Cool Ruins – Batch 1 and 2 now complete

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I think I obsess about ruins. I have lots of ruins already but that didn’t stop me Planning my Cool Ruins for Crossfiregrad and Ponyri Station. So one of my projects for 2021, 2022, and 2023 has been to “Buy, build, paint more 3″ x 3” sectors so I can play both Crossfiregrad and Ponyri Station solely with Cool Ruins” (Crossfire of course). Well, I don’t know about Ponyri Station, but now that my 75mm and 150mm sections have arrived I can definitely do Crossfiregrad.

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Planning my Cool Ruins for Crossfiregrad and Ponyri Station

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I have lots of ruins already, but I’ve mentioned “cool ruins” a couple of times over the last couple of years. Most recently in my 2021 Confessions of a Megalomaniac Wargamer and Amateur Historian where I planned to “Buy, build, paint more 3″ x 3″ sectors so I can play both Crossfiregrad and Ponyri Station solely with cool ruins”. So what do I mean by “cool” Ruins? Well Ruins that look the best in my collection (i.e. commercial MDF structures that I’ve enhanced) and that are 3″ sectors. I don’t have enough. I want more of them, lots more of them. Here is my plan.

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Painting 15mm Jarvis city barricades

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A long time ago I got some 15mm Jarvis city barricades. Perfect for WW2, perhaps Stalingrad, or Spanish Civil War. I finally got around to painting them. There are a lot of different bits on these features but it was pretty straight forward. I’ve paint almost everything on here before … except the corrugated iron. That was new.

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Stalingrad – Lonely 15mm Chimneys from Ironclad Miniatures

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Some of my projects take a long time to come to maturity. Inspired by the Stalingrad terrain of Battlefront Miniatures, I asked John Lowen from Ironclad Miniatures to make some of the chimneys that featured in the south, John made some beautiful models, and I painted them. You’ll see the photos below. Unfortunately the last step took 10 years and it seems Ironclad no longer stock the chimneys. Perhaps this post will inspire folk to ask John to reissue them.

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Mark Bretherton on Scratch Building Ruins, Urban Boards and a SU-152 Game

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Mark Bretherton played my SU-152s Up Close and Personal scenario again. In his previous battle report he described the scenario as “cracking”. It seems he still likes it.

This time Mark included some photos of his game and of his urban Crossfire set up. I really like the effect Mark has achieved with his terrain and table so asked him for more details on how he did it. Everything is scratch built and looks fantastic. An inspiration. All words and photos are Mark’s…

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Stalingrad Ruins from Warbases are Great Value

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Every time I order anything from Warbases I order a set of their 15mm Stalingrad Buildings. They are great value. For £7 I get two buildings that are robust, can be assembled in two configurations and, when used en-masse, give me variety of town layouts.

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I got four wargaming boards from TMterrain

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My current wargaming boards/mats/cloths are a bit of hodgepodge, including about six different types of battle board/mats/clothes – none of which I’m happy with. I’m still looking for the perfect solution and also see a chance to rationalise on a consistent approach and colour scheme.

I wanted to try building some wargaming boards with a wooden frame but it all started looking too hard for a carpentry klutz likely myself. Luckily Simon Miller of the Big Red Bat Cave suggested I have look at some of David Marshall’s work at TMterrain. I ended up buying a table from David and I’m very happy with the result.

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How to Use a Big Ruined Factory Feature For Crossfire?

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I picked up a 15mm Ruined Factory feature from Wargames Tournaments. Perfect for snipers perched on an upper floor. The trouble is that Crossfire demands that building are made up of regular shaped building sectors. Mine are usually 3″ x 3″. So what should I do? How can I use that big feature in Crossfire?

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Stalingrad – Gigantic Field of Ruins

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I’ve been reading Winter Storm: The Battle for Stalingrad and the Operation to Rescue 6th Army by Hans Wijers. It is full of first hand German accounts of combat in Stalingrad. The phrase that struck me most was “gigantic field of ruins”. In fact “field of ruins” is often mentioned so I thought I’d collate some of the descriptions.

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