The Command Bunker.

 

I recently finished the Command Bunker project for the trench system and thought I'd do a quick post about the bunker itself. 

I got it from Ebay, from the seller "The Forge" as shown with their logo above.

I've always looked for printed terrain on eBay, as somethings I just want someone else to have the headache of trying to print.

This was one of those offhand finds you.arent really searching for but is a good offer to have a punt on.

It's FDM printed, which I'm not overly keen on due to the layer lines,  but in this instance they worked in my favour adding texture to the concrete.

The kit comes in five pieces as shown with Kreiger Karl for scale:

Main Bunker, Roof, two Butresses and the Ladder, (The ladder is just behind Karl):

Dry fitted together:

And Karl on the roof:

All in all, it's decent for the price at less then £10 (as of writing).

The one thing I didn't find out until it got here is that it really is more of a true 28mm scale piece then up to 32mm scale, as such I can't add any 40k models (even the regular sized humans) inside and put the roof back on...ah well, can't have everything.

Just a quick post about the bunker, I recommend you.look up the seller on eBay and purchase from them if you're after anything like this. As they do a fee different bunker/pillbox type buildings and a fee modern scatter pieces.

Until next time, have nice day...

Trench Warfare - part 4.

 

The Trench Terrain is carrying on on the build table, whilst happy with the progress I have been making i decided I wanted to create a strong point which would become a focus of the games on my table sometimes.

I picked up a 3D printed flak bunker from Ebay for less then £10 and figured it would be a great command bunker for my purposes.

I started by cutting a base for the piece from my usual 6mm MDF and bevelled the forward edges. I took pains to make the joins fit between pieces #1 and #3, so this is a replacement for the catered section of trench from the last post.

As usual to add more interest to the piece, things like a crater were added, and the angles for the trench walls were drawn on, diagonally leading to the sides of the bunker rather then straight like the last pieces.

Again a more organic shape was created for the base as this side is all the mud and debris which has been caused by the battle, the other "man made" side where the trench is is a straight line to delineate the trench and for contrast against the battlefield side:

Given that the roof of the bunker was removable as delivered, I then took time to add some 1mm magnets to both the walls and the roof, so it will stay in place even during gameplay:

And the basic landforms are now in place, using my usual ground of 5mm foam core with a drainage ditch and some polystyrene insulation for the landforms:

And now with the first mixture of paint, PVA and interior filler added to the "dirt" areas:

I didn't use the aluminium foil on this piece, and this photo from the 'front' shows how bobbly and silly the ground looks at this point due to the shapes of the polystyrene:

So it was on with another layer of PVA and interior filler, smooth smooth out some of the ground and make it look more natural:

Nownwith added sand for ground texture:

I took time to really work the ground form up to the bunker walls and make it look embedded into the ground properly:

And i added some patches of sand to the roof and interior of the bunker to represent the accumulated dirt from boots and explosions causing flying debris as the war has gone on:

Roof:

Interior:

After spraying the piece to lock the textures in, the long job of planking the trench was started.

Again as before these are cut down coffee stirrers and barbecue skewers for the upright posts:

A step formthe side of the bunker was added for detail and the ladder was glued on at this point:

Thoughts then turned to making this piece look more "lived in" rather then just a box.

I had a lot of equipment crates I had previously 3D printed out of a collection of stowage STLs I had purchased and a selection of these were printed for the project:

A crater of rifles and a storage box added to the roof:

On the outside i added a bunch of large crates to one side of the bunker and made a tarp to cover them out of a bandage soaked in PVA glue and teased into position, a small coil of barbed wire was added for detail. On the opposite side, I added a pile of misprinted sandbags, using the worst of the misprints as the base and building ontop of them using good prints to make a supply stack:

For the interior i wanted some equipment, so kitbashed this vox station for 40k games out of the screen from a rhino APC, bits of a Cadian box and a Servo Skull:

And using four crates and some.mlre chopped coffee stirrers, I made a briefing table:

When placed inside the bunker with some more equipment:

After adding sandbags tomthebtop of the trench walls and spraying everything with a mid brown from Maston, I decided to see how the bunker was looking next to Trench section #1:

Painting then started and following a paint guide for concrete from the 4th edition 40k rulebook, I started the bunker off with a "Dark Flesh" colour, whilst picking out equipment with a military green, sandbags with an off-white/bone and the duck boards with the usual Baneblade Brown:

I didn't take a photo, but the entire piece was then washed with my homemade dark brown wash. The bunker then got dry brushed with a Mid-Grey and a lighter grey to build up the concrete colour, and finally a light dry brush of Bone which is my ground highlight colour:

On the ground front, the ground followed my usual dark - light brown dry brushes and highlighted with a bone colour, the crater was the usual black through grey up to a highlight of light grey:

At this point the build was basically complete and i was happy with how it had turned out.

But there was one thing missing I felt...some actual lived in feel...

A quick Google search of WW1 aerial photography (when it was in its infancy) turned up some lovely map type photographs which would be perfect.

With a bit of trial and error in MSpaint* I resized them and printed them in black and white.

A larger map was glued to the table, I want to go back in with some scaled mugs and mess tins to add a little more detail.

A group of spare coffee stirrer planks were glued together to make a notice board and two of the maps were glued to it and it was added to one of the interior walls.

All of the maps were given a light drybrush of bone to add some dust which would have accumulated**.

On the next wall I glued a magnet, this would be hidden by whichever piece of equipment I added for that game:

The 40k Vox machine:

A historical attack map:

On the outer wall i added a warning sign, blended into the piece with dry brushing again. 

It reads "Stay in trench during daylight'

With the detailing complete, all that was left was to finish off the base with a black edge like I do to my miniatures for neatness sake and the bunker was ready to hit the field.

To that end I threw it onto the table along with a few other pieces and some miniatures to get these final glamour shots of the piece:

You can see the way the table is heading, but I need more terrain to fill it as it is still awfully bare, but the project is ongoing after all.

I'm either going to work on a fortified Observation Post crater or a wrecked vehicle for the table next I think.

Until next time, have nice day...

*MSPaint, the original and greatest image software ever.

**Given at work we can put a train list down and in the time it takes to go to the toilet, said list can already have a film of dust over it. Adding it to the maps in this case doesn't feel too much of a stretch.

Death Korps Death Riders, Second Squad.

 

The rolling thunder of an ongoing artillery barrage echoed in the distance as the squad of Deathriders picked their way through the craters and detritus of the previous assaults over this part of the wastelands.

The call for all squads to regroup had come in twenty minutes ago and the riders were urging their bio-modified cybernetic steeds forward as fast as the conditions would allow.

They were being pulled from recon duties to a fast moving counter attack force, but it would take time to gather all their strength.

If only upper command had authorised extra reinforcements for their sector.

The enemy assault had been ongoing for nearly thirty minutes now, judging by the dark ugly smudges of smoke rising in the distance. 

The riders would make the best time they could, the faith and duty of the Kriegsman was without question.

But would the line still be holding when they got there?

The ridemaster upped the pace and his mount looked into a gallop.

Hold the line, he willed, hold the line...

*****

The second squad of Deathriders are complete for my Squadron, which are part of the 261st Siege Regiment.

This is another five man squad with a Flamer included, just to add some spice.

Note Second Squad have yellow stripes, whereas the previously finished First Squad use White as their colour stripes.

Again happy with these, especially now that I've got the trench battleground basing look down. 

True my bases do look very dry and dusty compared to the common tropes of WW1 Trench Warfare, but I like them and they match the terrain I've been working on.

Above is the full squadron so far with both First and Second Squads shown.

Below also accompanying the squads is the mounted Commissar I painted to start this project.

Up next for the squadron is Third Squad, who will use Blue as their marking colour.

Lastly, as a reward I will finish off the Mounted Command Squad who will use a combination of Red and White as their colours.

I have all the miniatures I need printed out for this project, so fingers crossed I can find the much needed time soon.

Until next time, have nice day...