Saxon Church

The  church was central to village life in the Dark Ages and so it is an almost mandatory element of a town game board.  I have already built a small stone chapel, and I was interested in a larger piece that could hold about two dozen figures, possibly large enough to have a portion of the combat inside the church.

Small early medieval churches that are still extant are rare, and rarer still are those that have been unaltered in subsequent centuries.  Nonetheless, a general purpose church for western Europe is not hard to put together. The basic elements are a rough stone walls, and a small tower of stone or timber frame.

For this church, the stones are cast from Hirst Arts, mostly molds #70 and 71.  The tower is made of foam core and craft wood, and the removeable shingled roof is from premade plastic sheets used by model railroaders.  

The good Brother points out a roof in need of repair to the local noblewoman, hint, hint...

For the interior, I am looking at purchasing an altar/pulpit and benches from some fantasy makers. Temporarily, I might go with some papercraft furniture.  

I am make no claims of full authenticity, but it fits in with the period.  Some research I did (post construction) showed that most of the pre-Norman invasion Anglo-Saxon period churches used double windows on the belfry tower and more rounded windows. A link to the article (with illustrations) is below: 

http://www.medievalists.net/files/08100408.pdf 

Andalusian Cavalry

My El Cid/Spanish project continues to expand with this unit of recently completed Andalusian Cavalry from Gripping Beast.  The set of ten contained a mix of Christian/Muslim knights, befitting the mercenary nature of some of the Taifa kingdoms' armies.

The only issue I have ever had with any Gripping Beast figures is the choppy or rudimentary look of the horses.  On these, I have no complaints.  The details are sharp, especially on the heads and harnesses.

Also completed this week, after about 6 weeks in the making, is this Norman watchtower.  I originally intended for it to be the keep for a castle complex, but that proved to be too ambitious.  Castles are nice to have, but there has yet to be a rules system that wants to fully tackle the intricacies of ancient and medieval siege warfare. The sides are built from Hirst Arts blocks and the floors from molded plastic sheets found in the railroad modeling section of a hobby store.

With that in mind, I changed it to a stone coastal watchtower with a hay signal beacon on top.  The floors and door are removable and can hold about a dozen models inside. 

The hay stack is made of Milliput and the groove on the side will be used to attach a steel wool "fire." Below, some Norman archers take aim.

I have some WIP photos that I might attach with a write up soon. 

Mega Miniatures and the future of metals

Over the years, I have picked up a few of Mega Miniature's models from ebay or the online store.  The nostalgia value of their line is high for me, reissuing many figures from my D & D days in the 80s.  While primarily catering to the role player, many of their townspeople and animals add character and possibilities to a skirmish scenario.

Sadly, the business will be no more by the end of the year.  As of May 31st, the molds are in the process of being sold off, and the store is set to close at the end of the year.  Hopefully most of the line will find homes elsewhere, but in how many different stores or sites?

Last year, I purchased a number of dancers and servants from Mega Mini's "Arabian Fantasy" line to use as background for my Spain campaigns.  I had the idea to build a small emir's palace for El Cid to lay siege.  All I have completed so far are the walls and this small plaza.  It is made from foam board, craft store tiles and Hirst Art blocks.

The dancers and serving girls below are typical of the Mega Mini's line.  On the short side of the 28mm scale, but not quite as small as a true 25mm, they also lack the sharp detail of most modern productions.

As a comparison, the dancer in green in the photo above is a metal Reaper figure.  The Reaper figure is excellent - sharp, nicely proportioned. It's not without its faults, though - look at those man hands!

Speaking of Reaper, the Reaper Bones Kickstarter may have been the writing on the wall for Mega Minis and other producers of inexpensive metals.  Converting a line of high quality metals into inexpensive plastics will dramatically change the RPG miniature market, if a $3 million dollar Kickstarter is any indication.  While it will probably have little effect on the historical wargaming market in the short term, the market will probably push many manufacturers to go plastic on even more of their lines and cancel models or whole periods that are not worth the conversion costs.

Works in Progress: Terrain

Terrain is the weak spot in my wargaming layout.  Too many times, I have made the choice to purchase an additional army rather than spend money on houses, trees and other pieces.  Time, as well,  gets spent on painting miniatures rather than some basic scratch building projects.

This week, as a break from all of the plastic Normans I have before me, I decided to work on some terrain projects.  First, a Norman keep made from Hirst Arts plaster blocks.  The top front is almost at the height I am looking for.  I need to bring up the other sides, and maybe do some interior detailing.

My professor of Middle East history and the Crusades often stressed that the castle is better viewed as an offensive military structure rather than a defensive one; as a place from which raiding parties and newly established conquerors can strike out at neighboring enemies and a possibly rebellious populace.   Wargaming scenarios almost always use castles and buildings as defensible targets. It might be possible to come up with a campaign scenario that uses castles or manors in a different way, but one always comes back to limited table space and scale.

Next, is a storage building to be placed near the keep or in a village.  It was built according to the plans at the Too Fat Lardies blog: http://toofatlardies.co.uk/blog/?p=899 

After these are completed, I will need a few more trees - which as much as I would prefer not to make, it's still preferable to buying.  

Frontier Outpost

The Byzantine Army for my SAGA mod is nearing completion.  Here is a unit of 8 warriors manning a stone walled fortress on the frontier.  The figures are Crusader miniatures and the fort was built with Hirst Arts molds # 70, 71 and 701.

Pictured is the only part of the fortress completed - a wall and tower.  The tower is in two sections, and the dividing point is easily seen above the door.  My plan is to just add one more wall and gate section and place it between a mountain pass and create various scenarios around that terrain. 

Raiding a Saxon Church

     Here are some photos from a recent match up of Vikings against Saxons.  I took the Saxons and a friend of mine whose gotten the Saga bug took the Saxons.  The scenario was a raid, Vikings wanted the gold candlesticks and silver plates in a Saxon Church.  Here the two sides have spotted each other across the field.  Some taunting is probably going on.

The Saxons advance.

Here a unit of Berserkers has just decimated some Saxon Huscarls.  Sixteen attack dice can do that.  

The Viking and Saxon warlords face off with their warriors.

The Saxons eventually won the day.  After losing outside, the Saxon warlord made it inside the church and through divine providence, and good dice rolls, proved impossible to dislodge.  After losing half their men, my Vikings figured the small church wasn't worth their effort.  The fact that it was 11:30 PM also didn't help my resolve very much either.  

Figures are mostly plastic Wargames Factory and Gripping Beast.  The church was built from Hirst Arts blocks.