Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Pikes, Muskets and Flouncy Shirts => Topic started by: DonVoss on March 01, 2022, 11:46:12 AM
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I took a short vacation to Malta over New Year.
Its a fantastic place... like a big museum. A big barroque fortress with good food and very nice people.
Our hotel was right in the heart of Valetta. Just a few steps from the harbour and all the cool places...
(https://i.imgur.com/YKvdnJEl.jpg)
Due to covid and other restrictions and limitations not all cool paces for wargamers are open.
But you can still see a few things... ;)
Like parts of the amoury.
(https://i.imgur.com/s4hb4Ndl.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/0wLdcXEl.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/hWgezOGl.jpg)
I told my wife I had to do something maltese on the warmaning table... so we visited the local wargaming shop: Forbidden Power.... :)
Very friendly people there.
(https://i.imgur.com/7KX4MKJl.jpg)
And although more on the GW-side of things I found a few boxes for the Siege of Malta:
(https://i.imgur.com/gK86UGIl.jpg)
So I made a few sketches of a small amphibious scenario for an assault on a fortress.
(https://i.imgur.com/WkvyVE6l.jpg)
Right after my short trip back in Germany I went to my local railway store.
And bought some walls.
(https://i.imgur.com/B9pwkTwl.jpg)
And strated cutting a few sections of a fortress.... :)
(https://i.imgur.com/9VSGTWTl.jpg)
And glued them together...
(https://i.imgur.com/Ul3H0WAl.jpg)
I will add more pics soon....:)
Stay tuned.
Cheers,
Don
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Looking forward to this 8)
Can I ask some more details on the wall sheets you bought (a picture of the label would be great)?
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Will be watching this with interest
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Very cool. Both the trip and you being straight into a project from it!
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I visited a little over 10 years ago and it was wonderful, a unique island with a unique flavour. I'd read 'The Great Siege 1565' before going and it was like a Hollywood movie.
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We went on our honeymoon, 25 years ago!
Yes a lovely place & the people very friendly.
My father had been stationed there in WW2.
He was taken POW during operation Husky,
the landings in Sicily 1943.
Lots of wargaming opportunities:-
The Great Siege (I had avoided this, but was given some
very nice Ottoman figures, so...)
WW2 (In the faction book 'The Moscow Option' the German
high command, Hitler being in a coma,
invade in strength) The group I play with are going to
do Husky, so...close enough.
Napoleonic. This one does appeal to me. The French held it
for a while against a background of rising resistance.
While on Malta I picked up a (very small) ornament
of a traditional Maltese Farm-House. Upscale it to
28mm, add some Frenchies with Maltese bandits/
rebels, & maybe even a Royal Navy raiding party?
An interesting skirmish game. With the rise of
Silver Bayonets one could add the supernatural too.
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Looking forward to this also :D
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Looking forward to this also :D
+1
Another Don Voss project is always a treat 8)
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I have a feeling I am going to like this.
What a great-looking museum.
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Ace project - looking forward to this.
Your first photo was almost the view form my old office (I was down in the waterfront vaults) and Forbidden Power was my local store. Great memories :)
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An exciting start to the new project 👍.
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Thank you gentlemen...;)
@Wall Sheets
They are from Faller, HO scale. Hope that heps a little.
Here are e few more pics of the process.
the plan was to build two walls and a bastion from a star fortress.
I had no particular part of malta/Valetta in mind. I aimed more at a general malta-feeling.... ;)
(https://i.imgur.com/wGFXOzKl.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/xvmyJGQl.jpg)
I bought an Deep Cut mat a few month back. So I thought it would be a good idea to use it for the scenario.... :)
(https://i.imgur.com/w7jkPO4l.jpg)
Then I started to scatter a few rocks and pices on the ground.
(https://i.imgur.com/D9JfY9Ol.jpg)
And I made a breech for the walls, wich I could place depending on the scenario.
(https://i.imgur.com/yLSV2Njl.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/IrzH8AUl.jpg)
At the same time I stared with the miniatures.
The wars of religion regoment is a very cool box full of very good Hicks models. But more suited for a normal land encouter battle with pikes an a few shot. And for a skirmish game there are too few poses.
I started to convert the minis... giving them shields and sword and pole arms.
(https://i.imgur.com/oDjsZn2l.jpg)
Stay tuned... :)
Cheers,
Don
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A great start to the project. I do like the fortress, particularly the Vauban shaped bastion. :-* :-* :-*
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I had no particular part of malta/Valetta in mind. I aimed more at a general malta-feeling.... ;)
I think that's a smart move and you're certainly nailing that. It was all rebuilt after the siege of course so what we see today isn't the same as what it was, so I think you're bang on in doing a star fort thingy.
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Great stuff 8)
@Wall Sheets
They are from Faller, HO scale. Hope that heps a little.
Yes, that's fine thank you :)
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That is a good start, hope to see a close-up on the gatehouse. Liking the miniature conversions and shields to no doubt match those in the museum.
What mat or sheet is the water that can be seen in some of the images as looks rather effective?
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Hi there,
I happened to be in contact with Don when he started the project. I asked if I could paticipate and he called me in. So I took the job to build some houses for behind the great walls. Here's the start of that work:
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/53/5257-110122062314-539391095.jpeg)
The houses are made to look like "old" Valetta style town houses.
Cheers
GS
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Some great work there.
Thanks for sharing.
When you consider that there are around 25kms of fortifications here on an island that is some 27kms in length you start to appreciate the majestic scale of what the knights built. Imagine the size of a model of these in 6mm let alone in 25mm.
Luckily quite a number of them have been or are being restored but there's still much more to do, especially when you have also a substantial number of prehistoric temples etc.
There is a very good reference book called " Fortifications of the Knights of St.John" which came out locally in 2001 which has
a lot of reference material.
Z
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Hey...
I wanted to do this same exact project. I decided to go 15mm and the miniatures are arriving this month.
It is a great start and I look forward to this.
Thank you
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Fantastic project! I have this on my bucket list so I will follow your progress with great interest. Thanks for sharing!
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That looks cool - I am familiar with those railway sheets, they are brilliant.
Valletta would not have been there in the siege, as work on it was started one year after the end of the siege, but the generic approach is perfect of coarse. The breach could be the one actually made at what could have been the most dramatic instances of the siege, at Birgu.
I haven't been at Forbidden Power in years.... shame on me!
Superb job, I am looking forward to seeing more.
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Thanx for your kind replies... ;)
@Zrunelord
Yes... it was a wonderfull little trip. Wonderfull weather with lots of sun, but not too hot.
And it was really cool, that every one speaks english. Always a little difficult in sicily or sardinia.... ;)
Over the new year everything was very relaxed and pleasant.
@Vanvlak
Yes. The wargame I palned was a mixture from the amphibious attack on senglea, with a little Birgu fighting sprinkeld in and some generic feeling of St. Elmo.
And a special thank you to GS, my dear Bremer friend.... :)
I was sitting in Malta in the sun and wondering (over a good Aperol Spritz) how I could finish this little project in the shortest time. To get it done in one month... play-ready for Tactica in Hamburg.
(https://i.imgur.com/ngGFjFZl.jpg)
...after a short calculation I thought: pretty impossible without help. So I called GS... :)
(https://i.imgur.com/f5ehcxPl.jpg)
Back in Germany I started to splassh some paint on the Hicks Minis. But I couldnt find any suitable minis for the knights of Malta.
So back to the scratch building table...
(https://i.imgur.com/ZsySsEgl.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/Oc518oHl.jpg)
And I started building or frankenstein some boats. Not the best work... :)
(https://i.imgur.com/iwO0fVVl.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/Gm7q61al.jpg)
Btw the sea mat is from Deep Cut studios.... ;)
(https://i.imgur.com/57sCUX3l.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/GkxO3X8l.jpg)
And then I painted some more minis... :)
(https://i.imgur.com/kElRFjVl.jpg)
Cheers,
Don
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Yes... it was a wonderfull little trip. Wonderfull weather with lots of sun, but not too hot.
I made the mistake of going in July - it was 40C at times!
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Wow! Things are moving fast!
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Fabulous progress- love the painted troops, and the terrain is looking good too.
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Great work, keep posting nice pictures. :)
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As Don Voss had come to me for a sort of "commission job" I had to keep up to his allmost unnatural speed.
As I was in covid quarantine I had the time and solitary space to put some effort into the job. In two or three days work some houses began to take shape:
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/54/5257-210122174755-540442147.jpeg)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/54/5257-210122174755-540451664.jpeg)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/54/5257-210122174755-54046790.jpeg)
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Your project is brilliant!
The Siege of Malta is fascinating and one of my favored conflicts. It was very interesting to visit Malta in person and see places I had only previously read about. There is a real gap in the market for a good Siege of Malta movie or better yet tv series.
Great to see the project progressing so well!
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Wonderful project with some fantastic paint jobs.
I’ve yet to visit Malta, but did the next best thing - I married a Maltese!
Still married after 36 years, so I obviously chose well. :D
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Cracking work gents 8)
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I made the mistake of going in July - it was 40C at times!
We do archaeology fieldwork in July here... ;D
Superb work, I love this project.
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Very impressive!!!
Terry
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Love those conversions of the Hicks figures very clever.
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Thank you very much for your kind comments.
It took me one more week to get some paint on the walls and rocks.
(https://i.imgur.com/SrDoykSl.jpg)
I tried different shades of ockre and yellow. Finished with some thin brown paint.
(https://i.imgur.com/H1n1zM2l.jpg)
I sprinkled a little bit of static gras on the rocks. Just to get a little more colour in... ;)
(https://i.imgur.com/nxSu4oBl.jpg)
Cheers,
Don
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Superb 8)
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it certainly DOES look like the limestone here. 8) 8) 8)
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Looks terrific :-*
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:o
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You've done a great job of converting those Warlord Wars of Religion figures. I've always thought it was a shame that Warlord hasn't expanded the range more, after it acquired it from Arsenal Miniatures.
As an aside, I once acted for a syndicate of largely Italian banks making a loan available to Fiat. At lunch, after the signing in Frankfurt, the banker sitting next to me told me that he was a descendant of Antonio Bragadin who led the resistance to the siege of Famagusta in 1570/1 and who was subsequently tortured to death by the Ottomans.
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Splendid job. The rocky coast and walls look wonderful :-*
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Great work!
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Wow! great work! :-* :-* :-*
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Lovely work, bravo.
The rocky seashore really fitted in well with the rest.
this webpage should interest all ..
https://weaponsandwarfare.com/2018/11/19/fort-st-elmo-1565-part-i/ (https://weaponsandwarfare.com/2018/11/19/fort-st-elmo-1565-part-i/)
Z
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Thanx getns... ;)
Here are a few pics I made for the scenario design.
The game was intended for 3 attackers and two defenders.
(https://i.imgur.com/lYt06xDl.jpg)
Scratchbuilded 10 ladders the night before... ;)
(https://i.imgur.com/v01eNcYl.jpg)
The town (Birgu) looked pretty empty without GSs houses at this point.And I hoped that his buildings would match in colour an size.
(https://i.imgur.com/hbzgiMul.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/lhrNOsjl.jpg)
In one corner of the gaming bord I added a small landzone with some cannons.
(https://i.imgur.com/CnGoLBrl.jpg)
At this point the presentation game was pretty done. But Tactica was cancaeld... Oh No!
(https://i.imgur.com/wrGKTOrl.jpg)
So I added a few bits and pieces.
The cannon balls should be of stone, but I feared that the players would mistake them for round stones.
Still unsure if I should paint them in stone anyway...
(https://i.imgur.com/IamXT6Kl.jpg)
And I was in dire need for more cannon crew... :)
Scratchbuilded from Gripping Beast plastic muslims and folk rabble arms from Fire Forge.
(https://i.imgur.com/lBnvD6ol.jpg)
Converted more Maltese defenders.
(https://i.imgur.com/ewfOVJwl.jpg)
And added a few flags.
It should be easier for the players to identify their troops.
(https://i.imgur.com/7bMG7Cdl.jpg)
I hope you like the additions.... :)
Cheers,
Don
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(https://media.tenor.co/images/2a5662a25de3a724f5ac08965d275233/raw)
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Wonderful stuff :-*
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This is a great looking project! Each update is better than the last, which is saying something!
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Really tremendous.
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Thank you very much... ;)
Here is the last batch of pics.
I painted a few more defenders. Some of them lightly armoured for the christian sailors.
Mostly Wargames Atlantic Irish.
I will need some more in the future...
(https://i.imgur.com/CotvcN9l.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/TKTuyG1l.jpg)
A few years ago I bought some Eureka conquistadores cavalry. I had 3 or 4 already paited and it was now a good time to add the last minis to the bunch.
Really great looking models... :)
(https://i.imgur.com/jIx7o0zl.jpg)
The ottomans got a few more Jannissairies too.... :)
(https://i.imgur.com/yffqFSYl.jpg)
And then after 6 weeks of preparation and painting I invited 6 friends for a big game.
Among them GS from Bremen.
(https://i.imgur.com/d1xhlszl.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/EvxpwbXl.jpg)
Here you see GS houses wich fitted really well.
Great work my friend... ;)
(https://i.imgur.com/liCB6gNl.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/njRD8V9l.jpg)
The scenario pitted 3 defenders aginst 4 attackers.
(https://i.imgur.com/1g6D0Hzl.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/lIRS0vYl.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/HfqdHWMl.jpg)
The game saw some good fights for the walls.
A lot of ladder climbing and ssword fights.
(https://i.imgur.com/CVqRBhQl.jpg)
But the attackers were beaten back time after time.
(https://i.imgur.com/hMY3zYMl.jpg)
But after the attackers shot a breach in one of the big walls, the tide could no longer be stopped...
(https://i.imgur.com/SDIHblvl.jpg)
...and the ottomans and pirates won the day.
(https://i.imgur.com/bDysHKpl.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/qhoxLK6l.jpg)
Round about 6 weeks from start to the first big game. Not too bad.
Luckily I had the support of GS who supported most of he pirates and the town houses.
Cheers,
Don
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Brilliant effort.
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Looks like it was great fun!
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Dragut must be pleased...
Lovely setup & pics.
Z
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Awesome! :-* :-* :-*
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Well, that is impressive progress - what a marvelous-looking game...
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Amazing
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Wonderful and inspiring.
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Magnificent!
The overall colours just make it look Mediterranean !
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Wow 🤩! That looks absolutely brilliant! Stunning scenery and the game looks fabulous. Love it.
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What rules did you use? I did I miss that...
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Amazing project. Great painting, superb scratchbuilding and all round loveliness. :o :o :-* :-* :-* :-*
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Absolutely marvellous. Tremendous terrain and figures.
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Top notch.
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top class terrain and figures !
Brian
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Lovely as always :-*
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Really love the Vauban fort.
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Stunning work :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-*
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Excellent...simply stunning :-* :-* :-* :-*
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Great setup, excellent terrain and miniatures. Top notch!
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What a superb looking game!
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Wonderful set up, captures the spirt of the siege perfectly :-* :-* :-*
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Absolutely delightful project. I especially like that you created an insert of destroyed wall.
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Absolutely impressive!
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Wonderful stuff - well done Sir
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What a lovely bit of modelling!
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Superb work! I especially love all the small details you added through scratchbuilding to the miniatures and the impressive terrain piece.
And Tactica apparently now takes place in autumn, hope all goes well! I am certain you will attract quite a lot of attraction with a piece like that. :)
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So what is the next project?
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Beautiful and inspiring!
I can recommend the historical novel "The Religion" by Tim Willocks, mostly set during the great siege which is decribed in great detail. It is the most chilling and visceral book in the genre I've ever read by far, but I really liked it.
I remember a sea assault chapter just as your gaming board, but in the book the attackers boats are blown apart by artillery 😀.
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Many thanks!
I remember a sea assault chapter just as your gaming board, but in the book the attackers boats are blown apart by artillery 😀.
I can imagine that. But that wouldn't have made an interesting game, would it?
;)
Cheers!
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MM, thanks for the book recommendation. I have a copy on order from Amazon.
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Totally in love with your project! Need ottomans!
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I've not seen this project before. A great concept very nicely done. Bravo!
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Splendid execution of a wonderful idea. I find Malta inspiring on every visit. Well done DonVoss this is truly excellent.
Guilty secret: This thread made me remember the 75% finished Tarxien inspired temple I started 20 years ago which is still languishing in the attic!
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This project is so inspiring. I have to get on with my own Malta efforts. Would you mind sharing the dimensions of the base board? You have really managed to get all aspects of the siege onto the board :-* :-* :-*
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Can’t believe I missed the last set of photos :?
Everything looks superb. I love it 8)
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Not one of my periods but this is absolutely phenomenal!
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Just a quick reminder:
The scenario will be at the Hamburger Tactica next weekend!
Hope to see many of you! Just drop a word that you're one of the forum members, please!
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Very impressive build and fantastic painting.
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Hope to see photos and an AAR.
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What an incredible build! And I echo everyone else's praise of Malta as a vacation destination. SOOO much history from all periods there! :-*
Mike Demana