Tomb Thursday P25: Throwing a Little Shade

No need to reach for that +3 sunscreen in this week’s edition of Tomb Thursday, because we have the perfect DnD scatter terrain to get you out of the sun before your next big battle! No one fights well with heatstroke.

After a slew of recent Egyptian 3D-printed miniatures, we have some nice TTRPG scatter terrain to gussy up our future desert gameboards. Today’s featured RPG prints were sitting on our pile of shame for a while (already primed and everything), so it was incredibly satisfying to finally knock these out for DM Ben.

Our only existing palm trees are from a Gen Con haul many, many full moons ago, when 3D printers weren’t a thing…like, not even a blip on anyone’s radar. Sadly, we forgot to take a pic of them before we rushed out the door this morning (lateness is frowned upon at the 3DRPG Studios). However, our existing desert trees resemble this eBay listing – nothing special, but they get the job done. Still, we all have 3D printers, so we can do better, right?!

Well, one need not look any further than Cast n Play’s Terrain Essentials series and their marvelous Desert Winds set. The collection includes numerous palm tree styles, and the heft to ’em is what really drew our 3D-printing eyes immediately to the STL previews. Trust us when we say you simply can’t go wrong with trying a few of these for your own Egyptian gameboard.

Let’s start with this fun palm tree pond piece. It’s the best of both RPG worlds, right? You can get some valuable shade from that scorching sun and refill your waterskin at the same time. What’s not to love? Plus, it just looks cool and sets a great table vibe. We should have picked a different color for the moon as it’s too close to the pots…a learning lesson, indeed.

Our second palm tree has a distinctive twist. Terrain Essentials, our favorite monthly terrain Patreon, sometimes includes multi-step pieces because the designs are so detailed and intricate. Typically, you would hear our team groan here because gluing 3D prints is one of our least favorite tasks. However, Cast n Play goes out of its way to make gluing and assembly easy by setting specific, locking glue points.

Also, we have a go-to adhesive that works so well with resin. Check out our 2025 Holiday Gamer Gift Guide and pick up a gel bottle or two.

Lastly, we got another palm variation but with a big ol’ fat trunk. We love the character of this one. DM Ben used this past weekend to color these terrific trees of the sandy kind up, and the steps couldn’t be more straightforward:

• Prime Flat White.
• Palm Fronds: ASP Orc Skin.
• Trunks P1: ASP Pallid Bone base layer.
• Trunks P2: ASP Dark Wood light drybrush.
• Vases: Pokorny Deep Lava
• Water: ASP Tidal Wave
• Sand: core Reaper desert paint scheme

Doing that simple Dark Wood drybrush step makes a big difference btw. Don’t skip it, or your trunks will look a little off.

And this isn’t even all the palm trees from this set. Now that we have some built confidence and a solid plan on how to tackle the rest of this cool desert train, we’ll certainly share some more of this fun scatter terrain from the Desert Winds set in future TTRPG posts!

Until next time!