You may have seen this elsewhere but this is my take on the bridge at Osgiliath, broken by Gondor when the East Bank of Osgiliath was overrun by the Enemy. The strategic importance of the bridge was considerable as it was the only route by which Mordor could bring up heavy equipment to besiege Minas Tirith.
Tolkein's writings suggest a huge medieval London-Bridge-as-was, and something similar was envisaged in the HBO Game of Thrones depicting the Long Bridge of Volantis. This is clearly beyond the scope of most wargamers and even PJ opted for a more conventional design in the film. I've followed this concept but favoured a wide span and carriageway and with approaches that were not too steep for miniatures.

A major part of the look was to depict battle damage from this often contested crossing, with chunks gouged out of the stonework by trebuchet strikes from both sides. It has also been designed so that two spans can be 'broken'.
The starting point
http://s186.photobucket.com/user/sukhe_ ... 4.jpg.html
With detailing of the removable spans
http://s186.photobucket.com/user/sukhe_ ... 8.jpg.html
After some detailing work the carriageway was lined with a thin veneer of styrofoam and stonework scribed with a blunt pencil
http://s186.photobucket.com/user/sukhe_ ... 0.jpg.html
Battle scars added
http://s186.photobucket.com/user/sukhe_ ... 1.jpg.html
Buttresses with refuges added
http://s186.photobucket.com/user/sukhe_ ... 4.jpg.html
More or less completed
http://s186.photobucket.com/user/sukhe_ ... 2.jpg.html
With spans removed
http://s186.photobucket.com/user/sukhe_ ... 4.jpg.html
Under guard
http://s186.photobucket.com/user/sukhe_ ... 5.jpg.html
With suitable emblems of past glory added
http://s186.photobucket.com/user/sukhe_ ... 3.jpg.html

Very nice, especially like the removable "broken" spans. Nice slope on the ends of the bridge also, that always seems to be my problem. If you put [/img] in front of the http and behind the jpg you should be able to embed the photos into your post vs links. On photobucket use the img link to copy your photos.

_________________
"Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer."

Thanks, Mapper,
This is much better...
The inspiration for the bridge came from Medieval examples such as this one from Stopham in West Sussex.

And as the bridge was also fortified, I've added a gatehouse at one end. It is made in three sections, each fitting inside a photocopier paper box. An additional sabot base with stone talus retasks it from being the main gatehouse of my Rammas Echor project.

Guards on the completed bridge approach

And more fully developed gatehouse defence

A transitional piece allows the drawbridge to rest on stone abutments

Stunning work

_________________
My Blog http://quendilsworld.blogspot.co.uk

Very nice.

_________________
"the same as a duck you must be made of wood"

Yes, I have seen this piece of work floating around out there on the internet, but it's nice to have some better photos of it and to meet the creator. It's been an inspiration for me too. Thanks for posting!

_________________
"Diplomacy is the art of saying 'nice doggie' until you can find a rock." -Will Rogers

Beautiful! Looks very realistic!

Lovely work mate. As a big Osgiliath terrain freak myself it's awesome to see more around. Are you planning on building any more of the city?

~Hasufel

Funny you should say that Hasufel, I had planned to devise some modular riverside terrain boards, inspired by archaeological sites....
The original concept was for some ruined floors of various types - cobbled alleys with open drains, flagstones in different decorative arrangements etc, and ruined walls modelled in low relief that I could add superstructures to and sprinkle with rubble bases etc.



A more detailed example

And another showing the use of thin veneers of styrofoam scraps from other building projects

I liked the flooded look in the films which would have made perfect sense if the other bridges in Osgiliath had been broken and partially blocked the Anduin. All went well until I discovered that the boards I'd used warped with the glue and filler applied to them

That's awesome man! We're definitely two kindred spirits, I've been working on a modar Osgi board for about 5 years, similar in approach to your stuff above. I really love your floor tile work though, absolutely gorgeous.

I'll be trying to out some stuff up soon but I wanted to finish painting the Eastern Riverbank first and I'm struggling on a decent approach to painting Gondorian stonework. I was thinking of using a light grey and washing it back in browns for age and then bringing it back up with a three stage drybrush of darker and lighter greys, but I don't have any brown ink to make the washes at the moment.

Do you have any sweet ideas for Gondorian stone?

Keep it going man, keen to see moarrrr!

~Hasufel

I developed a similar approach to my 12 foot long Rammas Echor project...
If you follow the book refs rather than the visual refs from the film then Minas Anor (later Tirth), Osgiliath and Minas Ithil (later Morgul) were more or less contemporary in build. The first wall (and by inference the Great Gate of Minas Tirith) were the earliest and described as darker compared to the other levels of the City, designed with stonework so seamless that blocks and joints were barely visible (like the living rock of mount Mindolluin). The tower of Ecthelion at the top was effectively the only truly 'white' bit. We also tend to think of historic castles as always looking like they do now, with stonework exposed... The White Tower of the Tower of London was called that because originally it was covered all over with chalky white plaster and even had red painted lines of blockwork. It was an in your face theatrical statement of power that was visible for miles.

The Rammas Echor was built much later to defend the fields and farms of the Pelennor and the Harlond when the Eastern bank of Osgiliath was lost to the enemy. It was comparable with the later levels of the city, at a time when many of the old skills were gradually being lost through time and plague etc., so more like historical medieval masonry with visible stone blocks and mortared joints. I opted for grayish/brownish white stonework, showing signs of repair as a kinda halfway house between the dark and 'white' stone. I use Winsor and Newton Peat Brown for low lights and got thru a bucket load on this project as you can probably imagine.

It can also be 'distressed' through enemy action

Awesome! Looks very true to the image I got from reading the books!

Wow 12 Feet of Rammas! That's incredible dude. Do you have any particular custom rules or missions for the Rammas?

My Osgiliath board is currently about 10Ft by 8Ft I'd say, off the top of my head. It's all packed down at the moment while I paint the individual sections.

~Hasufel

I bow to your terrain talents and painting skills - marvellous work. I always feel that the War of the Ring deserves to be played out on a grand scale at times, and the battles around Osgiliath and Minas Tirith are the prime candidates for that.

_________________
Published ebooks:
Instrument of the Empire
A Note of Defiance
Phantom Ships, Ghost Flotilla
More to come!

I really like the round crenelations on the wall. Different from the typical "wings" one often sees on the white walls, but still very appropriate thematically. I think this would look great on my Pelargir walls. Consider the idea respectfully stolen. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery after all.

_________________
"Diplomacy is the art of saying 'nice doggie' until you can find a rock." -Will Rogers

Do
My feelings exactly, which is why, although I have collected many of the GW LOTR miniatures, I use just as many historical proxies and primarily use historical or low-fantasy mass-battle rules.
I have many issues with the conceptual design of the fortifications depicted in the films (and therefore the scenic items associated with the LOTR game). Hence I have opted to design and make all my own...
The architectural style came out of a desire to reflect a medieval look akin to the films, but reflecting a more accurate military design. It is actually derived from Medieval South Asian fortification and is very easy to replicate...

This is from a fortress designed for my Haradrim with more pointed merlons

A mural tower from the Rammas Echor sporting more rounded merlons ...