Saturday 19 January 2019

A Wind in the Willows.

Regular readers to '28mm Victorian Warfare' might remember the last time that I was seduced by the look of the rather splendid trees from '4 Ground', the mighty 'Oak Tree' being a case in point.  You might also remember that I had decided that, whilst very lovely, they were a tad pricey and one was better off building from scratch.  Well it will come as no surprise to many to hear that I have succumbed again! 
Now in my defence, I was at 'Salute', I had counted up my pocket money and knowing that I was looking to create a river system what would be a better accompaniment that a weeping willow?  Let me tell you, a weeping willow and three smaller willows, that's what!  Before you could say, Toad, Badger, Mole and Ratty, they were paid for and in the swag bag.  
As this summer's 'Witchfinder' game grew closer, I finally got around to basing them up and I just couldn't pass up an opportunity to incorporate some of the characters from Kenneth Grahame's much loved classic.  Badger and Ratty are from 'Warbases', whilst Toad was a lucky find on the 'Master Crafted Miniatures' stand.*  Sadly Mole is not represented, I did toy with the idea of creating a couple of molehills on the final base, but time was against me and so he remains conspicuous by his absence.
*Not sure what I am going to do with the tortoises that I picked up at the same time, but I am sure they will come in handy!
So has all this changed my opinion on the pricing of the trees?  Well not really, they are very expensive for what you get, not even a pre-painted base this time!  That said, they are very nicely crafted and their distinctive shape and particularly the size of the larger models really does add something to the table.  So whilst I shall continue to whinge about the hefty price tag, I am thrilled to have them in my collection.

“It's my world, and I don't want any other. What it hasn't got is not worth having, and what it doesn't know is not worth knowing.”
Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows



50 comments:

  1. Wonderful post, Michael, and the trees look especially good with the little critters poking about in the undergrowth. Great work.

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    1. Thank you Simon, they certainly looked the part on the table.

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  2. Great looking trees Michael, the additions to the bases are brilliant. Tree prices are always tough, but everyone wants trees so they can charge a bit more

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    1. Thank you Dave, I hadn't thought of the demand pushing the price up before, good point.

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  3. they are very beautiful but trees on a battlefield are always a nightmare, you know them over, you have to move them and they are always too small, trees are massive

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    1. Thank you Martin and you are, of course, correct. Not just about the scale, but also the 'felling' of trees mid game due to my clumsiness!

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  4. Those trees look rather impressive! I for one prefer the NOCH and HEKI ones though. Not as pricey and just as nice.

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    1. Thank you Nick, now off to check out the brands you have mentioned; both new to me.

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  5. Top looking terrain Sir M. I'm sure Moley would like it if he were present.

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    1. Thank you Ray, there was a pang of guilt at not representing Moley, but I am sure I will get over it.

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  6. Tree bases look great, I’d like a couple of really nice oak trees so I’ll have a look at 4ground.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Paul. The 4Ground Oak is stunning, but so is the price tag!

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  7. Great looking terrain, Michael. I love the cute little forest creatures peeking out of the woods.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Dean, once the idea got in my head, I couldn't resist.

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  8. Splendid trees and cute moles!

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  9. Great looking trees and basing, I'm on a big tree push for both summer and winter, it's taking longer than I planned!
    Best Iain

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Iain. I had even thought about winter tress - double expenditure!

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  10. Very nice indeed Michael. While expensive per se, perhaps not comparison to the rest of our hobby, and lovely terrain makes all the difference. And to think it wasnt that many years ago that getting identical K&M trees in different shades was the height of foliage diversity!

    Now you need a little rowboat for the River for as the Water Rat says in Wind in the Willows: “there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.” I have tried to live by this creed :-)

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    1. Thank you so much Paul. Foliage diversity, oh how we have been spoilt. Once of the very best lines in the book too. :)

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  11. I love the addition to the tree bases, really nice touch. The trees themselves may have been expensive, but they do look a lot nicer than those cheap bottlebrush style ones

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    1. Thank you Paul, that said I do need to fill out the forest with some bottle brush ones - cheap and practical.

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  12. Fantastic! I'll be honest, I had no idea 4Ground made trees!

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    1. Thank you. They are really increasing their range, just wish that they would sell the armatures too.

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  13. Delightful, Michael, simply delightful.

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  14. The animals on the bases is a lovely touch. Mole clearly isn’t there because he’s whitewashing his walls.

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    1. Thank you Kieron, apparently he is very shy. ;)

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  15. Lovely stuff. Your basing really sets them off very nicely indeed!

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  16. Brillaint idea adding the characters from the book....word Play in 3D

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    1. Now that could be a 'novel' idea for a theme. ;)

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    2. It could indeed...I´ll give it some thought...

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  17. Willow trees are one of the few things I am happy to spend proper money on for my model railway stuff and the 4ground ones looks like particuarly fine examples.
    Good buy!

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  18. Love them, the critters are a great addition. The quality which 4Ground delivers is worth the price in my opinion.

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  19. Yep , nice ... worth the pennies.

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  20. How very lovely and whimsical Michael. Great work as usual.

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  21. Michael, as we get older & find our hobby time dimishing, its not a bad thing to buy something one can afford rather than the time it takes to scratchbuild. With that being said, I look forward to my Cubibot arriving so I can start 3D printing a bunch of the 3d printfile kickstarters I've been acquiring.

    Now back to your purchase...you can always make some bullrush/reed beds to quell your overzealous purchase 8D.

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  22. That's a wonderful quote at the end. :) And those trees do look very nice indeed.

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