Today, I'm opening the box on Battlefront's 15mm Cafe, one of the European Buildings line that has been re-released:
With its awnings and gabled mansard-style roof, this café resembles any traditional restaurant, patisserie, coffee house or Konditorei throughout Europe.
![Cafe box Cafe box](profiles/pics/2019/843506j.jpg)
Everything comes well wrapped in layers of bubblewrap. (Sorry, forgot to take picture of that!) One piece provides the bottom story:
![Cafe 1st story Cafe 1st story](profiles/pics/2019/843506a.jpg)
You've got doors and windows on three sides, painted on the exterior.
![Cafe 1st floor interior Cafe 1st floor interior](profiles/pics/2019/843506k.jpg)
On the inside, the floor is painted, but the walls (and doors and windows) are left in gray. There's no indication of where walls or stairs might be.
![Cafe awnings Cafe awnings](profiles/pics/2019/843506l.jpg)
The box claims the building is tabletop-ready, but actually, the awnings come as separate pieces. They are easily attached (I used superglue), and fit snugly against the raised portions (center them on the windows, of course). I managed to get one of the awnings crooked (can you spot it?), and one of the awnings seems to droop more than the others – nothing too noticeable, I think.
![Cafe Cafe](profiles/pics/2019/843506c.jpg)
In the next picture, I've added on the next level. Note the interior wall with an (unpainted) interior door. The pieces nest together loosely, with a few millimeters of slip in each direction.
![Cafe Cafe](profiles/pics/2019/843506d.jpg)
And now I've added the final, large piece – the Mansard-type roof. It fits a bit tighter than the second level, but doesn't quite sit flat.
![Cafe Cafe](profiles/pics/2019/843506f.jpg)
In the picture below, you can see a bit of wrong color on the roof corner, as well as a faint crack in the top corner of the second floor piece.
![Cafe Cafe](profiles/pics/2019/843506g.jpg)
The building has no rear-facing windows or doors, which means it can be used on the corners of streets (backing into another building). There's no reason you couldn't flop the pieces 180° to get some rear-facing windows, but then you get blank walls on the front! (And that's not a painting error, it's a reflection from a tile that protrudes more than the others.)
![Cafe Cafe](profiles/pics/2019/843506h.jpg)
I've added some models for the rest of the pictures, to provide an idea of scale and size.
![Cafe Cafe](profiles/pics/2019/843506i.jpg)
If you want to put in the extra time, you could paint the interior walls and doors, touch up some of the edges, and possibly add more of a 'glass' effect to the windows. Some signage would also be an improvement.
![Cafe Cafe](profiles/pics/2019/843506m.jpg)
Also note that there's no way to place units on the third level, unless you scratchbuild a floor for the attic.
![Cafe Cafe](profiles/pics/2019/843506n.jpg)
However, I think the Cafe will be acceptable as-is for many gamers, and provides a robust structure for your European battlefields.