C is for Card Castle Comes Cut but Collapsed!

Part II

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 . . .