Building - A Motte and Bailey

Motte and Bailey

I have a fondness for castles and was asked by a friend if I could build a Motte and Bailey for the Dark Ages.  Never one to shy away from a challenge I jumped at the chance.

First up the basic shape was drawn onto a piece of MDF and straight away I could see this was going to be a big build. (28mm figure shown at the front for scale purposes)

I used high density polystyrene foam to create the earthworks and a mixture of Balsa wood and Coffee stirring sticks to build up the wooden sections.

The main structures were built from foam-core and again the wood panels were added with balsa and stirrers, just like when building Sandringham.  Between the panels I used normal surface filler to create a more interesting texture.

I kept all the buildings removable so that they could also be used as individual towers if desired.

I added further buildings to the interior.

Roof shingles were individually cut and attached.  It’s a long and boring task but I find the finished result looks nicer then tiles made from long strips.