Making an Urban Display Board in 15mm

One of my first articles for WWPD was on building my British Airborne Company.  Having bought more infantry than anyone would ever need, and having it sit in my closet for 2 years, I decided to try and start working on it.  Years have past, and much has been done, but one major project eluded me:  a display board for this army.  Below is the finished product, but I will be trying to walk you through how I got it to look like this.  I don't profess to be as good as many terrain makers as I have seen, but hopefully I can give you a little inspiration and a few easy steps you can build off of.  

I started, as one always should, with a rough plan.  I already have a carrying tray that fits these pieces of pink foam (with some modifications before construction.) I made the frame out of scrap wood that I sanded, cut and fit together, follower by sanding and staining. I won't be showing that part however, just the assembly of the main display piece.

The original idea was to use a few ruined buildings I had partially painted, or at least primed, as centerpieces or accent pieces for a destroyed intersection.  But these are valuable pieces, and I found they were too tall for my purposes.  Their ability to hide guys inside of them work great in game terms, but not so much in display terms.  And they take up enormous space on the display itself, making it more unwieldy than I intend.  I resolved instead to use balsa wood and craft sticks to glue together my own wrecked buildings. (you see the scraps of wood in the foreground.

Some of my weapons of choice:

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Product Review: Battlefront's BB222 Small Desert Houses

By Ranger Dane

These are great little houses for your desert table.   These Small Desert Houses are being released as part of Battlefront's V4  North Africa Campaign. . These Small Desert Houses will also mix well in any Italian Campaign.  These Small Desert Houses will also blend seamlessly with any Arab-Israeli war game.



These homes are also representative of many Mediterranean homes.   Here are an actual Houses in North Africa.

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Product Review: Battlefront's BB225 Desert Walls

by Ranger Dane

A great little addition to your North Africa, or Italy battlefield terrain kit.  These wall sets come in “cover and concealment” (low wall) size and block LOS (tall wall) size. These wall sections are being released with the V4 North Africa campaign set, but they will also blend well in any Italian Campaign.  They will also blend seamlessly with any Arab-Israeli war game.

So let’s take a look at these walls that surround many North African homes, buildings and cities. These walls also surround many Mediterranean homes, buildings and cities.   Here are a few actual walls from North Africa.

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Product Review: Battlefront's BB228 Apartment Block

By Ranger Dane

The most recent Battlefront property released as part of the RED THUNDER battlefield in a box terrain series is the Apartment Block. The Apartment Block is an impressive 3-story building capable of housing even the largest platoon.  Each floor measures 1.5” x 5” x 3.5”    and can hold: 4 (medium base) Infantry Teams.   This building is typical of the apartment buildings seen all over Europe.  This building is a welcome addition to Battlefront's new modern building line for use with Team Yankee.

The 3-story Apartment Building comes with Air Conditioners (window units) and HVAC systems for the roof, or side yard

Let’s take a look at a few typical European apartment buildings.

Here we have Battle Front’s Apartment Block, product code BB228 and retails for $50.00 USD.

The model comes with:
• 1x ground floor with doorway.
• 2x elevated apartments with balcony.
• 1x roof.
• 1x package of 6x air conditioners and 4x HVAC units.

Each level of the Apartment Block could stand alone as a town building and are large enough to accommodate 4 infantry teams.

The roof is perfect for those SA-14 Gremlin or Fliegerfaust Teams.

I really like this model.  It is very representative of many of the city apartment blocks in Europe. Though this set comes pre-painted, it would be easy enough to change exterior colors to add a little Variety. It is a great terrain piece on the game table, especially when combined with other Team Yankee Terrain. Though some may not appreciate the $50 price tag, this is a lot of building for the gamer’s money.  The quality is there and there is a lot of resin in this 3-story building.  I believe I will get a few more of these and create an apartment block for those Urban-city fights.

This building rates: Ein Prosit und eins! zwei drei! trinken!
This Building was provided by Battlefront.

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Product Review: Battlefront's BB215 Medium Desert House

By Ranger Dane

This is a nice piece of terrain for your Desert table.   This Medium Desert House is being released as part of Battlefront's new modern building line for use with Team Yankee, but will work great for WWII gaming as well. . This Medium-sized Desert House is being released with the V4 North Africa campaign set, but it will also blend well in any Italian Campaign.
This Medium-sized Desert House will also blend seamlessly with any Arab-Israeli war game.

These homes are also representative of many Mediterranean homes.   Here are an actual House in North Africa.

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Quonset Hut Terrain Guide - Bolt Action

By Dennis,

Today I'll be walking you through a step by step guide on how to make an iconic WW2 building from the Pacific Theater, the Quonset Hut in 28mm scale.

Quonset huts were manufactured from 1941, when the United States Navy needed an all-purpose, lightweight building that could be shipped anywhere and assembled without skilled labor.

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Bolt Action - Thinking Objectively

Hello, everyone!

Seamus, the Weekend General, here with an objective discussion on... well... objectives!

One thing that is often underrated in games of Bolt Action is objective markers. Of the 12 missions in the main rulebook, 5 missions call for objective markers of some sort, in quantity from 1 to 5 in a game. In my nearly four years of Bolt Action I've seen dice used as objective markers, I've seen colored beads used (some crafty ones with an Allied star or Balkenkreuz, too), I've seen flags, I've seen printed objective markers such as those made by Historique, poker chips, and many other variations. The ones that really stick in my mind, though, are ones that fit in with the table and especially those that are themed for the army. It's a great way to add character to your objective games and get your army "into" the table. One of the big events in Chicagoland, Operation Sting, actually goes so far as to require each person have a themed objective marker for one particular mission. How well the marker matches the theme of your army is factored into your overall points for the tournament as well. One year I did the equipment containers from Foundry Miniatures for my Fallschirmjager. This year, I did up this little number for my Commandos... a British officer with a map and some tea. The table was hand made from plasticard and for a first attempt at 28mm furniture wasn't bad, though I know I can do better.

Recently, I was turned on to some generic objective markers being made by a local business called Mercenary Miniatures. I knew these guys from their commission paint work in the past, and have even been lucky enough to roll dice with them at various points. They had brought early prototypes of the objective markers to a game and I was pretty impressed, so pressed them for a set to check out myself. They showed up in the mail a few days later and with kid-at-Christmas interest I set in.

Right off the bat, I noticed that the resin they used was different than what I'm used to with tanks. It's a bright white resin, and very smooth in the flat areas. At first I was somewhat concerned that it would be brittle but even dropping one and trying to break another they held up well. There are a few air bubbles here and there, but nothing that couldn't be fixed with just a little Green Stuff after I had given them the standard bath in warm, soapy water.

A quick prime with some Krylon black, and I was ready to paint. I have to say, they painted up pretty quickly and easily! I waffled on whether to do the tarps in Splittermuster, or perhaps Plane Tree, but in the end I opted for a more generic green color, as may be found in most armies. This, for me, makes the objective markers a little more universal so that they don't look out of place with any of my armies (a real boon, given the glacial pace at which I complete projects). If you're only using them for one army, doing an army-specific pattern such as a nation's unique camouflage would go that extra little bit to really set them off.

I'm on the fence about whether or not to add some tufts of grass to the base, but I figured all the feet trampling around the supply cache would get rid of any grass so I'm not sure. Maybe some static grass? We'll see how I feel as I get them on the table a few times.

All in all, though, I am pretty happy with the results. These objectives run for only $10 US each, or the set for $25 US. That's not bad at all, and for me it's worth the price of admission for something a little more scenic in my Bolt Action games requiring objectives. I suppose that means this was a subjective discussion, then.

Edit: I've since heard from the guys at Mercenary Miniatures. They had sent me prototypes, and for production runs will be using a more standard resin as you can see in this pic. I'll definitely be picking up some of these as well, both to compare and because it'll be nice to have a few more for games that might need them.

Seamus, often going by the nom de guerre “Weekend General,” is a long-time wargamer and sometime contributor to various podcasts and online forums, based in Chicago. Occasionally dabbling in other miniatures games, it is Bolt Action that really captures his interest.

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Trees and Terrain for Wargaming

This past month I walked around the Fall-In commercial sales area during a break between a few of my games and found some interesting things. I am always on the look-out for new terrain or at least nice terrain to better dress up my gaming tables for a variety of systems. I mostly play Flames of War, Warmachine and recently took a dive into Team Yankee. Adventure Terrain is a company that has an interesting take on trees and other gaming terrain.

Realistic terrain really does make all the difference.

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Building the British Airborne - Part 1

Chapter 1 - July 2016

"I'm awfully sorry, but I'm afraid we will need to occupy your house" - Col John Frost - A Bridge too Far

"This is....Everything, 2 .30 cal machine guns, 11 Hawkins Mines, 17 grenades, two bazookas but we only got 8 rounds left, and assorted small arms.  We had a 60mm mortar, but an arty round took it out.  Might as well be spit wads if we run into some tanks." - Saving Private Ryan

I've always been fascinated by the British Airborne's campaign during Operation Market Garden.  The ambition of it, the audacity, the courageousness it took to hang on that long.  All the books I've read, documentaries I've watched, have made it a life's goal to visit the sites in Holland and see it some day.  And I know it is a relatively competitive force in Flames of War. So I went about collecting it all. But I didn't want to start assembling it or painting it before I was ready to do it justice.

So to paraphrase the quote above....here is everything....

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Bolt Action - Review: Knights of Dice 28mm MDF Church

By Patch,
At a recent event I attended I was lucky enough to win the new Knights of Dice  (KoD) Church and I was greatly pleased after having picked up some of their desert buildings earlier this year. The church is part of a new range titled 'Letters Home' of unpainted pre cut MDF flat pack buildings. I will now take you through my impressions on assembly, painting and finally play-ability on the table for the Church.

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Bolt Action - Review: Warlord Games' Atlantik Wall Terrain Set

I LOVE great looking terrain on a tabletop. There is nothing better in my mind than playing a close game against a good opponent on a table covered with beautiful scenery with fully painted models. It is the perfect combination. 

The problem is that I am stupidly busy and that I am a legendarily slow painter. This means that I am constantly battling my age-old nemesis… time… to get armies to the point that I feel comfortable putting them on the table. This leaves little time to build and paint terrain… This is why I am such a big fan of Gale Force Nine’s “Battlefield In A Box” range. Pre-painted, good looking durable terrain? Yes please! 

Over the years, Warlord Games has also released several excellent limited runs of pre-painted terrain like their “Battle Ready North African House” and this… Their “Atlantik Wall Terrain Set.”

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Bolt Action - Review: Knights of Dice Desert Building

Hello again team, for this review I am taking a look at an MDF building kit produced by Knights Of Dice as part of their 28mm desert range. The particular one I am looking at today is called Desert Residence 2 from their Tabula Rasa range and is made from 3mm MDF. This is the first kit produced by Knights Of Dice that I have ever built so I thought it was a good chance to do a review for you guys. The Tabula Rasa range is promoted on the website as follows - 'A range of simple shapes and shells designed for the scratch builders and terrain enthusiast to improve upon, these kits include no instructions so we suggest dry-fitting all the parts before applying glue. Add some bits from your 'bits box' and you can transform these buildings into something only limited by your imagination'

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Premium Terrain-Clock Tower (BB200) Review

I would like to introduce my favorite piece of battlefield in a box terrain – The Clock Tower. This is being released as part of Battlefront's 2016 Premium Building Line for use with their Team Yankee ruleset and will work great for their World War II Flames of War set as well.

So let’s take a look at this iconic European building. Many European towns have a similar building either near the center of town, or sometimes as part of the exterior “wall” of the town as the Sally-Port was usually guarded.   Here are a few actual clock towers from Freiburg, Rothenberg, and Vilseck.

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Terrain for Tournaments

A few years ago, I played in a tournament where the table was a tan bed sheet with some pillows underneath it to simulate large, gently sloping sand dunes. Not only was it difficult to decide what units were out of line-of-sight, but almost impossible to determine which ones were concealed by being hull down.  Players spent much of the game, bent over like two angry Quasimodos arguing about which units were visible and which had "sanctuary". To make matters worse, the heavier Battlefront metal and resin models actually sank down into the terrain, allowing their hull-down position to follow them around the board, while lighter plastic models sat fully exposed. (Brand loyalty does have its rewards.) As the futility of playing on this table continued, we started debating if the heavier models needed a bog check to move, as they were constantly moving out of deep holes.  After a few hours of players' complaints, the table was removed from play.

I spend far too much time carefully painting and basing my figs so they will look nice (hence the huge painting queue), so I want to have a table that looks as good as the armies that fight over it. This means making the terrain looking both good and realistic is important to me. Unfortunately, natural terrain does not always fall into the game categories defined in Flames of War, so it becomes necessary to diverge from realism when it begins to interfere with playability.

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Bolt Action - DIY MG Emplacement

By Dennis Berwick

Today I'll be taking you through a step-by-step guide on how to make this simple machine gun emplacement for use as terrain in your games of Bolt Action.

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Factory Building Review

This is part three in my series of reviews on Battlefront's new modern building line for use with Team Yankee.

Battlefield In A Box has been a very good line of accessories for Battlefront's game systems.  They do not have to be used exclusively for Flames of War or Team Yankee, however, and may be used with any 15mm system.

Today we will be taking a look at the Factory Building, product code BB 192 and retails for $50.00 USD.


The reviews will all be relatively brief since there is no painting or real assembly required. That in itself is my favorite aspect of the Battlefield in a Box series; open the box and you have an automatic piece of terrain without the hassles of gluing things together and painting all for an affordable price.

The model comes in three pieces, all cast resin and fully painted. The model, when assembled, is 3" tall and 6.5" long. 

A view from the top of all three parts.

A view of the inside of the roof and a different angle.

Ground level view unassembled.  Please note the detail on the loading doors and the texture of the walls.



Ground level view of the factory from the front facing.

Ground level view of the factory from the rear.

I really like this model.  The color is great and fits the theme perfectly.  It is a bit bigger than the standard house that we have all seen from the Battlefield in a Box line.  It makes for a great terrain on the game table, especially when combined with other pieces of the new modern line. There is a limited amount of shading and highlights. The only detractor may be the price. $50.00 for a building is a lot of money for a single piece of terrain, however the quality is there and it is a lot of resin going into this building.  I plan on purchasing more of these buildings to add to my collection, which is the best recommendation I can give.  If I could change anything, I do wish they would come out with all Battlefront buildings in slightly different colors to give some diversity to the game table. 

4.5 out of 5 stars.

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