Building Done.

Ok Not quite finished it still has filler and Paint to go yet, but at least it gives the overall look, size and shape so come Monday I should be able to crack on with the next stage.

As you can see I took my favourite tools of destruction. Two scalpels 2 steel rules and engineering square. I only used 1 scalpel though with a 10a blade for those that care about such things. Oh only me then. I set about the Grey Board. For those of you who don't know Grey board is the cardboard version of MDF! It's cheap and versatile and robust and comes in different thicknesses.

 Working from a scrap of 3mm mdf for the base. This was cut square and sanded to remove any tool marks. I used both a foot and camel mounted figure to gauge the building height and size and height of the windows. The Grey board I had was also 3mm thick so I decided to double up on the layers to give it a more thermally massive appearance.

 I started by cutting the front and back and getting them about how I wanted them. I then cut the sides making sure that they were all the same height. Yes I know common sense, but still worth stating.

 I then assembled the basic box like structure. Using plenty of Resin W (PVA white wood glue). I allowed it to dry overnight.

 You can see I left an area at the back. It's not too neat at this stage as filler and paint can work wonders where my patience and inaccuracy are lacking. So no biggie! Again checking the sizes at every stage as you don't want to get it wrong if you can help it. Totally common sense.

 In the Morning I added the rear section to make the building "L" shaped and the roof on the main section. I gave this plenty of time to dry..... Ok I took a break and watched the Curling!

After the curling I added the roof to the rear section. I deliberately put the roof level lower to make this parapet deeper. This was done as I wanted the building to look like it had had a second stage so it would look like it was made at a different time. And then allowed a second night of Drying.

 Tomorrow I will go to my first wargames show of the year so expect a loot post tomorrow evening. It's not that I have a very large shopping list at all. But there are a few things I do intend to purchase. Possibly a few things for 20mm Vietnam games, possibly a few Victorian/steam punk Items, maybe some scenery and maybe some rules, definitely a few pots of paint! But we shall see what takes my fancy on the day.

So until tomorrow night take care and have some fun, oh and enjoy any SUN while you can.

All the best Clint.

More 20mm Terrain Boards

 I am taking a few days out from painting and working on some terrain. These two boards will combine with my Afghanistan boards to make the game terrain for the 20mm Arab revolt.

Yes there are a few differences between Afghanistan and the Middle east, but really there are more similarities. So with a few modifications they will pass muster, no one will know and let's be honest most wargamers will not care.

The first stage was to recycle two older boards, so much better than making new ones. Firstly it's quicker, secondly cheaper and thirdly no worries about where to put them as you already know you have space.

The next stage is to quickly sketch out what you want and where you want it. As all the other Afghan boards have road/tracks on the centre of 3 edges I decided to keep that protocol to allow for modularity.

In Sketching the boards out it is good to start with a strong idea. And for these two boards I wanted them quite sparse to reflect the town edge.

 Wanting them sparse I have decided on just one building, with some walled enclosures. I had one piece of door mat left so that was positioned and included to help continuity of the boards and to make it look like they were built at the same time (fingers crossed).

One board would also have a small trench. This is a free standing piece so it can be removed or moved in other games. It would also have a couple of free standing hills for the same reasons.


 As you can see there can be issues with recycling boards is that they may need a little cleaning up, where things have been glued down previously. Also as you can see this one corner has a 5mm wide notch cut in it. Most likely I will ignore this and as long as it goes on an outside corner will not affect the game in any way. I could patch it though al lot will depend on how cold and wet it gets in the next few days. Which will impact on whether I can be bothered or not. I know I should and guilt may well make me patch it, but I am tempted to leave it. I'll let you know what I decide.

 The next stage is to lay out and glue down any dry stone walls. Dry stone walls are so easy to make at this scale. Simply cut chipboard into a thin strip all done by eye, but about 3mm wide. You can then simply break this with your fingers to the right height and length. Obviously make sure there are no large and obvious overhangs and simply glue down.

I have put walls at road edges which gives me an indication of where the roads need to go a little later. And that is this stage done. It really does not take very long I would guess it took less than 2 hours to get to this stage.


The next stage is to build the single building. I might make that tomorrow. At present I have no firm ideas of how I want the building to be, other than single story quite long and thin and of a style to fit in with the ones already made so I shall "wing it" as I make it.

That's it for today, with luck I will be able to share the "Casualty bonus round" figure I painted next time. But that does depend on If Curt can get them all on his blog for the painting challenge.

So with luck some painting next time and some terrain making again if the weather holds, before the weekend! All the best take care, Clint

Rain stopped Play.

 Well kind off. That is to say There was a game at "posties" but I could not attend. As I do not drive (my eyes are just not up to it!) As a consequence I am reliant on public transport. Yes I know it's a git! Anyway the game started at 10 am and British Rail (Southeast Rail) had cancelled several trains before 11am due to the persistent bad weather. So other than getting a taxi each way (and who can afford that) I was forced to pull out. I feel bad about it, but what can you do. I gave Postie as much warning as I possibly could. So not much else I could do!

So all my plans for yesterday went up in smoke and I was left feeling like I could not concentrate on painting. I did try a little of course, but really not too much progress I just was not in the mood. I had already submitted my "Casualty Bonus Round Figure" For Curt's painting challenge so I was not forced to paint. Therefore I had a day off.

Or did I? I did re-base some tanks for the planned Spanish Civil war game which being honest did not take long. But it did need doing so not a waste of time.

So the "Tread Heads" out there will no doubt be able to identify them. Yes 3 Russian T 26, The most common tank of the SCW, and probably the best. It is interesting , I think, to note that Russian Communist tanks in this conflict were mostly painted dark grey, while German, Fascist tanks were painted Green. The exact opposite of the colour schemes used in the second world war 2 years later. For many people this will make no difference at all and indeed for wargamers it also makes no difference.

As well as there being few Tanks there were also very few Mortars. Additionally they used a WW1 tactical doctrine. As opposed to a much more mobile WW2 approach. Thus when mortars were set up they were not planned to move during a battle. I think this might catch a few players out. Specially if they are used to playing WW2 games.

The last things I rebased were these Italian Tankettes. They are considerably smaller and lighter than the T26 with just a 2 man crew.

One last thing Ray Lee and Fran should be aware of is that the tanks were usually owned and operated by the Army. While that may sound totally obvious in any Civil war the Army is but one faction. I have 17 SCW army lists, all of which may (or may no) have armoured vehicles assigned to them. But they would be operated by the Army personnel.

That's it for today. I hope to be a little more productive with the paint brush and jig saw today.

All the best Clint