Buildings of Ancient Greece

You may have noticed that so far I haven't shown anything going back beyond the Middle Ages or so. Partly that reflects my own favourite wargaming periods of mainly "horse and musket" plus World War II.  But when I was working on commissions it was just what people wanted me to build. There was an exception however, as my late friend Mark Sturmey had interests which very much included the ancient world. Specifically he built up armies for the Trojan Wars, and for Republican Rome versus Pyrrhus of Epirus. For the first of those wars he was very taken with the tales in Homer's Iliad, where the Greek and Trojan armies clashed outside the city of Troy. So he asked me to create some suitable buildings to set the scene, and we had a number of games using the "Impetus" rules with some special abilities for the various heroic commanders, reflecting the favour of the gods.

Something for Sale

These buildings never got photographed for reasons I've related before, but they have come back into my posession recently, following Mark's family selling his collection via Hinds Figures. As with the Basque stuff shown in the last post it was nice to see them again, and good to photograph them for the record. But I honestly don't think I am likely myself to ever need wargaming scenery for ancient Greece. Having thought it through therefore, I have decided for once to sell these models on. The first sensible offer will therefore secure these four buildings, and I'll be glad to see them go to a good home. To give you an idea, I am thinking of a sum in the low hundreds of pounds. If you have wargaming pals who might be interested I would be grateful if you could mention this to them.

News on the Perrys' Franco-Prussian Range

A couple of years ago I was dragged away from doing my own stuff to make masters for the French and Prussian artillery pieces of 1870. I feel it as a certain honour to be part of the Perry project. If you are interested in this period you will know that Michael Perry is now currently working on a third plastic set currently, ie Bavarian Infantry. So the news is that I have been commissioned to make masters of the Bavarian four- and six-pounder guns for this period. I've promised Michael that these masters will be in his hands before the end of this year at the latest. These will be the most accurate models of these little-known but distinctive guns available to the wargamer in any scale. 

I am able to update you a little bit more on the progress of this popular but ever-so-slowly-appearing range. Michael, whose range it is, says he is very conscious he needs to do more to complete the French army, not least Zouaves, Turcos and the remaining cavalry. I have mentioned to him the need for some generals for both sides, and horse artillery crews. Anyway, we haven't seen anything at all since being shown the "3-up" masters for the rank and file Bavarians in April, despite it being over a year since the last metal packs. I think work has been focussed on completing the plastic Bavarians, but my guess is that their release (by the end of 2024?) will be accompanied by some metal (Bavarian) packs. Would it have been better to complete the main armies before starting the Bavarians? Absolutely, imho, but artists have to go where inspiration takes them. 

On top of this I don't think it's giving too much away to say that Michael hasn't been in the best of health for a couple of years. However I am pleased to hear that the trouble has turned out to be of a less serious nature than first thought, and Michael is positive about being fighting-fit once again before too much longer. So there's good reason to see the FPW range as moving forward more swiftly again soon. 

So, on with the Ancient Greek buildings:

I researched the buildings for this period and culture and was pleased to find plenty of information online, based on archeology, reconstructions and surviving fragments. As with all vernacular architecture the materials had to be available close by and for free. But the way those materials are put together varies from one culture to another. In this case we have stone bases, tapered inwards slightly, with upper walls reminiscent of the torchis method.

The roofs were flat because this isn't an area with a great deal of rainfall or snow. They were based on a layer of logs covered with a mixture of mud, dung aand straw. In modern reconstructions they always appear darker than the walls. The inhabitants apparently used the roofs as a living space, accessing them by ladders.

These buildings are designed to work together as a group, a village or whatever, rather than being large individual models.

I added quite a few details in this courtyard and on the roofs: jars, amphorae, baskets, mats, etc.

The wicker mats were made of real wicker, so to speak, so they look quite convincing. I wove them out of coconut fibres around thicker vertical strands. 

These buildings were made specifically for the Trojan wars, so part of the Mycenean Greek culture. But the styles of construction wouldn't have changed over centuries. Hence they are suitable for Greece and Asia Minor over the whole ancient period and into the Byzantine era.

Something of a picnic seems to have been laid out here. I expect that watching heroic combats, inspired by the gods, still called for a few snacks...

This building is based on modern reconstructions of a small temple from the Mycenean culture.

We're Back!

I know, it's been six months. And blogs are dying like flies. So you would be forgiven for thinking Hand Built History had gone the way of all flesh. But nope, the show is back on the road, with enough material for about three more posts after this one.

So what has kept me from feeding the blog so long? Loads of things and nothing much. Heath issues (nothing terrible, touch wood). Been working hard on my Franco-Prussian rules. Don't enjoy the process of photographing my stuff as much as some folks do? Slothfulness mostly. Thanks anyway to those of you who have been in touch during this downtime. But HBH is back in the groove now. So without further ado:

An Unexpected Turnup

Some of you might remember me musing wistfully, a couple of years ago, about the "projects that got away", the models I had made for customers and got no photographs of. I meant three particular sets of things back then: a German village done as a commission for Jonathon Marcus, a layout of Basque/ Northern Spanish buildings and a group of  ancient Trojan buildings. Both the latter being done for (or with) my late friend Mark Sturmey. 

Jonathon Marcus got in touch with some great pictures of the German village, which you can see if you click on that "label" in the right-hand sidebar. Then some photos (of mixed quality) emerged of the Basque setup, from a demo game which Mark did at the Reading show. But neither hide nor hair of the Trojan stuff. 

However recently I was alerted by my friend Martin Gane that wargames buldings looking a lot like mine were for sale through Hinds Figures, who trade in second-hand wargames figures mostly, but also some books and terrain items. It did turn out that Mark's collection had been moved on in this way. His numerous wargames armies had been bought, mostly by a well-known UK gamer, but the vanished buildings were being sold (at insultingly cheap prices, ahem!) by Hinds via their Ebay page. Evidently the Spanish buildings had been split into four lots and the Trojan stuff into two. Someone had already snapped up one Trojan lot plus the very detailed Basque church. Martin himself picked up two more lots of Spanish buildings. And I took the plunge and re-acquired the remaining one lot each of Spanish and Trojan things.

It was a pleasant if slightly strange feeling to unpack these models which I had built but not seen for about twelve years, and not had decent photos of either to remember them by. We will be coming on to the Trojan things in the next post, but we'll start with:

Basque Buildings

In my humble opinion someone got themselves a heck of a bargain with the Ebayed Basque Jesuit church, judging by the prices being asked for the other lots, but good luck to whoever it was. There's one or two pictures of that model if you click on the "Spain" label.But the rest of this project is now either back with me or with Martin, who was kind enough to take some nice pictures and send them over. 

Village dwellings in the distinctive, rather dour, style of northern Spain. The whole setup was partly made by me and partly by Mark and myself jointly. The two structures here were originally constructed as a single L-shaped building as part of a town. On re-acquiring this I decided it wouldn't really fit with my notoriously small village layouts, so I cut it apart and re-worked things a tiny bit to create two smaller houses.

Thes models were mostly built from the Wills sheets as I've often described, with a few of my cast doors and windows. The walls use the "Random Stone" sheet, which makes a change form the standard stonework sheet. If I'm to be picky, the chap who originally sculpted this sheet was a bit careless of how stone walls are "coursed" by the mason, but it all drybrushes up very satisfyingly.

These three buildings can now go in the big box with my other Spanish stuff. One day I'll get to play with them.

This building is what's called a horreo. To be seen across most of Spain, they are storehouses for grain and other produce. The stone "mushroom" legs are to make it hard for rats and other critters to get in. I made this little model as a present for Mark.

The last three photos are by Martin Gane Here we have a town block, which Mark and I put together very much as a joint effort. Good memories. We aimed to show the three building styles common in this part of Spain: stonework, timber framing with brick infill, and rendered stone with some faint pretension to a neo-classical style.

The back of the same block. There was also an old tower and other small items in the town display, which you can see if you click on the sidebar "label". 

Finally a tradional Basque farmhouse, a basseri, which was another one I made for Mark as a present. These farmhouses worked on the principle of "a whole farm in a single building", common across much of Europe but totally contrary to what we expect in Britain or the US say. In this case, the little door you see in the centre was for animal access to a byre or stable. The living quarters are upstairs, with a balcony to take the sun. The covered place at the front was a covered outside work area, where you could sit to mend things or do rustic crafts. Tools were hung around this area and you should be able to see at least a sickle and a tiny saw which I made to go here.