Posts Tagged ‘Battle Board’

If your an avid wargamer and you like building terrain, then this

is the book for you. I bought Volume 1(Winter Wargaming) about two years ago and loved the

book so this latest book(Volume 2 Mediterranean Wargaming) was a must buy and Im not disappointed.

The book is a detailed guide to the work of Pat Smith and all the work he has completed over

the years. To cut a long story short a number of years ago Pat decided to collate all his

fantastic work on the wargamingwithsilverwhistle.blogspot.com and put it into a book. Volume 1

was so successful he decided to do another and thus my blog post.

Ok, so what exactly do get for your £20 of money ? You get a 148 page book of glossy pictures

to drool over and in depth step by step guides to building and painting terrain. There is also

information on painting figures and vehicles.

The exact contents includes the chapters:

  •  Introduction.
  •  Materials.
  •  Terrain mat and flexible roads.
  •  Mountain terrain.
  •  Bridges.
  •  Buildings.
  •  Damaged and destroyed buildings.
  •  Olive groves.
  •  Terraced hills,pillbox and blockhouse.
  •  Vineyards.
  •  Orchards and cypress trees.
  •  Terrain clutter.
  •  Figure painting.
  •  Vehicles.
  •  Guest painter- Moiterei talks Italian.
  •  The scene is set.
  •  Links.

What really sells this book is the straight forward descriptions and methods

of how the terrain is created and with such everyday tools. Nothing in this book

is unachievable to the average model maker/wargamer and is a true inspiration to

just start building and gluing.

I cannot wait for the next volume, well done.

If your interested in buying the book, just click on the .link..
 

IMG_0871a

Things are on the move finally. I finished the top

which is styrene covered in modelling clay. I also managed

to get the connection between the sail and mill sorted

which took an eternity to get just right.

Its presently had a few starter coats of paints on it and I am

about to base it on something a bit bigger. The basing will

help it stand up and keep it safe from big clumsy hands like

mine.

More soon.

IMG_0873a

Untitled-1

I have been wanting a windmill to sit on

my terrain boards for ages and fed up with the

lack of ready made terrain to do the job I

decided to have a go at building one myself.

So here is the plan. First,I cut off a small

length of black plastic drainpipe tube. After much

thinking I decided to achieve the stone effect with

DAS modelling clay as it gave me the ability to get

exactly what I was after. Its simply moulded around

the drainpipe and I used a small knife to mark out

the stone relief, windows and door.

Next up I need to create a roof, build some door and

window frames plus add lots of paint. I have found a

windmill sail from a bargain bucket which can be adapted

to the correct type. This should help speed things up.

Below is the DAS modelling clay after sculpting.

IMG_0769

Only got to wait 3 days now for it to dry lol.

.xmas1

Its not 2016 yet I hear you say ! Well, who cares I have

downed tools for this year and decided to look back at

what I managed to get completed.

Here is the quick list:

On the first day of Christmas my true love sent to me:

12 Normandy terrain boards.
11 Backdrops.
10 Curved walls.
9 Normandy houses.
8 Model trees.
7 Horsehair hedges.
6 Stained glass windows.
5 Tutorials.
4 Ruined houses.
3 Infinity Order Sgts.
2 Normandy Tigers.
1 and a Bergepanzer in a pair tree.

Ok enough of the gags just check the pictures

out and see for yourself.

Just click on a picture to enlarge.

Tut_30
Sod_4
IMG_8364a
IMG_8432a
IMG_8458a
IMG_8447a
ice12
IMG_8519a
IMG_8882a
Untitled-1aaa
IMG_8887a
IMG_8934a

Normandy Tiger

Normandy Tiger


8
Farm house 4
Norm1
Norm6
Norm5
Shops1
Normvil15
Normvil50
Farm1

Highlights of the year personally for me was getting those

Normandy terrain boards finally finished and really getting

my skills up to scratch on painting buildings. If I had to

choose just one thing from the whole year as my all time

favourite, it would be the Infinity Ice Diorama

picture which was so much fun to do.

Happy Christmas to everybody and may your New Year have

less models to paint than what I have planned.

Oh finally aims for next year ? Well I aim to do a lot

more dioramas and I must get that Infinity terrain finished.

More details to come on this project a little bit later

in the day but another Loic Neveu master piece which

was a real joy to paint. Enjoy the pictures.

Just click on a picture to enlarge

Ruin1

Ruin2

Ruin3

Ruin4

Normvil50

As promised a closer look at the other end of

the village which is still in progress especially the

water course.

The 1st picture is of the Loic Neveu Manor house and I

was considering changing the picture to black and white

to make it more brooding but the swastika, the colour of

the building and the sunlight makes it creepy enough.

Just click on a picture to enlarge.

Normvil52

Normvil54

Normvil55

Normvil56

Normvil57

Normvil58

Normvil59

🙂Normvil1

Warning, lots of large pictures. Just click on

a picture to enlarge.

Just wanted to show you how I have been getting

on with my continuing Normandy boards. Still a long way

to go but all 3 boards are coming along nicely. As you

can see from the pictures the 3 additional boards

allow me to crawl out of the Normandy bocage and right

into the local village for a bit of street fighting.

The name of the church and village are fictional so

don’t bother looking for it lol

Normvil2

The buildings are all mixed manufacturers and the centre

piece church is a Loic Neveu masterpiece. If you really

need to know who makes any particular building just contact

me for the details.

)Normvil3

As mentioned in previous posts I have been using Google Maps

to get inspiration and ideas from,especially the church. Most

French villages have a church surrounded by a circular wall and

often sit right in the middle of the village with a road curving

around the church. There is often a war memorial right next to

the church as well.

Normvil15

A few bits of info on the church. The gates to L`eglise Saint Andre

are scratch built and the stained glass windows are a combination of

free hand painting and see through plastic. The roof is removable

so you can fill the church with soldiers to your hearts content.

All buildings on the boards are removable except the walls which are fixed

in position. Also to help with storage the telegraph poles are fixed to the

board with magnets so easily moved.

Lots more to do especially at the more built up end of the village but

light is shining from the end of the tunnel.

If your wondering that’s a Panzer Lehr Division rolling through 🙂

Normvil4

Normvil5

Normvil6

Normvil7

Normvil8

Normvil9

Normvil10

Normvil11

Normvil12

Normvil13

Normvil14

Normvil17

Normvil18

Normvil19

Normvil21

Normvil22

Normvil26

Normvil32

Normvil27

Normvil36

As promised I am posting up my ever growing list

of finished buildings that now grace my wargaming board.

Eventually I should have enough to build a village or

small town.

First up a farm building from Neveu Loic.

Click on an image to enlarge

Norm1

Norm2

Norm3

Second a cow shed from Hovels ,”Papelotte” range.

Norm6

And lastly the “Great barn” also from Hovels.

Norm4

Norm5

That’s it for now but lots more coming shortly. I have

actually finished my Normandy church but you will have

to wait for me to finish its surroundings before you

get to see it. It will be worth the wait.

Untitled-1aaaaa

I have been playing around with backdrops for a

while now and I decided to take the plunge and

create one myself. So off I went with my trusty

SLR camera and found some French-ish looking

countryside(to be honest a hedge in England looks

just like a hedge in France) and snapped away.

I then paid a princely sum of £10 and got the

picture put onto Matte card.

The pictures below are the result. Beware they are

quite big photos and if you click on an image it

will enlarge.

Untitled-1aaa

Untitled-1aaaa

Untitled-1aa

IMG_8809a

IMG_8796a

IMG_8791a

IMG_8811a

So how did I get on. To be critical the trees in lower

section are too large and I should of stood back

a bit when taking the photo. The Matte finish seemed

good and I was pleased with the size(300 x900).

Overall it looks fantastic, especially when its behind

your models. I have been to a couple of wargaming shows

this year and as of yet I have seen nothing as good as this

backdrop wise, if anything at all. If you go to a model

railway show they use them to great effect but it seems

wargamers are missing a trick.

Anyway hope you liked them and perhaps it will inspire

a few more people to have a go.

IMG_8519a
I`m done until I build some more boards and yes

I hear you all groaning… not more boards !!!!

No my next project will be some Infinity boards so

rest easy.

Anyway back to the Normandy boards. I have added and finished

two new boards to make a total of six for the playing

area(4 x 6). The latest two have a nice river obstacle with

hump back bridge. They also contain a fixed defensive trench

line and artillery battery area. The artillery battery area and trench

line are camouflaged to stop the allied Typhoons rocketing the

hell out of place.

Please note you can click on all pictures to enlarge

and some of the pictures are quite big.

IMG_8524a

I have added a full Panzer Lehr Division and the British 11th

Armoured Division to the board so you can see how it all feels

to play with.

Arty preparing to fire.

IMG_8529a

Target spotted.

IMG_8530a

View from above.

IMG_8532a

Look out the boss is watching.

IMG_8535a

Life in the trenches.

IMG_8537a

Ok whos walked mud into the trench ?

IMG_8538a

British forces prepare to enter the bocage.

IMG_8555a

Panthers trying to deploy in bocage.

IMG_8564a

Panzer Grenadiers moving up to join the action.

IMG_8570a

German infantry moving up.

IMG_8573a

Panthers stuck in a sunken lane.

IMG_8584a

MKIV in ambush position.

IMG_8594a

Moaning minnies at home in the thick hedgerows.

IMG_8595a

Halftrack traffic jam plus a bit of anti air.

IMG_8598a

Anybody bring any hedge cutters ?

IMG_8604a

Hold on, hump back bridge.

IMG_8606a

Lost Panzer IV.

Untitleda-1

JagderPanzer IV`s defending the left flank.

Untitledb-1

Thankfully the sun came out and allowed me to take the

photos above.

I will post up a battle report soon to see how bocage fighting

pans out 🙂