Japanese Castle / Fortress Build

[odd duck]

Stunning work it looks great!!

[manic _miner]

 I did notice that it was for 15mm.Great work all round on this project.I too have some Two Dragons samurai which need painting up.The Perry stuff just looks so much better that the smaller scale miniatures.

 Projects for when I get older I suppose  .

[Vonkluge]

Yes Manic I am this close >< to picking up some of the Perry Samurai but knowing me it will lead to bigger addictions....The main reason for 15mm is that is best for doing the scale of battles we are doing. I found that if you want to play "big army" battles with Samurai you are a "nich in a nich in a nich" in other words very hard to find an opponent! So this means you need TWO armies!! and at 300 plus figures per army 28mm is out of the question! I paint to a fairly high standard and the thought of the time it would take to do this in 28mm makes me shudder.... but it would look good...? LoL! It has take n me years to get both armies to the point they are now as I work on it in-between other projects. Here is a picture of the two armies, 300 + figs each and 800 points each in BAW rules. I'm eventually going to have 3 armies as I want to do a "monk" army.



These are 15mm, picture enlarged 50 percent.

[marianas_gamer]

Very nice, really like the bridges.
LB

[MadMö]

A) Stunned by the painted miniatures in 15mm!
B) Great castle. Thanks for sharing.

[Vonkluge]

Ok more updates!

We are now getting to the fun part for me and that’s the little details! Since this is “Wargame Terrain” and required to travel much of it is built with distinct build lines and looks much cleaner than in real life. Once the whole thing is finished I will go back and “blur” some of this with terrain material, dirt, rocks, grass, etc. For now I’m just building and balancing the pieces.

I needed 3 towers for the “game” as in the rules the defender gets 3 garrisoned towers. The resin building had two possible, the one corner and the gate pieces. I wanted some wooden towers common to these fortresses. These two are a close match to several know towers. I have not put in “stairs” for two reasons, one it would just complicate the build to no real purpose and clutter the clean simplicity of the tower, typical Japanese. The other reason is that some towers used ladders that could be pulled up or taken away leaving the defenders to fight and die!






This is a inexpensive but valuable tool for cutting small stock. Mine is made by xacto company and comes with the fine tooth saw in two sizes. Great for framing windows as it has pre set 45’s for right and left cuts.



I also added signal bells to both towers. Signal bells would be used a various locations along with horns, drums, and other devices to instantly sound out a warning and have all hearing it know what area the signal was from. The bells are real brass and available from many craft stores in the bracelet/bead area. Here are the finished towers.





The towers in place. I put the second tower on the now unused stone base from the earlier build of the castle front. It worked perfect and looks good.



Some “Takeda” Ashigaru arquebusiers take aim from their tower! The roofs are made to pop off with a bit of pressure to allow figures in and out.



I saved these pieces (the bridge and tori gate) from a “bonsai tree set” for 20 years in the parts bin! They will now be part of a small “lords garden” inside the Fortress. As Chick Lewis says "You don’t build games you build Dioramas!" Yep it’s a miniatures game not a board game and the more I put down on the table the better the player’s experience! The tree is a first quick attempt to do a “Willow” tree, not too good but I have figured it out and the next ones will be better. For those of you with good eyes can you find the “easter egg” of my next piece in this project?



I have 3 weeks left on this until it goes to the Labor day convention in Anaheim California at the Marriott across from Disneyland. Labor day Sept, 2-5, check it out at http://socalsmackdown.com

[manic _miner]

 Looking really good.The towers are a very nice addition.Looks like lots of ladders to make for the attackers.The willow lools good just a few more branches needed I think.

[Vonkluge]

Yep I built the willow trees really fast and did the from existing tree trunks. The next willows will have double or more branches.

Yes the "Easter egg" is the ladders I will be building for "makers" to indicate "Breached" wall sections.

My workbench clean!


My Workbench during a project.


 By the way the rest of the "shop" is 25'x20' so you all can eat your hearts out! but of course most of it is taken up by a huge pile of unpainted lead!

Bill

[JollyBob]

Really a very impressive project, and such a high standard of painting on everything too.  The little details like the trees and bridges really make this something special.

I'm always envious of the space other people have to play and build in, and the ease with which they seem to have access to table saws and the like.

My 6x3 corner of the loft is really not up to the job. 

[Vonkluge]

Yes I consider myself lucky to have this but I also work to get it. I am really amazed at what others do given far less to work wit than I! My major problem is time....that I seem to have little of...or to little for the scope of my ideas!

[manic _miner]

 Great work space before and after shots  .

 It does make people jealous when they see set-ups like yours.I need to clear the garage out and have that as my space.

 Looking forward to more updates to this project.

[Heldrak]

The whole project is jaw-droppingly impressive... 

[nash]

WoW!!! This is great work. I decided to dig out the one I been working on.
Thanks for the inspiration!
BTW: How do you make the roof for the wall?

[Skratch]

Nice work, That si going to be one impressive gaming table!