So, at the beginning of the year (February if i'm not mistaken) I bought a load of MDf and supplies to build a ruined city for 40k/Bolt Action/Any other 20th century on forwards game in 28mm.
I began building a municipal/government building type piece and sort of got sidetracked...this happens a lot I find. One of the main things has been the whole pandemic situation as I originally thought what was the point as I wouldn't be able to get it over to my friend's house where we have a table set up, and won't be able to use it, etc...blah blah blah, I procrastinated because I was using the pandemic as an excuse.
I thought it was about time to actually get the lead out and make some progress with this project, especially if I actually want to use the bleeding stuff and not have it sat around taking up space. The fact that I'll be able to use it for slo games until I can get over to his house and drop it off has spurred me on a little.
So, I gathered supplies, warned the family that there may be some polystyrene loose and set to...
Well...
After I'd spent half-hour looking for my terrain knife I did, the "tidy-away-fairy" visited when I upgraded my display cabinets, and my knife had been put away "somewhere safe", yes, somewhere so safe even I couldn't find it!
Anyway:
The usual suspects for terrain, MDF bases which I had precut and snaded the sides down on. Some cardboard and roof insulation polystyrene. I managed to bag a load of this which was going spare from another friend who was moving house and had tons laid around not being used.
I began with a couple of smaller scatter pieces, which I plan to just be cover or LoS blocking rubble piles:
I think the hardest part of the first ten minutes of building was trying to not let polystyene balls fly everywhere as I was cutting it up.
Preservering on, I becan a smaller ruined piece:
This smaller piece is kind of whats left of a majorly bombed building and a sniper hole all in one I imagined.
The floor started out as a piece of underfloor insulation which I carved with a pencil to make the floorboard texture (too bad most of it got covered up later one). The window panel is from an MDF building which was left over from the municipal building I already started.
It's based off of this photo from somewhere in Germany in 1945:
With the singular standing area and the crashed ruins around it, the polystyrene was placed to this end but I didn't want this piece to be as big as the previous attempt. It's more of a smaller piece of scatter terrain which could block LoS if needed to a specialist or provde cover to an infantry unit moving through.
The resin oil drum was added along with the boards over the windows to give the impressions that it has been used at some point as an ad-hoc fort/command camp.
Having liked the texture made by the underfoor insulation, I decided to attempt a larger piece and began with this:
This piece will end up as another major ruined building, so after the floor was finished, I snapped off some polystyrene to create the rubble piles just as in the municipal building, I pushed these more towards the corners to create spaces for miniatures to be placed later on. I also ripped off the celophane of another MDF kit I had picked up, the Wild West Furniture pack from TT-Combat. I only built the bar for this piece yet, but the tables and chairs will be added once this piece reaches a better state to add them:
With things in place, I turned to the outside a little and had ordered some 1cm square Balsa wood sticks, with a little cutting to create an indent, I managed to create the impression of concrete support pillars on the corners.
I placed everything together to get an idea how it was shaping up, but left the buildings removable as yet for ease of modelling the interior:
Finally, I began work on the final piece for this batch.
One thing I have always wanted to see on ruined city boards, ut which are often impracticle, are things like streetlights and telegraph poles. They are everywhere ad here in the UK are a distinctive part of any town or village you pass through.
Not worried about practicalities on the tabletop I set to work with some 1cm dowel rods I picked up from the DIY shop. These were cut to eight inch lengths, this was based on looking out of my house window at the one across the green where I live. The telepgraph poles here are just taller then the rooflines of the houses oppsite mine which are two storey tall semi-detached.
With a guestimate at the roofline of a two-story MDF ruin I had in my hand I landed at eight inches roughly, which seemed right so I went with it. I'm going to work up the flat juntion boxes which the ones round here have using some plasticard layering and then I'm thinking of using garden wire for the actual cables. Yes most of this stuffis oversize in diameter, the doweling certainly is, but it's a tradeoff between looking right and durability on the tabletop which I am going for here.
I am toying with the idea of using some magnets to mke wires which are still attached to the ruins, but I feel that they may get in the way of gameplay too much..
Finally I decided to add a crashed vehicle to this piece. I've been collecting a few of the Roadsterz 1/48 toy cars as and when I can find them at a reasonable price (not going to pay premium pounds for something I am going to smash with a hammer!).
A quick root in the supply drawer and this camper van was selected:
Two minutes with a screwdriver to take it to pieces and then a hammer to wreck the front ennd and it was nearly ready to go. As an afterthought I decided to add a couple of 3D printed damaged fuel barrels I bought off eBay at the beginning of this project.
Next post I'll be adding the Scenic compound to make everything smooth and then starting to texture these pieces.
Until next time...
- Lewis
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