First Contact - local farmers are introduced to Imperial war machines.

So, this little house is completely different from almost everything I’ve painted up to now. Seeing something so pretty come off a GW sprue just seems so weird, and it really is exceptionally pretty!

I wish they did an entire village of these things, and it makes me feel that GW should think seriously about releasing more generic buildings, rather than just a torrent of grand structures and ruins. Where are all the cottages or hab blocks? Come to think of it, where are all the locals? I really struggled to find non-combatant miniatures for this diorama, but I’ll get to that in a later update.

Every surface of the house is packed with detail – fishing nets, wood grain, lead flashing on the windows, etc. It’s wonderful looking even in its raw, grey plastic state! It comes with some sections of boat dock and a cute little rowing boat, complete with spindly oars.

I added some extra bits to the boat as I really wanted it to look like the family are loading their boat with produce to take to market. Some notes below:

• The clear resin wine bottles are from GSW and are coloured red using a tiny amount of Tamiya Clear Red. I think they sell these bottles now in a red and green transparent resin set.
• The chicken eggs, Camilla the chicken, and the dead hare are all from the Tamiya 1/35 Livestock Set.
• The fishes in the basket are GSW’s Resin Fish Collection, which is a nice wee set. I painted these with some pearlescent paints I found in a drawer from a company called Createx.

For painting the house, I used the following flow:

• For wooden panels, deck, and dock I based with Vallejo Model Air Wood, then washed with GSW’s Walnut Brown Intensity Ink. I also used some AK Moss Deposits to give the sense of slow rot.
• For the exposed beams I used the darker Vallejo Model Air Mahogany and washed it with Citadel Agrax Earthshade.
• For the roof, I used Citadel Contrast Black Templar, then washed it with AK’s enamel Moss Deposits. I then removed some of this with AK’s Odourless Thinner to leave a nice mossy residue in and around the roof tiles. I then added small bits of moss from AK to add realism.
• I used Golden SoFlat Titanium White on the window frames and immediately soiled it with AK’s Decay Deposits.
• For the lead flashing on the windows, I used LeadBelcher from Citadel.

In my next update, I’ll talk about how I painted one of the tanks that are about to turn this beautiful lakeshore home into a pile of splinters!