Terrain: St. Kevin's Church

I have always enjoyed building terrain to battle over. In fact it was the terrain section of the 3rd edition Catachan Codex that first drew me into the hobby. I had always enjoyed art and craft when I was younger and the possibility of making something that had a more practical purpose appealed to me. Varied terrain gives a much more evocative feel to things, adding a little bit more fun to one's battles.

First up is a piece I knocked up the other weekend. I had been looking through issue 270 of Wargames Illustrated which was themed around the Vikings in Ireland, an area that of course had local significance to me. Paul Davis wrote an excellent article on how to build an early Irish Christian church, based on St. Kevin's Church in Glendalough, Co. Wicklow. I haven't actually visited Glendalough but I plan on doing so soon in the future.

I won't go into too much detail of the building process as Mr. Davis does it far better. I followed the steps closely, only diverging at the end. I didn't have the time or resources to sculpt stonework in plaster so I just mixed sand into poster paint to create a rudimentary stonework.

I decided to leave off any specific religious iconography, allowing me to use this as a Christian church in any historical game I play, a Bretonnian or Imperial church for WFB or a remote Imperial church in 40k. It also puts me in mind of Graham McNeil's great short story, The Last Church, describing the last church on Terra after the Unification Wars.

Door made from coffee stirrers and lollipop sticks. As you can see, the walls and roof are all corrugated cardboard.



I hope to make this a regular feature, where I will post up the various terrain features in my collection. Having a dedicated gaming room, aka The Warhammer Room, aka Skavenblight, of course helps with the space requirements.

Upcoming terrain pieces:

• Cities of Death terrain.
• Trench system (winter).
• Jungle terrain.
• Village and graveyard.
• The Alamo!

Stay tuned!