Sunday 27 September 2015

Sacks and Crates, Freight, Groceries.

Introduction

Scatter terrain is something that we all need in our wargames, yet it's something I tend to forget when making purchases or scratchbuilding.  Just occasionally, though, I build a few pieces.  Here are some that I've used many times in Old West games, usually placed just outside the grocer's store.  [What, outside, in the street?  Yes, that's right: in the open air.  I dunno, maybe the grocery store just got a delivery and hasn't yet unpacked everything...]

Groceries

Groceries for an Old West town.  Hmm, I wonder whether the fish is still fresh?
This photo shows 3 pieces that might loosely be termed "groceries".  The upper two are composite items, built up from multiple models, whilst the lower item comes as a single cast.  So, clockwise from the top left:

  • The crates of fish and apples come from Ainsty Castings, specifically from the Trade Goods section of their catalogue.  I'm pretty sure that the sacks are from the same source as well.
  • Again, the crates of vegetables are Ainsty trade goods.  The barrels are from a Renedra plastic kit, however.
  • The pile of packing cases, large jars in wicker sleeves and sacks is a single casting from Ainsty.  Note that such a piece is slightly harder to paint than separate items because of the close proximity of different colours, though on the other hand, unlike an assemblage of separates, it doesn't need to be based.

    Also note that it's hard to use multiples of such a single-piece casting without it looking peculiar.  The human eye and brain is exceptionally good at spotting patterns, so duplicates will stand out like a sore thumb!


 Here are another 3 pieces; for this article I'll call them "containers".  Again, clockwise from the top:

  • The stack of crates is a single piece casting from the Void 1.1 "Ammo cases and crates" set.  Since this model came in a collection of 4 bits, I must have the other ammo cases &c around somewhere - but they've become separated temporarily from this one.

    Note that a stack of wooden crates like this is very easy to paint.  I've chosen to depict them as fresh pine wood; I doubt that many packing cases were ever old enough to become heavily weathered.  After the base wood colour and a simple wash, I've added some "stencilled" lettering, a few white chalk crosses and a scrawled, semi-literate "Orl Korrect" from the freight company (one of the possibly origins of the well-known phrase "O.K.").

    This set of ammo cases and crates is still available from Scotia Grendel.
  • The stack of barrels and a cartwheel is another of my composite pieces.  The barrels are Renedra plastics, while the wheel is from the long-defunct Amazon Miniatures (nothing to do with the much more recent book company called "Amazon" that some of you may have come across).
  • Finally, the 2 barrels, wheel and bale is a very mixed piece, but from the same set of manufacturers as before.  The main distinguishing feature here is that one of the barrels is open (and empty).  That's quite easy to achieve with a plastic model, though as I recall there were some substantial internal supports which I had to carve away from the barrel first.


Finally, here are some sacks (and a pile of bales of cotton, or maybe wool).  The sacks are all from Ainsty, as before.  What makes these unique, though, is that I've researched the labels that might have been found on goods sacks in the USA of the late 19th century.  I then made these brand labels into waterslide transfers and applied them to each sack in the top layer.

In this picture, you should be able to make out the following: "R.G.M. 1878", "Wheat", "Coffee Trading Company" and "Produce".  There are also a couple of sacks in the first picture of this article with "PRAIRIE".  Hands up if you noticed them before reading this far!

I'm somewhat annoyed with these sacks, though.  When I painted them, I applied the transfers before giving the models a black wash.  The result is that the wash has outlined each decal faintly; it's quite easy to spot this mistake.  Moral: always apply decals after washes!

Conclusion

All of these goods could be used in many settings as well as Old West, of course.  To me, the most obvious alternative would be Darkest Africa, at some riverhead trading post.  Or perhaps they could fill a warehouse or some market stalls in some pulp adventure?  The possibilities are many and varied...

28 comments:

  1. Ha, excellent stuff! I've just finished painting some sacks of grain myself for the SELWG game. You can never have too many provisions. From loot to obstacles to simple scenery items for a dark age monastery (hem).

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    1. In the same vein, livestock and wagons would be useful too :-) .

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  2. Some great looking scatter terrain there C6, many of which I'll be tracking down thanks to your posting. I especially like the "Ainsty Castings" stuff. But they're all rather nice imho. Doubtless your Western tabletop looks terrific with all these bits and bobs dotted about.

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    1. Thanks. There's so much stuff from Ainsty that I would like, but the prices do add up very quickly!

      I think it's my limited set of buildings that let down my Old West town somewhat. They're decent enough card models, but not very numerous...

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  3. I doub that anyone doesn't like scatter terrain such as these and you've done a really excellent job with them too. I do think that a lot of these items are failry ageless (save for your labelling of them) and some wouldn't look amiss in a Roamn market.

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    1. Thanks, Joe. These are great for Old West or similar (the labelling does indeed restrict them a bit); I should really do similar stuff for other settings too...

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  4. Some excellent items, its great putting this kinda gear on the table top, it just adds that little bit of realism to games.

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    1. It does indeed, Ray. I've got a bunch of small cacti based up for desert settings as well - one of them even has a rattlesnake hiding under it!

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  5. Really liking the selection here - as a terrain enthusiast, I heartily approve!

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    1. Thanks, Evan. This collection is great for a grocers or a freight depot, but I need some other stuff too, I think.

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  6. Great stuff C6! These are the sort of details that can really make a game.

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    1. Thanks, Bob! yes, they certainly do help. After all, what gunslinger hasn't been tempted to reach out from behind his cover to take an apple :-) !

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    1. Thanks, Robert. There's nothing especially difficult about what I've done here; anyone could do the same :-) .

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  8. Very usable in so many settings.

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    1. Thanks, Bryan. The labelling does restrict them a bit, but I'm prepared to accept that for a little bit more "realism".

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  9. They are just the kind of things we all need in skirmish games and look fab!

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    1. Thanks, Clint. I think that many of us tend to over-concentrate on figures, at the expense of great terrain.

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  10. Useful stuff and the kind of thing that fits many settings, therefore multi-purpose. :)

    They look great. :)

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    1. Thanks. I'm never sure whether to store terrain (or figures, come to that) in a genre-specific box. It's easier to set up a game if there's a specific set of "Old West" terrain - but then I might miss out on some more generic items that are elsewhere at the moment...

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  11. Absolutly beautiful and so useful...

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    1. Thanks, Phil. It is indeed good to have some stuff like this that can be used to decorate a game.

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  12. I do enjoy a bit of scatter terrain and these are particularly good! I love the water slide branding, really great idea.

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    1. The brand names (and logos) seemed like a good idea to introduce some extra character. Decals were then necessary because I wasn't about to attempt freehand painting of all the details on each sack!

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  13. By composite pieces I'm assuming you mean that you glue separate pieces (from different product lines) together. I'm a noob when it comes to basing so forgive me if I'm stating the obvious. The pieces above look really good. I'm toying with the idea of sculpting such pieces from polymer clay but then these would be suitable only as part of a diorama display and not for gaming due to its fragility.

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    1. Yes indeed, in my article a composite piece is an arrangement of separate smaller pieces, sometimes from the same manufacturer and sometimes from various ones.

      I've never used a polymer clay and therefore don't know its handling qualities. If the dried material is porous, maybe it could be strengthened with a thin coat of white glue?

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  14. Ha! Just the kind of stuff I'm currently looking for to complement my new Old West town. Great. Do you still have the file for the transfers you made? I would buy a sheet of those from you, if you are able to recreate it? I don't own a laser printer, so I cannot create water-proof transfers myself, sadly.

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    1. I'm very sorry, but I have looked for the file and cannot find it. This is a surprise to me as I'm fairly sure I haven't deleted it - after all, I might need it again! If I do find the data then I'll let you know.

      It is possible to make decals with an inkjet printer; you just use a slightly different technique. See here for a lightweight description of the method: http://colgar6.blogspot.com/2014/11/tee-shirt-decals-for-28mm-models.html

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