The Board has made a decision…
And it looks like we’re making some terrain this month.
Right, let’s actually talk about what the plan is. The goal for this project is to act as a jumping-off point for preparing my MDF buildings for the table. It’s one thing I need plenty of practice in is taking MDF from a simple structure into something suitable for the table – as you can see above, there are a lot of pieces that need getting ready for the tabletop.
The building I’ve chosen to start with is one of the Knights of Dice Tabula Rasa kits. Sadly no longer being made, the kits are still available through Shiny Games in the UK. They were designed to be used as a low cost get up and go solution for buildings or as the start point for the more KitBashing types. For this reason, the basic shell is rather generic, just with square windows and door openings but not any specific style (that’s for you to apply).
Now, it should be pointed out that this building (Desert Residence 2) is definitely on the simple side in terms of layout – two interior rooms and a small area outside with a low wall around it. I’m not sure you’ll be fighting room to room in this structure, but having the two separate areas allows you to fit a fireteam in there with ease.
For inspiration, I’m looking at the Al-Masrah map from Warzone, helped out by the Tac-Atlas over on the Call of Duty website (seeing as I’ve uninstalled the game and with little intention to go back). Due to the building’s relative simplicity, it doesn’t really suit a more built up area so instead I’ve taken inspiration from some of the smaller one/two room buildings found out in the rural area. Despite their limited space, they still manage to pack a lot of details in, with awnings, chimneys and roof decoration.
The key areas I think are going to be texturing, adding character and additional 3d printed elements. I’m still undecided exactly how I’m going to texture them (either the texture spray or the piles of filler I currently have) but it will come hand in hand with adding some extra character to them – things like exposed bricks on the walls or ringing the rooftops, making them look like more than a simple box. The extra parts is the simple bit – thanks to people like TT Immersion and Urban Scatter Gaming, there are plentiful supplies of little bits to add. The key features on my list are solar panels and a water tank (ideal for making the buildings look more modern) as well as various electrical pieces running from the solar panels. I’m not sure I’m going to start moulding power lines down the walls (might be a touch too far) but definitely want to see how much detail can be achieved.
I’m expecting this project will take most of the month (I have some weekends where I’m busy for big chunks of them) but I will drop in with updates as I get to them.