ACME Terrain, LLC
PO Box 49082, West Carrollton, Ohio 45449
937-215-9958 - heyrandy@acmeterrain.com
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The complete ACME Terrain Story
What customers say about ACME Terrain
Our new facility... a big thanks to all who helped make this dream a reality!
ACME Terrain was founded in 2008 by Randy Miller; a modeler/painter/wargamer with 30 years of experience in the hobby. Starting with AIRFIX plastic soldiers, vehicles and cardboard buildings in the late 1970's, Randy soon expanded to using train-table scenery to enhance the look of the wargaming board. As an avid modeler, Randy began using the painting and weathering techniques detailed in magazines like Fine Scale Modeler not only on the model kits, but also on the scratch-built terrain elements. Using a basic set of rules created by his brother Don, Randy played many games using the AIRFIX and ATLANTIC plastic miniatures with the neighborhood kids on an old ping-pong table in the basement.
During college at Ohio State in the 80's, Randy created a set of 15mm skirmish rules for WW2/Vietnam which required a new set of terrain and buildings. Farm houses, barns, village hooches and sandbag emplacements were all scratch-built for the game. The system utilized a "double-blind" set-up where two identical game boards were deployed with a curtain to separate the opposing players. Although requiring a game referee, this approach captured the fog of war missed by so many game systems and brought the skirmish encounters of WW2 and Vietnam to life. This system was enjoyed by many gamers and included a group of OSU history professors who had Randy set up and run games especially for them as they found it to be very realistic.
After hiatus from miniatures and gaming, Randy began figure painting in the 28mm range. Painting soon turned to gaming and Randy began collecting miniatures to build armies. Looking for the "massed troops" effect, Randy chose the 10mm range. With many companies offering great miniatures in 10mm, Randy quickly expanded his collection to include ACW, WW2, Vietnam, Fantasy, Ancients and Dark Age/Medieval periods. Surfing EBay allowed a quick, affordable expansion to over 5000 figures and vehicles.
Of course the next step in the process is to create the terrain boards/mats, terrain pieces and buildings that will be used for the game. Wanting to progress past the "lichen clumps and masking tape" level, Randy began researching how to create high quality terrain to match the quality of the painted figures. The Miniatures Page (TMP) offered many posts of fantastic commercial and scratch-built pieces and the posts were filled with how-to info. Many posts spoke of casting using resin in RTV silicone molds. This seemed to be the answer for duplicating the pieces without having to scratch-build each one.
Using the advice of on-line forums and the manufacturer's tutorials, Randy made his first mold of a sandbag bunker for the Vietnamese war era. This soon led to NVA/VC bunkers, towers and foxholes. The next piece was a Vietnamese Hooch. Although there were several 10mm hooches available from overseas manufacturers, the buildings didn't seem quite accurate. After extensive research (thanks to many Vietnam Vets who have posted their personal photos of the war online), Randy created the master and molded it in RTV Silicone. This was the first series of castings that would become ACME Terrain.
ACME Terrain is actively adding more pieces on a monthly basis. After concentrating on completing the 10mm-15mm line for walls and fences, Randy plans on adding a 6mm-10mm line in the same category. ACME Terrain will also continue to offer finished buildings and other terrain pieces as well.
