25. ONCE MORE INTO THE BREACH
Sometimes the universe arranges things the way a screenwriter like myself might. Case in point: while I was pondering the nagging problem of how to paint the DAMAGED RUBBLE portion of the BREACHED WALL in a satisfactory manner, I received a book I’d ordered some time earlier on eBay: Ian Weekley’s “BUILDINGS FOR THE MILITARY MODELLER” published in 1989.
As most reading this blog will already know, Ian Weekley was a giant of the wargaming world. He was the first person I know of who became known throughout the hobby for designing and building diorama quality terrain pieces — especially castles, forts, and various other buildings — specifically for use in tabletop wargames. Amongst his many fantastic designs was the Vauban fortress I’d been building for the past couple months when the book arrived. I’m happy to report it was in excellent condition, just as described by the seller on eBay:
Imagine my happy surprise when I turned a page towards the end of the book and discovered FOUR PHOTOS of IDENTICAL VAUBAN FORT component pieces…
That was exciting for me to see! Sadly the pics were B&W not color, but the much darker walls and contrasting lighter cornerstones show Ian Weekley’s original paint-job was at least somewhat similar to mine, though the walls might have just been a darker shade of grey.
Looking more at the photo of the damaged wall section, I was finally able to ID what some of the shapes in the rubble area were meant to be, such as an intact large oblong stone from the rampart that had collapsed.
The more I studied the photos and the actual breached wall section, the more I began to realize that the problem I’d been having was not so much about the various paint schemes I’d been trying out, as it was about the form of the rubble area itself. The more I compared the photos from 1989 to the model on my table, the more I became convinced that the mold it was made from had been worn down by years of use, which had turned the rubble area less distinct to the point of being a bit of a muddle.
Then it hit me: I could deal with this problem head-on, by adding some more distinct shapes of my own. After all, the wall had been built from lots of bricks and/or cut stones. In roughly 28mm scale, those would not be hard to find!
So I went to my local hobby shop, got some, and went to work…
Further study of the few Vauban pics in the book revealed the front corners of the bastions also had been severely worn down, and were originally designed with crisp and clean rows of stone. This convinced me paint over the red front corners with the four colors of Delta Ceramcoat paint I used for all the stonework: (1) RAIN GREY (2) MUDSTONE (3) QUAKER GREY (4) SANDSTONE…
Then it was time for…
ONE LAST WEATHERING WASH…
I used the original darker recipe for the breached section, since I figured the damage done by artillery or mine and its smoke and ash residue merited it…
FINALLY! I’m glad to say I was happy with how the breached wall turned out.
26. SPRAY SEALING
All that was left to do was SPRAY SEAL all the parts of the model, to help protect it from wear-&-tear during future use. I happened to have a unopened — though far from new — can of “Matte Sealer” bought from THE ARMORY back in the day, almost a decade ago. Luckily there is no expiration date on this stuff…
Maybe more than a decade ago, as it seems this can was priced at $5.95 in February 2006…
And so the 2-months-long saga of painting my friend’s Vauban Fortress comes to an end. All that’s left is to pack it all up safe & sound in 2 or 3 boxes and hope and pray it reaches its destination on time and intact…
BUT WAIT — HOLD THE POSTAL PRESSES, and shipping containers. I can’t send this thing away without at least taking a few more photos of the finished fortress in all its Age of Enlightenment glory! In addition to my old school Old Glory F&IW armies, over the last couple of years I have gathered a small collection of AWI figures, who now came in very handy…
27. SCENIC VIEWS
A Roger’s Ranger canoeing past an Ancient Regime fortress in New France…
2 of my 3 SYW officers face off across the BREECHED WALL SECTION, which I finally felt good about…
AWI Queen’s Rangers march through the gates…
Redcoats line the ramparts…
Royal Artillery guns & crews atop the Ravelin…
Action in the breach…
(please don’t ask why the Hessians are
attacking their British paymasters!)
Queen’s Rangers line siege-works outside the fort…
Now the action shifts to Florida…
Complete with Spanish style clay tile rooftops…
(courtesy of my 1863 Mexico terrain collection)
And palm trees…
There will be more — many more — blue sky chocolate box type pics (AKA: wargames porn) featuring this fort and various troops and terrain before I box it up and send it to the Great White North AKA: Canukistan, wherein lies its future home. In fact, my friend has been kind enough to grant me leave to keep it on hand long enough to have at least one big c.18th siege game using it as the centerpiece. I’m in the midst of trying to create a scenario and organize that game as I write this post, and I’m confident it will come to pass. Needless to say, if and when it does, I will post all about here. Until then, I hope you’ve enjoyed the Vauban interlude here at Maiwand Day!