I've fancied making a ruined city game board for ages. Not the GrimDark TM gothic type, something more generic so that it can potentially be used for modern games as well as sci-fi. I want it to be landscaped so that it is multi-level, with narrow, winding streets and steps as well as larger thoroughfares, a stream, gardens and lots of scatter scenery. I intend to use a mixture of MDF, Linka and foamcore for a lot of the buildings. It will be a chance to try out a few texture rollers too, for some interesting effects on cobbled/tiled paths. Inspiration comes from many places that I have visited or lived such as Norwich, Bangor (N Wales), numerous Cornish towns and villages. Ferrix in the Andor series had some interesting architectural ideas too, along with lots of narrow winding lanes going up and down hills.
JB MDF Products are an excellent source of cheap MDF structures to use as the basis of my city. I ordered a bulk buy set of ruins in October 2022 for £27.99 (including postage). This includes 3 packs of his "set A" small ruins, one "set B" large factory and outbuildings and one "Set C" tower block ruins. This should be enough to cover at least 4 x 1 foot square tiles, more when I mix in the foamcore and Linka. Using the MDF will save all the time I would spend cutting out windows, which is a big bonus.
All the ruins have their own individual pattern of interlocking lugs. This has advantages and disadvantages: it does mean that you can match up the lugs to ensure you put the right bits together with minimal need for instructions, but it also means you can't easily mix and match to create different structures.
There are exposed patches of brickwork, detailed windows and lintels visible for extra interest. The windows in particular are one of the reasons why I like his models
Some pieces come together to form almost complete buildings.
Doorways can be a little short for 15mm figures, but that's only a minor gripe.
Many of the ruins have a good number of windows.
There are still a few larger sections without windows, so mecha and armoured fighting suits will still have the occasional place to hide.
The lugs generally interlock very neatly to hold the structures together.
The designs have been well-thought-out to give a good range of variation in size and shape.
Many have upper floors of the same 3mm MDF. In some cases, the floor thickness hasn't been fully allowed for, leaving the window 3mm too low, but this isn't too noticeable so isn't worth spending time fixing.
These will provide plenty of vantage points for snipers or weapon teams.
The large factory building will make a good centrepiece for a tile.
This has lots of space for internal details such as stacks of crates or chemical drums.
A storage yard outside would provide lots of extra cover during a game and perhaps host some objective markers.
I have been busy adding extra detail to these MDF shells, I'll go into some detail on this in my next post.
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