A house in Salem

This is the second building recently completed for me by Tablescape. The design of the house is taken from a house I photographed in Salem and is a pretty basic clapboard style. Many of the houses I saw in Salem and its surroundings are painted in the very dark brown/black colour you see in the photo. I thought this looked rather drab and so decided to haver it painted in a simple white colour. This also brought the house more into line with the buildings you see around Lexington common (as in the pic at bottom right below). This model isn't nearly as big as the church and, although a tad larger than your average Hovels AWI building, is far closer to a normal tabletop size, I think.


Once again I'm sorry about the lack of posts recently. For various reasons I'm finding it difficult to find the time to photgraph things at the moment. I have plenty of figures sitting on the kitchen table waiting for a suitable moment (5 posts' worth, actually!), but that moment is proving elusive. It's very dark again in London so taking photos early in the morning before I leave for nursery and then on to work isn't really feasible, but I'll see what I can do over the next couple of days. I now have 3 lots of artillery and 2 infantry battalions ready to go. On the workbench are more American artillery, some Carlist Wars infantry and the rest of the 61me Ligne for 1815. I then want to paint up another couple of AWI British line battalions.

Christ Church, Cambridge

I recent took delivery of a large box of models from Tablescape. This is the main item - a model of Christ Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts, located on Cambridge Common just down the road from Harvard University. I visited this church during my trip to Boston and South Carolina in March 2008. Having taken plenty of photos of it I thought it would make a good basis for a church model to add to my collection of buildings.

Work on the church started in 1759, supervised by it's first minister the Reverend East Apthorp. The church was designed by Peter Harrison, the architect who had designed the King's Chapel in Boston. Apthorp, his successor and much of the congregation were loyalists and many of them left Cambridge and fled further north or to England when the war broke out. Continental soldiers were billeted in the church for a time and it is thought that the Washingtons attended service on New Year's Eve, 1775. However, the church suffered from damage caused by patriots protesting against its former congregation's Tory leanings and its organ was melted down to make bullets. As a result, the church was closed until 1790 but it was eventually restored and in 1857 it was expanded to accommodate its increasing congregation.

As a fully "in-scale" model, the church would have been huge; so it's been scaled down a bit and the length reduced to take account of the 1857 enlargement. The picture below, which I understand is a watercolour painted in 1793, shows 5 windows but we decided to reduce that to 4. The apse was also dispensed with, although I don't know when that was built and it could have been a later addition anyway. The print on the right shows Cambridge Common in the early 1800s.

Here are a couple more photos of what it looks like today. I took a number of close-up pics when I was there, so Tablescape had clear images of the architectural detail from which to work.

The chaps at Tablescape put a lot of time and effort into this model, and I think it shows. The frieze work around the top of the sides is particularly effective, I think. It's a large model, certainly considerably bigger than the Hovels church you tend to see, but hopefully not too large for the tabletop. The height of the tower is what makes it look big, but that couldn't be reduced any firther without the overall proportions being looking out of symmetry. I'd be interested in what readers think.

Old Kennett Meeting House

This is a model of Old Kennett Meeting House, which is one of the surviving buildings on the Brandywine battlefield in Pennsylvania. Kennett Township, in Chester County, was formed on part of the land granted by King James II to William Penn in 1682. It seems to have been inhabited by Lenape Indians and a small Swedish community was already in residence when the English arrived. The name "Kennett" seems to have been taken from one of the first settlers' home village, Kennett in Wiltshire. The area had a large Quaker community (including Penn himself) and it was these people who built this meeting house. The Quakers had previously crossed the Brandywine to attend meetings at Brandywine Hundred, but due to the creek's inaccessibility at certain times of year the Quakers built their own house in Kennett. The original building of 1710 was enlarged twice, in 1719 and 1731. Meetings still take place there during the summer. Penn's guarantee of freedom of religion ensured that many Quakers across Europe emigrated to Pennsylvania to escape persecution at home.


The House was on the western side of Brandywine Creek, near Chadd's Ford. It formed part of Brigadier General Maxwell's initial line of defence against Knyphausen's attack. The British and Hessian troops were camped around Kennett Square, closely watched by a detachment of light infantry who had decided that a nearby tavern offered the best vantage point. Shortly after 9am on 11 September 1777, these troops saw Queen's Rangers and Ferguson's Riflemen on the move towards them and realised that some sort of attack was imminent. After firing off a few shots the light infantry fell back and took up a position behind a stone wall on the western edge of the Old Kennett grounds. As further American troops arrived and the British deployed into line, a firefight started. Apparently the Quakers were having a meeting at the time; worshipper Jacob Peirce recorded that "while there was much noise and confusion without, all was quiet and peaceful within." Maxwell's troops skirmished with the British before eventually falling back across Chadd's Ford.


The model was made by Paul McDonagh of Paul's Modelling Workshop . I saw Paul's ad in Wargames Illustrated, was impressed by the work on his website, and got in touch. I was lucky to find a whole load of photos of the House (see here for what the original looks like) on a very useful website, the Historic American Buildings Survey. The cost of the model was £65 plus £8 p&p, which I think is pretty reasonable, and the lead time a rather impressive 2 months.


The roof of the model lifts off and the windows are hollow, as you can see from the pic below. As Paul bases all his models I asked him to add the small graveyard which is to the east of the House. Although none of the gravestones currently on site date from before the early 19th century, records show that the graveyard was in use during the 18th century. Some of the casualties of the Brandywine battle were apparently buried here. Paul's modelled the graves very well: in keeping with their traditions of simplicity, Quaker gravestones are unadorned and quite small. As always with old buildings, it's difficult to know exactly what they looked like over 200 years ago. I suggested to Pual that the walls be in natural stone rather than whitewashed, which is how the building looks now. We also left in the small annexe to add some interest, although I suspect that is a later addition.


I'm very pleased with this model. Paul clearly knows his stuff technically and understands the requirements of wargamers, scaling and what is likely to work on the tabletop. Now where did I put my photos of Wright's Tavern...

Lexington Belfry

The Old Belfry in Lexington was built in 1762 and originally stood on a small hill adjacent to the village green, on land owned by one Lieutenant Jonas Munroe. In 1768 it was moved, apparently because Munroe was demanding increased payments for the Belfry being on his land, to a new position on the green itself. Between the hours of 1 and 2am on 19 April 1775 the bell was rung to summon the 75-odd men of the local militia, after Paul Revere and Willam Dawes had alerted the village that the regulars were on their way from Boston. In 1891 the Belfry was moved back to its original position on the hill. It was destroyed in 1909 (either in a gale or by fire) and an exact replica built a year later.

Wargaming chum and talented chap Richard Watts (aka "Eccles") made a couple of scale models of the Belfry and very kindly presented one to me. It's made of balsa wood and contains a bell hand-made from gree stuff. Eccles and I scoured the net (or, in my case, wedding cake decorations) to find a suitable bell, but in the end Eccles made them himself. I think the end result is outstanding. There are lovely touches of detail (not least the ropes on the bell) and the basing is very effective too, with a few leaves scattered around. From recollection, the size looks pretty much spot on. So I'm terribly pleased with this little gem and it will feature in the Long Island game. The "real life" photos were taken on my trip to Boston in March and include two of Battle Green.

Benjamin Ring House

This is the model of the Benjaming Ring house from the Brandywine battlefield that Tablescape have made for me. I am incredibly pleased with it and the chaps put a huge amount of time and effort into the model. Whilst many resin models are smaller than they should be, this model gives you an idea of what these larger period houses look like "to scale". It measures about 25cm across and the same in height at the highest point on the left side. It gives you some idea of what a "to scale" Chew House would look like!

Benjamin Ring was a prominent Quaker farmer and miller in Birmingham Township in Chester County, Pennsylvania. The township is thought to have been named in the 1680s by William Brinton, the first white settler known to have settled in the area, after his former home in England. Ring owned two mills in the township and the wealth generated by these concerns allowed him to build a large house near Chadds Ford on the Brandywine. The house was built in 1731. It was all but destroyed by fire in the 1930s, resulting in a post-war reconstruction that was finished in 1952. I have not visited the battlefield and so do not know how close this house is to the river itself. Washington used the house as his headquarters on the night of 9 September 1777, two days before the battle. Some pictures of the inside of the house and some more information about Benjamin Ring are here. You can see that house (at least where it is situated now) is on a slope. We decided early on to ditch any attempts at replicating this and simply to have the house on an even level. The small piece at the back of the house on the left hand side is probably an outdoors oven, or something connected to the kitchen.

Benjamin Ring is said to have hung the Stars and Stripes from one of the house's window during the battle; rather apocryphal I'd have thought... A more believable story is that on 11 September 1777 Ring stood on the porch of his house watching the battle and when advised to head indoors replied “I always put my trust in the Lord.” At that moment a round shot landed at his feet and Ring fled to his wine cellar. Apparently he ran a tavern in his cellar (one wonders the extent to which Washington's staff made use of it) and the house became a hotel in the years after the AWI.

This model makes a change from the more common clapboard style of house. Stonework marked out the status and wealth of the owner, as I suspect did the large chimneys. The figures in the photos are Perry sculpts and the trees are Realistic Modelling "medium" sized 25mm trees. I appreciate the reasons why many wargaming buildings are often smaller than they would be in real life, but there is something to be said for an "in scale" building as a terrain centre-piece. The model cost £80 and 7 months to have made, although I think the amount of work that went into it would have justified a higher price. Please excuse the bright, artificially-lit photos - this morning was very grey and miserable here in London.

The lads are currently working on a generic barn and farm outhouse for me, and I have sent them photos of the old church at Harvard for the next "real life" project. In other news, I have had a total painting collapse since the end of last week, hence the lack of any Long Island updates this week. The Hessian artillery is still unfinished, so I am now officially 6 figures behind schedule. There are no photos of the von Lossberg fusiliers becuase I realised at the end of last week that I don't have their flags...So I'm relying on GMB to send them to me before the month is out!

Name that tree....

Before I get stuck in to some photos of my recent AWI-themed holiday, I thought I'd post about some rather spectacular terrain pieces I recently acquired. I liked Barry Scarlett's vines so much that I asked him and his colleague Mark (both of Murray Bridge Trees and Terrain, here) if they'd be able to make some of those huge trees that appear in paintings and photos of American landscape. I was thinking particularly of Robert Griffing's paintings of the Ohio and Hudson valleys, which often feature enormous trees of varying kinds. Pictures of the ACW's Wilderness campaign also spring to mind. In my last post I referred to giant redwoods, and I appreciate that those trees are only found on the Pacific coast. I suppose that's generally what I had in mind, absent any other specific genus. But to be honest, I'm not really that fussed about what species of tree these are; I just wanted something large to float at the back of my terrain and heighten the impression of a battlefield that was a long way away from old Europe. That said, answers on a comment post if you think you may have a convincing idea as to what these trees could feasibly be in upstate New York....There are no prizes - it's a serious question!

The largest tree, on the right of the second photo, measures 36.5 cm high. Golly. The figures are of course 25mm Perry sculpts, to give a sense of scale. In the background is the wooded base I usually use for my photos - these are "small" trees from Realistic Modelling. Mark added a couple of bases of broken trunks; the shape of the larger one is, I think, a practical joke...I also bought some sachets of differently coloured "flower scatter" which I will add to the 84th Foot's bases when that unit is finally finished. When I painted the 55th Foot a few years ago I liberally added to the bases the crystals from a Woodland Scenics lavender field mat - the result worked ok; I must take some photos of that regiment at some stage.

Anyway, if you fancy some sequoia, or whatever they are, drop Barry and Mark a line. Each tree and base cost Aus $47.50, which is about £22 or US $44 (the trees were based at my request; the chaps can supply the trees unbased for less). That includes a "prototype discount" since the lads hadn't really made any before; but I think the price is very good value given the size of the trees, at least compared to UK-manufactured trees of a similar quality. Postage to the UK was a substantial Aus $90 for the lot (2 boxes' worth), so I suppose that adds an extra £10 on to the price of each tree, although I also received the two bases of logs and 5 bags of flower scatter. I have to say that the packaging was excellent. Overall I'm delighted with these products and I certainly don't mind paying a premium for postage to receive such excellent items from Australia, especially when I've never seen anything similar in the UK or come across modellers so eager to jump into a new challenge. In any event, I buy large amounts of wine from Australia, so why not wargames terrain? It could be Australia's next big growth export if marketed properly....

Of vines and wines

One of the joys of the internet is coming across fellow gamers and enthusiasts from other parts of the world. Even better is when one meets such people who also happen to make excellent terrain. A few weeks ago Ochoin, Scottish ex-pat and Napoleonic guru, drew my attention to a couple of lads in South Australia (which happens to be one of my favourite parts of the world) who make trees and hedges. Mark and Barry run a company called Murray Bridge Trees & Terrain and can be found at their website here , which I have also added to the links section. Mark works on trees whilst Barry makes hedges, fencing and other items. The hedges are very nice but it was Barry's vines that caught my attention, not least because I'd never before seen anyone make grape vines in 25mm (or any scale for that matter). Given that my passion for AWI wargaming is matched only by my love of wine, and that one day the Kiwi and I hope to leave the rat-race and set up a winery somewhere near Martinborough or the Hawke's Bay, I knew I had to buy some of these model vines - after all, it might be the closest I ever get to owning my own vineyard....

My initial enthusiasm was curbed only by doubt as to whether anyone in 18th century New England actually made wine. I wasn't thinking of moonshine distilleries in the back of someone's barn but the cultivation of the vine for serious winemaking. In short, to justify the purchase I needed to convince myself that somewhere in 1770s Massachusetts existed the equivalent of Robert Mondavi or Screaming Eagle. Again, the internet is a wonderful thing and within no time I had found enough references to suggest that colonial America had more in common with the centre of Doncaster on a Saturday night than one might think. They made wine all over the place. American's first "native" grape was discovered just outside Philadelphia, where William Penn's gardener had apparently planted some cuttings. Called "the Alexander grape" after its discoverer (who was the gardener of William's Penn's son), this variety probably had its origins in the vines that Penn brought over from England. Unfortunately the wine made from the Alexander grape quickly "lost its colour and flavour", according to Maryland's governor, Horatio Sharpe. No doubt Robert Parker would have loved it.

Apparently an English colonel made wine near the banks of the Mississippi and actually sent some "Louisiana Claret" to King George in 1775; unfortunately the enterprising colonel and his family were shortly afterwards massacred by indians. Vineyards prospered in Maryland - a Charles Carroll planted a vineyard in Howard County in 1770 with four sorts of vines that he called "Rhenish, Virginia grape, Claret and Burgundy". It also seems that German immigrants, missing their native white wines, quickly began cultivating various varieties of grape. In 1773 lottery tickets were even sold in support of a "public vineyard" in Philadephia. By the end of the decade making wine was almost as popular as shooting redcoats.

So it seems that winemaking took place across several of the colonies, and in the places where armies would have marched in the AWI. Barry made me a whole load of vines and very impressive they are. He also made me some hedges and fencing and I was very pleased with those as well. As you can see from the photo below, the fencing is just the right height for 25mm figures to fire over. The relatively cheap cost means that even with the shipping costs from Australia to England the stuff is a good buy. Needless to say, I'm very impressed with Barry's and Mark's work; Barry is also a pleasure to deal with and sent me several update photos to show me how the order was progressing. So if you've ever wanted your own vineyard, now's your chance!

I'll sign off with the words of Benjamin Franklin: "God loves to see us happy, and therefore He gave us wine."

Neilson's Farm

My model of Neilson's Farm arrived the other day, and here it is. The model was made by Tablescape (see their address in the links section) and I'm very pleased with it; the total cost for the painted model was £30. At the start of the Saratoga campaign, Neilson's Farm formed part of Gates' lines at Bemis Heights. A battery was positioned there and the fortified position was called Neilson's Fort. The building was a bit too removed from the battlefields of Freeman's Farm and Bemis Heights to feature in any refights of those particular engagements, but in design it is representative of the type of farmhouse that was in the area; absent any photos of Freeman's Farm itself, this model of Neilson's Farm will feature prominently in my refights of the first Saratoga battle. The figures are settlers from Conquest Miniatures. You can read more about Neilson's Farm here. Tablescape did an excellent job - I found out the other day that they even contacted the trustess who look after the site and obtained details from some original plans (presumably of the replica house that was built on the site) to double-check the dimensions. The model is also very light; I know Tablescape use light-weight material but this will be dead easy to carry around if the need arises. The same day I received this model I gave the chaps details of a few houses that are still extant on the Brandywine battlefield - those are their next projects!