Building of the *cough* Week *cough* La Haie Farm by Leven Miniatures.

OK it's been a couple but hopefully I will get back on track, I need to get a bunch of buildings finished for Joy of Six for Mike, this set completes all the buildings I need to do for Project Waterloo so another big tick on the check list.

On Leven Miniatures Facebook Page Mike mentions this may be available in time for Joy of Six but that was over a month ago so I am not sure of the status but knowing Mike it won't be to far away.

With little first hand detail on the farm I think Mike has taken what he has and filled in the other details. I have noticed a couple of bits on mine that I have missed on tidy up such as the building on the top right where I need to over paint the smudge! It also looks like Mike may have missed off the chimneys on the farmhouse. I did not even miss them on painting it up but this may have been picked up upon or is correct, will check with Mike.

La Haie Farm showing interior detail of the farmhouse. The whole set of buildings are rather plain, nothing at all like some of the others of the Waterloo series but that's all for the good in my mind as it makes a good contrast for one and is fitting from an historical point of view. 

Like most of the farms in this area that bordered France the buildings were built for defence as well as for farming with a high wall and all doors into the farm inside the courtyard. All approaches are covered by at least one window except the main gate.

I went with a dirt interior opposed to the more recent paved as I felt that this being one of the smaller farms would least afford the luxury of mud free floorboards.

I made a bit of a balls up on the walls, actually they went on perfectly the first time! My issue was not leaving enough room for the final building and having to prise the wall off and reposition slightly to allow the final building room. Quite annoying really and preventable. Thus the use of hedging to cover up the unsightly gap I was forced to leave showing.

At least it gets atmosphere to the small gate that is in the far corner from the main house. In truth I rather like the result, just not how I got there.

I used the image on Facebook of the one Chris Hudson has painted for Mike as a guide for mine. I really like that one but went with light grey tiles over the darker grey/brown Chris used though the stone walls on mine are darker. Overall it gives quite a different look though I like both finishes.

Size wise the British gun by Baccus is on a 60x60mm base so you can see it's got a reasonable footprint. Mike has got some great painters sending him images and models for display stock and I crib off them where I can, so in this case, thanks Chris.

I scraped out most of the texture where I intended to have tracks, most of what was left made banks alongside the edges of the track which helped add to the general earthy look of the place. Last off I dry brushed some light flesh over the plain brown to bring up the texture left behind. 

Given that this building is on the extreme left of the British line it's unlikely to see any action in the game but with the other buildings that are in the area will at least give that end of the table something of interest.

So that's a wrap for the buildings, though I still have the orchard and formal gardens to make up for Hougoumont which will be started as soon as I have the board to work them onto. Tonight we are play testing the assaults on Hougoumont as Lee has pulled out all the stops and finished two of the boards, amazing work and really looking forward to seeing the finish.

La Haie Farm, 31 Chris Hudson