Tabletop Scenery

Oops, I f*ck myself, I wanna say "order" and not "command" (thnx Cianty, I'm tired, you know? )

Tabletop World wrote:

cianty wrote:

Oh, lots's of posts while I wrote my essay/ranting.
I wonder if you could - from a casting point of view - produce buildings with a full interior and removable roofs. This would definately be the best as it combines the advantages of ruins (skirmish game use) and the awesome look that Warhammer type of players are interested (they could always just ignore the interior).

Yes, this can be done, but is the most difficult thing to do. That by it's self is not a problem. The problem is time and amount of material that is needed for such a project. It's very time consuming and I wonder if it would pay out (since both the time & material spent on a project increase the price pf the product).

Exactly what I expected. Maybe you can try a model with detailed interior for a smaller/medium building and see how that works out from a sales perspective.

Something different: Looking at your what-you-get photos I was wondering if you could offer the following individual bits:

- Barrels (set of ca. four barrels)
- Tavern sign
- Trough (from the Tower)
- Lantern (set of ca. four lanterns from the Inn)
- Doors (two, from the inn)
- Chimney (this is a cool piece and I think I'd like one for my own scratch-built houses)

Selling these packs for 2 to 4 EUR would also generate some additionl income. I always appreciate these kinds of bits and when I order somewhere I always buy some additional useful stuff if it is available. These things could probably come with free shipping if combined with a building.

A random thought,

If you make your buildings the same sizes (Say each interior is either 8x10 or 2x4) then you could make modular insides which slot in, means people can say have a choice of 2-3 interiors and small extras as cianty said.

Covers both angles so if they want to use only exterior then its fine, if they want interior play too then they buy an interior drop in item.

cianty wrote:

Oh, lots's of posts while I wrote my essay/ranting.

Something about the windwill: While this would certainly look totally awesome I agree with Ezekiel. A windmill is very restricted. You cannot combine it will too many buildings as it fits a rural setting best.

Perhaps, but there are other possibilities... I for one live rather close to a windmill, and there are more of them around here in Amsterdam/Holland, which were built in, or on the edge of the city, and then gotclosed in... They are massive, cause they have to catch the winds wich blow above the city... (5/6 floors high) the bottom is the living/production quarters, then there is a large part storage, and then the mill part... I'm still planning on one of these for my table, but they might very well work for you as well... you'd have a massive building and miil at once!\

He he, yeah. But my table represents the centre of a town with a rather big town square and sourrounding houses. A mill really doesn't fit in there.

I will contest this! haha, I will build you a mill! (or photoshop one into your town... ) send me a picture of your town and I will prove you wrong!

Ezekiel wrote:

I will contest this! haha,

Ha ha!

Ezekiel wrote:

I will build you a mill! (or photoshop one into your town... ) send me a picture of your town and I will prove you wrong!

Of those two options I definately prefer the first one

My town is still in its infancy as I only have ca. 1.3 buildings finished...

cianty wrote:

Tabletop World wrote:

cianty wrote:

Oh, lots's of posts while I wrote my essay/ranting.
I wonder if you could - from a casting point of view - produce buildings with a full interior and removable roofs. This would definately be the best as it combines the advantages of ruins (skirmish game use) and the awesome look that Warhammer type of players are interested (they could always just ignore the interior).

Yes, this can be done, but is the most difficult thing to do. That by it's self is not a problem. The problem is time and amount of material that is needed for such a project. It's very time consuming and I wonder if it would pay out (since both the time & material spent on a project increase the price pf the product).

Exactly what I expected. Maybe you can try a model with detailed interior for a smaller/medium building and see how that works out from a sales perspective.

Something different: Looking at your what-you-get photos I was wondering if you could offer the following individual bits:

- Barrels (set of ca. four barrels)
- Tavern sign
- Trough (from the Tower)
- Lantern (set of ca. four lanterns from the Inn)
- Doors (two, from the inn)
- Chimney (this is a cool piece and I think I'd like one for my own scratch-built houses)

Selling these packs for 2 to 4 EUR would also generate some additionl income. I always appreciate these kinds of bits and when I order somewhere I always buy some additional useful stuff if it is available. These things could probably come with free shipping if combined with a building.

Yes, it's a great idea and we already thought about it. All bits can be bought separately. The price for every bit will be listed on our website. Still, the minimum order must be 10€. So if you want only bits, you'll have to take a lot of them.

Duce wrote:

A random thought,

If you make your buildings the
same sizes (Say each interior is either 8x10 or 2x4) then you could
make modular insides which slot in, means people can say have a choice
of 2-3 interiors and small extras as cianty said.

Covers both
angles so if they want to use only exterior then its fine, if they want
interior play too then they buy an interior drop in item.

Very good idea, we'll definitely think about it! tnx!

Ezekiel wrote:

cianty wrote:

Oh, lots's of posts while I wrote my essay/ranting.

Something
about the windwill: While this would certainly look totally awesome I
agree with Ezekiel. A windmill is very restricted. You cannot combine
it will too many buildings as it fits a rural setting best.

Perhaps,
but there are other possibilities... I for one live rather close to a
windmill, and there are more of them around here in Amsterdam/Holland,
which were built in, or on the edge of the city, and then gotclosed
in... They are massive, cause they have to catch the winds wich blow
above the city... (5/6 floors high) the bottom is the living/production
quarters, then there is a large part storage, and then the mill part...
I'm still planning on one of these for my table, but they might very
well work for you as well... you'd have a massive building and miil at
once!\

We don't know if building a windmill is a smart move, but we're definitely going to make one, 'cause we simply loooove windmills!!

Tabletop World wrote:

We don't know if building a windmill is a smart move, but we're definitely going to make one, 'cause we simply loooove windmills!!

Well, I am happy to read that you don't only build what seems to be promising from an economic standpoint, but that you do what you love and personally enjoy the most. In the end I think this can be felt in your products.

cianty wrote:

Tabletop World wrote:

We don't know if building a windmill is a smart move, but we're definitely going to make one, 'cause we simply loooove windmills!!

Well, I am happy to read that you don't only build what seems to be promising from an economic standpoint, but that you do what you love and personally enjoy the most. In the end I think this can be felt in your products.

Thanks man!
For us, the most important thing is to enjoy the hobby, everything else is of minor importance.

Tabletop World wrote:

For us, the most important thing is to enjoy the hobby, everything else is of minor importance.

That's what I like to hear. And if you can earn some extra cash, all the better! Plus you are effectively also giving something by making this beautiful scenery available.

I like the building, very well made, I may well consider a purchase, especially if you branch into accessories and the town square looks like an absolute bargain.

I'm only a rank amateur at building terrain, but I do like to aim for perfection and welcome and expect comments on my stuff from that angle - so I hope you won't take offence at a slight criticism; I like the stone work your technique for building up the walls brick-by-brick really pays dividends, but when I first looked at the stone work it didn't quite work for me. Having studied the pictures in great depth I think its the thin vertical stones (the ones spanning 3 normal courses) that don't quite work for me from an aesthetic viewpoint. Obviously we're talking about fantasy wargame terrain, so normal rules don't apply - but its not something I can remember seeing in RL buildings. Sorry to be the one picky a-hole on the forum!!

Oh as for future project - agree with the small house idea.

I think there are lots of manufacturers offers barrels/crates/sacks/torches etc, but that is no reason not to do them, if you can either use them to get people shopping with you, or sell them a few packets while they are buying a building.

I think from the quality of your stuff where you might be able to find a extra niche is in doing high quality building components. I'm thinking chimney stacks, stair cases, the paving you already do, fireplaces, etc. I've spent many an hour trawling the net looking for terrain components and I'm not aware of any manufacturers making that sort of thing in resin or plaster. The only thing close is dungeon "furniture" and dressing.

Might be worth posting something on terragenesis in the suppliers forum as well (I'm personally not a massive fan of the site at the moment) - but it might be good for your business!

Hmmm... looking at the Tower...





I do find it quite authentic...


(Okay, this one's a furnace but I was soo thinking of the tower when I saw it)

Great stuff. Too bad most of the best tabletop scenery is over in Europe. I prettymuch agree with what everyone else has said in this thread thus far:

-A smallish house would most likely be the best seller.
-If you're going large, make a versatile piece (windmills are awesome, but very specific in their setting). I'd go with a religious building, or (with your amazing stonework) a large military fortification.
-After reading's _si_'s comment, I went back and looked at your tower, and the vertical blocks do look kinda funky if you focus on them. If you look at cianti's photographs, all the blocks are wider than they are tall (unless framing a feature).
-Barrels, crates, chimneys, stone walls, small bridges, etc. would probably be your best bet for revenue. Everyone needs them, and people in general get scared off spending too much money on one terrain piece. For some reason it's much easier to justify five $10 purchases than one $50 purchase. The last 3 example items I mention because your stonework is what sets you apart from other builders.

Finally, you might consider making standard sized model bases using the town square section. It would be relatively little work, as you could just cut out different bits of your town square and put them on 20mm, 25mm, 40mm, etc. sized bases. I'd guess that 25% of all terrain makers' websites I've visited were from a link to the model bases they sell. Such things are seen on forums and on the web much more frequently than the big terrain pieces.

Keep up the fantastic work.

@ _si_ : Thank you man, we already have details to buy separately, and with every project there are more of them. All available bits will be under accessories section on our "yet to be released" web site. As for the wall, I can see why would you think that, but in my "free" time I'm a construction worker, mainly stone wall builder, and that's sort of my hobby as well. Main thing is that corner blocks are big and wide, the middle section of the wall can have such vertical stones, no problem.
We have posted on teragenesis, but It's kind of slow, not much people commenting. Thanks for advice.

@ cianty: thanx man for defending our work. Those are great pics, we really do appreciate your effort.

@ Identity: I agree with most of the things you've said. We will probably do model bases. And next 2 or 3 projects will not be large. Just to see how small things are going. Thanx on the great comment. And, you know, we do business with America, and postage cost is not much bigger then for the rest of the Europe

I think fortifications are great idea. How about huge walls? I'd love to see a Town Gate: a combination of huge wall and half framed house, with gate etc. That would be cool. Your stone technique seems to be predestined for this kind of scenery. Also, if you make sure that it fits the Warhammer fortress walls in some way (ie you can combine the gate house with the warhammer walls) I guess that would be a very good piece.

cianty wrote:

I think fortifications are great idea. How about huge walls? I'd love to see a Town Gate: a combination of huge wall and half framed house, with gate etc. That would be cool. Your stone technique seems to be predestined for this kind of scenery. Also, if you make sure that it fits the Warhammer fortress walls in some way (ie you can combine the gate house with the warhammer walls) I guess that would be a very good piece.

Yes, we were thinking about building a Town Gate, and we probably will in time.
Interesting idea about compatibility with warhammer fortress walls. We'll think about it.

Ok, small update on the forge.
Here is the shot of one side of the roof which is finally molded & cast in resin. It consists of tree parts.
On the picture beneath, you can see the large console. Two of those will support the second floor in two corners (as marked on the picture).
Hope you like it!

That's simply awesome! Just like what I expected from you! The roof and windows look great! I can't wait to see the building finished!

I agree (with Cianty)! Brillinat stuff! @Cianty: are you being paid to advertise TW?

Chad wrote:

I agree (with Cianty)! Brillinat stuff! @Cianty: are you being paid to advertise TW?

LOL. Ha ha! No. I just seriously and honestly admire their high quality scenery. If you have a look at my current WIP thread you will see how crazy I was (and am) over my first huge resin building and what an incredible blast it was painting it. I am now experiencing similar things with my new resin house and I look forward to the resin houses I will paint in the future. There are really few manufaturers who do properly scaled high quality scenery. There are a lot of small companies who do houses (some on ebay) but most of that stuff can't live up to what I want. I'm pretty picky about scenery and I am not accepting quality any lower than what ForgeWorld does. So I am extremely happy that TW is now feeding my new hunger for great buildings, because besides ForgeWorld and Resina Planet and I don't any such companies.

Furthermore, I am very well aware of what a struggle it is to run a small company that tries to survive in the jungle of the wargames industry. There are hundres of small companies who are trying to make a living of it and few succeed. Most run their business as a part time job in addition to their normal jobs and those who don't do it for the love of it, accepting the little money they make. I admire and try to support each of them (eg, by not buying cheaper from ebay but directly from them) and if they even produce exactly the stuff that I am desperately looking for, then I just love them for it.

You know, I'm not the type of guy to say "oh, cool" and then take it for granted. If I like something then I like to support and help as much as I can.

Thanks a lot Chad!

What can we say Cianty...we truly appreciate your support and effort!! TNX!

How well does it take to hammer blows? Ya know, for ruined Mordheim scenery?

Lord Xi wrote:

How well does it take to hammer blows? Ya know, for ruined Mordheim scenery?

Well, we didn't really try that but resina being so hard I doubt it can be done

Joke aside, if you wanna do a mordheim ruin, you can order any part of any building we made and than with little imagination create a building you want.

Quote :

you can order any part of any building we made and than with little imagination create a building you want

My interest level has just jumped up from "very" to "extremely"

When is my next payday...

Re: Terragenesis - don't be too disheartened by the lack of comments - the forum is read by loads and loads of people who aren't members, and who don't post. I mentioned your company to the guy who runs my gaming club with a view to maybe buying some stuff for the club terrain collection, and to my surprise he said he'd seen your thread on TG, but couldn't find a link to your site - not sure if you have put one on there, or if he missed it - might be worth checking your thread...
The forum itself is based on about a couple of dozen really active members and then a lot of people who lurk and very occasionally post; the problem at the moment as I understand it is that some of the more active members (yours truly included) have got annoyed with the sole admin and have either stopped visiting it, or have scaled back their involvement. With less people to drive on the chat I understand from some of my friends that some of the boards are stagnating a little - but as I said, doesn't mean people aren't reading it and following the links.

_si_ wrote:

Quote :

you can order any part of any building we made and than with little imagination create a building you want

My interest level has just jumped up from "very" to "extremely"

When is my next payday...

Re: Terragenesis - don't be too disheartened by the lack of comments - the forum is read by loads and loads of people who aren't members, and who don't post. I mentioned your company to the guy who runs my gaming club with a view to maybe buying some stuff for the club terrain collection, and to my surprise he said he'd seen your thread on TG, but couldn't find a link to your site - not sure if you have put one on there, or if he missed it - might be worth checking your thread...
The forum itself is based on about a couple of dozen really active members and then a lot of people who lurk and very occasionally post; the problem at the moment as I understand it is that some of the more active members (yours truly included) have got annoyed with the sole admin and have either stopped visiting it, or have scaled back their involvement. With less people to drive on the chat I understand from some of my friends that some of the boards are stagnating a little - but as I said, doesn't mean people aren't reading it and following the links.

Thanks for mentioning us to the guy who runs your gaming club! We really appreciate it!
He missed our web site with reason...we still don't have one, but once the forge is done, our website will be ready for public.