Small scale ruination.

 So GW recently announced all the terrain they're relaunching for Legions Imperialis, and I must admit it is very pretty, but very likely to cost a pretty packet too. And there are lots of issues with those tiles I'm not going to get into here, but I don't think I'll be buying any of the GW terrain sets, well maybe the industrial set with the cranes etc,,,,,,,

A while back I was looking on eBay and I spotted some modular plastic terrain that I stuck in my watchlist then received a very generous discount as an offer a few days later, so like the sucker I am I bought it. Shortly after a flat white carboard box arrived with a bag full of multiples of the following plastic parts that had been clipped from their sprues. (The window shutter in the doorway comes attached.)

The edges are all bevelled to 45° angles so they can be glued at right angles in either direction, to make straight runs you'll need to use the buttress pieces which fit into the resulting channels.
The floor pieces also help hold the corners square. The panels are 5cm squares.

After a bit of gluing last night and then again tonight I got to this point.

A closer shot so you can see some detail.

And then a shot of all the pieces on a 2' by 4' board so you can what £27 will get you.

The kit, alongside others is available from Trouble Maker Games. (Alongside nuns with guns.)

Is it as pretty as GWs plastic? That's in the eye of the beholder, but realistically, no.
Is it limited? Yes, but so is any modular terrain system, it's plastic so can easily be cut and glued.
Is it cheap? That's always subjective, from my viewpoint it offers good value, was quick to assemble and should be painted quickly enough, my plan is to use some texture paint and washes, so on that note I'm off to B&Q to look at spray cans of Rustoleum project paint. (Well not right away, they're closed.)

There's a picture of me under procrastinate in the Encyclopedia Brittanica....

...or there should be.

I have been doing wee bits and pieces now and then including starting into Napoleonics, which was sort of inevitable now that I am closer to 90 than being born.

I had a load of 15mm figures from Napoleon at War which was abandoned by its creator for some reason and traded away 1/2 of it for a big box of Warlord Games 28mm stuff. And after sorting through that, and despite preferring the Peninsular era, have decided to do the 100 days campaign and concentrate on the battle at Quatre Bras as my focus for building both sides of that engagement, only having to add Rifles and Highlanders so far.

I even got a Regiment painted, I have decided to play with regiments rather than Battalions for the time being.

I decided that speed rather than display quality painting was my goal here so have used contrast paints, I reckon I could churn a unit out a night if I get the chance to actually sit and paint, but 2 young children and a dog sort of limits me still.

Despite focusing on Quatre Bras (Is Trois Bras a garment worn by Martian prostitutes?) I also started building a farmhouse based on La Haye Saint. Using plans provided by wargames Illustrated to accompany issue 358, which I managed to nab before they went behind a pay wall...

I am planning to do a tutorial on how I make and detail the small barn which principles will apply to the whole set of buildings.

A place to hide. Part 3.

A post originally found on my Burning my Fingers blog.

While deciding how to do my woods I nearly landed on the idea I am presenting here, I spied it on another gaming blog but unfortunately I don't know which one, and no doubt it is not a wholly original idea.

I haven't actually assembled these just laid them out to show you all an alternative idea.

I started by buying some hexagonal bases from Warbases (Worth checking out anyway.) I think these are 40mm.  Then going back to part one of this tutorial I replaced the washers with the hexagonal bases.

Then it is just a matter of arranging the hex based woods as you see fit on the table top.

Probably a lot simpler than the method I settled on, and far more modular enabling you to make wooded hills and follow rivers etc a bit easier, but maybe not as aesthetically pleasing.

A place to hide. Part 1.
A place to hide. Part 2.

A place to hide. Part 2.

This post first appeared on my blog, Burning my Fingers.

So after getting excited and devouring the new FoW rule book (Also going to Kenya to get married.) I have finished making my woods.

I started by getting some 3mm MDF from a local DIY store and marking out rough areas of the bases and where I want the tree bases to sit on each base, I don't make them too dense as woods are area terrain and true LOS isn't involved, just enough to make the base look like a wooded area.  About 8-9 on each base.

I then router out a 1.5mm deep 26mm recess where I want each tree base to sit.  26mm twin flute router bits are not cheap and you would need a router with a 1/2" collet, I'm just lucky enough to have one available to me.  An alternative would be to use a 26mm hole cutter and gluing 2 piece of MDF together once you have the holes cut, a drill would suffice for this, though you will have thicker bases for your woods.

Or, if you have some skill with a router, making a template and using a smaller bit is also a possibility.

As I am using a 26mm bit which is designed for cutting channels there is a small raised area in the centre of each recess, these are easily chiselled away.

The more astute of you will of already realised I routered out the recesses before cutting the bases out, this makes the sheet of MDF easier to control when you are using a tool trying to spin it around at a rate of knots.  So once I have all the recesses done I cut the bases out (I have a tabletop fret saw, but a jig saw would do just as well.) sand the edges and am ready to proceed.

I found some pre-cut, 25mm, self adhesive, magnetic discs on the Magnetic Displays website, and decided it was worthwhile buying these rather than cutting out my own from some magnetic paper.  It was a simple matter of peeling of the backing and sticking them in the holes, though I decided to spread a bit of contact adhesive in each hole before doing this to improve the chances of them not coming out in the future.

Then once the magnets are in place I can set the trees (Based on steel washers, remember.) into the recesses and not worry about them moving.

I can even tilt the base and the trees stay put.

And when they get in the way they are easily moved.

All I need to do now is finish the bases to match my other terrain.  I have a different method to show you that is more modular in its approach and is really simple, but that will wait for part three.

A place to hide. Part 1.
A place to hide. Part 3.

A place to hide. Part 1.

This post originally appeared on my Flame of War blog, Burning my Fingers.

Woods, gotta love 'em.  A great way of covering your advance, somewhere to spring an ambush from and even something to keep you safer from flying tank killers.  I'm looking at you Typhoons and Hs129B3s.

Pain in the arse to make though, and can turn out costly, but in my constant efforts to build tables on the cheap I've come up with this.

I'm not ashamed to admit that I buy my trees, I found an eBay supplier Everest Model that I get them from.

These are 65mm tall and work out at a little over 20pence each, bargain.  He also sells trees in all types of sizes and other small bits and pieces that are on a 'future project' list I carry in my head.  They come un-based though so after a bit of head scratching I went and bought a pack of these.

Small hex nuts, with an internal diameter that will take the trunks of the trees quite snugly, if memory serves me these are M3 in size.

I then glue them onto a 25mm disc, in this case I use washers with as small a hole in as possible, I found them in my local B&Q.  Plastic bases can also do the job but I plan to add some magnetic goodness to my woods so have gone for washers.

Then glue the tree into the washer.

Repeat, until you get bored.

All very well, but the bases don't look too good, to remedy that I go to my local hardware store and buy a tub of this.  (Actually I don't go because it's what I use on my bases, so I had some already.)

And cover the washer and hex nut with some plaster, it may help to add a drop of water, and I mean a drop, too much will just make a mess, I also use a tongue depressor as a spatula and as a spreader, not just for basing hedges.

Again, repeat until bored.  I have stuck a base of Grenadiers and an M10C into the shot so you can get an idea of the size of the trees.

Once the plaster has dried (I leave it overnight.) I'll paint it to match my Infantry bases, a tip here is to paint a layer of watered down (Milk like.) PVA glue onto the plaster before painting, this means the plaster wont soak up as much paint and it'll go a bit further.

So there you have it, 24 trees based, waiting to be painted and awaiting the wood bases that will turn them into area terrain.  That'll be covered in part two.

A place to hide. Part 2.
A place to hide. Part 3.

Fast and easy hedges

This post originally appeared on my "Burning my Fingers" blog which is no longer around.

Hedgerows in FoW are great, they slow things down, provide concealment and generally help a table feel more 'real'.  Not to be confused with Bocage which really mixes things up on the table with a slew of rules attached to it hedgerows are covered by the basic terrain rules in the rules books.

And even better I have a quick way of making them so I can cover tables even quicker.

As you can see fairly effective looking, in fact the only step I would add is to flock the edges of the basing materials.

So to start I grab the following;

• My trusty Hot Glue gun, you could use PVA or tacky glue, but this is faster.
• Tongue depressors, the thing doctors stick in your mouth then get you to say 'Ahh'.
• Clump foliage, a spongy green material, mine is made by Woodland Scenics.
• Left over fences from the paper terrain Russian buildings I made a while back.
• Army Painter Rat Fur Brown spray, though any brown spray would do, this is what I had to hand.

First step was to paint a handful of tongue depressors with a brown spray, you could brush paint them but I'm all for getting scenery on the table fast, so I can play more and paint more minis.  This helps disguise the wooden sticks.  Tongue depressors are readily available on eBay in boxes of 100, think lollipop sticks but broader, I also use them to stick infantry to for painting.

Then run a strip of hot glue along the length of the stick (Waiting for the paint to dry of course.) and stick the clump foliage into the hot glue before it sets.  Clump foliage is great, 100 times better than Lichen and comes in a variety of colours, I bought 3 large bags in 3 differing shades of green and haven't made a dent in it yet so I think I have a lifetimes supply for a little over £30.

It's easy to tear larger clumps into smaller pieces and the irregular shape gives a more natural look, I mixed the colours together and don't make any decision when pulling it out of the box and it breaks up the line of hedges nicely.  Giving me a line of foliage on a stick that looks like this.

Pretty neat and does the job.

'But what about the leftover fences?' I hear you ask, simple, hedgerows need breaks, both aesthetically and game wise.  (A path of unrestricted movement.)  So a few gates are needed, I put a gate in every fourth line of hedges quite simply by cutting up the left over fences.

And hot glue them to the middle of a stick.

Then glue foliage either side.

So there you go, a simple, quick method of making hedgerows, I may make some 1/2 size pieces if I decide they are necessary in the future and as mentioned above, some flock/static grass on the edged of the sticks would help improve the looks.  Going now to make a couple of tables worth.