Building of the Week - Total Battle Miniatures

Total Battle Miniatures made a rather big splash when they released their 6mm Small Footprint range for the Waterloo Campaign, a nice smaller scale set of buildings that would suit those downsizing the battle to a smaller table or those wanting to scale down the buildings similar to the way we scale down unit sizes. However that's not the subject of today's post :-)

I bought these buildings a few years ago now in a sale with a bunch of others but never quite got round to painting the last three. These are the Villa with Arched Veranda (6SPBB08U) and costs £3 each.

Many houses in Spain during the Napoleonic Wars would have been just rendered and not painted white as we tend to see them today. Indeed if it was painted white it was seen as a well off occupant. I have to admit most of my buildings do have the white exterior though I do have a reasonable amount that are plain.

Trying to even up the numbers is another plain rendered offering, in this case Villa with Yard (6SPBB07U) also £3.00 each.  If you go back a few years you will see that I was quite a fan of these buildings, time has not really changed this view and as a range it's fairly wide has some excellent tile sets (I painted and posted about the Hill Town Set).

Given the general lack of detail in this type of building TBM's have managed to squeeze a fair amount out of these buildings and the rest of the range. Their other ranges tend to have a fair bit more detail as there is more to go at. 

I am not really a fan of the added vegetation though I think it's better done than the Timecast ones (I still prefer the Timecast buildings overall). I would normally cover it with clump foliage or other scenic's and may yet go back to that. 

Back when I first started painting TBM buildings I thought the texture was really good, not just this range but all the buildings I have painted of theirs. However whilst I still like it it feels a bit clumsy compared with the likes of Leven. I am very much aware that this is not really the case so much as style and I still enjoyed working on these buildings I kind of feel they are more in my past than future. That's not to say I would not buy more TBM buildings as they do produce some good buildings, they are somewhat bigger than the Leven models and like Timecast not the best fit when mixed together within the same cluster of buildings but separated over the table still work well together. Lee has also bought and painted some of these Spanish buildings and I have to say has done a better job than me. 

In summery the range has eleven buildings and three tile sets for your Iberian pursuits. Prices range from £3 for a 30x30mm footprint building to £35 for the Hill Town Set. The buildings are well designed and feel right for the period and with the buildings you get with the two farm tiles can make up a varied looking town. For me the range comes first for variety but last for desirability when compared with Timecast and Leven. From the point of personal numbers I have more TBM Iberian buildings than either Timecast or Leven and have almost all the buildings from all three suppliers.

6mm Town Progress Report

Part two of Building of the Week is the progress of the ever growing town. The idea is that I can sub in or out buildings to suit time period and location through most of Europe and still have a functioning believable terrain piece. That can be a small town to a sprawling city of just about any shape I could need. As such this project will never truly be finished, music I am sure to Mike's ears.

I actually have a few more tiles that did not make the photo and even more buildings that have yet to be added to bases so without painting any more buildings I could extend the size by a reasonable amount. The above measures 300mm by 300mm with a bit missing on the top side but if I had all the finished models in place I could fill the gaps.

All but one of the buildings on display are Leven Miniatures with the one on the bottom right being Total Battle Miniatures. Unfortunately most TBM buildings do not sit well with the Leven as they are of the larger 6mm scaling but fortunately you can still put them on the same table as separate towns or villagers so it's not all bad news. I think this one though fits in reasonably well.

The industrial quarter looks to have the chance to grow given the fire in the centre of town, well you have to take advantage of life's little problems don't you.

I just know when we get playing with these we will be getting down at figure eye level to see what they see, lets face it we are big kids at heart.

It actually is smaller than I would have thought, soaking up a fair few buildings in the process but that's not really a problem as I see it as a long term project, more of a hobby in a hobby I guess. As things stand I do not see me taking it into the modern day as I have no wargaming plans for 6mm post Napoleonic.

Here we have a slightly changed around set up, the Chicken Coup'e roof is not quite flat making the tiles stand a bit proud. We will be adding these to the Waterloo boards but mostly as a ribbon development I think. Later when we do Ligny I am thinking they will be spread out as a number of towns but by then I will have even more buildings and I am sure a good number of battles fighting over these tiles.

So counting up, I have used 21 buildings on the pictures above and at under £3 per building on average have got all this for about £60 It's amazing how quickly it adds up but consider the cost of a few 15mm buildings and you can see what a bargain 6mm wargaming can be. TBM's excellent walled town is just £65 and remains on my to do list but it's so far in the distance at the moment. Actually at some point I may see if I can just buy the base and a few chosen buildings as I already have painted up most of the ones that come as the set.

I still have to paint up and model more realistic business tiles and I want to make myself a few walled and fenced tiles but first need to do some research in how to represent them for the time periods I want to cover.

The largest tile by far is the slums, this needs a few extra's to allow it to be different shapes so I will have to buy some more of the various buildings I like to use to get the effect I aim for. I will also do a few roads that are not as wide but wider than the alley ways.

Anyway that's stretched out the Building of the Week over a couple of posts. The next few posts will probably be work in progress shots if Mike allows me as I have a fairly drawn out project to do not once but twice! More on that hopefully next week.

Building of the Week - Spanish Hill Village

Well when I started the building of the week idea I hoped it would make sure I had a pop at painting 52 buildings in a year. Imagine that, it's more than enough for any game I would say but turn's out if I paint just 52 in a year I will have got off lucky. This weeks post for instance actually is eight buildings and it's taken up three weeks worth of posts on the subject so that's nearly three times the planned output! 

So as you will know already we have here the Total Battle Miniatures Spanish Hill Village and the whole thing has taken about 15-20 hours to do and costs £35 unpainted or £88 if you want TBM to paint it for you.

I have taken the shots without the ramps that go on the end, main reason is that I have misplaced two of the three and need to look them up LOL. Not that it's a issue as I have a set recipe for doing the basing so will fit in at some point.

I did toy with the idea of making fields of some sort out of the ground next to the houses but it was more practical to have bits of grass on it and leave room for troops to be placed on the tile. I can see this getting some use in a game sometime soon (I hope).

I went with white buildings for the Church and the rich whilst grey as rough rendered for the business and poorer residences. The rough texture of the TBM buildings really leant themselves to this. I still have a few  more Spanish buildings that I have yet to paint from TBM which I will paint up all grey so they can all be the more common colour and have the Church as the only White building. I really wanted them to pop so went a shade or two braver than before for the roofs.

A couple of the buildings show damage which I will put down to cannon ball strikes. Though one building has a couple of sections of wall cracked open showing the stone behind the render.

Whilst their is not a massive amount of detail on the buildings they have a lot of character and I think they are perfect for both the period being played and for the wargames table.

I like how the buildings are positioned on the tile. Little gaps between some of the buildings whilst you also can see obvious main routes through the village. The whole is well thought out and put into practice.

I mentioned the texture of the base last post on this tile but I think it really shines through on some of the close up shots. I will get a few shots at some point with a base or two on it.

Of course all this has done is make me want the fortified town so much more. That is a fair bit larger than this little village and costs £65 which may seem a bit rich but the footprint is rather large. I will probably buy it at the next Joy of Six where Lee and I will be doing the Quatre Bras demonstration game. 

This may be my favourite building of the set as it has the afore mentioned damage and the little enclosed balcony just screamed at me to place over the edge.

Some of the Woodland Scenic's bushes really came into their own as bushy trees, the mix of different textures and surface patterns really bring the base to life. It's a shame the base won't get a massive amount of play but it was worth it just for the experience of making the model. 

Now you get a peek at the well to do side of town, don't stand looking too long or they will call the bobby over to move you along  ;-)

I really like the rich dudes houses with private yards and in balconies in another. Of course you can place the buildings in different positions on the tile to make the village look different and as I showed last time, with a change of buildings you can transplant to different era's or parts of the world.

A number of buildings have foliage built into them just like Timecast also do and whilst this gets me to add a more realistic bit of green to the building I would prefer to add it myself if I want it.  I do like the water trough though on the grey building in the middle.

As well as the larger tiles TBM also do small farm tiles with two buildings on for £8 which is a nice little base for your Iberian adventures.

So it took me just a little over a year to get it started and only a couple of weeks to get it done. Now I can get back to the Giveaway buildings as well as all the others I have waiting in the wings. 

Building of the Week and Blog Giveaway Score

First up is a huge Thank You to Jonathan over at Palouse Wargaming Journal who pulled my name out of the hat scoring me a copy of 1805 Austerlitz so I have some great Napoleonic reading ahead of me and just after I secured some Austrian's in 6mm. OK Lee will be the one with those guys but I look to get the French to face them. I will crack on with the book I am reading at the moment so that can move to the front of the queue.

Now don't get too excited as I am not actually finished with the Total Battle Miniatures Spanish Hill Village, rather I have most of the base finished and have added some of the other TBM buildings showing that it can be used for multiple periods and locations just by switching buildings over. 

I still have to add about 20% of the bushes come trees to the base as well as fill in the odd spot where it is not fully covered and also add static grass here and there.

The rocky sections look great with a reasonable amount of dry brushing. I also intend to add bits of static grass and vegetation to a few spots so as to give it some more life.

I have been using Woodland Scenic's Olive Green Bushes with a little of a lighter colour added to the mix. The cast bushes are OK but painted bushes never really do it for me, possibly as I have never been that good at that part of modelling. 

I really like the texture and reasonably happy with how the stonework finished up. The road and ground have enough texture to save sanding though I used the same way of painting it to try and get it to match the bases. I should have the last of the real modelling on this finished tonight and the buildings are about 40% done. I hope to finish the buildings by the end of next week but no promises.

Building of the Week - Double Header

Don't pay attention to the title it's a con I tell you. So up to now you have had painted buildings every week even if they sometimes had been painted months ago at least I had just based them. But today all you get is some prepped bits, so what gives?

Here we have the Total Battle Miniatures Spanish Hill Village which costs £35 which when you consider it comes with eight buildings and the base tile is not a bad price at all. I actually got this in a trade at last years World Wargame Championships so it's way beyond time I got this out of the draw and onto the table. I have done all the prep and just need to start work on the lot.

These have great texture so I should be able to add a little detail as I go. They are not as crisp as Timecast or Leven but they have charm of their own for sure. I have painted up quite a few TBM buildings and they seem to be the larger end of the 6mm scale, almost look like they were designed with Adler in mind. Not that I think I will have a problem with them sitting alongside my Timecast. I have yet to get any of the Leven Spanish buildings so can't comment. I have a further three TBM small buildings to paint up on top of the eight for this project so it may be awhile before I get the Leven ones unless I et them sent for me to paint up.

The base has a lot of detail with stone bridge like ramps into the town and some wall sections around the town at several points. Looks a real pain to assault so I hope I will be defending it! Given that the buildings lift out and TBM's use set sizes I will be able to swap out the Spanish and replace with European if desired.

So for the next month or so don't expect many (if any) finished building posts, instead we can have a work in progress series of posts as I tackle the whole of the project.

Next up we have one of several purchases that was purposely left out of the Derby post as I wanted to feature them in their own place.

This was sold as Aspen - Essling Church but I have my doubts after looking at images of the Church. Also all four sections that look to be add on's to the church actually have their own doors, even the rounded one I have put against the church.

This does give it a possible second use but I doubt I will use it for anything but an add on. I would be interested in finding out who actually made the buildings as I am assuming they are either no longer made or are not available to buy in the UK under normal trading.

Does the image above help? The guy selling them said he had more stashed away at home but could root them out, seems he has had them years but did not own the rights to make new ones. Something about buying the figure range from someone and the total stock but not the moulds in the case of the buildings.

I have a building very similar to this in 28mm, I think it's a Hovels but bought it forever ago. Shame it's got the damage but I can live with that. These will be added to all the other buildings in my queue but being part done in effect I can see them getting some early attention. Meanwhile I await that list. Lee spotted the Granary for Essling and grabbed that, it's a beast that has to be said.

Building of the Week - Timber Frame House - Total Battle Miniatures

I know I said it would be the AAR of the Check Your Six games but I forgot I still had to do the building of the week slot. So the AAR is to be done before dashing over to Newstead Abbey for the Sealed Knot battle. 

The building itself is not newly painted, not even painted this year! But I count it as finished this week as I have added it to a base as part of my town. It's the first building of the town that is not a Leven Miniatures building, this one being a Total Battle Miniatures creation. It's next to the bottom of the page on the left Code  6BPBB09U and costs just £3 or £8 if you want it supplied painted.

It's part of the 6mm Black Powder range and I think will fit in well with the other buildings of the town. I will be adding a few more of this suppliers buildings to my town as well as plenty of the leven crop.

On the web site they have it as a red tiled building with most of the building then in a more washed out subdued browns and beige which looks rather nice. When I get wound to buying one or more of these extra I will do at least one in this way.

I really like the garret on the side of the building which gives it an almost fantasy feel. This make used to be my favourite manufacturer and I still like the mix of buildings they supply and being slightly larger in scale than Leven they remain good value though the building's themselves are not as crisp as Leven they have a charm of their own that pegs them over Timecasts more clinical style.

TBM are also not afraid to have a plain side to their buildings, something I do like to see. I have the majority of TBM buildings from the ranges for Black Powder, Pike and Shot and Spanish/Italian but have yet to touch the Russian range which I am fairly sure will change as I add more buildings to the ones I bought at last years Words from Andy Mc.

A great thing about TBM's is the free postage for orders over £20.01 which let's face it is most orders I would place anyway. I do have a rather nice TBM tile that I must paint up soon, I have had that piece since the Worlds as well from a trade with the self same Andy. It would be nice to get it painted with in one year of picking it up but it does not look good for it.

I have been busy painting terrain and buildings this week but with the game Thursday and general feeling of not wanting to do much I knew I would not get a fresh building finished but should make up for it at some point but as I had planned to slot in older buildings after rebasing I don't feel to bad about not getting something finished.

Total Battle Miniatures 6mm Buildings

The more observant may have spotted a couple of new building in the AAR from yesterday. So I guess it's about time to bring them out into the open. Both buildings can be used for my ECW 6mm army and also European Napoleonic battles, so I can get good use out of them.

 

I have a number of reasons to really like this building, first up I made it rather striking and I achieved exactly what I was aiming at. Second, it reminds me of a building in Axbridge were we stayed on Holiday this year. I will be buying a few more of these this year, probably at Triples as I know they are at that convention. At the same time I may just spring for the fortified town tile that I had seen at last years Triples.

 

I really can see three or four in a row looking just the thing on the table. Not that I am now short of buildings either for the ECW or Napoleonic battlefields. The weathering on the food I feel worked. I also washed the windows on all the buildings with blue ink hoping for a glass effect but this did not come off so back to the drawing board.

 

I already owned one of these buildings and it was the first building I finished that time. This one I have improved the thatch a little, not that I want all the thatch to look the same anyway. All the thatched houses around where I live are totally different in looks based on a mix of how long it has been in place and where exactly it is located. I also used a different ink on the plaster again so I had a point of difference.

 

Here we have the two new buildings side by side to give an idea how they look together. I really hope that Total Battle Miniatures continue to expand this range. Just to the right you can see some of the 20mm cavalry I have been working on today. More on these in a few days time after they have been submitted to Curt.

 

I still need a windmill, TBM do a Spanish one but no one seems to do one suitable for other areas, hint hint. Tomorrow will see my first submission to the painting challenge, I have nearly finished my second and I need the third submission towards the end of next week so I had better get cracking.