Lendro Furioso's WIP Mk.II

Hey everyone! It's been a long time coming, but I'm back to crafting. I first started this project around 2011 in this thread. As we all know, life can get in the way of our hobby, and I haven't produced a piece of terrain since around 2012. Still, a Mordheim board has never left my imagination so now that I have a bit more free time I've decided to pick back up where I had stopped. While my hopes of actually playing Mordheim are slim to none, I'm basically doing this for the fun of building: no pressure, no time constraints! So, to get back into the swing of things I started with a small project, a tiny cottage. Here is the almost finished result:





Of course, storage space is still an issue, so I continued to use my building method, appropriately named by a member of this forum "the IKEA spirit".




I decided to start small, since I knew there would be mistakes aplenty in this (and indeed there were). The stone texture on the base of the building is pretty terrible up close, but good enough for my tabletop atm. There are a few gaps which I believe I can fix with more exact construction, as well as corrections to be made on my particular building method. We'll see how well those work out.

I'm also unhappy with the colour of the floor, it looks quite reddish and unfit for a house of this size. Any ideas how to fix it besides lathering gobs of paint on top of it? The woodgrain isn't up to par on this one, so I'm not sure what to do...


Anyway, my next project will be a taller house with a bigger blueprint, which I hope I can pull off. I've yet to decide what kind of shop will occupy the ground floor. Great to be back, and I have to say, despite the lack of recent traffic in this forum, it is still a major source of inspiration. Keep doing the good work, Fearless Leader Tom!

Despite your misgivings it is a SPLENDID little building. I am sure each new one will be even better. OUTSTANDING WORK!

Great stuff! And your Ikea building philosophy is very practical- an excellent idea.

The house is just fine and the wood's not too red imo. If you want to change it anyways, without repainting using some washes is probably the way to go. Or drybrushing with some sand-tones? Not sure what you ment with "the woodgrain is not up to par".

Anyway, good luck with the next, bigger project!

I think your flooring looks perfectly fine. When you say "too reddish" are you preferring darker/browner or a lighter/yellower tone?

The color of the floor looks very close to the original box set floors. Seems great to me...

Excellent work

Thanks for the replies, everyone!

Regarding the floor, your comments have swayed me: it will remain as is, and I can move on to my next project! What I meant by "the woodgrain isn't up to par" is that the texture didn't come out great on the floorboards, I was afraid scoring it would weaken the structure (since the whole thing relies on the floor keeping it together). Like I said, I think I'll do better next time.

Once again, thanks for the input!

That building looks great -- especially for something that packs down!

First of all, thanks for all the replies!

Now, since I noticed in my last thread that people seemed to enjoy the little bits of terrain I made more than the buildings themselves, here is an update on those! (for the record, I enjoy doing these more as well!) Now, they're unpainted, but that just means I like them. Any tips on doing wood with acrylics? I'm pretty rubbish myself... Anyway, onto the scatter terrain!




First up, a mailbox. This was lifted straight up from the inspiration thread on this forum, page 1! Once painted I'll have to make some scrolls/letters to cream into it. I figure in the dying days of Mordheim people would have wanted to tell their loved ones what was happening; of course, all the letters remain in place, waiting for pickup. It's a small piece, but I love scatter terrain, and in the end it's just another piece of cover.




Next, a redo of my handcart. I realized the first one was far too large, almost as big as my small wagon (posted in my original thread). I did it again at a more appropriate scale, and am quite happy with the results.




A companion piece for my pillory, it will feature the list of hangings poster Arcuballis posted on the forums (my thanks go out to you, of course).




A small plinth fountain, somewhat inspired by the original set of Mordheim terrain. This was my first time trying blue insulation foam, which was a marvel to work with. While I won't be investing in a hot wire table just yet, I am curious to work with this material again after seeing all the wonderful things people have done with it in this forum.




A chest for the "Hidden Treasure" scenario in the rulebook. Quite simple to make, if a bit fiddly.



And to finish off, just a small pile of lumber. I had this dried branch lying around and decided to cut it up.


All the official "city" bits will be embellished with Empire symbols from my bitz box (I have some Instant Mold and may try to do a few duplicates). Once painted I think they will liven up the terrain a bit, as well as provide some cover and tactical options. I tried to put Aenur on the side for scale, but the perspective (and my lack of skill as a photographer) throws it off. Suffice to say the scale is appropriate with a based miniature standing next to it.
I have a couple more ideas (a barricade on wheels, an open iron-wrought sewer-grate, that sort of thing) but I'm kind of running out. I'd definitely appreciate any input on those! Anyway, hope you enjoy!

While I think the house you built is a great piece of work, I really love these smaller pieces! They feature some excellent woodwork, and I think they'll add some character to your city.

The accessory pieces are BEAUTIFULLY crafted little gems. It is the attention to detail that makes a Mordheim board interesting. GREAT WORK!  

Great little pieces- the wheel barrow is especially inspired.

Nice little incidental pieces there!

Really nice scatter pieces to go with the building there. I especially like the pillory (one item that never occurred to me before...).

For more ideas, I once noted down a whole list (which, again, was missing a pillory!) including market stalls, road signs, gallows, witch-burning stake, way-shrines &/or milestones, a cart (overturned or otherwise), forge equipment, & the contents of a chapel (like pews/benches, a lectern, & a probably defiled altarpiece). Things like smithy equipment or chapel objects can be placed in the middle of some generic ruined walls to create a definite location.

Once again, thank you all for the praise!

Rhydderch, thank you in particular for the suggestions! Some are already on my list, like the market stalls (I plan on doing a raised section of the board for a market, and some stalls will be a good addition to the otherwise open area). The gallows are a must, I just haven't gotten around to doing them yet. The cart, however, is something I've done in my original thread, linked above if you want to take a look (I just need to add a few more, in differet styles!). I also have a small altar piece from the Bretonnian army I plan to use as a small way-shrine piece (or maybe as part of a cabinet of a more devout resident!)

I've a lot more scatter terrain planned, including (but not limited to) a long poster board in the same style as my "mailbox" (to make good use of Arcuballis' wonderful posters), a coach crashed into a street sign, more fountains, a pigeon cote (inspired by Boreas_NL on this very forum), etc. If I ever get to do this all it'll be a crowded city! Many of these pieces might be a bit on the large site, and I like smaller stuff to do that takes me a couple hours from start to finish (minus paint, which takes me ages). It's those pieces I'm having trouble coming up with. In that vein, I also plan on doing some stuff for inside the houses. So, update time: this is just a small bookcase I made (painted and everything!).




What do you think? I know it's a bit too clean to put inside a ruined building, but I just couldn't bring myself to pour a layer of brown/black/tan over the whole thing. I like the bright colours, they really draw the eye... Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Granted, it's not very mortheim-ish (tto clean, as you mentioned, and too full of good stuff that should have been plundered ages ago) but I totally understand why you did it your way. It's more charming than must stuff you can buy, great addition!

The bookcase with all its contents is a LOVELY little creation, AND BEAUTIFULLY painted. VERY WELL DONE!

oh my goodness, that looks fabulous at the size it's displaying on my monitor (i.e. large), let alone it's actual (28mm ?) size ....  amazing.

* - oh, and packable-down building is just brilliant. Absolutely the approach I would take if I had the modelling chops.

Thanks for the feedback, guys!

@DeafNala: your words of encouragement are always welcome. You really do this board a service, thank you!

@Grimscull: I plan to make a wizard's tower/shop, and the bookcase will be a part of it. Since I liked it so much as-is, I think I will make the ruined tower unlooted. Maybe the wizard had spell protections in place or something, what do I know?

@Harrock: thanks for the high praise! As for modelling chops, not sure I have any! It's just lots of patience and a love for what you're making.


Onto the update! I started a new building after some light painting and thought I'd show some WIP of my (new and improved) building method. It's somewhere around Mk.V, I believe. This time around, I reinforced the holes for the wooden beams with plasticard to make them stand up better to being put together/apart. If anyone has any questions, don't hesitate to ask. Anyway, onto the pictures!





The plan was to make a well-to-do shop, with the owner living upstairs. Now, my plan changed slightly once I started cutting (it was too big!), hence the huge window upstairs and the patchwork on the window on the ground floor. All of that is fixable. The floorboards aren't in place yet, and the ruined walls are just a rough cut. Of course, it still flat-packs (well, mostly, but you'll see).




One architectural detail I really wanted to include was an oriel window. It's not a flat detail when unpacking the building, but I don't think it will detract much, as long as it's not super-fragile. So anyway, I went ahead and built (most of) one:



I'll do the "roof" of it once it's installed, but I'm unsure of where to put it on the facade. It was supposedly going on the 1st floor, but now I have a giant gaping maw on the 2nd floor (it would need to be patched up to plug it in, but that's probably going to happen anyway. What do you think?

I love the bay/oriel window & the lead glass effect. LOOKIN' GOOD!

Update time! I ended up installing the bay window on the 2nd floor, it was mostly cut out anyway! I did the timbering on most of the facade, I'm indecisive on what to do with the large panels on either side of it, though. The top portion was a bit of a nightmare to do, as I wanted a weird pattern. I ended up cutting little triangle pieces out of plasticard, hopefully it will paint up nicely as wood.



The sides of the building will be much simpler: square paneling with a rounded cross-brace in each corner. As with most real-life Tudor buildings, the owners spruced up the facade to give the impression of wealth. In this case, I'm thinking this building belonged to a nouveau-riche gun merchant. He didn't even board up his windows, thinking his guns would keep him safe. Of course, one of the blackpowder kegs got a little too close to the fire, hence the lack of a chimney!

I've yet to complete the building itself: the entrance is recessed, making it a bit of a nightmare to put together with my method. I'll also add an interior wall once the floor's done. Anyway, hope you enjoy!

BEAUTIFUL! The half timbering & leaded glass windows are GORGEOUS. OUTSTANDING WORK!

Dang! The timbering looks AMAZING...you should be proud!

The triangles are a wonderful addition - the devil is in the details, and really brings the story of this building to life.

mariner2011 wrote:

Dang! The timbering looks AMAZING...you should be proud!

The triangles are a wonderful addition - the devil is in the details, and really brings the story of this building to life.

Yeah, that took me the better part of an afternoon, along with placing and roofing the window (I'll probably add roof tiles in the same style as the roof when I do it). I really should have scored the plasticard strip before cutting the triangles up, but alas I thought of it too late into the process. Like I said, I hope they paint up nicely!

@DeafNala: I'm quite happy with the windows myself. I made them not perfectly straight (by design, of course, *coughcough*) and I really think they give the building charm. I might do a smaller jettied window on one side of the building, but I'm thinking of keeping the intact side with no windows. In game this gives less of an advantage to shooty warbands. Thoughts?

Blank walls have a lot of potential; e.g., cracks, missing areas of plaster revealing underlying brick/woodwork, posters wanted & otherwise.