Tuesday 17 July 2012

Wargame terrain

I know I`m not a great painter or modeller, frankly I just don`t have the eye (or patience). I cannot for the life of me create what others do - frustrating, but that`s life!

The terrain we use in our games is functional and serves its purpose, I have however built several one-off pieces -

1920s era steam powered saw mill
the steam engines and saw (Frontline), the buildings are Wills railway accessories, cart is very old Citadel Miniatures; the rest hand built from twigs, bits of rock. The whole thing is roughly a foot square based on hardboard with plaster foundation. Not brilliant, but i`m happy with the look - I put the Spanish and Riffi so you can see the scale.

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Oil/fuel depot

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40 x 23cm base
The fuel truck (di-cast), figures (Battlefield) and German fuel trailer (Milicast) are just for effect and not part of the build.

Walls and front gates from S&S (gate posts are a piece of Mega Block).
The cobble effect floor is Vac-u-cast (I think)
The garage building is Byzantium
The various mechanicals - trollies, crane and generator are all Sgt`s Mess
The pump unit is scratch built, the generator shed an old Thomas Tank engine carriage (Tomy), the oil tank is from another Thomas wagon (ERTL this time).
The large fuel tank was a Q-tip box, the supports were struts off an umberella, the ladder off a toy fire engine :grin:
The small tank is from Mega Blocks, all pipe=work is 5amp cable

Various Arab buildings/compounds



A couple of Byzantium Models buildings and external stepswith S&S Models walls


Building from Minimi, walls again S&S Models


Large Byzantium building & external steps, S&S walls and barricade


Lancer Miniatures - Eastern Rail Station (I fitted the flat roof on the ticket office)


Byzantium Mosque (on a polystyrene hill)


6 comments:

  1. thanks. i was wondering about those arab buildings whether some were scratch built.the oil depot is spot on! the lumber mill is unique.you got good ideas.nice armoured car in last pic...i love those old armoured cars.

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  2. instead of plaster on the ground, ever try sand? isn`t plater a pain to work with?

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  3. Thanks for the comments.

    I`m still experimenting with basing, plaster or tile grout seems to work ok and takes paint quite well with a sprinkle of sand or flock.

    The armoured car by the mosque is a Laffly 80AM (an old Alby resin kit) painted up as a vehicle from 5RCA in Tunisia 1942/43.

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  4. I like the arab buildings. I am about to try to build some.

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  5. Thanks John, its taken me ages to start on terrain (storage being a major issue).

    To be honest these are very basic (not the models, but my basing them), I also wanted them pretty generic to use in North Africa 1900 - 1943 & Post-war (Algeria, Sub-saharan Africa); but also Mexico too :-)

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  6. "I`m still experimenting with basing, plaster or tile grout seems to work OK"; will tile grout work when spread out over a largish base (12" sq)? and should one mix in sand at the same time? does it adhere well (and permanantly) to the wood?

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