Charcoal Kilns - Miniature Wargames issue 516

The latest issue of Miniature Wargames (issue 516 - April 2026) features these scratch built Charcoal Kilns. The inspiration came from a YouTube video of a Narrow Gauge railway model which had similar kilns in the foreground. A further YouTube and Google search produced hundreds of kiln designs and I thought that building two would produce unique pieces of timeless wargame terrain.

My first action was to produce this pencil sketch (it really should have been a charcoal sketch!).

Blue foam cores were cut and shaped with a hot wire cutter and sanded with coarse sandpaper. Later I glued hand cut dowels of balsawood which were glued in place with superglue and then DAS modelling clay was used to fill any gaps and add texture.

The bases were cut from 3mm thick plastic card and then built up with more DAS before sieved stones and sand was glued in place with PVA glue.

Painting followed the images I had found on the internet.

After varnishing with Galleria matt varnish the bases were decorated with dyed sawdust and ground foam.

The first image (at the top of the page) shows a pair of 28mm scale Flintloque Elves or Ferach. The image below has a group of Pax Bochemannica Halfling Boche which are mounted on to 1p pieces.

The final image shows a 40mm tall barbarian on a 40mm round base.

Charcoal kilns have existed since pre-Roman times, can be built from wood, stone or earth and can be found all around the world as such they make great generic pieces for your wargame table.

I might even build a couple more.....

Tony

Jason Buck - The hare that stole the Sun Kings crown

Last night Sue and I went to see Jason Buck (again). This time the story was The hare that stole the Sun Kings crown and performed at the Temperance Bar, Leamington Spa.

Like the earlier story Slain - The Horned God that we had seen in Ludlow Assembly Rooms back in February this performance was fantastic. A much smaller audience but just as enthralling and we are even talking about a third visit later in the year.

For more information about this tale see this link.

Or for more about Jason see this link.

Tony

Glastonbury Chapel - revisited

Sue and I have recently returned from a visit back 'home' to Swansea. While visiting my mother, uncle and aunt I was telling them about the model of a Glastonbury Chapel that had appeared in Miniature Wargames issue 509 - for more information see this link. I was asked how I went about modelling the chapel and in particular where I got the inspiration from. Although a lot of this information can be found in MW issue 509 I thought that some additional information and images might be worth posting.

The chapel is based on St Patrick's chapel which is situated just within the walls of Glastonbury Abbey but before you enter the Abbey through the main charged-for entrance.

Here are some photographs I took while visiting.

Always try to include at least one image with something to scale up the building, in this case a couple of innocent passers-by.....

From these images and some on-site sketches I produced these detailed drawings.

The core of the model chapel was constructed from corrugated cardboard, foamboard and modelling foam. I have used a mixture of PVA glue and my hot glue gun to construct the model.

DAS modelling clay, ready-mixed filler and more foam were used to both refine the shape and build up the groundwork which was built over a rough oval of 3mm thick plastic card. Note how I have 'blended' the base of the walls into the groundwork.

Moving on quite a bit I have added both texture and detail to the base and constructed the bell tower and cross from foam and plastic card. In this image I have begun to paint the walls a dull putty colour as seen in the original images.

The roof is a combination of WILL's tiles plastic roof sheets (designed for HO-OO model railways) and card (the lower edges).

More detail painting and the chapel is nearing completion. Note how the damp discolouration is climbing the lower wall base and the strong contrast between the tiled and slated roof materials.

The final two images show the finished chapel with dyed sawdust and ground foam added to the groundwork.

This is the first time I have added such a detailed description and included additional images of a model that has appeared in MW and if it proves of interest to my readers and followers I will try to produce more.

Miniature Wargames issue 509 is still available to order from the MW web pages.

Tony

Slaine The Horned God - with storyteller Jason Buck

Last night Sue and I accompanied by our daughter Holly were privileged to see the fantastic storyteller Jason Buck re-tell the tales and mythology behind Slaine - The Horned God at The Assembly Rooms , Ludlow.

I had seen this performance highlighted on Facebook earlier this year and suggested that I might like to go and see it. Holly and Sue bought the tickets for me as an early birthday present and even though I had seen reviews of this one-man on stage performance and was looking forward to seeing Jason for the first time, I was 'blown away' by the storytelling and enjoyed every minute of the two hour performance.

One man claiming a huge cinemas stage and without any props holding the audience of over two hundred in the palm of his hands - true traditional storytelling at its very best 10 out of 10.

Just days before at my grandsons birthday party, we were asked by Finley and Charlie 'who are you going to see?' Jason Buck - the storyteller. 'Oh' said Charlie, 'we've seen him, he's performed at our school and he lives not far away from us in Leamington Spa!'

So this confirms our belief that Finley aged 11 and Charlie aged just 8 are true connoisseurs of classic comics and traditional storytelling!

For more information about Jason, see this Facebook page.

Finally. I am aware that Jason is planning an on-line performance for March 22. For details see this link. If you can not see him in person, I guarantee that this will be a very special performance.

Tony

Magazine article inspiration?

I'm hoping for a little help. As many readers and followers will know I have been scratch building models for the wargame table for some time and then writing tutorials or articles in various magazines but I am now looking for some new and fresh inspiration as to what I should model next. I already have a number of articles with the editor or Miniature Wargames but am looking to produce something original for later in the year. Have you got any suggestions?

The more original or 'off the wall' the better as I am looking for a challenge.

Thank you in advance

Tony

A scratch built French Storehouse - Miniature Wargames issue 515

It was back in 2019 that John Treadaway, editor of Miniature Wargames asked me to write a short series of articles showing how I built simple and affordable wargame terrain for my gaming table - 73 consecutive magazine articles later I thought it would be fun to revisit this brief and I set about producing this 28mm scale scratch built French Storehouse.

Built over a core of corrugated cardboard and 'plastered' with a mix of ready-mixed filler and DAS modelling clay with thin foam roof tiles the simple model was constructed over the 2025 Christmas holiday period on the kitchen table as the weather was too cold to work in the shed.

Painting was also simple with a pale cream base and tinted acrylic paint variation on the walls and grey, drybrushed lighter grey for the roof. Detail painting was done with more acrylics and I used watercolour pencils to add distress and streaks.

As you can see I did not add a base to this particular model - a homage to the original 2019 brief and request.

For more information and to see the contents of MW issue 515 (March 2026) see this link.

For regular readers and followers, I can confirm that issue 516 will contain another scratch built model and article - for more information, you will just have to wait a little longer.

Finally; I would be interested to hear from modellers if they would like these updates to include more (or less) information and/or illustrations. My own view is that I could add more images and descriptions without taking away from the published magazine article but I also know that these teasers could help magazine sales and at this moment I am confident that any sales are both good for the publishers and the retail areas.

What do you think?

Tony 

A £3.00 charity shop find - Fischer Technik

A recent visit to Stratford - upon - Avon and I came away with this collection of Fischer Technik construction toy parts for £3.00. That's the first three images of part for just £3.00. (There was just too much for just one image).

Bargain.

For anyone not familiar with this construction toy, see this link.

I already have a collection of Fischer Technik parts which my grandsons play with but this addition should make me the best Bampi in the world.

I have decanted ALL the parts in to a new plastic crate and can't wait to see their faces the next time they visit.

Tony