Ah yes. I’m getting back into the crafty part of playing RPG’s. That means I’ve been painting some mini’s. Those skills are very slowly coming back. And it’s time for some new Dungeon Tiles.

Long time readers, may remember my cork tiles from way back when. They were OK. The second generation tiles had horrible paint jobs. I tried an idea for Cork Tile 3.0 and it pretty much failed. That is they warped like crazy.

I did think about just buying some 3D printed stuff and then I did the math. Found 20 2×2 tiles for around $20. Wow, that’s only like a dollar a piece. Not bad. Oh wait. Let’s do the math. That works out to a 8 x 10 inch play area for $20. So with that I decided it was time to join the XPS foam cult. I didn’t really use any new techniques from what’s out there but I did learn a view things along the way.

When they use a sharp utility knife they mean it. Don’t take this one lightly. Even getting replacement blades isn’t that good of an idea. It may just depend on the foam but it seems the blue foam that I got had a “grain”. Cutting one way was smooth and easy. But when I cut perpendicular to that it was much more difficult and not as clean. I just used some 220 grit sand paper to smooth out any rough parts.

Base coat and painting wasn’t any thing super complicated either. I used the good old black paint+Mod Podge for a base then just craft paints. In case any want the details I used Americana Mink Tan, and Apple Barrel Dark Granite and Italian Sage for the primary colors. Then came the dry brushing. For that I used Apple Barrel Granite Gray and Warm Buff. Then the black wash consisting of black, a little green and brown paint, and drop of dish soap. I followed up with another dry brushing with the Warm Buff. Followed up with some polyurethane.

And with that the first batch of tiles is finished up. I’m no expert on this stuff but do have to say I learned a lot from Black Magic Craft. This is fun a little project and more tiles are on the way.

And in case any one was wondering. My next tile will a take on Ultimate Dungeon Terrain.