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Saturday, October 27, 2012

Town House from Stronghold Terrain

The Town House is the second Stronghold Terrain building after the Guild House out of the lot I bought at the Tactica convention earlier this year.

What you get (the kit)

Let's start with a photo of the contents of the kit:

The contents of the box

The set consists of resin parts - two roof pieces, a window, two chimney pieces and a base - and plaster walls for the house itself. The plaster is good enough with few air bubbles. The walls of the ground floor fit together nicely; I used a bit of modelling putty to fill a few gaps (after painting the walls first, though!).

Note the modelled shingles and
matchstick panel
The window and chimney which are both glued on the roof looked a bit too "stacked on" for my taste, so I used modelling putty (ProCreate, to be precise) to fill the gaps between them and the roof. You can see the same on the sample photos of the Stronghold Terrain website. This was easy enough for the chimney but for the window I modelled extra shingles and hid the gap with matchsticks - an extra twenty minutes well spent I believe.

Painting & Extras

I wasn't quite happy with how the stonework of the Guild House turned out so I had to try something different this time. Using a tutorial by Elmar Fischer at elladan I used pigments this time: A mix of MIG Concrete, MIG Dry Mud and water applied on the black undercoat. After drying the pigments' colour was removed from the raised surfaces of the stones with a wet tissue. Then I applied the usual mix of drybrushing various greys and browns and watered down greys, browns and green. I am very satisfied with the result as I like the realistic look.



For the rust on the doors and windows I also used pigments by MIG Productions, following the Rust and Soot/Dust tutorial at Senji Studios*. Basically it's just three layers of first Vietnam Earth, followed by Standard Rust and finally some Light Rust. However, since I misplaced my MIG Pigment Fixer which I had bought years ago I had to mix the pigments with water and apply that.

This is also the first time I used Revell's Color Stop medium to achieve the effect of paint that is peeling off of the door. I will have to do some more experiments with it but for now I think it turned out okay. It's definately something that you need to get used to working with as it's a thick rubbery compound that is applied on top of the painted area. Then you paint everything with another colour (green in this case) and afterwards you can peel the compound off to show the underlying layer (brown/greyish wood in this case).

One of the things I like most about the house is the main entrance. With the arch and what looks like a window counter this house has a lot of character. I decided to emphasis on the shop appearance and make it a proper old shoppe. Finally I could put one of the etched brass signs to use that I bought as Dolls House supplies. I put the sign on an over-sized matchstick and glued it to a resin bag which I got for free from the nice guys of Strongold Terrain when I purchased the building at the Tactica. Thus I have a signpost that can stand on its own with no need to glue it on the base.

The signpost made of a matchstick and an etched brass sign

The fish crate is from Ainsty Castings (the exact product is 'Trade Goods D Boxed Products'). I wanted to make this 'Ye Olde Fishe Shoppe', home of Hazel, the Fishwife.

Photos

Now for some photos of the finished piece:

Update: Three more pictures in better quality:


Resumé

The Town House is a very nice small building which should be a great addition to any medieval city board. Granted, it won't be the centrepiece of your gaming table, but it will definately be a great addition that fits in well with your other high quality buildings. The only disadvantage is the lack of interior detail (for the windows most notably). While it does have a first floor to place your skirmishers on you may want to get a trapdoor and ladder to make it fully useable on the inside.
All in all it gets a high recommendation from me.


*[April14/2013: It seems that the Senji Studios website has fallen victim to some malware virus attack. Norton and Google report the site as dangerous. Therefore the links to Senji Studios have been removed to prevent the reader]

Friday, September 28, 2012

New Ships from Games of War coming soon

 Ahoy mateys!

Alan of Games of War has sent me a sneak peek of their work in progress ship models for their 28mm Pirate Supplies range. Their out of stock Sea Prince (see photo for reference) is currently undergoing a re-vamp. The white ship you can see in the back of the photo is a mock-up of the new version of a large ship. In addition, they are also working on a new small ship.


Work in progress of upcoming small, medium and large ship models by Games of War

The new Sea Prince will be available soon. As for the other ships "We are hopefully going to have these available for Christmas", says Alan.

Check out the Games of War pirate range!

The current version of the medium sized Sea Prince

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Work in Progress: Townhouse by Stronghold Terrain

Currently I am painting the Townhouse from Stronghold Terrain. After the Guild House, where I was very unhappy with the stonework, things are better this time. In fact, I think these are the best stones I have done so far. These walls paint up really nicely. More coming soon.


Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Ship Ahoy!

Another order has arrived: Pirate ships by Ainsty Castings!

Space for boarding action



Captain Redbeard eyeing his new property

Painting these will have to wait until I have finished a few more buildings. And I'm definately running out of space for all this stuff...

Sunday, September 16, 2012

First impressions: GrandManner terrain

So my GrandManner order arrived last week, delivered less than a week after I placed my order. With the descriptions and photos of the items somewhat lacking on the GrandManner website I will describe my first impressions of these items in this blog post. Hopefully this will be useful to those who have been reluctant and wondered whether they should purchase some of the GrandManner buildings. This post is longer than usual because I am trying to be honest and thorough, so best make yourself comfortable with a cup of tea or coffee. I'll try to make up for the many words with plenty of interspersed photos.

Note: The following is about the GrandManner Wachau Meeting House, the Farm House with tile roof and dormer windows and the Gatehouse with tile roof and dormer windows from the 28mm Napoleonic Europe range.


Packaging
I have never received a package with damaged terrain yet - no matter whom I ordered from. Therefore packaging has never been much of a concern to me. But for those who care to know: The terrain pieces were very well packaged with styrofoam and mutliple layers of bubble wrap. No danger of damage there.

Size
The first thing I - obviously - alway take note of when unpacking terrain is the size. This is also one of the most important factors, of course. Is the terrain large enough to stand next to 28mm figures? Since I am a big fan of Black Scorpion miniatures many of my figures are more on the 30mm side, which makes size even more relevant.
So what about these houses then? Actually I had expected the buildings to be bigger. When you see the houses on photos, standing there for themselves, they look large and impressive. This is probably due to the excellent job Tony of Dampfpanzerwagon has done creating them (see next criterion). Maybe it is also because of the prices which are - compared to other company's products - rather high so that I also expected to get more "meat" for my money. For comparison here are photos of the Wachau Meeting House  and the Farm House with Stronghold Terrain's Guildhouse and Tabletop World's now out-of-production Medieval Inn and Merchant House:


The buildings are the smallest in my collection, but they are definately not horribly small or anything. With the figures standing next to the doors it sure does look okay.

Detail
The next important factor is the level of detail. You can clearly see it on the photos, but in reality the houses are even more stunning. The walls, the woodwork, all the little details - I could just sit there and stare at these beauties for hours. On the GrandManner website they talk about a "wow factor" and that's certainly no overstatement. I did get 'wow' effects from Tabletop World's buildings, especially the Ruined Coaching Inn because of it's sheer size and all the additional items. And I still love looking at the great DIMA Coaching Inn. But no building so far has had the WOW from its details and structure like these do. They are truly stunning sculpts.

 The front of the Wachau Meeting House


 The Farm House (right) with the Gatehouse extension (left)

The only competitor when it comes to design and detail quality that I can think of in the market today is Tabletop World with their current (2nd edition) line of products. However, as my very personal opinion I prefer the historically authentic appearance and modest greatness of the GrandManner buildings compared to the fanciful Fantasy-style pieces by Tabletop World.

Interior
This is a frequent question when it comes to wargaming buildings: What about removable roofs and interior? This is of special importance to skirmish gamers like me. So the great answer is: Yes, you can physically enter them. But what's more, these houses are just as detailed on the inside as they are on the outside. Just look at these photos (make sure you take a seat first).

The inside of the Wachau Meeting House:



The inside of the Farm House:



The inside of the Gatehouse:




Considering that their primary use is intended for Napoleonic era army games, where interior is not really that relevant, this is all the more surprising and it's a testament to the sculptors self-esteem to produce only the highest of quality. It is also surprising since GM provides few if any photos of the insides. This is definately something that they should go advertising with.

Something that you also cannot take for granted is that these kits don't need assembly at all. No filling, no cutting walls, no glueing walls together (well, except for that sign post on the Wachau house, which has some superflous resin). It's just one piece for the entire model plus one removable roof plus one removable floor piece. You can't have less work with a terrain piece than this. On the downside I'd prefer to have these buildings without bases. These are impossible to remove so I will have to find ways of properly integrating them into the board later on.

The Wachau Meeting House set


The Farm House set


The Gatehouse set


Material
The resin GrandManner uses is quite heavy and seriously stinks. It reminds me of some older Old Crow/Ainsty(?) pieces I have. The material is definately one of the disadvantages of the models. Comparing to Tabletop World once more, TW has the best resin I have encountered yet: light, clean, doesn't smell and paints up nicely. Forge World resin is also okay; a bit smelly but not like this and still lighter. I assume once I have given these things a proper undercoat the smell will disappear. Now this aside I have seen very few to no air bubbles on the models so the quality in that aspect is very good.

Other
There is one last drop of bitterness I have to mention. When I placed my order the Farm House was depicted on every single photo with the Walled Garden, which is (also) available as a separate item. Apparently it was assumed that the mere existence of an individually purchasable item is enough to make it clear that the Farm House does not come with the garden section. Well, to me it looked like one big complex so when I opened the big box, unpacking one item after the other I kept looking for the garden piece in vain. I contacted GM about this and they have now adjusted the Farm House's description (which was empty before) accordingly, so no other customers should experience the same disappointment.

 This cut-off bush on the Farm House's backside is waiting for the separately available Walled Garden piece

Another minor minus: One side of the Gatehouse's roof is obvously not meant to stand alone as it is just "flat". But even with the Gatehouse being intended to be used in conjunction with the Farm House (read designer's comment here), since both are available separately I think they should be fully designed to work as standalone pieces. Both the bush and the roof show that the Farm House is actually one huge piece consisting of three pieces (for 80.00 + 44.00 + 22.00=146.00 GBP total). I don't mind that much because I will use the two together as intended anyways, but it could be frustrating suprise to those who wish to use the Gatehouse alone, as entrance to a large walled area or something.

The proper side of the Gatehouse roof (left) and the other side which is not meant to be visible (right)


Summary
So far the houses have been somewhat of a mixed bag of feelings. On one hand I was disappointed initially to find the houses to be smaller than expected with the resin being heavy and smelly and one item "missing" to boot. On the other hand the houses are some of the most beautiful designs I have seen to this day with stunning attention to detail, and I almost feel honoured to be in the luxurious position of painting this terrain extraordinaire. I think after a bit of time I will have gotten used to the slight downsides and nothing but fully appreciating these deluxe wargaming items. As for other wargamers it will probably all come down to whether they will accept the fact that quality comes at a price and that terrain as the visually most dominant aspect of the tabletop deserves the most of the players' attention and effort and gaming budget.

Sunday, September 9, 2012

The City Grows Grand

Some more pieces for the Gierburg puzzle have arrived: my order from GrandManner. It contains the following:

- Wachau Meeting House
- Farm House with tile roof
- Gatehouse with tile roof
- Harbour wall/jetty (x3)
- Flag stone paving

Before I go into any details of the items - and I will first finish my Stronghold Terrain Townhouse anyways - here are some first photos to whet your appetite. I will do a quick first impressions/mini review post shortly.


Saturday, September 8, 2012

Guild House from Stronghold Terrrain


Again it's been quite a while since my last post. However, this time with photos of my newest addition to the everlasting Gierburg project: I finally finished the Guild House by Stronghold Terrain which I bought at this year's Tactica show.

Firstly, the contents of the kit:


Except for the resin roof and base all pieces are made of hard stone plaster. I'm not a fan of plaster in general but this one's of good quality. Except for the weight which you just can't help with this material the structure is good, no bubbles or defects.

The walls have a nice system of fit-together-edges which makes assembling the model really easy. However, the pieces don't fit together 100% percent so require a bit of filing (which doesn't work too good on plaster, at least not like resin). The few gaps can be easily filled with modelling putty - if they even bother you enough to do so. I didn't mind them enough to become active there.

Here are some photos of the finished house. I am not very happy with the stonework. It looks slightly better in reality - not as prosy as in the pictures -  but not nearly as great as the sample photos on Stronghold Terrain's studio paint job. I will probably revisit the model at some point and try adding some pigments.



Here are two comparison shots with the Blue Wolf Inn and Tabletop World's Medieval Inn from my cabinet.

All in all I am quite happy with the model. The stairs, separate door and little shed make the house look interesting - without these additions it would look a bit dull. Personally the stonework's structure didn't really suit my painting skills, but that's a totally personal issue. The roof and woodwork is really nice and detailed. The size is good for 28mm models (see comparison shots above).

Now I'm really looking forward to painting the Stronghold Terrain Townhouse as well.