How to Paint 28mm Tabletop Terrain in 4 Hours

You don't need pro-level paint skills to get great-looking tabletop terrain. This 4-step workflow gets a full Dragonlock dungeon, urban building set, or scatter pack tabletop-ready in about 4 hours.

What You'll Need

• Primer: Grey or black spray primer (Army Painter, Krylon, or Rust-Oleum 2X all work)
• Base coats: 2–3 craft acrylics (Apple Barrel, FolkArt) or hobby paints in your terrain colors
• Drybrush colors: 1 light grey or tan for highlights
• Wash: Citadel Agrax Earthshade or Army Painter Strong Tone (game-changing)
• Brushes: One large flat (1") + one medium drybrush + one small detail

Step 1: Prime (30 min, mostly waiting)

Take pieces outside or to a well-ventilated area. Hit them with grey primer from about 12 inches away, light coats. Two thin coats beat one thick coat every time. Let dry 30 minutes between coats.

Pro tip: Our Dragonlock terrain comes in premium grey PLA — you can often skip primer on the underside or interior surfaces that won't be seen, saving paint and time.

Step 2: Base Coat (1 hour)

Slap on the base color with your large flat brush. Don't worry about being neat — we're going for coverage, not precision. For stone terrain: medium grey. For wood/cottages: medium brown. For sci-fi: gunmetal or dark teal.

One full coat is enough for tabletop-ready work. Let dry 20–30 minutes.

Step 3: Drybrush (1 hour)

This is where it goes from "painted blob" to "actual terrain." Load your drybrush with a lighter version of your base color (light grey over medium grey, tan over brown). Wipe almost all the paint off on a paper towel — you want the brush almost dry.

Sweep the brush across raised edges, brick lines, and detail. The paint catches on the high points and skips the recesses. This is the single biggest visual upgrade.

Step 4: Wash (1–1.5 hours including dry time)

Glop on a brown or black wash with a small brush, getting it into all the cracks and recesses. Don't worry about being clean — the wash settles into the low points and pulls back from the highlights. This adds depth and shadow instantly.

Let it dry completely (45 min) before handling. Done.

What This Looks Like Per Piece

• Single dungeon room: 20 min active painting
• 5-piece scatter pack: 45 min
• Full Dragonlock dungeon (10–20 pieces): 3–4 hours
• Urban terrain bundle: 4–6 hours

Want to Go Further?

Once you're comfortable with prime→base→drybrush→wash, the next upgrades are: edge highlights (tiny strokes of pure white on the sharpest edges), pigment weathering (rust and dirt), and selective dot detailing on doors and signs. But honestly, the 4-step process above looks great on a tabletop from 2 feet away — which is where most of your players are.

Questions? Drop us a message.