As I have some time at the moment (with other company business keeping me in late this evening) I thought I would share something that is on my desk which has been on the go for several months without getting very far!
Those of you with good taste who play Flintloque will already have a copy of the new Grapeshotte 3rd edition book, you can find details HERE if you do not, and you will see in it that the subject of sieges is covered. This allows your section of characters to take part in, among other things, breaches, walls, towers, artillery and of course mines.
I have been wanting to put on a reasonable sized two or three player game set in the shadow of the wall of a mighty fortress in Catalucia, perhaps of Badjobz itself. To do this I need some miniatures and characters along with a scenario. I have these. But I also need some fortifictions.
The kind I have in mind will result in something like this....
So to go about fashioning my scenario (which may end up in Barking Irons magazine or even as the demo game at Salute 2011!) I need some walls and other parts of a fortification.
The typical fortification looked like this during the Napoleonic wars....
As you can see the walls are flat faced, tall and thick as well as being made of stone. This presents quite a challenge in 28mm scale for any wargamer as the resultant scenics to depict it on the table can be really heavy or simply bespoke which though impressive makes changing their use rather difficult. So I thought of a little hobby that I personally have had over the years and that is paper modelling.
Mike White (rules author of Flintloque 3rd edition) is a fan of paper modelling for vehicles and such in 28mm scale while I prefer to use it for items that are too tough or time consuming to make from white metal or sometimes even resin or foam...i.e buildings.
So I looked about for what could be had by way of fortress walls, towers and such from the jolly old internet and I round some files that suit the purpose very well indeed. See below...
These parts are from heavy paperstock and in 28mm scale so they stand about a foot tall which is perfect. I think I need about five sections of wall, three towers and perhaps a gatehouse if the scenario demands it. The paper models can be had for free from the internet, let me know if you would like the web address for them.
I have a cracking set of Joccian Engineers that are just crying out to undermine this wall and reduce it to 'mache' (I mean rubble of course!). The set can be seen HERE.
If you lot are interested I can certainly let you all know how its going when I have more time to work on it.
Gavin.
Hi Gavin,
ReplyDeleteFirstly good luck with the Walls (If you've read Old Uncle Rogipoos latest post you'll see some irony in Walls - Walls Ice Cream).
Some months ago I produced a number of bare wall sections, just plain slabs of modeled stonework which should at some stage in the future be cast in resin and become the basis of many wall sections, however this is in the future and you need some advice now.
My preferred method would be blue foam, you can cut it into sections and produce some very convincing walls, see some of my early modelling projects for details.
For a charge the breach scenario a section of 2 - 3 feet should be all that is needed. I would suggest one day modelling and a couple more detailing and painting.
Of course you can always go with the card stock ideas, but foam would be my first choice.
Tony
http://dampfpanzerwagon.blogspot.com/
Hello Tony,
ReplyDeleteThanks. Yes, I saw Rogipoos posting..quite an occurance eh!
My own modelling skills are not a patch on yours but I have some experience with paper models so I decided to go on that route.
I will certainly consider foam. Perhaps for the breach section itself. I will checkout your blog for your mentioned earlier works for inspiration to create some persperation!
I hope to create walls for a 'corner game' in that the walls will come in one table edge, up the middle of the table then around and off on the left say for a right angle of walls. This way I can have a two wall siege and also action inside the fortification as well from the breach, firing down from the walls and so forth.
I will keep an eye out for the resin walls in the future.
Thanks,
Gavin.
I have a long forgotten modelling project that I never got around to seeing started, never mind finished;
ReplyDeleteBuilding a terrain board that had rocks/cliffs to either side and spanning the gap, a fortified wall with two towers and a gateway. Think Airfix Legionnaire Fort for style.
My intention was to have a siege game with the attackers having to concentrate all of their efforts against the towers and gateway (there being very little wall section to attack).
With your initial post - I can see a small table action (think 2foot x 2foot, or a little larger) with the main feature being a hole in a partly destroyed defensive wall and a Forlorn Hope trying to storm the breech, the defenders holding them back with improvised weapons.
There are some very detailed images (the Forlorn Hope is a favourite of artists) to draw upon.
Maybe one day!
Tony
Hello Tony,
ReplyDeleteYour project seems a lot like mine in intent if not in execution. Certainly a tighter focus would remove a lot of the wall and using a two by two table would keep the action buttoned in.
Ah, to do a breach game...the time will come.
Gavin.