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Made in gb
Fresh-Faced New User




yorkshire

Hi guys. i have been wanting to build a large fantasy castle for some years now. eventually i hope to have a large board set up with castle and village/town but for now a bit short on room so will keep to building the castle in pieces. have spent years collecting varius kits and i think i am now ready to make a start.
i am not an amazing modeller or painter and am hoping someone on here can give me some tips and ideas to help me along?

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2022/05/18 20:31:05


Overspecialize, and you breed in weakness. It's slow death. 
   
Made in us
Did Fulgrim Just Behead Ferrus?





Fort Worth, TX

There are several routes you can go. Scratchbuilding, of course. Buying toy versions of castles and such and converting them. Using something like Hirst Arts to mold building blocks to build it. Or just 3d printing it (FDM printer would work).

"Through the darkness of future past, the magician longs to see.
One chants out between two worlds: Fire, walk with me."
- Twin Peaks
"You listen to me. While I will admit to a certain cynicism, the fact is that I am a naysayer and hatchetman in the fight against violence. I pride myself in taking a punch and I'll gladly take another because I choose to live my life in the company of Gandhi and King. My concerns are global. I reject absolutely revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method... is love. I love you Sheriff Truman." - Twin Peaks 
   
Made in gb
Fresh-Faced New User




yorkshire

yeah im no expert so i think a scratch build is out of the question. My plan is to mod kits and bit and bobs together. i spent years getting my hands in varius towers and castle bit and bobs. (anyone else noticed how the price of kits has gone up alot since corona started)

and while there does seem to be many vids on how to make scenery from scratch there doesnt seem to be much giving tips on modding big things like castles.

anyone else out there with a castle project on the go or completed?

Overspecialize, and you breed in weakness. It's slow death. 
   
Made in de
Huge Bone Giant






Some things I can think of that may help or that you may want to consider:

- It's good to draw up a plan with the layout you have in mind. If you have measurements of the various kits you want to use, all the better as a little math helps keep things straight.

- It helps to have an inventory list of at least the major pieces you have at your disposal so you know what you want to place, and where.

- Storage for long term projects is a concern and you may not want to assemble all your stuff right away. Consider in what order you want to build and how it all fits together, and try to assemble all the pieces you need for the basic layout so you can dry fit them and make sure nothing gets in the way of each other.

- Individual pieces may be flexible in their size and placement, like a stable or smithy. Make sure there's enough room to place them but don't worry too much about where exactly they fit in. Whereas your castle's wall should be well planned out as it has to go together neatly and determines how much space you have inside the castle for other structures.

- If you want elevation, make sure to plan out the board your castle goes on first. Say if you want a moat, the bottom of it is the lowest part of your board and everything else, including nominal ground level, needs to be raise. This is probably one part where you want to have a really good idea what it's supposed to look like from the start.

Nehekhara lives! Sort of!
Why is the rum always gone? 
   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut





Green stuff would have these moulds that you use to make resin building parts and they do one that is medieval and apparently you can use it to make a building of any size if you make enough bits.

https://www.greenstuffworld.com/en/silicone-moulds/1431-stonework-silicone-moulds.html?search_query=Mould&results=29
   
Made in gb
Fresh-Faced New User




yorkshire

yeh i did consider using moulds at first, i think for a large project though would take a seriously long time to cast all the pieces.

i have decided to use the old warhammer fortress as a base. i have aquired 4 of these old kits plus some extra bits currently.
it is a bit plain for a fantasy fortress but i should be able to spruce it up a bit.
the only major downside to this kit is the lack of arrow-slits but im working on fixing that as we speak...


yeah drawing a plan is a great idea, will gve it a go.

i would love to add a stables inside but realised i have no idea what a castle stables would look like???? i have seen some stables kits available but they dont seem to have much space for horses?? cant work that out

Overspecialize, and you breed in weakness. It's slow death. 
   
Made in ca
Librarian with Freaky Familiar






How much do you like legos? Becuase if the answer is a lot. i would suggest going this route.

Get yourself a dehydrator, a big ol bag of dental plaster, and some of these molds and let your creativity flow with unbound restrictions

https://hirstarts.com/molds/molds.html



To many unpainted models to count. 
   
Made in gb
Fresh-Faced New User




yorkshire

yeah i looked at those molds and watched a vid on casting them. i would need alot more free time lol

Overspecialize, and you breed in weakness. It's slow death. 
   
Made in at
Second Story Man





Austria

depending on your budget/money you want to spend

foam, you can get pieces for cheap at the hardware store, texture can be done by hand or with a roller like GWS sells

if you have more time to spend, you cut the foam into pieces and build the castle brick by brick, looks better and is more flexible but need more time

another cheap but time consuming option is papercraft, you can get good looking files for free or buy the very good ones for cheap (Dave Graffam Models), use cardboard or foam as filler and get nice looking fantasy buildings without needing too much time and money

at the moment hard to get but your budget version of a plastic model is the russian Castle-Craft series, those are meant to be flexible and to be dissembled after play, so need some work like filling gaps if you want a permanent model but those are cheap for a reason
similar price range are the kids toys (like the Simba Falcon Castle), but hard tho get them in the right size and also need some work

the expensive one is going with the Renedra Castle, a very good and detailed plastic model that is still flexible and can be expanded as needed
does not cost as much as the GW models but still a bigger step from the other options

Harry, bring this ring to Narnia or the Sith will take the Enterprise 
   
Made in gb
Fresh-Faced New User




yorkshire

yeah i got me a couple of the renedra towers, one i have assembled the other still in box atm. they are quite pricey new but i found them as new on evilbay.
i was planning on having them part of the exterior wall of castle but thinking i might use them on the interior now, a big project is so hard to plan......

Overspecialize, and you breed in weakness. It's slow death. 
   
Made in in
[MOD]
Otiose in a Niche






Hyderabad, India

Renedra has a nice multipart castle line, and I think another company does too...

Hold on.

That's it, Table Top Workshop

https://www.facebook.com/Tabletop-Workshop-563457086999981

But their FB hasn't been updated since the Obama administration so who knows.

Maybe Dungeons and Lasers?

Also if you check the thread on Toys I found a potentially useful toy castle set but it will need a lot of love and work since (as usual) it's only detailed on one side.

Lastly there are some toy block castles that could also be a better and easier starting point than molds or scratch building.

 
   
Made in gb
Fresh-Faced New User




yorkshire

fuuny you should mention tabletop workshop as i found one of their towers fro sale on evilbay the other day, waiting for it to be delivered. no idea what quality it wil be but was fairly cheap. yeah i dont think they make them any more...

Overspecialize, and you breed in weakness. It's slow death. 
   
Made in gb
Dakka Veteran




Lincoln, UK

I think Tabletop Workshop collapsed fairly quickly after releasing the castle. Their stuff was lovely - detailed interiors too - but quite expensive. They just... vanished.

The Tabletop Workshop castle was sold by Warlord Games for a while, but no longer. It was £140-£175 even then.

Individual pieces and some of the medieval buildings still come up for sale, so my guess is someone bought a ton of stock off the company.

EBay reviews indicate that the tricky piece to find is the connectors that link the round towers with the walls, which had square ends. Those are now on eBay UK though.

You're still not getting any change back from £150 if you buy a castle this way though. Minimum purchase for a small square castle would be:

4 x tower
3 x wall section
1 x gate section
Either 4 or 8 connector sets


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Sarissa Precision sells a surprisingly decent castle keep for £60. MDF, multiple playable levels. It's modelled on Odiham Castle. Still lacking walls and towers for the outer wall though.

TTCombat sells a huge castle kit in MDF for £52, it's 60x60cm.

Another option is Ziterdes hard foam castle sections. You can buy separate wall and tower pieces, but you'd be importing from Germany. There's a single-piece dwarf fortress for around £100-120 on the site too. They used to sell a bigger fortress called something like "Castle Wolfenstein" but that's long gone.

Hudson and Allen in the US still sell a hard foam castle, but it's kind of scaled for older and smaller 25mm figures. Still huge though.

Zvezda sold a bunch of 1/72 hard plastic castle kits that would just about do in a pinch - certainly you could convert them.

IMEX sell/sold the Avalon and Ivanhoe castles in 1/72 measuring 40cm by 40cm (although the walls are maybe 10cm high), and Camelot and King Arthur's Castle in 1/32 measuring 2ft by 2ft. Both scales are kind of nominal, but you may be able to do something with them.

This message was edited 8 times. Last update was at 2022/05/25 20:03:10


 
   
Made in gb
Fresh-Faced New User




yorkshire

i got that tabletop workshop tower. seems well made, the detail is quite low relief compared to stuff from games workshop but it does look good.

and yeah i was wondering about those zvezda castles might be worth checking out.

ziterdes stuff looks great but no way im importing things, customs charges are mental

Overspecialize, and you breed in weakness. It's slow death. 
   
Made in gb
Fresh-Faced New User




yorkshire

anyone on here made a castle?

or maybe seen a good castle layout? i have done a search for warhammer castles but not much comes up

Overspecialize, and you breed in weakness. It's slow death. 
   
Made in in
[MOD]
Otiose in a Niche






Hyderabad, India

There's also this, meant for RPGs but it might be useful.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08QDNJWLQ/ref=sspa_dk_detail_0

 
   
Made in gb
Dakka Veteran




Lincoln, UK

 mimozine wrote:
anyone on here made a castle?

or maybe seen a good castle layout? i have done a search for warhammer castles but not much comes up


I did, years ago, based on the plans in GW's Siege of Gondor book for the LotR game.

The build used foamcore, which makes surprisingly strong buildings. Cutting crenellated battlements was a pain.

My one piece of advice: high walls rely on you making sensible choices around mini scale.

Walls should be tall enough that models won't be hopping off mounts onto the battlements. Important in a fantasy game where you might be riding a dinosaur or giga-elephant. Say 12.5cm/5 inches as a starting thought.

Siege ladders and towers should be able to reach the battlements.

Battlements should be wide enough for 2 midels to fight. 5cm is about right for 25mm bases, you may want more for Stormcast.

Towers should be wide enough to take a catapult or ballista on top if that's your thing, or several archers. I'd say 10cmx10cm + battlement thickness is a good starting point to think about.

A well-designed castle is a killing zone that channels and traps attackers. Consider overlapping fields of fire, and internal defence lines. If you search for maps for Cry Havoc (a classic hex and chit game of medieval combat), the castle map is famously terrifying. Even once the attackers break down the gate, they have to run the gauntlet in a tunnel lined with arrow slits for the defenders.

How might magic affect a castle layout? Flyers?

Why is the castle where it is?

Building interiors are a faff. I'd say 'no" for tower interiors, but your call. For a keep, consider a "half castle" like a dolls house where the interiors are open from the back but only 5-10cm deep. Lets you play the fight without lifting off layers. Or have a side table with maps of the interior.

Which brings me to... full layout, half a castle against a table edge or just a section of the curtain wall? I made the curtain wall, next time I would do a half castle, for flexibility.

2ftx2ft is a hefty castle, but will dominate your board. Smaller castles on a table edge could be the same size, or 2ftx1ft and still give both players lots of wall to attack, defend, feint.

For a complete castle, look at smaller layouts that have perhaps become more of a home. Look at Lindisfarne castle, you could do that in 1ft or 18 inches. Lindisfarne has large areas of raised flagstone inside the battlement - see also various Spanish castles, and early British and Spanish castles in the Americas. Lanzarote in the Canaries has some mean little fortresses.

Blue Moon makes a neat Dracula's Castle that's relatively small but is 3 towers with wide battlements around a central courtyard.

Curtain walls only allows you more defence in depth, with a buildings inside. There comes a point where you just say "the castle itself is the game board". Welsh castles like Conwy and Carnarvon are good examples.

Look at as many real castles as possible, and remember you have to build them to allow for big hands moving toy soldiers around them.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2022/05/29 10:53:12


 
   
Made in gb
Fresh-Faced New User




yorkshire

thanks mate, alot of info there.

this project did start as me making a curtain wall layout to display some miniatures in front of, but now im going for the full castle. i dont think i'm going to build interiors as im wanting to led light the insides so it looks amazing in the dark/dim light




Overspecialize, and you breed in weakness. It's slow death. 
   
Made in us
Master Engineer with a Brace of Pistols





washington state USA

mimozine, not to make you jealous, but maybe these finished castles from ESLO hobby will inspire you-


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This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2022/06/01 10:32:01






GAMES-DUST1947/infinity/B5 wars/epic 40K/5th ed 40K/victory at sea/warmachine/battle tactics/monpoc/battletech/battlefleet gothic/castles in the sky,/heavy gear 
   
Made in gb
Fresh-Faced New User




yorkshire

great pics thx, the best way to be inspired is always others peoples work lol

Overspecialize, and you breed in weakness. It's slow death. 
   
 
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