More buildings, yet more buildings!

 Hello again, I have been a bit busy with other things but have managed to sort out a few more buildings for my town project. I still have yet more to base up but have run out of the wood I use for the bases at the moment. So here you go with the latest few that are finished. 

First up is a calvary, a religious icon that will make a nice scenic piece in the town. The cobblestones are made out of FIMO clay and then rolled with a Greenstuff World roller. The pavement is from 4 Ground and the fences are Wills Scenics. The calvary is from Sabotag3d and the flowering plants are from Serious-Play. I am reasonably happy with how it all came together, although I did mess up with the positioning, the opening in the fence should have been on the pavement edge, not on the cobblestones. Ah well, you live and learn.

Calvary and nice garden surround.

Then I based up some of the Landmark buildings that are sadly no longer available. I arranged 4 of them to go together and then constructed the basing around them. The garden may be a bit too "grassy" and I may revisit in the future and add a vegetable plot, but apart from that it is good enough and makes a nice addition to the town.

Landmark buildings x 4

The cobblestones are Fimo, rolled and baked in the oven for 30 minutes. The pavements and walls are 4Ground and are not baked. 

Rear yard and garden.

Finally here is a view of the town as it stands at the moment. I still have a few things to tweak on it, the hotel needs to be based to match the rest and I still need some more roads. the final arrangement is not fixed, but I think it is coming together fairly well.

My small town, a work in progress

Well, that's the lot for now. I am off to play Chain of Command in the jungle tonight. Should be fun....

Take care folks, stay safe.

4Ground buildings, green stuff roads and other stuff

   A little while ago I won a few buildings from 4Ground. I have now made them and based up two of the three I got. These will join the ones I did previously in making a town set up for various games from WW2 onwards. 

First up is the 15mm Terrace with additional floor. This will make a nice addition to my street and it was fun getting back into the basing of these. The walls and pavements are also from 4Ground and I think they do add to the final structure.

Front facing

Rear facing and gardens

Closer view of the gardens

The other building I have finished is the 15mm North West Europe Farmhouse. This comes quite nicely painted up, but I have done a bit of work and painted some of  the bricks in different shades of grey and repainted the roof in a green tile to match the lean-to I added. Again, the walls etc are from 4Ground but the other bits are from other companies. I think the lean-to is from Battlefront and the green house and cold frames are from Sabotag3d. I'm pretty happy with how it came out in the end, it obviosuly belongs to a more well-to-do member of the local community.

The farm is it comes

Based up and painted up

The vegetable garden

and from the other side

A rear view showing the courtyard, grass and vegetable garden

Another purchase I have recently made is a couple of greenstuff rollers from Greenstuff World. To be accurate, I got them from Firestorm Games, but you get the idea. I duly bought 18" of greenstuff on eBay and had at it. A bit of practice and things improved until, eventually, I had 6' (or 180cm) of cobblestone roads for my town. Various shades of grey and brown were slapped about on the stones, then some mud brown and gloss varnish on the mistakes to make them look like mud and Robert is your mother's brother. I think 6' will be enough for the town, the country side will have mud tracks that I already have.

Roads, 18 sections of 4'

A closer look at the cobblestones (and mistakes mud)

A few bits of road arrayed around the farm house.

Gaming has been a bit scarce, mostly because I caught a stinking cold type thing which laid me low for a couple of weeks. Last Monday I did get to run a game of Billhooks for Panjo and Colin, which Colin won quite easily due to a random event making one of Panjo's units change sides. We are having another go next Monday, hopefully I will remember to take some pictures this time.

Tomorrow Christopher and I are off to BIG for a day of Lardy games. The event is called Gert Lush Lard and I am looking forwards to it. Chain of Command in the morning and Infamy in the afternoon, should be a good day. 

Catch you all next time, have a good one and take care.

Battle Bunker, 4Ground and a great day out.

Recently I won a thing. It doesn't happen very often so it was a nice surprise and it got better as it went on. So, here is some background.

A while ago, before Co-Vid messed up everything, I meet some nice folks at a wargames day at Entoyment in Poole. Lee "Stonewall" Wilkins, his long suffering wife Mel and their son Jamie soon became friends and even started coming to the Devon Wargames Club, despite being from up North. Well, north of Exeter is North isn't it? They then started a You Tube channel which posts their games, thoughts and events. I subscribed so I could stay updated about what they were doing, especially as we couldn't get together for a game during the lockdown period. 

They hit 500 subscribers and had a prize draw and one very lucky chap won it! I was chuffed to win and things got even better when I was invited up to collect my prize in person so they could put up a video of it. The prize was £50 of 4 Ground scenery, which I like and have quite a bit of already, and the venue was the new gaming centre at 4 Grounds HQ called FactoruM. What a place it is, it felt so comfortable and chilled there and was like a home from home. We met up with Ben, the owner of 4 Ground and a real top chap he is. He and all the people that work there are great company and really pleasant to be around. After a guided tour of the business we were treated to a very nice lunch before getting down to some gaming. Ben even gave us a freebie from Jamie's store room, much to his consternation. Thank you Ben, that was an unexpected bonus and is really appreciated.

Here is what I came away with, a touch over £50 me thinks!

A lovely Rorke's Drift set up was arrayed before us, with the four players taking the major parts from the film. I was Corporal Allan, the true hero of the engagement, who was the only leader on the day to keep all his men alive. Rumours that the Zulus were scared of his singing are misplaced and unfounded. Nathan was Colour Sergeant Bourne and was seen to throw away his lives in a haphazard manner. Apparently he won the most VC's on the day, but we think that is fake news. Christopher was Lieutenant Chard, RE, who was also free and easy with the lives of his men. Ben was Lieutenant Bromhead of the 24th, a fine leader who throw himself into action all over the field of battle. 

Lts Chard and Bromhead overlooking the defences

The game itself was very clever, it feels like the film did and the mechanisms Stonewall, Mel and Jamie have used for their rules do make it dramatic with action jumping from one part of the compound to another. The Zulu's can appear anywhere around the table and their actions are determined by a dice roll. Apparently not every roll results in an "F" for "Flippin' 'eck, here they come again", but it sure felt like it at the start. Ben's face when he shot at the Zulu unit facing him and they responded by charging straight into contact was a picture. It was not the reaction he expected from them, too be fair we were all a bit shocked by that turn of events.

Defend that wagon boys, here they come again!

Corporal Allan steadies his men before the Zulu assault

The initial attack was concentrated on the opposite side to my troops, but soon came around the sides and everyone was quickly facing at least some Zulu warriors. It was a close run thing, but we held until the column arrived, so won the day and went home for tea and medals. If you get the chance to play the game then grab it, I would play it again tomorrow if I could.

Jamie and Stonewall planning the demise of the Empire

Look at the evil grin on the face of Stonewall in this picture, the man is enjoying it too much I tell you!

Near the end and the redcoats are hard pressed

Zulus, farsands of 'em!

Bromhead, Hook and Schiess defend the rampart
while Corporal Allan secures their flank

Chard and Bourne are pushed back by weight of numbers

Christopher looks up "Fall Back" while Ben wonders where the roof went.

So that's it for now folks, thanks to Lee, Mel, Jamie, Ben and all the others at 4 Ground for hosting us yesterday, it was great and we will be back sooner rather than later.