As you know I've been working on finishing off painting the contents of the Deadzone Boxed Set so that myself and the Computers Gorilla can start playing some games in the office. This week I've finished off the fantastic terrain so lets take a closer look.

Painting the Terrain

Paints Used:

• Black Spray Primer
• AK Interactive Dunkelgrau (AK-734)
• AK Interactive Hellgrau (AK-732)
• AK Afrika Korps Wash
• AK Afrika Korps Streaking Grime
• Vallejo Model Air Gunmetal Gray
• AK Yellow
• AK Red Primer

I used the same method as I described in our previous Building and Painting Battlezones post, I did however adjust the colours I used to match the light grey used by the Mantic Games.

I've also added some additional details like hazard striping on the barricades and some lighting effects on the street light. I am planning on going back and adding some more detailed weathering, along with posters and graffiti to further increase the detail but the terrain is ready for gaming.

Lessons Learned

1. Painting Assembled vs Unassembled

For ease of painting in bulk I painted and weathered all the individual tiles and accessories separately and then assembled the structures using the connectors. This made the painting easier but did add a little extra work as you have to use a square-file to open up the square connector holes to get the connectors to click into place.

As I was just making fairly simple structures to match those on the back of the Deadzone box assembling just using the connectors was pretty simple but did get a little fiddly at times. I did however use some glue in the end to add extra strength to some of the load bearing connections.

With more complex structures such as the Landing Pad or the sort of big buildings you can make with the large Battlezones sets I would recommend assembling and gluing them first before painting.

This will result in stronger buildings and also mean that you can apply shadow effects and weathering more accurately.

This will also let you experiment with different combinations and designs to find the exact configuration you're looking for and you'll also be able to play games before everything is fully painted as well.

2. Add Spot Colours

When I first assembled my painted structures they looked a little too monochromatic from a distance, being almost entirely grey. So I went back and added the hazards strips and a few small details in bright yellow, just to catch the eye and break up the grey. Once I start adding some more posters, weathering and lighting effects this will make it even more interesting.

As I begin to add more scenery to my collection I'll incorporate more specifically themed pieces, such as a medical centre and security station, which will bring even more colour and interest to the board.

3. Make Versatile Terrain

Be sure to plan for some different configurations when assembling your terrain. For instance I've made some walkways which I can connect to some of my buildings to create bridges and then by simply removing the support bracket I can turn them into ramps instead.

One of the other important things to note is that the Deadzone box itself is the same height as 1 of the terrain tiles, so if you don't glue the handrails in place you can simply pop your scenery inside to store it, laying tall buildings on their side.

I also kept the barrels and crates from the accessory sprue separate, so that I could place them anyway on the table during games.

Looking to Expand?

The Deadzone box has a good amount of terrain included and the deluxe gaming mat looks awesome. But, as most tabletop gamers will tell you, you can never have too much scenery, which is why Mantic Games released the Battlezones range.

Not only does this include the sci-fi urban tiles which you've seen in the Deadzone box, but also additional tile styles and accessories including defence lines, landing pads, fortifications and the awesome ruins sprues.

I wanted a huge variety of different scenery so I grabbed myself a Ruined Quadrant, which has an insane total of 46 terrain sprues, as well as 8 connector sprues, but there's smaller sets available if you're looking to build up your collection slowly.

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From the Hobbies Gorilla