3d-printable terrain for all your samurai wargaming needs
The new Samurai Shop set has so many possible model combinations, we're going to split the assembly blog into 2 parts.
So today's blog will focus on constructing the shop buildings, and part 2 will show off the 8 shops of accessories. Ready? Let's get started.....
▲ We start the construction process by printing the side and back walls, and then the front wall. Every piece of these shops is designed to print without supports, to make your life easier!
There are, however, a few built-in print supports in the window frames (circled in red in the photo above), which will need to be removed before assembly.
▲ To remove the print supports, I've found that the best method is to slowly squeeze at top and bottom of each support, while also twisting the cutters gently from side to side. Once the supports are removed, you can stick in the window grills.
▲ There are 3 basic patterns of wall texture, as shown in the photo above. The model on the left has vertical wood planks on its lower walls, the model in the middle has horizontal wooden slats, and the version on the right has textured earth walls for all panels.
▲ For the front wall of the shop, you have a choice of 5 wall types. From the left, we have:
All of these walls feature sliding doors to enter the shop.
▲ In addition to those 5 front wall types, there is also an optional display window case, which can be attached to the first three wall types (so not the sliding door wall or the projecting box window wall).
There are four small built-in print supports (circled in red in the photo above), which should be removed before assembly.
▲ I've printed two of the display window boxes, to use on my fancier shops.
▲ Once you've printed the surrounding walls, you should print the floor section, the inner wall, and the stairs. There are two versions of the inner wall - with and without a small dividing curtain.
If you're thinking that those stairs are narrow, you're quite right - they are tiny! They're not really intended to be used by customers, so shop-owners tend to cram them in to the smallest possible space.
TIP: To make painting easier, DON'T glue the floor and inner wall into the model yet.
▲ Now we move on to the second storey. You've got several choices for wall types, and more choices for the front wall, too. You can also choose to model your shop with a low second storey (usually just for storage), or with a tall second storey (for a complete room).
Again, some of the wall sections include built-in print supports (circled in red in the photo above) for windows, which should be removed before assembly.
▲ After you've glued your second storey walls together, you should print the small wooden floor piece that goes next to the steps, and then the main floor. In the photo above you can see I've chosen to decorate this taller room with 8 tatami mats for the main floor, but for lower-height rooms you would probably just want to print the wooden floor version instead.
NOTE: The interior is reversible, in case you want to model the stairs to the left, instead of the right.
▲ Japanese shops usually have a short roof at the front of the store, to protect customers from the weather and also to create a grander shop front. There are two versions of this front roof included in the set - a wooden plank version (with rocks to protect it from typhoons), and the tiled version shown in the photo above.
The front roof glues to the bottom edge of the second storey, and can be supported by 2 or 4 vertical posts. The picture above shows another option, with a solid wood wall at each end instead of the thinner posts.
NOTE: If you're using the display window boxes, you won't need to add these posts.
▲ And here it is, a finished shop building with the roof in place. The only thing left to do is to slot two sliding doors into the doorway.
▲ Just as an extra note, you can also use these models as regular two-storey buildings (like in the photo above), if you leave off the front roof section.
▲ Here are some of the blank versions of the signage accessories included in the set. There are curved fabric signs (top left), large wooden signs (top centre), a new LED standing sign (top right), small paper and wood signs, menu plaques for windows, large noren curtains for the front doorway, short and long noren curtains, and two types of paper lantern.
Some of the shop accessory sets will also include specific versions of these signs, featuring kanji characters.
▲ One last photo to show you today, featuring three example shops. These don't include any of the shop accessory sets which will really bring them to life (see the next blog article for these!), but even from this photo you can see the wide variety of building style you can create from this set. The possibilities really are endless!
Here's a new set of modular terrain for the samurai collection... SHOPS!!!
Have you ever wanted to fight a battle amongst the busy streets of a samurai town, dashing around and inside a variety of shops and trading stores? Well, we've got just the set for you!
Work is almost complete on a large set of shop buildings, and these ones are modular! The basic building is a two-storey wooden shop, with a massive selection of wall types and accessory sets. 
▲ This photo shows the kind of scene you'll be able to create with this set. There are 3 wall types for the first level, plus 5 different frontages. The second levels have 3 wall types too, plus 5 or 6 different frontages. The fronts on both levels can be fitted with a variety of windows, too!
There are even 2 different heights you can use for the second level, so you can have a low storage room on the second floor, or a full-height room. The roof can be either tiled or wood, weighted down with rocks. A small projecting roof at the front of the shop, to protect customers from the rain, is also available in tiled or wood types.
Here are 3 different building examples for you to take a look at....
▲ This is a good example of how different the shop buildings can look, with a variety of building heights, wall and roof types, and signage on display. Let's take a closer look at each example...
▲ This shop has a low second storey, with a grill window under that overhanging roof, and more windows at street level. A short length of noren curtain is hanging in front of the sliding doors, and a small wooden sign is hanging on the post on the left.
▲ This is perhaps the fanciest of the three example shops, because it has a full-height second storey, with a tatami mat room inside. Next to the long barred window on the second storey is a small paper sign with a roof, and the roof at the front has a large wooden sign on top.
This shop also features two large projecting display windows, and a large paper shop sign outside. The lantern can be fitted with a small LED bulb to light it up.
▲ Finally, we come to the third example shop, which features a wooden roof weighted down with rocks (to prevent it flying off in typhoons). This shop has sliding doors along the length of its front, and a large fabric sign on the right.
As you'd expect the set comes with loads of options for signage - large wooden signs, small wooden signs, two types of paper box sign, normal and oversized noren curtains, large fabric signs, two types of paper lanterns, an option for wooden menu plaques on windows, and even a paper sign lantern suitable for LEDs!
Both floors of the building are fully detailed (with connecting stairs between the levels), and you'll be able to choose from 8 accessory sets for the interior and exterior of your shop:
Phew! That's a lot of stuff! So basically, it's a fairly HUGE set of modular shops, and I can't wait to get test printing soon....
There's a new terrain board on display at our little studio here in Aso (Japan), mixing the temple walls and the temple bell with the big pagoda, with a scattering of festival market stalls and even the new ruined hut model!
So come and take a look, and transport yourself back into feudal Japan....
▲ Foolishly, I only printed 4 temple wall sections in addition to the big temple gate building, and while they make a great solid wall of terrain to cover one edge of a board, it's harder to bring that wall into the centre of a table - so this was the slightly unorthodox arrangement I came up with!
▲ The street right outside a large temple makes a great setting for an impromptu market, so I've placed them at intervals alongside the road and the large bridge.
The mat, by the way, is a design called "Treasure Island" by Playmats.eu. The models are mostly metal minis by Warlord Games, Grey for Now Games (creators of the Test of Honour game), and Perry Miniatures.
▲ Cherry blossom tress always make a board look alive, and bring some much-needed colour to all that faded wood and roof tile grey!
▲ Here you can see a local watchman checking in with one of the temple priests at the temple gate. But is everything really calm and peaceful?
▲ This is stinky old Jiro, the local drunk, enjoying his early morning bowl of shochu (potato alcohol) by the ruins of an old hut.
▲ Inside the temple walls, everything seems tranquil and calm, as a basket-headed priest quietly plays his shakuhachi flute beside the ancient temple bell.
▲ Stall holders carry tubs of water from the stream, oblivious to the lurking danger.
▲ .... if you haven't spotted the dangers by now, then you'd definitely be going home with a shuriken star in your hat!
There's a new piece of terrain available for our samurai collection - the Ruined Hut!
Let's get dusty and take a proper look inside...
▲ For anybody who already has the Samurai Farmhouses set, this shape will be very recognisable! This is what happens when you abandon your house in the Japanese countryside - it falls apart pretty quickly!
▲ The collapsed roof is completely removable, and the building still looks great without it! Ruined, obviously, but still great.
In this photo you can see the wreckage of the rear balcony. I'd suggest difficult terrain checks for any warriors trying to get through this house!
▲ The ruined hut makes a great base for masterless ronin!
▲ The interior has 2 doorways and 4 windows, plus all the extra holes from collapsing walls, so it should make a pretty ideal hideout for snipers and archer groups.
▲ The genkan section (shown on the left) can be split from the room section (shown on the right), if you prefer to use this model as two separate ruined buildings.
Note the thin strips of rubble which have been placed against the join lines (at the front edges), which are also included in the set.
▲ House for sale. Fixer upper. Light and airy interiors.
Ideal accommodation for travellers on the move.
▲ Here's the larger section with the roof in place. Almost looks cosy, doesn't it?
▲ There are plenty of small details, like those hand-powered millstones left against the back wall, and the 100% authentically-textured ruined walls.
▲ So come on in, what are you waiting for?! Add some ruined buildings to your battles today!
▲ The Ruined Hut is available for download from today.
It's painting time, and for the new Ruined Hut model it's going to be useful to get some good real-life examples to use as reference photos.
There are a few in the recent blog article about designing the ruined hut, and I'm going to be using this photo as my main colour scheme, which should fit nicely with the existing farmhouse models in my collection....
▲ The walls are dried mud reinforced with strips of bamboo latticework, which takes on an orangey-brown colour. On top of that is a cream-coloured layer of finer plaster, which contrasts brilliantly with the ruined patches.
The wood may have started as brown, and moves through golden yellow to a darker brown as it ages, and then finally to faded light brown when it's very old. Once the rainwater starts getting into the wood (as you'll find on ruined houses), it bleaches to a light grey and starts to crumble away.
▲ I spray undercoated everything in matt black, before covering all the sections in a light brown spray.
I then gave a very gentle dusting of lightgrey spray on the very bottom of each exterior wall, where the rainwater and sun would have faded it naturally. The floor of both sections was also dusted with light grey.
The final colour to be sprayed was a slate grey, for the rooftile section.
▲ Once the undercoats sprays had dried, I washed every piece with a heavy black wash. This naturally falls into all the crevices and corners, creating shadows.
After the wash had completely dried, I carefully drybrushed the rooftile edges with a medium grey, and then again with a very light grey.
▲ Next it was time to drybrush the building sections with a light brown, on all exterior and interior walls and every piece of wood.
A second drybrush was done in very light grey, just on the very edges of the wood pieces and more heavily on the floors and lower exposed walls. Since it's a ruin, you don't need to worry about being too neat!
▲ It was time to move on to the wall panels, and I started with a light sand undercoat on the wall panels and internal dried mud and bamboo.
For the topcoat layers of wall panel, I roughly highlighted up with flesh tones to a light cream in the centre of each panel and on the broken edges.
At this stage I'd be perfectly happy to use it as a finished model on the tabletop, but there are a few simple tricks with washes to give it some extra age and detail.....
▲ First, wash those internal chunks of dried mud with a red-brown wash (Reikland Flesh), and then repaint the bamboo sticks in the light sand colour. You might also want to paint some dark grey dots on the rough string that ties the bamboo pieces together.
There are also a few roof tiles scattered around the model on the floor (inside and outside), which can use the same dark grey to pick them out.
▲ Green wash is your secret weapon to age this model!! It sounds odd, but roughly poke green wash into every corner and crevice, and along the bottom edge of the outside walls.
I even decided to use a little green wash on the bottom few rows of roof tiles, and under the central spine tiles.
▲ Here's how it looks with plenty of green wash used inside and out. Rather like a Ghibli movie, right? Even the interior of the section with a roof will have green mould starting to take hold after a couple of seasons with water and creatures coming in.
Note that the stove tops are usually black or dark grey, and there's a broken wooden lid just next to the stove.
As a last touch, I went back and added a few lines of brown wash around some of the wooden wall panels, just to add a little more depth.
▲ If you have some of these little leaf-shaped herbs (sorry, not sure what type they are!), you might want to try scattering a few around in corners and crevices. I attached mine with PVA glue poked into corners with an old brush.
Alternatively, you can put some dried brown leaves in a blender and shred them to a suitable size.
And that's it - all done! This model will be ready for release tomorrow, so watch this space!
Samurai Ruined Hut 
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4 Comments :
Brandon Brandon
2023-02-23 (Thu) 21:48PM
I can’t wait, you are pulling me in!
2023-02-24 (Fri) 8:55AM
hehehe, that's what I like to hear!!
Avery Borders
2023-12-29 (Fri) 2:01AM
Your work is always amazing! I had to break from creating for a while, but now I'm back at it. Please continue to add the interior details. Those make a world of difference. If you ever circle back around to the castle, considers some details for the castle, like tiger skin rug, etc. Again, Thank you.
2023-12-29 (Fri) 9:23AM
Ah, I have good news for you there, Avery. A furniture set IS on the list, to fit out all of these upcoming house interiors. I'll make a note for tiger skin rugs!
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