Round bases it is!......The ruins of Krappefortt (MORDHEIM)

[Mason]

Thanks for the comments, Chaps!

DeafNala; Every gaming group has similar recollections, I reckon. With ours it wasn't just the NPC's either! 




The Fen-Beast has been abandoned, I am ashamed to admit.
Not permanently, just put aside in favour of the scenery piece that I started whilst his undercoat was drying.
Shameful, I know, but I am a butterfly when it comes to staying focused.

The scenery piece is almost finished, I just have to weather it and paint the flock, so next time it shall be done.
I wont give too much away about what it is yet, just state that it involves a resin piece, a dolls house garden ornament and some Dr Who miniatures! 
Any guesses?

Whilst it was set aside for the glue/flock to dry. i decided to take a couple of pictures of the em4 Farm that I bought at SELWG at the weekend, to show you what a great bit of scenery it is.

The pictures are not great, as the lighting wasnt the best, but you will still be able to see how good it is.
It comes in FOUR (yes, 4!) sseperate boxes. All of the boxes have custom-cut polystyrene to hold the different sections extremely securely. Not only that, but each piece comes bagged seperately, with foam sections to sit under the roof elements, to thoroughly protect each section in transit and storage!
I must say that I have never seen an item for gaming packed so splendidly!
Even the em4 Inn, which was packed in a similar manner, was not this well done.
Along with that, all the bases have a felt layer fixed to the bottom of them to protect your gaming surface.

On to the contents of each box.
I decided to start with the smallest box, which contains the Gatehouse and Wall section;


As you can see, it is very well made and painted, with opening and hinged doors, that are painted on both sides, and a lift off roof to enable placement of miniatures inside.



The next box contained the Cottage;


Again very well detailed with opening doors and a lift-off roof



The third box contains the Stable;



As before regarding the details and doors, but this section has two seperate roof pieces.



The final box contained the largest building, the Barn;
Front view




Rear view


Again, details as before with two roof sections.


Now a couple of shots of the whole complex assembled together;












As you can see, when it is put together it is a good size, and can be assembled in more ways than one. This is how it is displayed on their website, but I will be using different configurations each time.
The buildings could also be used seperately , giving you three good sized buildings and a gatehouse. This is how I will be using it in town, and as a whole for rural scenarios.
Great for Mordheim, but useful for any period from medieval onwards. It will certainly be seeing service in our VSF games.

Here are a couple of closer shots with some old-school Citadel miniatures for scale;












Back soon with the finished, mystery, scenery piece.
Any guesses as to what that might be?

Until then.......

[dijit]

No guesses, but that is really a very nice piece of terrain. I hadn't noticed it before and only seen the Inn, so I'm going straight across to EM4 to have another look.
Thanks for the heads up,
Duncan

[thebinmann]

Very nice

How much it is?

[dijit]

Very nice

How much it is?

Here's a link, there's slightly different surcharges depending on where you are:
http://www.em4miniatures.com/acatalog/Ready_Painted_Buildings.html
Duncan

[Mason]

Very nice

How much it is?

Binmann- You are UK-based, so your best bet would be to collect it in person from a show that em4 are attending. That way you can avoid the postal charge. There was a slight reduction in the price when buying it this way. It would be worth emailing them to find out more details.

It is an excellent item and I am VERY happy with it.

[Legionnaire Bert]

Mason

Didn't realise that the farm was so lush, mate! Wicked. Now, where's me toy tractor and plastic piggies...?

Actually, doesn't look too farm-specific and will fit in with your existing scenery nicely. Were you planning on distressing it a bit more to give it more of a Krappefortt ruined feel? Mind you, you haven't done that with the Inn and that still looks the bomb. I guess these buildings are better left alone, more versatile that way, and at the prices they are worth a mite too costly to be taking the Dremell to! 

Not that I am suggesting they are in any way over-priced; they are very reasonable for such well-designed models. (sounds like a plug, don't it? Ha! ).

As for the fenbeast, I don't think you should be allowed to field it till it's painted! What's that you say, what about my floury possessed? Erm, ah, yes, well, hmmm...Okay, you can't have any jelly and ice cream until you've finished the fenbeast! Yah boo sucks...

Another fine addition to the growing towne of Krappefort, Mr Mason. Now then, when are we playing again.....

 

Bertie

[DeafNala]

VERY NICE! It's rather like La Haye Sainte of Waterloo fame.

[Pil]

The farm is very nice! I had seen it on the EM4 site but your pictures show the paint job much better, and it doesn't disappoint!

[Mason]

Thanks, Chaps, I can see that you are as enamoured of the Farm as I am.

I thought that it deserved more pics than appear on the website as, until I saw it in person, I wasn't that impressed.
It was nice, but I couldn't see myself needing a farm.
Not impressed then?
I certainly am now!
The fact that all the buildings can be used seperately was the biggest selling point for me.

Bertie- We shall get a few games in ASAP. It is about time some of the others showed their faces in town too!  



On to the scenery piece that I mentioned previously;
The Shrine of St. Agnes

This is a piece that I have been wanting to build for a long time.
Ever since I found the statue in the dolls-house section of a toy shop, I knew that I wanted to use it in some way.
It is a wonderfully detailed sculpt and I had played around with various ideas of how to use it. I knew that I also wanted to include the open grave resin item that I have had for a long time. That was part of a resin ruins set for the Celtos game. the other sections have been used on the Island sections that I made years ago and forgot about, with a couple of remaining parts making it into the Temple.
There was something lacking, though. It needed to be livened up in some way.
I had messed around with various Hirst Arts stone sections that I had, but it just did not look right, whatever I did.
I had put all thought of completing this section away to the back of the bits box, until a couple of weeks ago when I saw a post on the forum for Dr Who miniature- The Weeping Angels.
Dr Who Adventures magazine was giving away sixteen toy angels with that weeks edition and it struck me. They were perfect!
The magazine was only £2.50, with 16 statues in the perfect scale. I had to have it.

So, with the dolls house statue, the resin grave and sixteen toy angels, I delved into the bits box for the appropriate number of plastic bases to provide the plinthes for the statues, I set to with a vengeance.
And came up with this;

The Shrine of St. Agnes.








A close-up of the statue





And, lastly, a few pictures with some Citadel figures to show the scale











I am very happy with how it has turned out.
It should also be useful in many different games and genres, from classical Greece right through to Pulp and Call of Cthulhu.

I hope you like it!

[Prof.Witchheimer]

Now that is a great idea, like it a lot!

[DeafNala]

That is a VERY IMAGINATIVE piece & BEAUTIFULLY brought to life. It would appear that St. Agnes is no longer in residence.

[white knight]

That's brilliant!

[Pil]

Very nice! I love the way you made use of the less pretty weeping angel models by cutting them in half. Very effective! 

I keep getting impressed by your fabulous scenery projects, for me scenery is often on the back burner

[Mason]

Now that is a great idea, like it a lot!

Thanks, Prof!
I have to admit that watching the progress of Witchtown is encouraging me to stay focused on my own project. It creates a lot of inspiration. 

That is a VERY IMAGINATIVE piece & BEAUTIFULLY brought to life. It would appear that St. Agnes is no longer in residence.

Thanks, DeafNala!
You are spot on with that assessment.
In our first campaign, one of the events was the exploding of the roof on the Shrine of St. Agnes.
When the dust had settled it was discovered that all of the statues of the Lady herself were subsequently weeping blood.
It was not until much later that the reason came to light.
Her remains had been removed and the tomb had become the resting place of a sleeping Vampiress!
(Therefore, the release of the Dr Who minis was most appropriate!)

That's brilliant!

Thanks, White Knight!

Very nice! I love the way you made use of the less pretty weeping angel models by cutting them in half. Very effective! 

I keep getting impressed by your fabulous scenery projects, for me scenery is often on the back burner

Thanks, Pil!
To be perfectly honest, I find the scenery building bug has well and truly grabbed me and it is the minis that are taking up residence in the back burner at the moment!
Well spotted. I did indeed cut up the other angels as I found ten worked better than eight. The others are still in my bits box if anyone wants them. They are not 'weeping' though, they have one, slightly stumpy, arm outstretched.

Hope to be back soon with some more Krappefortt strangeness......

[Andym]

That's a cool piece!