"Seeking advise for town build" Topic

Hello there! So, I am new to this whole miniature world, and I have enjoyed painting so far! I have decided to build a town/village for my collection of Stonehaven Miniatures that I have been steadily collecting over the course of their kickstarter campaigns. The minis are in the heroic 28mm scale, and so far I have the dwarves and gnomes, with elves coming (hopefully) next month. Now, I don't game with them, as I don't have a group to game with where I currently live, but I enjoy painting and basing them. Now, I would like to showcase them with an awesome town for them to live in. (I think it will be more enjoyable to make this, than to start collecting Department 56 Christmas houses that cost so much money and are only displayed over the holidays…)

Now, since that gives an idea on what I have and where I want to go with my collection, here is what I need help with. I want to start building my own collection of medieval/fantasy buildings instead of buying them because I have yet to find some for sale that I really like. Either the buildings that I see just aren't quite what I'm looking for, or they don't open up and have fully usable areas.

However, I have been having a hard time figuring out a scale on which to begin with the buildings. I've not come across many blogs or sites that have explained and given measurements to use, and I am not exactly of the mathematically inclined mindset.

So, first with building height. I was thinking three inches would be a good height for a wall, but at the same time, next to my single human figuring it seems like it could be too tall. However, if there are creatures taller then men, then it could work out. But, on the other hand, next to the dwarves and gnomes it looks ridiculously tall. What height has others found that works well for a multi-race village? Have other people really done anything like this?

What other advise do you have for someone who is new to the whole terrain world, and building of buildings world? I plan on using foam core board for the building walls, and foam, as well as balsa wood. Is there other options that I could look at? Should I invest in other acrylic paints (besides my p3, citadel, etc paints for the minis themselves) and what brands would you recommend?

Thanks in advance! Also, if more clarification is needed, just let me know!

Since you are not gaming with the figures let me offer an idea.

Don't think of a flat table display. Think of a wall display that is about as deep as a book case.

Why? Because you have a mix of races. You could have the dwarves underground with the elves above in a forest. Off to the side you could have a small town.

The cool thing could be the connecting passageways to the surface, through the forest and even the paths in the town. You can still do walls and streets but most buildings would be a dissection.

These use to be done back in the early 1990's by Games Workshop. They allowed for some very cool displays.

Just a thought.

Matthew

I recommend cork tiles, here's how I built mine.
link

Robert

For terrain painting, you may want to look at some of the "craft store" paints as well as some of the mis-mix cans a lot of paint departments have for extremely cheap. They tend to cost less than the normal paints, and they work great for terrain…and the mis-mix ones are ones you can often either find in or easily get mixed to a good brown you can use for dirt around it.

Well, forst of all, if your races vary in height from say 3 to 12 feet, I doubt you'll have "one size fits all" architecture. Sure for civic buildings, market places and the like. But height is problematic. For example, a 12" heavy oaken door might be too heavy for a 3' creature to open. Plus you have to heat/cool all that space with 12' ceilings. So you;re going to have some smaller buildings for dwarves (inns, homes, shops) ands some for the giants.

For me, the size issue is largely a question of personal taste and the function of the model. An accurate scale model is going to be very different from an inexpensive, quickly made, wargame model. As such, I feel it is a question only the artist can answer. I like the idea of different styles/scales for the different races.

I prefer foam core, cardboard and balsa for buildings, but I have seen some great results with cork as well. I sometimes mix paint, craft glue and then add sand for a stucco/plaster effect (plus it strengthens your walls). You can also just use Plaster of Paris. Ditto on the craft paints. I use them for everything. Can't beat them for price.

Try this site if you have not yet. It is the site that has helped me most.

terragenesis.co.uk

Good luck with your project and post some pics here when you get some.

Vertical display is an interesting idea. I never thought of that, and it opens up some ideas. :)

Cork is definitely an option! Great tutorial, as well! I actually ran into that a few weeks ago, and bookmarked it to go back and re-read!

Mis-mixed paints… genius! I can get to a hardware store a heck of a lot easier than a craft store. The downside to living in a small town… the closest craft/hobby stores are 50+ miles away, and I am without a car at the moment, so that makes it even harder.

And thats a problem that I am coming across! I'm trying to figure out a good height for the more common buildings, like the inn/tavern, where I can have multiple height creatures occupying the place with ease, but still have things accessible for them all too. Also, the fact that I do not have the elves in hand yet is posing a problem, since I cannot judge the height. I will definitely do the different size/styles for the houses, and such, but the 'public' ones are different. For example, my blacksmith mini is a dwarf, so I need things that would work with her height, but still look right for any other mini that may be put at the building/shop. On the other hand, I have a gnome chef (yes… a gnome chef with a skillet and a butcher knife… Made me very happy!) and an elvish baker, so their heights will be very different, so I will probably end up having two different things for them. Mill/bakery for elf, something else for gnome.

So many things to figure out!

Ceilings inside houses must be high enough for miniatures with bases; but not too high: historical medieval ceilings were often low in commoners' houses, for pratical reasons, an for fantasy there's no reason it would be different.

For human buildings I make the ground floor ceiling 45 to 50 mm above ground, and upper floors about 45 mm high. It's a bit high but some of my ceilings have a few beams underneath so it's nearer to 40 mm under the beams; and it allows for miniatures with a raised arm.

Medieval doors were also often lower than people's heigth (for solidity, and to keep warmth inside): people accepted to bend their head when entering the house.

If you are interested in creating buildings and such, you might want to take a look at the Hirst Arts molds. It's time consuming, and the molds are certainly not cheap, but you can build some pretty amazing things with them.

Doug

You could also forego the building interiors, and use card stock buildings: print, cut, score, fold, assemble and glue -- Done! No painting necessary. They're quicker to build, require far less effort than building from scratch, and they look quite good. There are many vendors to choose from, but a great place to shop, is RPGNow 3-D models link.

I'm a big fan of Fat Dragon Games (own several 2-D sets, and their Basic Keep model), Dave Graffam Models (none, yet…), as well as Microtactix (I have several of their Village on the Cheap sets -- fantastic!). Cheers!

Thank you everyone who replied to this post! I have a lot to think about with starting the build, and I appreciate all the input that I have received so far.

At this point, the beginning of my foray into terrain/village/town build, I am going to figure out the designs for each race that I have, and see how to incorporate them all together for the more common buildings. I have quite a few ideas floating around in my head that I think will work very well. If anyone is interested, I will post the completed buildings on this forum as well, as I get them done!