Christmas Wars: The Mystery Machine

I did not get around to painting a mini for the Chrismas Wars project in January (although my skeletons and Vikings can probably be used for it), but I accidentally got myself a Mystery Machine for the Scooby gang!

I got it in exchange for making a donation to a charity of my own choice, and I made one to Danmarksindsamlingen Saturday evening, this year aimed at helping starving/malnutritioned children in third world countries.

As you can see, it will require some filler, and I shall have to cut a piece of clear acrylic for the windshield.

I may opt to use this for the post-apocalyptic version, adding some wire mesh to the windows, and perhaps some additional defensive bits and bobs,

Family Time: Lea Painting Post-Apoc

While I was busy conjuring up the restless dead, Lea set about putting some colour on one of the Ramshackle Dungers kindly sent to me by Curtis Fell some years ago when Anna requested her own Dungers (I got them prepped and primed, and then life took some turn, and they disappeared into a box for years).

This particular Dunger is going to have light green fur, and probably blue skin, so she started giving it a basecoat of Goblin Green.

I had hoped she would get the time to drybrush the fur, but that will have to wait until tomorrow!

The first drybrush will be with Warzone Venusian Green, and then we shall see from there...

HobbyZone Paint Station(s)

I got my kids a paint station each for Christmas. I found this product in a Polish online store called HobbyZone, and both delivery time and packaging was really top notch.

The MDF kit is quite easy to assemble - although I thought I would have to bend the curved pieces a bit into shape before glueing, which was NOT a good idea (as you can see on the station furthest away).

Apart from the frame, the kit is made of a laminated light-weight kind of MDF, and I think it has a tiny tad too low density, but only time and wear will tell if I am wrong or right.

The paint station (the smallest type) comes at only about €16, and if it proves to be sufficiently sturdy for my kids to use, it will have been worth every penny.

Testing High Moon: Dead Reckoning

I had my regular gaming buddy ulolkish/Duregar come by my house to roll some dice for testing the mechanincs in the Two Hour Wargames Reaction System.

As expected, we had to look a lot of things up, and often had to discuss how to resolve a tricky situation, or to read an example a couple of times to get our heads wrapped around the workings of the rules, but Duregar agreed with me on the potential of the rules.

I did not take any in-game pics as such, as we were only playing through some of the STOP!-boxes to see how the rules worked in action, but I shot a couple of the set-up after Duregar left (after having generated a character for future adventures in the Weird Wild West).

First, one from the top, where it can be seen that Doc Holliday Ducked Back from Wild Bill Hickok's bullets into the soon-to-be small saloon.

And another view down the street. Even though I have not done anything to the raw mdf-surfaces, yet, I can already see how atmospheric the games are going to be when I add civilians, scatter terrain, and some signs and colour to it all.

I am really happy with my decision to go the mdf-route for this project - especially the possibility to just lift off a roof and gain access to the interiors of a building will be such a game-changer over the alternative use of a buildings footprint!

Sarissa Old West Sheriff's Office.

Today, I dis some work on the Sheriff's Office. I have not yet glued the cell bars in place, and I also have to glue the small 'SHERIFF' sign in place et the front, but I am quite happy with the result so far, as I was at work last night, so slept some of the day.

As you can see, this later design has some detail cut into the flat roof - so now I have to figure out what it represents.

Another progress in design is represented by the tiny tabs holding the pieces in place for packaging now being left at the corners. This means that they disappear completelly into a corner highlight instead of leaving a lightter mark down the piece when sanded down.

This is the first kit with actual inner walls I have assembled - and the connectors holding the room separator in place had to be sanded down, just like the tabs on the roof supports, thus allowing me at a later point to blend them into the outer walls with some filler before painting.

The tab on the front sign has been sanded down, likewise.

The Sheriff's Office is the last of the buildings I purchased in this batch, so when I have glued the cells, it is time to look for props to make the most important buildings (Saloon, Bunk House, Doctor's House/Farmers Shack), and get some Townsfolk to populate the street(s) and stores.

And, of course, to start getting some games together!

Building More Sarissa Old West Buildings.

Well, I finished these in one go, actually.

 As you can see, I did not get the pitched roof upgrades for these.

Although the flat, featureless roofs are not very attractive, when painted they will probably look OK - AND provide a good sniping position for the Marshall's posse when the Daltons come to town...

One little design flaw is to be seen here, though: The model with the saloon doors/swinging doors uses the exact same floor design as the other 'Small PLUS' buildings - that have a tab connecting the facade to the floor directly under the door. This leaves an unattractive hole in the floor that will have to see some filler before painting. This is, in my book, a totally un-understandable choice, as it would have been so easy to have a file without the tab-hole for cutting, thus avoiding an unecessary cut routine, AND saving the customer extra work.

I think the 'fat' building with the saloon doors is going to be my small saloon/bar for the first couple of games - it should have just enough space for a bardesk and a couple of tables - maybe even a piano.

As I did not have extra doorframes for these, I shall have to make some inside frames out of matchsticks or something similar - I like the idea of exits being clearly marked for when a character has to make a hasty retreat!

Building Sarissa Old West Buildings.

Yesterday, I announced my recent decision to start collecting mdf-buildings for my gaming purposes, and that I had already purchased and started assembling some Sarissa Prescision Old West models.

Today, I am going to take you through building such a model. I know, most readers of this humble blog could probably easily figure out their own best practise for this, but I'd still like to share my experience.

First step is to remove the parts from the mdf-sheets. The parts are held in place by some tiny 'pegs' or 'tabs' left there in the laser-cutting process. The larger parts can be removed by force quite safely, but the more delicate pieces. like window frames, door frames, and the supports for the porch 'awnings', need a gentlier approach.

I prefer to use my trusty X-Acto to take care of all the little pegs, best done form the backside of the mdf-sheet.

After removing the parts from the mdf-sheets, it is time to remove the leftovers of the pegs. I use a P80 sandpaper, then a P240 to smooth out the surface.

I also sand all edges with the P240; it makes the buildings less clean-cut, and it also provides an instant highlight.

The Sarissa Old West buildings almost all have a flat roof- For some reason, only known to himself, the designer has left the roofs completely devoid of features, apart from the 'slot' that fits over a tab in the back wall. It would have been so much nicer with some texture, but I guess it would be easy to paint it as tar paper.

However, a pitched roof upgrade is available for all the basic 'main street buildings', containing an alternative back wall, two roof supports, the roof, obviously, and a door frame.

For this building, I opted for the upgrade, and I have thought up a little trick for those:

I sand down the tabs holding the roof pieces in place by about half a millimeter.

This means that a shallow recess is left where the tabs are connected - and thus I can use filler to make the otherwise rather unattractive joins disappear.

Using the upgrade kit, I suddenly have TWO door frames, which is rather handy, as you will see quite soon.

I use an old size 1 (or maybe a very worn size 2) brush to apply un-thinnd PVA glue to the backside of the door frames (or any other ornaments)

And then apply them to the outer walls.

AND the extra door frame goes on the inside to mark the door, which will be a boon when gaming. Later, when I add interior details, I shall of course decorate the door adequately.

Window frames are done the same way. Excess glue is wiped off with a wet tissue, alternatively removed with the tip of the X-Acto blade when slightly dry.

What looks like window glass, here, is actually just a newspaper photo...

When the glue on all the ornamenting has dried up properly, it's time to put up th outer walls. The building is all but finished by now.

As you can see in the picture, though, this building is designed with an 'awning' over the porch/sidewalk, so I'll have to attend to that one when the glue is dry.

Apart from the flat, featureless roofs, the design of the awnings is my only real point of criticism; the supports do not have tabs to connect to the roof, and the post holes in the sidewalk are too large for a snug fit, making this last step in the construction process the only slightly frustrating part.

In this picture, you can see what the tiny 'tabs' look like before sanding.

Although in my book a design flaw, it is a minor nuissance, and with a bit of patience - and making sure that the model sits on a flat surface - a nice result can still be obtained.

The finished building can be seen between the other two 'stores' in the picture below. You can also see, that I hadn't figured out the little trick with the roof support tabs when assembling the shack - I shall just have to see what I can do about it when I get around to painting the roof...

That is all for now. I hope this has been useful information for anyone considering to get some of the Sarissa stuff for their Old West setting - I shall not be looking for anything else than mdf when buying buildings in the future, that is for sure!

To MDF or not to MDF...?

I have had some experience with wargaming buildings made from various materials.

Paper (mainly Worldworks and Whitewash City), is cheap, just needs to be printed, cut out, and glued together, is light-weight, and looks OK, especially in numbers. It is also prone to warping due to to air humidity and/or pressure, which is a big problem as I have moved my gaming activites 2/3 of the year into my un-insulated garage attic.

Resin withstands humidity, and makes truly beautiful models, but they require a lot of work; cleaning, filling and painting a large building can be quite daunting. Larger resin models are heavy, and usually not exactly cheap (including postage). Also, most resin buildings have no access to interiors, and are not easily converted.

Plastic (Renedra/Perry), very nice models, but usually slightly undersized, and rarely with accessible interiors (without extensive conversion work). Not overly expensive, but not a lot of choice out there.

So, I wanted:

• a light material
• a sturdy material
• buildings with accessible interior
• fast to build
• large model ranges (for easy variation)

Looking at the level of perfection currently reached by manufacturers of laser-cut mdf building kits, I realized that I probably had found a viable solution. If I had any doubts, THIS wiped them all away.

Recnently, as part of my plans for playing High Moon: Dead Reckoning, I ordered some Old West buildings from Sarissa Precision, and they arrived Saturday.

I almost immediately started putting some of the models together, and I must say, I have not been disappointed.

The parts have been cut so precisely, that the only work I have to do is sanding those very small 'tabs'. left to keep the parts in place in the mdf sheets for packaging, and then glue the buildings together.

In this picture, I have finished the Shack, and have two more buildings under construction (first, window and door frames, plus the ornaments on the facade, are glued in place on the outer walls, then the building is assembled), and I expect to have at least four buildings ready tomorrow.

All roofs are lift off, with full interior access, which opens up a world of opportunities for modelling and gaming.

The best part about these is, I can use them right away, as the 'wood' look is quite fitting for the Old West, but of course I shall want to slap som paint on, especially on the facades and the interiors.