After enjoying a Blood & Swash game set in Buck Surdu's Ruptured Swordfish tavern I was determined to build my own pirate bar. This turned out to be easier (and cheaper) than I expected. Hopefully this article will give you a few ideas you can use in constructing your own tavern.

The Box

I wanted a large tavern, about 2' X 1', with room for a couple of back rooms and low walls so that it would be easy to see and move the figures. I also wanted to be able to fold up the tavern and keep the furniture inside to make transportation easy. A friend pointed out that I had just described a pizza box. After ordering a small cheese pizza and disposing of the contents I had my tavern. I used tape to reinforce the corners. The only drawback to using a pizza box is that the walls tend to sag outward near the middle of the box. I made two rooms, with a hallway between them, by gluing box tops from a model car kit into the back corners.

The Walls, Windows, and Doors

I spray painted the walls white, inside and out, then used some textured paint (American Accents Stone Creations) to make them look like stucco. The pizza box has two flaps at the center. I used a box cutter to remove one of these, creating a large door. I had some door and window frames left over from a HO scale model house. I used these to trace out and cut a second door in one corner, and several windows. I used Krazy glue followed by Elmers glue to stick on the frames. They were painted brown after the glue dried. If you don't have any spare model parts you could frame them using craft sticks. I glued craft sticks (the little rectangular ones) on the walls, inside and out, to simulate vertical support beams. These were also painted brown.

Floor

I wanted the floor to look like wood planking. This effect was produced cheaply and easily with contact paper, which has the added bonus of coming with its own adhesive on the back. You can get a good-sized roll for about one dollar. I chose a light wood grain. Ruler and black permanent marker were used to draw the planking. Black dots to represent nails added to the effect. I used the black marker to color the floor along all the walls to conceal any gaps between the contact paper and walls. One problem I ran into was that box folds in the middle of the floor when you close it. One way to handle this to avoid gluing down the flooring. But the paper tends to curl at the edges if it isn't glued. I decided to use my box cutter to score the flooring where the box bends.

Flagons and Bowls

I created some nice looking flagons by purchasing some packs of Lara's Crafts "Micro Spools" at the local craft store. I simple trimmed off the top rim of the spools with a knife and painted them silver so they look like they are made from pewter. You should paint the center hole black if the flagon is supposed to be empty. The head on a full mug can be made using a bit of foam padding. I used the gray foam from Foundry blister packs. A small piece was cut and glued into the hole to simulate suds. I painted the foam "parchment," leaving the inside gray to give a three dimensional look. The flagons look nice although they are a bit too large and lack a handle. I used Lara's Crafts "axle caps" for bowls. All they need is a little paint and they are ready to use.

Potted Plants

I wanted to create some potted plants to add a little color to the tavern. The pots were made from Lara's Crafts "Mini Candle Cups," seven for 99 cents. I filled the tops with sculpey clay and baked them hard. I then drilled out a hole in each for the plant. I wanted to make them palm trees (homage to "Mister Roberts") but I couldn't find any that were the right size. Instead I trimmed off some pieces of trees that had come off of a terrain piece from Scenic Terrains. They have plastic trunks and limbs with lichen glued to them. I glued the trunks into the holes I had drilled. The pots were painted terra cotta and the sculpey was painted brown. The trees tend to tip over rather easily which I don't see as much of a drawback (stuff happens when you have a brawl) but you can put some weight onto the bottoms.

The Treasure Room

The tavern's treasure room is accessed through a trap door. I put a black square of paper at the end of the back hall to represent the trap door. I got a small plastic ladder from yet another HO scale model kit and cut off the top two rungs. This piece was glued to a penny so that it stuck up vertically. I painted the penny black and put it on the trap door. The treasure room itself is separate from the rest of the tavern. It's basically just a square of cardboard (no walls). The treasure room has several feet of water in it (with an alligator guardian) so I painted the cardboard blue. A sandy landing under the ladder and another across the room for the strong box were created using Elmers glue and beach sand. There is a log (actually the back of the alligator) in the water. I picked up a broken piece of tree branch and cut it to size. Then I cut it in half length-wise and put it on the cardboard to represent the "log."

Smirnoff's Office

There is an area in the back of the bar where the bar's owner, Captain Smirnoff, conducts his business. I made a wall out of a piece of cardboard glued vertically to a penny and painted to match the walls. A desk and chair from Ertl's Cow Town were added to make a nice workspace for the good captain. A little brown paint and a black wash will spruce up the furniture. I added a cute painting of an iguana wearing a pirate hat to add a little character to the area. I created the painting by printing the picture on my computer and gluing it to some card stock. The picture came from the logo of a Mexican restaurant web site which I altered using Adobe PhotoDeluxe. A magic marker was used to make a frame and the picture was stuck to the wall using some clay. The advantage of using clay is that the picture can be easily taken down and put back up.

The Bar

The bar area has a front and two sides. Two of the sections came from Cow Town. The third section I made with pieces of wood left over from building the tables. Jack Daniels, the bar tender, keeps a loaded swivel gun behind the bar. Gouging a hole in the bar with the point of a knife and painting the rim silver made a simple gun mount. Several barrels, looted from a HO scale model brewery, are stacked against the wall behind the bar.

Tables and Benches

Rectangular tables and benches were made with wood from the local arts and crafts store. Look around in the unfinished wood section for some cheap pieces that are about the right size. After trimming the wood (I rounded the edges on my tables) I used Krazy Glue to attach some legs and to glue together some benches. Finish them off by painting them brown.