The Great Grey Massacre.

I have only ever built small incidental pieces from 4Ground. The well being my first and largest piece from them. The price of the full buildings was always a deterrent on my budget and given my time with Sarissa buildings for a good deal less and my ability to scratch build them form card I never felt I could justify it. However when they announced they were going out of business I wanted to try some before they were gone. I picked a Dwarfen building as I had never built one before and so it was a good introduction to some thine new. So I treated myself to one of the basic dwarf homes.

I hate to be snobby but there were two things that really bothered me about the ascetic. The door looked like something from the mid series of Red Dwarf and thus too Science Fiction. The roof tiles as well had a similar futuristic feel to them as well. The trench in the made no logical sense to me from a living in that world perspective and detracted from the overall feel of the building. I appreciate it was designed with a gameplay use in mind but my OCD just could not let it go.

I painted up the interior as I went and touched up the gold bits where no matter how carful I was some bits kept flaking off. I then used the existing parts and sprue offcuts to rework the front entrance to something more I felt was more Middle Earth/Warhammer Dwarf looking. I then gave the lower portion a couple of good coats of Matt Vallejo varnish and this fixed the majority of gripes I had with the kit. These were the fact the it was too easy to damage and mark, the layers seemed to want to separate and the fine details did not want to stay attached to anything. That said I really liked how the kit looks once it is all together and the definition of the details is really crisp with a few details painted in. I added some Elven runes on the door to tie it in with my background story for one of my adventurers. Dry brush the window shutters, added clear plastic to the windows which given their design looks like 4Ground had the foresight to see people would want to do that. I also picked out the details on the door.

The big changes were to the roof. I filled in the trench with foam core. Rejigged the roof trim to accommodate it. I then stuck blue card across the strip and stuck some modelling mesh over that to look like grating (still playable but now much more tied in with real world usage). I used plasticard and another Gerry Can this one on the Corrugator. Strips of plasticard suitably shaped formed the tiles. A tad rough and ready but my first effort. These were primed white and given several coats of GW Ultramarine Blue. A heavy dry brush of 90s GW Enchanted blue and then a light drybrush of Enchanted Blue mixed with White. I then used sprue off cuts to hide the rough ends. It was all hit with more matt varnish. I then added Bugman’s banner.

As final note I am truly sorry to see 4Ground go. I was never able to buy much from them:

Scrim foliage all three kinds.

Book cases large and small.

A well.

The roadside shrines.

The Dwarf Hall.

But I had fun building with them and loved the final results.