From MilesR: Martello Tower (46 Points)

My last submission from the holiday period is this Martello tower.  Like the ships in some earlier submissions, this model is from Thoroughbred Miniatures.  It's a single resin cast piece with metal detail parts and figures.  I love the model and it was fun to paint up.  I'll present a series of pictures rotating the piece in a clockwise direction.  First we can see the entry way side which is easily defensible from and raiding Frenchies

Side two

Side three - why is there a rock face there?  Just wait.

Side 4

and, finally the top where a rather big gun of a 360 degree tavern is waiting to reign fire down upon the French.  This casting was a simple model to build up but I really like how it came out.

The main cast is superb - no air bubbles at all.  However it was damaged during shipping.  The owner of Thoroughbred (Toby) offered to replace the tower for no charge but since it was 95% intact, I declined and used the minor break as an opportunity to customize the model.

A little bit of Extrude Polystyrene Foam (Pink insulation foam) combined with a few minutes of carving and a suitable rock face covers the gap.  I think it makes the model look great.

I do want to be very clear about one thing - Thoroughbred Miniatures has terrific quality products and service and I recommend Toby's services highly.  Sometimes "stuff" happens in shipping and Toby did offer to replace the piece free of charge and free shipping.  Please don't consider this minor breakage as anything negative about Thoroughbred Miniatures.

Points wise, this stout little tower should net me the following:

6, 15mm figures = 12 points
1, 15 mm gun = 2 points (it's not really a "full" gun)
Tower = 30 points
bonus = 2 points

Total 44 points

Why 30 points for the Tower.?  Volume-wise it comes in at 384 cubic inches and the 6x6x6 inch cube equals 216 so that's roughly 1.78x the standard terrain unit.  Let's round that down to 30 and there you have it.

What a thing of beauty....... the calculation for the points of the terrain piece I mean..... We have cubic calculations, volume, roundings.... the only thing that would have made it perfect would have been the inclusion of Pi, but it's the weekend so I shan't be churlish and dock you any points for it's omission but it's good to see that you've remembered what we have all been taught in school and Shown Your Workings!

Anyway, enough of maths and onto the pretty models.  What a splendid idea on the little rockface and I doff my cap to you sir for not asking for a new model (and then using both anyway) as it can't be easy for manufacturers shipping delicate pieces in the post.  The rockface makes it unique which is a bonus so I'm chucking a couple of bonus points your way for the conversion.  The tower itself looks properly ominous to face, so I pity the ships who will have to sail towards it......