Review: Merchant Shop from Tabletop World

The Merchant Shop is the latest addition to Tabletop World's range of medieval/fantasy buildings. In this blog post I take a closer look at the model and explain why I believe that it is their best building yet.

In November last year, Tabletop World (TW) released the Merchant Shop. I own nearly all of the many buildings that were released over the years and I have to say that this one stands out. Literally. TW already said it in their announcement on Facebook:

The Merchant Shop from
Tabletop World

We proudly present you our new Merchant Shop in heroic scale! This is the first in the line of models that will take your gaming experience to the next level! Apart from highest attention to detail we had game-play in mind when creating the model. You can easily use it with miniatures that are in 28-32mm scale. The whole building has plenty of space to move your miniatures around, with several floors connected with stairs. All doors, window shutters and hatches are hinged and fully operational so you can open and close them to your liking.

The Mansion from Tabletop World

More than a year after ordering the impressive Mansion from Tabletop World I finally managed to finish painting the beautiful building.

As I described in my initial review the Mansion from Tabletop World is a highly impressive piece of terrain. The logical consequence is that it takes a lot of effort to paint this massive building. Add my habit of procrastination to that and you have a long-term project. Well, in fact, it wasn't that bad. I think I began painting the mansion in December last year. Since I only get to have any hobby time at the weekends and I spent a couple of those this year playtesting my pirate skirmish rules I did quite ok this time.

Let me say it again: the Mansion is great. The term centre-piece has been used a lot for various buildings but this one truly is. It towers over the other houses and puts the coaching inn to shame. When I began painting I was considering using a bolder colour scheme than usual. Maybe a red wall? Or at least red or green window frames? I had a look at other people's work on the model. You can find my collection of people's Tabletop World buildings on Pinterest. In the end, I went with a rather conservative approach that makes it look like most of my other half-timbered houses.

Tabletop World Gallery

Tabletop World produces some of the best terrain pieces in the market. This post is dedicated to the inspiring creations people come up with using their products.

Diorama from the Tabletop World Painting Competition 2016 announcement

I have been a fan of Tabletop World and their buildings from their early days and keep a gallery of pictures of their buildings since their first pieces went out of production. I have spent the last weeks' hobby time painting up their huge mansion building. This made me search the internet a bit for other people's versions of the mansion and I came across some incredible works.

Now Tabletop World have posted the entries for their annual painting competition on their Facebook page and again I was stunned by the incredible projects people make using these buildings. It really seems that their buildings bring out the best in some painters and make them create some of the very best terrain pieces and dioramas I have every seen. Since I like to keep things in one place I decided to create a Pinterest gallery where I can curate all these awesome works and return for inspiration.

Folge Christians Pinnwand „Tabletop World Gallery“ auf Pinterest.

Here are my personal favourites of this year's competition:

Converted building by Simone Pohlenz

Converted building by Simone Pohlenz

Diorama by David Rumeau

Window detail of David Rumeau's diorama

Diorama by Tim Ward

Diorama by Tim Ward

Diorama by Patrice Vincent

Check out all the entries for the 2016 painting competition on Tabletop World's Facebook page and vote for (aka like) the ones you like best.

Whatsup?

It's been a long time since my last post and indeed I did as little hobby activity as the lack of updates would make you believe. Nevertheless, as the year draws to a close I feel like a little looking back and ahead.

The Port of Gierburg board is still a big work-in-progress. I find it hard to decide on how to proceed with the intended upper level and I really need to make up my mind and just go with something.

The British Unrated Cutter
from Games of War

In October/November, Games of War secretly released a new ship: A British Unrated Cutter. I immediately purchased the ship as their quality has always been absolutely top-notch and I don't want to again miss the oportunity - like their Sea Prince, which went out of production before I made sure to get one. What is funny is that I actually previewed their work-in-progress ships back in 2012(!) on this very blog (under the tag line "coming soon" too). How time flies...
Anyway, if you are only slightly into pirate gaming you should absolutely pick up their products. The cutter is a very very nice ship with superb quality once again. I shall do a review some time soon. In fact, the ship is already primed and it shouldn't be too hard to paint. Probably a good way to get back into the hobby.

The huge stunner last month was the release of the gigantic Town Gate by Tabletop World. This thing looks mind-blowing. Fortunately they also made the Guard Tower available again. My order is on its way and I can't wait to see these two pieces in the flesh.

The Town Gate from Tabletop World

Then I recently backed the Kraken Mat kickstarter because of their Cobblestone City mat. Usually I am not fan of gaming mats but their unique approach to producing the designs won me over. They actually build the terrain and then photograph it and only make final touch-ups in Photoshop. This gives the mats a very realistic look - realistic in the sense of wargaming terrain, of course. This will make it blend well with the actual terrain pieces on top of it. So that's the theory. I really can't wait to get mine. Hopefully it will be a great alternative to my never-ending Gierburg board so that I have a great board for setting up my finished buildings.

The Cobblestone City mat from the Kraken Mat kickstarter

So lots of toys to draw me back into modelling and painting. Also, I already look forward to next year's Tactica convention at the end of February. The visit always gives me a huge motivation boost to finish some projects.

I also heard that Games Workshop intends to resurrect the Specialist Games section. Will this mean an eventual return of Mordheim in some way? This is definately something that would spark my interest - even it were in the weird Age of Sigmar setting. Though I hear that all the (attention, pun incoming!) cool kids  are playing Frostgrave these days. Hopefully there will be a demo game at the Tactica to get an idea of the rules. After all, I was playing Mordheim in the snow already years ago.

Town Houses and Mansion from Tabletop World

Tabletop World released some very nice timber-framed fantasy houses over the last couple of months. After their latest release - an impressive mansion - it was time for my yearly order. As always this means another review of these new products on the blog.

There are few things in the hobby these days that excite me as much as when Tabletop World release a new building. And although I was quite critical with their Coaching Inn (specifically its size) that piece too is an absolutely beautiful eye-catcher on the battlefield once it is painted. So naturally I was very excited when Tabletop World showed a preview image on their website for their upcoming release. Between the announced release date and its final release date I was checking out their website daily to see if it was out already. Once the full gallery for the Mansion was up it were minutes until I placed my order, catching up on their latest products since the release of the Coaching Inn: Townhouse II, Townhouse III and the new Mansion. Let's take a closer look!

Townhouse III, II and the new Mansion next to each other

Painting the Coaching Inn

Following up on my review of the Coaching Inn from Tabletop World I now present the finished piece.

As I mentioned in my review the Coaching Inn does not require assembling: other than cleaning up the piece all you need to do is glue the two chimneys to the roof and glue the fence/balustrade on the balcony.

The Scratch-built Balustrade

Speaking of the balustrade: I am not too keen on the fence that comes with the building. It looks too gothic/fantasy for my taste - I prefer a slightly more conservative/low-key style. Because of that I chose to build a new balustrade from wooden sticks.

Comparison of the original balustrade and my scratch-built one

Painting the Inn

The painting process was pretty much the same as with my previous Gierburg buildings. And it was a long one! With all the details the building has, tending to each shingle of the roof and each stone of the walls and - the most tedious work of all - painting all the windows with their grating, I can't count the many hours that went into this building. But it makes it only all the more satisfying once you are finished with the piece, lean back and look at it...

The finished Coaching Inn

Finally, this is what the completed Coaching Inn looks like:

Gangs fighting it out in the streets of Gierburg

A firebrand speaking to a mob of Gierburg peasants
from the balcony of the coaching inn

Tabletop World Painting Competition

Tabletop World has just announced a painting competition: Submit photos to them showcasing either single models or entire dioramas to get a chance of winning mighty prizes. In addition, they offer a guaranteed 10% discount to all participants on orders placed until June 1st. If that doesn't sound great, I don't know what does. I expect to see some very cool submissions in this contest and can't wait to see what people come up with.

This may also give me the neccessary boost to finish their Coaching Inn.

Painting Competition announcement from the Tabletop World website

Update January 30th: The rules have been updated. New poster image is above.
Update April 2nd: The gallery with all entries is available from the Tabletop World facebook page.
Update April 4th: The winners have been announced.

Review: Coaching Inn from Tabletop World

On November 15th Tabletop World released their new Coaching Inn. I immediately ordered the building and it arrived just yesterday. Let's take a look at it!

I have been a fan of Tabletop World's buildings since I first saw their products at CoolMiniOrNot. So I made an interview with them in 2009 and placed my first order one year later (had to save for it for some time). Then their first range of buildings went out of production and their style somewhat changed to a more fantasy look. Now Tabletop World released their new Coaching Inn and I absolutely loved the look. I currently have a strong piratey focus in my gaming and I find the inn fits that perfectly (reminds me of CT-Scenery's pirate houses).

At 98€ (excluding VAT!) the Coaching Inn is amongst the most expensive buildings for 28mm scale so I figured a more in-depth review of the item would be helpful for other gamers.

The Coaching Inn from Tabletop World

The Kit / Contents

The main building consists of three pieces. Additionally, there are two chimneys and a fence piece for the balcony.

The contents of the Coaching Inn kit

Tabletop World's buildings are super easy to assemble. Actually, there is no assembly required: You just put the pieces together and remove them when you want to access the inside. The only other company I know of that produces buildings with a similarly clever layout that requires no glue is GrandManner.

Size

According to Tabletop World their new Coaching Inn "is by far the biggest, most detailed and complex model we did so far". However, I would like to challenge that claim: One of their first buildings was the huge Ruined Coaching Inn. Unfortunately this building is now out of production - just like the equally impressive Guard Tower. In fact, to me it seems that the early buildings from Tabletop World were bigger overall, something like a heroic 28mm or 30mm scale, while their current buildings are more like 25mm to 28mm.

Here is a comparison with their Ruined Coaching Inn:

The new Coaching Inn next to the old Ruined Coaching Inn

The new Coaching Inn next to the old Ruined Coaching Inn

As someone who owns their huge Ruined Coaching Inn I expected the new inn to be bigger. But I have to admit that I am notorious for being disappointed when I first see the size of tabletop buildings. But even compared to their "normal" older buildings, e.g. the old Blacksmith's Forge or the first version of the Merchant House, the new inn is somewhat small.

The Coaching Inn next to the old Blacksmith's Forge

The Coaching Inn next to the first version of the Merchant's House

As you can see, the ground level used to be higher in their old houses, best visible at the doors. For these photos I am using a 25mm highwayman from Outpost Wargames Services, a 30mm pirate from Black Scorpion (of Redbeard's Crew) and a 28mm merchant from Lead Adventure.

The inn's ground floor is a bit low even for 25mm figures

The ground floor of the Merchant's House is much higher and
works even for Black Scorpion's large figures

To give a better impression of the Coaching Inn's size I took a few comparison shots with buildings from other manufacturers.

Comparison with the Farm House from GrandManner

Comparison with the Tavern from Stronghold Terrain

Comparison with the DIMA Coaching Inn - my first building that - to me - still sets
the standards for tabletop buildings

Style & Detail

What I immediately liked about the coaching inn is the L-shape and the angles. The house looks really interesting and has a certain "special" look to it. However, this comes at the cost of realism: Tabletop World's buildings are clearly fantasy houses. Fortunately they are not covered with silly skulls or other nonsense details like Games Workshop's scenery, which would completely disqualify them for historical use.
A common grief that some people have with wargames buildings is the exaggerated detail. Tabletop World's first buildings were made using balsa wood and/or coffee stirring sticks as you can clearly tell from the modest wood grain on the houses' wood bars and roofs. On their new buildings the woodwork seems to be sculpted with modelling putty: The wood grain is very deep and overexaggerated. Whether you like this or not is a personal preference. Personally, I find many of the figures I use to have a somewhat comic style regarding their proportions and as long as I don't have perfectly sculpted Tom Meier figures with super realistic paint jobs I find it suitable to have buildings that "work" rather than ones that look like true buildings, shrunk to 28mm scale.

Another very common problem with tabletop buildings is the position of the chimney. On this piece it is okay I guess. I have seen pieces where the chimney pops out of the roof directly above where there is a window on the floor below. On the inn it is okay, I guess. The chimney's would not really work if they were to continue through the floors down to the ground floor but they are positioned well enough to not feel obviously wrong.

What I like best about the inn is the backside with its huge round entrance. This looks very unusual and interesting. Another huge plus is the balcony because of its gameplay value: You can place a shooter to fire from there. Only I would have preferred the balcony to to be made of wood bars rather than stonework.

The balcony is big enough to place a figure

Interior

Removable roofs and accessible interior is important especially to skirmish gamers. Like all of Tabletop World's recent buildings this one, too, has a fully modelled inside.

The figures shown in the photos stand on 25mm round bases (from Fenris Games).

On the upper floor only the small room is accessible. As a downside there is no space intended for stairs on the ground floor. So some people may want to add a trap door to the upper floor piece and maybe a ladder to get there.

Casting Quality

As usual the casting quality is superb. Since the very beginning, when they released their first buildings, the have managed to maintain the highest quality in the industry. The resin is light, doesn't smell; it is sturdy, yet soft enough to not break when lightly hit. There are neither air bubbles nor mold lines so very little clean-up work is required. Excellent!

Verdict

The Coaching Inn is a very nice building. It is not as large at Tabletop World make it seem. Its greatest strength in my eyes is the unusual style with lots of interesting features that sets it apart from the typical tavern type of house. It is in the same price league as GrandManner buildings though I prefer Tabletop World's material a lot. Many players will not spend this much money on terrain - those who do, will receive a high quality building that adds a lot to the gaming table. I hope that Tabletop World will continue and produce more buildings like this: larger, with more storeys and interesting features.

Final note: Christmas Special Offer

Until December 31st Tabletop World is having a special Christmas offer. In addition to the inn I ordered their excellent Supplies and Groceries sets and the sweet well. This qualified for a fee Cottage - how cool is that!

If you are interested in more of their products this is a great time to place an order with the possibility of getting a free Cottage or even Townhouse. Especially considering how their pieces become "out of production" over time.

The free Cottage that came with my order

Update April 6th, 2014: The finished Coaching Inn can now be seen here.

Medieval Inn from Tabletop World

Today I want to show you my version of Tabletop World's Medieval Inn. The resin building basically consists of a ground floor piece, a first floor and a roof piece, plus a chimney. There are some very nice additional bits: a bucket, a barrel, a broom, three lanterns, a sign, flower buckets and even a female citizen miniature. (Which is - let's face it - sub-parly sculpted. But hey, it's free - so who would want to complain! Their current figures look way better - check them out!)

What I especially like about the design is that there are see-through windows on both floors which makes the house perfectly playable from the inside. If you need to you can easily saw a hole in the first floor and add some stairs or go with a trap-door.

The painting was done quite similarily to the Merchant's House although I didn't paint the walls as bright. In the comments to the recent WIP post for this building Ivan of Tabletop World suggested using Bleached Bone instead of full white and, of course, I followed. :)

The sign that comes with the house has no modelled emblems so you are free to add whatever you want. Of course, this can be difficult as freehand painting is not so easy for the average painter - it definately is hard for me! Since I already have an inn with the Blue Wolf Inn and I still dream of getting the huge Coaching Inn from Forge World some day I didn't want this to be yet another inn. Thinking about possible signs and logos I came up with simple scissors to represent a tailor's house. To spice up the sign (and to somewhat distinguish it from a barber's shop) I added a "T". I think it came out okay. Lastly I once again added posters for a bit of additonal character.

Hope you like it!

Up next: the Blacksmith's Forge