Work in Progress - Adobe Buildings.

I picked up a trio of MDF adobe style buildings from a gent called John on eBay for £9.00 including free postage.

You couldn't buy the materials to make them yourself for that!

Quickly bashed the basic buildings together - you get a 'small', 'medium' and 'large' selection, the large one coming with a side element and a walled garden.

Not added the side structure yet but glued the walled area to a separate base. So far very pleased, the buildings fit together well and are very simple to construct. All come with separate doors and roof hatches. There is clearly plenty of scope for additions and modifications but I will probably keep mine fairly simple so I can use for different periods and settings from Wild West games to Pulp Alley.

Picture below from the eBay listing by John.

Find him (JBMDF Wargames) on Facebook and eBay.

Work in Progress - New Terrain and Scenery Bits.

I've not had a lot of progress with hobby stuff of late, especially painting and larger terrain pieces such as buildings etc. This is mainly due to lack of space and a proper work area / painting desk but hopefully this situation will improve in the near future as some work on the house finally gets under way. This will give me more room to set up a new painting station and get to work on some of the things that have been hanging around for an age...

In the meantime I have had to make do with a temporary spot at the dining table when I can!

Recently picked up a few smaller pieces of scatter terrain and other bits as below....

First up is a batch of resin pieces from TT Combat and their rather nice 'City Scenics' range. The sets include a nice mix of modern flotsam and jetsam such as rubbish bins, mattresses, armchairs, a sofa and large fridge. Casting is pretty good with very little flash etc and the sculpts are a nice addition to any modern city setting. 

Next up are a huge stack of mdf crates and boxes from Gary at Figurebitz via the Book of Face. These are excellent and fabulously cheap to boot! Gary will burn any logo (within reason) into three 'sides' of each box. Of course you can just use the three sides from another set to have the logo on every side. I of course opted for '7TV'.

He currently has two styles of boxes - general cube shaped and a long box. Here we have Frank showing us around the warehouse, albeit none too pleased at the current working conditions...

The mdf forklift is another nice bit of kit from Figurebitz. Picked up a few other things from the range including some rather tasty 'Computer Blocks' that Crooked Dice will soon be stocking.

Next up is some very versatile fencing, this time again from TT Combat.

Last up is a few more sections of 'Mill Wall' from Warbases. I bought a load of this a couple of years back, with a couple of 'Mill Gates' and immediately bought some more but never got around to putting it together. Its pretty plain and basic but potentially really useful.

Frank is from Hasslefree Miniatures.

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.

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.