Saxon Starter Homes!

Being a P.O.P.(poor old pensioner) and notoriously mean,I decided to make my own Saxon huts for the Vikings or Normans to burn,when we eventually get our armies on the board. In all fairness,I did price some Saxon huts from "Hovels", but at £10 a shot decided that I couldn't live on bread and water for the next month,hence the decision to go D.I.Y.

The top photo shows the careful drawing on black card of the plan of the huts,100mm long by 50mm high and 65mm at the gables-the corrugated cardboard is for the roofs,being 100mm by 120mm(allowing for overhangs)

The huts have been scored and assembled,using a piece of white sticky label to reinforce and hold together the ends....................

Sticky label in place-clever stuff!!!

Pop the roofs on,and they are now taking shape.The thatch on the roofs was going to be a problem,but I remembered that Charlie Wesencraft had made some similar huts and used "Teddy Bear" fur fabric for his thatching,so off I went to a fabric shop,and for a price of £4.50 bought enough of the damned stuff to,well, make a teddy bear!!! as well as thatching my huts.

In the best "Blue Peter" tradition,here's a hut I made previously,sitting on Teddy Bear fur fabric-one word of warning,if you're thinking of using this stuff,make sure (unlike me!) that your little wife hasn't "hoovered" the place,because it gets everywhere!!!!-aren't woman funny?-no sense of humour when bits of fur finds itself in food,cups of tea,on carpets,and in drawers!!! not to mention clinging to clothes like a demented Koala Bear!!!!

This shot shows the fur laid onto the roofs to see that the size is okay,and not too big-it is easily trimmed(but this is where the process gets messy and bits of fur keep floating around the house for ever!!!)

The fur has been stuck onto the roof ,using "copydex"(which is also very messy and tends to stick everything it touches including table tops,TV Times and mobile phone covers-well she shouldn't leave these things lying about the place!) and apart from trimming,the job is complete.

The Wife(ever critical,but fair!) pointed out that the huts had no doors or windows!-even my explanation that the hut deliberately didn't have either of these things,and that's why they called it the Dark ages(!!!) because it was always dark inside their huts,didn't seem to work,so I cut doors and windows from black card and stuck them on,giving the final item-Saxon huts D.I.Y.
I have made 4 huts which should be enough to represent a village,and no doubt they will figure in most of our Dark Ages games.