The Wachau Meeting House from GrandManner

The Wachau Meeting House from GrandManner is finally painted up and ready for the battlefield.

As I began to write this post I looked up my review of the buildings from GrandManner, which I wrote shortly after I received the order. This was almost four years ago! My painting backlog is truly horrible - and I have even older pieces still in the pipeline. But let's not digress...

I previewed a work-in-progress photo of the Meeting House when I published my review of Tony Harwood's excellent book Building Wargame Terrain as this model was designed by him. For some reason it took me until just recently to finish painting the house. Now please don't mistake this for me not liking the model. To the contrary: I think it is absolutely beautiful. The textures and details are superb. In fact, I think Tony has created the best designed models in the market. The are only topped by the outstanding casting quality, material and complexity of Tabletop World's pieces. But when we talk about the details, textures and authenticity, I believe these are the very best. I like how the models strive for historic accuracy instead of making use of the artistic licence you get with Fantasy models.

One thing I really don't like about war-game house is when they come with bases attached to them. My games are mostly set inside of a city (think Mordheim/Frostgrave) and I want to put my buildings on a cobblestone gaming mat or my cobblestone-clad Gierburg board. The Meeting House gets away with its base because it is not a mere elevation with earth and sand but it is almost its own sideway. This gives the house a lot of additional character and immediately turns the finished piece into a little diorama.

I'm quite happy with how the building turned out and I am definately motivated to paint up my remaining GrandManner buildings now. However, before I do that I should paint a piece that has been waiting even longer (one word: ruin).