"Laser cut MDF buildings that mesh well" Topic

I'm quite new to old west skirmish gaming and so far have a small selection of buildings, all manufactured by 4ground. These are great and suit my needs well interns of scale, detail, sturdiness and quality, but now I'm looking to add some variety. I've seen buildings by Blotz, Battle Flag and Arcane but worry that they might not look in keeping with those I already have.

Can anyone advise please? Which other manufacturers produce more varied building types that don't look out of place next to 4ground ones?

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I've got Battle Flag and 4Ground and they look good together.

I have numerous posts on my blog about the various western laser cut buildings and manufacturers. Here are links to the ones that are the most relevant:

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Thanks for all your kind and helpful responses. Particularly glad to learn that Battle Flag works well with 4ground as i live in the same town as Battle Flag's owner.

Can anyone comment on Blotz or Arcane please? These buildings don't feature in any of the comments or links offered so far.

I'm not familiar with either of those two brands. Blotz looks like they have a double walled construction like 4Ground. I couldn't find any good pictures of the Arcane stuff although it kind of looks like Sarissa Precision. I may buy one or two and check them out just to keep my blog up to date.

Thanks Heisler.

I was very impressed with your 6-way comparison of MDF buildings. Just what I was looking for.

Thanks Sprotbran! I'm glad that you found it useful.

It turns out that Arcane is a marketing outlet for Sarissa Precision.

I now have a small Battle Flag saloon. I think it sits very well with the 4ground side street buildings. Also working on a Battle Flag attorney office. The main differences I've noticed between the two manufacturers is the there seems to be no option of opening doors with Battle Flag. 4ground achieve this neatly. On the other hand, Battle Flag offer an optional roof shingle kit with their buildings. While I wouldn't want shingles on my whole town it is a nice way of bringing variety in.

Part of the reason that 4Ground was able to do working doors was because of their double shell construction. Although I would like to see Battle Flag do something similar since I have to add detail walls interior walls (and I will). Going that route does increase the construction time and its much better to do it before you glue everything together.

The working doors are cool but in the end I'm not sure they add that much to the atmosphere of a wild west town.

All of those others are a lot less sturdy than the 4Ground buildings.

Very true, 4Ground buildings are very sturdy, but you may a premium for that as well. I find the first buildings in the series to be a good value. However, some of the newer kits are well out of my price range.

Check out "Knucleduster", (aka Forrest Harris, a familiar figure on these pages. knuckleduster.com/)
He sculpts some pretty interesting figs, and carries a line of buildings from Tri-City Laser Inc. of North Carolina. I haven't bought any yet, but have decided that Tri-City's bank will probably be what's going in my town.

Having now built the Battle Flag attorney's office, and kitted out its roof with the optional shingle kit, I find it sits well with the other 4ground buildings. The same is true of the Battle Flag saloon, mentioned earlier in the thread, though I should stress that it is a small saloon, and comparable in size with only the smallest of 4ground's buildings.

My latest acquisitions are two Sarissa Percussion buildings. A gunsmith shop that is equipped with a firing range extension and a blacksmiths. I like these because they feature departures from the standard 'box-with-a-big-facade' structure.

Early impressions of the Sarissa buildings are good. Nice detail in the engraving, but some components are very thin. A great deal of care is necessary when removing from the sprues. I have only just begun to build the smiths, but have already had to repair some peeling veneer corners.

Early days yet, but the Sarissa and Battle Flag buildings share some common features, such as a common approach to how door and window frames are superimposed onto a wall. These kinds of features help the buildings mesh well together, giving me that 'similar but different' variety that I have been seeking.

After studying Heisler's very thorough comparison of six manufacturers, I've decided not to try Tri-City. It really looks in the photographs as though the level of building feature and detail does not compete.