Bastion failure #1

 I keep saying that I intend to make some bastions to turn my town walls into a Vauban fortress. 

What I really mean is that I want to make something that gives a least some of the look and feel of a Vauban(ish) fortress whilst having the footprint appropriate for 20mm figures on a 1.5m x 2.5m table. This is a task that is so far proving beyond my design skills. 

On a more positive note, I have produced some wall segments that connect at other than 90 degrees.

I've also finished painting the forty or so Ancient Britons that I started several months ago. Hooray.

Napoleonic Siege Artillery, a modest recrudescence

 "We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done."

 - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

It's a good job that there is no form of audit for wargaming blogs, because the overall ratio of things promised to things delivered would probably shame even the current prime minister. I thought that I had avoided this trap in a recent post when I blithely said that nobody made any 20mm Napoleonic siege artillery and therefore I wasn't going to do anything further on the subject. No sooner had I written it than something began to bug me. Somewhere in my subconscious a distant memory was trying to rise to the surface. It has eventually done so and has led me to to Rod's Wargaming Website. Firstly, if anyone is unfamiliar with that blog you need to start by reading the 'About' page; quite a story. Anyway, the specific post that I had remembered reading was this one. So, a reverse ferret it is, and I think I shall take a look at what can be done after all.

The first step is to consult this book:

And this book:

PotCIpouri

"Whatever they do, I won't deplore, or even preach a lesson" - Charles Perrault, Sleeping Beauty

There is still nothing much happening here, except for mince pies and lots of them. Some progress, though slow, is being made on painting the castle. 

It must be nearly finished, as Rapunzle has taken up residence.

Or perhaps it's Sleeping Beauty, who has woken up already because it's all taking so very, very long. 

I've been asked why the towers are modular. It's because I didn't trust the birch ply not to warp if used in sections that long.

The Anniversary Walls

 It's exactly a year ago today that I produced the first prototype piece for my castle, which is nearly - but not quite - finished. So, a fairly quick timescale by the standards of most wargaming projects I would say. I have enough basic pieces now, although I shall be making some more damaged and breached walls. I will also make some bastions if I can come up with a design that looks the part without being overly complicated to cut out and assemble.

The lecturers who attempted to teach me operations management at business school wouldn't be very impressed, because far from getting a smooth production flow set up, I rather concentrated on the laser cutting and the spray painting. The detailed work all got put to one side and I have recently been faced with painting endless lines of white mortar (*), which has all been very dull. There are a dozen or so pieces still being sprayed, as and when climatic conditions allow. I have discovered that it's a waste of time trying to cover them in one coat - I don't really know why; perhaps because the paint is textured - and that it is better to give them half a dozen or so quick sprays, which adds to the elapsed time. When it is 'finished' I shall set up a proper picture.

* For the record the colour actually used is tapioca. 

Life imitates art

 "Life imitates art far more than art imitates life" - Oscar Wilde

Lockdown has so far consisted of nothing much more than sitting around eating Heston Blumenthal's Spiced Mince Pies with a Lemon Twist, perfectly pleasant without being remotely worth the money, and chuntering about Windows 10, the October update of which has disabled a number of features on my laptop. You would not believe how many tickets I had booked for events in November: ranging from Beethoven to Buster Keaton via Alan Bennett. I was even going to see 'Citizen Kane' on the big screen to mark the 75th anniversary of its release. Coincidentally, the following clip has been forwarded to me more than once over the last couple of days; people seem to think it captures the zeitgeist.