Reinforcements

Four Teutonic Halbebruder Sergeant-at-arms have been completed and eight additional Teutonic crossbowmen. These figures, along with fifteen cavalry were ordered to bolster my existing, meager Teutonic force, which was sorely lacking in man power. The cavalry are underway but may take some time as they are not an immediate priority. Also finished is the first of my baggage elements.

Olegs fortress project WIP 3

The following is Oleg's own description of how he built the tower:

The tower is made of (mostly) interchangeable sections, with 2 alternative tops and 2 bases.

Construction is of 3 mm birch plywood for bases, cardboard / cardboard tubing for most other structure, a little expanded polystyrene, cork for stonework (the hacked up sanding blocks look better than place mats, but the place mats were quicker), scored cellulose (from mushroom boxes) for windows, and card (from cereal packets) for tiles.
… And lots of waterproof wood glue.

I washed stonework with various mixes of runny polyfilla and sand, wood glue and detergent (to penetrate into cracks better).
Painting was with spray on undercoat under cheap Chinese acrylics. I generally paint blocks of colour and wash very thin black + burnt umbar over it all at the end.
I want to print some painted designs to glue onto the shutters.
The whole lot will get varnished to preserve the surface as much as possible.

Each level is approximately 53-55 mm high.
The main tower sections are 110-120 mm in diameter.
There are 3 'steps' within each level, to represent stairways.
Doorways can be blocked with little 'stone' plugs.

I will probably make a 3 figure wide dedicated gatehouse, probably in 3 levels.
I might make an 'earthen' mound as well.
More 2-3 section high wall sections (basically wooden blocks) are on the way.

Olegs fortress project WIP 2

Edited to update picture, 19th March. 2010.

Olegs fortress project WIP

This is the current state of Oleg's segmented fortification project. As you can see, its quite extensive with multiple layers that can be moved into a number of different configerations. The tower segments fit with my original Takshendal city wall segments so a potential fortification can be quite extensive. The model is made of cardboard and cork. No colour scheme has been been decided, but a generic look is favoured. This model will almost certainly be featured in future games!

The State of the Order

The figures required to build my Teutonic contingent up to its desired size were ordered from Black Tree Design on 30' Sept.

These included;
15 cavalry in padded leather armour and kettle helmets.
8 crossbowmen in padded leather armour and kettle helmets.
4 swordsmen in padded leather armour and kettle helmets.

On Wednesday (25'Nov) 16 cavalry riders arrived, without horses. This is some what disapointing, but is (apparently) due to BTD having fallen behind in their stocks and new casts are pending. When these will arrive is any ones guess.

In the mean time, I have acquired wagon drivers for my baggage units, which will feature in some games, and I'm considering these hand gunners, plus some period artillery from Front Rank.

Apart from figures, I have also ordered two books for research. The first book I ordered (11Oct) was 'The Teutonic Knights: A Military History' by William Urban. It has yet to arrive as "there is a delay obtaining stock".

The second book I ordered was Osprey's Teutonic Knight, which has arrived and seems very good (as yet unread). I will almost certainly be buying more Osprey books in the new year.

The other Osprey titles I have my eye on are;

MAA 155 Knights of Christ
MAA 160 German Medieval Armies 1300–1500
MAA 310 German Medieval Armies 1000–1300
MAA 333 Armies of Medieval Russia 750–1250
MAA 367 Medieval Russian Armies 1250–1500
MAA 396 Medieval Scandinavian Armies I 1100–1300
MAA 399 Medieval Scandinavian Armies II 1300–1500
MAA409 the Hussite Wars 1419 -36
MAA436 The Scandinavian Baltic Crusades 1100–1500
MAA445 Medieval Polish Armies 966–1500
FOR11 Crusader castles of the Teutonic Knights I - The red-brick castles of Prussia 1230–1466
FOR19 Crusader castles of the Teutonic Knights II - The stone castles of Latvia and Estonia 1185–1560
CAM122 Tannenberg 1410 - Disaster for the Teutonic Knights

Naturally there are other Osprey books I'd like from the same period, but they don't have any direct connection to this campaign.

To build or not to build?

As usual my greedy ambition is getting the better of me and I am debating with myself the merits of building a small Teutonic castle. I am particularly inspired by this image of a tower with its white washed stone masonry and pyramid roof. I envison a single model, with a courtyard, stables, a main building with tower and a gate house. In my head I can fit the whole thing on a 50x60cm base

Its a question of pro's and cons. Do I have the space to store such a gargantuan model? No. Do I have the time to build it? Depends on how soon I want to use it I suppose, but probably not. Will I use it often enough once I have built it? Almost certainly not, there are only so many times such a model can be used without it becomes a cliché.

The only viable alternative might be modular castle elements, but I've been down that path before and I stagnated, though that could be because I grew better at building models and I grew impatient with the clumsiness of my previous attempts (not an exageration).

What ever the case may be, skirmish fighting in the countryside and ransacking farms has only so much scope... I have to think of new possibilities if I want this campign to be something different to my previous endeavours. Perhaps modular is the way to go, only this time, plan it better and don't use great big blocks of wood when card and cork give the chance for more space within?

A modular castle will still take up room however, and take a long time to build... decisions, decisions.