Building Wargame Terrain by Tony Harwood

When I got home from work on Friday I found al red card from the Post Office on my doormat saying they had 'tried' to deliver a parcel but nobody was home. I was scratching my head to think what it might be because I've been receiving parcels from all directions over the last few weeks (I'm not the Rich Reject I tell you, its all lies!) and frankly I'd forgotten what was left to be delivered. So when I finally retrieved my parcel from the clutches of the Royal Mail I was really happy to find it was a book I had ordered and was eagerly waiting for. Now that I have had a chance to read it I thought it worthy of a brief review. 

Lets start by saying that Building Wargames Terrain by Tony Harwood (aka Dampfpanzerwagon) is an excellent guide not only to his style of building but to the whole concept of scratch building in general. Its absolutely full of illustrations and a step by step explanation of how he made the buildings and terrain items featured in this book. The old saying that a "picture is worth a thousand words" is never more true than in this book where few words are needed because of the numerous and high quality illustrations on its pages. You won't find yourself falling asleep trying to wade through page and pages  of text in this guide.

One of the things I liked about this book is the Authors use of recycled or non-traditional materials. Some of the materials used - such as High Density Foam and model clay - are to be expected, but some others are not, for example Toffee Apple sticks and bark chippings! I also liked the fact that the reader is often taken behind the model makers curtain to reveal the creative process involved. So improvements, inspirations and changes to the original plan are detailed, showing that its OK to innovate as you go along and not to be afraid of reworking something that hasn't quite worked out as expected. 

This is a very easy book to read and although it eschews the 'traditional' style of a how-to-guide (no bullet pointed lists for instance) I found myself learning lots of techniques which I can use in future projects. And this is the great thing about this book, the ideas and techniques shown in its pages are not particularly complicated and don't need years of practise, just some imagination and patience. I can easily imagine most readers thinking "I can do that" and that's exactly what you need from a guide like this.