as a mini in the Egyptians faction, along with her famous Hercule Poirot!
During their Kickstarter campaign, Demented Games teamed up with CNC Workshop (now known simply as Miniature Scenery) to provide a variety of scenery options that suit the world of Twisted perfectly. Of course, I had to have these unique buildings and accessories as well.
I recently went on an MDF assembly binge and put together all of my Twisted scenery that had been sitting around in my hobby closet for a few months. I also started painting them up, but I have a long way to go!
I wish I had taken some pictures during the assembly process, but I can tell you that these Miniature Scenery MDF kits are some of the best I’ve ever put together. I am the terrain builder in my house, so you should trust me. The pieces were easy to remove from the MDF sheet, and it was pretty easy to understand the assembly process. These kits do rely a lot on glue, but I glue all of my MDF terrain with Loctite super glue anyway, so that’s not a big deal to me. I never had to clamp anything. One minor drawback for me was that I had to refer to their website for the assembly instructions because they weren’t printed on the back of the cover paper or included in the kit. This resulted in me having to constantly unlock my phone with gluey hands during my first copy of each of the kits to make sure I was placing the pieces properly. Even that wasn’t too bad, though, because once I had put a certain building together once, I could pretty much do it again for the next copy without consulting the instructions. I put all of my kits together over the course of a week (off and on, of course). The results are worth the effort; these buildings are absolutely gorgeous.
All together, I have one Abbot & Gillard – Moneylenders building, one Assay Office, two Nouveau Archways, four No. 42 Carver Lane houses, three Old Corner Shop buildings, three Twisted Staircases, two Twisted Walkways, and two sets worth (24) of Twisted Street Lamps. There were also several copies (I think I had ten or twelve) of the Roof Tile Set that I used to roof all of the buildings, with two copies to spare. It was definitely worth getting the roof tiles. They really give the buildings something extra special.
I have thus far painted the Abbott & Gillard – Moneylenders building, the Assay Office, and one No. 42 Carver Lane house. For MDF terrain, I like to use acrylic craft paint. You can get it quite cheaply at pretty much any store with a craft section, and you don’t have to feel bad about using quite a bit on a building. It typically takes two coats of most colors to get it looking the way I want it. The most difficult part of painting these buildings has been all of the edges. In some places, there are several layers of wood, each with their own darkened edges where the laser cutter shaped the pieces. These edges are a bit smoother than the rest of the wood, and they don’t take paint that well, so they’re always a pain. This isn’t a fault of Miniature Scenery; their multi-layered designs are beautiful, and the darkened edges are just a side effect of the cutting process.
Here is my first painted No. 42 Carver Lane house:
This is the Abbott & Gillard – Moneylenders:
The Assay Office:
Comparison of the three buildings together:
These buildings really capture my imagination. I especially love the playful details. The atmosphere they create really reminds me of playing Fable 2 several years ago, walking through Bowerstone and getting immersed in the unique world. I’m very excited to get more buildings done so that I can create my own little city on the gaming table. My husband and I have a great vinyl cobblestone mat that we plan to use along with this wonderful terrain.
I’ll be working on the two Nouveau Archways and an Old Corner Shop next. Stay tuned for updates to my Twisted city!
