I did a pirate/smuggler's inn & tavern and the caves beneath it. But I built the caves too small for The Maiden, so I kept the inn and gave away the caves. (They are now Skaven infested warrens.)

The Maiden bits used includes the ship's wheel and a couple of the cannon cut short and set standing on their coses in the ground on either side of the front door. I used the railings from the maiden around the edge of the pit. I stole the idea for the smuggler's inn from the tunnels at Rottingdean, England.

The inn is built into and onto two pieces of pink insulation foam, with a sheet of foamcore (white, not black - I didn't think of using black a the time, so I ended up painting it. The cellar is the lowest, and still has the opening into the caves, even though the caves aren't around anymore. I tell myself that one of these days... The remaining inn is shaped like an 'L', with the kitchen in the short portion, the dinning room and pit in the middle one, and the guest rooms in the long section.

Next up is the sunken dining area, with stairs leading down into the pit. this is where the lower bar is, the inn has two, one in the upper portion near the kitchen, and one in the pit, where only drinks are served. The sunken dining area is because I couldn't think of how to build a multistorie inn with a gallery, so I faked it. The main floor has a big (6 inch) square hole in it, cut through the insulation foam, with a sheet of foamcore glued to the bottom of the insulation, so that it comes between the ground floor and the cellar. Two sets of stairs lead out of the pit to the upper dining area. That said, I have never used the cellar layer in game, without the caves it seems kind of poinless, but it is not worth giving away either, I am simply keeping it for if I ever decide to do the caves again.

The upper dining area/gallery continues around the pit, two, three, or five inches wide, depending on where you measure. There is a second bar near the kitchen and the widest part of the gallery, where food can be obtained as well as drinks, set so the barkeep can keep an eye on the way into the guest rooms.

The upper two and a half upper stories are built onto foam core, and are removable, this is mostly the guest rooms. The stairs leading up to the second floor set so they can be seen by the innkeep/bartender. The innkeeper's apartment is in the rooms right above the kitchen, and has a seperate set of stairs, accessible only through the kitchen. The guest areas are shaped like a '+' with windows at the ends of three of the halls on each floor, and the fourt branch leading to the dining area. The half story is an attic above the innkeeper's apartment.

A smithy accompanies the inn, built to sit inside of the 'L'. This piece is actually the WotC blacksmith's, mostly because I had it handy and already built.

Right now I am thinking about starting over with the inn, keeping the general floorplan, but using elements from CWU and more bits from The Maiden. It was mostly built when the Maiden came out, I only added railings and decorative touches from the ship, but would like to add some windows that are more than gaping holes and shutters.

I would likely use mostly CWU bits for the inn proper, but I will probably wait until I see what Himmelveil has to offer. (Unless I am overcome by an urge to model, I hope I do, I miss that feeling, the last time I had it was right before Christmas, when I built a DM Screen and a goblin treehouse.) Come to think of it - while most of the treehouse was made out of wood I used the ratlines from the Maiden in lieu of ladders, so that might count too. I painted up a goblin for the recipient the year before, dressed as Santa, carrying a crossbow, with one brown eye and one green eye. Que, the person I gave it to is about four and a half feet tall, has one brown eye, and one green eye, and uses a crossbow in the SCA. Around Christmas he wears a Santa hat while at work. He loved the figure, and it has joined his Warhammer army as the Goblin shaman Kue...

Back to the Maiden and buildings - I also did a church using the forecastle of the Maiden, and built the hull beneath the forecastle to half normal height. The walls of the chapel were made with Interior Works: Castles & Keeps. This one was based on the Seafarer's Chapel in the movie Moby Dick. I intended to use it as a prize when I finished running a couple of games with it, but somebody stole it right out of the store. I was not pleased at all, at all.

The sad thing is how long it took me to realize that it wasn't at the shop anymore, then my first reaction was to try to figure out if I'd taken it home. No such luck, some of the customers had actually seen it being carried out, but didn't know who the model belonged to. I think that I will be rebuilding this before getting started on the inn again. It was a lot easier to build, and looked very good. Again CWU will make it a bit easier, though I will use the stained glass windows wall from Interior Works.

Between the inn/caves becoming obsolete before I finished it completely and the theft of the Mariner's Chapel I was a bit discouraged, even though I realize that I could do them better now.

Transparencies changed a whole lot of things. Now I would be using transparencies for the stained glass windows in Interior Works: C&K for the chapel, windows in the halls and around the common for the inn, etc. I also didn't think of building a second gallery using foam core, I was too focussed on the one dug into the insulation foam.

Having a second gallery, while perhaps not realistic, would fix a bit of awkwardness where the stairs lead up to the second floor guest hall. Right now I have a sort of bridge built from two of the stairways from Pubs & Inns built over the first floor guest hallway. When the second floor is removed the stairs and bridge remain with the first floor. My current idea is to create a double layred upper gallery, the lower layer made from matte board and hidden by the foamcore upper layer.

If I do I will have a tavern brawl for Mordheim and give it away to the winner, or maybe just give ut away as a birthday gift to somebody, hopefully somebody with a lot of room, the thing is pretty big, not Gormenghast big, but the biggest thing that I have yet built.

As a final note - having the program made laying out the floorplan of the inn and caves much, much easier.

The Auld Grump, rederanging his schedule, and as a result rambling...

Small tip Grump:



Get a Digital Camera!!!!!!


Lord Abaddon of Wormwood

Alms for the Grump

Alms for the Grump

Alms for the Grump


Camera for the Grump!




Sorry I couldn't resisit.




Lord Abaddon of Wormwood