Review: Ramshackle Barn

Well, is that a glamorous title or what? Despite this I would like to talk about Renedra's Ramshackle Barn kit which was released at Salute 2013.





Many people I talked to online have this kit lying around but haven't put it together nor painted it yet. But let's start at the beginning and that, as always, is a look at the box itself.

I like the kind of sober design of the box. Primary colours, bright and a GREAT photo of the finished piece. During painting I drew a lot of inspiration from this one.

The back of the box doubles as assembly instruction and lists exactly what's in the box. Already you can see that this isn't a complex kit by a long shot.

In the box we find three sprues. They're in there loosely, but with this kit there is hardly any danger of parts snapping.

As you can see on these identical sprues we got the sides of the barn as well as the main roof and the front and back of the little side barn. Apart from that there are two wooden ladders and two pitchforks.

On the third sprue we've got the front and back of the barn as well as the side and roof of the little side barn, along with a single cart wheel.

Cleaning and putting together this model is a breeze. Be ready to remove quite a bit of flash (don't forget the insides of the window crosses!) but once that's done you'll raise this barn as quickly and cheerfully.

Once the model it built you start seeing the size of the thing. It certainly isn't small. However, I very much dislike buildings without bases so I cut out a blob-shaped piece of thick plasticard, gave it some texture and glued the barn on and gave it a few licks of paint.

Much better now and I have to say that I'm rather pleased with the result. I posted a few preview pictures of this after it was done and got a LOT of questions about how I painted it.

I can't give you a recipe as such because I didn't keep track really but tried to use the picture from the front of the box as well as my own memories of heavily weathered wood for inspiration.

The thing is that wood goes rather grey-ish when exposed to weather. All kinds of freaky mosses and lichens grow on and between the bars, at some spots the wood will start to wither faster or will rot even. All those factors are great for breaking up the relative monotony of these large surfaces. So much for "detailling". As for the general painting of this one, all I will (and have to) say is this: Drybrushing will get you very, very far on this one.

Now that it's painted, let's have a look at how tall this model really is.

At a whoppin' eleven centimetres even 28mm models on elevated bases don't look too tall next to it. (in the picture from left to right: GW Empire state trooper, Victrix Napoleonic Austrian line infantry, Warlord Games British infantry, GW Space Marine)

For the final test, let's put it on a table and see what it looks like in a game surrounding.

Victric Austrian Line Infantry again...

A troop of British Commandos

A highly mixed Imperial Guard scout patrol

Over 39,000 years and the barn is still standing. This is what I call good craftsmanship.

So what's the verdict? 

There is a strangely satisfying feeling of having built a little house even if it looks like it's on its last leg. It's a lovely piece of terrain, very quick to build and it has something I very much value in a piece of terrain: it's versatile. As it is you can put it onto any table depicting anything from the 18th century up to an angricultural planet in the far future (in which there only is war as far as I heard). 

In game terms it provides cover for tank-sized objects and it blocks Line of Sight which is very welcome. Looking at the price between £13.50 and £15.00 this piece (of course you can order it from Wayland Games) is a steal for what it does and especially for what you can do with it. I certainly do not regret having bought this one on a whim.

I hope that you enjoyed the review and found it interesting or even helpful. Let me know if you have any questions or comments here in the comments section, on Battle Brush Studios' facebook page or via e-mail.

Don't forget that any WW2-themed painting/modelling project commissioned during all of December is -20%!