Tuesday 21 August 2012

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!


26 comments:

  1. Beautiful scratchbuild, Sir.

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  2. Why, thank you, Sir!

    And thank you for posting. Always a pleasure to hear from as many readers of this blog as possible!

    All the Best!

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  3. Another great looking model, lovely detailing. I'm definitely going to try to make a larger LP based model rather the smaller CD versions after seeing this.

    Regards,
    Matt

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    1. Thank you, Matt.

      Yes - LP sized models are a nice way to get somewhere between the flexibility of small, simple terrain pieces and the detail of large, set-piece tables. I'm quite happy with the results.

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  4. Good to see you at the tournie, and glad you popped by during the game with good friend Bryan, one of my 'calmer games' of the weekend...
    Great work Colonel. I am indeed very close to unleashing my Prussians upon you, I finished the painting of the last handful of figures, and just have varnishing and basing to do. They'll be done by the end of the week. I fished out the next little thing to add to their numbers, a cunningly fiendish Maxim Heavy Machine gun, bwaa ha ha har!

    Looking forward to skirmishing in Ah-pul Sh'napps.

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    1. Machine guns?! Piffle!

      Really looking forward to locking bayonets, Scott. In the interests of sportsmanship, I may even go easy on you...

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  5. A very good work, Colonel!
    your buildings (even if they are in ruins!) are always amazing!
    I like this one: congrats!

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    1. Thanks, Sam.

      Much bigger building projects planned for the near future...

      Glad you like!

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  6. Tremendous! Another cracking bit of terrain Sir.

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    1. Thank you as always, Michael. I aim to please!

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  7. Great work as usual, Colonel. The last photo of the whole together shows just how imposing it looks. If/when I ever get the room (Hah! A fond wish indeed...) I'll try the CD/LP/45 system for myself.

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    1. Much appreciated, A J, Old Bean!

      Just a few more bits to do for this one and then it's on with the next project...

      I've been quite happy with the CD/LP/45 system so far. I was wondering about storage, though. Perhaps if I were to gut a Wurlitzer...?

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    2. Hmm! A Wurlitzer! Don't know about gutting it, as one would add a certain something to a wargames room. I can picture you emerging from the depths, fingers flying over the keys as you play selected airs from Wagner or Tchaikovsky at full blast. No opponent's morale would survive! ;)

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    3. Very well, than! I shall set about making this a reality!

      Of course, the orchestra pit may have to go. Shame, really. It's full of dice at the moment...

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  8. Would love to see a bird's-eye view! Really great, and an extraordinary display of patience. I will try to emulate you, Sir! (Not sure if I'll be able to instill the same in my nephew though...).

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    1. Hello again, Genna!

      I'll take some birds-eye shots just as soon as the fish fingers are cooked... (bah-dum-tish!)

      Emulate me..? One shivers at the thought! Might I suggest you avoid the moustache and settle perhaps for a nice pith helmet and a glass of sherry?

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    2. Rest assured, my good friend, that my moustache is kept at bay on a regular basis! And how did you know about my sartorial proclivities and drinking habits? You just forgot about the monocle and the odd cigar, on a Sunday, however.

      Hope your fish fingers are ready soon and you can skewer them on the end of your sword.

      Kindest regards.

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    3. Sartorial proclivities?! Are you taking the pith, madam?

      Kindest regards back atcha...

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    4. Certainly not Dear Sir! I merely intended to issue you with a pithy response. I fear I am no simple damsel and my discourse tends to err on the pompous. Indeed, you really should take pithy...

      However, "back atcha" is a linguistic contortion hardly befitting a fellow of your rank I should have thought?

      The sentiment is appreciated, all the same!

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    5. My goodness, Madam! Why doI suddenly feel like I have been bludgeoned with the Concise Oxford Dictionary?

      I know I'm asking for trouble whenever I lapse into Americanisms and base colloquialims on this newfangled blog thingumajig. My only defence is that I have spent so much time in the Colonies that my grasp of Her Majesty's English may be slipping...

      My apologies to all you rightly patriotic citizens of Empire...

      Oh well, as we used to say in South Yorkshire, "Ey up, miss. C'est la vie, n'est pas?"

      Tally ho and toodle pip!

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    6. Well I am concise. And from Oxford. And possibly a little heavy. What can one say? Maybe that is my weapon of mass delusion? :)

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    7. Oh, my! The model-making possibilities...

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  9. Superb work Sir.
    The very large Chch lad you were dousing yourselves in alchohol with was our newest recruit to the Southern Strategists, Chris Parker. A thorough going, proper chap much like ourselves but we've had to have the bally door jambs raised in the billiard room to accommodate him.

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    1. Thank you, Sir!

      Yes - Chris proved to be both great company to drink with and a particularly fine draught-excluder! I found myself wondering if his ears were colder than mine...

      Raising the door-jambs, eh? Probably more effective than my plan to lower the floor...

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  10. Inspirational construction, well done!

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    1. Thank you! Always happy to inspire - even if I can't pronounce your name...

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