Another Brick In The Wall...

Hi, All!

Red Coats mount a determined defence of the ruins.

Well, I'm a day later than intended with this one... which, I suppose, could be considered ahead of schedule, given my recent track record for keeping up with all this blogging malarky...

Firstly, I'd like to give a nod to those with whom I shared a very pleasant (and slightly inebriated) evening on Saturday... Namely: Alan and Michael Perry; Aly Morrison; Lieutenant General Rhys Jones (sorry, Rhys! Just had to get the rank in there...); Notorious Greg (inevitably!) and Very Large Chris From Christchurch (dunno the surname but it's an apt description, I feel.) The Perrys and Aly are (as you will know, I'm sure) pretty much wargaming royalty. It was a great evening and a pleasure to meet the Perrys again and Aly for the first time. I hope there will be more such occasions...

Sunday morning saw a very tired Colonel O'Truth and Notorious Greg dropping in on Call To Arms - Wellington's annual wargaming bash. It was nice to see that there was a pretty good turnout and when we were there, our good friend and enemy (?!) Scott Bowman was happily unleashing the forces of the Wehrmacht upon whomever he could in the Flames of War Tournament. More about that on Scott's own blog... here.

I would also like very much to acknowedge the brilliant Afghanistan table brought along by fellow Wellingtonian wargamer Craig I-Don't-Know-Your-Surname-But-You-Know-Who-You-Are... This was a fairly small set-piece village with removable roofs and drop-in doors which was absolutely expert in its conception and execution. A skirmish was going on as we arrived. There was nothing else we saw this year that was anywhere close to this standard. Well done, Sir! (Sadly, I did not have my camera on me...)

So: anyway. On with the blog.

It's our wall! You can't have it!

As you can see, I have finished the latest piece for the Lost City of Ah-Pul-Sh'Napps - a piece of the city wall, complete with staircase and a piece of street.

The basic pieces are glued together: four pieces of wall; the carved, shaped and sanded staircase; and the hand-drawn street, complete with gutter...

 As with the other pieces, this is mainly green foam insribed with a pencil. There is only so much of this a man can take in a single sitting, but if you keep your eye on the end result, somehow the monotony is almost bearable.

The join in the wall is filled with gap-filler and bricks are redrawn with a pencil.

One problem this piece threw at me, which happens with all such pieces but is more apparent with such a big wall, was the clean break between the overlapping wall pieces. This had to be filled and redrawn, in order to hide as much of the join as possible.

I'm not really happy with the result - I should have taken more time over this bit. But at least it's not too bad.

The completed structure before adding clay, grit, etc. to the base.

I also cut quite a few blocks out of the corner of the wall, giving it a look of having gradually crumbled away. The ramparts are broken at this point, too. This has the added gaming advantage of preventing this piece of terrain becoming too easy to defend.

The collapsed corner. At this stage, two boulders have been carved and sanded. Clay and grit complete the landscape.

As I mentioned before, I intend to add a couple more pieces of wall to my table, but this will be by far the biggest such piece. I've almost got enough of the ruined city to keep me happy for many a game and I have other projects lurking in my troubled mind...

The first coat of paint...

I had to paint this piece twice before I was happy with it. ...Sigh... These things take time...

Big Mike pulls the Faraday Galvanic Field Gun through the Lost City.

HMSW Gargantua dwarfs the ancient ruins...

Still to come: Lancers, Scientists and Master Criminals!

And a new REALLY BIG project...Shhh! It's a secret!

The Lost City of Ah-Pul-Sh'Napps.

All the Best!