I'm making a start on building a section of the the burned-out suburbs of Riga for the Sharp Practice games Richard P and I have planned. It's also something I may run at a future Lardy Day.
On 24 July 1812 the French army, in the form of Marshal Macdonald's X Corps, moved to threaten Riga. In line with a plan previously discussed with Minister of War Barclay de Tolly, von Essen, the military governor ordered that the Moscow and St Petersburg suburbs of the city be torched to deny their cover to a besieging army. The fire soon got out of control, however, and destroyed much of Riga-outside-the-walls causing great hardship to the residents.
I envisage a night-time operation involving opposing patrols stalking each other through the ruins. I have a 4'x4' cobbled city mat that should be ideal for this.
This painting gives some idea of the scene before the fire...
And this one of the fire at its height...
Having looked at a few photographs of burned-out villages made of largely wooden buildings, the overwhelming impression is of a forest of chimneys left standing among the ashes.
UPDATED: Here's yet another picture of the same scene - this time after the fire:
That's the effect I'm going for.
The one on the right was a first test piece. The one on the left is the first of the production run and is work currently in progress.
As I usual for my buildings these days, I'm using a base of PVC board covered in Tetrion. The chimney is made from Firedragon Games stone-textured foam sheets. The remaining wooden beams are broken pieces of MDF "sprue" left over from various building kits. I'm adding some roof tiles from thin card.
I don't think I'm going to get to the point where I can cover an entire 4'x4' board with such ruins. Looking at the paintings I can certainly justify some animal pens and other open areas. Maybe a stream flowing towards the Riga River (by that time part of the city's protective moat)?
2 comments:
Those certainly match my impression of burnt out wooden buildings. I'm thinking ACW images mostly but unless the buildings only had smoke holes there would be a chimney left in place. I'd expect some to be partially fallen but from the images I have seen in the main they seem to remain standing.
Thanks Elenderil! I was thinking I might have a go at doing one building with a partly collapsed chimney.
And now you've got me thinking about using these pieces in an ACW game!
Richard
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