Scenic Devices

Right, so one of the reasons the figure numbers for May were down on the previous couple of months, was that I have begun another little project.

I'd offered to make scenery for the LWGC* Craig, the owner had seen my other smaller scenic work and wanted to get some for his store; as it was being paid for by him/the Leeds Nightowls, I was happy to oblige.

The eventual decision being to start with a set of generic boards of rolling European grasslands, large enough to cover a 6x4 foot board. Added to this were to be sections specific to 15mm WW2 gaming; to keep the Flames of War crowd happy.

I had a large batch of Kerr and King trench works still left over from a previous donation, and so these formed the basis for two boards of eastern European defences. Ideal for 'Cross of Iron' style actions

For another board, my ambition was to do a large village scene, in such a style as to suit western Europe. Out with the scratchbuilding tools and foamcore, for an epic construction session.



The style of the village is essentially Belgian/northern French, whilst the aim of the layout was to block fire lanes and give positions for ambush and so forth. At the same time the buildings were made generic enough that they wouldn't look out of place with Wellingtons men marching past, or hiding NATO forces from a Warsaw Pact invader.

It's early days in the process as you can see, but a few words on the methods; I was taught everything I know by Mal Taylor and others of the Grimsby Wargaming Club, and I am indebted to my rusty recall of their techniques in the assembling of the boards. The wood is 6mm MDF, and if I wasn't working to a tight budget, it would have been at least twice that thickness. It was sealed on both sides to reduce warping, but cannot eliminate it.



The roads and main textured surface are a mix of tile adhesive and brown paint, with extra coarse grit added for the countryside, to get more texture in and to form a crude concretion.. The hills are foam insulation of a very high density that can be cut easily with a craft knife.

It's a long way from completion, and more will follow; one thing I can say, is there is no way better to get the attention of other gamers than to sacrifice your gaming time to make some cool scenery. I've chatted to many attendees of the store for the first time while working on these boards so far. Interest in the methods involved and what the boards can be used for is already quite high...

*Leeds WarGaming Centre