4Ground Medieval/Saxon houses and vegetable plots.

I put together three of the 4Ground Medieval or Saxon buildings and while not quite finished I'm very pleased how they came out. I wanted some older buildings to put inside the Forrest area to house Robin and the gang. In the book Outlaw by Angus Donald he talks of Robin staying in an old Saxon settlement which he used as a training area and safe haven. I thought these would be ideal.

I had looked at the building on the Internet and had very mixed feelings about the look of the buildings. I felt they looked too much like painted boxes and was not sure about the roofs. However the three buildings went together in an afternoon, and then I had to do the roofs over two nights as the white glue needed 24 hours to go of each time it was applied. I now realise that I could not see the wood for the trees as once the buildings are on the table you see the overall effect rather than the details.

I also made up a couple of areas of vegetable patches, ploughed areas and a round area for the settlement.

I now just need to make up some more of the Forrest base and some more wicker fences then I should be done with the terrain for this project.

Bit messy as I need more toweling for the grassy areas.

4Ground houses and vegetable plot.

Hidden entrance to the hideout.

Vegetable plot added.

Stuck some ploughed areas under the church for the moment.

Supposed to be deep woods behind the hedges.

Black Knights seeking revenge.

The Castle - from the beginning.

While doing my Demo Game of Robin Hood I was asked a few times about how I made the Castle. I thought that I should post a bit more from the beginning. The task was really simple once  I had worked out a few details but it took a lot of patience as its not something you can achieve over a weekend. The first photos I took were with my older camera and posted on Lead Adventures, but not on the Blog. I thought it worthwhile reposting them here just for a complete record.

I bought this 1/72nd scale Castle for about NZ$45 from Trademe (about 22 pounds).

 It was a bit too small but had lots of details that could be used.

Once I had assembled to parts to make bigger towers and higher walls I needed something to make the walls look a bit thicker. I had been made aware of others using insulation foam to make entire Castles but felt that combining them would be a better solution for me. I also wanted to make areas playable so also used MDF to back some walls as it was strong and thin.

I found that the door were too small so ordered these Dungeon doors from Black Tree Design.  I would be using the main gates as doorways for the front Hall entrance and the access to the Dungeon.

I then had to make stairs and other details out of bit of foam, plastic card, brass rod, plus bits from the spares box.

That should bring my postings about the Castle up to date.

Call to Arms - Games four and five. "Sherifs Revenge" and "Dawn Raid"

Both of these games centered on the farm buildings. 

I did not take many photos so will deal with them on one post.

Sherifs Revenge occurred because of the revolt, He wanted to destroy the farm as well as kidnap Mildred who could make him a suitable wife.(whether she agreed to it or not!) A Mangonel was setup just outside the village firing fire bombs into the farm. Timing was crucial as the Sherif and some mounted men entered the farm yard, killed some farmers and kidnapped Mildred. Two parties of the Sherifs men arrived late to cover the Sherifs retreat who had lost all his mounted escorts and had to deal with a struggling Mildred.

Robin meanwhile tried to intervene with the aid of his Merry Men.

Unfortunately Robin arrived too late but managed to kill quite a few of the Sherifs men.

Dawn Raid followed as Guy was tasked with killing as many of the Merry Men as possible who were reported to have taken over the Farm buildings which were now unoccupied.

Two parties of Men at Arms approached from two sides of the farm buildings, one led by Guy.

The soldiers were quite successful at getting near the farm before being discovered. However the fighting was bloody with only Friar Tuck, Little John, Guy and three other men aside surviving the battle.

We decided to pack up early and take a good look at the other games and have a bit of a chat.

We were very happy with the Lord of the Rings rules which we had only made minor tweaks to. We did not go overboard with lots of different stats for all the minor characters but made them have an extra wound and extra point of courage. We also made a minor change to the crossbow rules, I'd say we had things balanced pretty well as the games went down to the wire and were very bloody.

Tyrone felt that Robin did not live up to expectations and had more faith in the GW Friar Tuck figure who had no special rules. I thought that maybe he should be replaced next season as I have alternative figures for him.

 I have since watched Maid Marian and her Merry Men http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdWA3vA1ow4 and think we may have brought along "Robin of Kensington" by mistake.

Call to Arms - Third Game "The Peasants are revolting, the ungrateful wretches"

During the first morning we played two of the scenarios which had been play tested several times. These only took about an hour to play so Tyrone asked if we could play something bigger.

We came up with the scenario that Marian had been arrested in the village by a group of The Sherifs men.

The peasants took several turns to react and started to attack the Soldiers. Meanwhile the Merry Men who had been  amassing in the Forrest started to approach the Town. The Castle Guard also started to organize and make their way out of the Castle. The first Unit to approach the Village was the Black Knights, one of whom was killed by a Peasant with a short Bow (much to Tyrone's delight). There was a bit of a scrap with the mounted Knights and Men at Arms doing most of the fighting against the peasants and Merry Men in the Village. 

When the rest of the soldiers arrived things had turned into much of a stalemate but as Marian had been escorted to the Castle the fight was really over. Almost all of the ungrateful wretches had also been killed with heavy casualties on the Sherifs side.

Ford Transit part 2.

 I decided to setup my game in my games-room. I want to add a few things and would also like to play a few games before I get bored with the theme.

I took a few photos of the Ford Transit scenario plus a couple of items that have not been properly photographed before.

Starting position for the Wagon with guard and Friar Tuck.

Little Johns starting position.

This is supposed to be taking place in a deep wood.

The Ford Escorts starting position.

Black Knights.

Drunken Monk in a supply Wagon.

Project Zulu.

I had just finished my last book on my Kindle and went through all the books that I had downloaded from links on TMP and found Shaka Zulu. Now soon into reading I started to get ideas about doing a painting project and you know ideas tend to end up in buying a few figures, and then gets blown up into a really big project?. Soon after I got an email from Black Tree Design, telling me of the 50% off sale which included the Zulu War range. I also remembered that Warlord had free shipping on at the moment and do really like the look of the plastic Zulus.

As I had completed enough of my Robin Hood project to put on some games I could afford to think of something else for a change. I did not need to buy anything but you know how it goes.

I am not starting this project for awhile as I am just gathering information and doing a bit of buying. A couple of friends have shown interest in buying a few figures as well so it could turn out to be another big Demo game.

So I ordered some Black Tree Design on the evening of the 4th NZ time but our Dollar took a dive which meant my Debit Card was declined. I then reordered on the evening of the 5th which went through. The order arrived on the morning of the 10th. I was amazed at the speed of the delivery but also at the variety of the sculpts of the riflemen. Below is a photo of the Isandlawana Firing Line packet.*

Below is the full force for (the moment). I have far too many Officer types but I think I can paint them as Provisional Corps. I have one Gatling, two junior Officers, Sergeant, Bugler and forty men.

I will start buying Zulus later on in the year and will start with the Warlord Plastics but fancy getting some metals figures from a few other manufacturers.

*I took out three figures in side caps to use for IHMN.

Call to Arms - second game. "Ford Transit"

I am really embarrassed to say that neither myself nor Tyrone remembered to take any photos of this game which is a real shame as we had spent quite a bit of time making the scenario work.

However the idea was that the wagon loaded with loot was attempting to make its way out of the forest, but also had to cross a ford before making its way into the village. An escort was waiting in the village to escort the wagon across the ford. (You could call them a Ford Escort). However being rather unreliable they were delayed in the village by the local totty and had to dice before they were able to help the wagon and its outriders.

Meanwhile two parties of the Merry Men; Archers led by Little John and skirmishers led by Friar Tuck (yes he survived) ambushed the wagon with the aid of two men who stopped the wagon on the road.

This was another bloody affair which saw Little John taken out and the Wagon Commander Sir Ralf was also disposed of. The wagon managed to ford the stream and made it to the safety of the escorts.