Heh, apparently I have fans...or at least interested audience. Thanks for that.
OK, the story. The essential part is that the building dates back to year 2000 or so. We were going through every aspect of geekery and games back then - card, board, RPG, miniatures, you name it. Around that time, Mordheim was released. It had a nice mixture of mystery, adventure and fantasy in a neat box. As you may know, that game is vastly improved by sufficient terrain. It provides cover, hiding places, shooting positions, chances for ambushes and so on. However, we didn't have much - only the supplied buildings and a few old WH cardboard pieces. More was definitely needed.
So, driven by necessity and sudden inspiration, I started putting together some basic ruins. They weren't too elegant. Gameplay properties and durability had the priority over details or architectural realism. The materials of choice were thick cardboard looted from a framing shop and sturdy pine strips. Cutting was a bit inaccurate, but it was compensated by liberal application of glue.
A few of those building got finished, this one didn't. I think the primary problem with Mordheim was finding a regular place for playing and consequently the need to carry a big box of buildings around. We ended up playing mostly Blood Bowl instead. It was easier to arrange and more straightforward to play anywhere, any time.
The building went into some mystery box of tools, materials and projects. After two hasty house moves it remained there, buried and forgotten. Maybe I re-discovered it once or twice while looking for something else but I always threw it back. This autumn I found it again. Maybe because it had been sturdy enough to survive 12 years in junk piles (something the original Mordheim buildings wouldn't do), I decided to finally complete it.
There are no WIP pics, but you should be able to figure out the simple structure of cardboard and wood strips. A very roughly cut piece of blue foam had been thrown in for stairs. A major act of
stupidity limited planning had made me glue it in a near-unreachable spot,without any smoothing or sealing. The overall look was extremely simple and ugly.
To describe the rest of steps briefly, I wanted to make that odd building semi-presentable by keeping the old, simplified look while applying techniques as rough as back then. Plenty of universal filler was applied to all surfaces for sealing and texture. A few extra window holes were cut, free-handed of course. At some point the bottom had warped slightly so I had to flatten it with water and weight. Due to an oversight, the overhanging top floor bit bent to a weird angle. Instead of straightening it, I decided that it counts as a feature now. All edges were scorched with open flame. (Although what you see is black paint over filler.) Some plaster rubble and dust was added to match the ruined look. Then I painted the whole thing in fairly generic colours as I'm not sure if it resembles any existing era or architectural style. Most real world settings, especially European, would have called for window frames but I didn't bother with such fancy decorations. However, I added two vague posters from a paper strip I hand-painted maybe five years ago while considering a brief re-visit to Mordheim. Yes, I had that stored in a mystery box too.
So what you see is a project that took about 12 years - a testament to packratting, procrastination, perseverance and stubbornness. It never was pretty, but it was built for durability and playability. That's what it still sports. To celebrate those virtues, I think I'll use it for a game or two just to finish the story. But which game? I guess the most fitting choice would be Mordheim.
There you go. Did we learn anything useful today?
23 November 2012, 10:55:09 PM
