Normandy ruins for Bolt Action

A busy time at work has kept me from playing games or updating this blog for a few weeks. I have however been using down time in the evenings to make terrain for our Bolt Action table. I find it better therapy than watching the TV....

For my birthday last month my son Nick gave me four ruined buildings supplied by Charlie Foxtrot models. Added to three intact buildings and some outhouses, I hope to have a passable French hamlet, or the outskirts of a town to fight over. The more varied the terrain, the more We tend to enjoy Bolt Action, partly because the limited sight lines make up for the much shortened weapon ranges in the rules.

The burnt out house

I have finished three of the ruins so far. The lowest ruin had, I decided, been burnt out. I painted the second, with a hole in the roof but intact ground floor, as if it had not long been hit. The third one, with an intact stairwell but not much left on the first floor, had been like that for some time so had streaks and accumulated decay from exposure to the elements.

It is easy to get carried away with terrain, especially when the manufacturer does such a good job with the detailing. I have been playing around with free downloadable dolls house paper, for walls and floors. The scale is too big but it is easy to shrink the patterns either in a document or as you print. The website below offers free wallpapers tailored to particular decades so I have used the 1930s pattern book.

http://www.jennifersprintables.com/printables1.html


Of course, after a few weeks in the rain wallpaper will get soggy, peel off and fade. I found the simplest way to mimic this is actually to soak the paper with water and then to dribble the odd drop of brown wash down it.

All three finished ruins are still a bit bright to be truly realistic: I have not drenched them in plaster dust, brick rubble or ash. There is also too little debris on the floors. But bearing in mind these are gaming accessories and part of the overall look of the table, I am happy with them.

The doll house bug is a dangerous one however. At Salute in April I bought some dining chairs, a wardrobe and a couple of bed frames to scatter around the exposed rooms. I have promised myself I won't furnish the fully enclosed ground floors but i can't be sure that I'll be able to resist.