Rapid Tabletop 23 June 2020

TOXIC WASTELAND
A guide by Leonard Dime, at Rapid Tabletop

Introduction
The Toxic Wasteland tile was
one that you Patreon’s voted
for to be built, and so it was
made. Was a bit puzzled on
how to approach the project,
as my initial description only
said it would include some
barrels and resin.

But looking through my bits

box, and a promise I made to a
Patron here that I would use
something of his donated bits,
I came up with a new plan.
The new plan
The bits that I got where parts
from a Baneblade, and I
though long and hard over
what could be used. Finally I
saw a large roof piece that
could be used as a wall to
some kind of building. And
from that the Toxic Wasteland
started to take shape.
The new plan was to add a
building, a small refinery of
sorts, a pit where all the
chemicals were dumped, and
of course, barrels... lots of
barrels scattered around the
tile.
Preparation
First things first. As always I need to gather potential parts
and come up with a basic plan. For this terrain piece I won’t
have any walls from Zone Mortalis, and thus I do not need to
use one of the 2D tiles from Games Workshops Necromunda
starter kit.
What I do need though, is the usual suspects. Cutter, hobby
knife, plastic glue, dremmel, mold line remover.
Now, some will argue that super glue should be used and not
plastic. I won’t say that they are wrong (even though I think
so) but if you want a strong bound between the plastic
components, and something that is sturdy. I would definitely
use plastic glue. Yes, if used incorrectly, it will melt away
details, and it doesn’t cure as fast. But, practice makes perfect.
Once you get a hang of the amount needed, it really is better
if you intend for the piece you are building to be permanent.
As for the curing time, well I am using Games Workshops
version, and it takes me around 5 seconds for it to cure
enough so I can work with something else. Thats fast enough.

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Rapid Tabletop 23 June 2020

Basic Shape
As a few, or many of you might know by now, I use a term
that I call ‘Basic Shape’. This is mostly used for Zone Mortalis
walls. And the purpose of this is to get a visual of the main
structure of the tile.

Why this is important, is because without building this ‘Basic

Parts preparation
With the general idea in my mind,
I gather up the potential pieces I
need and try to visualize the
approach I will take. I then do the
following
Shape’ I might start from one end, complete all the details
and move on as I go. And by the time I reach the end of the
tile on the opposite side, I have either forgotten to add the
main components, or made the tile unaccessible when
connected to other tiles.
So the ‘Basic Shape’ forces me to think ahead. Plan the main
structure of the tile, and add details onto this main frame.

• Cut out the parts “needed” With this tile, there is no Zone Mortalis walls. But, there is a
small chemical station. So this will be a part of the ‘Basic
• Clean the parts
Shape’ along with the pit that will be cut out.
• Categorize them (walls, details,
I used for this small building 4 column parts from the Zone
objects, etc).
Mortalis kit. Creating a shape as shown. Using a cutting mat
Once I have all the parts cut out with straight lines is a really good tool to get the walls in good
and cleaned from mold lines, I angles. And I would recommend this for any terrain maker.
assemble parts that are intended
to be together and can’t really be
used in another way. Such as
barrels, planned walls and
columns etc.

For this tile I also had the pit

where the chemicals were to be
dumped. So, with a marker pen I
draw some wiggly lines on the
tile do indicate where the pit
would be, making sure that a
small building would fit on the
tile to set the theme.

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Rapid Tabletop 23 June 2020

Theme of the tile

Kitbashing a building
For my chemical station, I
mentioned that I promised to use
something from the Baneblade
kit I got. And from the image
above you can see that one wall
is using the roof of the
Baneblade.
Now, I won’t go into details about
how to kitbash a building, nor will
I say what I used for this one in
detail. This because my bits box
looks very different from yours.
But good kits to look for
Necromunda buildings are
The theme of the tile is of course ‘Toxic Wasteland’ and now
comes the part to add the main components for these theme
to sink in. Usually I have two steps of adding theme. Main
theme, and enhancement theme. Why I divide them up, is
because the Main theme is the important objects/parts that
are needed. Once these are placed, I must add another detail
which is particularly important for Zone Mortalis tiles with
walls. And that is access details. I have found my self trapping
my self in a corner when adding all the theme details directly.
Not being able to place a ladder or lift.
But this tile doesn’t have Zone Mortalis walls, and it is an
open tile. Barrels are added, as they are crucial for the theme,
and some kind of Tyranid monster parts (sacks) are added to
simulate some kind of collection of goo and filth.
Crosswalks are added to add some access to the other side of
the pit, and this could be considered a part of the ‘Access
Detail’ step.
As you might be able to see on the picture, my pink xps foam
is cut in half. And this is because it makes it easier to cut out
the pit. I can now work from two angles, instead of just one
from above.

• Various terrain kits

• Vehicle kits

• Plasticard

While it is time consuming, it is

fairly fun to create a unique
building of your own. And
combine different kits with each
other is key to get a unique
appearance. But with this comes
a problem.

You will get gaps, and areas not

fitting perfectly. These needs to
be either cut to fit, or in my case
most of the time, just covered up.

I use plasticard, crates, pipes and

what ever I can find to cover up
these gaps.

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Rapid Tabletop 23 June 2020

Final details
After cutting out the pit I add the Priming and base color
final details. Since I have already
Priming is nothing new to us, and I nowadays actually prime
added all the theme details, I can
with my airbrush. Important is to use a primer, and not
just flush out with things that I
ordinary acrylic paint for obvious reasons. Another good
have laying around in my bits
box. And this is also something thing with airbrush and acrylics, is that it won’t melt xps foam
that is unique as with kitbashing a as a rattle can would.
building. It all depends on what
Starting with the tile, I spray from a 45° angle and cover it
you have at your disposal.
with a thin layer of grey. Ghost grey from Vallejo for those
But I generally add some who are interested. Then I go back in and high light each
consoles from the Zone Mortalis individual tile with the same color, to give it a more saturated
kits, some vents and symbols. hue.
And then of course the textured
paint around all objects such as
barrels and crates.

Again, why I add texture paint is

two folded. I have mentioned this
before and I will keep repeating
it. This is mainly because I am
lazy. I will airbrush everything,
and there will be paint coming on
places whereI don’t want it. An
example of this is when I paint
the barrels, there will be paint
coming onto the tile.

Thus, having texture paint around

these barrels, I can in the end of
the painting session, paint the
texture paint brown (dirt), and I
don’t mind if it splashes up a bit
on the barrel, as this will be
adding to the weathered
appearance.

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Rapid Tabletop 23 June 2020

Object base colors

Using the airbrush I now follow up with all the objects on the
tile. Painting usually with two or three colors on each object
to give them some basic high lights. If you look closely, you
might see that I get some paint onto the tile in this step.

Shades
Once all the basic colors are on, I shade all the colors with
various shades and filters. Again, this is something each
creator does in their own unique way. I use Leviadon Blue
mixed with a lot of Contrast Medium on my tiles for example.
Then normal seraphim sepia shade on the yellows, and agrax
earth shade on greens and reds.

Painting the texture paint

Once the shades have dried up, I continue with painting the
texture paint. As seen in the picture, they are usually around
objects such as the barrels and crates. And as mentioned, this
is because I am lazy, and it’s a trick to cover up mistakes. I do
not care at this point if the brown colors hit the barrels or
other objects, in fact, I actually aim a bit on them. This to
give them some weathered appearance and make them bland
in with the tile.

Drybrush and weathering

Now it’s down to the final stages. I drybrush the whole tile,
objects and all, with a bone color. Tyrant skull from Games
Workshop works very well for this. This creates many things.
High lights, weathering, and also blends the colors together.

Finally I splash some rust and oil over the tile with an old
brush. Just load up the brush with some diluted paint/wash/
shade/etc and flick over the tile. If you have not done this
before, practice on a blank sheet of paper first.

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Rapid Tabletop 23 June 2020

Prime
As with the tile, primer is needed. At this stage I also cross
check so that everything fits, check where weathering is extra
heavy so I can replicate that onto the walls of the structure.

Base colors
As with the tile, I use the airbrush to block in all the basic
colors. And it is a sad truth, but I am not really bothered if
some paint reaches into an area it isn’t suppose to be in.
Usually these mistakes are covered up by the final steps. And
also, this isn’t a diorama nor is it made for a competition. It is
for gaming purposes, and players won’t really study my terrain
that much once playing. Their focus will be on the miniatures
and the overall environment.

Shades
You guessed it, again, same as with the tile. Time for some
shades. Same process as before, adding different shades and
filters as you please.

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Rapid Tabletop 23 June 2020

By Leonard Dime 7