"Essential RCW terrain" Topic

Hi all, im trying out this clay recipe my wife used with one of our kids for some very minor conversions… i made a whole batch and need to make something with all the leftovers.

I love making random terrain and scenery pieces, its a lot of fun. I figured, i could put the extra clay to use, hence my question.

I did a search for this topic and didnt see an older one, apologies if i missed it, but what do you all include among essential (or less essential, but fun), terrain pieces for the rcw? I know ill need to build a lot of grassy steppe sections for my purposes. I was also considering building some thatch roof sections i could pop on top of my spanish civil war village buildings, and when those arent satisfactory, new homes in general. Beyond homes and grass, what do you use on your tables? I look forward to hearing all the great ideas, and if not, i can always make more barricades.

Russia is very big. Civil war went on throughout its territory. Here there can be steppes, forests, mountains, and deserts. First you need to decide which theater of war you are interested in.
Most play combat in the south of Russia (Crimea, Ukraine, the Caucasus and the Don region). Just because there are interesting and widely known colorful uniforms (although similar ones were common in other regions).
There are very few forests in Crimea and Ukraine, therefore, mainly the buildings here will be made of clay, painted with lime and covered with straw. In areas with extensive forests, most of the buildings will be made of logs, and the roofs are covered with boards.
City houses will look mainly like typical European ones.
Search online for color photographs of Prokudin-Gorsky. These photos were taken in various regions of Russia around the time you are interested in, and will be very useful in working on the terrain:
link

Apologies, i should have specified, i am indeed mostly interested in Ukraine. Thanks for the link, i look forward to digging through those great photos.

Ukrainian rural houses will look like this (look at old photos, not at kitsch for tourists)))

link

Railroads will be important, so you'll need bridges, a station and a water tower. You can put that clay to use making trenches, and how about cuttings to line parts of your tracks and roads? The troops will need some cover on those rolling steppes.

Thanks guys. I have seen similar photos of the rural homes. My Aragonese homes may be passible, theyre white clay/plaster, but with tile (cardboard) roofs. What have folks make those thatch roofs out of?

I do have an old train i was planning to use (i mentioned on another thread a plan to make armored sections sized so that i can place them over the cars and remove them when my kids want them back. Bridges, station, water tower, cutting lines, all great ideas thanks! I have some trench sections, though they're in Aragon desert sand, so some new ones in grass and fertile earth are warranted. Thanks again!

Great pic links Cuprum! I'd seen some of the photos on scattered sites before but handy to have so many in one place. Thanks for posting.

Makhano, in my view, a few iconic pieces can really help with terrain. A train station and water tower, or single appropriate farm will defintely help make the terrain fit the game. Some height and some water are good features to include too. Appropriate trees or other natural features are also good if you can make them Lastly, a pet peeve of mine is random placement. Farmers don't build their farmhouse a mile from their fields and villages are on roads or near water.

If you have clay, I'd do some of those Ukrainian houses. They look quite different to western europe or the USA and that's what will set your custom terrain apart from everyone else.

"Farmers don't build their farmhouse a mile from their fields"

I don't think this is true for Eastern Europe. Peasants often didn't have personally owned fields, and they were scattered anyway.

Maps show Polish and Russian villages as thin ribbons along a wide main road for the most part. Individual farmsteads were rare.

What have people used to make thatched roofs?

I have used strips of a cotton strip, then pulled out most of the warp to leave parallel strands of weft. Those I glued on with PVA one over the other.

Also green stuff and a knife and patience, but that was ones I was going to cast.

I never would have thought of cotton strips, I'll try that. I've been making a bunch of buildings for the rcw with cardboard covered in Mh, and for now using the knife and patience method on the mh roofs. Haven't been super happy with how they've come out so far (they're still drying) so I'll try your method. Thanks, Mark