Showing posts with label 4Ground. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 4Ground. Show all posts

Tuesday, 14 July 2015

La Grande Hotel - Part 3: La Grande Hotel!

After several evenings at the dinner table (my partner was very tolerant whilst I built my 'dolls house') with the smell of burnt mdf in the air and dirty fingers half glued together...I finally completed the full Grand Hotel Complex!

Here are some rather indulgent pictures of the completed build, with a selection of staff and guests!







Jenkins welcomes the new guest, Mister Swarmi, as Rick looks on.


A fine place for a smoke...


Bentley the chauffeur cases out the joint.


The Arched Passageway.


The Courtyard. Signore Vialli discusses his Model T (in the garage) with handyman Thompson.


Damhairn the cook stands proudly outside her 'domain'.



Felicity the maid has a freedom to roam the entire hotel.


The Coaching Stable / Garage.




The Cook House / Kitchen.



The 'Attic' Rooms.



The First Floor Rooms.



The Ground Floor Rooms.


Reception.



The Bar (Ricks favourite place...)


The doorway between The Stone Hotel and The Grand Stone Hotel.



An overview of the full hotel complex.



What nefarious plans are this Trinity of Evil discussing? Jenkins pretends to be discreet...


Rick and Swarmi agree a deal.


Although almost prohibitively expensive at the normal price, in all this is a great kit and a pleasure to build. It has loads of nice internal and external detail, there are 'working' doors throughout and plenty of space for figures. It looks good and ready for the tabletop - though admittedly not particularly realistic depending on your point of view. I am sure you could 'pimp' you hotel if so inclined (as is the current fashion!) but I am a wargamer and not a diorama maker so this is perfect for me.

Now all I need to do is get it on the table for a game. With plenty of internal room I think this will be great for smaller sized adventure / skirmish games such as Doctor Who, 7TV, Pulp Alley, IHMN and Fistful of Kung Fu etc. It could also present an excellent objective for WWII games (where is that German sniper?) and anything VBCW.

Figures from Artizan and Pulp Figures.

Tuesday, 7 July 2015

La Grande Hotel - Part 2: The Stone Hotel.

Next up was the 'Stone Hotel'. This is essentially very similar to the 'Grand Stone Hotel' with a few variations to each floor, an archway passage, an access hatch to behind the bar and a slightly more elaborate entrance. 


The build was pretty much the same standard as the first so no real surprises...other than I realised the archway / window keystones we not actually 'stone' as the instructions showed. No bother, I quite like the wood on the main archway and I flipped the window keystones to the 'unpainted' side and they look just fine.


The entrance portico has 3 language variations for signage depending on what part of the world you want your hotel.


The grilled coal shute - it works!


The main entrance doors / portico.


The beer barrel access hatch, a nice little touch.


A quick escape route?



I won't put up and more images of the actual work in progress - I'm sure you get the picture!

Next up - the completed Hotel Complex.

Monday, 29 June 2015

La Grande Hotel - Part 1: The Grand Stone Hotel.

A while back I took the plunge and treated myself to the 4Ground 'Hotel Complex' as a Christmas present while it was on sale (trust me I didn't pay that price!) and I finally got around to building the thing.


I am pretty familiar with the 4Ground stuff already so I started off with the 'Grand Stone Hotel' building. Digging out the multitude of parts from the box it was clear this was going to be an epic job...


If you decide to purchase this beast, I would suggest having a large work area to spread out on and familiarise yourself with the parts. The instructions are fairly clear in the main but sometimes the pictures themselves are not entirely clear. I also found it was easiest to dry fit first before slopping on the glue.



Pegs and elastic bands are supplied with the two large buildings - keep hold of them for the rest as they come in useful!


Other than that, the build is reasonably instinctive. It took me a few evenings to complete the first one but once you have built one of the big hotels the second one is a doddle!


The only fiddly bits are the stairs and the windows but they all fitted well and wasn't a chore.


The completed 'Grand Stone Hotel' with its first owner The Red Queen.









As you can see, this is one large building and this is only part of it! More of this in another post.

Next up - The Stone Hotel.