Continuing with Meri Meri and their not-a-toy centre piece, which seem to be a toy
castle! It goes together very well, because I got a second-hand one I wonder if
the purchaser of a new one might have to punch sections out of sheets, but
suspect not because of A) the number of different sized bags in matching
cellophane and B) the fact that the whole gatehouse section seems to be a
factory-assembled 'sub-assembly'.
Four outer walls; four pairs of slots,
easy! Towers are a bit distorted by the way they wrap-around themselves, but
are held square (hexagonal!) by the towers once they are fitted over the ends.
The gatehouse - as stated above - seems to
be pre-constructed and just needs unfolding (like a pop-up book) and slotting
into place, however it took me a minute to sort out the chains so that the
portcullis would fall as the drawbridge was raised! And - I never got to fully
prevent the inner wall from showing at an angle.
Finally the two inner living-quarter
sections with walkways are slotted into the towers; holding everything square,
while a separate sheet makes the walkway behind the gatehouse, which is set
slightly higher - like Airfix's
'Sherwood'.
A few closer shots, you can see that the
fort (not a toy, oh no, no, no, no, no!) whould look better with 54- or even
70mm figres that the 90's supplied, and the battlement walkways are wide enough
for fights to be arranged with smaller figures.
Even 25- or 30mm figures woiuld look OK
with most of the details (look at the tower doors!), while cavalry in 54-mil
would manage two-abreast through the gates, and at wargaming-scales three- or
four-abreast would be achievable.
Although, while the collapsible nature of
the fort make travel to gaming sights/nights easy, I'd probably tone-down the
scarlet battlements with a dry-brush of something a bit grimmer!
The effort of setting up something like
this on the lawn for a photo-shoot means that there's no way you're going to
stop at the odd two or three shots you actually need, so here a few more! It needs
a moat!
Remember, it's NOT a toy and Dragons are
for a thousand years - not just Christmas! Look at 'im; 'e only wants to play -
but those 'orrid tin monkeys, with their stabby, pointy sticks . . .
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