Wednesday, 21 January 2026

German farmhouse Napoleonic Terrain 2

 I have already done some terrain for Napoleonics, the German white church and yard but I decided I wanted more built up areas that worked for southern Germany and Austria, my half timbered English buildings were alright mixed in with my dark age/medieval buildings up to apoint but I wanted something a bit more  European, to this end I have done my best to rip off ( be inspired by?) some built up areas by Oshiro modeling, jimbibblyblog who I first saw on the lead adventure forum which I've mentioned previously. Obviously mine are not laser cut bespoke purpose built pieces but bodged together discarded broken toys, Christmas decorations, foamboard , the ubiquitous coffee stirrers , wallpaper and various other bits and bobs I've clearly been hoarding for some time, sorry Stew! Here then is a  German built up area on a piece of hardboard approximately 300mm( 1'0" in Imperial ish) square . It's a German farmhouse made out of a discarded pair of toys, 40+ year old door surround and some foamboard, coffee stirrers and tile spacers plus the odd bit of balsa and some corrugated cardboard.




The squares that come out of the foamboard windows I use to locate the buildings, only the walls are stuck down, the buildings are removable for storage. The roof on the  barn was from some sheets I got from Des, maybe from Warbase ? The corrugated cardboard was made into tiles to go on the walls like I did with the cemetery I did previously. 





A bit of ready mixed filler here and there on the walls to give a bit of texture, some masonry paint on everything, then a wash with watered down raw umber emulsion paint, in the background there's another building from a different built up area yet to come and then various emulsion paints all over . The base is pva and sand/cat litter , emulsion paint and then some flock. Might have done enough terrain for a bit, or maybe not!







Better with a tree and some troops for scale as Steve has done! 

Next up, Napoleonics, terrain ,dark ages, not sure!

All the best 

Iain 

48 comments:

  1. Outstanding work Iain and great ‘up-cycling’ of the terrain

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  2. Nice job, Iain!!! The buildings and terrain look brilliant.

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  3. Wondrous work, great toy to treasure article. Looking forward to your next adventure with the terrain.

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  4. Absolutely love what you've done Iain, as this is the sort of thing we always wanted to do as kids, but frankly never had the skills:). I hope the round tower in the 4th photo is made from a toilet roll, in the best traditions of scratch building! Nice to see the troops in the farmyard which really does give a sense of scale, so nice to know a recent post has had an effect;).

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    1. I followed your lead with figures for scale, sadly not a toilet roll but instead a hot chocolate container!
      Best Iain

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  5. Yep, can’t argue with that Iain, you’ve done a really nice job there. Looks terrific.

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  6. Impressive work, Iain! My, this piece is HUGE. How will you fit this on the table?

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    1. Thanks Jonathan, its about 1' x 1' so I figure I can have a couple on the table, its the same size as tge German church and yard I did before?
      Best Iain

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  7. Superb effect, it is especially difficult (I feel) to make plastic look like not-plastic. I hope an opportunity opens to get it into the Analogue Hobby Painting Challenge.

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    1. Thanks Norm, I think the coat of masonary paint helped? Sadly started before the painting challenge!
      Best Iain

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  8. Very nicely done repurposing toys into terrain pieces. Would never have known had you not said as much.

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    1. Thanks Dai, gives you something to start with and its kind of fun!
      Best Iain

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  10. Unrecognisable now as the toys they once were Iain. Great work, and very impressive the way that all came together.

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    1. It took a bit of fiddling but it all worked out pretty well?
      Best Iain

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  11. Oh my goodness. The transformation from pretty ordinary looking toy houses to a fabulous model is amazing!
    Best wishes, James

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    1. Thats really very kind of you James!
      Best Iain

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  12. That is well up to your usual high standards Iain, you might call it " bodged together " but it looks great to me!

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  13. That is pretty amazing work, Iain.

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  14. concur with others, very impressive work and a lot of dry brushing of buildings? Awesome Napoleonic/Germanic Farmhouse!!
    Cheers!

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    1. Thanks Phil, putting the old art school training to work! More semi wet brushing to be honest!
      Best Iain

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  15. This is most impressive, it blows my mind!

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    1. Repurpoused old toys, sounds like your kind of thing?!
      Best Iain

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  16. Excellent work Iain, the repurposed toys and scratch built pieces all tie together seamlessly, and the painting is the perfect tie in, first class piece of scenery.

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  17. Great conversion and upgrade of these Iain!

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    1. Thanks Mark, nice to have period and area specific terrain I think?
      Best Iain

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  18. Awesome buildings, superb finishing!

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  19. Marvellous! So great to see the process as well - it is amazing how a decent paint job can really bring together "bodged together discarded broken toys" and other assorted elements. into a really fantastic bit of terrain! Well done!

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    1. Also I know exactly what you mean by, while medieval buildings can be pressed into service - as there would have been some still standing... it is nice to have some actual purpose built contemporary terrain!

      Though, like the medieval European buildings, THESE could easily be used from anytime from late 18th Century to modern times for any rural European games you might want to play - or possibly even pressed into service as "colonial" buildings the world over! (maybe just replace the tree with some palm trees in tropical locations!)

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    2. The tree is removable, Ive just had fun playing around with the elements and trying to achieve a vaugely historical finish!
      Best Iain

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