Category Archives: Terrain and Buildings

No Big Deal

Terrain and Buildings

Late Fall, back on Standard Time, with accompanying gloom.  No baseball, sitting outside or other congenial weather pursuits.  More time to fill up…..now I have to build the day around multiple projects.  Can’t just sit in front of the television for the next (gulp) five months.

So, back to some paper soldier/building/terrain modeling.

Built a Peter’s Paperboys Tembe, or fortified African house, for my Men Who Would Be Kings games.  A useful accessory.

Construction was, as usual, a ham-fisted and gruesome experience.  No way I will post a step-by-step photo depiction.  Embarrassing.

However, I think it did turn out OK, at least from the exterior.   The innards are a shambles, but nobody will see them now.  Just couldn’t figure out how to do a better job with the front and back roof sections.  And yes, the outlying fence is not supposed to be symmetrical (thank goodness).

You can just make out my replacement computer.  Cheap, and it works!  Lesson learned.

Done…..Not Done

Terrain and Buildings

Classic miniature wargaming episode involving the ongoing struggle with my K&M trees.

The order arrived last week, so I set to work.  Quick service.

While not a “how to do”, because I am the last person to pose as an authority on the “crafty” part of the hobby, here’s a quick overview of the process used to get  the trees ready for the table.

The first step was to prime the bases, then paint with WalMart Burnt Umber.

Here’s the tools and materials for the rest of the job.  The trees in the background were from my first attempt as described in an earlier post.

A 3/32 bit was perfect for drilling out the bases.  I found the “as is” base hole to be just a bit too narrow for the threaded tree trunks.  The masking tape is approximately 4/10 inch wide.

Some of the trunks need to be shortened (so they wouldn’t protrude through the bottom of the base) and some bent, so a cutter and pliers was needed.

The tape was wound around the upper part of the trunk, so it (roughly) “matches up” with the trunk diameter of the base.

Before inserting the tree, I dabbed the exposed trunk and base with Superglue.  Held it for about 10 seconds in a (relatively) straight position.

Then I painted the taped portion of the trunk with Burnt Umber.

When all 25 of the trees were finished, I flocked the bases.

Done.

No.

I had added a package of 38mm trees to my order, thinking they would match up with my smaller trees.  Despite measuring, it was not the case.  Too small.  But, they were perfectly serviceable for my 15mm figures.  Well, those fellows need properly sized trees on their table, also.

So, another order.  The good news is that the smaller trees do not need tape for their trunks.  Just prime, paint, glue, flock.  We’ll see.

Yes, It Usually Is This Difficult

Terrain and Buildings

I fish, so I read about fishing.  Sometime in the last couple of years I came across an article describing a unusual fishing survey.  The survey asked the question, “What Percentage Of The Time Do You Go Fishing And Not Catch Anything”?  The surveyor insisted on brutal honesty.  If I remember right, the aggregate was about 75 percent of the time.

Now, who wants to hear about a fishing trip where you don’t catch a damn thing?

I think it’s the same with wargaming blogs.  People only want to read about success with lots of supporting eye candy.

In the interest of something different, here’s a quick story about the proverbial 75 percent.

A couple years ago, during my period of blog inactivity, I decided to upgrade my terrain.  One priority was  purchasing some additional K&M trees.  I had splurged on several many years ago, but wanted/needed more.

It was hard to find them in the USA.   When I did find a provider, I was overjoyed that bases were available.  For some reason, my first ones came without individual bases, but with a plastic “sheet” (for lack of a better word) that, with  superglue and machined nuts,  served to keep the trees upright.  Awkward, do-able, but unsatisfying.  One of those visual irritants when placed on the table.

So, I included a bunch of bases in my order.  Unfortunately, they were no longer in stock and could not be backordered.  The provider  said I could fabricate bases using plastic screw anchors and florist’s tape.  The tree would fit in the anchor, the wrapped tape would form the trunk, and the whole thing  then glued on a (in my case) circular wood base.

I tried.  It was unsatisfactory.  The trees and wood bases went in a box.  The florist’s tape eventually disappeared.

This December I tried again, this time using at first sections of plastic straws and then plastic tubing – from Home Depot – for trunks.  Paint wouldn’t stick to the primed straw sections, and the curved plastic tubing was an absolute bitch to get straightened out.  This drama played itself out over the entire month.  My final attempt at basing resulted in  escalating levels of chaos.

Looking pretty organized.  Pliers, bases, trees, adhesive.  But then…..

Circular bases weren’t working.  Too shallow for a number of different adhesives/mixes of adhesives, so I started digging around for alternative bases.

I found this half-hemispheric (?) bit of wood.  But only one.  Problem with it was the hole had to be drilled perfectly straight or the tree would lean awkwardly.  I have marginal straight-drilling capabilities.   But, bending the trunk would make it acceptable.  Just barely acceptable.

Faced with awkwardly bent trunks – another set of minor table irritants –  and a trip to Hobby Lobby to find the needed wood bits, I decided on a drastic course of action……

I Googled up “K&M Trees USA”.  YES!  I found a new provider with bases in stock.

The bases have shipped.  What unexpected challenges will they bring?

Paper, Plexiglass and PDFs: A low cost wargaming path of less resistance

Colonials, Renaissance, Skirmish, Terrain and Buildings

Over the past couple of years I’ve become intrigued with paper soldiers, terrain and buildings as a low cost, lower time alternative that allows me to tryout intriguing new rule sets as well as an alternative to my ham-fisted DIY efforts.

I initially started out with paper buildings for my Fistful of Lead games.

My first paper soldiers were sourced through Wargame Vault using Batalov’s titles, as well  as those created by “Antohammer”.

Earlier this year I discovered Peter’s Paperboys, featuring both Peter Dennis’ quality work and others.

Combining these low cost figures with (comparatively) low cost PDF rules opened up a number of possibilities, especially skirmish or small unit encounters, with quick set-up, small footprint and big fun.

Two new rule sets  I’ve been working with that combine attributes of both skirmish and small unit (s) games are Osprey’s Pikeman’s Lament and The Men Who Would Be Kings.  These sets have been exhaustively covered, so there’s no need to go into any discussion here.

The paper soldiers provide the ability not only to get into the rules, but create  interesting matchups.  For example:  Portuguese vs. Spanish Conquistadors for “Lament” and Late 19th Century Russians vs. Central Asian Factions in “Kings”.

The overhead for each of these games was no more than $20 each, all-in with rules, figures, terrain and professional printing.

A bonus is that  cutting out 28mm figures and terrain, as well as 15-18mm buildings gives me an excuse to have football on and not feel like I’m wasting time.

It was then just a short jump to WoFun’s 18mm plexiglass figures.  This range also includes 28mm figures, with work by both Batalov, Dennis and others.  Why 18mm?  Because 18mm paper soldiers are just too hard to cut out.

Yes, the plexiglass figures are more expensive and postage from the UK is a drag (although some sets are available from US based Raven Banner Games).

I purchased British and a variety of African Askaris, Arabs and Tribal figures for skirmishes and a campaign using the “Men” rules.

I’m really enjoying this combination of interesting match-ups and quick set-ups.

Fire And Smoke…….or ……More Flattery

Miniatures, Terrain and Buildings

Around the same time as discovering the explosions posting, I found this one on fire and smoke.

Was intrigued by using tea lights.  Went down to the estrogen flooded Hobby Lobby, and found some cheap lights and  polyester stuffing.  Liberally applied black, gray and fluorescent orange spray paint.

Not bad, but the tea lights don’t shine through that well – polyester instead of cotton stuffing (?) – but the overall effect is OK.  I actually like the stuffing without the tea lights a little better.

Anyway, it’s a good addition to the scenary/terrain box.  Especially since you can whip up a Dresden-Like conflagration in a short time.

 

 

Explosions

Miniatures, Terrain and Buildings

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.  Or, something like that.  I flattered (sounds wrong) earlier this month after reading this post.

Instead of dowels, I used thin steel rod, and didn’t use craters but a wood base weighted with an old bolt. I opted to push the foam bits down through the rods, and then spray with glue.  A lot cleaner than soaking the rods in glue, but the foam had some problems “taking”.  I should superglue the top pieces.

Anyway, it turned out just fine. I could use a little more of the white overspray, but what the hell.

Building Boom

Miniatures, Terrain and Buildings

While procrastinating about Panzergruppe Guderian,  managed to work on additional buildings for Fistful of Lead.

Decided to keep with the Southwest locale.  It fits my lack of skill and precision.  Adobe buildings require the roughest of construction skills, complemented by healthy applications of spackling paste.  

Throw in layers of textured spray paint, random dry-brushing with earth colors, finish with white/gray, and there it is.

The results aren’t pretty, but functional.  A topic I’m working myself into a rant about.

Frontburner Re-Boot

Terrain and Buildings

After my scaling disaster, I tried to cobble together something fast and workable.

Went with the familiar gleaned from an old Miniature Wargames Magazine (No. 39) article on Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid’s final 1909 shoot-out in Bolivia.  As a matter of fact, I used the layout of the San Vincente barrio using Scrabble tiles for a quick workup with the Fistful of Lead rules back in early June.  Was giggling the whole time I put this together.   Perfect reaction for a child-like game.

Here’s the nearly completed successor that will be finished this evening.  At least it is in scale, and the psychadelic table cloth is back in The Sunfish Capital Of The World.

 

Backburner…..Now Frontburner

Miniatures, Terrain and Buildings

Decided to get on the Wild West miniatures game.  This decision led to a wargaming mis-adventure.

Painting the plastic figures was fine.  Prep was a little time consuming with washing, soaking in vinegar and then brushing with white glue.  Overall, nice to get painting again.

But, had a real snafu with the buildings.  Yes, I decided to go all in and construct a western town.  Bought some foam core and was in business for about $4.00.  Worked with the 1/72 scale of the figures, and sketched up a basic building plan.

So far, so good.

Cut up the foam core, added balsa wood door and window frames, along with overhangs.

 

The plan was to finish up and play last Sunday.  But….when figures and buildings were placed on the table…..it was like this.

Here’s a picture……..except it’s a Town For Giants!!!!!!!

 

 

New Project – Part 3 – Now Play The Damn Game

Miniatures, Terrain and Buildings, World War II

Played a quick scenario this afternoon.

M36 Jackson, a 75mm Sherman and a 76mm Sherman took on a PZ V Panther.  Panther was in a treeline, with the three US tanks behind bocage.  It’s a mismatch, but added an elite commander, gunner and loader to the Panther’s crew.  No additions for the US.

Decided that moving through the bocage would take one move, but without a movement modifier  reducing  the chance of a Panther to-hit die roll.

The  M36 would provide a base of fire, with the  76 mm Shermans maneuvering to engage the Panther from the front, with the 75mm Sherman trying to outflank it.

Battlefield Before I Decided To Add Another Marsh
Final Initial Set-Up….With Additional Marsh To Channelize US Attack

Well, it didn’t take long.  The M36 put three hits on the Panther in Turn 2, and in Turn 3, the 76mm Sherman put another three hits on the Pz V.  Take a look at these rolls….hits on 4-6, with a 6 being a critical hit.  Defense has to roll 4-6 to take off a hit.  Blammo!

75mm Sherman Takes a Hit But Keeps Moving
76mm Sherman Crushes The Panther
That’s It……..Add 3 More Hits and It’s Over!

Quick game, and an unexpected outcome.  Will try it again and see what happens.

Next project up, the buildings.  Oh yes, that was a complete bone-head move.  Spent the extra money to have laser print copies made – as per instructions’ recommendation.  Forgot to reduce them to 50 percent for 15mm.  Files are for 28-30mm.  Doh!