WizKidsDeep Cuts - Pools & Pillars

Wizkids deep cuts have great detail to them. I wish I could have gotten the painted version of this, but Amazon no longer has them. The unpainted worked well but needed more work to look as pretty as the painted ones.

This is a great terrain enhancer set that works well with Warlock tile sets or 3D printed dungeon environments. As usual from WizKids, the pieces are primed but unpainted with lots of great texture that accepts wash and/or drybrush equally well. WizKids uses a thin, good-quality primer. I've never had any issues getting strong adhesion with Vallejo or Army Painter paints on any WizKids minis.In the set you get:- 4 standing pillars- 4 clear, thin plastic bases- 4 pairs of velcro circles- 9 pillar decorations: 4 hanging banners, 4 torches in sconces, and 1 stag's head- 1 collapsed pillar- 3 stone-ringed pools- 1 stone-ringed pool with 3 plug-in cap spaces and 6 optional caps: 3 normal stones, 2 gargoyles, and 1 small obelisk with flame on topThe pillars have a well-worn look. I drybrushed Vallejo grey-green over a flat black base to accentuate that. If you want to give them a cleaner look, you could paint them in pale grey or white and highlight just the seams with a dark wash. Each pillar has a plug-in spot to hold one of the pillar decorations: banner, torch, or stag's head. The torch flames are removable to simulate lit or unlit. They are also clear resin, so you can create a nice flame effect with some transparent gloss red, orange, or yellow, or maybe green or blue for a more eerie look. The clear resin is obviously not primed, but a little rough and cloudy, which helps it accept paint. I found that the transparent paint filled in the cloudy texture for a clear final look (if you don't understand how that works, look up any videos on using sanding and clear gloss coat to clean up model aircraft canopies).Some forward-thinking additions to the set are the clear, thin plastic bases and velcro circles. Each pillar has an inset base for one side of the velcro. Attach the other side to the middle of a clear base, and you get removable stability for the pillar. The inset on the base is deep enough that the velcro doesn't prevent the pillars from standing without the bases. In a busy battle with minis, the bases come in very handy to prevent eager hands from knocking over the terrain.The collapsed pillar is a simple bit of scenery. I applied the usual flat black and grey-green drybrush style for the pillar pieces, then used some thinned white glue to adhere terrain flocking to the ground and to simulate moss on the fallen pillar. The black base coat on the ground gives the impression of dark, rich earth beneath the faux-grass flocking. Goes well with a forest scene.The pools are made entirely of clear resin, stones and water both, with the stones coated in primer and the water left clear. The water is a separate piece from the stones. It looks like the stones were primed before the two pieces were assembled, as there wasn't any spot of primer on the water surfaces on any of the pieces. The stones take drybrush or wash as easily as the pillars. I used pale blue-grey drybrushed over flat black for the stones. If you're not confident that your drybrush technique can avoid marking the water, I suggest either masking the water or using a wash instead to highlight the texture. The resin water surface is fairly cloudy, just like the torch flames. I polished the top surfaces with 1200 grit polishing cloth and applied a gloss clear coat to bring out a mirror shine in the still water, then painted the undersides with darker blue-grey for the murky water depths.The plug-in spaces on the large pool are keyed. Each has a matching stone cap and can accept one other cap. The two side spaces accept a gargoyle cap, and the obelisk cap fits in the center space.