Fort Processes

So you might be finking that after buying those Brigade Models fortress pieces I would crack on and paint them up. That would be too easy for me. You might have noticed a trend on this blog for me to agonise/navel gaze or indulge a propensity for analysis paralysis.

The latest bout of agonising arose when I started thinking about the practicalities of working on the bought pieces.  It isn't as simple as cleaning them up and painting them. How should I make higher parapets? I could use a strip of balsa wood or something similar. For that to work I would need to cut off the existing parapet and cut the wood at the appropriate angles - easy for some but I am a bit cack-handed. Green stuff would work - I wouldn't need to cut off the existing parapet but it won't be as neat.  Doable options but it involves quite a lot of work. I asked myself would that work be worth the effort?

To help me answer that I thought I'd set-out the pros and cons of the commercial versus the totally scratch built options.  When I started doing that I realised there were more things that I'd need (want?) to do with the commercial option.

Commercial Option
Pros	Cons
No drawing	Angles etc not quite ‘right’
No cutting	Pieces move on the table
Flexibly layout	Have to build up parapets - how?
	Difficulty of modelling glacis/covered way without fixed enceinte
	Have to build up terreplein for enceinte to accommodate bases

Homemade Option
Pros	Cons
Dimensions ‘right’	Drawing
Glacis/covered way modelled	Cutting
Individual pieces won’t move in the table	Uncertain properties of materials*
The satisfaction of the challenge.	Have to cut and stick paper walls
	Inflexible

* i.e. will the XPS board cut up bobbly like the expol? I actually tested it and it doesn't, so strike that from the list of cons! It cuts nice and neatly and you can create nice sharp angles.

Overall there is more work with the scracthbuild/homemade option.  There is no doubt, but the commercial option comes with a fair amount of work too. More even than I anticipated before I started making the above lists. When it's all done the commercial option, with several separate pieces, is much more flexible. This comes with two challenges. First, how would I stop pieces sliding around on the table? Remember these are TINY pieces.  If I stuck them on to a board then I lose the flexibility. If I use magnetic paper, that's more work.

The bigger issue, I think, with the commercial option is the glacis/covered way/ditch ('GCD' for convenience). With a flexible layout cutting pieces for a GCD that is equally flexible multiplies the work and adds to the problem of small pieces moving around the table.

The way I'm feeling right now is I prefer the homemade option. I made the first step by re-drawing the template on paper. At least I've done the main enceinte, with a few ravelins sketched in and a trial sketch for the GCD. Of course I didn't make a copy of the original template!

Something to sleep on. And any comments/suggestions would be very welcome. Of course if I do the homemade option, I'll have a load of fortress pieces spare.

Update

After a number of comments I thought I'd do an update to show the issue with the commercial model. I understand the principle of '1-scale down'. That's why I bought a 2mm scale fortress. I intend to use the fortress with 6mm figures directly on and in it. The parapet is not even knee high to the 6mm figures. That's without a base to support the figures. It's not the overall height of the model fortress that is the issue, it's just the parapet.

There's also a lack of depth on the curtain wall if I'm to have any base for the toy soldiers.

Give them a Broadside

I'm afraid this won't be a picture extravaganza. I looked at the pictures I took and found them wanting. Pop over to Richard's blog for that, or feast your eyes on Big Lee's post on the game designed by him and Ray and hosted on by Postie's Rejects.

I don't think I've seen a war memorial which mentions the Korean War before.

This is more of a personal impression of the show put on in Gillingham by the Milton Hundreds Wargames Club. The show came highly recommended by many South East based bloggers so I was determined to make my first visit. I've been to Gillingham several times - I usually turn east out of the station, but this time I headed west. I was up and out of the house early (for me) and arrived in Gillingham not long after 10:00 and walked the 1/2 mile or so to the Medway Park Sports Centre. I had time for a quick spin round the hall, stopping off to chat to Lee at the Posties Rejects table (deservedly voted Best in Show, against some tough opposition).

Postie's Rejects game of the crossing of the Berezina 1812. A Dunelm sofa throw provided the cloth.

The whole table was fabulous and testament to their hard work. Sorry this is a bit out of focus. The broken ice on the river was great (pieces of perspex, 'sanded' to give that opaque look).

Last port of call on my initial tour of the hall was Brigade Models . They had the 2mm 'Vauban' fortress models I was interested in and described in my previous post as Plan C. To no surprise the parapets were low compared to a 6mm figure, but were otherwise perfect for my purposes. As luck would have it, they had everything that I had for my plan so I made the purchase there and then.

My acquisitions set out on another Dunelm throw! Castell de San Antonio to be used as a citadel. 

More of Brigade's products painted up and on display. I like the fact they had a model of Chatham Anchor Wharf given the proximity to where Broadside was held.

Shortly after I bumped into David-in-Suffolk and spent the rest of the day wandering around the show and chatting to various people. I had originally thought that I would spend a couple of hours at the Royal Engineers Museum next to the park, but it's a good indication of the quality of Broadside and the company that I stayed there until well after 3PM. Short breaks outside for coffee and lunch excepted.

This was another star of the show: Milton Hundreds Wargames Club's Sword Beach. Complete with sand from the actual beach!

Lots of lovely detail like this DD Sherman

I loved these LSTs(?) This one with self-propelled guns - sorry I don't know the name of them. Priests?

Another landing craft with Hobart's Funnies. Brilliant model showing some brilliant innovations.

As well as Lee and Ray, we bumped into Richard (also of Postie's Rejects) and had a nice chat. It was great to meet in person and put a face to the name. As an extra bonus, Richard revealed that the Brigade Models can be readily cut when I said that the curtain walls were just slightly too long for my fortress plan!

Another star feature was Hailsham Wargames Club's Malplaquet, 1709. All Les Higgins exquisite 20mm figures.

It reminded me of Tony "Prometheus in Aspic'''s preference for these models

More Malplaquet! The terrain for this was fabulous.

And yet more!

Another game I was keen to see. The Battle of Maidstone, 1648, by Canterbury and Littlebourne Wargame's Club. Nice terrain. And achievable for the average gamer. I liked the explanation of the scenario - the New Model Army had to achieve a win in a restricted number of moves to win the game. Without this constraint it would be too easy for the NMA player to win, so this made it a more competitive game. The gamers at this table were all young, which is nice to see.

Another lovely looking game was this example from the '45 Jacobite Rebellion. Played with Pendraken figures. Lovely castle centre right. And nice to see use of a baggage train. I couldn't help thinking that the choice of soft drink (top left) was appropriate for this. Irn Bru.

Another personal favourite, the Society of Ancients Gaugamela.

The SOA were using Impetus rules

There were many other great looking games and friendly hosts including the team who put on a pre-Dreadnought battleship game (sorry I didn't remember the club name or take any pictures). I will definitely go again next year. And I'd highly recommend Broadside to anyone, especially in the SE of England.

My train was due at 16:31 so I strolled back up through town and killed a bit of time in a pub that I haven't visited before. I almost turned around when I heard the noise inside - the party had well and truly started early! Actually it was relaxing and I enjoyed the choice of music. Can't go wrong with Boney M.

I was cream crackered by the time I got home and had a quick snooze before a very pleasant barbecue in the garden with the family and the Youngest-of-the-Youngest's beau, who was down from Yarkshire.

So, thanks for all the show participants for putting all the effort in and their friendliness, and to the Milton Hundreds club for putting on the show. And thanks to David for your company again.

Fortress Construction Update

Plan A

Well I cut out the paper template and then proceeded to carve the polystyrene. As many of you predicted, this led to ‘rough edges’ due to the nature of the material.

The side that the template was on wasn’t bad.

Template side: I left the ravelins until later

But the other side was as rough as a badger’s arse.

The fact I'd not cut out the ravelins makes it look worse than it probably is.

In one respect this isn’t a showstopper because the polystyrene sheet at c.2cm is much thicker than I need and the rougher bits can be carved away.  But that is a lot of work. 

Plan B

Before I went away on a project I found and ordered a thinner sheet made out of a different material that looks like it is less likely to suffer from the bobbliness* of expanded polystyrene. * that’s the correct technical term by the way. 

'XPS Board'.

This is produced for underfloor heating and comes in sheets 6mm thick. One sheet was c 5 quid for more than enough to layer up. One layer will do for the glacis level, one up from that will do for the ravelins and one more up for the bastions and curtain walls.  It's easier to show than to describe......

Cross-section Plan B

The issue with this method is that I might need to draw a new template (the original will probably tear when I unstick it from the polystyrene). And I might need different templates for each layer OR use each layer as a template working up from the bottom.

This is where a potential Plan C came to my attention. I think it was Neil who found a supplier of ‘Vauban’ fortress pieces in different scales. My issues with this option were (a) that the geometry of the bastions etc was limited and not suitable for the dimensions and angles I wanted, and (b) the website for the e-Bay seller was difficult to navigate and work out what the products were exactly like . Then last week another blog (sorry I forget which) showed some products from another company. They have options for different bastion ‘angles’ and the dimensions are close to what I drew on my template.

I’m hoping to see some samples on Saturday at Broadside which should help with my remaining questions. Plan C could turn out to be much easier to execute than Plan B. In a way that would be a shame because I was finding the ‘self-build’ route satisfying. But at least the XPS board could be turned to other uses, like trench lines where the little guys can actually be below the surface of the table!

We’ll see.

If you’re going to Broadside on Saturday and would like to say hello let me know through the comments.

A bientôt mes braves.