BATTLETECH 3D Terrain: Buildings

After a long break from terrain making, it’s time to craft some 6mm sci-fi buildings and to continue my BATTLETECH 3D Terrain series.

I must admit, I was in a kind of hobby low/rut. This tutorial took me way too long to make. I started last year in spring/summer. Back then, I saw a YouTube Video by Eric’s Hobby Workshop in which my name sibling built a small sci-fi city board for a game called Flames of Orion by Under the Dice, which had a Kickstarter campaign as well.

My take on 6mm Science-Fiction buildings

My initial plan, prior to the YouTube video, has been indeed to mix different production techniques, ranging from abstract foam and cardboard blocks to detailed 3D printed buildings. The idea was to create some variety in the mix, where some buildings would work as center pieces whilst others would act as “filler” terrain.

In this tutorial I’ll focus more on card board buildings as filler objects. But, I’ll also touch on more detailed buildings made from trash and bits, as well as small houses from leftover foam pieces and even structures cast in plaster! I’ll leave out the large foam and 3D printed buildings, since those are already very well explained in Eric’s video tutorial. Having access to the wire cutter and a 3D printer, I, of course produced some foam and resin buildings.

Even though, I intend to use my 3D buildings in multiple small-scale sci-fi games, like Horizon Wars, I’ll add a base layer in hexagonal shape to the terrain for easy use in BATTLETECH.

Cardboard buildings

Admittedly, this technique is more time consuming than the foam block hotwire method described in the video, but more accessible since not everyone has a hot wire cutter to work with. Card stock from cereal boxes on the other hand are readily available.

And with that the building is ready for painting. The super glue makes it quite tough as well. As I said it took me a while to build it. At that same time, I managed to produce 3 foam buildings. But then again, the result looks quite pleasing in my opinion. You could of course not go over board with the details to add, but they add scale and visual interest.

Trash terrain

We, as wargaming tend to, and should, collect all kinds of cool looking objects. Basically trash. It’s from these pieces I tend to build my scratch built Science-fiction terrain. Arranging the pieces into intriguing compositions and adding details, such as greebles from your bits box, ultimately transforms your trash to proper wargaming terrain.

Foam

After I cut my foam blocks for the larger highrise buildings, I had quite a bit of off-cuts lying on my workbench. We, as wargamers often tend to be of the resourceful type of person. Hence I cut the pieces into small houses, containers and warehouses.

Plaster

I had some of these blisters (for a lack of a better term) from biscuit and chocolate packages lying around. I thought to myself, why not cast some plaster into these and see what happens.

After drying and de-molding, I was left with these:

They look really nice and feel quite sturdy and heavy in your hands. For this project, however, I only used one of these round pieces as a dome for a temple-like building. I’ll keep the pieces for later. I might build some defense structures or gun towers, or something similar.

This is definitely a great technique to create lots of cheap and durable bits for your projects.

Details

Attaching small bits, whether found objects, leftover pieces from model kits or even bespoke 3D-printed greebles, adds scale and detail to your buildings.

By now, you should be left with quite a pile of loose buildings.

Painting

As in all my my terrain builds, I applied a mod podge black paint mix all over my Battletech 3D buildings to make them more durable and resistant to the following spray paints.

After the mod podge was fully dry, I sprayed everything with my cheap grey primer from the rattle can. Next, I covered everything in black spray paint. To bring everything to “life”, not literally, I added a zenithal highlight of my initial grey primer at an angle of approximately 45°. A final zenithal highlight with white spray primer from the top finished the whole priming process.

Now, on to painting. As before I followed the exact same steps as shown in the video tutorial.

Detailing

A quick drybrush with a tan/off-white acrylic craft paint helps bring out the finer details.
Basecoating some bits in a different color, creates variation.
Painting on single windows adds life.
And, finally, adding a dark wash brings it all together.

Base

Now, that our buildings are ready to use, I wanted to go a step further. As these buildings won’t stand on the open ground, I’ll show you how to build custom, modular bases to simulate pavements, roads, squares and basically concrete and asphalt surfaces. These add further stability to the buildings and group some of them into clusters of smaller constructions. Another added value to me is the fact, that I will be able to connect these pieces to my modular road pieces and create the illusion of road networks.

Cutting

First, let’s use our trusty hex graph paper template to cut out the bases in different shapes, small and large.

I upcycled amazon book packaging boxes. They are easy to cut, sturdy, and they soak up less moisture and hence are less prone to warping.

Painting

Now, it’s time to stick on your buildings. Arrange them to your liking, before committing to the glue. I used cheap all purpose glue.

Next, I painted all the bases in a concrete grey. Make sure to avoid using too much water, as it may warp the cardboard. The amazon packaging didn’t warp, even if I, accidentally, put too much water in the paint.

To further enhance the look of concrete, I tried my hand at makeup sponges. Those seem to be quite popular these days among miniature painters and terrain builders on the web.

And, I must say, applying some (3) lighter grey tones on the bases, really adds a realistic concrete texture.

Details

To enhance the 3D look and to add some visual interest and scale to the Battletech buildings, I decided to add some more details my terrain.

I added some fine rocks and debris around the buildings.

Some trash, colored saw dust, and shredded white plastic add the final touch.

Online, I found some small scale cars to use in architectural models. I primed them grey and painted them in various colors.

Then, I applied them here and there next to the buildings.

Tiny grass and vegetation, rubble, cars and vehicles, people, trash, etc., add detail and ultimately tell a story. And, that’s what I like to convey with my miniatures and terrain pieces.

Now, I’ve got a table full of buildings!

I will add some sort of height and building type indicators in the future. Also some larger grey tiles to put underneath the buildings will make sense.

But, for now, I call this project, done!

Results

My Battletech 3D Terrain buildings were exactly 1 year in the making. Talk about slow hobbying … Nonetheless, I think the final result looks rather pleasing.

I’m not sure yet, which BATTLETCH 3D Terrain project, I’ll be tackling next: roads or rough terrain and rubble.