COTTAGE

The cottage is the quintessential warhammer building. It is very easy to make, and you can almost always justify having one on the table. Not only are they simple to build, but they also look great! And because they are so fast to build, you can easily make a small settlement in a weekend (I did!)
NOTE: My original cottage seems to have got lost at the Axemaster Tournament, so the cottage here is a larger version, with a lean-to.

MATERIALS

  • Medium thickness cardboard (like the stuff shoeboxes are made from)
  • Thin card
  • Flock
  • Black, brown, white, blue, gray and green paint
First up, mark out a rectangle 11cm by 6cm on the thicker card, and cut it out. This will be the base of your cottage. Now cut two rectangles 10cm by 5cm. These are the front and back walls. Now, mark out two 5cm squares. On top of each square, mark out a triangle 5cm tall. These are the end walls.Carefully glue the walls together, and glue them onto the base. Make sure everything is nice and square, and let it dry. (If you use Supa glue you don't even have to wait!)
Now, cut two rectangles of thin card 6cm by 10cm. These pieces will form the roof. Glue them on, making sure they line up at the top properly. Now the basic structure is all there, you can add the timber frame. Cut plenty of long strips of thin card 5mm tall. First, glue strips around the bottom and top of each wall.


You'll need to measure and mark yourself, as the length required will vary depending on how accurate your measurement where, and how square the walls are to each other. Remember, you need to leave space for a door way, so use two 3.5cm lengths on the bottom of the front wall.
Now, glue in verticals at each corner. Again, you'll need to mark these yourself.

TIP: Hold the lengths in place, and mark the required length off on them with pencil. It's quicker than measuring each time.

Now, glue two verticals 2.5cm tall on either side of the door frame, on top of the bottom frame pieces. Place a lintel piece on top of these verticals
You'll probably want a window on one end wall. This is simply made by cutting strips of thin card to the right lengths (about 2.5cm) and gluing these on to represent a window frame.
Next, you'll need a door. Cut four lengths of thin card, .5cm by 3cm. These will form the boards of the door. Now, cut two lengths .5cm by 2cm. Glue these to the door boards as cross pieces.

TIP: You can make a simple door handle by wrapping fuse wire round a pen. Snip a loop of the fuse wire off, and glue it on, with a pin head, or such like to represent the bolt holding it to the door.

Glue the door in place, and it's time for the roof.
Cut several lengths of card 10cm by 1.5cm long. Carefully snip most of the way through each length with scissors at 1cm or so intervals. These strips will represent tiles.

TIP: You can make tiles more believable by giving them a broken appearance. Cut the corners of some, and make some shorter than others. Don't go overboard, as too much looks bad.

Starting at the bottom of the roof, glue successive strips of tiles on, until you reach the top.
Now, cut a length of card 10cm by 1.5cm, and carefully fold it lengthwise. Glue this on top of the roof to represent the spine.
Now you've got a fully built cottage in hand, it's time for some paint. My original cottage is painted a custom mix of yellow, brown and white. These days, I use standardized colors, namely, Antique White, and Pale Beige, from the Kaiser student acrylic range. Bleached bone also works well. Paint all the panels in your chosen color, and paint the timber frames black. Paint the door brown. Paint the roof black, and dry brush it with gray. Paint the window black, and add a blue highlight to one corner to suggest glass. Paint the base green, add flock, a presto! A cottage is born!

TIP: If you carefully paint a line of brown, flesh or chestnut ink (depending on the base color) around each panel, it will give a nice 3-D effect to the cottage. Also try black washing the roof. Paint a little wash on under each row of tiles, and wipe it away downwards. This gives a nice weathered look.

The cottage itself is a versatile, and nice looking building. But it's only the start! You can use the same principles to make larger buildings, or try adding lean-tos and chimneys to your next cottage!