My WW-1 project '1918'

[paulr]

 

As others have said, some tiles on parts of the roofs and a bit of blast/fire damage to the rafters and the buildings will be as good as the rest

[Ace of Spades]

Thanks gents,

One of the main problem with the rafters is that they are too 'straight' out of the box... Maybe on the next batch I'll make them myself to give them more of a 'period' look. Another thing that annoyed me from th start is the color; I was looking for an aged, somewhat grey colour but it didn't rally work out; the light  used when I made the photograph made it even more 'yellowish' and nothing of the weathering shows any more. Maybe another light and better camera could change that... I will have a look for some tiles though as soon as I'm back at the modelshop; think that'll do the trick. Cutting more holes in the existing roofs is tricky; the plastic is relatively thick and tough so there is a big change I would damage other parts and I don't want to risk that...
On the picture below you see the buildings from the other side; the roof on the house in the lower right corner looks better I think?

The next batch of buildings will also get more late 19th century and/or French/Belgian details. I already did more work on them as I planned originally but I better put in some more effort now and do it really right!

On rules, most rulesets I've seen are more or less made for the larger scales and seem to be made more for skirmishing than anything on a bigger scale. It seems that that is because of the trench warfare most people play. We adapted our own, very detailed, WW2 ruleset added/scrapped certain parts. We made up new tables for weapons and armour. Since we're planning on starting with late war and next maybe early war these rules will probably work quite well. While playing we'll adapt and work out new bits and pieces if things don't feel right and I'm pretty sure we'll end up with a system that will equally work for the open country early or late, as well as the trenches. We're planning a short testplay in november so we'll see. For example; we adapted our 'laying smoke' rules for gas attacks; the deployment of gas will be comparable to that of smoke. What we need to do is adapt the effectiveness of certain gasses to the weathertypes in or tables and the effectiveness of infantry wearing gasmasks while firing and moving.

I'll try to keep you all updated on building, painting and playing!
Keep those comments coming!

Cheers,
Rob

[paulr]

I agree the bottom right looks the best of the houses. The church also looks great.

A few tiles and some shading on the rafters around the holes similar to on the church and they will look great as well

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Also make the holes in the rafters a bit more irregular.

IanS

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Like it.
A few splashes of black ink on the rafters and perfection?

[MediumAL]

Agree with the other comments, these look really good. the roof woodwork would be transformed by a wash of shades of dark brown. Wood only looks that colour when it's newly sawn. You could get a very effective burnt look by burning them, basically. Might not be a option if the walls are plastic, but if you can singe them with matches that is the easiest way. Make sure you have some water with a little black and brown paint in it to put out any glowing embers. If you don't want to take that risk, get the same effect with paint - remember the burnt ends of timber will be thinned because the outer layer will burn.
Practise on offcuts first - you don't want to spoil these.

Good job on the figures as well.

[Ace of Spades]

Thanks MediumAL,

Problem is they're all painted plastic so holding a fire to them would not give a very realistic look I fear I do take it as a compliment though that I apparently found the exact colours to make them look like fresh wood!
Only the two houses without woodwork and the church are supposed to look burned out; the others should only look as if they're damaged by shockwave and shrapnel.
Even so; thanks for the advice; I'll get there...eventually!

Cheers,
Rob

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

We're just jealous of your brilliant terrain.
Keep up the amazing work.

[MediumAL]

Sorry - didn't realise the rafters were plastic! Thought they were scratchbuilt from wood. The match idea doesn't sound such a good one. 
See from an earlier post you were thinking about more debris but wanted space for the troops. One idea could be to put the debris on small bases which sit in or around the buildings. When you want to put troops on them, remove those bases and put the troops in place, ane then swap them back when the troops move on.

[Ace of Spades]

Right then,
First platoon of Germans is done (crappy pics as ever, so sorry...); four Gruppen of nine men each. They're not very well armed and these are supposed to portray a platoon of second rate troops, 'capable od defensive actions only'. I've painted them with plain grey/green helmets for easy recognition in the field. The 'attack' troops and Stosstruppen will get the camouflaged helmets.


Also a new building for the town square. Some minor details need painting but they won't change the overall look. I will also insert a vertical piece of black cardboard to avoid the 'look through' and light falling through the whole building. In all I'm happy but comments are, as Always, welcome!



Cheers,
Rob

[Techno]

Excellent stuff, Rob ! 

Crappy pics ? .....HAH !

You should see the ones I send to Leon.

Cheers - Phil

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Where is the build from?

[Ace of Spades]

The building is an n-scale Railway building. I buy them second hand for three to five Euro's a piece and then give them the 'special treatment'...
Still have several on the workbench!

Cheers,
Rob

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

 

[fred.]

I like that building, looks very Low Countries in style. And a good number more troops ready for action too.