The Stalingrad Mill

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The last building I had to put together from Commission Figurines was the gigantic Stalingrad Flour Mill.

Retailing at £45, this is a cracking piece:  two joined buildings, one large, one small; five floors and a roof, with each floor having its own little ledge on which to place figures. You actually have to build it twice: once for the internal frame on which all the shelves sit, and once for the outside walls.

Here's a modern-day picture of the mill itself:

And here's a picture of my completed model:

Not the sharpest of photos, but you can see what I mean about the sheer size of the thing, and how well it compares to the actual building.

I painted this in orange, and then washed with GW Agrax Earthshade. It didn't need any sort of highlights dry-brushed on, so I didn't do any. The inside I left in raw mdf, as it looked okay and painting it would have been a real pain now that I had put it together. The outside pavement I did in the usual dark grey, black wash, light grey highlight, but I left the highlighter brush a little dirty from when I painted the orange on, so some of the pavement has a little bit of a brick hew, as if covered in brick dust or rubble.

The only thing I'm not 100% satisfied with the way I've painted it is the roof. You get two bits of flat roof, and then a sort of tunnel-walkway-attic as well. These I painted in dark brown, again with a hint of dirty orange in it. It looks okay, but I'm not sure quite how else to do it. Suggestions on a postcard please...

To finish, here are two close-up shots of the inside so that you can see how good it will be for actual wargaming. As I said above, cracking piece: highly recommended.

Another Ruined Building from Commission Figurines

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Here's the second of the three buildings I purchased from Commission Figurines at Warfare.

This one is Potsdammer Platz, and very nice it is too. Goes together very easily - literally the work of minutes - and then simple to paint as well. This one I undercoated in dark grey, then added a heavy wash with black ink, then dry-brushed with dark grey, then light grey, then bleached bone to bring out the relief. Again I painted the inside dark grey.

Looks good to me and I can't wait to get them onto the tabletop.

You can find Commission Figurines by clicking here.

Dustclouds

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I must have been feeling very flush one day, as apparently I've had the 'Dustclouds' terrain pieces on back-order from Battlefront for some time.

Now just why anyone would need a marker for dust in the desert I don't know...but then again, they do look good and I obviously felt the need at some point! Whatever the reason, and whether I really need them or not, they were a nice surprise. Some people, eh: more money than sense!

One of my as yet unused T-55s with dustcloud!

Ruined Buildings from Commission Figurines

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One of my purchases at Warfare were some of Commission Figurines 15mm ruined buildings in laser-cut wood.

I was quite excited by these, so let one of them jump to the head of the painting queue, and knocked it up in a few hours late on Sunday.

This particular building, Konig Strasse, is easy to put together: four walls slot together and then mount onto the four pavement pieces if pavement is required.

Painting was pretty simple too: I painted the whole thing orange, then put a very heavy black ink wash over the top. Once that was dry, I dry-brushed very lightly in orange again, and then in a bone colour to bring up the relief. The doors I did in brown, the pavement in three shades of grey. The interior I just painted all grey, with no washing or dry-brushing.

I'm very pleased with the result, and can't wait to build the others. I think they'll do for any big city: Berlin, Stalingrad and even sci-fi...and at £13 for the one below, quite good value too.

Another Sarissa Precision Building

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Took advantage of Salute to buy myself one more Sarissa Precision lasercut building from their Far East range: what they call an 'outpost' which I will use as a lean-to or similar as a smaller building in a village set-up.

Lovely model to build, and surprisingly durable in that although I did manage to be clumsy enough to snap two of the little struts that connect one top bit to a bottom bit, it's still robust enough that I could leave the roof unglued so that I can get figures in and out of it easily.

The whole range is highly recommended.

Chain of Command Terrain: A Lard/Warbases Joint Venture

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Exciting news for all 28mm 20thC/modern gamers: the TooFatLardies and Warbases have got together to produce a new range of laser cut terrain pieces. Here's the news item from Lard Island News:

Part of the joy of wargaming is the opportunity to, albeit briefly, suspend our disbelief and see ourselves as Napoleon or Wellington, commanding vast armies, or Sidney Jary at the head of 18 platoon. For me, a big part in creating the environment which encourages that immersion in the narrative of our games is getting a table that not only is pretty, but also looks right. In so many cases it is the small detail which makes a big difference. In all of the games we have run around the shows, it has been stuff like telegraph poles and (believe it or not!) cabbages growing in the garden which have received the most comments. Interestingly, it is small detail like this which I have so often found myself having to scratch build, with varying degress of success if I am honest, as most terrain companies tend to focus on the big stuff, like buildings, bridges and walls, rather than the minutiae. Well, that’s all about to change.

Before Christmas I had a long discussion with my old chum Martin up at Warbases and floated the idea of starting a range of terrain for Chain of Command. To my mind it is the skirmish or platoon level game which really comes to life when you add some extra detail, and I wanted us to work together to start producing the type of items which I really wanted to see in my games. As always, Martin came up trumps, as my dodgy sketches and vague ideas were turned into something practical and VERY pretty. The great news is that we will have the first two packs available at Salute. These are as follows:

Pack One includes the following:

  • Lean to Greenhouse
  • Potting shed, including work bench
  • Chicken coop with two cast metal chickens
  • Cold frame
  • Compost bin

Pack One

As you can see below, the lean to greenhouse will fit neatly onto any flat walled building

Pack Two contains the following:

  • Free standing Greenhouse
  • Dog kennel with cast metal doggy (optional “woofs” to be provided by customer)
  • Garden bench
  • Wheelbarrow
  • Wood store

PACK TWO

​All of the models are in laser cut MDF and, where shown they have suitably embossed paper to cover the roofs and serve as tar paper or roof felt as used in the early 20th century. Even better is the news that each of the packs will be retailing at just £16 each, great value for models which will really transform your wargames table. We hope to have these available on the web site immediately after Salute, although I reckon these will be a sell-out at the show!

These look great! Now all I need is for them to be produced in 15mm as well!

Sarissa Precision Ltd: Buildings for the Far East

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I've never been big into terrain.

I am never going to make any (far too much like hard, and messy, work) and in the past it's always seemed like a waste of money that could be spent on more soldiers. 

That, however, was before I got my wargaming room back after its sabbatical as a kids playroom, and before I moved this website to Squarespace. I'm having more games now, and the photos are easier to process and upload, and my existing terrain...well, it just isn't up to scratch any more.

Wooden huts for the Eastern Front from 4ground

I have had very good experiences with 4Ground's range of wooden huts for the Eastern Front, so I thought I'd see if I could get some more of that sort of thing, but this time for the Far East. 

A quick search of the web, and I found Sarissa Precision Ltd: a UK company that do a nice little range of laser-cut wood buildings just like 4Ground's.

They have six different village huts in their Far East range, so I bought one of each, and have spent the last few days putting them together: I love the smell of laser-cut wood in the mornings!

Once built, however, I felt they were slightly lacking something. Not in the models themselves, I hasten to add, they were lovely, just that the setting demanded something more.

So I have been very brave, and I have pimped them up!

First I've added a toupee of wool roving (whatever that is!) bought from the local Hobbeycraft to their roofs. This was quite difficult: it involved smearing white glue over the roofs, then carefully snipping off and sticking down layers of wool cording so they look a bit like some kind of vegetation. Don't ask me what sort of vegetation: just enjoy the look!

It didn't turn out just how I wanted it too.

Building One: Planked Style Village House - Low

Apparently you're supposed to be able to comb this stuff, and I had envisioned a sort of green thatch effect...whereas what I have achieved is more Boris Johnson! But I like it, and I think it will look good on the tabletop amongst the plastic palm trees and lichen.

Next, I thought that the empty holes for every door and window (on some of the huts: others have a wooden lattice effect) looked a bit odd.

Building Two: Small Village House

So back to Hobbeycraft and the purchase of a roll of hemp trimming. From this I have made crude blinds/curtains which actually round things off nicely. Flocked bases and the odd shutter finish things off: at least until I can buy some little pots and other household detritus with which to decorate the bases.

So a little bit of work to make them look super, but highly, highly recommended. Oh, and they cost £52.50 for the six, with only £2.50 p&p.

Here are the other four:

Building Three: Woven Palm Style Village House - Low

Building Five: Planked Style Village House

Building Four: Woven Palm Style Village House

Building Six: Small Village House - Low

A Small Village Somewhere In The Far East