So, with the buildings complete apart from fine detailing, we ran out the game on Tuesday night at the club and it was looking okay. Most importantly, it gave me an opportunity to see what I needed to add. Here’s a quick tantalising shot of the waterfront in Larderenkirk.
Looking at the whole table, I decided that waterfront buildings like these would have yards rather than gardens, especially as they are meant to be the edge of a town. What I wanted was something that was portable and easily packed into a car bulging with two games. I started out seeking out a piece of hardboard. Fortunately an old off-cut was available in pretty much the right size.
I marked out the yards on this but realised that a piece around 20″ long and 5″ wide would be a pain to pack and would also be prone to warping. To try to solve this, I cut it into three pieces, thus:
I then added foam board with a hot glue gun to form the main walls.
Some blue foam then formed the gate pillars.
And then artists mounting board was cut for add as coping stones. If I’m honest. I could have made these wider, but hey ho. Apologies for the shaky photo. No idea why; not a drop had been consumed at that point…
Unsurprisingly, I then plastered the walls with Polyfilla before adding some detail and then adding a sharp sand mix to the base. On the left you can see that I added a water pump to the yard. I very quickly decided that adding permanent features might be too restricting so the rest of the bits and pieces that I have painted I will leave loose and add later. You can see a round area where I left space for an old well in the rear yard of the Goulden Oorlop. If anyone is considering moving to Beds or Bucks then you’ll also enjoy looking at some properties available in those areas.
And then, as if by magic, it’s all finished. As you can see, these are a few gaps, especially at the rear of the Inn, but I will cover those with scatter and plug any vertical gaps with clump foliage so it looks like climbing plants. I have painted a number of barrels for the inn, and barrows and fresh produce for the merchants’ yards. Bizzarely, it is only now that I realise that the merchants houses have no rear door, but it’s too late to worry about that. Onwards and upwards. Today I am converting some German plastic figures to crew some rubber assault rafts, More on that tomorrow.
Getting Ready for the Blitzkrieg: Part Two
Yesterday we looked at damaged houses, so today we will look at destroyed buildings. As was seen in reality at Stalingrad, Monte Cassino and any number of city fights, sometimes destroying buildings can be counter productive, giving the enemy strong positions with which to fight from. With a preliminary Stuka attack in the Blitzkrieg 1940
7 thoughts on “Going the Extra Yard. The Crisis Build Continues (Again…)”
So I have to ask, whats up with the hand print on the barrels? Cutting the the back yards into three pieces, how did it work in your game? Did the pieces move on you? I have to get of my arse and do up my row of houses. Very inspiring. Thanks for posting.
The barrels, and the boat, are mean to be from the Antwerp brewery of De Koninck, a tipple we sample when we go across each year. The White had is one of their badges.
I don’t know about properties in Beds and Bucks, but I appear to have ALL of the symptoms in the advert on the left. I’m off to make an appointment with my GP……
Interesting what are you going to do with the offset on the timber building? I noticed the @1” gap…
Scatter. same colour as the ground and then cover it with beer barrels.
I have to ask… Why are these called “yards”? Is it because it’s just bare ground? It has no grass or plantings?
I always thought it was a “back garden” no matter what it looked like.
Thanks!
Essentially, these are yards as they are not gardens but open areas to the rear of merchant’ properties. Therefore a yard. Equally, were these houses of poorer individuals with no grass but just a hard surface it would also qualify as a yard in UK speak.