One of the main terrain pieces required for our big colonial game at MOAB this year, "The Petite Race for Africa", was a slaver tembe, which was to be center stage.
For those who don't know what a tembe is, its simply a fortified structure used by both native Africans and slavers for defense. I believe it was first mentioned in the memoirs of Stanley on his journeys throughout Africa.
I spent a lot of time planning the tembe because I knew it was to play such an integral part in the scenario and needed it to look good and to be as functional as possible.
There are a lot of examples of other people's efforts in tembe building and that's where I started the build, scouring the net looking for images. The Lead Adventure Forum was a great source of inspiration.
After I had decided on the look I wanted I gathered together the materials. I chose foam-board for the walls, a mdf base, real twig palisade, along with the classic towel for roof thatching.
From there the build itself was relatively easy - just like a big jigsaw puzzle. Pictures tell it better than words. And because someone asked the Tembe measures 240mm wide by 360mm long and 55mm high. The central courtyard is slightly wider than the rooms.
