Old Town

A small town in the middle of nowhere.

The large church and school indicate it used to be a larger town.

When the mines closed, people moved away.

Now tourists come to see the old mine and the old buildings.

The few remaining old timers living off the past.

Church

My last JoAnns model purchase was this church. 

I would never have purchased such an expensive item, but 70% off Christmas stuff sale!

It is magnificent!

It is a tremendous item and works for about 600 years, anywhere in the Catholic world.

The hole is for a light that comes with it, I will cover it with a stained glass window.

Just take it out of the box and you are done!

I am sure this building will be in Berlin!

Here it is with the school, much larger, very impressive.  I was blessed to get such an item.

School

This is another JoAnns building, but much larger and more expensive.  It just looks like a city hall, HQ for a commando raid, science center or as it says in front, school.

This is a large building, two stories and a nice flat roof.

The flat roof is good for mounting AA Guns or helicopter landings.

It might even become an embassy building.

I like the balcony, stand there and review the troops.

It came in this big red box and was on sale, 70% off!

Flames of War

While at my local hobby shop, Brookhurst Hobbies, in Garden Grove, CA, I got a bag with this neat drawing of American Paratroopers vs a German Tiger I tank.  Very Saving Private Ryan.

Turns out, it's a Flames of War bag.  It's a pretty good wargame, for 15mm.  They make their own line of figures, rules and accessories.  I like some of the accessories, the decals look pretty good.  I don't have any yet, but they are on my wishlist.

Pet Shop

This pet shop has a cute little dog house by the front door.

It's also got a ground floor that is made of stone.

Stone buildings provide protection from small arms fire.

Very useful to consider in a miniature wargame.

Stone buildings may provide some protection against artillery fire too, just stay off the upper floor.

Flower Shop

This little flower shop is one of my favorites of the small Christmas village buildings.

It's pretty generic looking, which I like, so it can be used over a larger period of time.

What I like the best is the balcony.

It's also a corner building, so an artillery observer or sniper can have a wider field of vision or fire.

Very useful for those wargame scenarios where such troops are needed.

Yellow Bakery

This building is labeled as a bakery and you can see the bread in the window!

From the back and sides it looks like a farmhouse in Kansas to me.

That's probably due to the yellow color.

These buildings are perfect for wargame buildings.

No little bits to break off and unless you drop it on the floor very durable.  I have dropped three of them on concrete and none suffered irreparable damage.

Green Roof

I really liked this little building, with the bench in front.

The overhanging turret is a great touch too.

I liked it so much, I got a 40% off coupon and purchased one of them before they went on sale, and when they were on the 70% off sale, I got a second one.

This really looks like a small European shop to me.

In 1939 put a Nazi flag out front and in 1945 replace it with a white one.

Village Cafe

The versatility of these little buildings is what I like.

This could be a small cafe in France in WWII.

Or it could be an upscale tract home in Texas in 2013.

These buildings are not very deep, so they have a small footprint on the table. 

It allows you to make a whole village without taking up much actual room of the board.

Garden Shop

This JoAnns building says it's a Garden Shop.  It looks to me like a home and a produce or flower shop.

This building could be in New York City during the Draft Riots in the American Civil War.

It could be a Nazi party headquarters in a small town just east of Berlin in 1945.

It might be in the International Settlement in Shanghai, China, in 1935.

It might be just about any place, just change the signage and the scenery and you can use it for at least 200 years, just about on any continent.