Construction Projects - Black Site Studio Flemish-Baroque Buildings

I've been in more of a building/constructing mood than painting recently. Might have something to do with the contractors working in our bathroom. Anyway, these are the three Black Site Studio prepainted, laser cut kits I picked up at a bring and buy a few months ago. They looked just the part for my 1813 Campaign project that has been put on the back burner for awhile. Lovely kits, and reminiscent of the 4-Ground kits I put together years ago.

28mm figures shown for scale - the buildings are quite substantial in size. I believe they're intended primarily for skirmish gaming. 

Left to right in the photo above: Flemish-Baroque Townhouse A, Flemish-Baroque Townhouse B, and Townhouse Corner A. 

Rear of the buildings. All doors can be swung open or closed. The kits come with stairs for each floor, but I was too lazy to put them together.

The building floors are sectional, which is not only good for skirmish gaming, but also for storage and transport. All the sections have tongue and groove fittings for secure placement.

The instructions were online, and there were some discrepanies like not identifying some pieces, but I was able to figure it out. Another thing to note is the laser cutting leaves a lot of black charring which gets onto your hands and onto the pieces themselves. I used a moistened paper towel to clean off my fingers periodically, and also wiped down areas that got smudged.

I also put together several 120mm Verlinden resin kits for future painting. I'd like to give my cheap airbrush another try; at least for basecoating. The problem I've had is constant clogging of the tip. I watched some YouTube videos which might prevent this issue. If not, back to rattle can spray for undercoating.

I used brass rods for the larger separate pieces for a more secure fit; and also for the plumes so they can be removed in case I have to store or move the figures.

EDIT: These garden walls and outhouses were thrown in as freebies along with the buildings - also Black Site Studio kits.

Just a short post to show you what I've been up to recently. Basically staying at home while the contractors work on our bathroom. They "should" be done this coming week - I hope! Then I can get back to "normal" and start hosting games again. Thanks for your visit and wishing you the best.

Samurai Castle/Wajo Main Gate Update

Updated the main gate for the Japanese castle/wajo. Added steps, and upper walls on a wooden platform.

Wanted to give the gate a better look along side the taller wall sections.

The upper deck can support troops.

Styrafoam base for the steps coated with plaster and Mod Podge. Balsa wood for the top support structure. Resin sections for the top walls.

I have a playtest later this month for game based on the Siege of Ulsan which will use this gate, along with the rest of the wall sections.

Samurai Castle/Wajo Walls And Gate

Finished up the project today. The fit and finish of the stone walls aren't the best, but should be good enough for gaming.

The top walls and gate are resin pieces from Tabletop Terrain. Very nice and sturdy. The gate can swing open on brass rods inserted into holes provided in the door and frame.

The corner sections were made by using the ready-made end pieces and adding sections from extra straight wall sections. This was only done because I used my own scratch-built lower stone walls. Tabletop Terrain makes the lower walls which would fit the corner sections they also make. Figured I'd try to save some money and make them myself.

Glad to have finished this up - especially since I just received an update from TAG that my order has been shipped. It was delayed a few weeks due to issues with their machinery - according to Pete.

As you may notice, the inner walls don't align well with each other very well, but again, should be good enough to game with.

A WIP shot.

Thanks for checking out this blog update, and hope you all are doing well.

Samurai Castle Corner Wall Sections - WIP

Started on two outer and one inner corner sections of stone walls. May add more corners later, but with this tentative configuration, should work out okay, placed on the corner of a table. Also, didn't want too big of a footprint for them. As the top walls are removable, I may someday make some other types of upper walls - possibly for a Mycenaean fortress.

Here's the start of the construction - styrofoam cut to shape, and covered with spackling. Another reason I decided to stop with just these three sections was due to it getting messy with the styrofoam in the house, and didn't want to continue outside in our typical Pacific NW damp weather.

ADDENDUM:

Started on the gate while waiting for the spackling on the wall corners to dry. This is another piece from Tabletop Terrain. Very nice - and it can open and close using a brass rod inserted into the slots provided on the doors.

On the gaming front, getting ready for our annual big convention, Enfilade, later this month. I'm hosting two RJW skirmish games using TMWWBK. After the con, plan on going all in with Tribal. Just received the book yesterday, and already have gaming aids for a planned Gempei War game. As the game uses cards for activation, movement, and other rules, ordered 6 decks of cards with large numbers/lettering (jumbo index). From the recent Trojan War Tribal game, I found using cards that were too "fancy" made it hard to read not only the numbers but figuring out the suits. Also picked up some suitable honor tokens - Chinese style coins. I've been wanting to get my Gempei War figures back on the table again, and Tribal should be just the ticket for rules.

Anyway, just wanted to update the blog and wish you all the best!

Japanese Castle/Wajo Walls - WIP +1

 Finished up the main wall sections. Waiting on some corner pieces, as well as a gate.

Tops of the stone walls are wide enough to fit 40mm squares.

Added dowels to hold the upper walls in place - and still be removable for storage/transport.

Hopefully the end/corner sections won't be too difficult to make. Until then, thanks for stopping by and checking out the blog. Best wishes to you all.

Japanese Castle/Wajo Walls - WIP

Well, started on this terrain project - using pink foam for the stone foundation of the some Japanese castle/fortress walls. The upper walls are the resin pieces from Tabletop Terrain. I'll be ordering some of their corner pieces too. 

Used left over thick foam pieces for the basic structure, and added a thinner foam to slant a bit at the front. A thinner foamcore was used for the tops of the walls. All of the foam pieces were glue-gunned together (rather sloppily in some areas). Need to use some sort of plaster to coat the walls after carving the stonework.

Update: Used a dull pencil to "carve" the stonework.

The piece above was the first test section so kind of cut the foam imprecisely. Had a general idea of how it was going to be built, but wasn't sure if it would work out. Seems to be okay - just need some kind of filler for the ends - maybe some caulking. 

Appreciate your visits and wishing you all the best.

Pink Foam Trenches Or Ditches

Used some left over pink foam and an inexpensive wire foam cutter to build some trenches or ditches. Wanted to have enough to go the width of a table; about 6 feet or more. There were some nice resin cast ones on ebay, but didn't want to spend too much. Luckily, there was still some pink foam board, purchased almost a decade ago, in the garage.

Close up to show how they size up. Only used a little bit of static grass as the trench or ditch would be mostly dirt from being built. Tried to keep the incline on the outside to a minimum to allow for figures or vehicles to climb up. Also, didn't line the insides with wood panels or corrugated tin so the pieces could be used in earlier periods too.

Total available length if used with only one side - as a barricade - is over 10 feet; so about 5 feet if used in parallel as shown above.

The triangular pieces are to allow the straight pieces to be formed in irregular lines, if needed.

Right after "cutting" with the hot wire foam cutter - an inexpensive one off of ebay. Word of caution - be sure not to use enamel spray paint on the foam unless given an acrylic or latex paint basecoat. The enamel will melt the foam. I used a spray can thinking it was acrylic - but turned out to be enamel and it melted the first set of triangle pieces I had made. Thankfully, the larger staight pieces had been coated with left over latex house paint first.

Well, my previous post said it was likely my last before taking off for a visit to Hawaii, but had a couple days and this was a quick project. Taking off for Hawaii early Sunday morning - hopefully no delays as the weather has dropped to below freezing. Supposed to warm up a little on Sunday - but the flight to Hawaii today was delayed for almost 3 hours - probably due to the temperatures and icing. I may try to post some pictures of interest while in Hawaii - hopefully. Until my return, hope you all are doing well and having a great start to 2024!

Scratch-built Celtic Roundhouses

In preparation of an Hail Caesar EIR vs. Celts game next week, I wanted to add some roundhouses to represent a small village. I used existing stuff laying around the house, as well as a $5 natural bristle broom from one of our local Korean markets.  Not the prettiest, but good enough for the purposes of the game. I rushed through these, and really should spend more time and effort on terrain in the future.

The roundhouses were made using a paper towel dowel for the smaller ones, and a plastic vitamin bottle cut in two for the larger ones. The roof frames are made from cardstock.

The roofs tested onto the houses - everything was eye-balled, so they have a fairly rough appearance.

A glue gun was used to make sections of the roof thatching. The straight edge held the bristles down while the glue gun was run past. These were then glued onto the roofs. I ended up adding more bristles here and there to give the roofs a fuller appearance.

The houses were covered with acrylic caulking at first, but I later added a light coat of spackling for more texture. This was painted a light brown and then dry-brushed an off white. The roof thatching was brushed with watered down white glue. Probably could've made the thatching look better, but I kind of rushed through the process.

Again, good enough for the game next week, and only had to pick up the broom for the bristles to complete. Until the next blog update, wishing you all the best and a Happy Thanksgiving for those on this side of the pond.

Battle for the Farm House - La Haye Sainte - Black Powder

Finally got to game the La Haye Sainte Black Powder game today. Used a mix of the mid-size and larger game scenarios that came with the Warlord Games set. I wanted to add a few more supporting units, to include some cavalry. Here's the set up prior to the game - with a bit of inspiration watching the old Waterloo movie with Rod Steiger and Christopher Plummer. 

EDIT: A little more details of the game - the French had two brigades of three infantry battalions each; a cavalry brigade of one Cuirassier and two Lancer units; two horse artillery batteries and several small detachments, including an Engineer/Pioneer unit.

The British, besides several small detachments of KGL Lights and Nassauers in and around the farmhouse had two brigades of two line infantry each, two RHA batteries, small detachments of 95th Rifles and a unit of Scots Greys.

The French started the game as attackers and almost all of the units were successful activating and moving towards the farmhouse. The British in their turn attempted to move along the flanks of the farmhouse towards the French. One brigade of French infantry managed to get through the orchard and up against the southside of the farmhouse in turn 2. While the other French infantry brigade moved into assault against the KGL unit guarding the barn door on the western side of the farmhouse. The French cavalry moved up to the KGL Line on the western side of the battlefield and forced them to get into square. The British Line on the eastern side of the road slowly moved up to support KGL inside the farmhouse. In turn 3, the French stormed into the farmhouse and took on the small detachment of KGL Lights inside. A fire was also started on the roof of the stables which the KGL were not able to put out. The game was called when an overwhelming number of French were inside of the farmhouse and courtyard.

We played four turns, with the French having four battalions assaulting into the farmhouse. Now this probably stretches the basic rules with the amount of units allowed in a building/structure, but we went ahead with it.

The scenario booklet actually has smaller units in and assaulting the farmhouse - companies and such. The stables on the western side did catch fire in turn 3 and was not able to be put out successfully by the occupying KGL.

The French had a Cuirassier and two Lancer (Polish & Dutch) units. They destroyed the one British cavalry unit - Scots Greys. The French cavalry also held off two KGL line battalions by having them stay in square for most of the game.

Here's where things got out of control - that is the number of French units in the farmhouse. The French had actually gone into skirmish formation, but we left them on the movement trays for ease of handling. One thing that was evident was the break test results for skirmishers. We thought it was way too advantages especially when resolving combat with heavy cavalry.  We plan to use the artillery break test results for small/tiny infantry units in the future. Thinking of giving infantry skirmishers vs. medium/heavy cavalry the same results as artillery during break tests. Basically anything 4 or less is destroyed.

With a few tweaks, like the one mentioned for small/tiny unit break test - and limiting the amount of units in the farmhouse, I plan to host this at our next Enfilade convention. Granted it's a ways out, but a few more playtests will be needed.

Anyway, I was glad to have finally gotten this game in, having finished the farmhouse over a year ago. It was good to flesh out the scenario and use the special rules like the French Engineers breaking down doors, setting buildings afire and also scaling walls.

Thanks for stopping by and wishing you all the best.

Citadel Warhammer 40K Imperial Sector

Managed to build three ruined building from the opened box of 40K Imperial Sector picked up at the recent Bring and Buy for $20.00. The box was missing a few sprues and didn't have instructions, so I used the box art to build these the best possible with the existing parts.

As with the great detailed sculpting on Citadel models, it was a fairly easy process of dry-brushing and washes.

Tried to keep the colors as muted and toned down as possible so these can be used for historical scenarios - like Bolt Action European stuff. Of course, the large skulls on one of them are going to have to be overlooked.

I used a method on YouTube posted by Sonic Sledgehammer Studio - a foundation of black and lighter coats of brown and gray. Here are the pieces prior to dry-brushing and washes. It's a quick down and dirty method to get terrain on the table in no time.

Thanks again for stopping by and wishing you all good health and happy gaming and painting.