Witchfinder General

A contingent to fight a Witchfinder General scenario, complete with Witchfinder stickler by Foundry. The rank and file are Warlord plastics.

Tavern

Been researching this one for quite a while. Finally put all the bits together in my head a couple weeks ago and got round to building it. Its supposed to be able to fit into anything mid 17th / 18th century. Everything is scratch built.

Before starting to make the model, I put a lot of time into researching pics of thatched building and ways to best create the look. The model that you see is an amalgamation of many buildings. I started off by calculating the size. I didn't want the piece to take over a 4'x4' board but at the same time, I did want it to be a key feature. After some rough calculations, I cut the board out and drew features onto it, erasing and adjusting until I arrived at something that I was happy with to begin work. The main building was constructed by building a balsa framework and then thick paper was glued to the inside of the balsa to make a base for the walls. Windows and doors were then glued in place onto the paper. The walls were made by painting on a polyfiller solution in a couple thick layers. As I didn't attach the paper base all around its edge, this let it warp to give a more ramshackle, realistic feel. The chimney is built from crushed rocks. After this I put the roof on, which is made from faux fur. A piece was cut out and fitted to each side, making sure that the fur direction pointed downwards and then treated with watered down PVA glue. A third piece was cut to form the ridge section and treated in the same way.
The next stage was to position gate posts and to start laying down the stone walls, which were made of crushed rocks, individually glued into position with super glue. The lean to and stable are balsa with kitchen paper used as the tarp on the stable.
The ground work started with making flag stones with watered down polyfiller then scribed after being left to dry for 24 hours. The old trees were glued in place with a few roots showing and basetex added to the rest of the floor area with bits of straw to mess it up a bit. After painting, finishing touches like foliage around the walls and flock were added and the pub sign made and positioned.

I hope that helps and I'm happy to answer any questions about bits I may have forgotten to mention or need better explanations.

Cromwell and Fairfax

These are both by Warlord from their Pike and Shotte range. Perfect for some more New England shinanagins.

John Stearne

John Stearne, Witchfinder. Or...another resident ready for Salem.

Witches

Witches from Rapier Miniatures for Witchfinder General. The bats are from their 'familiars' range.

Do you know the way to Salem?

Redoubt scalpers

I've been painting these scalpers up in between finishing other things off. Here is the final one of the five. and the complete set of five.

Silver birch

Scratch built silver birch tree.

Swashbucklers, rogues and desperados

28mm Swashbucklers, rogues and desperados from Blue Moon.

Scratch built tree

I'm trying to work on better terrain than I have been gaming with in the past and the latest project is trees. When I was at York this past weekend, I bought a large tree kit from http://www.treemendus-scenics.co.uk/. Before attempting this, I decided to have a go with a similar method with things I already had in the house. I began with making a basic construction made from the inner part of basic flex which you can find about the house. No, I didn't rob it from a light fitting, it was spare. Don't know what you people take me for...
The wires were twisted to form the trunk then this was split up to start making larger branches. These were then spli to form smaller branches etc. After that I coated the structure in kitchen towel with pva glue. I like the way this method comes out but it is very time consuming and future builds will use a painted on material instead. After that, the structure pas painted and sea foam was applied to the branches with pva. I think future builds will be with rubberised horse hair. Flock was then applied using non scented hair spray followed by another spray to fix it. The final step was to finish the base with paint and sand with a dry brush and flock applied.
I'm very pleased with this first effort and can't wait to get out with a camera for reference to build some more.

Rodney and the breaking of the line

I can't say too much about this book by Peter Trew, I loved it and it is probably the best book I have read in a long time. If you're into the mid eighteenth century, this book is packed with a lot of the big names from Cornwallis, Byng, Hood, Bougainville and, of course, Rodney himself. We follow Rodney from his early career, through political success and failure as well as those in his naval career. Much of the content focuses on the fight against the French in the Caribbean and also the catastrophic events off the coast of Yorktown under the command of Rodney's subordinates. What would have happened if Rodney was there instead of being unwell on his way back to England?
After the event, he returns to the Caribbean to finally deal with the French at the battle of the Saintes, where he 'breaks the line'. The account of this in the book is absolutely riveting.
Bad decisions and political enemies finally result in Rodney finishing life in obscurity and relative poverty like so many other larger than life historical characters.

Life Among the Pirates

This book is written by David Cordingly, an English naval historian who is considered one of the leading authorities on pirates. He held the position of Keeper of Pictures and Head of Exhibitions at the Naval Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England for twelve years.
The book mostly focuses on the pirates operating around the Caribbean and eastern American coast but it also discusses those on the Barbary coast, Indian Ocean and Chinese waters. You certainly don't need to be familiar with nautical terms to enjoy this book as things are explained well and there is a glossary or terms. We all know what a piece of eight is, right?
Chapters cover life with the pirates, trying to avoid said pirates and steps taken to deal with them as well as what happens when they're caught. I enjoyed the book very much and my only criticism would be that I thought that it could have been organised a little better. The author seems to keep coming back to a few particular ships throughout the whole book rather than dealing with them and then moving on. Others may not have an issue with this.

Dilapidated barn

Following conversations about more delicate and realistic models, I decided to have a practice with a small building to build skills which can be applied to bigger and better projects. With this project, I enjoyed thinking about adding context and passage of time to a building which had been abandoned to its fate. In addition to the building starting to disintegrate, it was important to show some debris on the ground and to show it being reclaimed by nature.
As you can see, this isn't the sort of robust wargames building that we are used to seeing but it is definitely the direction in which I intend to travel from now on.
Here, I shall show how it was constructed in a few simple steps.