The Port of Gierburg - Part 5: Dock Section II Ground Level Painted

In the previous installment of my Port of Gierburg project I described how I built the base board for my dock section. Now that part is finally finished.

Section I, the Water board and Section II set up together

Wow, time sure flies. And, wow, am I good at procrastinating. I posted part 4 of my Port of Gierburg project log in September 2014! I really had a tough time deciding how to continue with this part of my board. I have made some progress since then and decided that the other buildings and raised level section will be a single removable piece. This meant that I could move on and just paint the board section as it was.

Tavern from Stronghold Terrain

The Tavern by Stronghold-Terrain is the latest addition to my collection of 28mm houses. Let's take a look!

The contents of the Tavern kit

I already painted up a couple of buildings from Stronghold-Terrain's range of medieval terrain: the Townhouse, the Guild House and the now out of production Facades. The Tavern now is the last building from their range (except for the Stables, which I am not interested in for now).

Like their other houses the majority of the pieces is made from hard plaster, except for the roof, the base and a few extra bits, which are all cast from resin.

The Port of Gierburg - Part 4: Dock Section II Ground Level WIP

After completing the first section of my Port of Gierburg gaming table it is time to start with the second module. This one will be a lot more difficult and a lot more exciting. Due to its complexity I will handle the (under)ground level first and then tend to the rest later.

Similar to the first module this one is based on a solid 5mm MDF board. Following my initial plans (see Part 1) it measures 45cm x 72cm.

The concept for the port modules with two dock sections encapsulating a water board

Gypsy Caravans from Sarissa Precision

In this post I present my versions of the two Gypsy Caravan models from Sarissa Precision.

I first saw the two gypsy wagons by Sarissa Precision on the Lead Adventure Forum and I was instantly sold: the designs of the models looked great.

Gypsy Caravans (source: LAF)

Now before looking any deeper into the caravans I have to say that I am usually very sceptical of laser cut models. They seem to be very popular for all kinds of terrain these days - especially Wild West buildings. Often these models appear somewhat "flat" to me, lacking the details of resin models. However, there are certain structures that lend themselves to laser cut building very well. The dockside crane I assembled recently wouldn't look any better (or probably even as good) had it been scratch-built. The gypsy wagons by Sarissa immediately looked like further examples of laser cut technology done right. In fact, these models look much more interesting than the gypsy wagons I know from West Wind Productions or Old Glory. Actually, judging from the Sarissa website pretty much all of their buildings look damn good to me. Anyway, let's look at the wagons!

Gierburg Gypsies

The travelling people arrive in the City of Gierburg!

Another batch of beautiful paint jobs by Simon Bradley: Gypsies from West Wind Productions' Vampire Wars range roam the dirty streets of Gierburg.

But where are their iconic moving houses...?

Update: Gypsy Caravans

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

A Dockside Crane for Gierburg

The 1:72 scale medieval crane from Green Line is the latest addition to the docks of my Gierbug gaming board.


I bought the kit at this year's Tactica show, where I saw the assembled model in the flesh and was immediately convinced. It is available from Fredericus Rex.

The kit comprises mainly of various sheets of laser cut balsa wood. There are also two paper sheets for the "metal" parts, rivets and the hook. Thread is included to represent rope.

Usually I mainly work with resin buildings and I am totally spoiled by Tabletop World and Grand Manner models which come pretty much fully assembled out of the box. Because of this, I found the kit somewhat challenging - lots of pieces that need to be prepared and glued together. However, it was challenging in a very positive way: The pieces fit together perfectly and balsa is always easy to work with. It actually felt like I was assembling my own scratch-built model, with the exception that the various pieces were already provided. The model does not have any of the design flaws I usually dislike about laser cut terrain, where you can clearly tell from the finished model that it was built from simple precut kits.

The crane assembled but yet unpainted

After assembling the crane I removed the wheel again for undercoating and painting. I always enjoy painting wood structures: A bunch of drybrushing with browns and whites, finished off with a bit of weathering with green wash, and you're done - a very relaxed and rewarding task.

The finished crane

 

Since I was "transferring" the crane from 1:72 to 28mm scale I found it appropriate to use a thicker type of thread than the one that came with the model. So I went with the same that I currently use for rigging on my ships.

Finally, this is how the finished model looks as a dockside crane at the Port of Gierburg:

In conclusion, I am very happy with this model. It was refreshingly challenging to assemble without ever being too difficult. It looks like a cool scratch-built piece rather than one of those boring unrealistic laser cut buildings you see so often. I do not find the 1:72 scale to be a problem, either - it gives the impression of a nice small crane to me and works perfectly well with 28mm figures. In short: an excellent addition to the Port of Gierburg.

More Gierburg Citizens

Another couple of shady characters join the ranks of Gierburg citizens. Like the last ones these were again painted by the talented Simon Bradley.

A Gierburg merchant and his assisstant inspect a new load at the port

A young boy running in the streets of Gierburg

Most of the newcomers are again Highwaymen from Outpost Wargame Services.

Highwaymen and other scoundrel taking over the Port of Gierburg

With these highwaymen new in the city the Gang of Robbers, Bandits and other criminals is now large enough for battle:

The Port of Gierburg - Part 3: Dock Section I Painted & Extras

In the previous instalment I described the building process of the first dock section for my Port of Gierburg project. Today I am going to show the finished piece, give a few painting hints and discuss extra pieces.

Painting the dock section

Painting the dock section was pretty straight forward and similar to my last stoneworks on the Town House and House Fronts. It's all about applying different greys (with brown, black and "bone") and some green and brown washes and pigments. I really enjoy painting stonework because you can get "all dirty", try out a lot of things and rarely do anything wrong in the process.

The main colours I used are Vallejo's Sand Light, Flat Earth and Neutral Grey from the Model Color range, plus a bottle of cheap black that I have been using for years. Mixing these colours basically gives you all you need. For the finishing touches I used watered down dark green and Devlan Mud (from Games Workshop).

I am very happy with the plaster cobblestones from Vampisol: they paint up rather nicely and look great as a large area. As usual I spent a lot of time painting individual stones which is the key to the effect.

Top view of the cobblestone from Vampisol

Trade Goods

The nicest half-timbered house is still just a boring sight when placed on an empty board all by itself. Adding bits such as barrels, crates and sacks to the gaming board goes a long way in making the table more interesting.

For habour scenes Ainsty Castings has a variety of very nice scenery items in their Tade Goods range.

Trade goods from Ainsty Castings

Similar items are available from Tabletop-Art: I bought the Stacked boxes and barrels set 2.

Stacked boxes and barrels set from Tabletop-Art

Compared to the Ainsty bits the Tabletop-Art pieces are much smaller. Especially the barrel stack (see photo, in the middle) appears somewhat tiny, although it is of course perfectly legitimate to have smaller barrels than the average 28mm scenery (funnily, the set is explicitly tagged as 30mm scale).

From the rabble-rousing leader of the Gierburg peasants I had a few MaxMini.eu crates left that I painted up.

A bunch of crates from MaxMini.eu

Now while I'm at it, I might as well mention the other products I either use or plan on purchasing:

• Crates and sacks from Antenocitis Workshop (see here)
• Barrels and crates from Pardulon (see here again)
• Crates, corn sacks and barrels from Stronghold Terrain (see sacks here)
• Groceries and Supplies from Tabletop World
• Rope coils from Black Cat Bases (among a lot of other things)
• Ship's Kit (GOW-SA001) and Small AnchorS (GOW-SA006) from Games of War's Pirate Supplies range

Animals

Lastly, I finally used a cat and a mouse from the Dog, Cats, Mice (ACK011) set by Mirliton (see: Historical 25-28mm > Medieval > Accessories). I really like this set a lot with its characterful animals and highly recommend it.

Stronghold Terrain also has an animal set and I will definately want to add that to my collection of beastly citizens of Gierburg.

Scratch-built jetty

I extended the built-in GrandManner jetty by scratch-building a similar piece. Bascially it is the same thing as the gallows I did years ago, comprising of many coffee stirring sticks.

First, I build a frame for the jetty. The length was chosen to accommodate the Ainsty ships.

The construction is rather simple but took me pretty long to build nonetheless. The jetty consists of 88 coffee sticks cut to length. To give wood constructions like this a finely detailed look I find it important to do some work on the wooden bars. I filed the edges of each stick to give them an irregular cut-to-size appearance.

After glueing the sticks on the frame I used the spike of a compass to poke two holes near the end of each bar to give the impression of nail holes.

From the GrandManner harbour kit I had six bollards left (two per kit) that I could use for this large jetty. The bollards come with small slits meant for the GrandManner resin jetty piece's overlapping bars. I filled them with putty and then glued them to my jetty.

Painting was the usual drybrushing job with browns, greys and bone white.

The finished dock section

Now finally for some photos of the finished piece:

I set up the board with ships (the Old Glory Brigantine and Games of War's Sea Dog and two Sea Pup tenders) and buildings (fronts and Town House). Figures are Gierburg Peasants and Bounty Hunters painted by Simon Bradley.

Up next: Part 4: Dock Section II

Sneak Peek: Port of Gierburg

Once again it has been awhile since I last posted something for your viewing pleasure. So to tide you over until the next instalment of the Port of Gierburg here is a small sneak peek:

I am in the process of putting the finishing touches on some crates and stuff and I am working on a little jetty for the ships. As soon as that it done there will be a proper update.


Edit: Wow, I just realized that this is my 150th post on this blog. Considering for how long I am running this and especially when compared to some other blogs this is reeeeally few.

LAM Jesters arrive in Gierburg

Another set of beautiful figures from Simon Bradley has arrived in Gierburg: The Jesters, from Lead Adventure Miniatures' Bruegelburg range (BRU-15).

The Bruegelburg Jesters painted by Simon Bradley

Together with Omoklon from Guild of Harmony and the GW Bretonian jester, both painted by Tom List, and the unreleased Mordheim Jester, painted by Roman Lappat, I now have pretty much all cool jester models I can think of. At least I thought so until recently when Scibor released the Town Guard set which contains a nice jester figure as a musician. But since that figure is not available separately I will probably not add that to my collection.

Gierburg jesters dancing through the streets

Gierburg Head Hunter painted

About three and a half years ago I finished my first ever (and only) sculpt: Ty Cain, Gierburg Head Hunter. Now the miniature is finally painted. For obvious reasons this figure is especially precious to me so - like with the last batch of miniatures, the Gierburg Peasants, - I entrusted Simon Bradley with the paint job.

I think he has once again done a wonderful job. Check out the mini in his gallery on Stone Cold Lead.

Bounty Hunter painted and photographed by Simon Bradley

Ty Cain encounters a deranged jester in the streets of Gierburg

The Port of Gierburg - Part 2: Dock Section I WIP

In the second part of this series I describe the building of the first big dock section for the Port of Gierburg gaming table.

Building the Docks

With the water board finished work on the Port of Gierburg continues with the first dock section. Basically this section will consist of three sets of harbour walls from GrandManner that I bought some time ago. Each set consists of various resin parts: a wall piece, a jetty, stairs and a flagstone board.

The Harbour wall/jetty
from the GrandManner online store (ME64)

Following my plans for the port set-up (see Part 1) the first dock section measures 75 x 12 cm. The harbour walls have a width of 31 cm so I had to do some filing to get them in the right sizes. Unfortunately (in this case!) the resin that GrandManner uses to cast their pieces is rock solid so it took me really long to file through the walls.

The plan was to incorporate two stairs and one jetty into the dock. I filed off the lower steps of the stairs so that they would fit nicely next to the jetty. The jetty also had to be cut to size. I could have used the jetty in full length, of course, but I want to be able to place three ships in the port and I have certain plans for additional jetties. This required the jetty section here to be rather short.

Like with the water board I used a 5 mm MDF board as a base. The rest was a lot of styrofoam.

I glued a beech moulding strip to the bottom where the dock would touch the water board. To stabilize the sides and to prevent them from damage I used thin wood boards.

I filed the corners of the wood boards so that they matched the stonework pattern of the harbour walls. Later, I would use modelling putty to fill the gaps and create a smooth surface.


Instead of the flagstone boards that come with the harbour walls I decided to use cobblestone boards from Vampisol. As I described in an earlier review these are very nice plaster boards that I highly recommend. I chose to use them over the resin flagstone pieces because the thin plaster boards can be easily cut into shapes so that they can be combined to create a big seamless surface.

Plaster boards with stretcher bond pattern from Vampisol

The Vampisol boards come with an extra pack of plaster powder to fill any remaining gaps after gluing the boards next to each other. I used both the plaster and fine sand to fill the gaps. I also placed some sand on various spots on the overall surface for a more realistic and less clean look. The last thing was to model the corners of the stonework and a step on each of the two stairs with modelling putty.

My focus during the entire process, or let's call it the "big goal", was to create one big piece that looks and feels like one coherent piece of terrain. I really don't like how terrain built with HirstArts products always looks like assembled Lego bricks. So it was important to me that the various walls, stairs, jetty and cobblestone boards all contributed to the appearance of one sensible piece of terrain.

The dock section in its entirety before undercoating

Lessons learned

It is important to put some heavy books on the sheets of styrofoam every time you apply the white glue. There was one moment - after I had already glued a few layers of styrofoam - where the entire thing started to bend heavily. I immediately placed my standard pile of books on it. At that point I had thought that the piece was sufficiently stabilized since there were already various layers, but, no, it bent. Luckily I noticed this in time and when the white glue was fully dried the docks were straight again. Still, don't trust these materials! All in all it took extremely long with daily cutting and gluing and nightly drying.

I also learned that it is impossible to build an accurate "block" by gluing sheets of styrofoam on top of each other. After a few layers you're always off by a few millimeters and I don't get better. For the second dock section - which will be a lot bigger too - I will use not only an MDF board as a base but also use one to maintain the correct measures for the upper layers. This is mainly important for the moulding sheets I like to glue to the sides.


So after all these days of slow building and waiting I'm finally done and ready to paint this sucker, now guess what - I ran out of undercoat spray and so did my local hobby store. His order of new spray paint is already over a week overdue. :/


Coming next in part 3: Dock Section I - Painted