Berlin or Bust

As you know I took a mad decision to build a set of ruins to fight battles in Berlin along with possibly Budapest, Vienna and Stalingrad. I thought with being imprisoned for most of the rest of the year whether in a 'Circuit Breaker' a Lockdown or simply Tier 47 or whatever they dream up next, this project would take me through the cold dark nights. Not a chance, within a week of getting my buildings I am 85% done.

I first sourced a mat, several manufacturers do nice urban ruins mats but I didn't want one with roads already on or one which expected Space Marines and Tyranids to turn up which many do. I settled on PWorks in Italy, they offered a sandstone or grey mat which would suit me, although I was tempted by the sandstone I wasn't sure where I could get spray paint to match, so went with grey, easily picked up in one of the few real shops left in Carnforth. I cocked up the order and went for PVC, the PWork people were very helpful and changed it to rubber. I was a bit unsure when it turned up but now I am very pleased I got this one.

Next up was choice of buildings, there are quite a few to choose from, some are very basic and others like 4Ground and TTCombat are very detailed if a bit pricey should you want a lot, which if you want to fill a 6x4 table properly you will need. TTCombat tend to do bundles so if you wanted one thing from the bundle hard luck, which is a pity as their stuff does look good. In the end I went for a nice bundle from Terrain4Games from Poland to which I also added a Gothic church, a tad 40Kish perhaps but it works. The kits are basic and you can get them with or without pavements, I got pavements. To enhance the buildings I got balsa wood to decorate the walls and coffee stirrers for wooden floors, I overdone it with them and got 1,000, most are still in the box. I now find I need some more buildings not as many as before but a few to give a better look to the table.

Next up was rubble, I already had a bag of bits and pieces from all the other MDF buildings I have built, windows, doors etc. and mate Rob sent me some roof tiles and again some doors and windows. That was great but I also needed bricks, these are very easy to get and I bought a couple of packs of the excellent Juweela products, red bricks and red bricks with cement on them, also a pack of grey bricks, why red when everything was going to be sprayed grey, because they are perfect reproductions. I also got some grey gravel to mix in with the bricks and lastly I would use some sand. Yes, you guessed it, I got too much of both, a small amount of these bricks go a long way.

Scatter was next, I got lamposts, oil barrels and boxes for barricades, I was going to get some mattress' and chairs from Debris of War and may still do at some stage but the postage for two packs was way over the odds, bordering on robbery to be honest. I also got a tram, these were filled with rubble or/and cement and became very effective barriers, I got this from Sarissa, had a bit of a problem with making the sides fit so I botched them and left the roof off, after adding rubble I think it looks good. Also on the cards was a wrecked Opel Blitz, this was a resin piece and not the best but it paints up fine and will do, besides ruining a perfectly good plastic kit to get a wreck is a step too far. I still want to add shell holes etc. which I intend to make myself, I think I need more wrecked vehicles so will look out for cheap stuff to tear apart.

Once the kits were built I first added bullet holes, then I put in wooden floors and the balsa wood ledges, next up I glued bits and pieces of rubble on the floors, I kept this to the edges so as not to interfere with figures standing at the windows etc. For rubble piles at the edges of the buildings I dipped some kitchen tissues into a mix of PVA and water then spread them out on the pavements, once dry I glued bricks, gravel and sand to them and they turned out really good. I finished off with patches of sand on the walls and floor for dust, along with the odd brick on the pavements. The whole building was then sprayed matt black, this was followed by grey primer, a lighter spray than the black, I actually then tried a light drybrush with the first building but it really wasn't necessary so I left the rest as is.

Having no patience I set everything up on the table yesterday and intend to hopefully try a game out this weekend, what else will I be doing.

So there you are, my winter project finished in a week, I also managed to upgrade my Goth warbands with some extra figures, so what next? I have those scatter bits to do and the new buildings to choose and order, also in the ready use locker are two SYW battalions, one French and one Hanovarian, I will really have to take them a bit slower.

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