No, this is not a film set. It is part of an amazing wargames terrain depicting a Wild West town. This has just got to be one of the nicest terrain pieces I’ve ever seen here in New Zealand.
Joe, from Paraparaumu in New Zealand, has hand-built this town on a 4’x4′ board. The board comes apart into two pieces for portability, and he has even purpose-built cases for carry ing the terrain boards safely.
What is cool is that Joe has used film-set concepts such as the curving street to give an illusion of larger size. There are also cut-off buildings at the edges of the board to add to the feeling of the scenery carrying on.
The detail, as you can see from the following photos, is absolutely amazing. Your eye is attracted to all sorts of little vignettes, like the coffin lids stacked outside the undertaker’s office.
The buildings are all permanently set into the board. Despite this, the terrain is designed with so many entrance points that it can be used repeatedly for ‘The Rules With No Name’ gunfight games. We also anticipate that the terrain, with a few tree-ferns dotted in for local colour, could double for the New Zealand Wars.
[photos by Greg Simmonds]
Washing hanging on the line, while nearby nooses wait for a hanging. Don’t forget to click on this and the other pictures to enlarge them to their full glory!
The brick bank sports some very nifty window bars to keep out the ne’er-do-wells. This picture also shows the effect of the curving street to make the board appear larger.
A stream flows behind the buildings, crossed by a rickety bridge, and powering the town mill. Note the little outhouse poised to drop its contents into the water!
Note the barber’s pole and down the side of the building the stacked coffin lids (handily placed near the town gallows). Back alleys provide lots of scope for gun-fighting adventures.
The apothecary seems to be run by those notorious Perry twins – just what don’t they have their hands in?!
Shouldn’t that sign say: ‘Drugs, Remedies, Medical Supplies and Tin Soldiers’?
DRESSING THE LINES 
Wow! As Sam Elliot would say, ” that’s the best piece of ground I’ve seen all day”. It is simply amazing work.
That board is incredible!
That’s fantastic work by Joe, Absolutley amazing Roly.
Amazing job on the town…very professional looking
Wonderful, sir. Thank you very much for sharing.
— Jeff
Tremendous!
I’m very impressed. I’ve seen museum dioramas that weren’t as well-crafted or convincing as this — great work!
Remarkable work. If i had a medal i would hand it over.
Incredible stuff. Love the attention to detail, thanks for sharing.
Fantastic workmanship, beautiful buildings!!
Amazing work. Do the roofs come off to allow the entire board to be used or is it only usable for the exterior.
Hi Josh. I hope Roly won’t mind me answering that question on here…
The roofs are all fixed, for a number of reasons. I’ll happily answer any and all questions on my blog: http://colonelotruth.blogspot.com or email ordersforthecolonel@gmail.com
Glad you like it!
Thanks, Roly – it was great to see you this weekend. Glad your Maori warriors enjoyed bloodying my nice clean streets!
Joe (aka Colonel O’Truth)