18/08/2026

Countryside scenery

 Before I get back to large projects, I thought it was a good time to get some small stuff done. Some time ago my friend Hetairoi handed me this tiny chapel by Tabletop World. As they have released a new model, which he got too, he had no use for the old one:

So now I have a chapel!

My recipe on this kind of stone (as I tried on my Gondor Mansion earlier this year) is priming a light grey all over and then painting random stones with different colours and hues:

You can go wild with them

Now that I was starting the chapel, I also painted this set of stone walls by Reconquer Designs:

A bunch of stones

It's a medieval stone pen, but it's completely modular, so it can be used as a stone wall (as you'll see later!)

Sooo different colours! No need to be shy, you can use almost any colour as long as it looks natural

Just use any earthy colours

Even if you think they won't match

After that, I gave a Nuln wash all over. This helps to make the slabs and stones stand out and it gives the whole thing better definition.

The same but darker

And better defined

Don't worry, the stones won't look out of place, as now it's time for a grey drybrush, that will get all suitably equal. After the drybrush I added some watered down dark green wash on the lower part, to give the impression of humidity retained on the stone through the years.

Looks better now!

So does this!

Now the real party begins! To give the impression of real texture we need some lichen and moss. If you know what you are doing you can go any direction with this. I mean:




 I didn't dare to overdo it. With an old brush I splattered very watered down colours to create irregular stains. Mostly white (a lot!), then different shades of brown and dark green and finally a vivid green:

Final version of the stone. Remember to wash your hands after this

Not as spectacular as the chapel, but the work is the same

Weeeeell. Now it's time for the copper roof. I admit it, first time in my life painting one of this, so I checked quite a lot of pics and videos. I painted all the tiles copper and then added the verdigris: turquoise mixed with light green and a little white. The thing is that I added so much that it in fact covered all the copper! I mean, I guess that's precisely the way it's supposed to be, but I could have saved myself the trouble of painting the metal in the first place!

I mean it!

I'm not that sure about the weathering stage. I went a little crazy with worn out tiles, rusted effects and so. I left it like this, and I don't know wether it's too much:

Needs urgent maintenance!

Anyway, it will serve on my fantasy settings, and dirty buildings will always work there!

Here you have a front pic of the finished building:

Ta-daaa

A close up of the (very corroded!) door:

Please knock gently

I tried a little experiment on the shield on the front. It depicts some sort of patron angel and I wanted it to look really worn and faded, as though the original colours had slowly disappeared after years of exposure to the elements. I applied all the original colours as they were supposed to be, but incredibly watered down, so only a remainder of them are left. It looks more grey-ish and full of lichen, so I guess it more or less gives the impression I wanted:

The poor guy has known better times

The inside is cozy and pretty plain. I painted the book on the altar, but still haven't added any motif to the wall. I was thinking of some small Baroque reredos, but I'm not sure at all.

Need to decorate it!
Oh, BTW...
 
Of course I've been suggested to paint this dierctly on the wall. Hmmmm

Here you can see the chapel with a couple of modern minis, on the 32mm side of  things. So they fit in, this is the standard scale now, for sure.

Bretonnia on steroids

About the stone pen, here you can see it in it's original configuration:

Now I need some flock or something!

But as you can see, it's totally modular, so I can do things like this:

Maybe not the Great Wall, but it works for me!

Note to self: The board has to be incredibly flat to make this work, even the tiniest flock or rubble makes the walls totally unstable.

Well, this is it! A couple of pieces for a number of settings, and they count as an entry for Dave Stone's Season of Scenery! (Hopefully I'll be able to do some more stuff before the deadline, wish me luck!)

32 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thanks! It's kind of rewarding when it all comes along!

      Delete
  2. Terrific work, you have created some beautiful scenery.
    Alan Tradgardland

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! I can' t take any credit, as it's all on the sculpt. Texture is simply perfect and natural, a real treat of a piece!

      Delete
  3. Wooow! Another piece of terrain art!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! I hope I can run some games using them!

      Delete
  4. Excellent work.
    So nice to see someone paint stone walls like stone walls.
    Plenty of discolouration and blotches.

    They look really very good, the extra effort is 100% worth it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much! The sculpt really guides you through all the process, it's easier than it looks. Now that I've tried on this one, I may get bolder with lichen and moss on future buildings!

      Delete
  5. Excellent work on the chapel, and wall set, they are well weathered and ultra realistic, the moss and lichen layer really bring them to life. I think your roof works perfectly, after all the ones I saw in Prague looked like it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you very much! The roof is the part where I feel less confident, but I guess I'll have to just practise more!
      BTW; I unpacked more stuff, so I hope I can paint it in time for the Season of Scenery!!

      Delete
    2. That is something to look forward to.

      Delete
    3. I'm already on it! ;)

      Delete
  6. Very pretty sculpts and I love the colouring and weathering you've done on them. Very believable mate.
    That Tabletop World stuff has always impressed me. Just amazing designs full of detail and character. But ye gawds those prices! O_o
    (Might even want to pick up a second set of those walls for better coverage on a table? Just a thought.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tabletop World is absolutely top notch. This has been my first building from them and I'm impressed by the quality and how do all the pieces fit in, the piece is simply seamless. But right, prices can be... disencouraging. However, now that I had a taste on their ranges first hand, I think I may be tempted to get some (small) stuff from them!

      Delete
  7. Excellent work, that looks amazingly realistic. Thanks for sharing your techniques.
    Absolutely paint the inside walls. It was standard for Medieval religious buildings to be painted (most of ours were lost during the Reformation and the Commonwealth).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you very much! I'll definitely do something on those walls! Right, it strikes me when I visit old churches and see the remains of painted walls or whatever; then I'm like "wow, all the walls and columns and stuff looked like this, it got to be quite a view!"

      Delete
  8. muy buen trabajo, si supieras que tengo el ecce hommo a menos de 20km ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ¿En serio? Me parto, ¡no sabía que eras zaragozano! Tengo que ve cómo decoro el interior, hmmm...

      Delete
    2. veo el moncayo desde casa :)

      Delete
    3. ¡Oh, qué gozada! Me encanta, hace años que no voy por esa zona, es precioso todo.

      Delete
  9. Awesome work Suber and very realistic.
    It is a great wall, maybe not The Great Wall, but certainly very nice!
    And who knows what happens in an isolated chapel like that one... what heroes and villains will meet there 😮😁

    Special rules for copper roofs like that: minus two for any lightning spells made nearby😂

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! Haha, I'm writing down the special rules!!

      Delete
  10. Absolutely lovely work on the terrain!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! Painting stone turned out to be more rewarding than expected!

      Delete
  11. Very nicely done. Your weathering on the stonework is exceptional.
    Bill.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you very much! I’ve learned that weathering is just a matter of not being shy about colours; I’ve been watching some pictures of textures of all kind and it’s fascinating how much variety we can find in nature! I may keep using this technique on future buildings, it’s definitely easier than it looks!

      Delete
  12. Lovely finish on the chapel and the walls, love the lichen, do the inside, Ive got to do that with mine but Im planning on printing something out and sticking it on!
    Best Iain

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! I had an idea of doing that for a reredos, printing an image and sculpting the "frame" or building it with cardborad, but laziness caught me!

      Delete
  13. These look great! I've been trying to figure out how to base walls while keeping them modular because I like to base buildings and they'll look odd otherwise, which is making me procrastinate - maybe I should just do what you ve done and worry about bases later...

    and yes do some icons!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ahhh, bases... I've been at that very point, but I'm taking my chances with this approach. Time will tell!

      Delete
  14. That chapel looks great! I really wouldn't mind seeing it on my battlefield so looks like I gotta take a peek into the theit r online store ^^

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tabletop World is absolutely top notch. They are pricey, but the quality of the product is beyond imagination, trust me!

      Delete