Building Sarissa 20mm terrace houses

I wanted to be able to create a typical French street of terraced houses and shops, but I didn't necessarily want to buy one of Sarissa Precision's terrace blocks. I liked the idea of a versatile mix of buildings, one that I could use to create a terraced street, but also keep the ability to add some variations depending on the needs of any given scenario.

I think the image below sums up the sort of terrain to aim for:

I bought a selection of buildings, including a couple of single terrace houses, one destroyed single house, a double fronted house and an end cafe/shop. I like the Sarissa buildings, but as with all MDF models they need a bit of work to give them some individuality and character.

Once assembled I found I didn't like the way the different building levels had been designed to attach to each other. The fit was a bit tight and I could see the potential for a lot of fiddling around in the course of a game whenever I needed to remove a level and put it back again. So the first task was to remove the MDF plugs.

I then used some of the off-cuts from the inside of the windows and doors that often remain with the models and used them on the base of the upper levels to help hold those floors in place.

The next job was to fill the holes where the plugs would fit and to fill the other holes from the assembly of the walls. I used general purpose filler for this job.

I then gave it all a light sanding with a fine grain sandpaper.

The exterior walls lacked texture and so I used a semi-textured house paint from a hardware store to provide some character to the exteriors.

I take care around windows and doors, as you don't want to lose the finer details.

The next task is to do something similar with the roofs.

This is the end terrace roof and as you can see it has those nasty looking plugs and it is the one thing that really screams out that this is an MDF model. The less said about the 'chimney pots' the better.

There are plenty of potential solutions, but I like to use laser cut roof tiles from Charlie Foxtrot Models. These come in A4 sheets and you simply cut out the lengths you need and glue them down.

Once trimmed to the shape of the roof I then add a strip of capping where the sections meet. This was made from an off-cut from the sheets of paper that the tiles are cut from.

The destroyed terrace roof required a little more creativity, but the base were the laser cut tiles. These tiles were from an earlier set I had bought from Charlie Foxtrot which came in black but are essentially the same as the lighter coloured ones.

I added some internal beams to give the damaged roof a bit more character.

The other issue is the chimney pots. They are those rather sad looking sticks of MDF protruding from the chimney and they really won't do.

I looked around the web to see what was available for model railway buildings. There were lots of options in resin, 3D printing or metal. I also stumbled across some pre-printed on card that you simply cut to shape and rolled to the size desired. I was about to order those when I thought, hang on a minute, surely that's simple enough to make myself and then paint. It was all simple enough. Find some thick art paper and cut a stip to the height you want the chimney to be.

Cut a suitable length (in my case for a 20mm scale building I thought about 30mm was sufficient). I then rolled it around a small piece of dowel and glued it together with PVA.

To give them additional strength I glue them over the MDF sticks on the chimney and then covered them in a very generous amount of undiluted PVA, inside and out, as this hardens and makes them very durable.

Once painted they come up well.

The end terrace cafe comes with two MDF rectangles to attach for signs. I found some suitable signs on the web, adjusted the size and then printed them off before using diluted PVA to stick them to the MDF.

I then added the doors, window shutters and other features that are printed on grey board and that come with the Sarissa models. The signs are not glued on yet as the buildings will need painting first.

The destroyed terrace needed to have some additional rubble to give it more character. I built a fire place and added some rubble made out of broken up cork. I think with all terrain there is a need for a fine balance between realism and playability. I'm not a big fan of based miniatures balanced precariously on top of mounds of rubble. So I've put just enough to give the impression of damage without making it impractical. This is really just a mater of taste.

The appearance of the damaged walls was looking very uniform and regular and so to break it up I decided to add some pieces of thin cork sheet torn to shape.

With the base of the buildings complete I then give them a coat of primer prior to painting.

The more I looked at the destroyed building the more I wanted to add rubble around it. My first thought was to put it on a base, but to do that would mean it would have to be a stand-alone piece and not part of a terrace. So my solution was to create a separate pile of rubble that I could sit around the building if needed. I used the remains of one of the frames from the MDF kit to make a right angled base that could sit around the corner of the house. I then used my dremel to bevel the edges and give them an uneven look.

This would allow me to place it around the building like this.

I built up the rubble using some insulating foam and then coated it with filler to which I added sand, cat litter and other pieces of debris.

The buildings were given their base coat and then dry brushed with various lighter shades to bring out the highlights. I try to make sure the roof does not look too uniform and paint the tiles in different shades. This can look a bit stark at first but once dry brushed and weathered they tie together.

The chimney pots are painted and I used the same Terractotta paint to pick out some of the brick work in the walls of the damaged house.

The roofs were weathered using dry brushing, highlighting the tiles but also adding streaks of dirt and grime. Finally the window shutters were painted and the houses were as good as complete.

Finally the additional rubble was painted to match the building.

I like the versatility this now offers to make up various rows of terraces. It also gives me the option to use all the buildings independently should I need to.

I can also add variety by introducing different size buildings, for example this Tabac from Charlie Foxtrot.

Next I need to consider how best to do the walled back yard areas for the houses. While it is all well and good to say I have a lot of options with the house arrangement it does mean I need to consider what is the best solution for the backyards. I'll have to give that a bit of thought.

As an update to this post I eventually came up with solutions for the backyards and walls. You can see how I did those in these two posts Getting ready for the Many Rivers to Cross campaign  and in Getting ready for the 29, Let’s Go! campaign .

Westwind Königsberg Flank Attack at the Girls School (round two)

The first attempt to force the Russians out of the Girls School was rebuffed in the previous game. This came as an unexpected setback to the Germans so early in the campaign and they need to make amends or risk falling behind schedule.

The German platoon will be short of six men for this scenario - four lost permanently and two wounded, who will not return until the next game. As a result Dave will field one weakened squad in order to bring the other two squads closer to full strength.

The Russian platoon has lost two men permanently and so I plan to field a platoon of two full squads and one weak squad made up of four men and their Serzhant. As a result of the victory in the previous game my Russian defenders can consolidate their position by adding one static defence to their supports.

As previously, the Germans will be making a flank attack which will stretch the Russian defence. I misjudged the patrol phase in the previous scenario and that allowed the Germans to place a jump off point close to the rear of the school. I wanted to avoid this happening again. However the Germans start this patrol phase with four free moves and they push aggressively down the Russian left flank through the long grass of the water meadow. Simultaneously they threaten from the opposite flank and as neither movement can be ignored this stretches the Russians to the limit.

The end result is that once again the Germans manage to place a jump off point close to the rear of the school. Not on the same flank as last time, but no less threatening.

Things continue well for the Germans, their Force Morale will start at ten while the Russians will be at eight.  Neither side will have as much support this time around as the support roll is seven, with the Germans receiving to support list seven and the Russians to list five. 

While I had some luck in the last game I still took seven casualties from German fire and so my intention in this game is to wait until the Germans are much closer to the school, where I can take full advantage of my SMGs. As I envisage the fight taking place at close quarters I decide to add a flamethrower team as a support. If the Germans get a foothold in the school then a flamethrower will be one powerful way to try to drive them back out. That said, it's a tough choice for the Russians, as seven support points will allow the Germans to call on armour support should they wish, which means I have to consider some form of anti tank weapon. I decide this will be left to a tank killer team armed with three panzerfausts. A minefield will be laid as part of the consolidation of my defensive position and I will add an entrenchment for one team.

Once Dave announces he has chosen his supports we are ready to start and so I place the minefield where it blocks one of the access routes into the school grounds from a German jump off point. While there is a jump off point to my rear it is in open ground and I suspect the Germans will want to take advantage of the cover provided by the long grass over on this flank as they approach the school buildings.

The first German command roll doesn't offer many options. Dave uses it to deploy a reinforced LMG team and Obergefreiter (JL) from the house behind the hedge on the Russian right flank, they are all that remain of a squad from the core platoon.

In a repeat of the last scenario the Russians roll a double phase, but at this early stage it is of little use as I want to hold back my deployment until the Germans are closer.

The next Russian command phase is also a double phase, but once again there is little to be gained from deploying. I do contemplate trying to close down the rearmost German jump off point, but on second thoughts it is not the wisest option. If we assume I can close it down in the subsequent phase, what then? It is in the open and without a turn end it can't be captured. That would mean my squad would have to remain in the open risking fire from two possible German deployment points. That's seven men in open ground taking fire from a possible 28 dice fire attack. I can only see that ending badly.

The Russian run of phases ends in the next command roll but does see the accumulation of two CoC points.

The Germans now take a turn at rolling a double phase. A squad deploys from the rearmost German jump off point which instantly brings it very close to the school. This could spell trouble. Perhaps that would have been a better location for the minefield? Easy to say in hindsight.

Just in case the next command roll for the Germans is a bad one, Dave wisely has the squad take up tactical positions.

Over on the other flank the German LMG team move up to the hedge and from there they can target the school buildings. I'm feeling under pressure already.

The subsequent German command roll is 55443, not ideal but enough to activate the squad near the school. They make a rush for the nearest door and most of the men make it into the building. It's enough to bring them within 4" of the Russian jump off point and close it down. 

While I fully intended to wait for the Germans to close in on the school before deploying I was not expecting such a rapid advance. This aggressive moves calls for an immediate Russian response and it was for occasions such as this that I had called on a flamethrower team for support. They deploy into the building to tackle the German intruders. 

Unfortunately the flamethrower attack doesn't inflict the sort of damage I was hoping for, with only four hits on the Germans. Nonetheless it's enough to cause two casualties and inflict two points of shock. It's nowhere near enough to drive the Germans from the building.

I don't want to leave the flamethrower team isolated, a small three man team like this is very vulnerable, and so I deploy my weakest squad to join them. Unfortunately the distance from the jump off point is such that I can't deploy them into the building and so they can't fire on the German squad, but at least they can support the flamethrower team.

From their other jump in the long grass the Germans deploy a Volkssturm squad.

From there they can just see the Russian squad in the open area of the school. Not all their weapons will be at close range, but they can apply a fair bit of firepower.

They manage ten hits and with four sixes rolled the Russian squad loses four men. The leader is not hit, but that's enough to wipe out the squad. That sees Russian morale drop two points down to six. That was ugly and even had the squad been in hard cover the result would have been the same.

That has changed the odds and the Germans now give serious consideration to charging in to close combat. Those members of the German squad that can see the flamethrower team fire at half fire power before advancing. The fire has no effect, but we will witness a round of close combat.

The Germans may have more men but they are taking something of a risk, as the odds will be against them in close combat. The combat will see thirteen Russian dice versus nine German. The result is identical with both sides rolling two 6s. One of the flamethrower team is killed and the Russian Serzhant is lightly wounded, which sees their morale drop a further two points to four.

The consequences of a draw in this round of the close combat means we will go straight into another round. This goes badly for the Russians, who fail to inflict a single casualty on the Germans, but in return they see the loss of the two remaining men from the flamethrower team. With a support team wiped out Russian morale slumps again, falling down to two. This is not going well, in a single German phase my force morale has dropped six points.

Having lost the close combat the sole Russian survivor, the wounded Serzhant, falls back 9".

As Russian FM is at two the Germans can remove one of the Russian jump off points and so they take the one from the other building at the rear of the school. With one Russian jump off point already closed down, this leaves only the two in the building at the front of the school.

With force morale at two the Russians are also down to three command dice. Not only that, they are restricted to deploying into a building that has German units or jump off points all around them. With only four casualties from the core platoon so far and with such limited tactical options there seems little point fighting this out much longer. We have managed to hold the Germans up for one campaign turn already, so now seems a good time to cut our losses and withdraw in reasonable shape to fight another day.

Once again the German ability to set up a jump off point so close to the school has proved a problem for the Russians. Despite that, my counterattack might have succeeded. I did wonder in hindsight if I would have been better deploying a squad into the building instead of the flamethrower. At that range the squad would have generated a lot of firepower - six for the LMG and twenty for the SMGs. Twenty six fire dice sounds a lot, but with average dice I could expect thirteen hits and with a target in hard cover that would work out to be something like two kills and two shock. On the other hand the flamethrower with twelve dice could expect six hits but with the target considered in open ground I could expect two kills and four shock. So actually there wasn't much in it either way. In the end it didn't matter, not only did the Germans stand firm their aggression reaped rewards.

As is now obvious to me, I should have placed my minefield much like I did in the previous scenario and tried to block access to the school from the rearmost German jump off point. Not sure what I was thinking when I made that decision.

We ended with German force morale at ten and Russian at two, quite a difference. Despite inflicting four casualties on the Germans the Russian withdrawal when the difference in force morale was eight points means all those German casualties can be collected and patched up to fight again. With a wounded man returning for the next game the Germans will be missing only their four permanent casualties.

The Russians suffered four casualties from the core platoon. One man will return immediately but two are lost permanently, with another wounded and missing the next game. In total the Russians will be down five men for the next game.

This victory means the German CO's Opinion rises to +1 and the Men's Opinion rises from -2 to 0. The platoon commander's outlook also improves and is now Secure.

The Russian CO is less impressed and his opinion drops to 0. The Men's Opinion also takes a drop and is now +1. The platoon commander's outlook remains unchanged and he is Cheerful.

From here the Germans press on to the town of Metgethen, each scenario victory bringing them closer to a breakout. You can follow what happens next in Scenario 3 Gardening in Metgethen.

The Westwind Königsberg Campaign appears in the Too Fat Lardies Summer Special 2014. You can purchase this as a downloadable pdf from TFL Summer Special 2014.

You can find all of the game reports for this and other campaigns on the Chain of Command campaigns AARs page.