I am scheduled to put on a demonstration game of Flames of War at Kapiti Wargames Club on 15th of July... Plenty of time I hear you say! True, but, I leave for a family holiday to Fiji in 2 days time, and dont get back till a day before the event!
Also since my mate and I decided it would be a good event to showcase the Normandy Beach Landing scenario, I have been hard at it trying to get everything ready!
A little while back, I managed to source some of the ubiquitous cornfields, made from a certain type of outdoor door mat. The doormat has a rubber backing which can be sliced through and maintains its cut shape excellently depicting cornfields for our gaming.
Heres a picture of a recent trial game set up I enjoyed.
Kerr and King Buildings
A little while back I also ordered the two French village sets from Kerr and King. I got the first five of these buildings finished. Close up shots below:
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| 3 stone barn farm buildings |
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| Shop 1 |
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| Shop 2 |
I still have 5 more to do including the civic building, a twin set of shops, and three ruined buildings.
Skytrex
At the same time as I ordered the Kerr and King buildings, I also ordered the Beach Assault Landing Craft from Skytrex. I recently managed to get these finished too. There are 3 types of infantry craft and one vehicle craft.
These were resin cast with metal detailing, including the front ramps. The Sherman is shown for scale.
So my troops are now in a position to assault the beaches.
Bocage - WIP
Once the Allies get ashore they then have the unforgiving French countryside to contend with, with its characteristic Bocage terrain in Normandy.
You may have seen my start on the Bocage terrain a couple of posts ago? Here I continue the WIP thread...
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| Railway ballast glued over top of dense foam and kitty litter base |
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| The whole is sealed with an undercoating layer of PVA glue and black paint |
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| Heavy over brush with dark grey paint |
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| Dry brush with mid grey |
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| Dry brush with light grey |
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| Gate posts added (half inch matchsticks) |
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| Tea-leaf flock edging |
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| Gates finshed - more matchsticks and 0.8mm balsa |
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| Green static grass to edges |
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| Gates painted. |
5cm KwK defilade Bunker - WIP
I wanted to add one more bunker for my German defenders. I have two big pillboxes that can shoot along the length of the beach, but I wanted to add a medium sized bunker in the middle. Battlefront do a bunker via their webstore, but again I was sure I could make one cheaper....
So starting with the 5cm gun barrel I had left over from the original set of pillbox gun barrel options, I made a start, making the gun itself first. I created a gunshield out of 1mm plasticard. Using more plasticard I built up the breach of the gun, and used a little plastic rod too for effect. I then mounted this on a length of plastic tube, filled top and bottom with more plasticard and a hole drilled through to insert some brass rod, so the gun can pivot on it mount.
I then started constructing the bunker out of 3mm MDF.
I had often pondered using thin MDF for buildings but was put off by the idea of always having to saw it and sand it, which takes time. But chatting with 'The Colonel' and 'Notorious Greg' it turns out this thin MDF can be cut fairly easily with several repeated strokes from a Stanley Knife. Sure enough it sliced away quite well (once I put a new blade in the knife!).
Piece by piece I built it up, gluing it together with PVA as I worked.
It is all based on this bunker from BF: 5cm KwK Nest
Once assembled I have skim coated the whole in filler, and once dry I'll get it painted.
The roof can still be lifted off to access the gun.
I'll hope to add a bit of camo netting to it too as I did with the main AT pillboxes I made earlier.
So while the the bunker dries, and I wait to get more clump foliage for the Bocage, I'm pressing on with the VSF Prussians.
So many projects, so little time...
Thats is some great Terrain!
ReplyDeleteHave a nice Holiday and good luck with the event
That is awesome progress; absolutely brilliant! The houses and landing craft are great but you've really nailed the Bocage and the Bunker, tremendous work Scott.
ReplyDeleteWow!! Incredible work Scott. Very well done. Good luck with the demo game.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great bunker, looking forward to the finished product.
ReplyDelete