Something more on villages and towns

After my previous posting I thought I should dilate upon how I use the 'profiles' or 'footprints'  to depict towns and villages.  I don't use fixed stands as such, much preferring the flexibility of free standing buildings, houses, churches and other urban edifices.  But a fixed, well defined, area upon which to stand them has considerable advantages.

As the profiles aren't always conveniently sized to accommodate buildings and the spaces between (streets, alleyways, village greens and back yards), I place the priority on the buildings, and leave just enough space, no more, to suggest a main thoroughfare, maybe some side alleys and what not.  Gate houses or gate towers are great in this context, because they take up building space, whilst at the same time indicating and alternative ingress/egress from the town.

Take the fairly sizable settlement to the right. Let's call it Dampotz. The buildings are closely arranged on a 30cm x 20 cm space.  Under my Big Battles scheme this would represent a town roughly 1100 metres long by 720 wide. There is enough space between buildings to show the main street running down from the northwest, and, after a right angled turn left, exiting the town towards the northeast.  A side street leads to a road heading initially in a southwest direction.

The question is, how do we accommodate a garrison?

The photo to the left is the same town of Dampotz, with its garrison of 32 Prussian figures.  The buildings have been pushed in from the edge just enough to accommodate the figures (that the Prussians are on 2x2 stands is a bit of an inconvenience, but not a serious one).  

To determine the size of the garrison, my convention here is the same as that I use for individual buildings.  The maximum garrison is the number of individual figures that can be lined up in a single rank along two contiguous sides, without overlapping.  Or, if it is easier (e.g. on account of its irregular shape, say) the number of figures that could be lined up within half the town's perimeter.

As my individual figure bases are in this case 1.5cm (15mm), exactly 20 can be lined up along the long side (20x1.5cm=30cm); and 13 is the maximum along the  short side (13x1.5cm=19.5cm). Total: 33.  So the 32-figure garrison in this case is one short of the maximum allowable.  The maximum number of defenders than can fight on one face of the town is again the number that can be lined up, as before, along that face.  Here, the maximum 20 figures stand ready to face an attack from the south west, the remaining 12 await an assault from the south east.   If attacked from one direction only, the remaining garrison can be used to replace losses among the defenders facing attack. 

A town this size with a full garrison you can imagine is unlikely to be carried in the first rush by an assaulting column.  Now we run into a consideration that one doesn't so much with individual buildings. Suppose that the attackers did succeed in driving back the defenders along, let's say the south east face (in the above picture under observation by a force of Cuirassiers).  The defenders will be forced back 15cm, say, measured from the rear the stands.  In making this measure, the rear half of a 2x2 stand would have to be ignored.  The assault column would follow up, no doubt.  But now the whole garrison may join in the defence.  The idea is that the unknowable twists and turns, peculiarities and accidents of the town's growth would augment the garrison's ability to bring all its strength to bear.  

If this seems unrealistic (it would certainly be bloody), an alternative approach suggests itself: the attackers can follow up with no more than the maximum number allowable to the defence in the direction of the attack.  In this instance, both sides will be able to draw upon immediately available reserves to replace further losses, the defenders from the rest of the garrison; the attackers from the assault column remaining outside.  I'll have to play test both options at some time or other.

The small village (Zosspanz) to the right measures 13cmx10.5cm.  Its maximum garrison is therefore  15 figures (8figures+7figures). Below it is seen with its garrison ready and waiting. The buildings are kept in more or less their relative positions and orientation, just moved enough accommodate the garrison stands. This method is fairly convenient as regards garrisons, whilst preserving a certain aesthetic verisimilitude.  I think.

As the 2x2-stands take up more room in depth than is desirable (and I haven't made up my mind to cut them into 2 1x2-stands), a certain amount of overlapping beyond the village precincts is acceptable.  

Owing to the small size of this place, a determined and successful assault might well evict the garrison in the first rush - a 15cm push-back carrying the defenders beyond the  built up area behind them.  As before, the complicating matter of the 2x2 stands (man I regret that decision!) forces one to ignore the instances in which just the rear half of such stands are forced back from the town.  

Buildings - the problem of scale.

One of the vexing things in assembling war games battlefields is the matter of buildings - farms, chateaux, hamlets, villages and towns - summed up by that favourite of all war games acronyms, BUA (Built Up Areas).  It is difficult to find an ideal that reasonably approximates the scale of the figures, with the minimum of ground profile.  And how ought one to treat BUAs anyway?

 

The leading picture in Ross Mac's recent posting (Battle Game of the Month) is of a gridded war game dating back to the 1960s.  In it I recognised several buildings of the type featured in the first two pictures of article. I bought these so long ago - thirty years or more - that I have no recollection who the makers are. Printed on light card stock, they are very easily assembled.  They probably ought to be mounted on some sort of base, for the sake of solidity, as they aren't what you would call robust. Approximately 'to scale' with 15mm figures, they don't look so out of place with the 20+mm plastic Prussians, or the 25mm Hinchliffe cuirassiers in the photo.  Even the large buildings seen in the leading picture have a fairly small 'footprint'.

I have otherwise experimented with home made buildings.  The above walled farmhouse was carved from a foam rubber block.  Not a total success, I've not had the heart to deep six it, though it rarely features in my battles.

These have been more successful, but were intended to be large buildings - country houses, taverns. or public buildings.  Two we made using 'brick paper' obtainable at hobby shops, from which tunnel facings are made.  They seemed to me quite suitable for this purpose.  Only the ground floor of the right hand building of the trio used this material.  The rest was made from cereal packet.  The black timbering was fiddly to say the least!

The two to the right were an experiment that wasn't quite the success hoped for.  They were intended to represent small built up areas upon which troop stands could be placed on the clear bit to represent garrisons.  I have an idea I intended to enclose the space with walls or fences.  The addition of the figures in the picture below give an idea of the scale.  Memory tells me they were based on an idea from other local war gamers, who used them for Volley and Bayonet games (and these featured some very remarkable and extremely well made examples of war games architecture).

 This little water mill was cut from a cereal packet.  It does not do to waste opportunities!

The above farm buildings were picked up cheaply at a bring and buy.  I have a second stables building like that above - very versatile piece.  The cobblestones we simply some plastic packing for chocolates or biscuits or something such.  A grey drybrushing overall yielded the cobblestone effect. I have found that a BUA profile ('footprint') useful in many respects for defining its limits, and whether a garrison can or not claim its cover.  If the buildings are mounted on top, then the profile defines the town.  But one can alternatively place buildings around it, but in contact, leaving a cobbled or paved town square.  This method gives you a larger town area if you want it, and still retaining the 'well defined' effect that is desirable for the smooth running of the action.

The buildings in the pictures above and below were made from downloadable files and printed.  My experience with these indicate that it were preferable to print them on a heavier stock than your normal printing paper.  Alternatively paste them onto heavier card before assembly, if not before cutting out.  As you can see, the towers are good and tall, but have a very small ground profile.

The following are ceramic buildings bought at $2 the time four or five years ago.  Although they do 'go' with the other buildings, and there is the small matter of the thick bases to get past, yet they seem to me to evoke a sense of middle-European alpine villages.

The following two pictures are from the Usborne series, which I cannot recommend too highly. They are from the Make This Medieval Town  and  Make This Mediaeval Port. There is also a Make this Medieval Village title.  They come in book form, printed on thinnish card stock, and you get a big variety of buildings.  Excellent resource for war gamers!

As you can see from the pictures several of these are very small buildings.  The picture below features some of the larger houses, taverns and what have you placed in contact with a rectangular 'paved' area, upon which a building has been centrally placed.  The effect is to suggest quite a sizeable settlement - a town withal - the integrity of which is easily maintained during the accidents and vicissitudes of war games action.

 One of the conventions I used to adopt in my war games, is that individual buildings represented the internal arrangement of the built up area.  As buildings could be entered only through doors, and yet each building represented several, this approach had the effect of suggesting the alleyways and back streets that characterised any particular town.  It tended to make street fighting and interesting and hazardous business.  I've tended to depart from this approach, lately, with my larger scale battles.

The above pictures show the smaller buildings around a paved village square, and with 20mm plastic figures indicating scale.

The above rubber peasant hovels have been a very versatile pair, having the virtue of near-indestructibility. I added the colouring, painting and dry-brushing the thatch, and using felt-tip spirit pens for the rest. They came with rude rubber stone walls and a haystack that is now looking rather the worse for wear.

Finally, this is another home made set of building intended to represent a hamlet, farm or small village.  The brown masonry or brick work is again embossed sheet available from hobby shops.  The roofs were made from corrugated packing cut into strips and placed in overlapping layers.  The cobbled together outbuilding nearest the camera used up the last off cuts of the brown masonry sheet and corrugated cardboard,  The rest was simply plain cardboard painted with water colours to suggest timber construction.

There are five pieces to this home made set, which can be used in the manner shown here, or mixed in with other building for greater variety. The small tower that forms part of the building on the left is in fact a separate piece that can be stood alone.  Not pictured are some wall sections using the same brown masonry sheet with corrugated capping that can be used with these to make a walled farm or even a small chateau.  All these buildings were also constructed with an eye to minimising the ground 'footprint'.

Ecclesiastica

Continuing to build some sort of infrastructure for the 'Jono's World' project, one needs of course a place of worship.  The limits to my imagination and constrictions imposed by modelling skills that will carry me so far and no farther, led to to construct this ecclesiatical edifice - rather more Western in style than I would have preferred.  Never mind.

 As usual the construction is from cereal packet and stonework pattern printed on paper.

Showing the 'lift-off-able' roof  and 'storage space'.
A real church would not, of course, have that partition
down the middle.  The boxes kept their fourth sides
 simply to add strength to the whole construction

The thing was simply constructed from the bottom parts of two cereal boxes glued side by side.  One was cut in such a way to allow for the addition of the corner tower.

The stone pattern you might have seen before in earlier articles on this subject.  However, this time I altered the colour, giving it a more yellowish tinge before printing.  The doors and windows were made from what was left of the cereal packets and simply glued on.  The doors are 'self coloured', that is to say, I cut them out from bits of box that were a solid red colour, and then glued a door frame over it to give a 3D effect.  I drew on the black lines to suggest timber doors.  Not sure yet what to do (if anything) about door handles. Door and window frames were painted white.

I made the roof lift-off-able so that the interior of the thing could be used to house a garrison (not important) and to provide storage space for figures or models (very much a consideration).   This is actually quite a large building model, with a 'footprint' of 23cm x 17 (not counting the 'buttresses'), and a height of 17cm.   Note that the thing is designed with function very much in mind as much as form.

At this point I reckon the other constructions I have in mind for this project - Town Admin/CBD block, Aircraft hangar, Airfield control tower, and maybe some further vaguely 'Industrial Wasteland' type impedimenta - can wait a little.  All I have to do is wait until the weather improves for these to be taken outside and the war to begin...

Infrastructure...

A couple more buildings for the Jono's World project.

I needs a railway station... The usual materials: cereal box
and laundry wash packet.  I use the natural dimensions of both...

The laundry wash pack has a double layer of cardboard.
The interior on becomes a 'floor' through from the
street-side entrance to the platform.
The platform is made deliberately short to minimize
the 'footprint' whilst retaining the right sort of look.

The whole clad in brick, stone block and paving,
downloaded from various internet sources and printed out
 on paper.  

The overall effect is a little rustic, but I rather like that.
The windows were simply drawn on cardboard,
 cut out and glued onto the brickwork.

H'mmm... still a little bit of work needed...

A small barn, or grain storage facility,
 used also to store a couple of tanks.

As requested, photographed with 45mm figures to
illustrate the size of the buildings.

A comparison with a couple of HaT Austrian Grenzers.

A view from a different angle.
Since these pics were taken, window sills
and barge boards were added to the station, giving it a much tidier look.

The barn has also received more timbering, painted dark brown,
as you will see in the subsequent pics.

The town of Dohremi - or maybe it's Miredoh - somewhere in
Kiivar.  The railway is HO/OO scale - much too narrow a gauge
 (I feel) for the size of buildings here. 

A couple of vintage cars I bought last century
 that will no doubt be pressed into service as staff cars
 for the Raesharn and Kiivar military.

A locomotive I found in an odds and ends shop, rather larger
than HO/OO scale, though still underscale for the size of
buildings.   It will do, however, if I can supply similarly
scaled coal tender and rolling stock...

 Acknowledgement:
Thanks to Mike of Mike's Wargaming Blog for following this blogspot - the 86th to do so.  As is my wont these days, I have a look at what new followers have been doing.  I think Mikemight be another who likes to construct his own terrain features.

Cogg, Sprockett & Splyne (Kiivar) Proprietary Limited.

Almost finished: the factory building for my 'Army Men' project that I have been calling 'Jono's World'.  I don't know what the factory makes, but it seems that Horatio Cogg, William Sprockett and Abraham Splyne hold several patents in their home country for machining machinery.  The Kiivar Branch has been established, of course, for tax avoidance purposes...

As the thing is a shoe box clad in brick paper and roofed with corrugated cardboard, I could have called the firm Fibb and Lye Cobblers Ltd, or Shoehorn, Last and Sole Co.

Early in the construction.  Brick cladding yet to be completed.
Windows for natural lighting drawn on card strips and glued on
before the roofing.

Another view.  The corrugated card will not this time be drawn
as pantiles, left as unpainted or maybe painted dark grey or near black.

The shoe box lid built up into the factory roof.
 It comes very close to being  large (high)
 enough  for 1:72 scale  war games.

The factory very near completion.  my original smoke stack
looked too short and spindly, so I remade it.
The stack and burner lean-to was left unglued to the main
building.

Factory front with inwards and outwards loading doors.
I had intended a raised loading dock, with the doors
accordingly raised from ground level.  But I forgot.

The view of the other side.
The hinges have been added to the double doors because I'm quirky.
I'll probably add a loading dock with a ramp down to ground level

The building disassembled.   The space inside is available
for storage of figures or terrain pieces.

Another view of the disassembled factory.
The corrugated cardboard is what I have been using
 for roofing my Sideon IV buildings.

Acknowledgement:

My thanks to 'Maj. Guiscard', Governor General of Sector Six, as the 85th follower of this blog.

The Maj. Guiscard has developed a fantasy world peopled with some strange but engaging personalities, including the eponymous Major.  I recommend a visit to this place.