New terrain commission

I was going to put all of this into one post but decided upon two as the best way forward. In this post I shall introduce some new terrain and in the next as part of a shared blog post with Oli of the Camisado blog you can see the terrain put to good use over a series of linked games which were played over the weekend.

Earlier in the Spring I collected some new terrain boards and scenic additions from David Marshall of TM Terrain. David has created all of my terrain in a series of commissions over the last 5 years. We have a standing yearly arrangement to add to the collection which works really well. Each new commission takes my collection to a new level and makes for some really astounding photographs as well as ideas for gaming scenarios. I cannot recommend him more highly.

I've been wanting to mention the new terrain for a while and a weekend of gaming has provided the perfect opportunity.

This year's commission was two-fold; some early sconce like siege defences and some more terrain boards.

The siege defences were to complement my existing city walls. They're a type of early sconce and seem to have existed in this form for a relatively short period in the early Renaissance. The idea being that they provide an outer perimeter defense in support of town walls. Their positioning was mutually supportive and allowed arquebusiers within each sconce to harry an attacking force from the relative safety of the protective earthwork. 

Each piece holds a 60x60mm square base of infantry though I think at some point I will create some bespoke bases of figures to inhabit them.

They are depicted in a few woodcuts as well as the Pavia tapestry image above;

They had their first outing back in March in a game with fellow Renaissance enthusiast Oli, here you can see how we used them in a scenario based around the siege of Pavia.

On to the boards. The main part of this years addition was a long ridge designed to accompany my existing boards. I've gamed with it a few times now and it really adds depth to the terrain and gaming, here's a glimpse from one of our games.

You can see more terrain and Renaissance loveliness in the upcoming post.

All the best

Stuart