The Cursed Village of Ravenswick

Hello and beware with the cursed village of Ravenswick!

As I've been collecting dozens of pictures of the artwork from The Brothers Grimm (by the author Guy Hendrix Dyas), I got some serious inspiration to get started on my own spooky village.

The other motivation for this project was to see how certain materials would work (like teddy bear fur for thatched roofs) and different types of vegetation for the base.

So, starting with the first building of the village. This is an old barn. No one knows who lives there, if anybody...
I did a rough sketch of what I was aiming for.



However, the building turned slightly different. I used foamboard for the main structure and then glued several layers of balsa wood and teddy bear fur on the roof. The door was made of blue foam.




I also did some testing with the base with lots of spooky trees, until settling for a less populated one. The trees are from Woodland Scenics.



The base is made of MDF board, sturdy but easy to cut. I added a mix of sand, bird grit and leaves from used tea bags.



After painting the barn (apologies for the lack of WIP pictures for that stage), I added some wooden fence around the base - this was done with balsa wood, pierced by pins (I then chopped the pinheads to make it look more realistic).

I then placed vegetation all over the base (a mix of Woodland Scenics Coarse Turf Medium Green for the main layer of grass and then Underbush Medium Green plus Bushes Olive Green for added vegetation) plus tufts from Army Painter and dead leaves from Antenocitis Workshop. All of these received several layers of wattered down dark brown paint (I used cheap paint from Wilkinson's called Java Bean).



Further finishing touches included placing some human evidence to the base like little pathways and some tools and objects like barrels and buckets (Antenotitis) and a pitchfork from Warlord Games.




Several hours on, the building was done.



And now, some outdoors pictures.

























I hope you like it!

Joao

P.S. with all the excitement of getting this posted, I forgot to credit two people who gave me serious inspiration and help in making terrain: Jeff (Theomar Pius) and Tony Harwood. Jeff's blog is a daily joy for me to visit (he's also a regular in this Forum):
http://thestonecuttersguild.tumblr.com/tagged/wip

And Tony's blog and printed book contain lots of incredibly helpful tips and ideas on how to make terrain (the fences were done following his tutorial in the book):
http://dampfpanzerwagon.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/building-wargame-terrain-by-tony-harwood.html

A BIG thanks to you two!

Great job! So characterful. Maybe you need to twist the trees a little bit more?

Ah Grasshopper, you the Masters join with this creation wonderful!     

In the photo with the wizard approaching the building, it looked at first as though the lower doors hung open. That looked scary!

The woodland scenics trees do look a bit flat in some of the photos, but the overall piece is amazing!    

Nice Build, I really like the Windows.

EXCELLENT WORK! That has a WONDERFULLY spooky feel to it. Your creation has a cinematic aura to it that's enhanced by all the SPLENDID details you added.   

I really like it. Good work man  . We look forward to further parts of village.  

Wow senor, this is absolutly awesome! Great details and choice of colours, love it!

Extremely well done, Sir! I love the sagging side roof, the nesting crow, the cobbles and everyting else. All ties nicely together.

Great Job!

Thank you for all your feeback, good hobby people!

Also, thanks for the suggestions. I will twist the trees a little more and also add an extra tree to the base to make it more spooky.

It also struck me that the building looks too "clean". Therefore I will add more foliage to the walls and some more weathering to increase the realism.

Joao

Hot damn! When I saw the first photos recently I was assuming that this was a Thomarillion house from their seaport range. Didn't realize it was scratch-built. Wow!

This is such an epic and inspirational piece. And the photos you took makes it look so real. This is how I want my house to look like in the end. Wow! Love the moss on the roof. Might need to steal that

Now that is one very cool build.

And the base you put it on just completely finishes it! It ties in wonderfully and makes one whole piece.

Also, the way you photographed it outdoors has such a great result that i'm tempted to try that out myself.
Woodland scenic trees eh? Might need to check that out!

That is a really nice piece. I agree with everyone else that you've captured an awesome spooky vibe with this one. I think I like the windows the best, and the pins holding the fence together. It seems silly that that is my favorite part since it is so tiny, but the whole piece is so awesome that it is those tiny details that show the work and take it to the next level.

Great work! I'm looking forward now to some more buildings in this style.

FANTASTIC work with amazing details! I am truly in awe of your work. Can't wait to see more.

Really nice work chief! The angle of the roof and the arrangement of the timbers make it look nicely Germanic. I particularly like the moss on the roof tiles
Lovely detail work and a nice paint job too! Look forward to seeing more.

Very impressive work. I really love the `outdoors` pictures. Im guessing this village would be for an empire in flames game?

Highly detailed and very inspiring stuff - it will perfectly suit gloomy and mysterious atmosphere of the Empire in Flames setting !

Might you be able to submerge the trees in hot water, and twist them up once the plastic softens? If it works, it'd avoid having flat trees, and the twisting look could work for a cursed village (as opposed to a branching, fuller look from other plastic trees that branch in front to back as well as side to side)

Reg06 wrote:

Might you be able to submerge the trees in hot water, and twist them up once the plastic softens? If it works, it'd avoid having flat trees, and the twisting look could work for a cursed village (as opposed to a branching, fuller look from other plastic trees that branch in front to back as well as side to side)

That is a good thought. However, that actually isn't necessary; i.e., the tree armatures are meant to be twisted into more three dimensional shapes & stay quite nicely in their new poses.   

Thanks for the feedback and comments!

@ cianty: Actually, the latest Thomarillion Laketown houses gave me some inspiration for the woodwork in this one!

@ Kev: Thanks a lot! The moss was made with Woodland Scenics Coarse Turf Medium Green washed with some GW Agrax Earthshade to give it a more natural and organic look. I used to put static grass for generic vegetation, but I now think that Woodland Scenics stuff is way better and much more realistic.

@ Quase: yeah, those trees are really cool and versatile! And very cheap considering the amount of them you get per pack. As for the photography, I would really like to see your terrain and warbands shot in natural light; that would be awesome!

@ Zab: That comment coming from such a master as yourself was quite something! I agree with you: adding tiny, characterful details here and there definitely adds so much character to anything we do. It took me ages to make this, but it was worth it!

@ mikeyc222: Thanks a lot! I can't wait to have some more time on my hands and get the creative juices flowing for further buildings - hopefully spooky houses!

@ Capt B: Thank you! The roof was a sequence of happy accidents all the way. I might try different techniques when working with teddy bear fur next time!

@ flipchuc and Kapitan_Hak: thanks for the mention of Empire in Flames. I had forgotten about that amazing supplement! I guess this type of terrain could suit that setting, although I spend more time making stuff than actually playing (heresy, I know!).

@ Reg06 and DeafNala: Thanks for the trees' suggestions. I will do a bit more testing and see how it goes. They look ok at the moment, but not completely realistic as I want them to appear. To be continued!

Joao