English Civil War fortified town ready for a siege game

My original plan was to make and paint a simple backdrop of a fortified town, with a couple of earthwork bastions placed in front for another English Civil War siege game. However, after trying out a few options with the two foam earthwork bastions I have made over the past few weeks (see here for details) and looking at the illustrations in "English Civil War Fortifications 1642–51", I decided to use all the bastions and my woodblock houses to make a more substantial looking fortified town.

A fortified English Civil War town.

The first step was to determine what additional ramparts I needed. I set up the town layout, positioned the earthwork bastions around it, and then measured and cut foam ramparts to connect them and create a wall for a gate. The upholstery foam was cut with a sharp carving knife, then shaped with scissors. very much the same steps as with making the earthwork bastions.

The shaping process can get to be a messy business with lots of small bits of foam which seem to stick everywhere. I used masking tape to help collect and pickup the bits of foam. 

Working out the size of ramparts to connect the bastions.

A messy business cutting the foam.

Masking tape used to collect up the mess.

Easily picks up the bits.

Once the foam was cut and shaped, I painted it with a couple of brown washes, followed by touches of green. While the paint is still wet, and it takes a long while to dry, the colours can be blended with a clean brush to achieve the desired look.

For the gate, I used some MDF scraps to build a three-sided arch that fits neatly over the foam rampart. It was quickly painted brown and lines added to suggest wooden planks.

The painted ramparts.

The gate is made to slot over the wall.

Gate simply painted painted in brown and lines added to suggest wooden planks

The gate slots over the wall.

A close view at ground level.

The completed fortified town.

All is now ready for my next siege game.

The defenders man the walls.