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.
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| 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.
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Working out the size of ramparts to connect the bastions.
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| A messy business cutting the foam. |
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| Masking tape used to collect up the mess. |
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| 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.
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The painted ramparts.
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The gate is made to slot over the wall.
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| Gate simply painted painted in brown and lines added to suggest wooden planks |
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The gate slots over the wall.
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| A close view at ground level. |
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| The completed fortified town. |
All is now ready for my next siege game.
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| The defenders man the walls. |
Very effective design and execution for the gaming table.
ReplyDeleteThanks. It waste of those projects that just slowly grew as I added a little bit more each time.
DeleteVery impressive work there Peter. I do intend at some point to make a sort of fortified manor house for my P&S games as well as a generic scenery item. One day...
ReplyDeleteThank you. A fortified manor would make for an interesting game.
DeleteLooks great Peter!
ReplyDeleteChris/Nundanket
Thank you. It was surprisingly quick to make with the upholsterer's foam. Getting the foam dry after the washes took the longest time.
DeleteLovely bit of modelling and looks great, looking forward to seeing how it holds up during the siege.
ReplyDeleteI am looking forward to the next siege game.
DeleteThat really looks the part 👏👏 You’ve done a lovely job.
ReplyDeleteLet’s see how things go when the artillery bombardment starts…
Cheers,
Geoff
I now need to decide how to best show any breaches in the bastions or ramparts.
DeleteFantastic work Peter. Very elegant solution for the gate.
ReplyDeleteThanks and I don't need to stick anything to the foam.
DeleteFine fortifications indeed!
ReplyDeleteAlan Tradgardland
Thank you. I am looking forward to getting them into a game.
DeleteReally effective looking fortified town, really effective method for clearing up after you as well. Your other half must be pleased.
ReplyDeleteSurely, for wrecked bastions you just make one with lumps torn out of it? If you could manage it somehow with just one cut, carving a section out and pinning it back on with the storm poles would be a handy way of making them dual-use, intact and destroyed.
The idea of cutting and pinning back a piece is worth investigating as the storm poles could be used to hold it in . Thanks.
DeleteI liked the idea of the gate that just fits over the foam wall, Peter, very clever....and the finished result looks great.
ReplyDeleteThanks. It allows me to reuse the gate in other situations.
DeleteThat's a very clever design and the gate which slots over is a great addition.
ReplyDeleteThank you. The gate proved to be simpler than I originally thought.
DeleteA bit late I am afraid. Your use of the foam is amazing and the idea with the gate is very good. The whole town looks lovely - can't wait for the game.
ReplyDeleteAll being well the next couple of posts will be the siege game.
DeleteVery inventive and creative solutions that look brilliant.
ReplyDeleteThe upholsterer’s foam has proved to be a very useful resource in making these fortifications.
DeleteThe masking tape is a great idea
ReplyDeleteNo more dustpan for me
The model is superb as always you're amazingly creative
The masking tape certainly speeds up the clean up.
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