Napoleonic & ECW wargaming, with a load of old Hooptedoodle on this & that


Tuesday 12 November 2019

Vauban's Bits


Graham, of the Scotia Albion blog, very kindly sent me some 3D-printed bits to add to my store of equipment for my siege wargames. These have been specially scaled to fit with my old (and OOP) Terrain Warehouse Vauban fort, which has always been short of a few bits and pieces - the manufacturers gave up on this range before it was complete, and subsequently were bought over by another firm whose interests lay elsewhere.

He has sent me a selection of pieces, all very interesting and thought-provoking. The most obvious show-stopper is a fine gatehouse/barracks building - this comes with some extra pieces, to provide a few alternate configurations, so that it can be a barracks and not a gatehouse. The photos are of the gatehouse set-up.





I still have to clean up the printed pieces a bit, and I was hoping to get some paint on quickly, so I could knock everyone (someone? - anyone?...) dead with pictures of the finished kit, but alas, a number of my "scenery" paint pots have set solid. I went to my local hardware store to get in some fresh paint today - got a few of them replaced (I use Dulux colour-matching sample tins), but the base colour for the brown shades was out of stock, so my two tins of Rum Caramel (shades #1 and #2) should be available tomorrow or maybe Thursday. That's fine, but since that is the undercoat colour I can't do any painting until I get them. Watch this space.

Thanks again, Graham.


22 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Good, eh? It's the potential as much as what's been done so far.

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  2. Outstanding pieces! I await a splash of color.

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    1. Should be a few days - problems recently with painting, mostly connected with some domestic disruptions which make my traditional painting desk a bit inconvenient. Slapping paint on buildings should be OK!

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  3. Yes, eager to see how it paints up. A lovely model in any case. I thought it was a resin model at first glance until I read your post. Or do 3D printers use a special kind of resin?

    Best Regards,

    Stokes

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    Replies
    1. These pieces were done on an FDM printer, which uses a sort of plastic thread on a spool. Some of the printers do use resin, but they work on a different system.

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  4. Replies
    1. Yes, it is a bit. More appetising than Snot Green or Bubonic Brown maybe? There was also a shade called Cocoa Blush, which was disappointingly a plum colour. People who name colours must be a bit odd - I have pots called Spring Breeze and Cameo Silk, and you can have a guess what kinds of colours they are. At least German Field Grey means something.

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  5. Very nice indeed...
    They should paint up a treat.

    All the best. Aly

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    Replies
    1. Cheers Aly - waiting for a phone call from the hardware store...

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  6. Excellent! Would have looked to have seen a figure in there for scale. Amazing what the 3D printing technology can do now.

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    1. I'd be embarrassed to include a figure, since my system uses 20mm figures and these buildings are to 15mm scale, which would look odd out of context. As you know, these can be just about any scale you like!

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  7. Tony,
    My pleasure can't wait to see the painted result. Got me contemplating printing another fort now for my 18mm 1812 figures !

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  8. A lovely piece, it reminds me of somewhere I have been but I cannot put my finger on the location at the moment. It will mull around my noggin for a day or two before it finds the answer. Looking forward to seeing the painted building.

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    Replies
    1. Apparently the design is based on Fort Ticonderoga, in New York state, built by the French in the 1750s. I'm pretty sure it was French state of the art at the time. They did a nice job.

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  9. very impressive! Could 'Ramekin' adapt to sieges/storming? Do you hanker for a go at Badajoz, perhaps ?

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    1. Yes - all that. Ramekin is useful in siege-type games, in fact this is one of the objectives, since the game is not straight across the table with right/centre/left subdivisions. A lot of so-called siege games really just play through the storm, which is a normal wargame with rather a lot of scenery.

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  10. Lovely looking models. Geekily, I'm as impressed by the casemate as anything (and makes sense for economy of materials).
    Would really like to see a figure next to them (15 or 20/25mm) next to them (notwithstanding lack of context).

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    1. If this is from Ticonderoga then it is from a tiny fort - it's OK - all structures appear "one-size-down" in my games. When I've painted these, I'll photograph them with a soldier for scale (albeit the wrong scale!). The little Ticonderoga barracks-cum-gate section has stone capping on the parapet and embrasures, which would generate splinters and would not have pleased Vauban one little bit. No problem - the rest of my fort has turf on the parapet. No splinters, but you might get a sod in your ear. It looks nice - that's the main thing!

      Rum Caramel #1 has now arrived, and undercoat was applied this evening...

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