A while back I succumbed to another Two Hour Wargames title, "Long Rifle". This is a skirmish game set in the French and Indian War, an era I have always been interested in. My interest has been further peaked following all of the cool FIW goodness on Ray Rousell's "
Don't Throw A 1" blog. So, armed with my THW Long Rifle rulebook and with some Conquest Miniatures Miami Indians and Colonials, I decided to start making some Long Rifle terrain. First piece is a log cabin, made from 1/4" dowel.
Material used: 1/4 inch round dowel, cereal card for the roof, Hirst Arts fieldstone pieces for the front porch, chimney and fireplace. Alo HA wooden plank pieces for the fireplace mantle. Based on a piece of mdf with sand and static grass on the base, as well as some pieces of air dry clay along the base of the cabin on the long walls. The front door is made from coffee stirrers.
This was a simple build with only 1 window and 1 door. You can see the air dry clay "stones" along the base of the long wall of the cabin in this view.
Pic above shows the rear of the cabin with a Hirst Arts fieldstone chimney. The upper portion lifts off for access to the interior. Hmmm, didn't do too good a job making the upper portion of wall match with the lower. I'll have to fix that.
This shot shows the roof lifted off. A packed dirt floor, whitewashed walls (log cabins tended to be dark) and the rough mantle and fireplace made from Hirst Arts wooden plank and fieldstone molds. No furniture, yet, though there would not have been much.
A side view of the interior.
Same view with a Conquest Miniature Miami Indian for scale.
Here's another view of the cabin with some Conquest Miniatures Miami Indians passing by. I'd hate to be in that cabin and see those Indians out there if they were pissed off.
A closer view of the Miami Indians. These are beautiful sculpts. I went with the Miamis because I live in Ohio and the Miami were once indigenous here.
Showing the Miami from a different angle. There is a lot of detail on these minis. My favorite is the guy in the middle with the rifle and upraised tomahawk.
Oh my God, they're coming right at us!
View from the back.
This cabin was a fun little build. I used a Dremel to cut the dowels and then notched each log at each end with a grinding bit on the Dremel. Took a little while but worth the effort and the cost was minimal.
Next up are some Conquest Miniatures Colonials and an Indian Longhouse. I'm planning to make the Longhouse based on the excellent how-to Ray posted
here.
Thanks for looking. I know it's a departure from Zombies. I couldn't help thinking that these Miami Indians would make short work of some Zombies with their Tomahawks and Muskets.
23 comments:
Well done Joe. Nice to see a little distraction from the zombie scene, eh?
Great building, unusual way to do the walls, really efficient, it looks cool on your board.
Absolutely superb build Joe, looks spot on!
It's a long time since I made log cabins, forts and Indian houses for my friend's FIW games.
It's an excellent build that brings back a lot of good memories, thanks for that LJ.
That looks absolutely great! Good work on your new house!
Superb mate your terrain is awesome. Lovely looking indians as well
That's well done, incredibly well done!
Great Job, Lucky. A well thought out frugal scratchbuild!
I love the log cabin, Joe. Your paintwork, especially on the roof tiles, really brings it to life.
@Adam: Thanks very much. It was a nice little distraction, but I guess I can use for a safe place for Survivors in the woods.
@Dr. Willett: Thanks. The build method was based on one of the current methods of log cabin construction I found on the web. A little time consuming but the building is very strong.
@Michael Awdry: Thanks very much. It was a fun project.
@Zabadak: Thanks, Joe. Glad to hear it brought back pleasant memories.
@Lord Siwoc: Thanks very much. I hope to use it soon.
@Brummie: Thanks a lot. Those Conquest Miniatures are such beautiful sculpts.
@Fran: Thanks very much. Now I need to make Longhouses for the Indians based on the ones Ray made.
@Jay: Thanks very much. I love scratchbuilding, and I like to challenge myself to use the cheapest materials possible. More money for minis that way.
@Vampifan: Thanks very much, Bryan. Making the roof took the longest. I think I did 2 browns and 2 grays drybrushing on the shingles. I was trying to use a very light hand with the drybrush.
Superb skills Joe!!! I love the chimney stack!! And looking forward to your Indian Longhouse. Thanks for the link backs too!!!
Keep up the fantastic work!!!
I can picture zombie indians attacking fur traders in your future. Great build as always Joe.
@Ray: Thanks very much. I was to hear from you. I've been wanting to make a Longhouse ever since I saw your how-to. I just need to get some crepe paper. Instead of wood I'll be using a shipping container for a cell phone for the basic form.
@PapaSpanky: You know that's right. :) I think there was a scenario for Black Powder and Zombies on the TwoHour Wargames site a while back. Thanks for the kind words.
The cabin is so charming Joe you're a man of many talents. Those Indians are lovely figures and I can imagine you having a great time with this game.
Great work joe, nice cabin, and I particularly like those injuns, what colour did you use for the red skin tone?
@Anne: Thanks very much. The Conquest Miniatures are some beautiful sculpts and most of the detail is raised and easily accessible, too, so it makes painting them very easy. I dug through my storage drive last night and found an ATZ supplement called "Muskets & Zombies". It calls for a mixed party of Settlers and Indians to fight Zombies. I have 3 of the 4 minis I'll need painted already.
@The Extraordinarii: Thanks. I used an Americana brand craft paint called Traditional Burnt Sienna, with an Ogryn Flesh wash. It came out a little darker than I wanted but it's starting to grow on me.
Looks great Joe. Happy gaming.
@Lead Legion: Thanks very much.
Very nice. I'm about to embark on a Zombie and Musket project this has spurred me on. Well done.
@Irqan: Thanks. I'll be looking forward to seeing how yours goes. Do you have the "Zombies & Muskets"? It was available as a free download at Two Hour Wargames a while ago. PM me if you need a copy.
Thanks Joe I have a copy. I find it a bit clumsy. It seems as it may be the proto version of 'Long Rifle'. As IT don't have a copy of that yet, I'll take the best bits from it and ATZ. Is that fair? PS how did you get thwe native's skin colour. I struggle to get it right.
Very nice work, the house is amazing!
@Irqan: That sounds like a good approach. I've been doing similar with the other ATZ books, sort of picking and choosing rules that I like. I did the skintone of the Indians with an Americana Brand craft paint called "Traditional Burnt Sienna" with a wash of Citadel "Ogryn Flesh". Traditional Burnt Sienna is one of my favorite craft paint, great coverage and a really nice warm color.
@Phil: Thanks very much. It was fun to build as it was sort of an experiment with notching the wood.
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