Society meetings- August 27th and September 10th

We’ve been remiss and not posted a photo round up of several of our meetings held over the last three months. Here’s the first of these covering the first two of the missing meetings.

August 27th

Three games ran at the meeting, first up a 6mm Ancients game using Field of Glory rules.

Alan ran an Eastern Front WWI game in 15mm using “Battles with Brusilov” rules.

 

And finally for this meeting, Stephen ran a very wet Stargrave game, Waterworld. We should have a more detailed write up of this game soon, but you can find an article about the boat building endeavours of our members here.

Andy’s crew approach a tower block
Tony’s crew encounter a Kraken
The view from orbit

September 10th

We had another three games at this meeting, firstly a 2mm Strength & Honour game.

Stephen and Jeremey ran another game in their refight of the War of the Roses, using Sword & Spear rules. There’s a full account of this battle (written by the victor, of course) here.

Lancastrian defensive position
Yorkist right flank
Yorkists advance

And finally, Eric ran a series of Gaslands races.

We’ll round off the other two missing meetings, September 24th & October 8th in the not-too-distant future.

Work in Progress Wednesday

We start this week with Mark J and the stunning progress on his Judge Dredd game. Judging (no pun intended) by these figures the game is going to look very good.

and a close up of the robots.

Next up Eric has finished his Gaulish dog handlers.

and last but not least for this week Stephen has created a well, as scenery for a bit of Saga Crusading.

See you next week.

Wars of the Roses – Battle of Wakefield – Battle Report

The fourth battle in our long standing campaign to re-fight the Wars of the Roses (details can be found on the campaign page) brought us to Wakefield. Going into this battle the Yorkists were 2-1 up but with Wakefield being a historical disaster for the Yorkist cause there was every chance that lead was about to end.

Stephen takes us through the battle from the Lancastrian point of view with additional details from Jeremey for the Yorkists.

Battle of Wakefield
Wakefield was a decisive battle in the Wars of the Roses – Richard of York would be killed, thus blunting the Yorkist pretensions to the crown. Well, it would, wouldn’t it.
It was a very decisive victory for the Lancastrians, whose army greatly outnumbered that of York. Richard of York found himself encamped in and around Sandal castle, just outside Wakefield.

Queen Margaret led the Lancastrian army and as they approached the castle the Duke of York led his men out to meet them in battle. Estimates have the army of York at around 5,000 and the Lancastrians at about 12,000, with the Lancastrians fully surrounding the Yorkists. The inevitable happened.
Arguably, given that situation, it might not make much of a game, so to give the Yorkists a fighting chance we increased the ratio – the Lancastrians had 925 points and the Yorkists had 750.
Turns out they didn’t need them!

Let’s say it right at the beginning – the shame of this one lies on my shoulders. No excuses.

Anyway.
Since the Lancastrians had a numerical superiority we split them up into three commands – myself with the Duke of Somerset and all the cavalry – 4 bases of mounted men-at-arms, 2 bases of currours, and 2 bases of border horsemen. The flanks were split between the Earl of Wiltshire (Andy) and Lord Roos (Tim). Wiltshire and Roos had the same: 1 dismounted men-at-arms, 3 retinue billmen, 4 retinue archers, 2 militia archers.
Jeremey would take sole command of the Yorkists.

Jeremey deployed his troops in a very orderly U shape. I deployed the cavalry in the middle, with Wiltshire and Roos on one flank each. The plan was simple – the classic Zulu battle tactic of the horns of the bull attacking first, followed by the bull’s charge in the middle.

Seeing how surrounded he was, Jeremey immediately tried to re-deploy some of his troops, notably his currours swinging to face Wiltshire with the hope of driving off the archers.
(Jeremey – at the start of the battle I panicked, I was already facing an enemy on three sides and had screwed up my deployment, I started deploying my units as a block decending from the centre line but a quick check of the ambush deployment scenario in Sword and Spear said all of my units had to be closer to the centre line. I hadn’t even put my archers facing the flanks or front! So thinking the battle already lost I thought I might as well see if I could catch out the archers on my right flank by surprise).

I’d strung my cavalry out, directly facing Jeremey’s men-at-arms. Both the Yorkist and Lancastrian mounted men-at-arms are equal in ability, so realising that any contact between the two of us would be a 50/50 chance of winning, and since I had twice as many mounted men-at-arms, I started moving my cavalry into a double line – thinking that if he broke through one line, the chances are he wouldn’t break through the next. I could take the loses, he couldn’t.
(Jeremey – seeing I would be outnumbered if Stephen charged down the middle of the field, especially now that I’d moved some of my cavalry out to the flanks, I tried to move up some infantry units to support the centre).

Out on the flank, the archers moved forward and sure enough engaged Richard’s army. First blood went to the Lancastrians!
Jeremey continued to sort out his deployment, realising (quite naturally) that he had multiple fronts to deal with. He seemed to have a few commanders in the army, which would help since an attached commander means a unit can manoeuvre with a lower activation dice. It still looked very messy in the ranks of Richard’s army.
(Jeremey – It was a mess, I wasn’t getting the activation dice I needed and my initial deployment was looking like a fatal mistake. I had a general and two captains and started attatching them to units to reduce the activation score needed to get my units moving).

Wiltshire and Roos seemed to be falling into the trap of giving too much attention to those units engaged, and not enough attention to moving up their second line. I think there’s a good reason for that, and I’ll address that at the end. This could prove crucial, because at some point the Yorkists would have to charge the Lancastrian archers rather than just take the arrows, and without that crucial second line of billmen, the archers could suffer.

That said, at this point, it wasn’t looking too bad. I felt confident of a victory – we had the numbers and the position.
(Jeremey – my initial cavalry charge out to the flanks did not prove as successful as I’d hoped for, trying up some of my cavalry in a protracted melee. But the fight was also drawing in other Lancastrian units which meant they were not attacking my disorganised flanks).

I think Jeremey could see I was preparing for a cavalry charge. Truth is, I wasn’t. Like I said, our plan was for the flanks to hamstring his army and then the cavalry to charge in. But I think I made them look too threatening. So he swung some archers around who started to shoot at the mounted men-at-arms. It was tempting to launch my charge at that point but, like I say, that wasn’t the plan. So instead I moved up the border horsemen, who were quicker, and perfectly capable of dealing with that threat.
He was obviously unconvinced.
(Jeremey – I honestly didn’t know what Stephen was doing, my greatest fear was facing a cavalry charge at the same time as an attack against the flanks. I just didn’t have the units to cope with that).

My first mistake – I’d moved my cavalry just within charge range. I didn’t mean to do that. So on his turn he decided to take matters into his own hands and, with the impact bonus, launched his mounted men-at-arms at mine. Can’t say I blame him.
I was secretly happy about that – let’s get it over with sooner than later, I thought. I was fairly confident my multiple lines would stop him and if he lost his mounted men-at-arms then that would probably be it for the rest of his army, having lost their back bone.
(Jeremey – this was my first lucky break in the battle, with Stephen’s command divided into three it meant his cavalry were often left with few activation dice being drawn compared to mine. As such I found myself facing his cavalry without any activation dice. So I loaded up my cavalry with dice and charged).

Now, at this point it’s worth saying that I truly don’t think I’d done too much wrong with the Lancastrian tactics. Yeah there’s always one or two things that could have gone better. But, as any commander will tell you, no military plan lasts longer than the first contact with the enemy.
There was one other, very important, factor to this game. Jeremey seemed incapable of rolling anything other than 6s. He could roll four dice and three of them would come up 6 with the other one a 5 or 4. No matter how good the plans, how many troops you have, it’s hard to fight against that. That’s not an excuse (like I said at the start – I take responsibility for what happened, and I will address that at the end), but it is a simple fact that I am sure Jeremey will be gracious enough to admit.
(Jeremey – to be fair I did have a good dice game, but I wasn’t having it all my own way. After all my initial cavalry charge against the archers failed, I had suffered the lost of most of my own archers at this point and if I hadn’t retreated some of my billmen units I’d have lost those as well.  Part of what led to the idea I was getting lucky with the dice was due to the destruction of Stephen’s cavalry. But when you consider I was able to place activation dice on my units giving them a bonus, plus getting the charge in first and against enemy units with no activation dice. The result was truly in my favour).

So, the cavalry charge.
It didn’t go well for the Lancastrians.
He hammered through the first line, pulverised the second line, and was finally stopped (somehow) by the third line. Although on the next turn the third line would also go!
There, I’ve said it.
The entire Lancastrian cavalry wing destroyed, without taking any of the enemy with it. Even as I type this I’m still not sure how that happened. Two units of Yorkist mounted men-at-arms, took out 8 units of Lancastrian cavalry, without loss.
Such are the fortunes of war and the stories that history is made of.
(Jeremey – see my above point. Having played a fair number of games of Sword and Spear, the golden rule is to get your cavalry charge in first. Preferably with a bonus dice as well. My cavalry charge was as good as it could have been in game terms). 

So let’s turn to the flanks, because that was the end of the centre.
Both Roos and Wiltshire continued their pressure. Andy had realised it was time to move up his second line, and put Wiltshire in direct command of them to get them moving. Tim succumbed to the temptation of allowing himself to funnel too many men (and activation dice) into small scraps, so I sent the Duke of Somerset (who had miraculously survived the Yorkist cavalry) over to him to lend some command and control initiative.
(Jeremey – on my flanks I’d lost my archers and so while the cavalry battle raged, I had started to try and consolidate my infantry units. This didn’t work as planned but actually led to a similar situation as the cavalry. Some Lancastrian units got close enough to charge and therefore I again decided to act boldly and charge).

Jeremey had tried to charge Wiltshire’s archers, but Andy had supported his line with billmen and dismounted men-at-arms, and Jeremey’s currours were bounced off (one unit routed and the other ‘re-deploying to the rear’). It was looking strong on Wiltshire’s flank and, so long as no more serious loses were incurred by the Lancastrians, they could still scrounge a slight victory. Then something surprising happened – Jeremey advanced a unit of dismounted men-at-arms against Roos’ militia archers. OK, so that sounds like a good match for York, but the Yorkists had little support for this charge and the militia had other archers, billmen, and men-at-arms, in the immediate area who could help bolster them. Not sure what Jeremey was thinking – was it hubris, was it spontaneity, was it something else? No idea.
(Jeremey – I spent most of this battle just waiting to lose, I was fighting for pride and the chance to give a good account of myself given the points difference, and poor deployment. As it was the lack of coordinated attacks from the Lancastrians gave me the opportunity to take some risky moves).

What did happen is that the militia manage to stop the charge (Jeremey – I thought I was only rolling 6’s?). This would prove vital, because now both sides started funnelling units in to this fight to offer support. What had started as a whimsical charge, a simple fight between two units, promptly escalated into a fight for that wing! With Somerset now lending Roos a hand, Tim managed to push some archers and bills forward, slowing down the Yorkist cavalry that had destroyed the Lancastrian cavalry, from charging into that flank.
(Jeremey – this is the point that the battle started to turn against me. Despite winning the cavalry fight I now needed the activation dice for the melee on the flanks. Which left my surviving cavalry strung out across the battlefield and out of this crucial fight).

With some relief, the Yorkist casualties started mounting up. However, so did the Lancastrians. In fact, the Lancastrians were the first to reach their morale point – an army wide morale roll was needed. But only a turn or two later, this was also the case for the Yorkists.
Over with the Earl of Wiltshire, and Andy could see the Yorkist mounted men-at-arms making their way over to him, so he started to straighten his lines, ready for a charge.
(Jeremey – I’d managed to recall some of my cavalry and the battle had reached the end stages. Despite their loses the Lancastrians still outnumbered me and so I decided I’d done enough to leave with my pride intact. As a last gesture I tried another charge but this time I was checked by my opponent).

Meanwhile, over on the other flank, the fight between the Yorkists and Roos’ men reached a climax – a unit of Lancastrian bills charged into the flanks of the Yorkists, finally routing them. This had been a desperate fight indeed and the loses that Richard of York’s army took helped prevent a humiliating Lancastrian defeat.

It was now more or less over. On the same turn both sides had reached their broken level.
We sat back and it was declared a draw!
Well, a tactical draw it may have been, but in reality it was an overwhelming moral victory for the Yorkists.

So what went wrong?
Two things really.
Firstly, Jeremey was doing some cracking dice rolling. There’s not much anyone can do about that. It’s simply the case that he was just rolling 6s all the time, and we weren’t!
(Jeremey – as I’ve mentioned the Yorkist ‘good’ rolls have disguised a fairly even fight in other areas).
Secondly, I must take responsibility for not thinking about command and control. I gave the Lancastrian army just three commanders – three generals. Each command had one general to take full responsibility for command and control. Now, that was actually adequate for the cavalry, the smallest command, and closely deployed in supported lines. But the two flanks would be more strung out, meaning it was hard to keep them all in command range (actually, both flanks often had troops out of command). This made it difficult (nigh on impossible) for the Lancastrian flanks to keep their second line of billmen up with the archers to respond to any Yorkist charges. Ideally, each flank needed two commanders – a general and captain. This would have meant the Lancastrian battleline would have been stronger to repel Yorkist charges, meaning fewer loses.
I have to take full responsibility for that. Any successes the Lancastrian army had to force a draw rather than utter defeat are to the credit of Andy and Tim, not me.

Anyway, a draw it was.
(Jeremey – I was expecting an early bath on this one. My initial deployment stiffled any attempt to take the battle to the enemy. Archers in the wrong place, slow moving infantry stuck in the middle and an initial cavalry charge that went no where. But the Lancastrians just didn’t press the attacks on the flanks. Maybe by splitting their command into three meant each commander was trying to preserve their own small force? Whatever the reason I’m glad I didn’t look a gift horse in the mouth and took some very bold moves and effectively won a draw).

Yorkist Loses
4 Units of Longbows (12 points)
2 Units of Militia Longbows (6 points)
3 Units of Billmen (12 points)
3 Units of Currours (12 points)
Total loses 42 points (Army break point 39)

Lancastrian Loses
4 Units of mounted men-at-arms (16 points)
2 Units of currours (8 points)
2 Units of border horsemen (6 points)
1 Unit of dismounted men-at-arms (4 points)
3 Units of retinue archers (9 points)
3 Units of militia archers (9 points)
Total loses 52 points (Army break point 49)

Battle Declared a Draw

Work in Progress Wednesday

It’s Wednesday again and a few of us have made some progress.

Above Eric has finished his War dogs, while below we have some more Chaos Cultists.

Next up John L has made some more progress on his Italian crossbows.

And lastly for this week I’ve had a test paint of one of my Napoleonic balloons.

See you next Wednesday.

Society Meeting, October 22nd

It’s been a while since we posted any pictures of society meetings, but here are some from our latest meeting, which had a good turn out with five games in progress and around 20 members present.

First up we have a 2mm Ancients game using Strength and Honour rules, Republican Romans vs Germans.

Marcomanni & Suebi Warbands clash with the Auxilia
Same clash, different angle
Close up of the Suebi Warband
Line of battle

Our second game was a clash between a 100 Year’s War English army and some Ottoman Turks, this time in 6mm using Field of Glory rules

Archers flanking Men at Arms
Close up of Archers
Archers holding the hill
Cavalry charge the Men at Arms
Men at arms punch a hole through the line of Archers

Slightly later historically we turn to the War of the Roses, and a game based on the Battle of Wakefield, this time in 15mm using Sword and Spear rules.

Battle of Wakefield, starting positions. Jeremey feeling somewhat surrounded.

In the background you can see Stephen’s representation of Sandal Castle, you can see an article on its construction here.

Close up of the Yorkist right flank.
Lancastrian Left Flanking force
Yorkist Archers, the small dice show the remaining strength
Uneven archery duel, all units started at strength 3.

Our fourth game, chronologically, takes us to the East End of London, where things go bump in the night. A Victorian Gothic Horror game using “A Fist Full of Lead” rules in 28mm.

Just another day in the East End
A bit of a barney
Hello, hello, hello, what’s going on here aaarghh
It’s not even safe indoors
A Hansom Cab
Police raid a house of ill repute
They’s big n hairy & I be afraid of ’em

And finally, we go to Vietnam, with a 1:600 scale Air game using Thud Ridge rules.  Only a couple of photos of this game unfortunately.

SAM-2 site protecting a vital bridge as a Skyhawk attacks.
Close up of the Skyhawk, pursued by MiG-15s

 

Work in Progress Wednesday

Just a few offerings this week.

Above Mark J has been making some good progress for his upcoming Judge Dredd game. This time we have some civies and below some wonderful coloured vehicles.

Next up John L has continued with his Condotta infantry.

And last for this week Marcus has finished some more terrain for his vietnam air game.

See you next Wednesday.

Work in Progress Wednesday

We had a little break last week but we are back with some more progress.

Above Stephen has been adding to his Elven army with an Elite bodyguard.

Next up Eric has taken a break from painting Mechs and started on a unit of Gaulish War Dogs.

Then we have John L again at the starting point for his Late 14th century Condotta foot.

Marcus has been working on a gaming mat to represent the fields of Vietnam.

And last for this week I’ve started making some river sections.

And also made some more progress putting ropes on my napoleonic balloons.

This aspect has turned out to be quite fiddly so has slowed me down a bit.

See you next week (depending on progrees of course!)

 

Ill Met At Woodfell Hall

Stephen reports on a solo game using Song of Blades and Heroes
Apologies from the editorial team, we messed up the publishing schedule.

It is the year 1266. The Baron’s War, led by Simon de Montfort, is at an end – de Montfort and his supporters were beaten decisively at Evesham the previous year.

Since then, not all has been lost. Many of those still devoted to the cause, though dispersed and leaderless, still resist King Henry’s rule.

We find ourselves somewhere in the hills overlooking the Wye valley, early autumn, 1266. A young and idealistic knight, Sir Hugh Bolton, a loyal follower of de Montfort’s, has been lying low on the Welsh border, as have so many of the rebels.

Sir Hugh has received word that another rebel knight, Sir William le Bleu, is also in the area.

Together, they have decided to meet at an isolated traveller’s inn – Woodfell Hall – high above the Wye valley. As night falls, the two knights and their accomplices make their way to their secret rendezvous.

However, what Sir Hugh does not know is that Sir William is not all he seems. His real name is Sir Peter of the Wash, and he is a loyal retainer of Prince Edward! Sir Peter has been sent on a mission by the prince to seek out rebels hiding in the marches and either arrest them or, better still, kill them!

With Sir Hugh is a knight companion, Sir Aymer, plus four experienced men at arms and another four archers – all veterans of Evesham. Sir William/Peter is also not alone. Prince Edward has sent with him two other knights, Sir Fulkes and Sir Gilbert, plus a troop of five spearmen led by a man at arms, and three crossbow-armed sergeants.

Sir Peter’s Men Arrive On The Scene

The first couple of turns were quite quick, with each side only managing to activate one or two models. Sir Peter gave an order to the crossbows to advance up the road, but then the spearmen (presumably tripping over something in the dark) failed. Similarly, Sir Hugh attempted to get his retinue to head down the road toward Woodfell Hall, but only the archers made it.

Sir Hugh With Archers Up Front

It was a slow initial advance.

Things changed for Sir Peter though – he made a group activation of the crossbows again, and they rolled three successes, meaning they could take three actions. They double-timed down the road, coming up to Woodfell Hall, and seeing Sir Hugh and his men further down the road, raised their crossbows and let fly!

The Spearmen Start To Move

This obviously took Sir Hugh by surprise. But fortunately for him (well, those who had been targeted) the shots had no effect. Two can play at that game, thought Sir Hugh, and he ordered his archers to return the gesture. But since the archers, like the crossbows, had been shooting at long range the effect was the same – no hits.

A Volley Of Arrows

The pace soon picked up.

One of the crossbowmen climbed up the side of the inn to take position on a veranda where he could snipe.

Mmm…Wonder If I Can Climb Up That

Meanwhile Sir Peter tried to give more group orders to the spearmen to bring them up in support – his encouragements worked this time.

Sir Hugh’s men also started pouring into the battle. The archers came up to the road junction, formed a line, and let loose. This was a much better tactic – one of Sir Peter’s crossbowmen was struck, and not only struck, but hit with a gruesome shot! Down he went with blood shooting all over the place from the arrow that had severed his jugular. This caused a morale check amongst Sir Peter’s men. The knights held firm, but the tardy spearmen all fell back a little, not wishing to be the next ones to suffer such a terrible fate.

Lying In A Pool Of Blood With An Arrow In The Neck

The remaining crossbowmen showed they could do just as well. Raising their weapons, they took aim at two of Sir Hugh’s men at arms. Both bolts hit home – one of the men at arms fell down dead, and the other was knocked down with a bolt sticking out of his thigh.

One Knocked Down (face down) One Killed (face up)

Sir Hugh got the rest of his men going, urging them to advance through the scrub and bushes that ran alongside the road. The archers drew their arrows again and had another go.

And the same thing happened!

Down went the crossbowman hiding on the veranda, another gruesome kill! This left the remaining crossbowman feeling nervous and, with his morale faltering, he made a run for the rear before an arrow found him and left him a messy, bloody, heap like his friends.

Blood Drips Into The Water Trough

All this missile fire was well enough, but both sides were keen to get stuck in with sword and shield and sort this out the honourable way. Sir Hugh and one of his men at arms had been using Woodfell Hall for cover as they advanced, and the others had moved through the bushes, which meant they had the drop on Sir Peter, whose retinue had stalled under the effectiveness of the longbows.

By the horse troughs outside the inn is where the two sides finally came to blows.

The Melee Starts

The archers tried to stand back and get in a shot where they could, but in the darkness it would be reckless to shoot into the melee. Sir Peter barked out his orders to the spearmen to urge them forward into the melee, and his knight companions also came into the fight.

It was turning into quite a mess. Sir Hugh’s force was split into three – Sir Hugh with one of the men at arms coming down the road, Sir Aymer with another man at arms coming through the bushes, and the archers waiting to take a shot at any target that presented itself.

More Knocked Down Than Killed

Meanwhile Sir Peter’s troops were more consolidated, though this had been more by accident than design. But what this meant was that one of Sir Peter’s men knocked down one of Sir Hugh’s men whilst another was able to come up and finish them off as they rolled around on the ground.

More Killed Than Knocked Down

Then the telling blow happened. Sir Hugh and Sir Peter faced off against each other, and in only a brief exchange Sir Hugh was knocked to the ground and then Sir Fulkes came up and struck Sir Hugh the killing blow!

The fight continued for another couple of rounds, but it was obvious the rebels had been beaten. Realising their cause was lost the remaining rebels made a break and ran.

Sir Peter and his retinue had come out the winners. They had earned their blood money.

Work in Progress Wednesday

It’s another Wednesday and we have a bumper crop this week.

I’ll start with my progress for a change. The above image shows the progress I’ve made with my Napoleonic Balloon project. I’m building ten balloons in total for the game.

Next up I’ve been painting two more cavalry units for my Wars of the Roses army.

Next we have Marcus with yet more planes. The first batch are A4C’s (whatever those are?)

And some Mig 23’s

Now we have the start of some more Swiss infantry for Felix’s Lion Rampant army.

And lastly some more Dredd miniatures and scenery from Mark J.

That should be an impressive game when it’s finished.

See you next Week for more progress.

An Englishman’s Home

Stephen guides us through a big build.

This building project is something I’ve been meaning to do for a while but never got around to it.

That’s mainly because I didn’t know what I wanted for this model, how much effort to put into it (in relation to how often it would be used), or how to go about building it with the above restrictions in mind.

But recently two events occurred that focussed my mind – I achieved painting backlog nirvana (I had nothing outstanding to paint!) plus, in our War of the Roses refights, we had the battle of Wakefield coming – the backdrop to which is Sandal castle.

With hobby time and motivation on my side, I decided now was the time to commit!

With any terrain building project the first thing to think about is storage. It’s easy to get carried away on a big build, but where are you going to store it? I made up my mind the model would have a footprint no bigger than A4 so I could store it in a box a ream of A4 paper came in (at this point I should add that it’s going to be used with 15mm miniatures!).

Right, decision made on that one.

Now for the actual build, and construction decisions that need to be made. I knew I didn’t want this to be just a tower, I wanted the bailey included. That’s going to be a potentially fiddly build, because I need to think about all that brick work. I thought about the Wills Scenics embossed sheets, but they’re really scaled for HO/OO railway models, so would be too big, plus the cost of buying all those sheets would make the model expensive for how often it would get used. I thought about a paper model, because all the other 15mm buildings I use are paper models so it would fit in stylistically. But the paper models I found on the internet were either too basic or too complicated.

However, after my recent build of lots of skyscrapers for a Stargrave game where I used simple boxes covered in printed textures, I thought that’s what I would do.

So, I scoured the internet for stone textures I liked the look of. I re-sized them, so the stones looked about right for 15mm miniatures and printed out loads of sheets. I also used MS Paint to put some arrow slits on them as well, and some sheets had doors, of various sizes printed as well.

First thing was to lay out the design of the castle. A piece of A4 modelling ply was cut and on that I drew the design of the castle – a keep on a mound, plus walls and towers. A classic (later) motte and bailey castle.

The best laid plans.

I cut a piece of expanded polystyrene for the motte and stuck that down. When that was dry (and PVA takes a while to set when gluing EPA) I carved the mound, keeping in mind that I had to leave enough space on top for the keep.

I started with the keep. I wanted to make it a round keep, but I couldn’t find a tube the right diameter. Oh well, this particular castle would have to have been originally built in the 12th century – square it would be.

Foamboard keep walls.

Construction proved remarkably simple and remarkably quick. The main structures were built from foamboard and then lagged with the printed sheets. Once that dried it was a matter of cutting out the battlements.

Keep and gatehouse in place.

I was keen to get the first bit done so I could get an idea of how effective the printed textures would look on the model. It was hard to say when I saw it, and I think this was because it was just the tower in isolation with the rest of the model completed to give it context. When I looked up-close I was impressed with the effect, so I decided that once complete, en masse, it should look alright.

The Keep and the steps to the keep door.

The rest went up a lot quicker than expected. This was mainly due to simple shapes and also because once up, they would be done – there would be no painting required (beyond the edges of the battlements where the foamboard and white cut edges of the paper showed).

The walls start to go up.

To give the model some semblance of being an organic structure that would have been built over time with improvements and changes, I made the towers slightly different sizes. You will also notice that one of them is round (a toilet roll insert!) – perhaps early in the castle’s history it was attacked and a tower was brought down, only to be re-built in latest round style? (Ed: Shades of Rochester Castle?

The assembled castle

Yes, using printed textures was a good idea because, at scale, it looked like stone, but also because there would be no painting required which meant the model was finished much quicker than if I’d made other modelling decisions.

The round tower

To finish the base was given a coat of khaki paint and then covered with model railway ballast. And when that was dry some static grass was added – I didn’t put so much in the castle yard since that’s where it would have been trammelled by feet.

Adding the flock.

And that was the model complete, ready for Wakefield, and ready for any other games to be a backdrop for a proper medieval setting.

The finished article