07/05/2026
Happy Sunday, and welcome back to Taletop Thoughts!
The Fourth of July holiday made for a busy week, so hobby time was a little more limited than usual. Even so, I managed to get quite a bit accomplished by focusing on something my gaming table has been needing for a long time—more Underdark scatter terrain.
Everything this week was printed on my trusty Elegoo Neptune 3 Pro using Elegoo Black PLA+. One of the reasons I like this filament so much is that it accepts acrylic paint extremely well, which means I can skip priming altogether. That saves both time and money while still giving me a durable finish.
For the paint scheme, I stuck with my favorite Underdark palette. Each piece received an overcoat of Midnight Blue, leaving just a little of the black showing through (roughly 90% coverage). From there, I applied a heavy dry brush of a medium blue to bring out the texture before finishing everything with a light dry brush of Ocean Breeze. That final highlight really makes the edges pop and gives the terrain a cool, subterranean feel without making it look too bright.
The first pieces I finished were another set of the fantastic cave platforms from The Printing Goes Ever On. If you’d like to see the first set I painted, you can check them out here:
I really need to set aside an afternoon and build some wooden rope bridges to connect these platforms. I can already picture an encounter where the party has to cross narrow, swaying bridges suspended over seemingly bottomless chasms while fighting off creatures that call the Underdark home. That sounds like the kind of battlefield that players remember for years.
The second project was a collection of massive rock formations. These aren’t really intended to be climbed or fought on. Instead, they’ll serve as large line-of-sight blockers that help break up open battlefields. Too many encounters end up feeling like two groups simply standing across from one another trading attacks. Large terrain pieces like these force movement, create flanking opportunities, and make combat much more dynamic.
Finally, I printed and painted several sets of smaller Underdark rock formations to use as scatter terrain. It’s amazing how much these little pieces add to a table. They provide cover, make the battlefield feel more natural, and help eliminate those empty spaces that make a map look unfinished.
I actually included several of these scatter terrain sets in the eBay lots I listed over the weekend. One set has already found a new home, but I still have several available if you’re interested in adding a little more Underdark flavor to your own gaming table.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/188594453994
https://www.ebay.com/itm/188594477756
https://www.ebay.com/itm/188594543771
https://www.ebay.com/itm/188594530563
The remaining two eBay sets are unpainted, allowing the buyer to paint them in whatever style and color scheme best matches their own gaming table.
Overall, even though it wasn’t the biggest hobby week, it was definitely a productive one. My Underdark collection keeps growing, and I’m getting closer to having enough terrain to build some truly immersive underground encounters.
Keep on gaming!
2026 Goals Progress
- Minis Painted: 224/150 – COMPLETED
- Large Models / Terrain: 32/ 6 – COMPLETE
- YouTube Videos:15/ 24
- Game Reviews: 6 / 4 – COMPLETED
- Games Played (TTRPG + Board Games): 0 / 4
- Thursday Drop-Ins Created: 6 / 12
- New TTRPG Systems Tried: 0 / 3
- Shadowdark Mini-Campaign Sessions: 0 / 3
- Shadowdark Release on DriveThruRPG: 2/1 – COMPLETE