Prototype Control Tower

The latest MDF model I am working on is a World War II airfield control tower. This design is loosely based on an old Airfix model kit I built many decades ago as a kid…

I have to make a few tweaks to the design but generally the layout is what I want. There is plenty of room for models on the observation level and the first floor balcony.

I also plan to add some internal walls and stairs rather than just have large open spaces on the ground floor and first floor.

With the aircraft hangar and the security checkpoint recently designed, I will have enough for a complete airfield setup.

Escape From Babel

Having built all this terrain, it was time to have a game on it using the Stargrave rules.

We had been talking about doing a four player game at some stage, and a game with these landing platforms would be fun.

I wrote up a scenario and Mr Steinberg and I did a test run.

The story is that an asteroid is about to strike the planet and the player crews need to steal a ship from a starport to scape impending doom.

Four ships are set up on landing pads with plenty of scatter terrain such as crates, vehicles and other stuff that can be usewd as cover.

The crews need to download the launch codes from a control room and then get the crews to a randomly selected ship.

There is no physical loot in this scenario, that really does slow down the movement of models.

To give the cews a better chance of downloading the data loot, a Technician can be grabbed and escorted to the control room to give them a dice bonus.

There are a few starport guards to deal with and more can be generated at the end of each tun.

There is also an increasing chance that crew models can be hit by asteroid fragments at the end of each turn.

The scenario needs a few tweaks, but the general storyline is quite good. Another test is due shortly!

Painted Landing Pads

This is the first time I have set up all of my new landings pads.

It all looks pretty much as I wanted!

I also have a prototype control room, but no painted roof yet as it is still a work in progress. This can be used as a main objectives room in various scenarios.

The original landing pad has simple fans and grills.

The second design is the 40K aquila.

And finally I thought the Mechanicus symbol would also make a great design.

Undercoating Toys!

Before winter arrives, I have been undercoating quite a few things to make sure I have enough to paint in the dim and dark nights of an English winter.

I bought some cheap Buzz Lightyear toys and have just painted them as is with no conversion work…and why not?

These are for use as terrain only, mainly to be parked on my new landing pads, so they will just get a simple paint scheme.

Prototype Control Room

I am working on control room of sorts for my landing pad system.

The plan is to have a raised control tower which can be used as a objectives room or just somewhere to fight over.

Mechanicus Landing Pad

I have tried out a new design on one of my landing pads, this time the Mechanicus skull design.

It only really works when painted!

Painted Lychgate

Sometimes you just have to get some odds and ends finished.

In this case, I have had a Lychgate for my church lying around for ages.

And for even longer, I have had some walls with railings. I may need a few more wall sections to fully go around the church and the graveyard, but I can at least make a small graveyard.

All done and the next time my church gets set up, I will have some more gubbins to put down with it.

Necromunda Industrial Terrain

I do need to work on dirtying this terrain up, or is it down…

Over a few years, I have built up quite a lot of this industrial terrain. As there is a lot of it, it has to be kept up in the Loft Full Of Lead (or in this case, the Loft Full of MDF).

I have found that as the temperature changes, very cold in the winter and very hot in the summer, the MDF will absorb moisture in the winter and then cook in the summer. The result is a bit of mould.

To solve this problem, I have invested in a load of plastic Really Useful Boxes for my MDF terrain and added some of those Gel moisture abosorbing packets.

At some stage, I will have to dirty up the terrain with some of my home made wash and add plenty of rust patches. In particular, I will target any mould patches that are visible and that have not been easy to remove.

As I have started playing a bit of Necromunda recently, this terrain will be perfect for games in the future when our gaming group gets out of the Ash Wastes and back into the Hive City.

Turnip Terrain

After adding a few bits of foilage to the sinking buildings, they were ready for their first game of Turnip28.

To make a line of impassable terrain, I simply added plenty of crates to block line of sight as well.

For some reason, these pictures came out rather gloomy, but that fits the desired effect…

Time for Burnt Toast.

Painted Landing Platforms

The first couple of landing pad bridges are painted and so I can now connect a couple of landing pads together. The red, yellow and dark blue scheme produces effect that highlights the three layers of the landing pad.

There are still more to do to allow me to make the landing pad complex that I have in mind.