Tag: scenery

Going to Ground

I’ve been gaming for more years than I care to remember, in that time I have seen major changes in the manufacturing processes that are used to produce the miniatures and models I use to play games with.

I remember, for example, when Games Workshop first ventured into plastic models. I was intrigued by resin models for many years, I remember been very impressed with the resin GZG scenery I purchased twenty odd years ago now. What I have noticed in the last few years is the increase in laser cut MDF models. These have looked very interesting, but did often remind me of the card Superquick models you can get for model railways. I have always liked the Superquick models and have in the past considered using them for 20mm scale Operation Sealion scenarios. Though today however I would probably more likely use the new resin Hornby Skaledale buildings and scenery. However the scenery if only part of the idea, I also need to build and paint the 20mm models to go with it… one day… I also think that kind of scenery would be ideal for a English Civil War, either the 1930s version that a Very British Civil War portrays, or the more moden version I wrote about in Wargames Illustrated once.

Going back to laser cut MDF I was up at Wayland’s Forge in Birmingham and in one of their display cabinets was some of the new 4Ground 15mm laser cut buildings made up along with some Flames of War models. I thought they looked very effective and nearly as good as the ready painted Battlefront buildings. Always willing to try something new I got a couple of buildings. I went for the ready-painted versions as I thought that would save time and the cost difference wasn’t huge.

I got the Northwest European Hotel with coarse stone walls and coaching arch and Northwest European semi-detached houses, one house rendered green the other is white.

Northwest European Hotel with coarse stone walls and coaching arch; a great focal point or objective for any 15mm gaming table.

Northwest European semi-detached houses, one house rendered green the other is white, these are ideal buildings for any 15mm gaming table.

They look quite good and seem that they will be easy to build. If they are then I might get a few more.

15mm Ruins

These 15mm ruins are from Ironclad Miniatures.

Ironclad Miniatures 15mm Ruins

Ironclad Miniatures 15mm Ruins

You could use them on infantry bases for Flames of War, but like a lot of people, I am not a great fan of moving walls and ruins that travel across the battlefield.

I will probably make up some ruined buildings to use alongside the Total Battle Miniatures ruins I have and the Flames of War non-ruined buildings.

Dystopian Wars Airfield Set

This set contains three medium-sized hangers, two zeppelin towers and one communications building.

This was very much an impulse buy, but I was inspired recently by some Dystopian Wars pictures that I recently posted to the blog.

As with virtually all Dystopian Wars castings these are very clean and no flash.

15mm Ruined Café

I already have two of the ruined buildings from the Total Battle Miniatures range of Western Europe 15mm buildings. I was lucky enough to get two more for my birthday from Simon, thank you. He gave me the ruined cafe and ruined shop with passage. This photograph is from the manufacturer.

The ruined cafe is a really nice building and comes complete with some “pavement” out the front that would have been used with tables and chairs.

It’s a nice casting with clean detail and looks very effective.

I will probably use a similar method to the one I used with the other ruins. After washing the resin I will give the model a white undercoat and then use a combination of washing and drybrushing to bring out the detail.

15mm Ruined Shop with Passage

I already have two of the ruined buildings from the Total Battle Miniatures range of Western Europe 15mm buildings, the ruined three houses and ruined four houses. I was lucky enough to get two more for my birthday from Simon, thank you. He gave me the ruined cafe and ruined shop with passage.

The ruined shop with passage is a nice model, though because it is ruined, you wouldn’t realise that there was a passage.

This is the photograph from the manufacturer.

And here is the unruined version.

It’s a nice casting with clean detail and looks very effective.

I will probably use a similar method to the one I used with the other ruins. After washing the resin I will give the model a white undercoat and then use a combination of washing and drybrushing to bring out the detail.

The first stage after washing the resin will be to remove the mould lubricant and then clean the flash from the casting, especially the windows and the doors.

Realm of Battle Cityscape Tiles

I see from the Forge World previews for GamesDay 2012 that they are going to be releasing a range of scenery tiles compatible with the Realm of Battle tiles.
Realm of Battle Cityscape Tiles

In a galaxy beset by war, Imperial architecture is by necessity brutal and fortified. Should the Alien, the Traitor or the Heretic attempt to assault an Imperial world, more often than not it is the great cities of humanity that become battlegrounds; open plazas turning into killing grounds while shattered hab-blocks and ruined Administratum complexes become garrisoned redoubts. The humble tools of civilian infrastructure are transformed into key objectives, with generatorum waypoints becoming vital sources of power and sewer networks being pressed into service as guerrilla highways and concealed ambush points

Forge World scenery designer Blake Spence has been hard at work over the past few months creating four modular Realm of Battle Cityscape tiles. Each is light weight and durable thanks to the hollow resin method we use, and each 2′ x 2′ (610 mm x 610 mm) tile is a blank canvas which is fully compatible with your plastic Citadel scenery.

The Shattered Plaza, Generatorum Sector, Primus Sector and Concourse Sector will each be on sale in limited numbers for the first time at UK Games Day, in advance of their scheduled release.

At £75 each it would mean about £450 for a 6′ x 4′ table which is a fair whack of cash for scenery. I guess you could get away with four (or fewer) if you already have the plastic Realm of Battle. I do like these and are what the original plastic tiles should have been like (in my opinion).