June 21, 2010

Spanish Village

Almarez was too far away from the bridge to actually be represented on the table, but I wanted to add some more character to the battlefield. I also view designing the table much in the same way I would view a composition of a painting, so I didn't want my abbey to be the only structure on the board. Having a few more red roofs will pull a viewer's eye around the 'canvas' and make for a better display!

I've wanted to add some simple Spanish buildings to my collection for a long time and building the table for Historicon finally gave me the push to get it done. All you really need to represent a small village are a couple of buildings and maybe a few walls and/or a field. That's large enough to shelter a model battalion and when we consider the unit is supposed to be around 600 men, we actually have a decent sized settlement. There is a lot of discussion in REPUBLIC TO EMPIRE about ground scale and terrain so that's really all I'm going to go into here.

I prefer to make my buildings from scratch, with foamcore, plasti-card, mat board, and balsa wood, though I'm not above scavenging windows from model rail-road houses and other details, such as the ready-made tile roof from Plastruct! Here are before and after shots of the three buildings I made for this game...



The models have been designed without bases so I can place them edge to edge as seen here or scattered. I have plans for another three or four buildings, but that will have to wait until after Historicon! The bridge construction is finished and awaiting paint, but I've still got a dozen Voltiguers to paint, several units to finish the bases on, and some projects to do that involve BENEATH THE LILY BANNERS!

7 comments:

  1. Lovely looking buildings you have done!!

    Cheers
    Christopher

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  2. I like the finished building, well done.

    Tony
    http://dampfpanzerwagon.blogspot.com/

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  3. Truly amazing work - the photography is superb too. How common was it to paint the doors & trim? I love the contrast of the green. Regards, Dean

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  4. Clarence, great building, looks realistic. Can't wait to see it in the flesh!!

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  5. Nice work Clarrie - I like this doing this kind of construction almost as much as painting the figures but I also envy you having companies like Plastruct supply you with all sorts of goodies like the roof tiles!

    Of course, you do know that your lovely little Spanish village could also benefit from a step-by-step for the education of other enthusiasts?

    Sorry, after all your pre-Historicon efforts with terrain boards etc, forget I even mentioned it! ;-)

    Cheers,
    Doc

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  6. Thanks, guys!

    Dean, I have no idea how common it would be to have painted doors, etc. I just liked the contrast.

    Doc, after Historicon I'm sure I'll be looking for things to write about and I'll make sure a building tutorial is on tap!

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  7. Marvellous work! Thanks for sharing!

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