Desert terrain

I joined a SAGA Crescent & Cross campaign this summer.  My desert terrain collection was stuck at "none" so I had a bit of work to do to get ready for our games.  Since we play in a FLGS, I needed a portable playing surface that was suitably desert-y. I want to make a desert gaming mat some day but for simplicity, I bought desert-colored felt from Joanne's Fabrics.  For under $10, it looks quite nice and travels well. Score!   

I then put together my 4Ground Arabic dwellings. These superb kits are easy to assemble, packed with detail and each has an accessible interior.  I also flocked and painted some MDF to serve as hills, wadis, dunes or rocky outcroppings as needed.  

This Architects of War's  resin kit well went together nicely. Water effects are done with Woodland Scenics' Realistic Water.

The palm trees are by Pegasus Hobby. Primed, painted and flocked, they're a nice down-payment on my own grove.

I had some painting to do for our campaign as well as we're allowed to field two warbands.  My first is the Spanish as they're simply a blast to play. I buffed the Spanish with Gripping Beast's El Cid figure.  I'll run him as warlord and perhaps as the Hero El Cid as well. Clearly, the warlord and his bannerman have the same great taste in colors.   

I've had unpainted Byzantines in my lead pile for almost a year.  Byzantines fit in perfectly for the Crusades so I painted them up as my second warband for the campaign.  My post is getting quite long so I'll post up the Byz next time.  Cheers! 

WQB is out and...

I made the cut!  My article "SAGA Do's and Don'ts" was published, along with some of my SAGA painting.  It's an honor & pleasure to be published! Time for a beer or two to celebrate. This is the weekend after all! Millsy and his mates have done a fabulous job so again download your PDF copy here.

About the blog going cold...I've been struggling with my vision a bit.  I sit in front of a PC all day at work.  At night, I blog, surf and paint for hours on end. It's little wonder that I earned myself a really bad case of eye strain. I cut way back on my screen-time and painting this summer to turn it around.

No worries!  Even at a much reduced rate of painting, I finished Byzantines in time for a SAGA campaign and I have Russians for Bolt Action under way. This bump is a reminder that I'm not bulletproof and that balance in life is important.  Lesson learned!