This page, and the five that follow it, show in a step-by-step manner how I built a model of a British redoubt from the Sudan.

The project began with this photograph from the book "Fuzzy Wuzzy: Campaigns in the Eastern Sudan, 1884-85" by Brian Robson (Spellmount Ltd., 1993). The photograph is of the west redoubt at Suakin. No concerted attack was ever made against this redoubt, Osman Digna being far too wily a desert warrior for that sort of recklessness. But I loved the look of it, what with the tent and blockhouse all in a compact zeriba, and decided it would make a perfect strongpoint for a game. Just because Osman Digna's Hadendowas never rushed such a fort doesn't mean mine can't. It would make a dandy outpost in need of relief, and an equally good sallying point for the patrol sent out to rescue the supply column.

There are three main pieces to the redoubt: the tent, the blockhouse, and the zeriba. That's how I tackled them.

One of my aims was to build as much as I could with materials that I had on hand and as inexpensively as possible. That goal was achieved marvelously. The only things I had to buy were a new jar of rubber cement and some bamboo skewers -- total cost about $4. Obviously, I had lots of things already on hand. But even if you had to go out and buy every bit of material (wood, card, beans, etc. -- I'm asuming you have glue, a straightedge, a compass, and a hobby knife) you could probably get by for $12 or less. That's far cheaper than what you would pay for something similar cast from resin or built by a professional terrain maker. The biggest investment is your time.

There are a lot of photos in this presentation (32 different shots, in fact). To speed things up, instead of loading all the photos with the pages, you need to click the hyperlinks to see whichever photos you are interested in. I'd like to think you'll be interested in all of them, but at least you won't have to sit and wait while the photos fill in all over the page. Let me know what you think about this approach: you can influence how I do things in the future.

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