Season of scenery challenge was looking promising until real life again got in the way of an already disrupted year.
I did manage to plan to do some pieces with this early war miniatures small stone bridge being snapped up at Partizan in May in anticipation (that now seems a long time ago).
EWM have both resin and metal items in their comprehensive ranges
I decided to experiment with yellow stone – no not that US thing but the European sandstones which you often see in the Mediterranean but also in Northern Europe where sadly the weather can erode the fine carvings.
I used craft paints with some blending plus house paint sample potsOnly a little bit of dry brushing on the stones and road cobbles was needed to get the look I wanted.
The bridge reminds me a bit of the Bellona bridge I had as a teenager – in fact I had the large and small ones eventually, although they have disappeared long ago.
The moulding from EWM is first class with no prep needed although you do need to prime the resin – I did not to start with – in a hurry and had to rectify that issue.
I am delighted with the results which may well influence some of my other stone work plans.
A long while ago I had the desire to make some adobe buildings for cowboy skirmishes. However despite having the figures (admittedly only primed) and then my “what a tanker” playing partner getting “what a cowboy”, it still did not look good. Fortunately the challenge rolled up and provided the impetus I needed to get this project over the line – along with some more conventional items. Amazing where “cardboard packaging” can take you!
I have an old card table earmarked for skirmish play. The adobe buildings were just how they came out of the product boxes 😆 I then added some extra roofing with card and tissue paper plus pva. The two right hand regular buildings are from warbases basics rangeYou can’t beat Dixon 28mm cowboys for styleLots of yellow ochre – the left hand building has received a dry brush. The packaging designer kindly included a base skirt which was decorated with pva and budgie grit.Dry brush done and doors and windows (cornflake package) painted and dry brushed Sunrise – the Mexican is at a disadvantage although he aimed firstPistol high – who will bite the dust?We may never know 🤠A real New Mexico example in Santa Fe. For my quick build models I omitted the exposed logs – maybe next time.
So that’s it, 8 weeks of one hot dry summer and I have massively exceeded my expectations. I completed a lot of items and even though I started even more they are at least started and now have real homes rather than their sales boxes (thanks John the Varnish!)
For the analysts….. completions were
First module of my port,
two adobe buildings,
six earthen defences,
one artillery position
one aircraft base
flexible roads recoloured
two hills now also become a green defensible position
repaired damaged cardboard church
new self coloured HO Germanic church
two warbases Wild West buildings
two very old bellona low relief terraced houses
Two straight drainage ditch pieces
Finishing off stuff and even repairs/reworkings proved very satisfying.
The “starters” all happened to be kits and kicked off my challenge.
Blotz models Bronze Age fortress
Italeri French railway station building
Italeri north Italian church
warbases north German church
At least I have the measure of these pieces not least where and how to store them.
I probably have too many churches now……..
Funny that I did not finish the kits that I started the challenge with – given they were my absolute main targets – instead I started raking out cardboard and home building………
Well David Stones’ challenge finally got this piece of scenery done. Credit really goes to john@justneedsvarnish who alerted me to this challenge plus Frank tank rants who suggested that posting about fabulous pro-cycling scenery ought to translate into building some stuff!
Either way I finally completed this 2021 model. Better late than never as the saying goes.
Final touches were a ochre (rowney acrylic tube) whitened (MP Paints) dry brush to suggest some sun bleaching plus a bit of black (MP Paints) in the mix to dry brush the base area suggesting dirt.
Then some gamers grass (2mm summer green tufts) and an ancient pot of games workshop grit to finish the base.
Of course the unbelievably extravagant archway and door are round the back!
Thanks to John, Frank and Dave, I now have a new piece of terrain to use and enjoy.
out of the archive for john just needs varnish, looks like knife work and maybe not cutting before stripping outer card layers.
For those who made it this far…………….
Leaning tower of Parma! For scale here are some 1/72 miniatures – new kids on the block 1848 German Confederacy no less……….which can also double as Rifleman from Duchy of Parma 1851.
You can guess whats next on the Painting Table.
Finally, the question is, whether this will now lead to some more scenery making on my part?
A constant theme of my interest in art is the variety of techniques on show.
My Weekend Open Studios visits prompted me to dig out some wooden offcuts I had minded to fashion into buildings.
The idea for “woodtown” was to provide my grid gaming with appropriately sized buildings. And they would be in keeping with the abstract nature of grid boards. In terms of the art they are definitely inclined towards Paul Nash. Ferens Art Gallery can be found in Kingston Upon Hull and an interesting painting by Paul Nash can be seen there.
Paul Nash – East Coast Portsome old bits of 2×1 with 45 degree cuts to create the roofline – at various heights to emphasise the randomness of old italian hill towns. The wood grain helps deflect thoughts that these are just bits of wood.The two clusters – the rough wood finish works on the red roof while the uneven whitewash fits the style
They make their first contribution in my recent Neil Thomas 1864 Minigame. Ironic that the game did not use grids…………
I have recently bought another rule set and unusually for me, a book on terrain and scenery modelling. I have a lot of scenery articles saved from discarded magazines. So why do I really need any more advice. It is not like I am overflowing with home-made items.
Well it just caught my eye. It being “Battlefields in Miniature” by Paul Davies and published by Pen & Sword. Dating to 2015, I have the paperback version printed in 2018. I think the original was in hardback.
A quick flick through has made me pleased I bought it. It looks a comprehensive view of this part of the hobby. Also, I have noticed a preoccupation with “high density foam”. This appears in a lot of my saved articles as well.
Somehow it is not a material I like and in fact generally I have avoided plastics when it comes to scenery and terrain. Maybe that’s because when I was far too young to be left alone with polystyrene ceiling tiles I cut them up with nice sharp knife to make contour hills. I then glued them together with polystyrene cement with exciting melting results and interesting vapours. That was the 1970’s – safety was basic common sense then, which children often lacked!
It put me off, except for retaining a continuing interest in plastic figures.
I will use some of the ideas in the book and Paul Davies writing style is engaging: Very much just have a go. My only criticism so far is that the book is rich in finished items in use and yet some of those picture slots would have been better showing some more intermediate steps of construction for greater clarity.
Now how about that ruleset?
Well I looked at the Too Fat Lardies Dux Britanniarum several years ago just before I bought Maurice (another card driven ruleset as it happened). That was at Fiasco in Leeds, just one of many shows I have missed this year.
Here is one of those cards that drive the game. Love or Hate them they have an impact you cannot quite control. The figures are Greenwood & Ball (Garrison) Vikings from circa 1978. Yes they are posing as 5th century saxons……..
The figures are painted in Humbrol matt oils finished with gloss varnish while the basing in those days was dried tea – uncoloured. looking good at around 40 years of age.
I took a punt and bought the full rules including the follow up “raiders” supplement and all those cards.
I like dice and card driven games and I like the “big man” idea that threads through Too Fat Lardies publications.
I have since played a single game solo that took an age to complete. That will be reported in another post. Suffice to say I will play these rules again.
The Wargaming Erratic 