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| Round dowel is cut and fly screen repair material wrapped around the dowel. |
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| Different size dowel is used to add variety. |
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| I tried using a filler and an expanding glue. I went with the glue as it was quicker (but a bit messy). |
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| Bases are covered in PVA glue and dipped into model railway ballast. |
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| The pieces are first painted a light grey and once dry, painted with a watered down dark brown. |
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| The wicker of the gabions are dry brushed with a light grey. |
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| The earth is then given a reddish brown wash and a final dry brush of a light sand colour. |
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| Everything gets a painted with a varnish and before it drys some flock is carefully sprinkled as a final touch. The green flock was added as a last minute idea as the defences were looking too drab. |
So while I have yet to write any rules for a siege game. Here are a few photos of how I hope my games will look. I use brown felt cut into strips of various size for the parallels and communication trenches. The siege work terrain is placed on the parallel strips.
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| Three parallels have been constructed. |
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| A defenders view |
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| Attacking forces |
I now need to make a couple siege mortars for besieging army.
Peter- You have been very busy...a very well thought out solution to the entire Siege Works - very effective on the table. Well done! Cheers. KEV.
ReplyDeleteThanks KEV. I was able to get a block of free time at the weekend to do all the preparation, and some sunny weather allowed the glue and paint to dry quickly.
DeleteVery impressive fort. Great pictures. The siege game should be an epic.
ReplyDeleteThanks. Now to work on the rules.
DeleteOutstanding work, Peter! A siege will add an extra dimension to gaming. I could see this used at Quebec if the British attempt an amphibious assault and the French decide not to come out of their works to "play."
ReplyDeleteIt was certainly fun creating these terrain pieces. I now need to create some siege rules. Currently reading SPI's Siege of Lille rules for ideas.
DeleteNice work! I like this better than our gabions which were formed by using an indentured son (not mine) to paint the dowelling!
ReplyDeleteLouisburg is the first siege to come to mind. Quebec's landward defences were obsolete and crumbling but the stone fort at Niagara and the tiny earthen Ft Beausejour were both 'real' sieges as was Ft William Henry despite its ramparts being earth faced with wood rather then stone.
ps the fort and siegeworks would of course also be suitable for Napoleonic sieges.
DeleteYes, all is suitable for Napoleonic. It only occurred to me when I started co-opting artillery from both FIW and Napoleonic collections to get sufficient guns on the tabletop.
DeleteThank you for the tips on historical siege options.
More masterly crafting and something I quite fancy having a go at.
ReplyDeleteI am looking forward to setting up a game. I suspect the last time I had a true siege game was as a child when I had a fort made from wooden blocks. Defended by cowboys and WW2 toy soldiers against a combined attacking force of Indian and ancient Greeks.
DeleteCiudad Rodrigo, Almeida and Badajoz come readily to the mind for the Peninisular war, n ot to mention the many twons and cities besieged by the French - Saragosa, Burgos, Gerona and others.
ReplyDeleteEric Burgess has some great ideas for siege rules ("Vauban's Wars"); we just need to press him to put them into final form and publish them!
https://blundersonthedanube.blogspot.com/search/label/Vauban%27s%20Wars
There are lots of opportunities to add Napoleonic siege games. Many thanks for the link, readings on this wargaming subject are few and far between.
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