Simple Camps

Overview

This page gives examples of camps that are relatively easy to make. A few painted figures, some basing, maybe some items of vegetation or a tent or a big rock.

Simple camps can still be fun and interesting, and have the advantage of being relatively small on the map -- they can be built to create a camp with a relatively small footprint.

Many of these simple camps are minimum size for the Triumph! rules set, 40mm by 80mm (with 15mm scale figures); some are longer.

Piggy Camp

The livestock figures are Peter Pig, I believe; the boy feeding them is Essex. The tree might come from Woodland Scenics -- it is a found item repurposed, so I'm not sure. Works fine for a Cypress or whatever.

Turnip Wagon

Camps can be born in the imagination in many ways. In this case, I was looking at some brown mustard seed and I realized that they were just the right size for turnips in 15mm scale, and a great color already. So I bought a wagon (not sure of the manufacturer), added some pack figures (mostly Essex, I think) and painted them up. The balky mule's rope is a bit of string glued in place.

A useful camp for most Dark Ages or Medieval armies from places where tunics and hose were normal wear.

Viking Raid

The genesis of this camp is in the Essex figure of a Viking raider with prisoners. Add a typical Dark Ages thatch-roofed house, another Viking foot warrior, stick it on an appropriate sized base, and it's done.

Scratch-built Wagon

At one point I got frustrated by the figures available for wagons, so I built my own.

Some parts of it were a great success. The frame and pulling bar is built of round toothpicks. I embedded a number of pins in the frame, cut them to length, then wove dental floss to make simple wattle walls for the wagon -- that worked great.

The wheels were a nightmare to build, and didn't end up very round either. I'd recommend you find a source for wheels rather than building your own -- especially in the modern world of 3D printing. Scratch-building wheels in 15mm is time consuming and frustrating.

Figures are old Gladiator Medieval Peasants -- Robert Ochmann carvings. Very nice. The moulds have been sold several times since; I think the most recent was to Fighting 15s, which seems to have stopped casting in November 2024. Hopefully they sell the moulds to some other hobbyist to continue production at some point in the future.

Nomadic Yurt Camp

I don't even remember where I got these two Yurts -- it was a very long time ago.

This simple camp would be great for almost any nomad army that fought on the Eurasian Steppes - Turks of various flavors, Mongol Conquest, many others.

Shepherd Camp

The figure was originally a Greek or Macedonian soldier of some sort; maybe a pikeman? I bent some wire to make his shepherd's crook. Sheep are from Peter Pig, I'm fairly sure.

This is a beautiful example of the sort of diorama camp that just requires a few figures and a little imagination, but is very rewarding.

Camel Camp

The two baggage camels are Essex, I believe -- they are Bactrian camels native to the Silk Road, not the Arabian camels native to the North African and Arabian deserts. The other figure is a Hun style warrior on a Bactrian camel -- might be Gladiator, not sure.

This camp would be perfect for a variety of Dark Ages Steppe armies (Huns and their foes), especially on the Silk Road. Not so good for Huns in Europe.

Persian Camp

The tent is from Baueda; the Persian general is Essex, I believe. The hoplite could be anything -- note that I've used a pin for his spear, rather than cast lead.

This camp is for my Later Achaemenid Persian army.

Ming Chinese Camp

The main part of this camp is the five-layer pagoda. That's an aquarium piece with the paint slightly touched up, but otherwise unmodified. The walls around it are foamcore with balsa wood (or other craft wood) edging; the gate is entirely balsa wood and craft sticks.

This camp serves my Ming Chinese army.

Oasis

As many gamers and modelers, I often experiment with modeling water. In this case, I wanted a simple Oasis camp. The palm trees are casting metal; no idea what manufacturer. I wouldn't use them again anyway -- they are fragile, fussy, and now I have the skills to make good palm trees from scratch.

Regardless, this simple camp is very attractive and useful for fifty or more armies from the fringe desert regions of the Fertile Crescent, and even 25 years after I made it, I'm still happy with it.

Pecheneg Camp

Some Steppe armies used wagons a lot; the Pechenegs (Patzinak Turks) were one of those. I can't recall where I got these small wagons -- Falcon Figures, perhaps? Two of them work well for a small camp.

Roman Tent Camp

It's not hard to go fancy with Roman camps, but in this case I just had two typical Roman tents and I wanted something simple. Works for most Roman armies from the time of Marius until the end of the Western Empire, I expect.

Tamil Indian Kali Statue

Small votive statues are wonderful props for Hindu and Buddhist army camps. In this case a statue of the goddess Kali, with a little paint and some repurposed vegetation (a mixture of various aquarium, terrarium, and other pieces) gives a wonderful jungle camp for a Tamil Indian army.

Toothpick Palisade

This might be my first toothpick palisade camp. I use it for any Dark Ages roundshield army -- Welsh, often.

I do better work now, but it's still a nice little camp.

Dark Ages Palisade

Simple toothpick palisade. This uses round toothpicks, not the flat ones.

The back image shows the construction technique -- cut a piece of 1/2" plywood to shape, glue it to an MDF base, glue all the toothpicks to the side of that, then apply your basing material and flock.

Cut the tips of the logs by hand, don't use the toothpick taper. Way too regular. Don't try to cut all the toothpicks exactly the same length -- irregularity is your friend here.

Sarmatian Camp

The Sarmatians were closely related to the Skythians; they were fierce horsemen, opponents of the Greeks and Romans. They were allies and enemies of the Thracians and Dacians.

When I built this camp I had found some Roman casualty figures (I think from Freikorps) and was using them in lots of camps that fought the Romans. Paint one up, add a single horseman guard and some wild horses, and you get a nice little camp.

Skythian Herd

Skythians were the first major horse culture. Painting a horse herd with a Skythian guard made up a nice little camp without much work.

I like to make camps with a slightly irregular shape. There is no need to be rectangles; rectangles dominate the army in miniature wargaming too much as it is.

Sea Peoples

The Medinet Habu wall carvings give a number of detailed images of the Sea Peoples, including them fighting from wagons. This "camp" is made up of three such wagons, based individually on square bases. This allows me to use them as Horde stands in the army as well, if desired.

The figures are a mix of Essex and other manufacturers; I believe the two wagons on the left side are by Essex. Not sure about the manufacturer of the wagon on the right.

Central European City Gate

JR Miniatures used to produce a whole battery of 6mm scale scenic items, including castle walls, towers, and gates. This is two of their towers and a gate put together. The steep-roofed towers are typical of construction in the Germanies, Bohemia, Hungary, and Poland.

Hittite Tent

Figures are an Essex bearer (from their Arabic range, I believe), a Gladiator biblical peasant, and a Gladiator Syro-Canaanite archer.

Egyptian Tent

Figures are Gladiator, Essex, and Falcon Figures (the female civilian). Not sure where the oxen comes from.

Gallic Tent

The tent is Essex. The pig is Peter Pig. I'm not sure where the cookpot and fire comes from -- possibly Peter Pig? The Gallic civilian is Falcon Figures, I think.

Painting fire is hard. Painting Gallic stripes and checks is also hard.

Roman Tents

The hornblower and legio are both Essex. The two Roman tents might be Essex as well, not sure.

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