Tuesday 28 May 2013

The Medieval Chapel

   Hey guys....
           Firstly, I'd like to apologise that this blog hasn't been updated for a while. Projects are starting to come together and we still have to try to get work out the door so as of late, it's been hectic to say the least. Nevertheless, it's great to be back!
           Anyway, the last time we updated we told you about our Kickstarter plans to produce our 28mm plastic medieval village. For the time being, we've decided to put these on hold. Taking your feedback into account, we realised that you wanted something to get your hands on pronto.
          After discussing the initial reaction to some of the designs we'd created so far we came to the conclusion that the best product to put on sale first would be the medieval chapel. This little beauty caused the biggest stir when we posted pictures of the prototype on our Facebook and Twitter pages.  In recent weeks, we've touched this up, 3D printed some prototypes and we've finalised our design. Finally, we're excited to say that the tooling for the chapel is now in production. So we decided the least we could do is dedicate this weeks blog to it....Enjoy! 

The Medieval Chapel

        The Middle Ages were dominated by religion, especially that of Christianity. Whether it was prayers and pilgrimages to churches and crusades, the regular family had little choice but to follow the Church and all of its teachings. Ranging from cathedrals to churches and chapels, places of worship were beginning to pop up all over the World. The risk of the fires of hell proved to be too much to bear for too many people. Men, women and children alike followed a strict daily prayer regime and these requirements lead to the development of religious chapels in castle grounds and small villages. These were used by the lord, their family and other members of the household.




      Chapels were often smaller-scaled churches, but differed to these churches as the chaplain was given a regular wage, often paid for by a nobleman. The point in doing this was that after the nobleman's death, the chaplain would carry on prayers for him ensuring the happiness of his soul and and a spiritual reward. Thus, chapels would often come in many shapes and sizes in a variety of locations, depending on the nobleman's choice. They were often two-stories high and extravagantly decorated with glazed windows and valuable ornaments.

      Ideally, the chapel was located within good distance of the main living quarters for easy access to the landlord and their family. However, it was also good practice to build the chapel next to the castle walls and the gatehouse. Therefore, during the enemies initial attack, they would be forced to fire upon it. War strategists believed that this was a good way of ensuring God would be on the side of the defenders during the battle.




      The design is inspired by a combination of buildings with medieval stonework and even incorporates some of the local features from various North Yorkshire Churches. Inside, players can battle within a building that contains an enthralling amount of detail including benches, candles and even an alter! We love the stone texturing which combines perfectly with the keystones to make the building look as detailed as possible.     
    
     The Tabletop Workshop Chapel has a 110mm long base which is 90mm wide. In terms of height the chapel stands at 140mm high which is sure to fit in with all 28mm scale games such as Mantic Games and Games Workshop's Warhammer perfectly. We also see the chapel as a building that can fit into a variety of wargaming boards. Due to it's stone texture we think it's design could be easily worked into any medieval, grass and apocalyptic designed board.
     




The Tabletop Workshop Chapel is set to be released in the coming months, expecting to be sold at approximately £20. You can follow progress of the Chapel and other Tabletop Workshop Designs at tabletopworkshop.enigmadesign.uk.com/, our Facebook page or our Twitter feed.