ARAB STYLE BUILDINGS

If you consult the rule book, you'll find that the Khemri and Araby terrain table includes an entry for buildings. I decided to have a go at making some desert type buildings. I checked out the Internet for some ideas, and found a great Colonial era wargames site, which had a good article on making Arab buildings. I modified things a bit to fit in with Warhammer and my own tastes, and produced the prototype Arabian Building.

MATERIALS: Corrugated card Thin card Square balsa rod Plaster Sand Brown, Orange-brown, pale beige and white paint

fMark out two rectangles or corrugated card 12cm by 7cm, and two pieces 8cm by 7cm. Cut these out. Now, mark a line across each piece, 1cm down from the top. Mark a spot 1.5cm in along this line, and another 1cm in along the top edge on each side. Join these points. Remove the wedge between the resultant 'crenelations'
Mark out the windows and doors. You need one door, and up to four windows. The door should be about 3.5cm tall, with an arched top, while the windows should be about 2cm square with arched tops. Cut out the windows and doors. Glue strips of card or balsa to each wall, 1cm below the top. These will support the roof.
Glue the walls together, being carefully to ensure that all edges are square with each other.
Measure the space inside the walls (It will be about 11.3 by 8, or 7.3 by 12 depending on how the walls are glued.) Mark out a rectangle to these dimensions, cut it out, and glue it in as the roof, resting on the support blocks.
With a sharp knife, randomly bevel sections of the walls. This removes sharp edges from the building, making it look as if it was built was from mud brick by inexacting artisans.
Plaster the building. (If you do things in this order, you don;t have to worry about plaster getting onto the windows.)
Cut eight cubes of balsa, about 5mm to a side. Glue four to the front, and four to the back wall, just below the level of the roof, to represent the beams holding it up.

Paint the building all over with pale beige, or off white, and dry brush with white. Paint the beams brown. Now, cut out pieces of card to fit behind the windows, and paint the black before gluing them in. Also, make a door out of strips of card, and paint it brown before gluing it in place. Cut out a rectangle of card 13cm by 9cm for the base. Glue the building down. Glue sand to the base, and paint in orange-brown, then dry-brush with pale beige for a desert sand effect. TIP: Try painting a little flesh wash under each beam to represent dirt and grime on the walls.

The second one of these that I have built is larger, and features a domed roof. Domed roofs are a very Arabic looking feature, and add a lot of character and bulk to buildings with out taking up to much space. This larger building is 12.5cm square, to accommodate the dome, which is the head from a toy robot I got from the op-shop.One problem I encountered was the slick nature of the plastic dome. It proved difficult to get the plaster to adhere properly, and it went on in a very uneven manner. Then, when I sanded it, I went through in a couple of places. Careful use of contour putty dealt with the problem.Originally, I had planned to make three of these buildings, which seemed a fair number. However, since I have now built the Temple of Haxor, and I have started a tomb, I don't think it's really necessary to have any more buildings.