UMS "Agram" : Making PIETY HILL < Articles < Hobby

Making PIETY HILL

Marko Paunović, 22nd August 2020

In this article, I'll be doing a centerpiece terrain for an old west type table. For a while now I've had an idea of doing a hilltop church with a small cemetary for my games of Malifaux and writing this article presented a perfect excuse for such a project.

Idea and planning

I always say when you start any larger project you should plan ahead first. Take your time and explore your options, design the terrain (in this case), decide what materials would be best, see if you have all the tools at hand and most important check if you have enough glue. There is no worse thing than running out of superglue on a saturday evening when you have a sunday's worth of working planned out.

The idea behind this terrain comes from a terrain I did for my gaming club in 2003. mainly for Mordheim and WHFB. It was done in the usual Vampire Counts style. The terrain exists to this day and has only minor damage and some small pieces missing as can be seen in the picture. However, as much as I love this terrain, it doesn't quite fit in the Malifaux world. And besides I wanted to see how differently I'd make this (more or less) same terrain 13 years later.

With the theme of the project decided, I know started to explore my design options. First thing I usually do is go for my home diorama/hobby library. Usually the first books I leaf through are from old masters Ray Anderson and late Sheperd Paine. The former has done some great Old west dioramas and his book The Art of the Diorama is a source of endless inspiration for me, the latter has done mostly military dioramas and his book How To Build Dioramas offers great advice and tips on building scenery and composition. For this project I decided to refer to Ray Anderson's diorama Piety Hill and thus have decided to name my project equally in hommage to this great artist.

So, with the style and theme decided upon, I began designing the outline of the terrain. It became apparent that the size of the terrain would greatly depend on the size of the church. Since I had an already existing terrain with church as a template I roughly copied the dimensions of the church. With the rough dimensions determined (13x10cm with 5cm high walls), I went ahead and started to draw the design of the wall elements. I wanted to build the model of this church as close to how a real wooden churches were built – by using wooden beams to construct the wall frame segments. Connect those segments and after they are errect, use wooden planks to make the walls. The design of the wall frame segments showed four different setups. One for the front side of the building (10x5cm) with holes for two narrow windows and a door, one for the back side of the building (two such frames would be needed as they are 5x5cm), one for the sides of the building with holes for the windows (four such frames needed as they are 5x5cm) and one for the side of the building and for the church belfry (8 needed – 2 for the sides and 6 for belfry, as they are 3x5cm). I would also need several wooden beam constructions/horns for the roof. When I had all this drawn in 1:1 scale on graph paper, I used a different paint marker (green) to mark how the moulding tool should look.

This sketch provided me with the lengths and ammount of material (tables in the drawing sketch) I'd need for the construction work.

For this project I will need the following materials:
- roughly 7 meters of 2x2mm linden slat
- roughly 1 meter of 5x5mm linden slat
- roughly half of a meterlong plank of 2mm balsa wood (they come in 10x100cm planks)
- 40x40cm of HD styrofoam
- superglue
- PVA glue
- gravel (three sizes)
- static grass
- pine trees (several)
- other vegetation
- sanding paper (2 sheets)
- foil for overhead projector
- thin card
- toothpicks
- one chain ring and two small hinges for jewlery boxes
- one bell from a Christmas decoration
- several tombstones

The tools needed are:
- scalpel blade
- scissors
- modelling saw
- pin vice (or an electric mini drill)
- brushes
– various sizes
– for painting/washing and for drybrushing
- pliers and pincers - icepick

Building the church

As I mentioned earlier, the size of the terrain and the layout of various elements greatly depends on the size of the church so it was only natural to start with the construction of the church first. Since I would need a lot of slats of various sizes which would require a lot of precise and repeated measuring, I decided to help myself and construct two tools that would be used to cut the slats into several desired lengths. Tool 1 would be used to cut planks 13, 30 and 50 mm long, whereas Tool 2 would cut planks 11, 20 and 46 mm long. The geometry of these simple tools would allow fast and precise cutting of the linden slats and true enough after only an hour I had cut almost 7 meters of linden slats into 181 differently sized would-be wooden beams. Using scotch tape I glued them all into groups so they wouldn't get mixed up.

Next up, it was time to construct the moulding tools to simplify the production of wooden frames and ensure the right angles of the beam connections (as much as possible). For this, I used one sheet of transparent plastic foil. I simply placed it over the sketch and glued the 5x5mm linden slats over the green marked areas on the sketch. Inside I put the linden slats of according sizes (I had previously written the sizes in red on the sketch for easier assembly) and put just a dab of superglue making sure it didn't run onto the plastic foil or the thicker linden slats of the moulding tool. A great advice is to use Rapid Cure. This is a chemical of sorts that instantly cures the superglue the moment it comes into contact with it. However it leaves some white marks which in this case won't matter as everything will get painted in the end.

Once I had all the wooden frames for the bottom part of the church I glued them onto a balsa wood base. I now had the outline of my would-be church. It was time to construct the belfry and the roof. Using the same method, I made the roof horns – basicly a set of triangles glued to gether. To make those, I used only one mould tool as all I really needed was to construct the right angle between the horizontal and perpendicular beams. Once they are fixed, I just connected the hypothenuse of the triangle that would hold the roof. I made several sizes of the roof horn in order to have an appearance of a wobbly roof. When the roof construction was done, I glued 2mm balsa wood over it that would hold the roof tiles. (Note: I didn't glue the roof construction to the wall frames so the roof will be removable) With the roof construction done, I proceeded to make the belfry using 6 smaller wall frames and some roof triangles.

It was time to fill the walls with planks. Using 2mm thick balsa wood I cut strips about 30cm long and 5mm wide using an icepick. The shape of the icepick enables the bevelled look of the plank in one stroke (both cutting and bevelling at the same time). If I had used the scalpel blade, I would have to chamfer the sides which would prolong the process. Afterwards, I again resorted to my makeshift tools for cutting planks and made a bunch of 20, 30 and 50mm planks out of the balsa strips. These I then glued to the floor, making sure I followed a certain pattern. It does not matter which pattern you use, but you need to follow it to the end. In the case of my floor, I used the following pattern: 40mm-50mm; 20mm-50mm-20mm; 50mm-40mm; 20mm-50mm-20mm and repeat. I used a similar method for all the walls. Where the length of the plank protruded from the wall frame, I had cut the excess material only after the glue had set (which is best seen on the roof part). Once both parts of the church were done (roof and building) I glued them on a stick to make the undercoating with a black sprey easier and to prevent spreying over my hands.

Making the base

With the church done, I could now make the base for the terrain. Same as in the original from 2003, I opted to make it from HD Styrofoam. Although these days I opt for the more sturdier materials for the base (like MDF), I went for the styrofoam because I wanted the extra height that 3cm thick styrofoam provides. First, I drew the church outline with a marker and then arranged all the elements according to their position to the church. Once I had all the elements in place, I drew the outline of the top side of the base and around it the bottom side. Using a scalpel blade I cut the base along the outmost line. In several steps I cut the base until I reached the inner outline of the base adding more angle to the blade with each step. Once the cutting part was done, I sanded everything using sanding paper. I also made a couple of stone boulders from leftover pieces of styrofoam and glued them to the base using PVA glue and toothpicks as pins.

5x5mm linden slat was used to make the gate to the church graveyard. Using my electric mini drill (which can be replaced by a hand-held pin vice) I pinned all the pieces together and to the base again using toothpicks as pins. Once the gate was done, I made the wobbly wooden fence from toothpicks and balsa wood planks left over from church construction. Before adding texture it was time to dryfit the two pieces together. Upon inspection I discovered several damaged places on the styrofoam that needed fixing. Had I more time, I would probably have filled those with DAS airdrying clay. However, several strips of masking tape provided a perfect quick fix.

Texturing

At this point, I was nearing the end of the construction and all that had to be done before the painting was to add texture to the base. Before doing this, take a look at the picture of the old piece taken in 2016. You will see that there is a damage to the road just on the rim of the base. I'm not sure what happened or how it got torn off, but my best guess is that the styrofoam base was not fully protected before undercoating with a sprey so it damaged the undersurface of the base and during time the stress broke off this piece. In order to prevent this (as much as possible) I decided to cover about 5mm around the edge of the underside with PVA and thus protect it from damage. While it was drying, I took out all the gravel I was to use on this project:
- chinchilla sand – smallest grain
- GF9 medium basing grit
- chinchilla sand – largest grain

Once the PVA protection was dry, I smeared more wattered-down PVA on the surface that would become the road/yard. I first sprinkled over some largest grain gravel, next I sprinkeld some GF9 Medium Basing Grit and to finish I poured over the smallest grain chinchilla sand. If you sprinkle gently and with care you can end up with nice variations in texture – for instance the middle of the dirt road usually has some larger stones as opposed to the sides of it. When the road was dry, I repeated the process with the rest of the base, sprinkling the two largest grains over the ground part and smallest grain over the boulders and graves.

Preparation while waiting

While I was waiting for the texture to dry, I made the roof tiles from finest grain sanding paper. It has nice texture when painted. I also put metal pins to the pine trees I was going to use on this terrain. The easies method of pinning metal pins to the plastic trunks of the trees is to heat the metal pin using a candle and just stick it into the trunk. The heat will melt the plastic locally. As the pin goes into the trunk it gives over heat (to the trunk that melts) and once the pin is cool it will become lodged into the trunk without any need to glue it.

Painting the base

After the texture had set, I undercoated the base using black sprey and it was time to paint the terrain. Unlike my minis, I like to use minimal/limited pallette when painting my scenery. These are the paints used during this whole project (manufacturer: Pebeo Deco):
- White (41)
- Antique White (69)
- Ash (70)
- Ochre (51)
- Brown (29)
- Grey (54)
- Black (55)

On all my scenery I use Pebeo Deco colours as I find they have just the consistency needed for quickly painting the terrain. They are quite rubbish for painting minis, mind you, as they are too thick. For terrain, however, they are perfect and their price of 3USD per 45ml bottle is well worth it. When the undercoat was dry, I painted brown all over the yard/road/graves area and just drybrushed the rest of the base. Using drybrush method (without cleaning my brush from previous paint) I applied ochre over the entire base. On the road part I added a final highlight of a mixture of ochre and antique white. Once that was done, I used black paint to pick out all the details – fence, stones, gate and when this layer was dry, I drybrushed them all with a mixture of black and grey. I highlighted it with pure grey. Now all my grey surfaces were the same, both wooden and stone. To make variation to them, I put a final highlight of pure white on the stone surfaces (stones and gravestones). I also added a highlight of ash to both the ground part of the base (without the road/yard) and the wooden parts. To end this part of painting process I decided to make hommages to two works of art very dear to me. First is the sign on the church gate that says Piety Hill in reference to Ray Anderson's work and the other is the two tombstones – one marked Arch Stanton the other marked Unmarked in reference to one of my favourite movies of all time. This being a terrain for Malifaux, I figured a reference to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly couldn't miss. All three signs I wrote using my 0,05mm micron marker (you can get those from Ebay for quite a reasonable price, and they come in several colours if you need them).

Vegetation

When I was done with painting, I glued the four pine trees to the base using PVA glue and assmbled all the vegetation I would use: tufts of flowers (found on Ebay), extra long static grass/fibres (Noch), Poison Ivy (ArmyPainter), and a wide assortment of tufts of various colours, sizes and lengths (Gamer's Grass). All these I would use on the base to hopefully get that prairie feel to the piece. Starting with the longest fibres and going to the shortest length tufts I glued each using PVA glue. In the end I added some flowers to the graves. With all the tufts glued, I still had some awkward empty places on the base so I decided to mix some static grass and glue it. I used green, pure yellow, ash and almost black green stuff to get the mixture of the right colour. When I was happy with the shade, I glued it using PVA glue once again.

Painting the church

While the flock was drying, I painted the church. I decided to go for the brownish interior and grey exterior. Inside was painted using brown, ash and antique white. Outside was painted using a mixture of black and grey, then grey and pure white as the final highlight. While this was drying I added some poison ivy to the base and proceeded to paint the bell. This element was the only one painted with paints I normally use for painting minis. Scalecolor Dwarven and Viking Gold and Vallejo Sepia Shade. When everything was painted, I added the roof to the belfry and glued the church to the base.

Adding the door that can be opened

During my build of the Malifaux modular gaming board for Figure Painter Magazine, I discovered a nifty little way to make doors that can open. Apart from a couple of linden slats and some balsa, it requires smallest (that you can find) hinges for jewlery boxes. The process of making is really easy, but you need to make sure the hinge is fixed between two plates both on the door side and on the frame side. This way, there is no (or little) chance of the door falling off during opening. Once it was done, I painted it following the process described above and when the paint was dry, I glued the whole thing to the church and the base.

Final product

The fitting of the door marked the end of the project and all that was left was for me to take it to the club to take a picture of it with it's older brother.

Latest articles

We visited: Kup Zagreb 2025

          array(2) {
  ["Article"]=>
  array(10) {
    ["id"]=>
    string(3) "485"
    ["member_id"]=>
    string(2) "64"
    ["title_eng"]=>
    string(27) "We visited: Kup Zagreb 2025"
    ["title_hrv"]=>
    string(30) "Posjetili smo: Kup Zagreb 2025"
    ["mask_eng"]=>
    string(26) "we_visited_kup_zagreb_2025"
    ["mask_hrv"]=>
    string(29) "posjetili_smo_kup_zagreb_2025"
    ["content_eng"]=>
    string(2240) "
	

	

	

	

	

	

	
"
    ["content_hrv"]=>
    string(2691) "
	U subotu 6.12. naši članovi su nastupili na 20. Kupu Zagreb. Natjecanje se održalo u OŠ Juraja Kaštelana na zagrebačkoj Savici.

	

	

	

	

	Rad kojem smo dodijelili naš tradicionalni Best of Show voted by Agram je došao iz Mađarske iz radionice Akosa Szabe.

	

	

	Na kraju, osim nekoliko specijalnih nagrada, naši članovi osvojili su dvije zlatne, dvije srebrne i dvije brončane medalje.

	
"
    ["created"]=>
    string(19) "2025-12-10 10:37:40"
    ["modified"]=>
    string(19) "2025-12-10 10:37:40"
  }
  ["Member"]=>
  array(10) {
    ["id"]=>
    string(2) "64"
    ["group_id"]=>
    string(1) "1"
    ["first_name"]=>
    string(9) "Krunoslav"
    ["last_name"]=>
    string(8) "Belinić"
    ["first_name_mask"]=>
    string(9) "krunoslav"
    ["last_name_mask"]=>
    string(7) "belinic"
    ["username"]=>
    string(5) "Kruno"
    ["password"]=>
    string(40) "eb3fda45fbec0258e90d809803b10491c548b22f"
    ["born"]=>
    string(19) "2015-01-18 09:19:00"
    ["created"]=>
    string(19) "2015-01-18 09:20:39"
  }
}

Krunoslav Belinić, 10th December 2025

We visited: Museum Slovenia v Malem and Back to Basics in the Kovačnica incubator in Kranj

          array(2) {
  ["Article"]=>
  array(10) {
    ["id"]=>
    string(3) "484"
    ["member_id"]=>
    string(2) "35"
    ["title_eng"]=>
    string(91) "We visited: Museum Slovenia v Malem and Back to Basics in the Kovačnica incubator in Kranj"
    ["title_hrv"]=>
    string(88) "Posjetili smo: Muzej Slovenija v Malem i Back to Basics u inkubatoru Kovačnica u Kranju"
    ["mask_eng"]=>
    string(89) "we_visited_museum_slovenia_v_malem_and_back_to_basics_in_the_kovacnica_incubator_in_kranj"
    ["mask_hrv"]=>
    string(86) "posjetili_smo_muzej_slovenija_v_malem_i_back_to_basics_u_inkubatoru_kovacnica_u_kranju"
    ["content_eng"]=>
    string(10845) "
	After the performance at the National Championship in Ljubljana, our team went on a trip to Kranj on Sunday morning at the invitation of our partners from Back to Basics!

	

	The day was beautiful and we soon reached the first point of our excursion. The Museum Svet v Malem.

	

	The lecture about the museum was given by our friends Bine Logar, Luka Jančič and Milan Hrestak.

	

	After the lecture, there was free time to view dioramas related to the history of Slovenia.

	

	

	

	

	

	

	

	

	

	

	After looking at the models on the ground floor, we went up to the first floor to the workshop area. The first thing that impressed us was the representation of Triglav. A train runs around the entire room, showing the past of Slovenia.

	

	

	

	

	The second thing our hosts surprised us with was a commemorative plaque rewarding us for successfully conducting Back to Basics workshops in 2025, in which we had 100 participants.

	

	On the way out, we signed the Guest Book.

	

	After visiting the museum, our hosts took us to lunch at Walter's (all recommendations for real Bosnian grill!)

	

	After that, we visited the B2B headquarters at the Kovačnica incubator in Kranj, where we discussed the state of technical culture in both Slovenia and Croatia over coffee.

	

	

	

	

	To end the gathering, the hosts took us for a short walk in nature.

	

	And this wouldn't be a hobby trip if we didn't take a peek at at least one LGS - Park Enigma in the center of Kranj!

	

	

	Before returning, there was still time for a coffee and a chat about the weekend's impressions!

	

	As always, more and bigger photos are on our social networks!
"
    ["content_hrv"]=>
    string(10849) "
	Nakon nastupa na Državnom prvenstvu u Ljubljani, naša ekipa se u nedjelju ujutro uputila na izlet u Kranj na poziv naših partnera iz Back to Basics!

	

	Dan je bio predivan i ubrzo smo stigli do prve točke našeg izleta. Muzej Svet v Malem.

	

	Predavanje o muzeju su odradili naši prijatelji Bine Logar, Luka Jančič i Milan Hrestak.

	

	Nakon predavanja, uslijedilo je slobodno vrijeme za razgledavanje diorama vezanih na povijest Slovenije.

	

	

	

	

	

	

	

	

	

	

	Nakon razgledavanja maketa u prizemlju, popeli smo se na prvi kat u prostor radionice. Prvo što nas je impresioniralo bio je prikaz Triglava. Oko cijele prostorije prolazi vlak koji pokazuje prošlost Slovenije. 

	

	

	

	

	Druga stvar čime su nas naši domaćini iznenadili bila je prigodna spomenica kojom nas nagrađuju za uspješno vođenje Back to Basics radionica u 2025. u kojoj smo imali 100 polaznika.

	

	Na izlasku smo se upisali u Knjigu dojmova.

	

	Nakon posjeta muzeju, domaćini su nas odveli na ručak kod Waltera. (sve preporuke za pravi bosanski roštilj!)

	

	Nakon toga posjetili smo i B2B sjedište u inkubatoru Kovačnica u Kranju gdje smo uz kavu prodiskutirali stanje u tehničkoj kulturi kako u Sloveniji tako i u Hrvatskoj.

	

	

	

	

	Za kraj druženja, domaćini su nas odveli na kratku šetnju u prirodi.

	

	A ovo ne bi bio hobby put da nismo zavirili u barem jedan LGS - Park Enigma u centru Kranja!

	

	

	Prije povratka još je bilo vremena za jednu kavu i razgovor o dojmovima vikenda!

	

	Kao i uvijek, više i veće fotke su na našim socijalnim mrežama!
"
    ["created"]=>
    string(19) "2025-12-09 08:40:12"
    ["modified"]=>
    string(19) "2025-12-09 08:40:12"
  }
  ["Member"]=>
  array(10) {
    ["id"]=>
    string(2) "35"
    ["group_id"]=>
    string(1) "1"
    ["first_name"]=>
    string(5) "Marko"
    ["last_name"]=>
    string(9) "Paunović"
    ["first_name_mask"]=>
    string(5) "marko"
    ["last_name_mask"]=>
    string(8) "paunovic"
    ["username"]=>
    string(5) "marko"
    ["password"]=>
    string(40) "3bd37b326d19d1880d3b93a4b32e8fb3a90fa122"
    ["born"]=>
    string(19) "2033-03-07 20:35:00"
    ["created"]=>
    string(19) "2009-06-02 20:37:03"
  }
}

Marko Paunović, 9th December 2025

We attended: Slovenian State Championship in plastic modelling, Ljubljana 22.11.2025.

          array(2) {
  ["Article"]=>
  array(10) {
    ["id"]=>
    string(3) "483"
    ["member_id"]=>
    string(2) "64"
    ["title_eng"]=>
    string(85) "We attended: Slovenian State Championship in plastic modelling, Ljubljana 22.11.2025."
    ["title_hrv"]=>
    string(95) "Nastupili smo na: Državno prvenstvo Slovenije u plastičnom maketarstvu, Ljubljana 22.11.2025."
    ["mask_eng"]=>
    string(80) "we_attended_slovenian_state_championship_in_plastic_modelling_ljubljana_22112025"
    ["mask_hrv"]=>
    string(88) "nastupili_smo_na_drzavno_prvenstvo_slovenije_u_plasticnom_maketarstvu_ljubljana_22112025"
    ["content_eng"]=>
    string(6634) "
	On Saturday, November 22, 2025. in Ljubljana, the National Championship of Slovenia in Plastic Modeling was held. It was a jubilee, their 30th edition. For this occasion, our delegation performed in several categories, but also for the first time we had a presentation stand as well.

	

	After the set-up, the competition opened at 11 am with the cutting of a celebratory cake.

	

	Throughout the competition, our booth was very popular, and the biggest hit were the homemade chocolate chip cookies made by Marko's wife!

	

	Below is a gallery of exhibits.

	

	

	

	

	

	

	

	

	

	In our opinion, best of show went to Slovenia. Anže Zorko made a fantastic chieftain!

	

	The best part of the event itself was hanging out with fellow modelers and gamers. Many thanks to Amulet D20 for the Middle Earth SBG demo which our Seb thoroughly enjoyed!

	

	

	Finally, the tradition is that the most awarded member pays for the booze!

	

	Look for more photos in better resolution on our social networks!
"
    ["content_hrv"]=>
    string(6669) "
	U subotu, 22.11.2025. u Ljubljani održavalo se Državno prvenstvo Slovenije u plastičnom maketarstvu, jubilarno, 30. Tom prilikom naša delegacija je nastupila u nekoliko kategorija, ali i po prvi puta sa prezentacijskim štandom.

	

	Nakon postavljanja, u 11 je natjecanje otvoreno uz prigodno rezanje slavljeničke torte.

	

	TIjekom cijelog natjecanja, naš štand je bio jako posjećen, a najveći hit su bili domaći chocolate chip cookies koje je izradila Markova supruga!

	

	U nastavku slijedi galerija radova.

	

	

	

	

	

	

	

	

	

	Po našem izboru, best of show otišao je u Sloveniju. Anže Zorko napravio je fantastičnog poglavicu!

	

	Najbolji dio samog događaja bilo je druženje s kolegama maketarima i gamerima. Veliko hvala Amulet D20 na demonstraciji Middle Earth SBG u kojoj je naš Seb izrazito uživao!

	

	

	Za kraj, tradicija da najnagrađivaniji član plaća cugu!

	

	Više fotografija i u boljoj rezoluciji potražite na našim socijalnim mrežama!
"
    ["created"]=>
    string(19) "2025-12-09 08:09:21"
    ["modified"]=>
    string(19) "2025-12-09 08:09:21"
  }
  ["Member"]=>
  array(10) {
    ["id"]=>
    string(2) "64"
    ["group_id"]=>
    string(1) "1"
    ["first_name"]=>
    string(9) "Krunoslav"
    ["last_name"]=>
    string(8) "Belinić"
    ["first_name_mask"]=>
    string(9) "krunoslav"
    ["last_name_mask"]=>
    string(7) "belinic"
    ["username"]=>
    string(5) "Kruno"
    ["password"]=>
    string(40) "eb3fda45fbec0258e90d809803b10491c548b22f"
    ["born"]=>
    string(19) "2015-01-18 09:19:00"
    ["created"]=>
    string(19) "2015-01-18 09:20:39"
  }
}

Krunoslav Belinić, 9th December 2025

Back to Basics Workshops in Galerija VN, a part of Libraries of Zagreb

          array(2) {
  ["Article"]=>
  array(10) {
    ["id"]=>
    string(3) "482"
    ["member_id"]=>
    string(2) "64"
    ["title_eng"]=>
    string(70) "Back to Basics Workshops in Galerija VN, a part of Libraries of Zagreb"
    ["title_hrv"]=>
    string(70) "Back to Basics radionice bojanja minijatura u Galeriji i ČitaoniciVN "
    ["mask_eng"]=>
    string(69) "back_to_basics_workshops_in_galerija_vn_a_part_of_libraries_of_zagreb"
    ["mask_hrv"]=>
    string(68) "back_to_basics_radionice_bojanja_minijatura_u_galeriji_i_citaonicivn"
    ["content_eng"]=>
    string(4425) "
	

	During October and November, we held our Back to Basics miniature painting workshops for the youngest at the Zagreb City Libraries.

	

	

	The second set of three workshops was held in the Gallery VN on October 30, November 6 and 8, 2025.

	

	

	During the workshops, our youngest participants painted chibi figures from the UMS Agram line and made a castle from upcycled materials.

	

	

	

	

	

	

	More photos can be found on our social media.

	
"
    ["content_hrv"]=>
    string(4473) "
	

	Tijekom listopada i studenog u Knjižnicama Grada Zagreba smo održali naše Back to Basics radionice bojanja minijatura za najmlađe. 

	

	

	Drugi set od tri radionice održan je u Galeriji i čitaonici VN 30.10. te 6. i 8.11.2025. 

	

	

	Tijekom radionica naši najmlađi polaznici su bojali chibi figure iz linije UMS Agram te izrađivali dvorac od upcycle materijala.

	

	

	

	

	

	

	Više fotografija potražite na našim socijalnim mrežama!

	
"
    ["created"]=>
    string(19) "2025-12-04 09:07:44"
    ["modified"]=>
    string(19) "2025-12-04 09:11:27"
  }
  ["Member"]=>
  array(10) {
    ["id"]=>
    string(2) "64"
    ["group_id"]=>
    string(1) "1"
    ["first_name"]=>
    string(9) "Krunoslav"
    ["last_name"]=>
    string(8) "Belinić"
    ["first_name_mask"]=>
    string(9) "krunoslav"
    ["last_name_mask"]=>
    string(7) "belinic"
    ["username"]=>
    string(5) "Kruno"
    ["password"]=>
    string(40) "eb3fda45fbec0258e90d809803b10491c548b22f"
    ["born"]=>
    string(19) "2015-01-18 09:19:00"
    ["created"]=>
    string(19) "2015-01-18 09:20:39"
  }
}

Krunoslav Belinić, 4th December 2025

We attended: Monte San Savino 2025

array(2) { ["Article"]=> array(10) { ["id"]=> string(3) "481" ["member_id"]=> string(2) "35" ["title_eng"]=> string(34) "We attended: Monte San Savino 2025" ["title_hrv"]=> string(39) "Nastupili smo na: Monte San Savino 2025" ["mask_eng"]=> string(33) "we_attended_monte_san_savino_2025" ["mask_hrv"]=> string(38) "nastupili_smo_na_monte_san_savino_2025" ["content_eng"]=> string(13933) "

Our Ivan brings you a report from the best miniature painting competition in the world.

In a small town in Italy, one of the largest and most prestigious miniature exhibitions in the world has been held every year since 2006, bringing together miniaturists from all over the world. The Knezović clan decided that it was a shame that Croatians did not come to the Monte San Savino Show, so after a great time at Kontrast, a miniature exhibition in Warsaw, we decided to visit Italy as well.

The exhibition is held in Tuscany, and all the content related to it is located within the walls of the castle around which most of the town is located. The exhibition is set in an exceptionally beautiful setting of a medieval castle, with which no other similar miniature event can be compared. The town itself allows visitors to easily get to know each other, as most of them gravitate to the square in the center of the castle.

We set off on Friday, November 14, 2025, and it took us about eight hours to get to our accommodation. Italian motorways are good, but Italians themselves often don't know what lanes are for or how to use turn signals. Large trucks often swerved left and right, and drivers usually only turned on their turn signals after they had finished changing lanes. Fortunately, none of the miniatures were damaged in transit. The Patafix and plastic box are more than enough protection for the models.

We distributed a large number of flyers in the hope that some of the visitors would come to our Black Queen, and some even promised us that they would (try to) come. We also awarded the UMS Agram Best of Show medal. We did not proceed in a "judgmental" manner, but rather we sought the work (or works) of a miniaturist that we enjoy the most. I have long appreciated Magnus Fagerberg's works and have often used them as references in my own work. They were even better in person, which is usually the case with all top-notch works. Therefore, UMS Agram presented Magnus, in addition to the Best of Show medal, with a terranino to accompany the Monograph on our work.

The exhibition itself featured the best works that we usually see on social networks, and there were about 2,000 of them in total. Almost all of the winners of this year's Golden Demon also brought their models to Monte San Savino.

The results we achieved were very good, considering the exceptionally high average quality of the works. Filip won one gold with his works in the Storytelling Standard category, while I (Ivan) won one bronze in the Storytelling Master category and one bronze in the Fantasy Painting Master category.

I'll leave the best part of the article for last, photos of some of the models we saw. Filip has since learned how to use a macro lens, so I'd say the photos turned out great.

" ["content_hrv"]=> string(13979) "

Naš Ivan vam donosi reportažu sa najboljeg natjecanja u bojanju minijatura na svijetu.

U malom gradiću u Italiji svake se godine, još od 2006., održava jedna od najvećih i najprestižnijih izložbi minijatura na svijetu, koja okuplja minijaturiste iz cijeloga svijeta. Klan Knezović zaključio je da je šteta što na Monte San Savino Show ne dolaze Hrvati, pa smo nakon odličnog provoda na Kontrastu, izložbi minijatura u Varšavi, odlučili posjetiti i Italiju.

Izložba se održava u Toskani, a svi sadržaji vezani uz nju smješteni su unutar zidina dvorca oko kojeg se nalazi veći dio mjesta. Izložba je postavljena u iznimno lijepom ambijentu srednjovjekovnog dvorca, s kojim se ne može usporediti nijedan drugi sličan minijaturistički događaj. Sam gradić omogućuje posjetiteljima da se lako upoznaju, jer većina njih gravitira trgu u središtu dvorca.

Na put smo krenuli u petak, 14. studenoga 2025., te smo putovali oko osam sati do našeg smještaja. Talijanske autoceste su dobre, ali sami Talijani nerijetko ne znaju čemu služe prometne trake ili kako se koriste žmigavci. Veliki kamioni često su lelujali lijevo–desno, a vozači su pokazivače smjera uglavnom uključivali tek nakon što bi već završili prestrojavanje. Nijedna minijatura srećom nije nastradala u prijevozu. Patafix i plastična kutija sasvim su dovoljna zaštita za modele.

Podijelili smo veći broj letaka u nadi da će dio posjetitelja doći na naš Black Queen, a neki su nam čak i obećali da će (pokušati) doći. Dodijelili smo i UMS Agram Best of Show medalju. Nismo se vodili „sudački“, nego smo tražili rad (ili radove) jednog minijaturista u kojima najviše uživamo. Već dugo cijenim radove Magnusa Fagerberga i često sam ih koristio kao reference u vlastitom radu. Uživo su bili još bolji, što je u pravilu slučaj sa svim vrhunskim radovima. Stoga je UMS Agram Magnusu, uz Best of Show medalju, poklonio i jedan teranino za uz Monografiju o našem radu.

Na samoj izložbi mogli su se vidjeti najbolji radovi koje inače viđamo na društvenim mrežama, a ukupno ih je bilo oko 2000. Gotovo svi pobjednici ovogodišnjeg Golden Demona također su donijeli svoje modele na Monte San Savino.

Rezultati koje smo ostvarili bili su vrlo dobri, s obzirom na iznimno visoku prosječnu kvalitetu radova. Filip je sa svojim radovima u kategoriji Storytelling Standard osvojio jedno zlato, dok sam ja (Ivan) osvojio jednu broncu u kategoriji Storytelling Master i jednu broncu u kategoriji Fantasy Painting Master.

Za kraj ostavljam onaj najbolji dio članka, fotografije nekih od modela koje smo vidjeli. Filip je u međuvremenu izučio korištenje makro leće pa su fotografije rekao bih odlično ispale.

" ["created"]=> string(19) "2025-11-24 08:44:10" ["modified"]=> string(19) "2025-11-24 08:44:10" } ["Member"]=> array(10) { ["id"]=> string(2) "35" ["group_id"]=> string(1) "1" ["first_name"]=> string(5) "Marko" ["last_name"]=> string(9) "Paunović" ["first_name_mask"]=> string(5) "marko" ["last_name_mask"]=> string(8) "paunovic" ["username"]=> string(5) "marko" ["password"]=> string(40) "3bd37b326d19d1880d3b93a4b32e8fb3a90fa122" ["born"]=> string(19) "2033-03-07 20:35:00" ["created"]=> string(19) "2009-06-02 20:37:03" } }

Marko Paunović, 24th November 2025

Latest battle-reports

Kill Team - Blooded vs. Vespid Stingwings 28th February 2025, GW - Warhammer 40.000, and Antoni Pastuović (Imperial Guard)

22nd April 2022, GW - Warhammer 40.000, Borna Pleše (Space Marines) and Kristijan Kliska (Tau Empire)

17th November 2021, GW - Warhammer 40.000, and Nino Marasović (Space Marines)

Association of miniature collectors, modellers and tabletop wargamers "Agram"

Making PIETY HILL

Latest articles

Latest battle-reports