House Hunters Normandy Edition (Part 1)

Following up the quest for more terrain, here is some for Normandy.

Up first is the Church by Commission Figurines. I bought it as part of Walt’s Kickstater for the Berlin Buildings. I liked it at first glance for its nice clear Norman lines. When it arrived I was very happy with the detailing on it, including the fact that the mortar lines between the stones were actually engraved into the MDF instead of being just cuts between the stones. The stones might seem a bit large, but this engraving really makes sure they do not stand out. And looking at many (late) medical churches in Europe they often feature massive stones. The building itself is massive as well, making for a great centrepiece on the table. For those worrying about storage… if you do not glue the belltower to the base, you can lay it into the main building.

The large windows just screamed for stained glass windows. Which were easier to do than Ihad expected. I just looked online for a Kaleidoscopic pattern, printed it out on a sheet of overhead projector film (for those too young to remember… this is what us old people used before the spread of laptop computers and video projectors), cut it to shape and glued it on the inside.

The church can actually be assembled in two ways. You get two different “back” walls. One with a door and two thin windows and one with the larger window assembly. Depending on which one you use for the front or the back either the door or the larger window will be covered up by the belltower. You could also decide not to glue it to the base and use it whatever way round suits you best in a given game, but I decided to have the large window all the time. One word of advice though. If you do it like I did you will only have a large entry to the front and none at the back. There is a small side door on one of the long pieces, so make sure that is to the end. I only noticed the doors once I was painting on the details and did not want to rip it all apart.

While we are on the topic of painting. I have always struggled with the realistic colours for stone buildings. This is part of the reason why I had left this one lying around for 4 or 5 years now. Looking at many stone churches here inGermany or stone buildings in the UK, I found that most of the stones did not really look grey but brownish with a grey hue. Some looked grey all right, some greenish, but the majority rather brownish. And that is the way I remembered these from Normandy as well. So I decided to take a different route now. Both the church and the barn below were primed in Vallejo IDF Sand Grey which is a rather brownish grey. I then airbrushed individual stones (small areas in case of the barn with its much smaller stones) in a light grey and concrete (which is greenish). Afterward it was all given a dusting of Ammo One Shot grey primer. For those who do not know this primer, it is designed to be applied in a number of thin coats (yes, I know this is irritating since it is called One Shot). This feature meant that the primer rather changed the colours below when allowed as a thin dust, than covering them up. This gave it all the grey hue I wanted.

Now to the next building, which is a stone barn by Charlie Foxtrot Models. As with theirrazed Russin huts seen the other day, assembly was quite fast and straightforward. Just like the church it features lots of details, but in a different way. There is literally hundreds of small odd shaped stones carved into the MDF here. They never run in straight rows, making the building look like it was assembled from the rocks a farmer had pulled from his field and not like stones a stonemason had worked on to build a church. Which gives the whole barn a nice nice rustic authenticity.

The kit also comes with a second floor and a ladder leading up to it. With three windows for this second floor this makes for a nice sniper or LMG position. The kit also comes with seperate doors for the entrance and gate with a more intact and a more rotten version for the gate. I chose to leave the gates open to be able to place a small AT gun or a HMG inside, turning this into a real strongpoint. What surprised me, was the fact, that the floor was evens engraved with a flagstone pattern, which you rarely see on MDF buildings modules intact. So I felt obliged to add a little straw (fibres cut from a doormat) to both the ground and upper storey.

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