Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Age of the Big Battalions => Topic started by: Warboss Nick on April 25, 2021, 08:21:33 PM
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What started with a church is slowly growing into a small Peninsular city. No, that’s not correct: It started with some AWI and pirate buildings repurposed for the Peninsular. Next came two windmills and an orchard. I also had some roads, and my friend Wellington a sizeable length of river. That‘s all you need for gaming napoleonics in the Peninsular, right?
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Well, not so fast. Next came a small vaubanesque redoubt that can easily serve from the TYW onwards right up to Napoleon. Just a nice objective or backdrop to a battlefield. And I already had the main pieces in my pile of shame. So no harm done.
More in the redoubt here: https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=124029.msg1561259#msg1561259
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But of course in the Peninsular you need a proper church. I already had a church you say? But that one is more italo-norman than Spanish, it doesn‘t have a bell tower and cannot be entered. Sure another church won’t hurt anyone. And as I was at it, a a fountain and a nice statue couldn’t hurt either.
More in the church project here: https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=127079.msg1605076#msg1605076
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You suspect a pattern here? But I haven’t even told you that for a scenario I need a proper farm. And some of those streets of Rome houses look like they can be repurposed for the Peninsular. Oh, and my FLGS now has these neat mdf kits for Freebooters Fate that look quite tempting.
Let’s face it, even before I started calling it Castello Luminosa it was on it’s way to becoming a small city.
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The latest addition is the Cabaña Òrdago with an extra floor. The model is from the city of longfall range for freebooters fate. I added roof tiles from NOCH and some plaster on the walls as well as the garden. A nice, sturdy mdf kit with interior details. I only added a chimney and fireplace inside. Furniture still to come.
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This is inspirational - I love that redoubt
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Hello I am impressed with your cobblestone floors and roads.
Do you do them yourself?
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Excellent. :-* :-*
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Great stuff! Particularly the redoubt.
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Thanks everyone! That’s great motivation to carry on.
The main basis for the redoubt are two resin pieces from Magister Militum. You can see more of how I put the whole thing together in the original thread (follow the link).
Floors in n the buildings were pre cut in the MDF an painted mostly with contrast paints. Where that is not the case I scratch in the structure myself.
The cobblestone in the garden is made of cardboard cut into little cobblestones and glued on using PVA. Quite effective but takes some time.
Roads and plaza are high quality products from NOCH. Good for smaller setups, but for a complete town I’m thinking about getting a gaming mat with a cobblestone pattern printed on.
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Excellent work!
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Fabulous work, I doff my cap to you sir!
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Glad you like it! I will add to it even though I current do not know when I will be able to do so.
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great looking village
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It looks great - my only comment would be that your buildings are a bit neat and square - you need a lot more non-90 degree corners and sagging rooves!
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Thanks for the compliments Eric and littlearmies!
Good point on non 90 degree corners, I will have to keep that in mind when building walls, courtyards and the odd DIY building. No sagging roofs though as I only like that look for fantasy settings. I might have to try some missing pantiles or other irregularities though.
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Things have been a bit quiet here, as live caught up with me (and J got a little distracted by medieval skirmish). There are several housing projects in the pipeline, but I’m not sure when I will be able to build them. In the meantime I finally finished a couple of civilians and some furniture that have been sitting on my desk half painted for months. Not much, but at least some progress.
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Loving all of those, great for setting he scene.
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Thanks Grumpy!
It’s construction time again. The weather is either cold, stormy or both, so U can’t use rattle cans which I’d need to do before building the Sarissa Mediterranean farm. So I decided to pull out some old resin roof sheets and plasticard and build more houses. This one cannot be entered, but to reach my goal I decided I’ll need some “filler” houses.
This is a corner house, and the setup was in part drawn by the bitz and pieces I had at hand. It still needs some filler and a bit of texture on the walls but should look reasonably well when painted.
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Another simple building. The layout is due to the size of the tiled roof sheets. The side walls are again left bare so houses can be placed next to each other.
The wooden wall once again came about because I didn’t have a suitable piece of plasticard at hand. Hopefully this will also break up the mass of plastered walls a bit visually. In the Mediterranean wood is usually used for balconies, oriels etc., but why not like this, too?
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These look great! Really nice work.
Where did you get the windows and doors from?
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These look great! Really nice work.
Where did you get the windows and doors from?
Thanks, Shtim! Unfortunately I don’t remember where I got them. I bought these bitz some 15 years ago.
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Finished some more buildings, added plaster and some details. I still have one sheet of roofing but have run out of other bitz like doors and windows. Hopefully the weather will play along so that I can prime this lot.
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A group shot of what is waiting to be primed. Also an example of how the buildings and angles could fit together. Hope you like it, in particular Littlearmies that reminded me to add some non 90 degrees corners.
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looking good. :)
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That works so well!
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A great looking hamlet!
Best Iain
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Thanks guys! Glad you like the buildings.
Primed the smallest building with a brush and got it painted. I also tried putting on vines and quite like the result. I took some cord I got for rigging 28mm ships. Glued to the wall with PVA and superglue, painted and then glued on flock. The picture without flock also shows the colours best.
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Me like. Me like a lot.
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Brilliant!
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What a superb idea regarding the use of cord for vines! It looks so realistic. What type of flock did use to replicate the vine leaves?
I am really enjoying your progress and ideas, many thanks.
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smart idea and great execution!
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What a superb idea regarding the use of cord for vines!
Agreed!
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Thank you everyone! That’s a great motivation to go on.
What a superb idea regarding the use of cord for vines! It looks so realistic. What type of flock did use to replicate the vine leaves?
It’s nothing fancy, just normal flock for trees or bushes. The kind some people create by shredding and dyeing a sponge. Mine is from Noch / Woodland Scenics, and I use three different colours (mostly darker for this).
Next I’ll try some flock for flowers. Not sure if it will generate enough volume though.
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This is coming along nicely. Could even see this set up being used in a SCW setting as well.
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Thanks, commisarmoody! I tried to make them generic enough that they can be used in as many periods and settings as possible (with a little leeway).
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More houses finished. On one of them I tried vines with flowers. Not 100% happy with the result, but it’s a nice enough variant to add more colour to my growing village.
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Yes, the vines add a very nice touch!
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Ah! I am a big fan of vegetation on houses. Looking great!
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The vines look fantastic mate and great colour splashes as you say.
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They look good to me. Got any figures who could be tending to those vines?
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@CapnJim I do have some civilians and more on the pile of shame. Unfortunately no time at the moment to get everything out for nice pictures though.
Next up the last of December‘s builds. This one got a slightly different shade for its walls, but I decided against coloured doors and shutters in the end. The crucifix got an all stone look.
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Also finished the Italian Large Keep Tower from Magister Militum. It’s some kind of foam covered with resin I think. A bit dated and needed a lot of cleaning and cutting, but a very nice model non the less, that had been waiting for years to get painted.
For now it will populate my Peninsular town, and I might add barricades or a little walled courtyard. In the long run the plan is to add buildings and walls that can be used either separately or as a small castle.
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Great builds :)
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They look good, too!
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Great builds, this is going to be an excellent town (and hopefully has its application in to be a city!).
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Great work! Those buildings look brilliant.
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Thanks gents, you are too kind!
This time it’s WIP only. I‘m making progress on a larger building project. My plan is to create a hybrid that can be used as a monastery or a larger estate out of the Sarissa Mediterranean farm.
The farm was easy enough to put together with only minimal changes. It will also have the usual tiled roofs from NOCH as well as the paved courtyard.
The biggest question now is what to use as a church. The church will be separate for flexibility. That will require me to change the entrance a little as the stairs won‘t fit. The two options can be seen in the pictures. Either an older building from Magister Militum (the base would have to go) or a Sarissa church, that is slightly larger. What do you think?
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Looks good so far. I just can't bring myself to build terrain like that, so kudos to you (and anyone else) who does! :D
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I'd go for the Sarissa Precision church myself, far grander! That's a very nice piece you are developing!
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I’d vote for the Sarissa version, it says ‘town’ whereas the Magister Militum one says ‘village’.
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Really great project….I admire the amount of work that has to go into this.
Keep going, this is going to be awesome!
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Thanks gents! It’s a slow but steady process. But this one involves a lot of steps just because of its size and my additional idea of turning it into a monastery / farm hybrid.
So the Sarissa church it is. But that also means I will need some interior for it. I did some testing with pieces 3D printed by a friend and a GW sarcophagus. Probably nothing will be glued in place so I can switch from church to saint someone’s grave as I like.
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Those pieces should work. I really like the altar.
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Still no progress on the farm worth showing, but I got myself two buildings from streets of Venice to help me with angled corners. What do you think, another tiled roof for Spain or should I do dark metal or wood on this one for a change?
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I completely approve of the way you are going about this: MDF as a base tarted up with resin and detailing. :D Wonderful work.
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I just went through this thread, wow, that really feels like those old Spanish towns :)
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Lovely thread. :-* :-* :-*
A project to follow for sure. :)
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Nicely done! I can't wait to see the project finished!
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fabulous work.
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Finally finished the two TT Combat buildings. They are very solid, though I would have preferred a tad thinner MDF. The raised details are VERY pronounced this way, and the odd angles would have looked better, too, I think.
The pentagon got a cross to add a little interest to the building. It might be a small church, hence the copper roof that will break up the sea of red in the city. The roof got a pin added and tooth picks to smooth it out, otherwise the building is a stock build with a little plaster.
The triangle just got a floor added and a little plaster. It is not as high as the picture makes it look. It‘s just a small building allowing me to place different angles in the streets.
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Finally „finished“ the Mediterranean farm from Sarissa plus chapel. An excellent kit with lots of potential. The interior will be flexible so that it can be used as Monastery, farm or villa. Only the kitchen is glued in.
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The interior of the chapel is also flexible. Stil unsolved is the entrance when the chapel is placed next to the wall. Either a simple stairway, a paved plaza or a vegetable garden (a cemetery might be a bit morbid). What do you guys think?
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Great work! 👍
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Those pieces all look excellent! The details in the interior are great.
I like the idea of a veggie or medicinal garden to support the resident clergy.
I like the earlier non-rectangular buildings, too. Making a village layout that isn’t on a regular grid pattern gives the impression that the settlement grew up over time - just feels right, somehow.
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The Monastery is fantastic! I'm glad to see that the roofs lift off. I wish I could be the first to storm the place.
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Thanks guys! I ordered some pumpkins so that might be something for the garden. Next up are some DIY buildings and another Sarissa Streets of Rome building. This one will be a bakery and I just finished the design of the oven.
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Love that interior detail, the oven in particular looks just right.
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Great detail in the kitchen, this one will be a lovely game!
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Those buildings all look really good. I especially like the use of the necklace crucifix on that chapel. Well done!
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Thank you guys! For the bakery I had planned to use an oven that was first out if stock and is now oop. So lazy me was forced to get out the greenstuff and have the heart to go diy.
I really enjoy the interior stuff, but it’s always a compromise between having enough space inside and the buildings not getting too large.
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Absolutely gorgeous interior detail!
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More work on the bakery done and four new DIY buildings as well as a small backyard. One of the buildings will have a fruit seller outside. Maybe one more building and then it’s time to get painting again I guess.
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Nice. :-*
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Those new buildings look very promising! You will be able to do some great street fight skirmishes once they’re complete.
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Thank you, guys, much appreciated! The plan is to do streetfights as skirmish with Napoleonic and TYW, but also to give larger scale actions a try with Black Powder.
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Stunning work. Keep it going.
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fantastic work. :-*
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Thanks guys! It may not seem that way, but your comments keep me going.
Two more buildings and a small backyard. This time I went for colours instead of the usual sand tones. Not 100% content with how they turned out. Should have known that the brickwork would not stand out as well with these colours so fully plastered would have been better. While the exception they will provide a bit if extra colour in my Peninsular town.
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I don't know. They look good to me!...
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They look good to me too.
Buildings can be different colours, pinks and off reds being common (the colour of unpainted 'natural plasters'). I think the problem is that we are so used to seeing all 'plastered wargames buildings' painted 'dry brushed white' that anything else looks odd somehow - but, it isn't.
Nice work.
Brave man, lol , don't listen to me. It looks good.
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They look good. :-*
Please post some pictures of the whole village to date.
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Thanks guys! Just took out my collection to a display game at a local show. The town was somehow different from what I expected. I need more houses and at the same time found a possible cathedral - three churches & chapels are not enough for Spain, are they?
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WOW! Absolutely fantastic looking terrain! Magnificent! Inspirational!
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Very nice work, the buildings look great en masse.
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Loving it all!
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Great setup,
love it.
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Thanks, guys! I will keep adding to my little city.
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Painted another one my builds from December/January. This time the one with the passage. No fancy colours as this is already a “special” building. I felt that something was missing after painting however and quickly added a flower box. Not sure if this is a thing in a hot Spanish summer. What do you think?
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Yu have quite the town going there. That house is a lovely addition to it.
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I like the flower box...and the town it is in. :D
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great stuff - can I recommend the Horse & Musket version of a Fist full of Lead for Skirmish games in your town ? We have had some great fun fighting the adventures of a certain officer commanding the south essex...
http://shedwars.blogspot.com/2018/02/sharpes-pursuit-fist-full-of-lead-aar.html (http://shedwars.blogspot.com/2018/02/sharpes-pursuit-fist-full-of-lead-aar.html)
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You are doing an outstanding job there!
It is great to see your city to be expanding, congrats!
I am wishing you a good continuation to your project!
Cheers!
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I think the flower box is a nice touch. I am enjoyment the reports of this superbly built Spanish town. Well done!
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Thank you for the encouraging comments, guys! I plan to keep on going.
@Eric: Thanks for reminding me of Fist full of Lead. I was looking at pikeman’s lament and Legends of the high seas, but FFoL might be perfect for what I‘m looking for (quick, simple, easy going). Is FFoL Horse & Musket a stand alone book or do I need the core rules, too?
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Thank you for the encouraging comments, guys! I plan to keep on going.
@Eric: Thanks for reminding me of Fist full of Lead. I was looking at pikeman’s lament and Legends of the high seas, but FFoL might be perfect for what I‘m looking for (quick, simple, easy going). Is FFoL Horse & Musket a stand alone book or do I need the core rules, too?
Stand alone book
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Thanks, Erik!
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Finished painting the fruiterer. I’ve ordered a vendor that is still on her way. The fruits came out ok, I think. Not quite content with the twines this time, but it breaks up the otherwise bleak wall.
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Finally also finished painting the bakery including interior. The bakers were already painted a while ago. I also tried painting a shop sign - far from painting, but hopefully still recognisable. With the bakery all models from the last building spree have been painted. Not sure yet what I will do next.
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Nicely done :)
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Great work! It
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Sweet detailing!
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Thank you for the encouraging comments, guys! I plan to keep on going.
@Eric: Thanks for reminding me of Fist full of Lead. I was looking at pikeman’s lament and Legends of the high seas, but FFoL might be perfect for what I‘m looking for (quick, simple, easy going). Is FFoL Horse & Musket a stand alone book or do I need the core rules, too?
Emboscada. A home brew set of Peninsular rules written by has.been of this Parish. Very simple even simpler than FFOL in my opinion, works with single based figures, unique activation mechanic.
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Lovely buildings there. Well done!
And dare I second Fistful of Lead? My regular gaming group loves those rules
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These are great buildings 8)
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FFoL, tripled… cinematic sets demand cinematic rules!
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The bakers baking the bread is a lovely touch. Gorgeous buildings.
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Lovely ! :o
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Emboscada. A home brew set of Peninsular rules written by has.been of this Parish. Very simple even simpler than FFOL in my opinion, works with single based figures, unique activation mechanic.
Let me know if you would like a copy (2 pages. 4 sides & one of them is the cover! :D)
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I would. If just to “borrow” the good bits!
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just to “borrow” the good bits!
You'll have to find them first. :D
Feel free to ask any questions. No guarantee I'll be able to answer though. lol
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I like the command control rules…very DBx like. I have used something similar.
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I intended several 'effects'
1) When a figure is 'hit' & goes down, the shooter should not know what the effect was.
Did the target:- Die? get a wound? Dive for cover? or Slip on a rotten tomato?
The owner can later try & recover the figure. If he tries for the rest of the game &
fails every time, it was serious.
2) Without complex rules:-
Veterans will do more, recover faster than Average, & them more than Novices.
If a mixed unit advances you will tend to find that the novices drop out of the
action faster than the others, while you are likely to end up with your veteran
troops still fighting. No guarantees though. I had two Old Guard veterans fall to
a novice female Spanish fighter. Those that know my dice throwing ability will not
be surprised by that.
I think it is always easier to have a basic/simple set of rules, then add a scenario
specific rule(s). e.g. 'The River has frozen over. If attempting to move across it lose
D6 inches but a throw of 6 = Ice breaks. Treat as if hit by a shot'.
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Always fun rules to play.
Just keep shooting lol
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Thanks guys, glad you like the latest additions. The bakers are from Black Hussar Miniatures. They have some really nice sets for napoleonics and the SYW.
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I thought a bit about how I should proceed with my Peninsular Housing Project. Some basic ideas as well as a collection of ideas for future buildings.
I am considering creating backyards for at least some of the houses. That would make the whole thing livelier and offer more gaming options. This also raises the question of whether I should standardise their sizes. For that I would have to put them on new bases that all have the same depth. Is that worth the effort? I‘m really not sure.
Another question is whether I use street names. That would be a nice gimmick, but would limit myself with different city structures and, strictly speaking, would be limited to Spain. That's why it's probably not going to happen.
Regardless of that, I thought about what else the city needs in addition to various residential buildings:
- A town hall and palazzo (of course with town square and the church on the other side).
- The city will probably only need a cathedral when it gets bigger; a city in Spain or Italy can't have too many churches, can it?
- Thinking about it, I might do another monastery, this time for nuns (the Sarissa Town Villa lends itself to that).
- What the city definitely lacks is a decent hostel. For this I have the Swan Inn from the Longfall series in mind. And there is definitely room for at least a small tavern in addition to that. Where else are all the soldiers supposed to go in the evenings?
- A good number of small shops and craftsmen are still missing for daily needs: Blacksmith, pottery, wine shop, greengrocer, butcher, fabric dealer and clothing, carpenter and barrels as well as a dealer for olive oil with a press in the courtyard. This will be a mixture of self-builds and Sarrissa Streets of Rome (including conversions).
- I'm still not quite sure about a laundry, a fishmonger (only makes sense in a coastal town?), a second bakery (is that necessary?), a barber (how to model that?) and a brothel.
- Also, the Longfall warehouse calls for a merchant/wholesaler (import/export?) I guess.
What do you guys think? I‘m curious to hear your thoughts and ideas on this.
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My thoughts?
You are going to be a very busy fellow.
Do not always look at what you HAVE to do. Sometimes it is
good to review what you have achieved already.
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Thanks has.been! Setting up everything built so far forces display game was a real pleasure and I still enjoy adding new stuff immensely.
Enough theory for now. As you probably know by now, when I have finished a batch of houses, I start the next building spree. And I was even able to include the first ideas.
For starters three buildings from TT Combat. They are nice sturdy builds, and some fit the peninsular nicely. I finally went without bases, as they will be more flexible. Otherwise nothing special, just an extra door on the side and preparations for the roof.
The third building of the set will be the other side of a little square along with the fruiterer. To get a better match I added a small passage in the rear.
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Next up three DIYs. The first is a greengrocer and my first go at a flat rooftop. For the porch I used the last remaining resin roof (or rather the last bit of it). On the rear I added a rosary cross.
The second is just a living quarter with no particular use. For variety I added a fountain and oriels, the latter from TT Combat. This is also my first try at a complete stone look, adding some raised stones with Miliput. This one is probably past its prime.
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The last one is brothel. Since I had no lantern to draw customers the ladies will have to show off on the balcony (again from TT Combat).
At the side entrance I added a pergola plus a twine frame at the rear. The bits are part of the same „Venitian Window Gardens“ pack from TT-Combat as the oriels.
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Finally a group shot of the three DIYs, front and rear.
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Very High Street :D
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Thanks @vodkafan!
Painted the other side of the little square. Originally I thought it would look a bit bland, but painting the door dark red made quite a difference I think. Doing it all over again J would make the second building another shop or add a fountain.
Oh, and I also finished painting the living quarter. Again nothing fancy, but it does the job.
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They do look nice, well done.
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It feels like a real town I want to live there lol
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Thanks, guys! I‘ll make sure there is enough space for everyone to live in.
Next up, the greengrocer. Initially I planned to paint the doors and shutters sjyblue or seagreen but decided against it. That would probably have been too colourful.
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wonderful stuff
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Your decision on the not painting the shutters is spot on IMHO. I am enjoying your steady progress on this wonderful project. Well done!
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Great progress 8)
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Nice touches like the crucifix on the wall.
Keep up the good work.
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I must apologise for not posting regular updates. To add a bit more variety I decided the city should also have a suburb for the not so well of working class. So I started with a DIY building using a resin roof and plasticard with rough stone walls. The colours are a bit more muted and there is even a bit of grass growing on the roof.
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Do you remember the brothel from the previous builds? It’s finally finished. Not 100% glad with how the pergola came out but it’s ok and “gameable” for skirmishes. A number of ladies if the night also got painted along with a small building from TT Combat.
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Great additions, I really like the little touches like the grass on the top of the shack. Not sure about the colour though, Spanish buildings are in general very light colour: dusty and sun-bleached. (Except in Galicia, where they are mossy in the rainy weather.)
The ladies look nice too :)
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Never been to Spain, so can’t comment on the building colours, but the builds and figures are excellent! I think the the pergola turned out well- especially considering how rarely one sees pergolas in wargame scenery.