Wednesday, April 1, 2020

From PeterA: Ruined Apartment Block and Burnt out Car

First of all a big thank you to Curt for organising the Quarantine Challenge - a splendid opportunity to keep spirits up at this pretty surreal time.

My first submission is a scratch-built apartment block in 20mm for modern wargaming. I have been interested in the first Chechen conflict for a while now and the news that Carl Titterington is planning on releasing a Chechen War supplement for his Contact Front rules got me fired up to add some terrain. It is made out of foamcard and artists mounting board and is meant to survive the rigours of gaming rather than being an architectural masterpiece! So I haven't bothered with doors (might go back and add these later) although I have put in a few shattered panes of glass here and there (made from plastic blister packaging)


Depicting rubble is always a compromise between realism and playability - I have gone firmly for the latter so that I can place figures without precariously balancing them. With my sausage fingers, I need all the help I can get!


To make it a bit  more user friendly in games, the rear wall slides off, making access to the inner floors more straightforward. Again, function over form so no staircases, internal rooms etc. I started painting the internal walls but the card started to warp so I have left the rest. The idea of the removable wall has been pinched from Alan Sherward's utterly brilliant Stalingrad table (featured in Wargames Illustrated a couple of issues ago - you can see it here on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yJsgbZ4wUo).



Finally, a bit of scatter terrain for figures to take cover behind. This is a toy die cast VW which has been weathered using GW rust effect paint. The windows have been damaged and I drilled a few bullet holes as well, but it was basically a very quick and simple job for once.



I hope to add more bits and pieces for this conflict over the course of the Quarantine Challenge, as well as finishing off a few of the things started during the Painting Challenge.


All the best - stay safe and stay healthy.



12 comments:

  1. Well done Pete, always admire the effort taken to do a scratch build 👍

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  2. The burnt out effect on the car is really well done Peter. Cutting out the tyres and leaving only the wheel hubs and removing all glass panels would make it even more realistic.

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  3. Very pragmatic building - especially the removable wall. Yet it looks the business, too. Good job!

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  4. Good looking and functional building/ruin, I bought that issue of WI based on that article, very inspiring, well clearly in your case!
    Best Iain

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  5. I am always amazed by the creativy of people scratch-building, this is no exception. I like the rubble section and the window panes. And the car looks suitably vandalized!

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  6. Great scratch build, it looks very much a ruin.

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  7. Nice! Grey apartment blocks and burned out cars. Clearly you visited Sheffield in the ‘90s.....

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  8. Cool terrain pieces. The removable wall is a great idea.

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  9. Excellent work Peter. That car turned out terrific. Chechen war, now that's not something you often see. I have a bunch of the Tiny Terrain 28s for this period that I'm going to use for my Metro 2033 collection. A very nasty war.

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  10. That will really look the part on any modern table for sure!

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