I thought I'd share a few pics of the participation game that my regular (at least before they all retired and switched to daytime gaming, whilst muggins here is still working) group Whitehall Warlords put on at Salute this year. I was responsible for the castle walls and most of the figures.
It was the biggest piece of terrain that I've put together by far, as well as a many firsts in materials and techniques which meant a big learning curve and a massive time underestimate which meant putting it together was a bit of a rush - you can see different parts improving (the half-moon battery was the last thing built and I'm actually pretty pleased with that). The walls in particular needed a once over to tidy up the DAS clay and quite a bit more work on the painting. Still overall happy with the result, may do a v2 at some point as halfway through I found a pile of excellent references (which resulted in scratch built battery in its original 16th century configuration) and a more portable base. Walls are some cheap MDF 'town wall' kits from ebay covered in DAS, gatehouses and battery are foam covered in DAS, rescuers are mostly Flags of War Border Reivers, English militia (not activated at the show) are Wargames Atlantic conquistadors, there a small number of TAG artillerymen and labourers dotted around and the English garrison troops in red and white (painted by someone else) are from Wargames Foundry.
If you don't know the story or context, in the late 16th century the border between Scotland and England was being steadily demilitarised in expectation of King James inheriting the English throne which turned an already lawless border zone into a breeding ground for corruption and banditry. One of the more prominent leaders of these border reivers was Kinmont Willie Armstrong (
https://reivers.info/kinmont-willie-life-and-grave/) whose arrest on a truce day, when those travelling to give evidence in criminal courts where supposed to be immune, caused an international incident with angry exchanges between the English and Scottish governments. Kinmont Willie's group and allies gathered together a band of 200 men to break into Carlisle Castle (
https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/eh_monographs_2014/contents.cfm?mono=1089021) where he was being held in the outer ward of the castle, in normal living quarters rather than either in the main jail in the castle keep or the dungeon beneath the outer gatehouse. Finding the walls too tall to scale with ladders a small band entered via the postern gate, probably due to inside assistance but none-the-less leaving it needing £40 of repairs after the raid. This is where the game kicks off...
22 February 2012, 09:58:57 AM