Tuesday, December 11, 2012

...And a skirmish building!

I play mostly skirmish games, and it occured to me that the rectangular buildings I've been making don't have any nooks and crannies to give cover or concealment.  I mean, you can hide behind a rectangular building and shoot around the corner, but you can't advance from cover to cover.

I was getting gas in Conroe, TX, a few weeks ago, and saw a small office building that gave me an inspiration.

So I delved into Model Builder and came up with a building with a few extra angles.  This was done completely in Model Builder, and any evident mistakes are the fault of this arcitech.

It's a bit larger than I intended, having a footprint of 11" x 9".  It's made of  110 lb (199 g/m) index card, laid over black foamcore.  Black foamcore is much less likely to gouge out at the edges than white foamcore.

Here's an overall shot with a Star Wars miniature for scale (28mm)
The roof is just a piece of flat foamcore with a metal pattern on the top.  The ends are sandwiches of card and foamcore.  The entry overhangs were designed in Model Builder, and wanting to save ink (fool!) I made white squares where the overhangs were to be glued to the front of the building.
Here's a shot from a little higher angle showing the roof.  The ground is a speckled matt board that my wife found, and keeps concrete from being totally boring.
Look!  A little protection from incoming fire!
And around back, the cheap manufacturing of the building becomes apparent.  That's either an elevator shaft or an emergency staircase, and gives yet another bit of cover to shoot around.
And the roof has some cover, thanks to the elevated ends and the elevator shaft.

The interior is spartan, basically the bottom floor has just enough to hold up the second floor, and the second floor has a notch to indicate stairs, and an "X" of foamcore walls in the center to give you a lifting handle.  The roof just lays on the top of the building.

It's a little bit bigger than I intended, and the rush job is a bit apparent, but I plan on doing more buildings with nooks and crannies.  Sure, the rectangular buildings are fast and give cover.  But you just can't sneak up along the 8" rear of a flush wall!

As always, click on the pictures for larger shots, so you can see my mistakes better, and not repeat them yourselves.

9 comments:

  1. I like it! And what does it matter if there are any (I didn't see any) mistakes? It's a wargamws model, not a - as you call it in America - a Real Estate sales pitch! So it certainly looks the business to me! BTW - what is 'Model Builder'? Don't know of it over her in the UK.
    Squibzy

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  2. I think it looks good too, and adds a lot of intrest to the table top. Off to look at model builder.

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  3. Model Builder is a software program from Evans Design, and can be set up for letter or A4 paper.
    http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/model-builder.html
    It also has some special brick patterns for England as an add-0n.

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  4. Ken,

    Nicely done for a first attempt. Besides, if we never make mistakes we never learn.

    By the way, the word is spelled architect. :^)

    Jim (whose father was one)

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  5. I figured it was, but "auto-correct" didn't like it. Sigh.

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  6. By the way, the end walls are the same color on both sides. Grey day light coming through the patio door changed it from ochre to grey.

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  7. Very nice piece of terrain great for modern gaming.

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