Decent Scenery Really Makes A Game Come Alive

While I`m waiting for the bulk of my 10mm Pendraken Miniatures resin terrain to arrive in the post, I thought I`d have a go at a few pieces of my own - both to fill in time before I wear a hole in the carpet from pacing waiting for the postman to deliver (Pendraken tend to cast their stuff to order as opposed to having shelves and shelves of wares already made up), and also, because I`m keen to throw my new rules through their paces with a few simple skirmish games... and for skirmish, maybe even more so than for large scale battles, terrain can make or break a game aesthetically.

These are not fully finished or ink painted yet; still a few bits of scenery to add to the bases, a few dry stone walls to create and paint in, and a bit of touch up where inks have spilled into one another.

I like to have my buildings rest on their very own scenic bases where possible. All too often I look at great wargame table set ups, and yet repeatedly see the same mistake made when it comes to the placing of buildings ... they just seem to sprout out of the grass mat table overlay in a completely unrealistic manner. I like to see buildings surrounded by a bit of hedge, things leaning against the walls, maybe a small path leading to the front and back doors; at the very least a garden should be included? So when I think of buildings, I tend to think of the whole package... the building AND its immediate surroundings. That way, then I come to place the finished creation on the games table, it doesn’t look like some giant hand has reached down and placed it there in an ad-hoc moment of capricious last minute thinking.