Needs must

Hello again.

With the Barrage Show in Stafford fast approaching, being as it is to be held this coming Sunday, 8th July, at Blessed William Howard High School in Stafford, England, and coupled to the fact that we were to play a game based on the relief of a fort (aka "The Relief of Fort Nummanmason"), I needed a few bits and pieces in a bit of a hurry.

I needed a fort, or at least part of it, and that fort had to show a bit of battle damage to indicate that it was in need of the aforementioned relief. I did that one a couple of weeks back, so check out that post if you will.

But you cannot have a siege/ bombardment/ assault of a fort and just have the attackers standing around waiting for the occupiers to surrender, can you? Not in my world. So, I needed some trenchworks, some fieldworks, some indication that the attackers knew they would be in for a bit of a wait and some reciprocal pain. I also needed some North America specific buildings I felt, to better show that we were in America and not Northern Germany with Ferdinand of Brunswick and the Comtes de Broglie/ Contades.

So, I built a few bits and pieces, in a hurry, to give me what I reckon I need to kick the game off on its inaugural outing. We in the "Wyrley Retinue" always add to or somehow change a game between outings, so this is a one-time only offer to get yourselves to Stafford to see this in the flesh. If the game emerges again, and I very much hope it does, some thing or other will be different - more troops, an altered layout, more buildings or terrain, different victory conditions, etc.

So remember:

1. 8th July 2018 at Blessed William Howard School, Rowley Avenue, Stafford.
2. 1000hrs start.
3. Barrage Show.
4. Wyrley Retinue.
5. "The Relief of Fort Nummanmason".
6. Come and see us and say "Hello". (I'll be the tall, middle-aged chap looking bemused at my lack of success with command rolls...)

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The approach trenches for the French. MDF base, polystyrene, lollipop sticks and card to build up the sides, mounting card for the duckboards, Renedra gabions courtesy of Nephew Nick at The Sleeping Dragon Hobby Shop and paint to suit. This is a three piece set up.

And from the front. They stand around 50mm high from the terrain board to the tops of the gabions, to give the French room to shelter from the fire of the fort's defenders.

Renedra gabions again on MDF bases.

I had a mortar so had to have a mortar emplacement. Details as previously.

And with the aforementioned mortar. This piece is lower than the trench pieces by around 10mm.

I went with a Perry kit for my church.

And a Perry kit again for my house.

This scratchbuilt affair sits inside the fort, having been hit and burned out by the French artillery and mortar fire. I had to have something inside the fort and not just empty space.

And finally, some idea of how the defences will fit together on the tabletop this Sunday. The mortar emplacement will occupy the bottom left corner, artillery the right foreground and centre right positions.