The Pele Tower

Pele towers are small, fortified medieval tower houses built between 1350 and 1600 along the Anglo-Scottish border and in Northern England. Designed for defence against Border Reivers, these three to four -story stone towers featured thick walls, barrel-vaulted basements for livestock storage, and flat roofs for surveillance.

They served as safe houses for the local people and sometimes as homes for minor gentry. They were built to withstand short sieges and provide quick refuge against raids.

They often have flat roofs for watchmen, crenelations for defence, and sometimes, iron beacon baskets on top to signal when attacks occur. They are found predominantly in Northumberland, Cumberland, and Westmorland (modern-day Cumbria) and Dumfries and Galloway. Many churches in the region built these towers for protection, particularly in Northumberland such were the extent of the depredations of these “accursed people”

There are two structures that define this period of conflict, the Pele Tower and the Bastle House (more about that one later) and I wanted both in our game. My initial idea was to create them from XPS because I do like making things that way and I haven’t done so in a long time. I liked the thought of the challenge. However, I now know a 3d printing wizard Christianus of the Bailey, and he suggested using this instead.

https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-small-scottish-bastle-house-28-32mm-486865

It’s obviously strongly influenced by Smailholm Tower, it looks pretty much identical. And it is perfect for our game. This link has some drone footage of Smailholm

https://fabulousnorth.com/smailholm-tower/

I am a complete newbie to this modern 3d printing newfanglery and I was very impressed. It is printed in plastic. It has lots of internal doors which can be hinged and my first thought was “we could play a whole game of Ruckus INSIDE this building!”

And so there will be such a scenario!

I sprayed it. I never spray anything. I used a rattle can. It was quick but smelly. I don’t know what the paint is, it certainly isn’t acrylic, cellulose?

whatever it was it was cheaply bought from Craft and More. It did not take paint well on top of it, I think I may have been better to have brushed acrylic on as an undercoat as it took quite a lot of painting to cover this rather bright grey.

A very dilute mix of cheap black and brown acrylic paint as a heavy wash over the vivid grey. Can grey be lurid? This one was. I had to paint over it twice!

A heavy dry brush with a cheap brown. I watched my friend Martin Brooks (7^th son wargaming) video on how he painted his castle, for inspiration, you can see it here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNymSvkhOHo

I then lightly dry brushed it with Citadel Ushbati bone. I was aiming for realistic rather than dramatic

tis a messy business!

The doors and floors I painted with AP Fanatics Banshee brown

The Upper Floor

the tower has removable interior walls. Some of the wood here is quite rough and has an unfinished unplaned look, it got the Banshee treatment..

The wood I highlighted with Citadel Baneblade and Gorthor Browns. The hinges I did in black and highlighted with Citadel Dark Reaper

The internal door frames I painted to match the stonework

the frames are cleverly printed with a hole for a rod to hinge the doors on! That we should live to see such times! Glory be!

Cue brass rod and wire cutters!

Ta dah! Very satisfying

They even remembered a little hole for the front door, so clever…

The cellar doors also are hinged. I am not sure how historically accurate this is, but it is there so…

Finished! I used a different series of greys for the flagstones and the slate roof tiles.

The basement! I wanted it to look a bit lived in and, if I am honest, to hide some of the slabs, which because of the printing process look a bit odd when washed. I used Krautcover soil and some brown ballast, the “straw” I have had for many years, I have no idea where it came from. It is very fine almost like hair.

I found the sconces on eBay . March of War! And very nice they are I bought 30 for £10!

The top floor! The interior walls are painted with Citadel Steel Legion Drab , Tallarn Sand and Karak Stone. The OSL effect was achieved with a light yellow and a mid-orange diluted with glaze medium.

The planking is done with the same recipe as the doors but highlighted with Citadel Ushbati Bone and then glazed with sepia ink.

Hooray the doors open!

this well-kept property features many modern conveniences…or …the dunny!

The first floor. The Tower has one removable external wall on each of the two middle levels which I think will look great at Partizan.

The first floor with the interior wall removed. The interior walls are another impressive feature of this tower, each has its own opening interior door. Each is finished with rough wood and stone on one side and smooth planed wood on the other. Brilliant!

the removable interior walls are identical on each level and feature an opening door

the second floor, but where does that door lead?

A second convenience! This is a posh Tower

The OSL has to laid on much thicker than I would normally do so on a figure. Ink disappears into the stonework, so I used diluted paint.

Hooray! I am quite pleased with this. I think we will leave these walls off at Partizan and fill the Tower with interesting members of the household and a few pieces of furniture.

The tower comes with magnet holes which I filled with 5mm x 1mm magnets however they seem to be unnecessary as the walls fit so well and simply click into place.