Chicago Skirmish Wargames

I am very excited to show off my latest terrain piece- The abandoned school bus! This piece has been sitting on my workbench for almost 2 years! Karl gave me the school bus. It was missing the stop sign, and the rear door, but scales just right with 28mm minis, like the Wreck-Age Stakers in these images.

I glued the bus to a piece of hardboard, and carved the dirt piles out of pink foam. After gluing the foam on, I sanded it smooth and filled in cracks and spaces with scrap pieces. I then coated the whole surface with resin sand texture paint, and sprinkled real sand and rock debris into the wet texture paint. I love this stuff for texturing. You don't need to prime, and it makes a great surface for drybrushing later. Since I didn't want to repaint the brush, I carefully painted the surface and drybrushed layers of brown. Then, I added weathering and the detail bits.

I used large pieces of lichen that I found at my local train store to create the shrubbery. The log is just an unpainted stick.

These oil barrels have a leak. The oil was created using thin layers of black and grey dyed water effects. After building it up to an appropriate thickness, I painted on a layer of color transference paint. This neat paint changes color from blue to green depending on how the light hits it. The effect was way to dramatic, so I added additional layers of translucent black water effects to tone down to colors. I also gently poked it a bit as it dried to add some bubbles. through these bubbles, you can see the color transference paint, and it has a neat oil-like sheen.

I don't think the children made it to school...

The sand bags were from Secret Weapon. They were actually little soft bags. You glue them together and shape them. Soaking them in water or thinned paint will firm them up. Then you can paint them as normal. I used a brown wash to firm them, and then dry brushed them in tan shades.

Whoever piled the dirt into this rough barricade left their shovels behind...

The sofa and chair are from Thunderchild Miniatures. I washed the bus with Secret Weapon Armor Wash to make it look nice and filthy, then added rust. First, I stippled on three layers of acrylic paint in dark, medium, and light rust colors. Then, I added dark and light rust pigments to give depth to the color and add texture. After using the pigment fixer, I added some enamel wash in rust and grime colors, letting it pool and streak down the sides of the bus.

The sandbagged sniper nest has a chair and refreshments.

The lichen is placed strategically to cover up some of the areas where the bus and pink foam didn't meet perfectly. It also helps to express the age of the bus. I originally planned to cover the whole thing in vines and flock, but ultimately went for a more subtle look.

I don't think this bus will run any longer!

In addition to finishing the bus piece, I also prepped some o scale train tracks. I painted the ties, and then washed the whole thing in a brown wash. I added flock and shrubs to give it a slightly overgrown look. Eventually, I'd like to add a nice o scale freight car.

I picked up these telephone poles when I bought the tracks. I glued them to bases, washed them, and added flock. They don't have much use in a game, but will really help the table come alive.

 

All of these pieces will make their debut at this week's game day at Greenfire Games. Come out and see them in person!