Terrain- Livestock!

Livestock

Once I'd got some hedges, I could make fields. Once I had fields, I wanted to fill them with something- and what better than roaming, grazing and plodding things. I'd previously purchased the 'Ramshackle Barn' from Warlord Games. I'd got it primarily for the animals & livestock plastic sprue that came with it, because I wanted to introduce some wandering wildlife to my gaming table. Bizarrely, at that point in time, Warlord's website would not let me buy the animal sprues on their own, but I could get them in a pack called 'McDonald's Barn'! Fair enough, got me a barn into the bargain... 

I googled some pictures of Friesian cows and used these as reference for their markings. I knew that if I just splodged paint on freehand, I'd start doing camouflage patterns out of pure muscle memory.

The four smaller animals are from the Warlord sprue, but the larger sheep are a pack from Serious Play Scenics. They moved into making 28mm (& other) scale animals, so I grabbed some to pad out the flock.

The geese were simple enough to paint. I like having them wandering around the village green or across the cottage garden. Don't think anyone would challenge them, even if they're fully armed soldiers from either side of the conflict!

I've still got donkeys, pigs and a few chickens to find a home for. Cats have found their way onto various pieces of scenery, and a cockerel got turned into a church weather-vane. I'll position the ducks along the riverbanks when I finally build those rivers, I think... 

Terrain- Citroen Traction Avant

Citroen Saloon Car

Once I had completed enough terrain and buildings to start playing Bolt Action in a satisfactory way, I turned my attention to buying/ making/ painting some of the 'clutter' that fills up our surroundings and makes it feel lived in. Rubbish, debris, odds and ends left lying around, these are all important things that add interest to a gaming table and make playing a game more enjoyable- and they're fun to paint and build!

I'd had my eye on some burned out and destroyed civilian vehicles for a while, but hadn't come across many. I loved the look of the Rubicon Models Citroen Traction Avant, but it is quite an expensive kit, and I had trouble getting hold of one online. I liked the look of a Traction Avant, so looked for an alternative I could get my hands on. Meanwhile, I looked at possible paint schemes online and found this one that I liked.

So here is the resin Citroen Traction Avant produced by Anyscale Models. It's surprisingly pristine for a vehicle that has lasted until the final stages of WW2- no bullet holes or damage (or vanished after being commandeered by the occupying forces). Hopefully, I will source some other pieces that I can flatten, burn out and generally abuse to look like they've been through bombings and firefights and, well, war...

Terrain- WW1 Memorial

WW1 Memorial

This is a 3D printed piece from Paint & Glue. I had wanted a statue of some sort to adorn the centre of my town square and this fit the bill perfectly. I had some offcuts of Charlie Foxtrot stone walls left over from the Yellow House, so I trimmed them to make a walled surround for the statue and plinth. I raised the whole statue up by stacking it on 20mm square MDF bases, knowing I would fill the inside of the monument space with shrubbery to disguise this.

Terrain- Fences & Barbed Wire

Fences

A long time ago, when I first started to plan getting scenery for my gaming table, I bought a collection of hedges from a seller on eBay. These have done their job superbly for me ever since. Later, I added some walls to this collection- the Italeri 'Stone Walls' kit from Warlord- allowing me further options for lining my roads and lanes and sectioning off fields. But I wanted more options.

I am a unrepentant coffee drinker by the bucket-load- and I have piles of coffee stirrers that I have liberated from the 'one stir and discard' fate of most of their kind. Instead, I have repurposed them for a more permanent and glorified function, as parts of various wargaming terrain. My other posts have shown the rounded ends working superbly for picket fencing. I split them lengthways to make planking for gates and doors. I've also done something similar here to make some lengths of fencing.

The bases are about 6 inches in length. I cut the rounded ends off a coffee stirrer, then slowly split it lengthways down the middle. The uprights for the fences were BBQ skewer lengths cut and glued to the base, to which the coffee stirrer 'planks' were attached.

After painting the fences, flock, tufts and foliage were added. I wanted to create a couple of damaged sections to give a bit of variation. In total, I made 10 fences out of just 5 stirrers and not even a full BBQ skewer- the value is crazy! So cheap and easy to make...

Barbed Wire Sections

I've had a roll of Warlord barbed wire rattling around in my modelling box for a while, so I decided to make use of it, particularly as I intend to paint my Airborne Royal Engineer section soon- at least they'll have something to dismantle!

The bases are the same size as the fences above- roughly 6" long. The ground stakes are lengths of paperclip. I closed up the bend and clipped off any excess wire, which meant I could get 3 stakes from one paperclip! I wound the roll of barbed wire around a thick paint brush and cut to a reasonable length to coil and fit on each base. A full roll filled 5 bases nicely. After adding grass, tufts and shrubbery, these were ready to go. Nice and simple...

Terrain- Ruins

Ruins

This was the first terrain piece I built for my new gaming table, before I had purchased any MDF building kits or any other scatter terrain. It's the 'Ruined Farmhouse' plastic kit from Warlord games that came with the 'Band of Brothers' 2nd Edition Bolt Action starter set. I'd been playing BA since first edition, but bought the set primarily for the German grenadiers, the Sd.Kfz 251/10 with the PaK36, the plastic pin markers and A5 rulebook. 

The ruined house kit had been rattling around whilst I painted my Germans and Russians, and once they were both numerous enough to start using to play games, I needed to start collecting and building some scenery for them to fight across. this was my first attempt at something that wasn't a wall, hedge or a pre-bought tree.

I envisioned this being an old, broken down house that has been reclaimed by nature after being abandoned. I tend to surround it quite closely with bushes, shrubbery and trees. Looking at these pictures, I realise I went pretty crazy with the red berry clump foliage on this one. This comes from Serious Play Scenics, and I have since supplemented them with yellow flower 'gorse' shrub and purple flower clump foliage, alongside my Javis mixed green shades foliage, too.

Terrain- Barn

Barn

This model is a Renedra 'Ramshckle Barn' that I got from Warlord Games alongside some plactic farm animal sprues. It's a nice little kit which went together easily. the roof comes off, allowing access to the space inside, which can be useful.  

I decorated the base with my usual selection of tufts, foliage and a seafoam tree. There's a mixture of Serious Play Scenics and Javis stuff here, plus some random tufts I bought off eBay. Overall, this was a reasonably quick piece of terrain to complete and be tabletop ready, and was a nice addition to my rural battlefield collection.

Terrain- Water Tower

Water Tower

This is my first completely scratch built piece of scenery. After Christmas, I had my MDF church to be getting on with, but had my eye on something else amongst all of the gifts from family and friends. Someone had given me some salted caramel truffles in a round cardboard tubing box. As I opened and closed it my mind kept going to a piece of terrain I'd seen on a blog by another wargamer and modeller- a water tower!

John Bond is a very talented guy from Australia. His blog took me to new levels of possibility when I stumbled on it looking at his scratch built rivers. I've made no rivers yet, but have enjoyed reading his posts and poring over the pictures. His water tower can be found here.

So, with some excellent inspiration and a suitable piece to experiment with, I had a go. I glued the lid of the truffle box to the top of the interior section- it normally slid down flush with the base. The 'lid' would become the water tank upper, and the 'base' would make the tower itself.

I'd printed off some examples of brick paper that I'd found online and thought this would be a good chance to try some of it out. I imagined the base of the tower would be bare brick and the 'tank' would be metal sheeting. I clad the exterior of the tank with rectangular plates and added two run-off pipes to the interior of the tank itself. The door and side access hatch were made from coffee stirrer 'planks', as were the frames for each of these. The depth gauge is a strip of cardboard painted with measurement guides. The ladder is two cardboard strips with curved tops for the sides and then cocktail stick rungs cut and glued to make the ladder itself. Final details included the Dubonnet advertisement and a seafoam tree. Finally, I coated the water in Vallejo water effect to give it a nice sheen.

Terrain- Building 7- Church

Church

This was a kit that I received for Christmas. It was part of a multi-pack from Game Cult on eBay which also included a large shop building, a 3 terrace row, a single terrace house, a cottage and a selection of walls. I've always wanted a church model and have been weighing up various kits from different manufacturers, but churches can be quite expensive because they tend to be large and detailed pieces. The whole pack from Game Cult came to less than £40, which you can be lucky to get an MDF church for on its own!

There's little detail on the kit, mostly plain MDF, which explains the price, but I wanted to play around with filler to see if I could get a decent texture to suggest stone. Once I'd applied some watered down filler, I dappled, stippled and teased at it with various brushes, sponges and odds and ends until I found something I liked and carried on around the whole model.

I tiled the roof of the church as I built it (and this was the build that prompted me to return to my earlier buildings and tile them too). Once complete, I turned my attention to the base/ graveyard. The entrance to the church can be used as a lych gate, but I wanted to use it as a sheltered entrance to the church proper because I had a plan for the graveyard walls and gate. These are resin pieces from Debris of War; drystone wall straights, damaged, corner and gate entrance pieces, plus a double gate for the front. A quick bit of maths suggested to me how big an area I could make for the graveyard with two corner packs, a couple of straight packs and a couple of damaged sections. The problem was the gate and the two entrance walls that flanked it- these upset the measurements. My answer? You'll notice a large bush on the right hand side of the front wall, pictured above, this hides a 4-5mm gap where the walls would not meet and just needed disguising... 

The gravestones and slabs are Debris of War too, as is the Large Needle Memorial.  There's a seafoam tree nestled by the back of the church tower and a couple of Javis trees in the corners where I imagined trees might grow. I made the noticeboard at the entrance from cardboard and MDF offcuts and the weathervane is a Warlord farmyard rooster placed on an MDF crosspiece. The drainpipe is wooden doweling, with a piece of plastic Lego tubing to make the opening at the bottom and the wall brackets are bent paperclip pieces. The stone details along the outside walls and the cross above the end windows are made from some of the MDF pieces popped out of the church windows.

I'm really pleased at how this model came out. I think I'd gained enough confidence from making my hotel model to want to attempt another largish kit. A church is a great focal point on a gaming table, so I wanted to do the piece justice, and I think I pulled it off, at least to my satisfaction. My only issue is getting a game in lockdown to finally get to use it!

Terrain- Building 6- Hotel

Hotel

This is an MDF kit from Charlie Foxtrot that I'd had my eye on for some time. After completing several smaller buildings, I wanted to tackle something a bit bigger, and now had the confidence to try. The hotel is the 'Desire Ingouf' kit, representing the iconic building in Carentan. I had no intention of using it as the original, but wanted to turn it into my own hotel. As a result, I did not use the lasercut signage that came with the kit, but instead used a series of 'Hotel de la Place' signs from a collection I downloaded online.

I extended the footprint of the building considerably, as I wanted it to have outbuildings surrounding a yard. I covered up the original kit's back door with an extension, but added the door and window that this covered to the new section to tie it in to the main building. I added a barn- type building next to that to fill that side of the yard. A small shed created an open entrance to the yard at the side of the building.

The outbuildings were constructed from foamboard like my previous constructions and I paved the yard with Wills paving stone sheets. Signs and posters were found online and printed off. Details I added include a ladder I found in my bits box, a seafoam tree and a cat padding along the wall from the Warlord animal sprue. I revisited the hotel to tile the main roofs recently and added the lean-to holding a couple of barrels and boxes. I also added some wall-mounted lights beside the main street doors form the Rubicon Utility & Light Poles set.

Terrain- Building 4 & 5- Shops

Patisserie

This is the second building that I envisioned going in a row alongside my Blue House. The Bakery is the 'Village Bakery' kit from TT Combat. Great little kit and a reasonable price for what you get! 

As with the Blue House, I extended the footprint to include a yard. Neither this kit or the shop below have a back door, only a central window on the ground floor of each. I created extensions for both to incorporate a back door and cover up the bare window space, then used the sill and closed shutters to simulate a new, offset window instead. 

I left the side walls reasonably bare- apart from the brickwork details already on the kit- because this would be the middle building in the row. I added a couple of resin barrels from Serious Play Scenics and a Dixon Miniatures bicycle for detail. Chimney pots are Lego pieces again. Signage comes from a wonderful set of Normandy signs that I found online somewhere. As with the Blue House, the yards and the outhouses are made from foamboard, capped by cardboard tiling.

 

The freehand on the shop sign is supposed to be a croissant, which I thought fit the sign shape suitably. Moving on...

Charcuterie

The final building for the row is a Dairy, which is the 'Village Shop' kit from TT Combat. It could have been any form of shop, but the selection of signs I had, particularly for going along the outside wall, steered me in the direction of a charcuterie. It also influenced my colour choice for the building, as I thought a light tone would contrast with the other two buildings at fit its function too.

The side wall with the awning is on the other side on the original kit, so I swapped it to be on the outside of my row. The signs are backed on card, as per, and the posters are from a selection I found online and printed off. The milk churns were odds and ends left over from one of my kid's old toy farm sets.

The side wall that butts onto the middle building/ bakery (not pictured) has an open space where a window features on the original kit. I left off the sill and shutters because they wouldn't allow the buildings to fit snugly next to one another. This means I always put this building alongside another, although I sometimes split the other two up and use them differently. Doors and back gates are coffee stirrer lengths for planks.

As with all my earlier buildings, I went back & tiled the roofs. I'd done that for the outbuildings, but not the main ones. They look much better now, I think, but I don't want to see another 10x8mm piece of cardboard for a good while- at least until I start on my next building project...

Terrain- Building 3- Blue House

Blue House

This is the first of three buildings I purchased from TT Combat form their World War range that I envisioned going together as a row. This is the 'Maison Amelie', which I imagined as a more well-to-do domestic home compared to the other two commercial shops. Here's how they all look together in a row.

I always want to produce a footprint for my buildings, with what might be included around the whole property. Buildings don't exist in isolation- they feel more believable if they have yards, gardens or whatever else surrounding them. To this end, I wanted Blue House to have a garden. I imagined it has being a corner property, so thought I'd have a garden entrance coming around to the front instead of to one side. this would leave the open side wall free for road signs, advertisements, etc. and the other one blank to sit next to the building beside it.

The garden walls are made from foam board, capped with cereal packet tiling. The paving stones and roof tiles, like all my other buildings, are done with the same material. In the garden, we have a seafoam tree in the corner, a cold frame from Warbases and some sunflowers I picked up on eBay. 

The road sign comes from a Warlord battlefield clutter & signage set (not its proper title) and the other posters I printed off myself. I backed the Dubonnet sign with cardboard and added thin strips to create a frame.

British Airborne Pt.10- Objectives

Objectives

I like to produce objective markers themed for each of my armies, and I've managed to create quite a few for my paras. 

The first is the Downed RAF Pilot available from Warlord. He's got some character to him, and makes for a nice focal point for a mission- to capture of retrieve depending on which side you're playing... 

The handcarts are another Warlord purchase. Airborne platoons tended to have one of these for hauling ammo, supplies, etc. from drop zones. Apparently they weren't too popular with the troops- they tipped over easily and were a general pain, so often tended to get discarded. Nevertheless, I like the models and like having them on the table.

The para pulling the cart is a plastic Warlord figure. I wanted to try an action pose rather than just having him stood next to it. The empty right hand lent itself to pulling the cart. I stretched a length of string between two bulldog clips and kept coating it with PVA glue until it became rigid. I then painted it the same colour as the toggle ropes some of the para figures have wrapped around them. Because the string was stiff now, it looked like it was pulling taut as the para lent into his stride. I put a small bit of string coming out the bottom of his fist, then split the other end to go round both sides of the cart handle. I'm happy how this one came out- it ended up looking almost exactly like I pictured it in my head! 

British Airborne Pt. 9- Universal Carrier

Universal Carrier

I got this Warlord kit to provide transport for a 5 man section of Royal Engineers that I have yet to paint. I wanted to include some engineers after seeing the rules for them in the Western Desert campaign book. When the D-Day Overlord campaign book arrived, I no longer needed to adapt rules for them because there was an airborne RE section entry included which was practically identical. Regardless, the section still needs painting, but their transport is raring to go, so I chuck the 5 man Intelligence section in it for now. 

I painted the passenger's BD jackets in Denison smock camo colours. I know its the wrong style and cut, but for gaming purposes it works just fine for me. I wanted to add clutter to the vehicle to make it feel lived in, adding packs, jerry cans and rifles to the interior. Airborne carriers, like their jeeps, needed some parts removed to fit them into a Hamilcar glider. As a result, this carrier doesn't have the track guards at the front or the bulky headlamp by the gunner.