Battle of the Bulge Village. Ardennes.

[Rob_bresnen]

My gaming group have decided to try Chain of Command this year, and we are all going to be focussing on the Battle of the Bulge. I thought I would help out with some buildings. I began by doing a bit of research and found out that most of the houses in Ardennes are stone built, with what looks like slate roofs or tiled roofs. 

I scoured the January sales and Amazon and managed to get two Bolt Action Ruined Villages, A Tabletop Workshop Chapel and two Stone Cottages from Pegasus Models. I also bought stone walls from Italiari and a number of 3mm MDF bases form Warbases, in various sizes.

My plan is to make them into a bombed out village in the midst of the Belgium winter. Here are a few photos to give you the idea of what I am going for.









So its going to be blackened ruins covered with snow, frost and maybe even icicles.

Here is my work bench at the start of the project (the Pegasus buildings haven't arrived yet)



Keep looking in as I plan to post fairly regular updates. Hope you like what you will see.

[von Lucky]

Looking forward to this.

[Silent Invader]

That newspaper headline in the last shot: a coincidence? Fire and ice!

Shall follow with interest 

[Rob_bresnen]

Thanks for the interest guys.

 Here is results of the first nights sticking and glueing. The Tabletop Workshop chapel when together a dream and has lovely interior detailing. I stuck the base down but left the walls unglued because that way I can really get in and paint the interiors before assembling it. I added a step in GS as it looked a bit odd.
The Warlord ruins went together quite well, but there are a few gaps that need a bit of filling. The worse bits will be disguised with a blob of snow in the end. They can be combined in numerous ways right out of the box meaning that now two ruins will look the same.  I have used just one box so far.
There is still no sign of the Pegasus houses- hopefully the posty will bring them tomorrow.

I sanded a bevel onto the edge of the Warbase base. Time well spent I think.



The ruined cottage...



Stone Barn...



The chapel, inside and out, with Green Stuff step.





Ruined house...



Group shot...

[Predatorpt]

Nice work. It's going to be a nice tutorial for my own terrain board

Just a quick question - what's the reference of the bases from Warbases? I have that ruined farm and the same chapel and that reference will save me some time

[Rob_bresnen]

Here you go.
http://war-bases.co.uk/Terrain

Click on the shape of base you want, then you can pick the sizes. I used 10cmx10cm for the smallest cottage, and 10cmx15cm for the stone barn size, and 15cmx15cm for teh church and bigger buildings. Warbases is a good supplier and tend to send your stuff out quite quickly.

[Predatorpt]

Here you go.
http://war-bases.co.uk/Terrain

Click on the shape of base you want, then you can pick the sizes. I used 10cmx10cm for the smallest cottage, and 10cmx15cm for the stone barn size, and 15cmx15cm for teh church and bigger buildings. Warbases is a good supplier and tend to send your stuff out quite quickly.

Thanks!

[Mason]

A great start, Rob.
 

It is also good to see someone using these kits as I have often considered them and seeing your work has convinced me that I will need to buy some in the future.
 

[Dr. Zombie]

This is looking great. I am watching with interest.

[pocoloco]

Off to a great start there, very cool Project all in all 

Do you have your side of forces/minis sorted out already or will minis follow the terrain later on?

[Rob_bresnen]

I am going to do the Fallshirmjager. I have all the figures bought (except a few Waffen-SS armoured vehicals) but they aren't even out of the bag yet. I am doing FJ as they will be the perfect opponent for my British Home Guard I painted last year, if I swap their MG's. I have bought Artizan Designs FJ, and a few from Black Tree Designs. I will probably paint a load for Lead painters League 2015.

Alcal has already stated his Panzer Grenadiers. Here is a link (that are awesome) http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=75183.0

[pocoloco]

Sounds great Rob, hope to see more soon on this.

Had a look at Alcals work, truly great and atmospheric stuff.

[Rob_bresnen]

First 'tester' done today. The ruined stone barn...





How I did it...

I applied thick blobs of fine surface plaster (ready mixed stuff) to the base, then glued some cat litter (clean) around the building as rubble. When that was dry I used PVA to glue sand and grit around the base. This was then sprayed with black primer and then grey spray. Then it was a case of dry-brushing up the grey stone to almost white (I normally use a dusty colour to highlight stone, but I when for a bright white to make it look frosty and cold). The render and wood was painted, then lightly dry-brushed.

The snow effect was achieved by blobbing plaster onto the bits snow would gather, and in a few blobs on the base. It was then smoothed with a wet brush. When it was dry it was painted white ( it seems a bit silly painting white plaster white but in my experience it tends to discolour over time and go ivory, and if you want it to look snow like you need to paint it white). I added a few small bits of white paint to nooks and crannies where snow might have gathered using white paint.

The icicles were bought form a train supply shop online. They come in a strip and it's just a case of cutting them off the strip and gluing them in a place where icicles would naturally form (as the snow melted).

[FramFramson]

Looks nice! Good winter effects and nice colour choice on the plaster remnants!

Could do with a little dirtying up to give the surface more depth. Maybe a little soot or grime here or there or in the corners?

[Rob_bresnen]

Three more frosty ruins. Total of four so far.