Japanese/Samurai Era Village-Part 1.

Here I go again.  I've agreed to build another village for a gaming friend. Though, I am getting some good 20mm miniatures in trade.

This time the theme is Feudal Japan and the age of the Samurai.  The task is to create a village in the general style and size for a skirmish war game.

Some Inspirational Pictures:

Here's the Plan:

• Large House
• Shinto Temple & Gate
• Small House
• Barn
• Shed
• Bell Tower (Storm/Danger Warning)
• Water Well
• Wood fences & gate(s)
• Plastered stone walls & gate(s)
• Rice Field
• Vegetable Field
• Bridge
• ...and possibly more if time permits.

Here are some pictures of the progress.

Large House

 

Most of the construction is basswood and Foamcore board.  the base is made from 1/8" mdf board with sanded/rounded edges by a router.

 

 The raised floor is done.

 

 The walls are cut and in position.

 

 The trim is proceeding and the porch wood columns and beams are built.

 

The wood siding is added in places for a variety of texture. The white portions will be plastered. 

 

 

Shinto Shrine/Priest Quarters

 

The columns and beams are in place. 

 

The wood floor is done and a ladder is built.  

The Shinto Shrine Entry is built.  

Barn

 The wall frame is mostly scrap basswood.  Next up is to add the wood siding and the roof.

Bell Tower

The tower is finished, again, out of scrap bass wood. the three main columns are left over chopsticks from the local Chinese take-out.  (A good use for bamboo.)  It will get used more throughout the project.

The bell is a piece left-over from a ruined Christmas ornament. It actually can ring.

...to be continued in Part 2. (coming soon!)

28mm Samurai Miniatures

Here's some pics of what's left of my current Samurai Clan.

 

Our local gaming group each had a clan of figures and painted them in 'sports team' colors.  I chose the red/black scheme and these were my Samurai Bulls.

 

 

Most of my custom Japanese Terrain/buildings was left behind in Tallahassee when I left.  The wooden gate is all I have left of the walled compound.

6mm Star Wars "Battle of Hoth"

Here's some pics of my 6mm Battle of Hoth miniatures. I use a home-brew set of rules, but also use the WEG (West End Games) edition of 'Battle of Hoth".

The AT-AT's are Ertyl Models. Each model also comes with 2 snowspeeders and a Rebel Golan Turret.  The Shield Generator in the lower right is custom made. The Snowspeeders have a hole drilled through them to slide up and down on the wire, mounted to a metal washer and nut. A small piece of foam below the speeder keeps it at the desired height.

The Rebel Hoth troopers are modified 6mm Epic Eldar, with their cone-shaped heads re-sculpted (a nip and tuck here and there) to resemble the Rebel Hoth 'Kepi'.   

The Imperial Snowtroopers are also modified 6mm Epic Eldar.  Again, with the heads re-shaped to resemble Imperial troops.

I needed a 'downed' rebel pilot or a few, so I converted some more epic.  

In addition to the snowspeeder models that came with the walkers, I also have the Micromachine Snowspeeders which are identical in size.

 

For additional Rebel and Imperial troops, you can also find them in the Rebel Transport/Echo Base model from Ertyl. It also comes with a model of the Rebel Transport and a Millenium Falcon. 

 

10mm Battle of Islandlwana

I've been a little lax lately, so I need to post some pics of past games.

Here's a few pics from a 2009 game of the "Battle of Islandlwana" with my 10mm Colonial/Zulu miniatures.

 Here's the column of British troops marching along.

 

A closer look at the 10mm troops. 

Here, the battle unfolds as the British engage the Zulus on several fronts in order to protect the wagons & supplies. 

The "spread out" British line is proving not to be much of a match for the zulu impis.

Celebrating 25,000+ views

In Celebration of 25,000+ views of my gaming blog, I found these pictures of a team I need to have miniatures for to 'flesh out' my Bloodbowl teams.  Enjoy.

Now, That's a team! Yes, it's soccer (football), but we'll teach them to throw and catch a pigskin. 

My New Quarterback.

I think she's supposed to be the new halfback? (T-back?)  

Gives a new meaning to excessive celebrating after the touchdown?  

No such thin g in my rulebook.

Ooh, looks like a roughing call to me.  Maybe have to give a penalty there?

 

OK, now bring on the miniatures and hit the showers.

More Barricades & Barrels...

I promised more pics of some of the barricades, so here they are.

Here you can see the pretty simple construction for the wooded barricade.  These were painted blue and then a 'Police Line' sign was added.  

These are simple concrete barricades cut from 1/4" mdf board. They've been glued to a tongue depressor base and spray painted grey with some tan highlights. then I added some 'twisted-wire' on top of the wire to represent barbed wire.  

Here's how all the pieces go together to create a fortified checkpoint or redoubt.  

The front of the 'Road Closed' sign.  The bottom feet are 1/8"x1/8" bass wood.  The vertical dowels are 1/8" diam. The horizontal slats are 1/4" x 1/8" bass wood.

 

Here's the back of the sign to show the limited amount of structure is required.   

This is the orange and white striped warning material.  I cut it into 1/4" strips and glued it to the horizontal 'Road Closed' sign slats.

Signs, Signs and more Signs...

Since I've had such a positive response to my Zombie terrain pics, including all of the signs, here are the signs that I have. You'll notice that most of the signs were customized for the city of West Chester.

I added two, 3-D Cow Miniatures painting the sign, just like you see in the real world.  

Victoria's Secret; Why not?

Here's another good use for those magnetic advertisements usually attached to the front of your yellow pages book.  In any modern/future game, you're always going to have death, taxes, and lawyers. 

Pawn Stores are everywhere.  

We ran one series of scenarios based on the show '24'.  So, I created some signs to be placed on the tabletop.  

Need I say more? The best puns in the world can be found at Hooters.  

I don't know what they're advertising, but I'm sold.  

 Every city has to have their favorite greasy spoon.

That lizard certainly gets around.  He was even spotted in West Chester.

 

Here are the sign files (8.5"x11" .jpg's)

 

Billboard Sheet #1

 Billboard Sheet #2, with some additional Zombie themed signs and barricades

 

Store Signs #1: Some generic and not-so-generic store signs for your city retail buildings.