With simple means, your miniatures will look even prettier; you don’t even need much money or skill

MeinMMO editor Caro loves to paint miniatures for Tabletop and Dungeons & Dragons in her free time. Now she has come across a way to make them even prettier, though it relates more to what her characters and monsters stand on.

During my regular visits to my local game and tabletop store, I found myself again in the corner around building and painting miniatures. There, I have often noticed creative possibilities for terrain, that is the design of the environment, whether on battle maps or the bases of the minis.

So far, I have designed the bases of my miniatures with paint and drybrushing, instead of with clumps of grass or plants. But a few days ago I found something that made it impossible for me to avoid terrain any longer: a starter set with everything to at least give terrain art a chance.

And now, just a few days later, I’m writing the appropriate article and telling you: You have to try it too. I have become a miniature landscaper and I love it!

Much simpler than expected

I bought the “Green Grass Tuft Starter Box” from Gamer Grass, which includes four different palettes of vegetation, a tube of glue, a pair of tweezers, and a guide. I paid about 22 euros for it. 

Why did I choose this box? It was the only starter set available there. Plus, I just immediately fell in love with the little flowers included in the set. I’ve seen the small grasses and bushes before, but especially the flowers look incredibly realistic and cute when considering the scale. That’s why I also bought them individually in a red variant.

The grass tufts and flowers from the set are glued onto thin paper rectangles, which can be peeled off with tweezers like stickers and placed on the base. This way, you can first check the placement and then permanently fix it with the included glue.

You can freely design the scene as you wish or follow a few tips that I am trying to internalize as a novice:

• To give the scene a more natural look, you can place grass tufts closer together in small groups. This way, you can better mimic how vegetation often grows in nature.
• Speaking of nature: Plants are often found where there is partial shade and/or where water would accumulate. This makes the scene even more authentic.
• Do not ignore size: When placing larger bushes in the background, you create an almost diorama-like background and more depth. Just like in a photo or painting, this helps make the eye consider the various layers and wander.

Now my miniatures can finally touch grass

As a test subject, I sacrificed a friend’s barbarian from my D&D group, whose minotaur really deserved a nicer base than… dirt. His base is slightly larger than those of my other miniatures, giving me a bit more room for the first attempt. 

I placed the larger bushes (8 mm) more in the background, onto which I directly added a few plants with white and red flowers. Around these, I then placed alternating short 4 mm grass and drier-looking 6 mm grass in small groups.

Honestly, I can understand the tips, but I mostly worked by instinct. Many of the mentioned hints are also subconsciously implemented, as you can simply check what looks good and what should still be changed by testing the adhesive surface.

Therefore, the rule is: even if you think you don’t have the necessary skill for terrain design, you can’t go wrong with it.

I just started planting without holding back and love my result:

Placing the different grasses was not only fun, it also gave the barbarian a whole new perspective. And it fits perfectly with his personality!

Our barbarian is a big, dangerously looking, weapon-swinging minotaur, but he is also a friend of nature. In our D&D campaign, he comes from Ravnica and was part of the Gruul clan, which wants to prevent the expansion of urban civilization and instead make room for the wilderness. Moreover, he is a true sweetheart, which is why the flower meadow at his feet simply suits him better than the previous brown soup he was standing in.

Terrain is just one of many aspects of the miniature hobby, to design your figures and their bases, but also entire maps. With the grass tufts, I have only lightly touched on the topic of terrain, but I am now quite motivated to explore even more possibilities like stones, bones, and sand.
Even when painting, you never stop learning. What I have already learned since my start about a year ago, I have summarized for you in my retrospective: Retrospective on my first year as a miniature novice – These 6 things I have learned since the start