Sunday 29 September 2024

Making a Ruined City table

One of the benefits of keeping a blog is that it becomes a record of your gaming life. Now that I'm in the eighth year of blogging I can begin to go back to some of my earliest posts and see how far things have progressed (or not!). This was all brought home to me when I met up with Rob, someone who regularly comments on the posts here. We were talking about terrain and he mentioned how my early game reports were a reminder of how much my tables have come on over the years. He is absolutely right and I was reminded again of that recently when running The Road To Bremen campaign for a second time.

The final game is set in the ruins of Bremen itself and makes for a great setting. I really enjoyed putting the table together for this one and felt it was quite an improvement over my initial attempt more than six years ago.

That initial game was part of the third campaign that I had recorded for the blog and was just two years after I returned to miniature gaming. I'd been very busy making terrain during those two years and while the tables looked fine they lacked many of the small details that really make for a more immersive experience. 

Knowing what I do now, this was one table that I've always wanted to do again. When I put it together the first time I certainly had plenty of buildings, but that wasn't enough to quite capture the right look and feel. Looking at it now there's something a little sterile, even toy-like about its appearance.

Crossfire was the rule set that brought me back to miniature gaming and it’s a rule set that lends itself well to urban fighting. It needs a lot of terrain and for that I had scratch built quite a number of ruined buildings using foamcore. There's a blog post with more detail on how I made those here.


I had given some thought to rubble and how best to represent it. The one element I've stuck with has been modular pieces of rubble that can be positioned around the buildings. 


Admittedly they are slightly abstracted in form, but I’ve found them a simple solution to breaking the boundary between a building and the terrain it sits on. As you can see below they make for a quick but quite effective transformation.



Their versatility allows for variations.



While the bulk of my Second World War gaming these days is using Chain of Command it doesn't follow that those buildings are redundant. Far from it. Now they simply see action in more settings. I recently gave my Crossfire figures a complete refresh and did the same with many of the buildings. They still see use playing Crossfire, in fact we've had something of a revival of interest in the rules at the club and I've been running games like the one pictured below.


You can probably spot a few of the small details I've added to those buildings when compared with the picture from our original Bremen game below.

The foamcore buildings made up the bulk of structures for the ruins of Bremen and I recall at the time being very pleased with the table. That said, I wasn't quite as happy with the mat we used. It didn't really suit an urban setting and now I find it jarring to look at. The buildings don't sit comfortably and look very much like they were plonked down. 

If there's one thing I've learned over the last few years it's how well a good mat or base can tie all the different terrain elements together and create a more seamless piece of terrain. Take the image below. It's from an earlier game in our original Bremen campaign. The mat works well enough in a more rural setting and it makes for a perfectly acceptable table.

Now compare a few of the exact same terrain pieces arranged on the flocked mat in a similar rural setting. I think there is a notable difference.

While my original mat served me well, when I transitioned to a flocked mat the difference was obvious and immediate. Now the terrain pieces looked like they belong in their setting. 

I've been teaching a new player Chain of Command and we've been working our way through The Road to Bremen campaign. The good thing about this campaign is the high re-playability. The number of variables and options means it's extremely unlikely to ever play the same way twice. When it came time to playing on the last map which is set in Bremen itself I was eager to see if I could make a better job of the table at a second attempt.

As mentioned, I've carried out a little more work on the buildings. The main emphasis was on making sure they all work to the same colour palette. At the same time I wanted to add more texture and small piles of rubble. In all honesty you can never really have enough rubble but I've always wanted to strike a balance between form and function. 


If period photographs of Bremen in 1945 are anything to go by I'd need considerably more to capture the real look.



Ultimately the buildings have to be playable and the figures need to be able to work in the terrain, so there is always going to be an element of compromise.

The next thing to address was a suitable mat. I looked at those available commercially but in the end decided to make my own. The main reason was to ensure consistency with the building colour palette. For this mat I repurposed a piece of fleece fabric.


I had originally painted it for use as arid/desert terrain for games set in Afghanistan. I’ve since made a different one using canvas and caulk that I much prefer and so the fleece version had become redundant. 


It was a simple enough job to overpaint it using similar colours to my buildings.


The final missing element was scatter material, specifically more rubble. Looking at the original table from 2018 the one thing that strikes me is how neat it looks. While I have made detachable rubble pieces that help to break up the uniform shape of the building bases it wasn't enough. The simplest solution was to make up my own batch of rubble and scatter it once the building were in place.

I made this using cork floor tiles, the same way I've made the pieces of rubble that are set in place within the building models. In addition I painted up strips of broken balsa wood and threw in a generous amount of cat litter to make a custom rubble mix.



The loose rubble combines well with the modular rubble pieces and allows for endless variation.




Pulling all these elements together I felt I'd done a much better job of creating a table where the terrain appears more seamless. There's no doubt that the right mat combined with the scattered rubble are key components of the transformation. 



The scattered rubble does a very effective job breaking the sharp lines between the building bases and the mat. Could there be more rubble? Well, I think the answer is always going to be yes, there can never be enough. That said, I'm pleased with the way a relatively small amount can create an excellent impression of a rubble strewn landscape.








On another note, when we first played the campaign I didn't have a collection of Fallschirmjager and so we substituted my Waffen SS. This time I've had the added bonus of using my recently painted Fallschirmjager


All up it's been very satisfying to see all the various elements come together like this. It's certainly scratched my itch to do this table again and do it better.

25 comments:

  1. Splendid and inspiring work there Mark, bravo!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Phil, this was a very satisfying project, pleased you like it.

      Delete
  2. Great job on the table and building rebasing.

    ReplyDelete
  3. All the elements here are fantastic., my one question would be, why move from Xfire to CoC, the former are definitely the best WW2 rules, in my opinion, although they only really work well in a two player game

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah, I don’t think you read the post carefully enough - I’m still playing Crossfire. There’s a fairly recent blog post about how I’ve refreshed my 20mm collection (link in this post) and obviously these buildings are seeing use (in fact if you look at my 12mm WW2 collection you’ll see it’s been based as I can use it for Crossfire too, which we do at the club). I think Crossfire and CoC give two very different game experiences at slightly different levels, hence I’m happy playing both.

      Delete
  4. Very nice terrain set up and a nice improvement on the earlier table

    ReplyDelete
  5. As ever your terrain just keeps getting better and better. If I might make a suggestion on maybe a step too far... The buildings are largely empty and so when viewed from above do give a slightly 'boxy' impression. Perhaps it might be possible to have collapsed rafters, etc. that prop up against the inside walls, and maybe even poke above them to break up the lines here and there. These could be purely aesthetic and removed if necessary to put troops inside, as once you have troops inside that also breaks up the empty box look.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, it is something I’ve thought about. I certainly think a few piece of machinery for the factories would be straightforward enough. I think I need the incentive of more campaigns in big urban settings to push me to take this up another level.

      Delete
  6. Inspiring stuff as always. I’ll be borrowing some of these ideas as I work on my own ruins.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In my experience Xfire plays very well with 3 players per side and in campaigns. Check out https://balagan.info/ for a lot more info!

      Delete
  7. Although from a strictly visual perspective I think you are right, there can always be more rubble, I think you have a really good balance on that table for gaming - it looks great.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks. I agree, form must follow function and it must always be playable. I think taking a leaf from the Impressionists’ book and creating the effect rather than every minute detail is the way to go.

      Delete
  8. Wonderful work & insights! The challenge with urban terrain is, it seems to me, striking a balance between realism and playability - A test you’ve passed with flying colors!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah thank you, that was the aim, so I’m pleased you think I’ve hit the mark.

      Delete
  9. Excellent result. I like the modular rubble pieces.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, those modular pieces have certainly attracted a few comments. Ive found them a very effective addition.

      Delete
  10. Great stuff - the refurbished table really looks great and there are some good ideas in here for anyone making an urban ruin table. The new table is an obvious large improvement but I also think the original table was pretty good, and in fact if you just substituted a brown mat underneath it, it would look almost as good. I suppose we should all aim to achieve the vision we have in our heads, but for most of us we still need to get some games in even whilst we haven't got everything perfect yet--otherwise we'd never get a game in at all! Anyway, great stuff and it certainly gives me some ideas for making a city ruin table.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree. At the time I thought I'd done a great job with the first table and as you say, it really wasn't that bad. I think if anything it shows my progression over time and how small changes (like the mat) make a big difference. I don't think it would ever stop me playing a game although it might just stop me rushing around showing everyone pictures of it!

      Delete
    2. I think the main takeaway is how big of a difference small changes can make and if I can have your sort of progression over time I'd be happy with that!

      Delete
  11. I love the look of the scattered rumble mix. It really takes the looks of the table to another level.

    I'm just wondering if it isn't fiddly to collect all of it after playing?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It’s the last thing we clear up. We tip it out of the buildings etc onto the mat and then fold the mat in half and pour it into the tub. Very quick and easy.

      Delete
  12. You discussed here all the things I've been thinking about over the past few years about making great looking tables and the various compromises that have to be made to address playability versus verisimilitude.

    I've grappled with rebuilding terrain, but largely have avoided doing anything down to the simple lack of regular game sessions. I find myself with no one to play against, and this is most demotivating.

    So, I'm glad to see you charging ahead doing this because it brings me vicarious enjoyment of reading about your progress.

    ReplyDelete