From SimonG: A Final Flourish - The Temple Mount CE 70 in 28mm (1390 points)

For my final post of this challenge I'm delighted to serve up my big project for the past six months -- a recreation of a slice of the Temple Mount and Antonia Fortress at the time of the Jewish Revolt CE 66-74.

Something's Afoot!

Historic Context

There is still an ongoing archaeological debate as to what exactly the temple mount looked like. Given the ongoing religious and political sensitivity at the site it's not practical to go digging it up so there's still lots of room for alternative theories.  While most representations of the Antonia Fortress see it as some complex multi tower structure there is one theory that it was actually a Roman Military fort linked to the mount itself by two foot bridges -- these bridges are described in some detail by Josephus.

In part because modelling this layout seemed feasible I chose to build a slice of the corner of Antonia and the start of the two bridges as shown in the illustration above. In real life the bridges were about 600' long so at 2' each this either represents appx 20% of the bridge, or it's more of an approximation (lets say a 3-5x scale up). Incidentally I think one could use the exact same layout for a good mass combat game at 12-15mm scale which sounds like a possible future project!

Construction Approach

The base elements of the model are six Panel Systems Craftfoam 24"x24"x4" (600x600x100 for those in Europe!) slabs -- a great material that is easy to work with but does dent easily so treat it carefully. The architectural elements are a mix of Sarissa and Empires at War MDF kits but most have been customised.

Buildings and base before cladding

The specifics to get the required finish included

• Carving out the rough West side into the panels (across two that stack) and finishing with Geek Gaming Modelling Compound which is a base for scatters and also gives a good rock effect in itself;
• Building the two walkways from eight Sarissa aqueducts;
• Cladding all wall surfaces (including into the base panels themselves) with a thin layer of room temperature hardening modelling clay which was rolled for brick or random stone texture;
• Using the same approach for the walkways themselves and for the ground in the temple section;
  
• Making up a simple wall to edge the West side of the temple walkway area with lengths of MDF finished with clay cladding;
• Tiling the roofs of the Sarissa temple and workshops with card tiles;
• Carving a stair way into the base and adding scratch built stairs and a re-purposed Empires at War main door;
• Painting in a wide selection of Wilko matt sample pots with Citadel washes (the main walls are thinned Reikland Flesh Shade which gave a great pinky Petra like effect) and dry brushing;
• Finishing the interiors and floors of the Temple and Workshops with printed mosaics and printed painted walls;
• And a good selection of attractive flowers and greenery flocks on the temple section to contrast with the dry/business like fortress.

Two panels stacked and carved

Extra effort to add tiles

Papered temple walls and floor - suitably smoke blackened!

The parts in finished form

The Finished Product

The final piece is a 4' square with two levels of playing surface. This allows for multiple scenarios with either side as aggressor or defender. I'll add some ladders and other siege machinery to allow for scenarios in which the Romans are attacking from their ramp on the top side in the shot below. The scenario set out here has the Jewish revolutionaries attacking from the temple side across the bridges into the Antonia fortress with the Romans rushing to respond.

I still have some more scatter elements to add but in the main part it's pretty much finished (other than a statue and other pieces for the temple interior).

And the points?

I reckoned points using the standard cube method for all of the 3D elements and then half points for the flat finished surfaces such as the clad walls and rough stoney grass area -- I'm not claiming any points for the large sandy surface of the fortress or for the stone clad ground within the temple bridge area but as every the Minion's verdict is final!

All dimensions in the table below are good old Imperial Inches!

By my calculation I should be good for 284 points which will at last take me to my 1000 point target for the challenge.

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With this last entry I'll bid farewell for this time and want to extend my thanks to our esteemed minion Tamsin and all of the Tuesday crew plus of course as always to the Snow Lord himself and the gracious Lady Sarah!

What mystery awaits?

Next year perhaps I might get to the Temple itself (anyone know of a stock of Roman columns as I'll need loads and loads of those!)

I'm sorry to say this, but your points claim for these hills is woefully inadequate compared to MartinC's recent range of hills. You leave me with no option but to increase the claim based on a guesstimate of the actual volume - I reckon the volume of all the bits you claimed a discount on the surface area of (rather than volume) comes to about 57 cubes. Adding on the 12.5 cubes for the bits you correctly claimed, that gives you 1390 points for this submission.

Tamsin