Harad fortress

jscottbowman · **Posted:** Mon Jun 07, 2010 12:22 am

After watching Kingdom of Heaven (Orlando Bloom as Balian in the Crusades), with my young son Christopher, he asked me if I could make him a "Jerusalem" castle for his toy soldiers.
Sure I said, as you do... then I got to thinking.

His "soldiers" are the typical soft plastic 20mm Airfix and Italeri figures. At 20mm they are close enough to 28mm LOTR figs, so by slightly up-scaling it I can use it for LOTR too.

So I set to this weekend with the dense foam again (STYRODUR). It really is pretty good stuff, you can cut, saw and sand it easily with power tools etc.

Here's what I have got done so far this weekend:

Towers still need finishing, and I must make some stairs up to the wall ramparts, and of course the gate.

Each wall is 58cm long (thats how wide my sheet material was), 6" high to top of battlements, and 50mm thick , and each tower is 10cm on a side and 8" tall. Battlements are 20mm high.

Since this is going to be painted in sand stone colours for Jerusalem, I immediately thought it would equally do well for a fortress of the Haradrim, which could be fought over between Gondor and Harad, very much like Jerusalem between the Saracens and the Crusading knights.

Gives me more reason to get some Gondorians and Haradrim painted up too!

I'll try and keep you updated with progress...
regards
Scott

garmenhord · **Posted:** Mon Jun 07, 2010 7:36 am

great start so far.

Darac · **Posted:** Mon Jun 07, 2010 7:48 am

jscottbowman wrote:

His "soldiers" are the typical soft plastic 20mm Airfix and Italeri figures. At 20mm they are close enough to 28mm LOTR figs, so by slightly up-scaling it I can use it for LOTR too.

Uhm mate, thats a quite big difference 8mm, maybe this forttres should be little higher and bigger for playing with lotr minis here :S

But thats just me, keep up the good work, nicely done

jscottbowman · **Posted:** Mon Jun 07, 2010 10:34 am

Darac wrote:

jscottbowman wrote:

His "soldiers" are the typical soft plastic 20mm Airfix and Italeri figures. At 20mm they are close enough to 28mm LOTR figs, so by slightly up-scaling it I can use it for LOTR too.

Uhm mate, thats a quite big difference 8mm, maybe this forttres should be little higher and bigger for playing with lotr minis here :S

But thats just me, keep up the good work, nicely done

You are quite right on the scale issue, but he's only 7, and thrilled he's got a castle to stand his soldiers on. Hes actually got a whole bunch of various sized plastic figures and he's got them all on at once... you know how kids play.
For me its scaled to 28mm so I can use it for "proper" gaming too ;-)

I did actually drop down the level of the rampart, in relation to height of the battlements, by 5mm, it just gave the figures that little extra wall to hide behind...

I have finished squaring off the towers today, and added the battlements to their tops. I've also done two out of three sets of stairs going up the inside of the castle walls.

More work to come. I think I will clad it all in filler again as I did with Weathertop, but this time I've bought myself a Dremel, so I can etch in all the brickwork pattern, instead of having to scrape it in with a bent nail, as I did last time.

I'm keep it sectional, so you can have it as a square as shown, or stretched out into a long wall.

I have found making it so far relatively quick and easy and may keep adding wall and tower sections to it. Perhaps also do a central keep.

jscottbowman · **Posted:** Mon Jun 07, 2010 10:40 am

Sorry, I have just realized my original post may have led you to believe I made the castle to 20mm scale. By "Up-scaling" I meant I was going to make it to 28mm scale, so he would be playing on a bigger castle, but that kind of scale difference is not important to my young son...
Sorry for any confusion caused.

Dwarf Lord of Ered Luin · **Posted:** Mon Jun 07, 2010 12:13 pm

Great start. You've done a really good job at reaching a middle ground between the two scales. I like the idea of making the walls modular, I'll have to remember it if I ever get around to making walls. I can't wait to see it all finished.

King Elessar the Uniter · **Posted:** Mon Jun 07, 2010 4:04 pm

Very nice work so far!

Any chance you could take a pic with the two different miniature types for scale?

theavenger001 · **Posted:** Tue Jun 08, 2010 12:02 am

This is looking really good, keep up the good (and fast) work.

Darac · **Posted:** Tue Jun 08, 2010 7:54 am

jscottbowman wrote:

Sorry, I have just realized my original post may have led you to believe I made the castle to 20mm scale. By "Up-scaling" I meant I was going to make it to 28mm scale, so he would be playing on a bigger castle, but that kind of scale difference is not important to my young son...
Sorry for any confusion caused.

Yea you confused me xD

jscottbowman · **Posted:** Tue Jun 08, 2010 11:18 am

Dwarf Lord of Ered Luin wrote:

Great start. You've done a really good job at reaching a middle ground between the two scales. I like the idea of making the walls modular, I'll have to remember it if I ever get around to making walls. I can't wait to see it all finished.

Thanks, yes I hope to keep adding sections to it over time. It could get really big, either square, rectangular or a huge long wall, or combination's of the above; layers of defense like Minas Tirith.

jscottbowman · **Posted:** Tue Jun 08, 2010 11:19 am

King Elessar the Uniter wrote:

Very nice work so far!

Any chance you could take a pic with the two different miniature types for scale?

Sure I'll try and add figures in to next shot when I finish tower battlements and wall stairs.

Scott

jscottbowman · **Posted:** Wed Jun 09, 2010 8:48 am

Update 9/6/10:

A couple more pics:

The main castle structure now completed, with crenelated towers and stairs to walls

As requested some scale pictures with LOTR figs (Gondor & Harad), and an assortment of 20mm plastics to right. Uruk Hai Siege ladder also shown to side for idea of height to ramparts.

Felaorf · **Posted:** Wed Jun 09, 2010 12:17 pm

the fortress looks very good! congratulations!
it looks good scaled for both 20mm and 25mm!
can't wait to see it finished! :twisted:

Blue Dragon · **Posted:** Wed Jun 09, 2010 7:40 pm

Very nice. I think it might look a bit better if perhaos the stairs were up against the towers too, if that makes any sense.

tsmpaul · **Posted:** Wed Jun 09, 2010 10:22 pm

That's looking fantastic! I love the crenallations and the stairways! Looks like it would be perfect for a Haradrim force.

Zakael · **Posted:** Thu Jun 10, 2010 2:23 am

Not to get all crazy on the modular thing, but if the towers are still separate, you could cut a portion off level with the ramparts, and cut the inside out to make an enterable guardroom with doors the stairs could attach to. Would create more defense chokepoints should defenders scale part of the wall as well!

Edit: Also, looks bloody awesome, truly wish I had the skill to translate the images in my head into real world scenery like that!

jscottbowman · **Posted:** Thu Jun 10, 2010 8:39 am

Blue Dragon wrote:

Very nice. I think it might look a bit better if perhaos the stairs were up against the towers too, if that makes any sense.

Thanks. Yes there is some lea-way of movement. I can reposition stairs at this point as nothing glued into place yet. I'll have a juggle about and see how it looks.
Scott

donuthare · **Joined:** Sat Mar 27, 2010 9:48 am **Posts:** 205

lookgs good. now try some building in it? perhaps a huge tower or a stable? swimming pool?:)

jscottbowman · **Posted:** Thu Jun 10, 2010 12:05 pm

donuthare wrote:

lookgs good. now try some building in it? perhaps a huge tower or a stable? swimming pool?:)

Sure, internal buildings will come later. Not sure about a swimming pool, but perhaps a fountain or well.

General Elessar · **Posted:** Thu Jun 10, 2010 1:56 pm

jscottbowman wrote:

donuthare wrote:

lookgs good. now try some building in it? perhaps a huge tower or a stable? swimming pool?:)

Sure, internal buildings will come later. Not sure about a swimming pool, but perhaps a fountain or well.

The Haradrim would probably welcome a swimming pool, as they live in a desert. :rofl:

Harad fortress

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