I know there was one specific picture that I utilized as my main source of reference for designing these pieces, but it’s been a while and I don’t recall how to find it anymore. I really love the stone corner accents, the brass roofing, the blind windows and how the warehouse has interesting details – yet somehow can still look rather plain.
Blind/blocked windows, it seems, started in the 17th century when England presented a tax based on the number of windows that were in a home and so to save money, people began to block up windows they felt they could live without. It then became an architectural aesthetic to balance out the symmetrical look or just overall give a more impressive facade. I decided to add them to this piece to help give a sense of age.
This is an example from Brookly Roasting Company of the sort of corner detail that I enjoy so much. I also love the weathering on this building (they probably don’t), but the calcium/magnesium carbonate residue along with what is likely streaking from pollutants can be really hard to paint on a model. I love the look personally.
There are a variety of different roof types on these buildings and I went a bit more simple than the picture above from upstatebusinessjournal.com I am completely smitten by old ads painted on the sides of buildings. I might print another one just to do that for an American battlefield. I know it’s not cost effective to have hand painted advertisements like that on buildings anymore, but I wish it was still practiced.
The brick yard is meant for overflow and deliveries. I wish I could remember where I found my original reference, but seeing how they stacked barrels on old horse-drawn wagons is a delight.
My play testers mentioned the yard is somewhere you go only when you have no other options. Indeed, to be honest, they only put men in it once. However, they still like having it on the table as a terrain piece. I asked them if having the barrels separate would make more sense, but they preferred it as one piece so they didn’t have to worry about it getting in the way. It also makes it easier to store. Of course I could always not have the barrels, but I think it makes the yard far more unique.
