Wealdmaster | 02 Oct 2019 1:13 p.m. PST |
I'm looking to get some buildings for this theatre/period in 10-15mm scale (for 15mm figures) and it is not that easy. I've got the Baueda Kleos range Medieval tower that looks suitably Italian. Otherwise, it is a bit difficult to find structures for what I'm aiming to do: A few DBA armies to be used in a long campaign for the periods starting with during the Norman conquest of Sicily in the late 11th century through Frederick Barbarossa. Then another game/board for the Communal Period. Finally a board for the Condottiere period. Some of the buildings can cross over obviously. Need to get buildings that look suitably like monasteries, houses, keeps, churches, decayed roman civic structures, etc. There was once a company called Manorhouse workshop who had some amazing stuff in 15mm but they seem defunct now. |
Swampster | 02 Oct 2019 2:04 p.m. PST |
It won't have all you are after, but Timecast's 10mm buildings are good. link Even those sold as being 18th century are suitable for much earlier. On my blog link I have some photos of JR Miniatures 15mm and Timecast 10mm Italian buildings which mix very well. Since then, I have bought a whole load more of the JR range – far too many really! You can see the range here link but most are sold out. One website says that Novus Design Studio now produce JR but if they do, they haven't started doing most of the original range so far. Many of them are being sold here link ready painted though whether you want to pay the extra for the paint job is another matter. Another company to look out for second hand as they seem to have stopped doing 15mm Italian stuff is Miniature Building Authority. These look okay but are a generic Spanish/Italian range of laser cut buildings link |
sillypoint | 02 Oct 2019 8:14 p.m. PST |
link It's a matter of taste. I've also acquired stuff from Dave at Wargames Vault, PDF. Take a bit of fiddling with scale and printout and adapting the result to fit the smaller scale- edit small things out- but once you have the PDF you can make as many as you want. |
10mm Wargaming | 03 Oct 2019 3:32 a.m. PST |
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Wealdmaster | 03 Oct 2019 6:46 a.m. PST |
Thanks, all great ideas. I think a combination of Time Cast and JR will be the ticket for me. For castle walls, I may try the ones from Magister Militum, not sure who manufactures those. It's funny how little some of the buildings in Italy changed over the centuries when you get looking around at it. |
Swampster | 03 Oct 2019 11:08 a.m. PST |
Their 'Italian' style walls are part of their own Battleground range, originally by Ian Weekly. There are a few Italian houses in the range as well but I preferred the JR (when they sold them). If you are ordering from Magister Militum, they have a few JR left – the Italian village gate would be nice – possibly as a converted Roman arch like in Verona. One of the most noticeable changes (apart from some palaces) is chimneys, and even they start to appear a lot earlier than in many countries.Even the chimneys don't stand out a great deal to spoil the look. To really get the medieval look, lots of towers would be good – San Gimignano was by no means unique, and that has lost a lot of towers and had them shortened since their prime. |
Condottiere | 03 Oct 2019 2:53 p.m. PST |
San Gimignano diorama depicting the city in the 1300s: link |
Swampster | 03 Oct 2019 11:47 p.m. PST |
I get an error from that link. link has a few views. |
Condottiere | 04 Oct 2019 5:34 a.m. PST |
Hmmm, links to my photos via google. Thanks for the link Swampster. |
Wealdmaster | 04 Oct 2019 9:13 a.m. PST |
That is a great link, and amazing how they seem to be more ahead of Western Europe at the time. I'm still considering cutting off chimney's from my buildings. After reading some more last night of the brilliant and complete treatment of the Normans in Sicily by John Julius Norwich I wonder how much different buildings in the 11th c would have looked to the ones in this link. Closer in time to the old Roman buildings and possibly not that much different. |
Swampster | 04 Oct 2019 12:54 p.m. PST |
Lorenzetti's idealised portrayal of Siena in his 'Good Government' painting is good inspiration (and shows a good number of towers). link The views of the exterior of the city may also be handy for showing terrain of the time. It is similar to the terrain where Montaperti was fought, including outcrops of white stone. In real life, the painting and its counterpart are amazing. Giotto's paintings show similar styles of buildings (again somewhat idealised and conforming to the needs of the painting) and some show city walls which might be handy. The towers on city walls are really tall. |
Wealdmaster | 04 Oct 2019 1:34 p.m. PST |
Thanks Swampster, I need to go back to Italy soon. I also found that Mirliton sells 2 books on this in Italian. One on battle of Montaperti. |
Swampster | 04 Oct 2019 2:17 p.m. PST |
The Montaperti book is nice. The Scramasax book on Campaldino has lots of coats of arms for painting too. |