The Rath of Cahan

Hello again.

Apart from a few Dark Age Hibernian des res roundhouses, the forthcoming "Wyrley Retinue" demo game for 2017 required something a bit more substantial - a Rath, or Irish ring fort.

I first encountered one of these in an article on building one in "Wargames World" magazine, issue 5, about 30 years ago. That was also when I made a mental note to forego Ellendun, Ashdown and Maldon if I ever got into Dark Ages wargaming and head west instead to the Emerald Isle. An even better model than my original inspiration turned up in the "Shieldwall" (glimpses) and "Age of Arthur" (full on PHWOAR!!!) supplements for Warhammer Ancient Battles. So, with our theme decided earlier this year, we were heading off to Ireland in the 9th Century (-ish) and we were having a Rath.

Step 1 - take a piece of 3mm MDF and add concentric rings of polystyrene to achieve the desired height. Four rings in my case. Leave space for a gateway to access your primitive fortification.
Step 2 - take lengths of bamboo skewer, twig, cocktail stick, thin dowel and similar wooden materials and glue them into your ring of polystyrene using PVA glue or similar stuff that won't melt your rings of gleaming whiteness! A palisade may be a bit of artistic licence in this era, but I like it. The Ancient British stopped using palisades in their hillforts before the Romans arrived according to archaeology.
Step 3 - use wood filler to cover all the polystyrene.
Step 4 - build your gatehouse.
Step 5 - paint everything to taste.
Step 6 - remember to either build in some steps up to the ramparts and gatehouse platform for your figures to access them. Alternatively, build ladders afterwards like I did!
Step 7 - add scenic materials to blend it into your normal terrain boards/ cloth/ whatever.
Step 8 - remember to take it to the "Wargamer" show on 4th December for its first outing!!!

The very basic structure as in Step 1. The octagonal base is intentional to try and prevent warping. A circle would also suffice, but Nephew Nick wants to sink the base into his boards to make it all more seamless so the octagon is easier in this regard. The whole thing is about twelve inches across.

Not wishing to bore you unduly with yet more constructional photos, I have jumped straight to Step 6. I was keen not to have it all look like Sir Christopher Wren designed and built it, so the uneven and jagged palisade is intentional. I have tried to paint the woodwork as aged, weathered timber. This involved taking the basic wood colour and staining it with paint washes of grey and brown, followed by drybrushing with lighter greys and browns.

I have painted the whole thing largely to represent earth banks, but patches of rock are also visible for some variety in the finished article.

The gates are made from two 50x25mm plastic cavalry bases, heavily scored to represent wood and painted. The hinges are made from lengths of wire and a plastic sleeve from a ballpoint pen inner. After adding the sleeve, bend the wire ends and mark your holes in the dowel uprights. Drill small holes with a pin vice and do this BEFORE you build the gatehouse. The whole thing is stuck down piece by piece with my hot glue gun. More filler was then worked around the area to blend it all in. I added the hut for effect. It will be glued in later and blended in with more filler and paint. The gates even open and shut without breaking them IF you don't get paint in the mechanism!!!

Access ladders were made from matchsticks with artists' card runners glued on.

For scale, I have added one of my newly-painted reinforcements for my Dark ages collection, complete with suitable grisly trophy. The battlements are pieces of coffee stirrer and the base on which the figure stands is a 60x40mm MDF figure base.

I will glue in the most fancy of the three roundhouses and cover off some basic scenic work in the largely inaccessible bit behind the roundhouse and then hand the whole thing over to Nephew Nick to blend in to the boards he is making for the game, covering off Step 7. Finally, as in Step 8, I trust he will actually turn up at Wargamer with it!

G.

Riddle-me-ri

Hello again.

What do you get if you cross a cardboard tube, some fake fur and a pot of cheap wood filler?

 

 

 

Some Iron or Dark Age roundhouses, of course!

 

I am a rare builder of terrain at best, preferring to spend my time acquiring and painting figures, but every now and then, the urge takes me or I am forced into it. This is a mix of both urge and coercion.

 

Sunday 4th December, marks the next "Wargamer" Show at the Leasowes Leisure Centre in Halesowen, near Birmingham, England, and the "Wyrley Retinue" will be there as usual with the first outing for our next demo game. This year's offering (i.e. 2017's) is a large-scale skirmish affair set in Dark Age Ireland, an idea borne of our collecting for and playing of "SAGA". All three founder members of the Retinue started with a Viking force, so we have figures already, and I took the plunge to branch out into something different to the usual Saxons/ Anglo-Danes by collecting Irish, amassing quite a few, to which I have busily been adding reinforcements over the past few weeks. Nephew Nick is building some bespoke boards for our outing and I, apart from figures, agreed to do some other items, a couple of which you can see here.

 

The other major item I have built for this project will be posted later, so watch this space. (CLUE: I have wanted one ever since I saw an article on building one in "Wargames World" magazine issue 5 about 30 years ago! And it is very Dark Age Irish!!!)

 

G

 

 



This is the four bed detached executive residence, complete with cardboard porch clad in coffee stirrer. I got to use my limited knowledge of Pi to work out circumferences and heights of cones and the like to do the roof, which is covered in a layer of the fur. I also added some air-drying clay to the card roof former for this one to bulk it up a little, but it was not really necessary. A skim of wood filler on the tube, after the tube had been scored, and a paint job and "job done". The fur is dirtied up with a gloop of PVA glue, dark green paint (a few drops only) and some black and brown wash.

I also made two of these smaller huts. Actually, they are only smaller because: a) I did not bulk out the roves with clay prior to adding the fur and b) I did not add a porch. All three huts are made from a section of tube surmounted by a cone of card and some fur. They are deliberately basic in their execution as I wanted a grungy look rather than something rather more civilised.

 

 

End of March musings

We are a quarter of the way through this year already, so time to take stock.

1) I have played precisely two games - a 15mm Napoleonic affair with my Austrians vs Nephew Nick's French and the "Mayhem in the Med. c.1565" outing for the Wyrley Retinue at the WMMS Show earlier this month.

2) I have spent well over my budget already this year...

3) I have painted around 90 28mm figures, all infantry, and finished off another 11 or so I started before Christmas got in the way.

I always see myself as a slow painter, but I am seriously pleased to have got through effectively 100 figures (-ish) so far this year, as well as acting as family taxi, working full time and having a life. I even have time to speak to my wife occasionally! A fair chunk of these figures were additions to the "Mayhem" ranks for the show game, but I have also managed to paint up two 4-point Viking warbands for SAGA, the last figures for which I varnished this morning before tidying the man-cave. I will photograph these once I get the bases textured and the first ever games of SAGA are set for Easter Sunday, so I may even squeeze in a game report or two...

So what does Quarter 2 hold?

Well, changes of mind aside (and I expect there to be one or two...), I plan on some Dark Age civilians, an Irish warband and possibly a Norse-Gael one as well. So, Ireland in the Dark Ages is very much in my wargaming thoughts. I blame an old issue of the short-lived "Wargames World" magazine of a couple of decades ago, specifically the issue that featured a scratchbuilt model of an Irish Rath - a ring fort to you or I. I have that issue in my loft somewhere, so I think a sort out up there is in order too, before it gets too hot now we are officially into warmer times after passing the equinox in the early hours of this morning.

After that, I feel a need to get something less skirmish-orientated underway and those 19th Century conflicts are most appealing...

 

***

To close, I have a couple of shots of the sort of modelling project I like. I am not a fan of plastic or other kits, which may be why I tend to avoid WW2 in the main, though I do build figures of course, but I do like to tinker with the sort of detail bits that I think help to raise the level of a game.

Boxes, barrels, crates and the like are easy to place into all sorts of game situations, but our "Mayhem..." game features a harbour. After watching the "Pyke" episode of "Game of Thrones" recently, I had to have some stuff from there. So here goes...

G

Dockside cranes! These are made from strip wood I bought at a model railway show, their bases being metal washers. The discs two-thirds the way up the upright are from the push out bits from "X-Wing" game fighter display cards, the spars from cut down spears. Finally, the rope is either cotton or Gale Force 9 model rope, rope eyes from small lengths of biro inner, staples used as rope securing points on the uprights and bent wire for hooks. Simple but effective I think.

As well as ubiquitous barrels (from Ten Commandments, who make stuff for railway modellers and who are well worth a look), I made some net-drying racks. The netting is security fencing material from "Greenscene" (model railways again...) and the weights on the nets are old anglers' lead shot. I have a stash of this stuff lying around from aeons ago - I think I have been fishing twice in my entire life.

More Maltese Marinelife

Several years ago at the Derby Show, having spent what I wanted and just checking around to see that I had not missed anything, I happened across a small stall with a few ship models set out on a largely bare tabletop. I have no recollection whatsoever who this trader was and do not recall seeing them since...A few minutes later, I had left the show to drive home, the proud owner of a resin "ship", with masts and cannon, the intention being to add this model to my then newly-painted pirates. This could not have been that long after the release of "Legends of the High Seas", my buccaneering rules set of choice at that time.

Fast forward those several years to me concerning myself with extras for the Wyrley Retinue's forthcoming "Mayhem in the Med., c.1565" game and I unearthed the ship model once more. Nephew Nick had promised to paint his Ainsty Man-'o'-War for the game, but I knew this to be a HUGE model and it was unclear whether Nick would indeed manage this, so I decided I finally had to get my little offering ready and able. A couple of days before the show, I set to with brush in hand and hereby present the sum total of a day or so's graft, the lovely "Maria".

"Why Maria?" I hear you all cry.

Well, as I said at the top of this piece, the ship was bought to provide transport for my pirates and I wanted a name that could be universal in terms of its origin and, therefore, that of its crew. "Santissima Trinidad"? Too Spanish. "Temeraire"? Too French (and famous). "Bismarck"? Too...

You get the picture.

So, "Maria" it became, able to be Spanish, French, Italian, English (if a tad exotic, but plain, old "Mary" would be too much of a giveaway).

I give you "Maria".

G

She is quite a plain creature at the moment, but I may well add some rigging from netting material and perhaps an Ainsty ship's wheel. I could not find her cannons when I took these shots, but rest assured there are six of them. Sails are again from calico tied up with "rope" from Gale Force 9.

I have no idea what colour such ships would have been in reality, but yellow seems to have featured quite a lot in sailing ships at different times, so I went with that.

One thing I have noted on ships of this era especially is decoration around the poop deck. This is my attempt to tart her up a little...

Ample room in her ten or so inches of hull length for some derring-do and buckling of swashes!

And I finally found her cannons!

Son of Frances

As I posted some time ago, I had planned to do a few more specialist pieces for the Wyrley Retinue "Malta" game, which began with the ladder bearers.

Well, ladders are all well and good for getting over a wall, but what could be better than a whole contraption to do the same, but bigger, with more men, better protection and less arduous climbing whilst someone is trying to drop a large rock on your head?

Cue, the "Son of Frances".

I built a cardboard core and then spent more than a few days' modelling time cladding it with coffee stirrers from sundry establishments...

The wheels are made from the green tokens Asda supermarkets give away when you have paid for your shopping. You are supposed to drop them in a box to say what local organisation you want the store to support (local football team, dieting club, etc), but I saw them and just thought "Wheels!"

The working drawbridge is a simple bamboo skewer into plastic tube affair and works very well with its "Gale Force 9" rope supports. A wash with some dirty brownish paint and voila.

I decided against cladding it in skins or whatever for Malta. Although the defenders had all manner of incendiary options, I felt the traditional flaming arrows were a thing of the past and dousing the wood in water as they drew near the walls would serve the same purpose. In the real siege, the towers were built perhaps more out of desperation to take the twin towns of Birgu and Senglea after numerous difficulties the Turks had faced up to that point. They were blown apart as they approached the walls by cannon cunningly concealed behind the lower stones at the base of the wall to be attacked. That was the end of that. So, my example is a quick-build, desperate gamble sort of affair too. I can always add to it later if I wish.

I can also buy him a Tardis to fly him between times, genres and worlds and use him to assault Crusader/ Saracen castles, French castles, Swiss-held castles, Scottish and Welsh castles, Minas Tirith...it all depends on which toys I want to play with next!

G

P.S. What else could I call a smaller tower after revealing Frances herself to the world all those posts ago?

He's a big lad at seven inches tall...
He is also big enough to hold a fair number of figures both on the top archery deck and in the "hold".

And ever eager for a feed, just like any baby. his mouth is often open...

Ladders from the same source as those carried by my ladder bearers, namely an old pirate ship toy rigging cut to size.

The "ingenious" drawbridge mechanism - insert one length of bamboo barbecue skewer into a couple of sections of suitable diameter plastic tube, add some "rope" from 0.8mm cable courtesy of "Gale Force 9" and away you go.

The last of the schiltrons (for now)

Hello again.

I have now finished all six of the planned Scottish spear units I envisaged for my Scots army for the Bannockburn-era game set to see the light at this year's Wargamer show. Using the various "dodges" I outlined in the previous post, I managed 120 figures in about seven or eight weeks, including time for a foreign holiday, which is seriously good going for me. That just left the flags, the last six of which you can see here. I have also now based the figures into units, which I will photograph and post soon, but the onerous tasks of varnishing and base texturing await......

I finished Stewart/ Sutherland ages ago, made from a varied selection of Fireforge conversions and Essex Miniatures. I also posted the flags for Moray/ Atholl and Ross/ Caithness last time out. As you may have guessed, each schiltron gets two flags. Each is also 24 figures strong in 3 ranks, as required in the "Hail Caesar" rules I intend to use. All standard bearers in schiltrons 2 to 5 are Old Glory figures, sometimes with the odd shield change from the bits box.

G

Angus, who will pair up with.....

Strathearn.

Lennox, who will gamely accompany.....

Buchan. This is NOT a fore-runner of a well-known Anglo-Dutch oil company. Those are wheat sheaves, not shells.....

Fife, who will fight alongside.....

Mar.

Wargamer Show - a few new bits

Hello all!

I am a little overdue posting the pics on this, but the Wargamer show is now gone and the Wyrley Retinue went on the road with the planned Thirty Years' War outing, "Storming the River, 1632".

Along with two new cavalry regiments, some commanded shot, some casualty pieces to represent shaken units (using the "Pike & Shotte" rules), some more terrain bits - fences and the like - I had to knock up a couple of quick terrain boards to enhance the river boards I already had.

G

The 2x2 board for the corner, with marshy crossing, taking shape.

The final layout, with the marsh board top left and the other new board centre right with the temporary bridge in situ.  

In place and dressed at Wargamer - with the awful yellow lighting.

And us......we believe in demo games being demo'ed, so at the very least we like to see some source material, a leaflet or two, etc to set the scene.

Wargamer Show, 11th Dec, 2012 - Terrain

Hello followers and passers by!

It has been a while since I posted, but the past five weeks have been a hive of activity as I have pushed to get ready for taking my 30 Years' War collection out to meet the public at the Wargamer Show. Well, that day was today, and the tiny band of brothers (metaphorically, of course, as it is actually just me and Nick [aka Beithir], although he is my nephew.)

A good game was had by all, with sundry members of the Stafford Gamers coming along to take part. A very close run game, based on Steenkerke (1692) and called Steinkirche (1632), was finally won by the Swedes. The men of the match were the Yellow Regiment I only finished painting yesterday!!! They took on and beat all comers.The event of the match was Baner's Lifeguard cavalry, at 67% strength, charging uphill at a full strength, veteran kurassier unit (Pappenheim's) and routing them!

The lighting in the hall was not great, so I hope the pictures are reasonable given my limited skill with the camera, but, as we wlaked away with BEST DEMO GAME (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), I can live with that.

Now for 2012, some tweaks to improve the game and the terrain and more fun to be had. As I probably spend more if I am allowed to wander round at a show, I have convinced my wife that the expense and effort were worth it! Bonus!!!!!

G




The entire 8 x 6, laid out on my barely large enough kitchen floor.




Me, chasing my little sister with a wooden sword - ah, such a wonderful childhood!



"It's a bit early, but just the one won't hurt."

One of Ignacius Loyola's finest eyes the young lovers somewhat icily

One of the redoubts made specially for the game (but they are sure to get another outing.

The siege redoubt, again built specially, set against Nick's first ever attempt at a backscene.



The table in it's entirety and largely ready to use.



The Swedish objective - the Imperialst siege camp (the game was based on Steenkerke, 1692, backdated to 1632).

Conflix building with my cornfield.

The river bend cliff face, made from cork bark and a polystyrene sub-base.