"Small SF Off-World Frontier Town Layout Suggestions?" Topic

Ok. These are some of the 15mm buildings I've bought in the last couple of years, with the goal of setting up a small SF frontier town:

2 Amera North African adobe buildings (small and medium):
link

6 Startown Slum buildings (first wave set) from Battle Works Studio:
link

The 5-building set from The Scene UK:
link

And 3 credit card size scratch-built "shacks", much in this style:
link

I've also put GZG doors on 2 upside-down door organizers:
link

And, finally, I'm experimenting with using a couple of these hexagonal styrene trays as SF tents or huts:
link

So . . . I have about 20 small buildings so far, that I thought could be put on the same table and made into a small off-world frontier town.

QUESTIONS:

But, what do you guys think? Are the styles too different to mix? Should the layout include a main road or two?

link

Or are there not enough buildings/structures to try to create the appearance of a town with a couple of roads through it?

And, most importantly . . . . should I scramble the buildings so that each style is scattered throughout, or should I clump each style as if the owners wanted to stay with their own, or have some as a core and the rest as unplanned growth?

Thanks,

Dan
TMP link
TMP link
TMP link
TMP link
TMP link
TMP link

By the way, this is where the buildings will be placed:

link

Dan
PS. And I can even try to make it more exotic and add about 10 of these tents to outskirts of the settlement:
rebelminis.com/sahabte.html

link

From the pictures and description I'd go with the adobe, sheeting (plastic or metal0 constructs and tents. Doesn't look like there is much wood available

Dan,

That's basically the type of table I've been playing on for months. All the different buildings look great together. I suggest getting loads of assorted containers, barrels, crates, scrap piles, etc. to place around the buildings… they give it a far more "used and lived in" appearance.

I need to make some roads next. Right now, my settlements just look like they were built right into the same ground as the surrounding hills and rocks. Roads would help with the "lived in" appearance. I want there to be at least one road leading to a table edge, with some spurs going to my larger BWS buildings.

Chris K.

Chris,

Simple but excellent layout. How big is that table of yours?

Thanks,

Dan

Myself, I favor a wild mix of building styles/materials for large settlements, with a fair amount of stylistic "clumping" so it looks like different areas were built at different times out of the then-available materials. Lots of junk scattered around helps too, and some unifying features (graffiti, signage, plants, or even just a good drybrush with the same color of dirt & dust) help make it look like one village rather than a collection of independent buildings. OTOH, it makes them harder to use for other purposes, so there's a tradeoff involved.

Must say it's gratifying to see our slums on the table with GZG's work. Always been a big fan of Jon's sculpting.

Found it:

link

It's 24" by 24", which might mean that I could place twice as many buildings and accessories on my 24" by 48" Mars board:

link

Dan

Excellent board Dan, the rocks are great.

That layout suggests to me a logical layout.
I would expect to see buildings hug the rocks for shelter from Martian winds and for shade.
There seems to be an obvious route for a road/track too.

Here is a very poor sketch that shows roughly where I would put buildings and the traffic flow.

Michael.

About that… my suggestion would be to select a direction from which the wind comes and place all your builds as to be shielded from it at least in part by the rock outcroppings. Maybe even put up artificial walls to provide additional buffering. On a planet like this there would be tons of sand storms so people would want to be shielded from them

Kicking in the very expensive degree I have in Geography I would say a mix of styles would depend on how old and how culturally varied your settlement is.

Ask your self why is the berg here in this place? The answer will say a lot about who is here and why they built where they did. If at a crossroads the major commercial establishments will orient on and be as close to either path.

Towns without a strong central planning ethos tend to be random in placement with each being placed as terrain and whim of the builder dictate. Paths will tend to be as direct as placement of buildings allow.

Depending on how "blue" your Mars is, I'd think an important town feature would be water supply. Could be a well, could be a be vapor trap/condenser gadget, could just be a tank or tanks. Individual buildings might feature condensers and smaller tanks on their rooftops, making for one of those unifying features I mentioned.

If you want a retro homage, include a canal, wet or dry. :)

Good thread!

I also tend to go with the 'logical-ish' approach as well, placing a couple of the larger bldgs. in the center of the play area, and build off of that. Angel Barrack's rough sketch above is a great look.

I assume that these settlements are placed near the resources that are most critical. That could be fresh water if they are planning to be self-sustaining, or fossil fuel deposits or mine entrances if minerals and metals are the main purpose.

On a 2' x 4' board, you could put the settlement a bit closer to one short edge, and your mine entrances or oil rigs near the other.

Chris K.

These might be a little "up-armored" for your needs, but I am using these for Federal Mining facilities Dan:
link

Also, if you dont mind a Desert/Islamic off-world look, then there are these that I also currently use:
link
link
link

Good thread!

It IS a good thread, lots of input, lots of ideas, what TMP is all about.

oooh maybe put a rough observation tower on the big bottom outcrop?

I think the answer requires a bit of thought.

First off, how are you going to play using the town? Is it going to be a campaign for the survival of the town? Then you need to look into a permanent set up.

Is it going to be a series of random locations/edge of a larger martian city? Then be prepared to set up differently each time.

In space or on earth mining towns needed some way to ship the freight back to civilization. So a train like in ghosts of mars would be good or perhaps that doesn't work due to the environment then a convoy of mega dump-trucks are needed.

Trains need tracks and a station… so even if you don't get a train adding some tracks and a shack/loading platform would work for it.

Had to steal from my grandson here so forgive the representational manner of my pic;

Towns sprung up around access so take the train tracks they should be close to main street. Look at route 66 for towns growing the same way off of traffic on streets.

If its been around a long while I'd make a couple of these for the far edge of the area.

I'd mix the buildings myself. But I don't know your background. Perhaps all your Adobe buildings are the best of that groups housing and the shacks and the rest spread about where they can fit representing the poorest members(think china town in old west towns)… most likely the menial diggers in the mines. They build their houses on "miners side" and the corp members have the better stuff in organized rows.

Just my ramblings on it.

DZT

Don't forget the power supply, outside generators, cables, pipes etc.

Don't forget the power supply, outside generators, cables, pipes etc.

Or solar panels on each building. It's easy to imagine that a hastily constructed settlement is going to have self-sustaining buildings rather than developed infrastructure.

Mark H. also wrote about wind turbines as a cheap and easy to maintain power source for this type of settlement:
link

Chris K>

If some or all of the buildings are bashed out of starship escape pods or prefab "drop habitat" modules (an idea Dan's mentioned in the past) a lot of the basics (power panels, water condensers, waste recycling) could be built right in from scratch. Of course, a pod that's been in use for a long time will have things break down, original equipment will get replaced with not-quite-right gear salvaged from a variety of sources, occupants will add weird kitbashed extensions. Age and finances will produce widely varied looks over time.

I have been thinking that wind turbines might not actually show up on tonscapes because they are usually so large and have to be strategically placed so as not to be too close to the town.

It seem you would want your town out of the prevailing winds but your wind turbines in them.

As for general arrangement of towns go, I imagine we can draw from the Old West or other more modern settlements that live in limited resource environments.

-Eli

You have to decide what you town represents.

- Is it along a main route of travel, either a wide, paved road or along train tracks.

- Is it an established community, with water wells, agricultural areas (hydroponics?), a police force, schools, etc?

- Is it a way-station? A rest area for those traveling between main destinations (such as towns, mines, etc.).

-Is it homogeneous or does it represent "waves" of settlers moving in each with a different building style. The first wave could have been miners who, after finding a worthwhile strike, fly a old, junker ship out to the site and strip it down for building material (Startown Slum buildings).

Some items that might be good for something like this…

While scaled for 28mm the moisture collectors and tanks here might be useful, and if you wanted the air vent could make an interesting part to some vast network of subterranean terraforming equipment or something…

link

As could the tanks, transformers, mini-nuclear reactor, and if you're feeling playful the oil well could be used for something playful.

link

Powerplant and chemical planet here could be useful too

link

This stuff could also be useful: link

Dan,

Check out "Outcasts" on BBC America. Picture gallery for episodes 6, 7, and 8 have a few pics of the cits. A mix of concrete buildings and cargo contaqiners.

link

Cool pics!!!

Thanks,

Dan

Outcasts is definitely full of good visuals for a long-term, but not fully developed colony.

-Eli

I second the idea of building a "back story" for your colony – and planet. I think you need to start at the beginning – decide what sort of game you want to play and develop your colony accordingly. For instance you could have a dry world with a similar gravity to Earth but subsurface water in a frozen state. Atmosphere is still thin, the climate is cold and free standing non frozen water non-existent.

A terraforming project has been started using atmosphere generators ( link ) and some drilling for water is occurring. Small settlements are developing around the atmosphere processing and water mining industries – bars, markets and farming ( within greenhouses ) .

The company sponsoring the terraforming project has employed a mercenary company to provide security for it's equipment to protect it from environmentalists who wish to preserve the wild nature of the planet.

The heavy handed attitude of the mercs has antagonised many of the local people and is engendering sympathy for, if not environmentalism, then at least opposition to the company.

And there you have a background for your villages ( the small starport could be the focus of the only "town" which would have the Company offices, HQ for the Mercs, warehousing, light industry, education and medical services etc ) scattered across the planet along with beginning of a counter insurgency campaign….

OK. Well, this was my original idea . . .

1) By the year 2100(?) Earth partially terraforms Mars and establishes several colonies there (mining sites and continued terraforming facilities);

2) A series of wars and subsequent plagues on Earth makes it impossible to continue sending supplies, equipment and additional people to the colonies on Mars (communication eventually ceases – though many have hope in a return);

3) After a generation or two, the off-world colonies resign themselves to make do without any help from Earth, and develop independently as scavenger groups in competition with each other.

4) Many slowly dismantle the factories, plants and wrecked spacecraft to build simple shelters above and below ground. Some discover subterranean ruins of an ancient civilization and believe themselves to be the heirs of that civilization. Others try to maintain a semblance of civilization, however degraded.

So, instead of it being a frontier town for an expanding civilization, it is more like a lost colonies or a dying outpost scenario.

Wyatt The Odd and Cilidar gave some good ideas too:

TMP link

Dan
TMP link
TMP link
TMP link

Here is a pocket power plant from Armorcast link

I want to point out that Nuclear Stand plants are seriously being discussed for developing nations. A stand plant is a self contained plant that can be delivered on site operational.

I think that would work great for 15mm! Actually, it looks a bit small for 28mm.

Great suggestion!

Thanks,

Dan

While looking at the Amera models in the 1/72 section there are Nissen Huts (S212) which look like they would fit in well with a prefab colony.

Or, possibly the Vietnamese range of shanties by Timecast:
link

I suspect the S&S shanties will be a tad large for your purposes – but they are pretty inspirational nevertheless:
link

Good point!!!

There does seem to be a lot of Nissen Huts in the settlement attacked by Reavers in the movie Serenity:

To zoom:

link

Dan

How do you guys like this?

Dan
TMP link
TMP link

ooooh jet booster funnel as a water catcher, I am knicking that.

How about this? Looks like it would scale better to 15mm and god knows what they're pumping out of the planet.

link

Aside from purchased pieces, at the moment I am trying to figure out how to make shanties that look like they were made using sections of spaceship hulls:

And these are just a few examples. There are also lots of cool screenshots from the Stargate Worlds video game, if anyone needs added inspiration.

Thanks,

Dan
TMP link
TMP link
TMP link

and god knows what they're pumping out of the planet.

"That is *not* water."
"Black blood of the earth."
"Do you mean oil?"
"I mean black blood of the earth."

I don't know of how to help with your layout but saw this and thought of you CC

PS this is a real place here on earth, your job find it!

Acacus, Lybia does have amazing terrain:

link

Dan

Ooooo I really digging that oil pump from Armorcast excuse the poor pun….

Then you'll love what this fella has done here:

Source (August 12, 2002 entry):
ironhands.com/new.htm

I wish I could fit something like that 4' x 8' table. Unfortunately, I have very little space left for terrain.

Dan

For me the whole point of getting into 15mm gaming was so that i could scale down and play on smaller 3x3 or even 2x2 areas which is just great because its very quick to set up which leaves me more time gaming, also a little bit of terrain goes a long way and storage is not a big issue now. The above terrain boards do look very sexy but personally i prefer my terrain not to be fixed down simply so i can create new table layouts every time i game, and i use carpet tiles for my boards, they are usually 2x2 and come in a wealth of different colours and the gray rubber under side can always double as a urban or city board.

Space was also my reason for going into 15mm.

Space available for playing, storing figures, storing terrain, etc.

Dan

From what I've seen of urban sprawl in Ethiopia, Kenya India & the NW Frontier, I'd go for clumping a mix of buildings (sturdy hovel with walled/enclosed "gardens" surrounded by shipping containers,lean-toos, rubbish piles/ruins and shanties with alleys dividing them, linking up to a few main roads. Think random not surburbia.
Outskirts of town tending to tents/grass huts. Follows the evolution of the "towns" growth.

One Brigadier-General(yes I know) I was visiting in India
had a very nice fancy place with nice tended lawns & drive way, Surrounded by a wall. Outside the gate,hard up against the wall was rubbish piles and shanties.

Also the odd shrub or tussock on the roof and roaming packs of "dogs" (or similar)

Fascinating to read this, TMP on the ball as usual!

I've been thinking (before seeing this) about how a colony would actually evolve on a planet from first off, I've jumbled various theories to imagine what a typical frontier/back of beyondcolonial village would look like.

My assumption is ithas some base function to be there – mineral extraction, agriculture, whatever – thouigh that does define some of the gear.

Here are my thoughts:

1. The first event would be a transport container ship landing, it would carry prefab stuff, and quite a bit of food, fuel etc, plus colonists. It would probably be a one way ship, so would also be designed to operate as a colony hub for a while.

2. The first stuff built would be from the prefab equipment, and would probably be accomodation, and stuff to ramp up self sufficiency – storage, workshops, plant to process waste, make fuel etc, plus gear to get food growing fast – maybe something like polytunnels or hydroponic areas

3. The "2nd Gen" would be using simple, easily available local materials, as advanced new stuff and spares etc would be hard to get until local raw material extraction and fabrication got under way

4. 3rd Gen would then be a blend of local materials and human styles as better on-planet fabrication arose, but adapting to the local environment in particular (Winterworld, hotworld, wetworld etc) plus some newer/better prefab stuff imported from off-planet on later trips. The retained wealth (and dispersion) of the colonial village would be a function too – shacks vs chateaux

5. I think the original central layout would be gridiron, becoming more hapahazard as it expands – maybe the core surrounded by an early wall/ditch if it was threatened (and used until the Bad Things are beaten off). Maybe a fort of some sort to be used as a refuge (perhaps the Ship functions like that?)

6. I don't know how much would be communal vs independent, but my impression is that poorer frontier settlements tend to have fewer assets so share them more, juxtaposed with a few wild frontierspeople who live almost hermitly in shacks, on the wild borderlands.

7. In my experience, any colonial small town you care to visit is Dull! There is always a hotel/bar with oldtimers watching the passing parade on the benches ouitside, a tractor dealer/garage with young men lounging and gawking at the new cars, some form of agricultural handling/storage plant by the railyard, a church, and a cafe/diner with a chicken rotisserie providing the only entertainment apart from the one set of traffic lights on Main st changing colour :)

Also, some thoughts on what may be built in any generic town:

I'm thinking:

- Some Phase 1 Prefab accommodation (I like those hextangular ones)
- Some Phase 2 "local material accomodation" to taste
- an energy creation plant (I rather fancy a geothermal plant)
- A waste conversion plant
- A food processing unit (hydroponics, water capture etc)
- Some form of fuel storage depot
- some form of warehousing
- Some form of town admin building for mayor/sheriff etc (the ubiquitous French "Mairie")
- Some light industry/fabs/workshops
- A tavern/hotel
- in the wild borderlands, the inevitable brothel
- The transport node – railyard, rocket port, road haulage termninus etc
- assuming a dropship founding, some remnant cannibalised dropship with some retained functionality (use of its guns, comms, etc)

I can see lots on this thread to help in that, but thoughts on my thouights?

Very nice breakdown! And logical too.

But where do government officials (law) come in? Right after the initial wave of prospectors have set up their container home camp, or much later? And would the government official more likely set up in the outskirts of the prospector camp, or right in the middle of it all?

I guess that, in the end, it all depends on who everyone is following:

1) Individual prospectors;
2) A corporate prospecting venture;
3) A military garrison; or
4) Something else entirely

Dan

I was assuming the old dropship functions as some form of "official" offices until a new admin (probably plus functions eg market space etc) building goes up as the dropship is finally fully cannibalised.

I'd think it may be quite central and a bit more grand – maybe even a fortified complex in more troubled regions.

Insteresting stuff about Old West Town development:

TMP link

link

Dan

I'd expect something like the old West town layout. Main street runs perpendicular to the tracks, ends at the front of the station. Freight district parallels the tracks with warehouses.

If you're talking an unpleasant place like Mars, towns are going to be laid out with windbreaks, either planted (trees) or built.

I think overall town layouts vary by reason for founding and thus the different traffic flows ( fort, mining, road/rail town, farming), but in the 18/19 th century the central area gridiron ( often with town square) was popular though modified by terrain. Streets were wide so you could turn a spanned wagon round.

Agree re windbreaks etc, you could also imagine covered pedestrian walkways in harsh climates, though playing practicality also needs to be considered