The Royal Guard of the Golden Hall

Led by that bold warrior Hama, the Royal Guard ably defends King Theoden, body and soul (despite Hama’s gullibility regarding elderly gentlemen with walking sticks).

Summon the guard for arming day!

Now the paintbrush of yours truly has brought these brave men to life, in the form of Copplestone Castings’ “Horse Tribe Royal Cavalry,” another bit of excellent sculpting work from their 10mm fantasy “not Lord of the Rings” line.

I won’t go into a detailed account of painting these, as the process is essentially the same as the Horse Tribe Cavalry I painted in my last post, so I’ll just list the colors from this round and go straight to the pretty pictures.

Almost done— time to do the "washing", and then paint and flock the bases.

Horses: Bays (Burnt Sienna), Light Bays (Light Cinnamon), Brown (Milk Chocolate), Roan (Gray), Tan “Palomino” (Honey Brown).

Manes and Tails are Black, Dark Brown, and French Vanilla (Palomino) with a Dark Brown wash.

Tunics, Tackle and Scabbards: Russet (Wine)

Armor and Weapons: Gunmetal

Helms: Gunmetal and Bright Gold

Stirrups, Greaves (yes, they have greaves), Stirrups, Hilts, Shield Bosses, Shield Rims: Bright Gold

Cloaks & Shields: Hunter Green (“Evergreen”), with Golden Yellow cloak hems. (“King’s Gold”)

Gloves: Golden Brown

Hair: French Vanilla with a Dark Brown wash and Spice Brown.

Helm Crests: French Vanilla with a Dark Brown wash.

Hooves are Black, lance shafts are Dark Brown.

All minis have a black wash except over the French Vanilla portions, where black can produce a greenish tint (little known fact: “Black” pigment in paint is actually a very, very (very, very, very) dark blue. I learned this in my college Stage Design class, and now I plan my shading accordingly).

Guard to the right!
(Note: flag has artwork that got washed out by the flash.)

Guard, to the left, in echelon!
(Banner is from Toshach Miniatures' free Horse Tribes decals download.)

SOUND THE CHARGE!

That’s about it— again, this was a very quick project with roughly a two-day turn around. I’m getting faster!

More To Come...

The Rohirrim continue to muster...

The Horsemen of Rohan (so far).
L to R: Cavalry, Royal Cavalry, Cavalry, Horse Archers

The Muster of Rohan: Painting Copplestone Casting’s Horse Tribe Cavalry

Sound the Horn— It's Painting Season! 

My painting set up: Ikea tray, old mug, block of styrofoam to hold the brushes.
The blue and green stands are "photo holders" I found in Target's bargain aisle. 

This season has become catch-up time with a number of my projects, so I thought I’d share another one of my latest efforts. The figures are from my growing collection of 10mm fantasy figures for the Warmaster game system. The project in question is a long-term one of gaming battles from The Lord of the Rings, one of my favorites being the Battle of Helm’s Deep between the forces of the Rohirrim and Saruman’s fearsome Uruk-hai. Fortunately for fans of Tolkien’s works (and Peter Jackson’s films), Copplestone Castings in the UK has a terrific, if small, “generic” high fantasy line. His stand-ins for Rohan are the “Horse Tribes,” and like Tolkien and PJ, they’re very clearly based on a mix of Anglo-Saxon England with a dash of Post-Roman Britain (indeed, they’d be strong contenders for the latter).

In my earlier posts, I had images of one unit of Copplestone’s Horse Tribe Cavalry, and another of the Horse Archers, which represent the heavy cavalry and missile cavalry depicted in the books and films. Copplestone also has Horse Tribe Infantry and Foot Archer units, so the line offers a well-rounded selection for a Rohirrim army, including the infantry actions which dominate the Battle of Helm’s Deep in both novel and film. While the foot soldiers are in my painting pile, I had a unit of cavalry already primed, so I thought I’d give it a go one weekend and share the results with my readers.

Note: Click on the pictures to see a closeup!

Color Choice and Paints

I don’t go for the big name miniature paints. I’m certain they’re quite good, and worth every penny, but I don’t have a lot of pennies to put towards the hobby. Instead, I opt for the much cheaper craft paints sold at hobby chain stores like Michael’s and Jo Ann’s. They work for me, and I’ve found most of them cover even black primer with a single coat. Brighter colors like reds and yellows may take more coats, but as I said, this stuff is dirt cheap, especially with the coupons the retailers send out.

For Rohan, I take the movie images as my cue. While the most obvious choice is the very dominant hunter green used in the films, other colors also stand out, including a deep golden yellow and a burgundy or russet color. I like to have some differentiation in my units so it’s easier to define which is which in the midst of a battle— especially as Warmaster battles can quickly become mass melees involving multiple units! Also, as the Rohirrim are more of feudal militia or levy than a standing force, I feel their attire would not be a national uniform, but rather a reflection of each units home region (such as the Westfold, etc.). As my last cavalry unit was traditional Rohan hunter green, I decided to opt for a different “Rohan” color for this unit, and chose russet or deep maroon as the dominant hue. For the remaining bits, I decided to keep the hunter green in the mix for bits of tunic and/or saddle blankets, and left the rest as the metal or natural leather suited for these smaller details.

Getting Started

I operate on an in-to-out approach with painting 10mm figures, meaning I start with the “innermost” layer of a figure and work outward, rather like someone putting on clothes. So this meant painting skin, or in this case, faces. For this I use a very pale Coral craft paint. (I prefer to use this straight out of the bottle with elves; with men and dwarves I might actually paint a thin layer of red first, which will bleed through the lighter coral to produce a ruddier complexion. In this case, I knew so little of the flesh would be seen that I didn’t bother with that.)

With the units primed in black, it’s hard to pick out which details are face and which are beard or helmet. But as skin is the first layer, any overlaps would get covered by darker colors as the miniature “gets dressed,” so if my dabs got too big, it didn’t matter.

Grooming the Horses

Faces, horseflesh and metal finished (not counting touch-ups).

After the faces, I decided that the ponies needed some grooming, so I painted their skins next. Again, I like a little subtle variety in the look of the horses, and try to capture a natural color scheme. People often think of horses as being primarily brown, but in truth the dominant color is the classic “bay,” which tends towards a reddish tone. So my choices of color for the horses were Burnt Sienna (a deep reddish brown), Milk Chocolate (a mid-level brown) and Light Cinnamon (another mid-level brown hue, also with a slight red tint). I like the command horse to stand out a bit, and this time I opted for a “roan,” horse, which is a shade of grey with black elements rather than white.

Although in larger scales, horses are notoriously tricky to paint realistically, at the 10mm size a straight color works fine, especially if you follow up with a dark wash afterwards. So my little force got 5 bays, 4 chestnuts, 3 light browns, and the commander’s striking roan.

Arms and Armor (and Other Shiny Bits)

Closeup of horses: Light Brown, Grey Roan, Bay (Burnt Sienna).

After the horse flesh, I opted to arm and cloth the men. The chainmail is an easy paint, almost a dry-brush approach with a Gunmetal shade (a dark grey metallic paint). This is a very dark paint that is hard to see against the black, so it’s okay if you get a bit more than the typical dry-brushing expects, especially as 10mm is really meant for arms-length or birds-eye viewing— you want to see a block of metal; a black wash will help create the texture of it.

The Copplestone helms are terrifically detailed, with crest rims, nose guards, and chin guards. They also vary from figure to figure, which fits the levy nature of the Rohirrim’s muster. Just a dab of gold metallic paint on the various helm features creates a great look. 

I also hit the horse’s bridle rings and the stirrups with the gunmetal paint, except for the commander who got a bit of gold bling with his tackle. Spear points, sword blade and shield bosses are also Gunmetal, though again the commander gets the gold treatment on his shield boss. Sword hilts and scabbard tops get gold dabs as well.

Later, I realized that the horses also have headpieces above their foreheads, and these would eventually be gold as well (though gunmetal would have been fine. Maybe the commander of this regiment has a thing for shiny stuff...). I would also come back later and add spur bands of gold on the men’s boots (again, I hadn’t noticed this detail yet).

Tunics and Cloaks

Cloaks and banner.

With the metal done (mostly), I went with cloth next. Starting with the green, I painted tunics and/or saddle blankets. I decided not to give all the saddle blankets or tunics the same color, in part because some of the men don’t have cloaks, so I need to confine their tunics to the russet color, and again, I didn’t want a “uniform” feel.
Green done (two coats of Evergreen, as it’s very dark and needs to be built up so as not to appear black), I pulled out the russet, which was actually a Wine paint. This took three coats, especially on the wide cloaks.

Bit and Bridle (and Other Leather Stuff)

Closeup of cloaks, shields and tunics. Color is "Wine."
You can also see the tackle, gloves, scabbards and other bits.
Only the lance shafts, hooves, manes and touch-ups remain.

Next I hit the tackle, using a Golden Brown camel color. I also used this for the riders’ hands. Although this is a bright color, it makes for a good contrast against the darker horse flesh. While in a larger scale model that might seem odd, in 10mm scale you want as much contrast as you can get so that the details still “pop” out once the figures are moving about the tabletop. 10mm scale, after all, is about grand spectacle and immediate troop recognition rather than the subtleties of light and shadow. Plus, once a dark wash is done at the end, the tackle color subdues to a deeper tan, which looks nicely realistic, even up close. I did have some painting error here and there, but I always come back to the horseflesh with a touch up coat, so I knew I would cover these slips. I also hit the straps of the bedrolls with this color, as well as the stirrup straps and a few of the saddle blankets, the latter to again avoid the “uniform” effect.

Pulling out some Spice Brown (a mid-to-dark brown), I hit the blanket rolls, pants, scabbards, belts and boots of the riders. Dark Brown (only slightly darker than Spice) serves as the lance shafts.

Grooming the Men and Manes

Done with clothing and accoutrements, I hit the men’s hair and beards with either brown (I think spice in this case), or French Vanilla, which produces an easy bright “Scandinavian” blonde effect, fitting of Tolkien’s Rohirrim. The horse's manes and tails are either black or dark brown (the roanI painted black, but the others I varied, just as real horses vary in their coloring).

Final Touch-up and a Quick Wash

After that, it was all touch-up, covering up mistakes or picking out details that now could be seen. I also gave a few of the horses white "socks" and "blazes" for a little more character.

Main painting done. Painting the bases and preparing the wash.

After giving the bases a quick slap of flat black paint, I used the same paint to create a shading wash. Others may use a precise mix, but I confess to the quick and easy method— a just add drops of distilled water to the paint to make it thin and runny, then slap it on the figure. I used the same brush to gently flick away pools of paint (as on the shields and cloaks) and dabbed with a paper towel if too much watery paint puddled into the space in the chest and lap area of the riders. This method isn’t perfect, and I wound up not entirely happy with the cloaks (though from a distance they look fine), but it’s definitely easy, and the horse tackle, horse muscle and armor bits gained definition, while the overly vibrant tackle bits were muted. (I asked my lovely bride’s opinion, because I wasn’t happy with the cloaks. She’s not a gamer, and has no real opinion of my “little men” (except that she doesn’t like “the ugly ones,” meaning the orcs). But she had seen the figures before the wash, in their vibrant state, and felt the washed tones were more realistic. I’m not going to argue with her!)

Behold the Warriors of the Westfold!

All told, this project took me three days of painting, though only for a couple of hours each day (largely while half-watching football games). For me, that’s the fastest I’ve ever completed any single unit.

So there’s hope yet that I will reach my goal of a playable Helm’s Deep force in a reasonable time frame. And then, on to the Pelennor Fields. ;-).

--- Parzival of TMP

Assault on Shantipole— an X-Wing Scenario

Episode V.II

The Assault on Shantipole

THE SECRET WEAPON

Hoth has been destroyed, but the Rebel Alliance has escaped. From a mobile fleet on the galactic rim, the Alliance marshals its forces for the Empire's growing threat. 

    Working feverishly, Alliance engineers have developed a new weapon that can lash back at even the Empire's mightiest cruisers. But traitors are everywhere, and the Empire knows just where to attack to foil the Rebels’ plans...

Yes, it’s time again for a Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Game battle report. The various Darths and Rebels gathered once again for an evening of battle, this time featuring all four of Fantasy Flight Games’ newest expansion ships: The Imperial Lamda-class Shuttle, the TIE Bomber, the HWK-290 (aka the Moldy Crow from the Dark Forces video game) and the Rebel Alliance B-Wing Tactical Strike Fighter. (Okay, I’m the one who labeled it a “Tactical Strike Fighter,” but that’s basically what it is: A big can of whoopin’ that flies like a slug...)

The Empire plans their assault, under the watchful gaze of Emperor Pawpatine.
(Not his real name.)

The scenario for this evening was another one of my creations, loosely based on a discussion about “weapons deals” scenarios on The Miniatures Page. Rather than a “last man standing” scenario, tonight’s battle would feature a hard-and-fast raid with a single target objective— a “space fighter construction station” located within an asteroid field.

The premise— the Rebels are about to conduct weapons testing of the very first production model B-wing. The Empire has obtained the location of the construction site, and plan to blow it and the B-wing into so much atomized debris.

THE FORCES

REBEL ALLIANCE SHANTIPOLE STATION DEFENSE SQUADRON

Shantipole Station Construction Space Dock (Point cost 10)

Single blaster turret, Range 1-2, 360°, Attack 1.

No shields or evasion capabilities.

8 Hull points.

Special Defense: Immune to energy attacks. Only explosive munitions (torpedoes, missiles and bombs) inflict damage. Only double-damage crits remain face-up; turn all other critical hits face down.

Long Range Perimeter Patrol: 2 A-wings

A-Wing Space Superiority Fighter

Tycho Celchu, Pilot Value 8

May perform actions even when stressed.

Expert Handling Upgrade (can do barrel rolls to remove enemy target locks)

Concussion Missiles

A-Wing Space Superiority Fighter

Arvel Crynyd, Pilot Value 6

Can attack targets while in base contact (ignores collision restrictions)

Concussion Missile

Close Support Patrol: 2 Y-wings and 1 HWK-290 (command & support)

Y-Wing Tactical Strike Fighter Y-9, Gold Squadron Pilot, Pilot Value 2

R5 Astromech (repair critical hits)

Ion Cannon Turret

2 Proton Torpedo loads

Y-Wing Tactical Strike Fighter Y-4, Gold Squadron Pilot, Pilot Value 2

R2 Astromech (treat 1 and 2 white maneuvers as green)

Ion Cannon Turret

2 Proton Torpedo loads

HWK-290 Command and Recon Gunship

Roark Garnet, Pilot Value 4

Assign 1 friendly ship at Range 1-3 as Pilot Value 12

Recon Specialist (assign two focus actions rather than one)

Blaster Turret, Range 1-2, 360°, Attack 3 (“Attack [Focus]” to use)

Pre-Flight Preparation (Station Interior): 1 B-wing

B-Wing Interdictor Tactical Strike Fighter

Ibitsam

May re-roll one attack or defense die when stressed.

Marksmanship Upgrade (change one eye roll to crit, all other eyes to hits)

Sensor Jammer (may change one of an attacker’s hit to an ‘eye’ result).

Autoblaster, Range 1, Attack 3. Normal hits may not be evaded by defense dice.

2 Advanced Proton Torpedoes. Range 1, Attack 5. 3 blanks may be changed to eyes.

IMPERIAL NAVY TACTICAL ASSAULT COMMAND

Primary Assault Group: 2 TIE Bombers and 1 Lambda-class Shuttle (command & support)

TIE Bomber

Major Rhymer, Pilot Value 7

Can increase or decrease secondary weapon range up to Range 3 maximum

Adrenaline Rush Upgrade (treat one red manuever as white, then discard)

2 Cluster Missiles

2 Advanced Proton Torpedoes

Proton Bomb

TIE Bomber

Gamma Squadron Pilot, Pilot Value 4

Assault Missile

Concussion Missile

2 Proton Torpedoes

Proton Bomb

ST-321 Lambda-class Command and Control Shuttle

Colonel Jendon, Pilot Value 6

May assign 1 blue target lock to a friendly ship at Range 1.

ST-321 Title: Can target lock any enemy ship regardless of range.

Modification: Anti-Pursuit Lasers (automatically attack overlapping enemy, one die)

Advanced Sensors: May perform an action before revealing maneuver.

Flight Instructor: Reroll 1 eye result when defending.

Weapons Engineer: May target lock 2 enemy targets simultaneously.

Ion Cannon

Interceptor Assault Support Group: 4 TIE Interceptors

Turr Phennir, Pilot Value 7

May boost or barrel roll after attacking.

Swarm Tactics Upgrade

Avenger Squadron Pilot, Pilot Value 3

Avenger Squadron Pilot, I-11, Pilot Value 3

Avenger Squadron Pilot, I-26, Pilot Value 3

THE SPECIAL RULES

X-Wing has no rules for targets or large, stationary objects like a space dock, so I had to make up my own.

The station, being immobile, does not roll defense dice, unless a shot against it is obstructed, in which case the station gains a single defense die against the obstructed attack. However, the station cannot be damaged by energy weapons fire (blasters, ion cannons, etc.), as it is mostly a large, open framework. Explosive warhead munitions are the only method possible to damage the station— in other words, it can only be attacked with torpedoes, missiles and bombs; nothing else.

The B-wing: The B-wing begins the battle undergoing weapons load-out inside the station. As long as the B-wing remains inside the station, it cannot be attacked, and is not damaged even if the station is. However, if the station is destroyed while the B-wing is inside, the B-wing is destroyed as well.

The B-wing’s entry is randomly determined by the roll of attack dice, beginning before the Activation Phase of the second turn. A single red die is rolled; if the result is a critical hit, the B-wing immediately exists the station and joins the battle. It may maneuver as normal (according to its pilot value, of course). If the roll fails, the Rebel player continues to roll before the Activation Phase of each turn, adding one red die per turn (so 2 dice are rolled on turn three, 3 dice on turn fout, and so forth). If any die rolls a critical hit result, the B-wing may join the fight.

THE ORDERS

Empire Orders (Victory Conditions): Primary Objective: Destroy Shantipole Station.

Secondary Objective: Destroy B-wing.

Rebel Orders: Primary Objective: Protect Shantipole Station. Secondary Objective: Avoid loss of B-wing (but if B-wing can save the station, it should be used to do so).

Note that due to the nature of Shantipole Station, the only Imperial ships capable of achieving the Empire’s victory goals are the two TIE Bombers. If these are destroyed before the station is, the Rebels win and the Empire loses, regardless of what else happens.

THE BATTLEFIELD

Shantipole station lies protected behind an asteroid field that shields the station from the Empire assault force’s entry point. This is placed by the Rebel players, but with restrictions on spacing to allow for passage through the field.

REBEL SET UP

WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP!!! Bogies approaching! All patrols scramble!

The Rebels get to place the asteroids (I handled this, as I was to be one of the Rebel commanders). We then set up our forces; though I thought splitting the different sides of the station would be a good idea, Commodore Will felt otherwise, so we placed everything just to the left of the station (Rebel left, as viewed in the pictures). I commanded the HWL-290 and the Y-wing patrol. Will took over the two A-wings, and was stand-by commander for the B-wing, should we succeed in flying it out of the station.

Once we were done, the Empire assault began.

THE BATTLE UNFOLDS...

TURN 1: Jockey for Position

The assault begins. (Dum Dum Dum Da Da-dum Da Da-dum.)

The Empire chose to split its forces into three groups (fitting the presence of three players, but not a bad idea). Darth Alexander swooped down in two TIE Interceptors on our extreme left, clear maneuvering to catch the Rebels from behind. Chase Alexander took two more TIE Ints down the center, along with a TIE Bomber flown by Major Rhymer (Pilot 7), while Darth Michael took the center right in the Imperial shuttle and the second TIE Bomber. Both bombers were lined up for straight runs at the station.

Seeing this, we angled immediately towards the two bombers, ignoring the TIE Ints as one ignores gnats (gnats with nasty bites, that is).

The ranges were too great for any shooting in Turn 1, the only offensive actions being Darth Michael establishing two target locks (Weapons Engineer) and passing these to the two bombers (STS-321 ability).

TURN 2: Lots of Light, Little Else

The combatants are in range.

Turn 2 allowed for the possible entry of the B-Wing, but no crit was rolled, so it remained in battle-prep mode. This would become a recurring note.

This turn brought us into fighting range, and the blasters sizzled, but little was done except some shield cooking.

TURN 3: Missiles Away!

Objective target lock acquired. Commence firing!

Turn 3 brought the Gamma Squad TIE Bomber in range of the station, and he fired off an Assault Missile (which also caught one of the Y-wings in its blast), putting the first two hits on the station. Meanwhile, the A-wings doubled down on the second TIE Bomber (Major Rhymer), smacking him around a bit, but not taking him out. Other ships traded shots, but again nothing crucial happened.

Once more the B-wing had failed to enter, but Commodore Will and I were confident that with 5 dice for the launch roll in Turn 4 we’d be bringing some serious firepower into play...

TURN 4: Time for the Boom-Boom

Uh-oh. The station is in trouble! Launch the B-wing! Launch the B-wing! Oh, crud.

... but it was no dice for us. Once again Will failed to use the Force, and the B-wing remained in station. The only firepower brought into play came from Major Rhymer (Darth Chase), who dropped a Photon Bomb to mess with the Y-wing that I had double-backed onto his tail, and the two A-wings. Fortunately, the explosion (which ignores shields!!!!) did only minor critical damage (the Y-wing would take damage on an overlap, and one A-wing had a Stunned Pilot).

Bomb go boom.

But now both TIE Bombers also had the station in LOS and range for missile attacks! Seeing this, Roark Garnet (the HWK-290 pilot) used his special ability to boost one of the Y-wings to a Pilot Value of 12, hoping to take out a bomber before it could shoot. One of the A-wings also was able to pour fire into Major Rhymer’s bomber, and we gave it all we had... ‘Twas too little, too late. Despite solid hits, both bombers survived, and two salvoes of Cluster Missiles slammed into the station— four hits for one, two for the other...

KABLOOEY!

The Darths give the intergalactic sign for "we just nuked some Rebels."

Moral of the Story: Sometimes it’s the Empire that gets to celebrate the big explosion in space.

WRAP UP

Everyone agreed that the scenario was a lot of fun, despite the quick ending. On post assessment, we decided the random launch factor for the B-wing was too random, and discussed shifting the scenario to a load-out vs. launch choice for the Rebels— in other words, the B-wing starts out as a straight ship with no systems upgrades or secondary weapons. At the beginning of each turn the Rebels would have to choose whether to launch the B-wing or not. However, if the B-wing remained in the station, the Rebels would be able to add one upgrade or weapon card to the vessel at the end of each turn (up to its maximum). The result would be a tactical choice, and risk— do the Rebels bring the B-wing out with only a partial weapons load, or risk its destruction with the station?

We also noted that the TIE Bombers had a straight line shot at the Shantipole facility the whole way, having to execute no turns of any sort. I think future versions of the scenario will allow for better blocking placement of the asteroids, to force a choice between delicate maneuvering or attempting a lengthier flank attack on the station.

Finally, it was agreed that the station’s defenses were a putz. Upgrading the laser to Attack 2 seems an option, as well as boosting the station’s hull points to 10 or even 12 (my only concern with the latter options being the possibility of bad attack rolls by the TIE Bombers, and making certain that a single bomber actually has at least a slim chance of destroying the station, just to keep things hairy for the Rebels).

But all in all, we had a great time— and it was noted that this was the first game of X-Wing that we had fought to a conclusion without a single ship lost (well, not counting the B-wing). No one felt that was a drawback, especially as it fit the nature of the scenario. And we all agreed this was a scenario we wanted to try again the next time the Wargamesmongers meet... in S-P-A-A-A-C-E!!!

ABOUT SHANTIPOLE STATION

Shantipole Station, Mk 1. Looks a little too Borg...

Shantipole Station is taken from the Star Wars “Wookiepedia,” where Shantipole is listed as the building site for the B-wing fighter. I decided that a classic “space dock” would be ideal for the scenario I wanted. I scrounged through my son’s closet and found an old K'nex set and fiddled around with the design. At first I created an open cube, but didn’t like the result. Finally, I took my inspiration from the Starfleet construction dock for the USS Enterprise NCC 1701 “refit” in the original Star Trek: The Motion Picture (the Rodenberry film, not the Abrams’ monstrosity). I had planned to paint the resulting model, but my son insisted that the components retain their original color. So we decided that the race who contribute the B-wing to the Rebel Alliance have a cultural aesthetic preferring primary colors, which is reflected in all their space constructs. Ahem.

Friday Night Feature...

A Home for Warriors: Building the Laser Cut Fortress from Sally 4th

A late wind rises above the fields, carrying with it the sounds of leather slapping against metal, the clop of hooves on stone, and high upon the breeze the sound of one lone horn calling out in greeting, “Open the gates! The lords have returned from battle!”

Forth, Eolingas!

THE PROJECT

Every army needs a home, a place to muster, to train, and to occasionally defend in a desperate fight against overwhelming odds (or to try and assault with the same). While I have praised (and still do) the excellent paper Kragenvale Keep (review here), I also wanted something a bit more generic (and potentially more imposing). So when Sally 4th, a new manufacture based in the United Kingdom, announced a line of laser cut MDF fortresses, I was intrigued. In fact, I suggested on The Miniatures Page that they consider a 10mm line scaled for Warmaster’s 20mm x 40mm bases... and lo and behold, they did just that. When they also tacked on a sale, I couldn’t resist. Carefully leading my lovely spouse to the computer, I pointed at the screen, said “This is my birthday present from you. Click the button.” And she was more than happy to comply.

As I’d promised myself that I would complete other projects before tackling a new one, I set my present aside and waited. Finally, this weekend I put on my construction hat, opened the package, and went to work.

THE FORTRESS

I had opted to create a small fortress consisting of four towers, three wall sections, and a gateway. (Let me take a moment to praise the company. When I first received the shipment, my examination of the contents revealed a few pieces that were damaged in shipping. I sent an e-mail to Sally 4th, and promptly received all the necessary replacement parts and a bonus of 5 little siege ladders.) Not certain how long the process would take, I noted that the towers looked the least complicated, as well as the most versatile (a lone tower is a viable scenario piece, whereas a lone wall or gateway just looks odd). So I decided to begin with this piece.

THE TOWERS

The parts of the tower.
At the bottom of the picture are two broken battlement sections
 as well as the siege ladders Sally 4th sent as a bonus.

Shown in the picture are the tower parts (and the extra siege ladders— these do not come with the product). These consist of three walls with arrow slits, one wall with door archways, four interior battlement facades, four exterior battlement facades, an interior tower floor (etched to look like wood), a roof/battlement floor (etched to look like assorted stone), four “battlement support” pieces (etched to appear like stone) that hold the battlement section in place, four interior floor supports (unetched), two arched doors (slightly different) and two trap doors (identical). There is also a guide piece used to align the floor supports.

The set does come with instructions, but I will say these are a bit sparse. Still, it’s not hard to determine from the pictures what to do.

Painting the Tower

Although the instructions don’t call for it, since the upper interior of the tower forms a room that is visible when the battlement is removed, I decided to paint the interior parts before assembly. Since I have four towers to build, I primed all four tower sets at the same time. As the floor and doors would also be permanent once installed, I painted them as well, using a slightly thinned acrylic craft paint (Delta Ceramcoat Burnt Umber). Although Burnt Umber is a very dark brown pigment, the paint absorbed partially into the MDF, which ended up producing a “stained wood” effect that I quite liked.

Assembling the Tower

If you look closely at the photo, you might notice that the battlement floor (or tower roof) has a series of small square holes around the edges. These are not construction elements, so I gather they represent drain holes as a real fortress might use for boiling oil! (Or, in more mundane times, rain gutters.) You may notice that one of these is not punched. I had several such elements in my various parts, but found that slight pressure with a small pointed tool popped them out with no fuss (I used a golf tee I had handy).

Walls

The tower walls were quite simple to assemble. I put a bit of white glue (PVA or Elmer’s) on the inside of the notches, and then fit the four walls together. The order of the walls doesn’t matter; they’re essentially interchangeable, and the orientation is obvious; if you find that the walls aren’t meeting equally at the top and bottom, simply turn the wall vertically 180°. Voila— perfect fit.

Note that I used one of the floor pieces as a guide to make certain the walls fit square. This is recommended in the instructions. What isn’t mentioned, and I found helpful, is to wrap the tower in rubber bands (two should do) to act as a “clamp” while the glue dries.

Floor Supports

The problem: A tight fit.

The solution: Rubber bands.

Next I installed the interior floor supports as the instructions stated. This proved trickier than I expected; the fit is very tight on these, and my first effort resulted in the tower springing apart... that’s when I discovered how useful rubber bands could be.

Battlements

Battlements "clamped" for gluing.

Lower support sections added underneath

With the floor supports in place, I proceeded to the battlement and roof assembly. This seems like it might be tricky, but it’s actually fairly simple. The four interior battlements (no notches) all have slots on the bottom that slip onto tabs along the edges of the battlement floor. Note that the stonework side on these faces inward— that’s important. The exterior sides have notches that fit into each other just like the tower walls. These are glued back-to-back to the interior battlements, with the exterior stonework facing out, matching the crenellations to the crenellations on the interior battlement. Line ‘em up, wrap with a rubber band as a clamp, and let dry.

While this is drying, you can also install the under supports. Flip the battlement over. The supports have tabs that fit into slots in the roof. The stonework faces out. Glue and set the whole thing aside to dry. Easy peasy.

The Tower Doors

Before installing the doors or anything else, I recommend painting or priming the exterior of the tower; this protects your “wood” pieces from inadvertently becoming “stone” pieces. (I forgot to remove the interior floor on one of my towers and wound up with “clouds” of gray paint on my new hardwood tower flooring! Man, was I peeved at that contractor... But I sanded it out and repainted the burnt umber. Lesson learned!)

The doors and trap doors are nicely detailed with “bands” intended to be iron straps. So before installing the doors, I also gave these little “studded” strips a quick dab of black acrylic craft paint.

Two different doors: Upper and lower.

This step is where an eye for detail becomes important. The instructions don’t mention this, but there are two types of arched doors— one where the door is etched inside a rectangle of wood with clear wood “margins” all around, and another where the bottom edge of the door is flush with the edge of the wood. This is important, because the latter doors (flush with the edge) are for the upper room of the tower; the flush edge allows the door to sit against the upper room floor. The “margin” doors are for the bottom of the tower. So pay attention when installing these!

Trap doors (What, no elevator?)

The trapdoors can be glued anywhere you like. One goes on the interior floor, the other on the battlement floor. I chose the center for the roof door and the side or corner for the room floor door, but the placement is up to the builder.

Once the doors are on, the battlement simply sits in place atop the tower. Nothing to it!



Below are some pictures of a tower "in action." (These also are better photos of some of my critters from the last post, as promised.)

A lonely tower on the moors, and the beasties that want to claim it!

Smile for your beauty shot, Dain!

Ugly Brutes! (Battle of Five Armies Hill Trolls)

Little Ugly Brutes! (Battle of Five Armies Goblin Guard)

A poor man's Orthanc!
(Even stacked this high, the towers remain very stable.)

THE FORTRESS WALLS

The Wall Parts. Not as complicated as it looks.

Though the walls look complicated, and have some different bits, I found them even easier to build than the towers. The base acts to hold the assembly square (it’s basically a big rectangular box with a facade on one side). This set also didn’t need to be primed before assembly; it’s all stone, and has no exposed interior, so I could glue it completely before painting.

The walls consist of a base (with a cobblestone edge), a short interior wall (no crenellations), a stone roof/battlement walkway, an interior battlement wall (with etched stone crenellations and the rest blank), two side walls, the exterior facade (fully etched, with crenellations), and two “buttresses.” There’s also a long narrow “trim” piece that fits into the exterior facade. I’m not certain what this is intended to be except for a bit of three dimensional detailing. Looks good, anyway.

Assembling the Walls

Walls Assemble! (Basically, add glue, fit, clamp, done.)

As I said, assembly is simple. I glued the two side walls (notches down) to the interior battlement wall (stonework facing inwards) and the interior stone wall (stone work facing away from the battlement wall). Then I glued this to the base, with the cobblestone on the interior side of the wall (it’s the courtyard floor, or at least some of it). As there are specific notches in the base for the various pieces, there’s no other way to assemble it, so you really aren’t likely to make a mistake. Just be certain the side wall has the notch side down.

Once this is in place, glue the exterior facade to the battlement wall, matching the crenellations. Stick on the buttresses, add the trim bit, and wrap with a bunch of rubber bands to dry. Prime later, and you’re done with your castle walls.

THE GATEWAY

The Gatehouse components. Notice the block of hinge parts.

This proved to be the trickiest piece to assemble, and alas, nowhere near as easy as the others. I’ll preface this part by saying that I’m no modeler. I don’t like finicky bits, and I’m not a deft hand at trimming. Unfortunately, this would become an issue.

The Gatehouse Doors

The problem arises with the doors. Sally 4th opted to create a very realistic door design for their gateway, including working full pin hinges and gate bar brackets. I suspect this is a translation from their 28mm scale forces, and at first it seems like a neat feature. In practice, at least for me, it became a headache.

Painting the Doors

The back of the doors.

The front of the doors.

I had painted the doors with brown umber for the “wood” and flat black for the bands and the various parts. Though recessed into the gatehouse, the back of the door is visible from the interior, and has no detailing (I gather laser-etching is a one-sided deal, or at least double-sided etching is cost prohibitive). I experimented on an extra guide piece from the tower build to see if I could create straight lines, but abandoned this attempt, and opted to just paint the door burnt umber and hand-painted two black bands to match the etched bands on the front. But that was just painting, and not a source of any difficulty— that would be the “bits.”

The Difficult “Bits”

The brackets clamped for repairs and repainting. :-(
I also chose to paint the two front wall halves near the
arches, as I was concerned the bare wood might show later.

The problem lies in the nature of laser-etched MDF. As the pieces for the hinges and the  bar brackets are small, Sally 4th left them intact within a small square of MDF, with instructions to punch them out for assembly. Unfortunately, these pieces didn’t “punch.” I had painted both sides first because it seemed like an easier step than trying to paint each individually. It’s possible that the paint added to my woes, but in any case the hinge parts and the brackets weren’t cut all the way through; I tried trimming with an X-acto blade, but the pieces still split along the plane of the MDF when I tried to remove them from the MDF piece. I had to glue the pieces together, which produced less than stellar results.

It Hinges on the Hinges

The hinges with the pins in place.
Note that they can't be glue into
the walls already pinned.
(I found that out the hard way.)
But you can see how they fit.
(Click on the image to enlarge.)

Later, when it came time to add the hinge pieces to the door, I found that the pieces were thicker than the gaps between the pieces; this meant I had to sand down the hinge parts (ruining my “quick and easy” paint job). Rather than hunt out some sandpaper, I just used a handy fingernail file. Fortunately, the area sanded was the interior of the hinge, which will mostly hidden from view.

The "arch" hinges glued to the wall.
(Click on the image to enlarge.)

The size of the hinges at 10mm scale also proved tricky. Although the set came with four black straight pins (two extra) to act as the hinge pins, lining up the hinge parts for the pin was no easy task. First I had to use the smallest bit of my pin vice to clear the holes intended for the pin (these too had not been cut all the way through). After that, it was trial and error to line up the parts, especially once the arch hinge parts were glued to the gateway wall piece.

(The instructions, by the way, are incorrect about the number of hinge parts. There are 3 “d” hinge parts for each door half, and 4 “arch” hinge parts for each door half.)

Hanging the Doors

The doors "hung" in place.

The doors inside the "archway".
Note how they actually hang back
from the walls. (Click to enlarge.)

I was a little thrown by how the door fits into the gate arch. I had assumed that it would be flush with at least one gate wall, but from what I can tell, it’s meant to hang somewhat suspended in the middle of the gate. That seems a bit odd, and the instructions don’t say one way or the other, but this position is the only way I could see the design working due to the design of the hinges. At least, it’s how I wound up installing the doors. On the tabletop it looks fine— the doors appear to be set back inside the gatehouse, though if you pick up the gatehouse and peer closely, you can see the gap between the wall and the door.

I suspect that part of the problem is that, if you follow the instructions and the photos, you wind up with the hinge pins on the exterior side of the door— that is, the side that would face the enemy! It’s possible that I might have installed these parts incorrectly, though I tried to follow the image included with the instructions.

A Pain in the Brackets

Lastly, I found the bar brackets to be equally as difficult to work with. Like the hinge parts, these also split when removed from the MDF square. I glued and clamped them back together, but then discovered that they’re too large to fit into the intended holes on the door halves. I finally resorted to whittling off the posts to fit and painting them black.

To Beam or Not To Beam

The doors opened as fully as they will go.
Note the bar brackets in place (whew!).
View is from the inside of the gateway.

The set includes a beam to bar the door, which I only realized when I had installed the bar brackets. At first I thought this small piece of wood was merely an extra bit of scrap. But as it is, whether due to the design or the fact that I had to trim the bar brackets to fit them into the doors, and the beam was too wide to slip in the space. I filed and filed away at the fit, certain at any moment I would snap the beam. That didn’t happen, but then I also gave up on creating a strip slim enough to fit the brackets (and still be removed). I might just substitute a flat toothpick instead, if I want to bother with the bar.

Fling the Gates, Uhm, Narrow

After all this work, it turns out that the doors won’t open fully perpendicular to the wall; they strike the inner archway at about 45°. As a result, the gap between the open doors is smaller than the narrow edge of a Warmaster base. Of course, this is not a factor in play (one simply rules that a stand can fit either way in the arch), and not really a big deal in appearance— just don’t expect to “fling the gates wide.”

Assembling the Gatehouse

The rest of the gatehouse assembled very much similar to the walls. Note that the doors need to be built in before the final assembly, and plan accordingly. This means you should paint or prime the interior walls before installing the doors, or you’ll face some interesting painting headaches. Although I had taken this step, I discovered I had failed to paint the long exterior trim piece, and had sprayed the incorrect side of one wall edge after I assembled the piece. But since these were exterior surfaces, I simply masked off the doors and sprayed away.

FINAL THOUGHTS

A fortress, manned (or elved) and ready!
You will see that each tower easily holds an entire Warmaster unit, as do the walls.
Bring on the orc hordes!

The towers and walls are versatile pieces, and very easy to build. The gateway probably has more detail than is really needed with the hinge assembly and the bar brackets, especially given the effort I had to trim, paint and install them. But once it’s all together, the set makes for a great fortress, suitable for fantasy, medieval or even some ancients settings. Historical purists may not like the significant overhang created by the tower battlements, or the small buttress pieces on the walls and gates, but this is not intended to be a replica of any specific building. Rather it is a playable fortress which can support the base width and depth of Warmaster units (as well as other basing systems). For that purpose, I think it is an excellent choice. I would recommend to casual modelers that you consider skipping the intricate hinge work and opt for just gluing the gates in place, or glueing them to a simple base stand (perhaps the guide pieces from the tower) so they can be removed when “opened” or “battered down” during play. I will say, that despite the problems I had with the hingers and brackets, I still very much appreciate the quality of this product. Whatever headaches these caused, it’s still a terrific looking piece, and I’m quite happy with my purchase.

Sally 4th has also just announced a 10mm Norman Keep that will work with this set; it’s on my list (hint, hint).

WHERE TO FIND THE FORTRESS

Sally 4th sells a wide range of laser cut MDF products for 10mm, 15mm and 28mm scales. They can be ordered direct from the UK, but they now have a US distributor through Scale Creep Miniatures. I’ve purchased products from Mark, the owner of Scale Creep, both in person and on line, so I’ll vouch for his excellent service and prompt delivery. Plus, he’s just a great guy. Order with confidence!

Sally 4th's website

Scale Creep Miniatures website

--- Parzival