Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Empires at War 15mm Buildings

Recently these Empires at War 15mm timber-framed ECW-ish buildings came to my attention, so I ordered the three available thinking they were DIY kits, like most mdf buildings are.  Imagine my surprise to find out that EAW assembles them for you!

They came super-quick from the UK, and thanks to Mick at EAW asking at the post office about economy postage, super cheaply for shipping.

I did have to use a bit of brush-on matte varnish to take away the shine of some glue stains, and I also used brown and black markers to cover up some spots where the originally tan-ish mdf shows through (most mdf kits have this issue, and I usually do the same thing to them too).  But otherwise they're great, and I've talked to Mick about some colour variation in the roof and/or chimney location, so I can get a few more to serve as part of my urban table for ECW skirmish gaming with Song of Drums and Shakos (my self-titled Song of Pikes and Matches variant).

So the short version is "very recommended!".

4 comments:

  1. Very interesting!. What changes has you made to use SDS with musket and pikes?
    It sound very promising.

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  2. Thanks guys, guess I should have posted a link to the stuff too: http://www.empiresatwar.co.uk/15mm-TIMBER-FRAME.html

    I also got one of their Normandy buildings for later period gaming, but it is a DIY kit, so it's on the to-do pile at the moment. Looks nice though, a bit of a change from my 4Ground stuff.

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  3. Slorn - this still needs to be tested (still need to paint some ECW figs!), but my house rules for the period are pretty simple:
    (1) Roll 2 or 3 ones during Activation means your match has gone out, takes one action to re-light it (applies to infantry and dragoons only; others have flintlocks/snapchances).
    (2) ALL firearms (except bows) cannot be fired in the same turn they are reloaded [not just rifles].
    (3) One reason I went with SDS rather than Flashing Steel for the period was SDS has armour options, so: Fully armoured cuirassiers (Haselrigge's Lobsters, KGP etc.) get Cuirass plus a higher combat value; Back-and-Breast armoured guys get Cuirass and a regular Combat value; guys in buffcoats get a regular Combat value; guys in no armour get a lower Combat value. I've rated about 70 types of guys, from lousy officers to drunken clubmen, so it makes more sense as part of that continuum.

    I may use the Heavy Arquebus/Musket trait from Flashing Steel for the Thirty Years War period. And perversely enough, I will use Flashing Steel for pirates and Three Musketeers gaming, where things are cinematic, but for bread and butter ECW/TYW skirmishes, I like the range SDS has.

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