By Joseph Forster

I can’t tell you how horribly disappointed was by the news that 4Ground Publishing is closing its doors this year. Their terrain is a mainstay of the Blood & Plunder community! However, they haven’t closed to the doors yet. They’re taking orders through the end of June 2022, so now is the best (and only) chance to pick up whatever you’ve been eyeing from their line of products. They’re offering a good sale for direct purchases right now as well!

UPDATE: 4Ground terrain is still available through the Tymeagain website.

But today we’re looking at the biggest and most impressive building that fits in with their wonderful Ports of Plunder series: the Inglesia Santa Maria, or large Spanish Church.

Spanish Church Model Overiew

The church is a 28mm Miniature scale model perfect for the “Caribbean” or “pirate” style historical wargaming setting of Blood & Plunder.  At 15.4″ long, 10″ wide and 12″ tall, this is an impressive model and can serve as the centerpiece of a medium to large Caribbean town or city.

Coming from the Things from the Basement line of kits, I found this model kit simpler than many of the 4Ground kits. And it is scaled nice a large for the 28mm Blood & Plunder miniatures.

First let’s look at the kit, and how it went together.

Assembling the Spanish Church Terrain Building

This is a heavy kit with lots of pieces!

Similar to all the Ports of Plunder products, they are tinted the right color so it doesn’t need paint, unless you want to add highlights to enhance it. Though the assembled structure will benefit from application of the render powder to give it a proper texture.`

The various pieces are well cut, easy to punch out, not too fragile, and easy to glue together.

The walls are a single layer thick (unlike many of the more complex 4Ground kits), but have details are overlays on the inside and out.

The stained glass windows are a great addition to the kit and really bring the building to life. The windows are a transparent sheet plastic and just need some cutting to take their shape. There are lots of options for stained glass patterns, especially for the rose window so you can customize your building.

Edge details

This is a huge piece to apply the render powder to, but if you just mix it with glue and a little water, you can paint it on without making too much mess.

I considered applying white render powder to the inside of the church but it turned out I was too lazy.

It looks fine without but it could look even better with a white plaster finish.

After applying the render powder, I did a little texturing around the base and some weathering near the ground and on the roof.

Applying Weathering Effects to the 4Ground Model

The 4Ground example had plenty of dusty weathering on the roof and I imitated that. Looking at it in photos, I think I could have gone a little lighter, but it works.

To create the effect, I just dusted some of the render powder on the roof, then sprayed it with Testers flat varnish.

I used some Vallejo Brown Earth texture paint around the base.

In the Caribbean, it rains. Lacking gutters, many of these buildings will be muddy near the ground where the roof runoff hit the ground. I use Citadel Typhus Corrosion, thinned with water to weather the lower portions of the walls.

These front doors lack hinges, so you have to glue them either open or closed. Or both…

Spanish Church Model – The Finished Project

The building is modular and can be taken apart during games or for storage.

I bought some accessories from 4Ground to fix up the interior. I got three sets of their set of pews,  and two different pulpits.

A few pews and the pulpit fill out the church nicely.

And if you want to fix up the outside, 4Ground has a couple different set of gravestones.

But back to the modularity!

The roof comes off the top of the tower as well. There are ladders to access each level of the tower.

The top floor comes off.

The tower breaks down into 3 floors and roof.

The transept portion of the building is removable as well.

And some shots of those stained glass windows.

Pop some tea lights in there!

Blood & Plunder Spiritual Leader Models in the Church

If you get a church, you’ll need a monk or two! You can check out my longer-than-necessary Spiritual Leader model guide post.

Father Labat’s message for you: buy this church! Time is limited if you want it. As far as I know, 4Ground will only be shipping order through the end of June so snap it up if you’re interested!

Here is another build of this same model. Liam Taylor used a lighter color of off-white render powder on the exterior for a slightly different look.

It’s a solid product and can really give your Caribbean port town holy and impressive centerpiece.

The current price on this kit is $103.76. It’s a hefty price but a good product. You can find it on the 4Ground store here.

Be sure to check out our other 4Ground terrain reviews of our recommendations for 14 Spiritual Leader Proxy Minis for Blood & Plunder.

Thanks for reading and happy wargaming!