Siege #1

 Warhammer Siege #1

    I talked about it a bit in my inaugural post, but Warhammer Siege is a huge inspiration for me and I would love to start running my own games using my own custom castle. (Not that the OG Mighty Fortress isn't cool AF)

    Having, just this weekend, partaken in the sacrament of old school wargaming that is 3-D Roleplay Con IV (pictures and thoughts incoming?) I am revitalizing this project and finishing up the gribbly odds and ends. Here are some WIP pics from the inspirational aftermath of last years 3DRCon.

    Byron Harmon had built a set of walls for his Siege game at the con, which is where I got the actual nuts and bolts build ideas. I used balsa wood, which is incredibly cheap and shaved off the edges at an angle, to create a bit more interesting 'texture' for the planks. Since it's a chaos castle, I wasn't too worried about it looking uniform or neat so I could hack and chop and hot glue pieces together without worrying too much about the aesthetic symmetry.

    I currently have the gatehouse, two walls and two tower sections built. I don't currently have plans to build a full square castle but as I'm typing this it sounds like a really good idea...

The Build

    Putting together this castle was SO cathartic. It felt like building with legos. I simply cut an initial plank piece for a wall and then used that as a guide for the rest of the pieces. For the base I decided to use pink foam (I don't know what it's called but you can get a 2'x2' thats 1" thick from home depot). It's cheap and easily malleable!

    It's aliiiive!

    The gate was a bit that I had found in my LGS bits bin, and was perfect for a door. I think it came from a giant khorne tank man thing. I'm not sure what the name is and I can't be bothered to google it. Sorry. I hacked it into a roughly door like shape and then just sawed down the middle. Luckily there was a plastic crease already there and I was able to get a fairly decent cut. The posts (which are hollow) came from a dismantled fancy (broken) clock that I purchased from a thrift store. Getting the gate to actually be able to open was weirdly important for me, I typically gloss over details like that. I had some plasticard tubes that fit perfectly snug inside the posts so I hotglued a small section of plasticard tube to the XPS foam and then just slid the posts on top once it had dried thoroughly.

Unclean Gate of the Technological Horrors of Khornate Fiends

Open Sesame!

    Towers and gantries both have different rules in Warhammer: Siege so I wanted to make sure I incorporated as many of both as I could. I especially wanted to have a section directly above the gate, since there are multiple rules for various deadly projectiles (rocks, boiling

oil, troll vomit...)

    I used the same measurement for the second level as I had used for the first level. Troops can move between the levels so I made sure to make little holes to act as ladder entry points. 

    

    

    The walls were really easy and, again, play an important part in the rules. I will be making these walls into large wall sections that can house twice as many troops as are normally allowed, which will also give the players the options of having multiple 'large' troop types manning the walls. Not pictured here, but I ended up adding a cross beam to cover the seams where the wall planks and jagged planks connect, and drilled holes and added half of a tooth pick as added defense. Maybe I'll make some custom rules for murder spikes, can't just be throwing ladders up willy nilly and have a jolly stroll up to the top!

Where the Build Currently Stands (kind of)

    So this is the final layout of the parts I've completed. I mentioned above adding crossbeams to cover where there is a seam on the walls, I also went back and did the same for the rest of the structure. I have a weirdly sized home board that this will fit on width ways. I had originally planned to use my home board to try the castle out. The board is also slightly longer than it is wide so there will be some room for the attackers to maneuver as they approach the castle (and offer the defenders plenty of time to lob mortars, bazukas and arrows!)

Where I want to go next!

    Right now the plan is to finalize some small details. Other than small adjustments like chains, corpses, battle damage, shields and banners. The towers need trapdoors, non-negotiable. The gate needs some work on the inside; more planks or just the trusty rusty super glue and dirt. I need to add basing materials, which will be my newly tried and true liquid nails plus sand with watered down wood glue slathered on top. This presents a problem with the front gate (again) and I'll need to chisel some of the foam out from underneath so the gate will still be able to open once I put down the layers of liquid nails and sand. Lastly I'm going to need to craft some suitable stairs leading up to the castle, ideally 20-30mm steps so models can stand on the steps and not suffer from wobbly-model-syndrome. 

We like our models nice and erect.

hope ya dig, 

cheers and be good to eachother