Project Log 2 – Lithuanian Cobblestones and Croatian houses
Gaming
matts. I like gaming matts. They are a really good way of having variety
of playing environments which don’t require weeks/months of building boards in
your garage. Unfortunately, by the time
they were becoming main stream and more affordable, around 2014, I’d just
invested in two sets of the citadel realm of battle boards and spent weeks building
a lava board. I didn’t feel I could
justify the outlay on gaming matts.
Embarking on the
campaign has changed that, we are going to need different settings and the most
immediate environment we don’t have is a city board with cobblestones to
represent Dale in the short term and in the longer term Osgiliath, Minis
Tirith, Bree etc. I don’t have the
resources, desire and dare I say it skill to build one so I immediately thought
of Deep Cut studios, a Lithuanian company well known for its good quality
matts. We also need a matt to represent
the Dwarf Halls of Erebor and then later on Moria. We could have managed with the cobblestone
matt but it was a compromise too far, it just wouldn’t look right for the
entrance hall of Erebor. So, I found a
nice dungeon matt. That was a very quick
£100 spent but both matts will see a good amount of play time both in and out
of the campaign.
Alas they need
suitable scenery. Dale especially will
need to be packed with buildings. I
gathered up my current stock of buildings which range from cardboard with
printed images to un-assembled plastic houses from Games Workshop range.
The first one on
the list was the Lake Town house I got for Christmas a couple of years
ago. It comes with piers and jetties,
and all manner of nautical/fishing accessories but you can also place it on the
board without these. I glued it all in
one evening and it went together well.
The next up was the old Warhammer fortified manor house. I’ve had this for about six years in its box so another example of the campaign motivating me to do something I might not have done otherwise. Another great kit, a little more difficult to assemble than the Lake Town House but went together well enough. Where I could, I left off the more obvious Warhammer ornamentation, it still has skulls and comets all over it in typical Warhammer design but not too bad.
Once my Cobblestone matt arrived I placed these buildings on the matt, along with the Warhammer fortress I already own to represent the outer curtain wall of Dale. It looked good, but I clearly needed more buildings. I tried my painted Skullvane Manse, I was pleased with how it looked, but it was just too Warhammery for Dale, although it would be a great height to mount the windlance on.
The next up was the old Warhammer fortified manor house. I’ve had this for about six years in its box so another example of the campaign motivating me to do something I might not have done otherwise. Another great kit, a little more difficult to assemble than the Lake Town House but went together well enough. Where I could, I left off the more obvious Warhammer ornamentation, it still has skulls and comets all over it in typical Warhammer design but not too bad.
Once my Cobblestone matt arrived I placed these buildings on the matt, along with the Warhammer fortress I already own to represent the outer curtain wall of Dale. It looked good, but I clearly needed more buildings. I tried my painted Skullvane Manse, I was pleased with how it looked, but it was just too Warhammery for Dale, although it would be a great height to mount the windlance on.
Once gain I had a
choice of spending weeks building foam card houses or I could open my
wallet. Reader, I opened my wallet.
A few years back
I stumbled across the website ‘Table Top World’. A Croatian firm that specialized in
stunningly beautiful medieval structures.
Unfortunately, each piece has a price tag to match.
I realised that a few of these would hopefully give the board a touch of wow
factor. As I write this I am awaiting the
delivery of Town House 1 & 2 and the town square well. If they look as good as I think they will
I’ll order a couple more, before Brexit increases the cost, to finalise the
Dale board.
Let’s not forget
they will all need painting…
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