Building a Malaccan Town

Painting time has been limited over recent weeks, as a result another small painting project seemed in order. This time it was centred on something for the south east Asia. I will call it a Malaccan town but it will do service as a generic town or village in the area of modern day Indonesia between the 13th and early 16th Century.

This town will be used with the Ancient & Medieval rules De Bellis Antiquiatis (DBA) and as such deals with the period immediately prior to the arrival of the Portuguese in 1511. The period covered includes the Majapahit and Singhasari Kingdoms as well as the Sultanates of Malacca and Aceh. For those familiar with the DBA rules that is those armies defined as list IV/37 Indonesian & Malay 1222 AD – 1511 AD. That said the buildings would suit many other Southeast Asian kingdoms.

The village viewed from one side showing three different building types

In DBA terms such a town is defined as being “either a small inhabited area of scattered or grouped houses among small enclosed fields, or a larger village or town with denser housing, but no defences except to keep out animals”. I determined to model the latter. As before I didn’t want the town to be too large and as such it needed to sit on a 10cm x 12.5cm plasticard base with individual buildings removable. The buildings being removable is important as the entire area of the town is considered by the rules as being “rough going” with the miniatures being able to move freely through the area defined by the town perimeter.

As before I selected to use 1/300th scale buildings and for this project opted for those by Timecast Models. Timecast models while true to scale are often large so I always treat their range with a degree of caution. However the specific models I used are “28/0001 South Vietnamese Village Huts” and “28/002 Montagnard Village Houses” and I am very happy with their size for this project. Each of these codes contain two building types and combined provides plenty of variety. They were all undercoated black before undergoing a series of dry brushes and highlighted to bring out the detail and create depth.

Viewed from on short side highlighting building diversity.

A couple of the buildings are raised above ground level on poles. This raised section on the model is solid with minimal relief, so I needed to create the illusion of depth. To achieve this the main area was treated with a very dark grey (Vallejo 70.995) while the bottom was painted to represent long grass. Poles were painted a brown with highlights to represent light falling on portions of the poles. Together they combine to create the visual illusion of depth and shadow.

As outlined in an earlier post the base is treated with a caulking compound except where each building sits, these positions having been planned out to enhance building variation. Once dry the base is painted and highlighted before flock is added to merge the base with my miniature and terrain basing. The area underneath the building uses the same painting technique with highlights applied, but without caulking. This blends the base reasonably well even when a building is removed. Finally, the edge of the base is lined black for additional definition.

15mm miniatures advance past the town on the way to victory.

This short article wouldn’t be complete without some photos of the miniatures for scale comparison. Above, Malaccan miniatures advance past the town. The miniatures themselves are from Eureka Miniatures and are from their Grumpy 15mm Indonesian & Malay line. Those on the right are warriors while those in the centre and left are skirmishers.

Miniatures engaged in battle in the confines of the town during a recent game.

Above, a photo of the miniatures and town during a game with an elephant advancing against Malaccan foot who are trying desperately to defend the town. Here one of the buildings has been removed as the miniatures advance through the town.

That completes another small project and one that should provide some interest, both visually and tactically, in upcoming games.