Grave Circle A, Mycenae

Finished another scratch-build terrain piece for the Mycenae game. This is supposed to be Grave Circle A, which is located within the walls on the right as one would enter through the Lion Gate. It contained the graves of high-ranking persons from around 1500 BC. One of the graves contained the so-called "Mask of Agamemnon" discovered by Heinrich Schliemann in 1876.

The citadel walls were built around the graves around 1300-1250 BC, and likely was a sacred place. For the game scenario, it'll be a minor victory for attackers to enter and desecrate it - for spiritual reasons, if anything.

The grave markers are plasticard - with the edges roughed up a bit with a hobby knife.

Artists reconstructions.

The grave circle to the right, inside of the Lion Gate entrance.

I used a plastic food tray from the local Dollar Tree for the basis of the circle. 

I added spackling to the outside to similate the stone work. The entrance walls are styrofoam bits - also covered with spackling.

Also working on doors for the Lion Gate itself. Plasticard with woodgrain carved onto it, and drops of superglue for bolts on the reinforcement.

I'm waiting on an Acheson Creations Minoan/Mycenaen building which I picked up off of Etsy. I'm leaving to see my mom in Hawaii this weekend for her 94th birthday - I may post some pics if I find anything of interest there - hobby related, of course. Thanks again for visiting, and wishing you all the best.

Mycenaean Lion Gate & Wall Sections

Finished the additional wall section, and also drybrushed the stone work with lighter colors to better replicate limestone. EDIT: I'm still not satisfied with the color - I want it to have a warmer (golden-ish?) hue, like most of the photos and illustrations I've seen. 

I could add a corner piece to the wall section on the left as in the reconstructed image below. 

However, I plan on using the terrain on a smaller playing area - maybe even only 3x3', so don't want the walls to extend too far.

I ended up using some scrap white styrofoam for the additional wall section - it worked out even better than the adhoc pieces of the earlier sections. It was easier to cut out the stones, and the porous areas gave them a weathered look.

Decided to add stone work to the interior of the walls since the scenario will have some attackers already inside the citadel. Plan on using One-Hour Ancient & Medieval Skirmish Wargames rules which focuses on hand-to-hand combat, and movement to objectives will be limited. One objective will be the megaron located within the walls - to possibly either capture or kill the king inside.

Thanks for stopping by, and wishing you all the best.

Lion Gate of Mycenae

Finished up the terrain today. Plan to use it (along with a previously made throne room/megaron, in skirmish games. The picture below could be captioned with, "Welcome home dear. I just drew the bath for you. "

I may add some type of device (similar to a fleur-de-lis) on the top of the column between the lions - I've seen it illustrated in some recreations.

The terrain is in three sections - and for gaming purposes will be the main entry point for attackers/defenders. The left wall doesn't have the crenallations on one side as this was facing the inside of the citadel. I only added the crenallated parapets on both sides of the right side wall, which was a sort of a bastion. The citadel itself was built on a fairly steep hill, and was naturally protected on most of the sides. In fact, the stone walls were built along the natural lines of the hill.

Close-ups of the wall sections.

The rear side of the terrain - I was too lazy to carve stone work on the interior.

Thanks for visiting the blog as always, and wishing you all the best!

Construction Projects - Black Site Studio Flemish-Baroque Buildings

I've been in more of a building/constructing mood than painting recently. Might have something to do with the contractors working in our bathroom. Anyway, these are the three Black Site Studio prepainted, laser cut kits I picked up at a bring and buy a few months ago. They looked just the part for my 1813 Campaign project that has been put on the back burner for awhile. Lovely kits, and reminiscent of the 4-Ground kits I put together years ago.

28mm figures shown for scale - the buildings are quite substantial in size. I believe they're intended primarily for skirmish gaming. 

Left to right in the photo above: Flemish-Baroque Townhouse A, Flemish-Baroque Townhouse B, and Townhouse Corner A. 

Rear of the buildings. All doors can be swung open or closed. The kits come with stairs for each floor, but I was too lazy to put them together.

The building floors are sectional, which is not only good for skirmish gaming, but also for storage and transport. All the sections have tongue and groove fittings for secure placement.

The instructions were online, and there were some discrepanies like not identifying some pieces, but I was able to figure it out. Another thing to note is the laser cutting leaves a lot of black charring which gets onto your hands and onto the pieces themselves. I used a moistened paper towel to clean off my fingers periodically, and also wiped down areas that got smudged.

I also put together several 120mm Verlinden resin kits for future painting. I'd like to give my cheap airbrush another try; at least for basecoating. The problem I've had is constant clogging of the tip. I watched some YouTube videos which might prevent this issue. If not, back to rattle can spray for undercoating.

I used brass rods for the larger separate pieces for a more secure fit; and also for the plumes so they can be removed in case I have to store or move the figures.

EDIT: These garden walls and outhouses were thrown in as freebies along with the buildings - also Black Site Studio kits.

Just a short post to show you what I've been up to recently. Basically staying at home while the contractors work on our bathroom. They "should" be done this coming week - I hope! Then I can get back to "normal" and start hosting games again. Thanks for your visit and wishing you the best.

Samurai Castle/Wajo Main Gate Update

Updated the main gate for the Japanese castle/wajo. Added steps, and upper walls on a wooden platform.

Wanted to give the gate a better look along side the taller wall sections.

The upper deck can support troops.

Styrafoam base for the steps coated with plaster and Mod Podge. Balsa wood for the top support structure. Resin sections for the top walls.

I have a playtest later this month for game based on the Siege of Ulsan which will use this gate, along with the rest of the wall sections.

Samurai Castle/Wajo Walls And Gate

Finished up the project today. The fit and finish of the stone walls aren't the best, but should be good enough for gaming.

The top walls and gate are resin pieces from Tabletop Terrain. Very nice and sturdy. The gate can swing open on brass rods inserted into holes provided in the door and frame.

The corner sections were made by using the ready-made end pieces and adding sections from extra straight wall sections. This was only done because I used my own scratch-built lower stone walls. Tabletop Terrain makes the lower walls which would fit the corner sections they also make. Figured I'd try to save some money and make them myself.

Glad to have finished this up - especially since I just received an update from TAG that my order has been shipped. It was delayed a few weeks due to issues with their machinery - according to Pete.

As you may notice, the inner walls don't align well with each other very well, but again, should be good enough to game with.

A WIP shot.

Thanks for checking out this blog update, and hope you all are doing well.

Samurai Castle Corner Wall Sections - WIP

Started on two outer and one inner corner sections of stone walls. May add more corners later, but with this tentative configuration, should work out okay, placed on the corner of a table. Also, didn't want too big of a footprint for them. As the top walls are removable, I may someday make some other types of upper walls - possibly for a Mycenaean fortress.

Here's the start of the construction - styrofoam cut to shape, and covered with spackling. Another reason I decided to stop with just these three sections was due to it getting messy with the styrofoam in the house, and didn't want to continue outside in our typical Pacific NW damp weather.

ADDENDUM:

Started on the gate while waiting for the spackling on the wall corners to dry. This is another piece from Tabletop Terrain. Very nice - and it can open and close using a brass rod inserted into the slots provided on the doors.

On the gaming front, getting ready for our annual big convention, Enfilade, later this month. I'm hosting two RJW skirmish games using TMWWBK. After the con, plan on going all in with Tribal. Just received the book yesterday, and already have gaming aids for a planned Gempei War game. As the game uses cards for activation, movement, and other rules, ordered 6 decks of cards with large numbers/lettering (jumbo index). From the recent Trojan War Tribal game, I found using cards that were too "fancy" made it hard to read not only the numbers but figuring out the suits. Also picked up some suitable honor tokens - Chinese style coins. I've been wanting to get my Gempei War figures back on the table again, and Tribal should be just the ticket for rules.

Anyway, just wanted to update the blog and wish you all the best!

Japanese Castle/Wajo Walls - WIP +1

 Finished up the main wall sections. Waiting on some corner pieces, as well as a gate.

Tops of the stone walls are wide enough to fit 40mm squares.

Added dowels to hold the upper walls in place - and still be removable for storage/transport.

Hopefully the end/corner sections won't be too difficult to make. Until then, thanks for stopping by and checking out the blog. Best wishes to you all.

Japanese Castle/Wajo Walls - WIP

Well, started on this terrain project - using pink foam for the stone foundation of the some Japanese castle/fortress walls. The upper walls are the resin pieces from Tabletop Terrain. I'll be ordering some of their corner pieces too. 

Used left over thick foam pieces for the basic structure, and added a thinner foam to slant a bit at the front. A thinner foamcore was used for the tops of the walls. All of the foam pieces were glue-gunned together (rather sloppily in some areas). Need to use some sort of plaster to coat the walls after carving the stonework.

Update: Used a dull pencil to "carve" the stonework.

The piece above was the first test section so kind of cut the foam imprecisely. Had a general idea of how it was going to be built, but wasn't sure if it would work out. Seems to be okay - just need some kind of filler for the ends - maybe some caulking. 

Appreciate your visits and wishing you all the best.

Pink Foam Trenches Or Ditches

Used some left over pink foam and an inexpensive wire foam cutter to build some trenches or ditches. Wanted to have enough to go the width of a table; about 6 feet or more. There were some nice resin cast ones on ebay, but didn't want to spend too much. Luckily, there was still some pink foam board, purchased almost a decade ago, in the garage.

Close up to show how they size up. Only used a little bit of static grass as the trench or ditch would be mostly dirt from being built. Tried to keep the incline on the outside to a minimum to allow for figures or vehicles to climb up. Also, didn't line the insides with wood panels or corrugated tin so the pieces could be used in earlier periods too.

Total available length if used with only one side - as a barricade - is over 10 feet; so about 5 feet if used in parallel as shown above.

The triangular pieces are to allow the straight pieces to be formed in irregular lines, if needed.

Right after "cutting" with the hot wire foam cutter - an inexpensive one off of ebay. Word of caution - be sure not to use enamel spray paint on the foam unless given an acrylic or latex paint basecoat. The enamel will melt the foam. I used a spray can thinking it was acrylic - but turned out to be enamel and it melted the first set of triangle pieces I had made. Thankfully, the larger staight pieces had been coated with left over latex house paint first.

Well, my previous post said it was likely my last before taking off for a visit to Hawaii, but had a couple days and this was a quick project. Taking off for Hawaii early Sunday morning - hopefully no delays as the weather has dropped to below freezing. Supposed to warm up a little on Sunday - but the flight to Hawaii today was delayed for almost 3 hours - probably due to the temperatures and icing. I may try to post some pictures of interest while in Hawaii - hopefully. Until my return, hope you all are doing well and having a great start to 2024!