A few simple Warhammer/AoS terrain pieces: crumbling earthworks and a rickety tower

Testing the Linden Way scenario, the third skirmish that leads up to Bloodbath at Orruk's Drift, is in my foreseeable future. As I had to speedily rearrange my table the last two test games I decided to actually check if I could feature the Linden Way hamlet on a modern table. It took a bit of shuffling with buildings, but it worked. One thing was missing: some crumbling earthworks to cap off the entrance. No worries, I took some coffee stirrers and polystyrene and went to work. Here's the result.

Karl-Franz junior (no relation) was about to empty the 'morning ablutions' bucket when the silent Skaven killer struck...

My Warhammer Townscape is complete

After a rather dismal failure involving a Killa Kan project last year I decided to cheer myself up by building the old Warhammer Townscape from foamboard and coffee stirrers. To be honest I did not think I would see this project through to the finish. But as of this weekend, I can proudly say I did. There I said it: I finished the Warhammer Townscape. Its also a bit more terrain than I'll ever need for a single game :)

"This is madness!"
"Madness? This is Frugelhofen!"

Townscape page 3 all buildings completed

Yesterday I finished the final two 'buildings' for the Townscape: the outhouse and the two tents. Let's just start with these and kick this quick post off.

Finally a chance to go camping in the Old World (or on the Mortal Realms).

Warhammer Townscape page three progress

Buoyed by the completion of page two I've gone to work on page three of the Townscape. Only thirteen buildings left to build (and paint). Perhaps only twelve, as I'm still on the fence about building number 35 (The Tower). It just looks so wonky compared with the rest of the buildings. With that said, lets go for some work in progress pictures of the last batch.

Now to illustrate social differences in the Warhammer world: the huge Manor House next to the cottage. 

Warhammer Townscape second page finished

Warhammer Townscape is an iconic eighties Games Workshop book. Its hardcover holds cardboard cutout buildings to be used in fantasy wargames. October last year I decided to fulfill a long held ambition: rebuilding the entire set using foamboard, balsa and other materials. To add a challenge (and to make sure I'd build all of them) I decided to use the numbers in te original instructions as the order in which to build the entire set. Yesterday evening, after putting the project on the back burner for a bit, I finished page two (of three). Here's half of this lot.

Here's the first set of page two in the Townscape instructions.

More Townscape buildings finished

My blog may have been a bit silent, but that didn't mean I didn't get things done. Without finding time to type about it, I've been continuing my Townscape project. With some pride I can now state that I've finished the first of the three pages from the 'assembling a building' instructions. Here's three of my latest additions in a row.

It almost looks like a street if I put them like this.

Warhammer Townscape watermill painted

The Warhammer Townscape watermill is one of the larger, more impressive buildings in the set. As it has a small river running past it, I had to take some extra care of the base of the building. It took a few extra days to apply epoxy water effects properly (no Mighty Fortress disaster repeats for me). I think that was worth it. Here's a shot of the completed building.

Now here's a building to fight over. Also I found my misty valley backdrop. 

First four Warhammer Townscape buildings finished

I had an overtly productive weekend this weekend. It was actually too productive to fit in a single post. I'll just keep te WIP pictures with semi-helpful tips on reserve for later. Having built the first six buildings of the Warhammer Townscape (follow the link if you're wondering what that is) I decided it was time to apply some paint. After all I used some new techniques and I wanted to find out if they actually held up when paint was applied. Short version: I'm happy. Here's a group shot of my first four buildings.

Welcome to Frugelhöfen, we're still working on the rest of the village...

Building the dreaded Warhammer Townscape watermill

Hobby-wise this was a very productive weekend. I continued my Warhammer Townscape project and managed to complete numbers 3, 4, 5 and 6. To wit: the large house, watermill, wooden bridge and shack. Usually I select a few pictures and start rambling. This time my pre-selection stands at 48. Lets just treat this post as a sort of 'scratch building wargaming buildings tutorial and tips' style article. To start off here's my completed work so far.

This project is getting out of hand...

No hammer like Oldhammer: Warhammer Townscape

After the slightly dismal end of my Kan project I decided it was very important to immediately get on the hobby horse and start afresh. For me building scenery/terrain is a perfect counterpoint to miniature painting and in this case therapeutic. Scratch building is a bit more forgiving and a hell of a lot cheaper than miniature painting. So scratch building it is. As I also like to go for overtly ambitious goals I decided to get started on a long held wish to build the classic Warhammer Townscape buildings in foamboard. To make it interesting (and avoid cherry picking) I decided to use the numbers in te original instructions as the order in which to build the entire set. Here is where I'm at right now.

The first 2 out  of 39, it's a a start.

The Mighty Fortress is ready for battle

After the epoxy resin disaster last week I decided to redouble my efforts to complete the Mighty Fortress. It paid off as the old polystyrene model now stands ready for battle. Lets start off with a few pictures of the completed set.

The Mighty Fortress is an epic piece of scenery to put on a gaming table.

Disaster strikes the Mighty Fortress

Let's start this post with a quote from the latest AoS rulebook: "One of the greatest joys of collecting Citadel Miniatures can be found in the modelling and painting of your collection as you assemble and recreate all of the great heroes, terrifying monsters and amazing landscapes of the Age of Sigmar." I'll be keeping that in mind as I continue posting on the Mighty Fortress project. It took a slight turn this week and ended up in 'horror show county'.

I still think it's a fine looking moat.

Building and painting my Mighty Fortress (and about time too)

Way back in 1988 (when people still yelled at me to get off their lawn instead of vice versa) the Warhammer Siege expansion appeared for Warhammer Fantasy Battle. This 140 page book has rules for everything you'd ever want to do to take or hold fortifications. Alongside the book GW released a new terrain kit called Mighty Fortress. This is a polystyrene set of towers and walls to use in games of siege (and general battles of course). I got my hands on one almost thirty years ago. As it (often) goes with miniature (related) purchases it did not get painted as quick as I imagined when I got it. Long story short: just before Christmas last year (2018) I got this box out of the to-do pile and started planning.

The Mighty Fortress came in a big pretty box that has been sitting around looking big and pretty for long enough now.

Age of Sigmar terrain abandoned mine shafts for Grudge of Drong

I had a bit less hobby time this weekend as I hosted the first Age of Sigmar tournament my gaming club (Sword Brethren Eindhoven) organised. So no painted High Elves and the Bierlager is still in black undercoat as well. I did however spent my lazy Sunday finishing the build of the two abandoned mine shafts for the first scenario in Grudge of Drong. Here is number one.

It looks like the Dwarves/Duardin/Dispossessed abandoned this shaft halfway through their shift.

Scratch building the Grudge of Drong Bierlager

In between taking a brush to my High Elves and giving them a few test rides with the Age of Sigmar ruleset I've been working on the buildings needed for the Grudge of Drong campaign. This campaign is (I just read) notable for being the last to feature cardboard buildings to use with the scenario's. But why use cardboard when you can scratch build. Over the past few weeks I've been learning how not to use my new polystyrene cutting tools by attempting Das Bierlager (my guide to building the buildings is in German, it enhances the appeal of Dwarves immeasurably in my opinion). Here's a quick list of things I've learned the hard way about polystyrene cutting:

• Make sure the angle between two walls is 90 degrees before cutting the lot, 100+ degree angles lead to very strange geometry (unusable buildings unless you're a great old one).
• Put the texture on the walls before cutting the 90 degree corners, <1 mm polystyrene is not known as 'the strongest material in the world' for a reason.
• Don't glue with PVA glue, it dries way too slow, use transparant 'everything' glue (just as with foamboard).
• Don't push cocktail sticks in neatly cut polystyrene buildings, it makes the walls crack.
• Check your supply of 1mm cardboard, you may have just used all of it to make tiles for Armageddon buildings...

So there was a bit of a learning curve here. In the end my first building is standing (almost fully) primed and ready for paint. 

Front side of Das Bierlager, I wonder what the top floor is used for...

Painting the Age of Sigmar siege towers (part 4)

There is going to be a murder of posts today as I finished up the paintwork on my siege towers. To celebrate (and to show off) I made a separate series of 'narrative' photo's that will be posted in a second post. First the finished paint job.

You're facing the wrong way you idiots!

Detailing the Age of Sigmar siege towers (part 3)

Now this project went rather faster then expected. I planned to be working on it over the course of a few weeks, but I seem to have finished it within three evenings (and a few lunch breaks and a bit of a Sunday afternoon). Lets start of with the result just prior to painting.

"Where is the castle? Why didn't you stop when we passed that nice looking peasant to ask for directions?"

Paneling the Age of Sigmar siege towers (part 2)

On sunday I built two barebones skeleton to make my siege towers. Yesterday evening I continued with the project, first focusing on paneling the towers (and putting floors in) and making a start with the detailing. This morning my towers looked like this.

The siege towers need a bit more work before they can be used to storm the walls.

Scratch building siege towers for Age of Sigmar (part 1)

This weekend I decided I need siege towers in my life. That is to say on the battlefield. I have scratch built a rather nice collection (IMHO) of ruined Mordheim buildings, I have a plastic city wall and there is an amazing collection of war scroll that allows you to host some spectacular sieges using Age of Sigmar rules. What is lacking in are a couple of siege towers (and maybe a battering ram). So without further ado let's go for minimal planning and maximal cutting. Measure once, cut twice and other idiocies that make scratch building fun. To relieve the suspense slightly, this is the result of a few hours of hacking and slashing.

No plastic wall will be safe once these siege towers are finished.

Before I got there I had to pick up my bundle of balsa wood. I love this for scratch building. It is extremely soft so you can cut and modify it with fancy tools like a blunt scalpel, you fingernails or whatever you grabbed when you randomly took something of the table. Balsa wood is available in different thicknesses and sizes, I occasionally take a bundle of 5mm x 5mm 'beams' and 5mm x 1mm 'planks' with me from the local crafts store, it helps to have some to hand if the hobby itch takes you in directions that require balsa wood. Next up was laying out some tools and eight Lego wheels (I bought too many of these when I discovered the size was only slightly too large for Warhammer/Aos purposes.

A pot lid full of paint and PVA, cocktail sticks, cotton swabs and Lego wheels, I fear we've entered the home of a wargamer.

In the meantime these Lego wheels served me well to spruce up the Black Coach (the wheels that come with it are too tiny I think).

I love this model even more with the larger wheels stuck on, it just feels right.

For the next step consisted I looked at pictures of the old Games Workshop/Citadel siege tower and found some directions as to the size of it of (a touch under 4 1/2 inches wide, 7 and 1/3 inches tall and the bottom of the door is 3 1/2 inches from the ground). I took a wall from the old plastic Citadel fortress and used it to take my own measurement and draw up a quick sketch of the tower to be (pictured on the red post-it below).

Bits of balsa wood cut to size and my deeply thought out construction plan (har, har). Also the protective cap of my scalpel without the scalpel in it. That is troubling if you consider my long list of self inflicted scalpel cuts...

One of the many great attributes of balsa wood is its ability to act as a sponge for PVA glue. I have a technique for making doors with it. It consists of gluing the bits that will make the door to some masking tape, draining it in PVA and removing the tape after drying (maybe I should make a tutorial on this later on). I tried the same on the frame of the siege towers.

The front sections of the siege towers have been covered in PVA, next up using a cotton swap to flatten down the layer of PVA.

For those of you wondering why I'm working on two at the same time. I think a single siege tower will look lonely on a battlefield. Knowing my own fickle mind the odds of me making a second siege tower after finishing the first one (within a normal human time frame) are rather low. So I made two instead of one. The beam on top was supposed to be the 'roof' of the tower that will feature wooden battlements for archers to shoot down from.

Getting carried aay, glueding side beams onto the side sections of the siege towers. Also the scalpel is still uncovered and at large somewhere.

Here is a shot of all sides from the tower drying before final assembly. I usually take my scalpel to all balsa wood prior to assembly, cutting of random slivers to make it look well worn. I decided not to do that yet on these towers. The entire frame will be dressed with more wood anyway and I'll just cut a bit into the visible parts later.

Removing masking tape from a glued join. 

After giving the glue (barely enough) time to dry I took the masking tape off to check the connection and assemble the towers. This was a bit disappointing a the construction turned out to be very rickety. Now I might assume the towers will get more strength and body as I add planks to them (and after I have given the glue a proper amount of time to dry), but I'm worried that the pieces will fall apart under the stress of gaming. So I decided to skip the glue and use needles for the construction instead. Did I mention everything works on balsa wood?

Glue not working, let's use needles instead. Happily I had a box of these around to simulate rivets with.

As needles require somewhere around zero minutes to dry before forming a connection I could assemble my two towers at a remarkable speed.

Well they are starting to look rather siege towery, aren't they?

Next came the important bit. Finding out if 'measure once, cut twice' is a smart replacement for doing this the other way round.

Now I know why the defenders kept giggling during my construction, perhaps I should build a wooden rabbit in stead. 

It turns out, that it isn't. The tower will have three floors. The top one will be the battlements that need to be higher than the city wall (that will work with this model). The second floor will feature a large drawbridge that the invaders can use to assault the battlements on the city wall. In the current design the invaders will have to crawl onto the drawbridge as the ceiling is too low to stand up. Now I have to admit that I'm not a HEMA-expert (neither Historical European Martial Arts nor the Dutch HEMA store), but I think crawling towards motivated defenders is not the best approach to combat. Luckily I used pins instead of glue. That made it possible to pull the top off the siege tower and replace the rear beams with longer ones. This raises the siege tower to proper heights.

The giggles have been silenced, my siege tower is officially high enough!

Next up was an easy part, cutting axles for the Lego wheels. I glued these in with a drop of PVA to each side. I'll see how I'll mask any ugly bits after the towers are fully assembled.

Let's put some axles to the wheels!

As the last step I glued a number of wooden coffee stirrers to the sides of the tower to start dressing them up. The nice thing about coffee stirrers (aside from being extremely cheap and managing quite well to look like heroic scale planks) is that these can be cut with scissors. So I just glue them on whole and cut them to size after they've dried (this also answers why you see all those bits of coffee stirrer on my work area). I also remembered (just in time) to add 'beams for the two floors inside the towers.

Okay, they still need quite a bit of work, but the basic framework is place. 

At this point I really had to step back and give the project a bit of time too dry, but I think I'm heading in a reasonable direction (towards the walls so to speak). Next up floors, ladders, walls, an interesting drawbridge and the battlement section on top. After that see how motivated I am to add some impressive details. Oh yeah and painting them.