Thursday 3 January 2019

Schleich Watering Hole

My brother is a very generous person and he bought me a very impressive 2018 Christmas present. He asked me what I'd like and I replied anything from my Amazon wish list. He then asked me to choose the one item I'd most want and I had no hesitation in nominating the Schleich Watering Hole set. I'd already bought two Schleich River sections and the Waterfall set, all of which were compatible with one another. Schleich are a German firm who specialise in highly detailed large scale animals, dinosaurs and fantasy creatures. I have some of their dinosaurs and I'm very impressed with them.
Here are all of my sets including my small Scorpion's Nest. Note how the river seamlessly fits in with the waterfall and watering hole sets. I should mention that these sets are not sold as 28mm scale scenery pieces but they fit in perfectly with figures of that scale. I've included my Copplestone Castings figure of Vampifan in many of the photos to give you a sense of scale. The main reason that I wanted these sets was to use them in my Wild West games plus others like, for example, the Cursed Earth from Judge Dredd.
For the rocky outcrop of the waterfall, I gave it a Citadel Agrax Earthshade wash then dry-brushed it with Foundry Arctic Grey Shade 33A and Foundry Base Sand Light 10C. The waterfall was heavily dry-brushed with Foundry Arctic Grey Light 33C (White). For the sandy base I gave it a Citadel Seraphim Sepia wash followed by a dry-brushing with Foundry Base Sand Light 10C. Note that there is a cave hidden behind the waterfall, which is useful for hiding in.
Vampifan has climbed to the top of the rocky outcrop. I'm glad I took the time to paint my scenery items as it makes them look much more realistic. The sculpting of this set is most impressive
The two river sections were the first items that I bought from this range because I always wanted a river section to use in my games. A major criticism I have of many commercial or scratch-built rivers is that the water does not look very realistic. In the old days I just used blue mounting board to represent my river sections. They worked but were hardly realistic. One look at the Schleich River section and I was immediately taken at just how realistic the water looked. What they have done is use a piece of coloured paper for the river bed and fixed a piece of clear perspex on top of it, which is textured with the ripples of the river.
A very small item I bought was the Scorpion's Nest. It comes with one plastic scorpion. My second scorpion came with the Watering Hole set. Using the scorpions with 28mm scale figures places them in the giant mutant category - ideal for a Cursed Earth or Weird West setting.
The Watering Hole set has a large footprint and is very cleverly designed with a cool surprise, which I'll reveal below. It came with about half a dozen animals you'd find if on a safari but they are all massive and totally unusable for 28mm scale gaming. That didn't bother me at all as I wanted this set for the scenery not the animals.
That said, the scorpion and the giant centipede shown above emerging from a cave, are very useful as mutated insects. Just look how the light is reflected on the water in a very realistic manner.
There is a small island in the centre of the watering hole. How do you reach the island if you can't swim? The tree splits in half to form two bridges. Perhaps it got struck by a bolt of lightning which rent it in half. What a cool surprise!
The large rocky outcrop shown above forms another cave which is big enough to stand a 28mm scale figure inside.
Yet again, just look at how realistic the water effects are. I am mightily impressed with these sets. I'm already thinking up scenarios based around the watering hole for a few of my games.
The river section costs £11.99, the waterfall costs £17.98 and the watering hole currently costs £58.00 but when my brother bought it, it only cost £39.99. I'm not sure why it has had such a massive price hike. The scorpion nest cost £3.99 but is currently unavailable on Amazon UK.

28 comments:

  1. Great looking additions to your scenery Bryan, the water does look very good

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    1. Thanks, Dave. The water effects are the best I've seen.

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    2. Hi Bryan, I'm a friend of Steve Reahs from Games Workshop Newcastle. Cant seem to make a post here, they keep vanishing when I click the publish button. Cant see anyway to contact you (tried google plus too). I recently lost all my copies of your old Space operations fanzine, and with it all the Advanced Space Opera rules. I was hoping you may have a pdf or something of the rules ??

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    3. Hi, Dave. I remember you from long ago. I'm afraid I no longer have any of my old Advanced Space Opera rules or copies of my Space Operations fanzine. I'm really sorry I can't be of more assistance to you as I know you were a big fan of Space Opera.

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    4. Ah no problem mate. yeah we played it for about 20 years, Bushido the same, we hope to restart FASA Star trek rpg soon which will be the 26th year of the campaign! I have 1 issue left, putting feelers out to see if any of the old gang still have any of them. Lost touch with a few of them sadly. Cheers mate. Got a whole bunch of Space Opera players itching to see it lol. Take care ! Thanks again!

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    5. Those were happy days, Dave. Many of my favourite RPGs at that time were by FGU - Aftermath, Bushido, Space Opera and Villains & Vigilantes. I never played FASA's Star Trek. All the best to you - it was lovely to hear from you again.

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  2. that is a fabulous looking set. Love the water effect. It is definitely the best I have seen on a commercial piece. Price is very reasonable given the footprint.

    As you get older you do get more particular.

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    1. Thank you, Jason and I totally agree with you. The water effect is stunning!

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  3. Wow that's so cool Bryan & a very nice gift, I hope the return present wasn't just a pair of socks :)

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    1. Many thanks, Frank. My brother asked for and received the "2001: a Space Odyssey" 4K Blu-ray boxed set from me.

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  4. Great coverage of a very interesting scenery range, Bryan, and one you clearly like. It does seem impressively large and detailed for the price too.

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    1. Thank you kindly, Simon. It is very large. In the first photo where I show it all laid out, it is roughly 3.5 feet long and over 1 feet wide. It fills a big chunk of my dining room table.

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  5. What a great find and a wonderfully generous Christmas present.

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    1. Cheers, Michael, and you aren't wrong either. You couldn't wish to meet a nicer person than my brother.

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  6. No wonder those made your list Bryan. That water looks fantastic. What a wonderful gift.

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    1. Many thanks, HP. Once I saw the river sections in the flesh I knew I wanted the rest of these scenery items.

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  7. That was a great present. Such a neat watering hole!

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  8. Hi Bryan what a great present, hooray for brothers is all I can say.
    The sections look fabulous, water is always difficult to portray but this does it extremity well. I guess your painting has helped blend it so well into the base mat and back board so you must be pleased with your efforts.
    I've never seen the pieces before they do seem worth looking out for.
    All the best for the new year hope it's enjoyable and productive for you.
    Cheers

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    1. That is very kind of you, John. My painting on these items certainly helped to bring them to life, so, yes, I am very pleased with my efforts. You can check them out on Amazon UK, which is where my brother and I bought them all.
      2019 is already gearing up to be another very productive year.
      I wish you all the best in your own endeavours.

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  9. very nice mate, very nice indeed

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    1. Thanks, Andy. It most certainly is very nice.

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  10. Replies
    1. It most certainly is. Welcome to my blog, John.

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  11. Very nice stuff Bryan, Schleich do some really nice stuff, I have a couple of the Dino's myself, some of the Dragons are beautiful in my opinion.

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Thank you very kindly, Roger. I totally agree with you about the Schleich figures. I have a few of their dinosaurs but none of their dragons. I'd love to get some of them. They're definitely on my shopping list.

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