Hedgerows

Now i had made my country lanes i decided i needed some hedge rows to add ro the effect  (one day I'll stop making terrain). I wanted a super simple way to make them and luckily Lukes APS again came to the rescue. Following his video (which you can find here ) I bought some draught excluder, was a little concerned on the size so only bought 1 metres worth and green spray paint then I broke out some lolly pop sticks. The draught excluder is self adhesive which sounds great but caused me some problems.

Green spray paint and draught excluder

To make the hedges you simple cut a length of draught excluder to match the lollipop stick and using the self adhesive stick them together. I then spray painted them green. Then I had a slight issue

This happened every time!!!

As the draught excluder came rolled up it kept lifting at the edges ahhhh!!! So I had to glue the ends down and use the clamps from the pound land epoxy. That seemed to solve the problem.

The hedges were as I suspected a bit small, hence why I only bought a metres worth. Luke does another video on making hedges out of wire wool brillo type pads so I'll try those next.

I need to pick up the blog pace!

Sorry it's been so long. Kids have had chicken pox and as ever work. Had an evening with the kids who fell asleep reasonably early so broke out the paint tray that has some 80% finished Test of Honour troops.  Also had undercoated my new Bolt Action British Snipers yesterday so I thought I would paint those as well and my model gunslinger from the last kick starter I backed.

First up finishing off the Test of Honour troops. Only needed a little bit more paint on them.

Then onto the snipers. Checking out the warlord website to see How they painted them for a bit of inspiration and there be a lot of green! !! (Which makes sense really! ) so I did my best and they don't look terrible!

Lastly was the gunslinger from a Icarus Miniatures. I'm planning on using this in Across the Dead Earth as a gang member who just walks around with a hand cannon (a desert eaglen or magnum type gun). He has the sharp shooter skill tree so hopefully he'll be handing out head shots soon ☺.

Country roads!

Another blog post following the I'm fine making but terrain but here's something else. I have roads and a river so decided i needed some country lanes / tracks were in order. I had seen a few videos in YouTube so had a few ideas but as I wanted quick and easy I distilled the ideas down to a basic idea.
First up cut out the shapes you want. I went for seven (that was what I could make from the nappy box I had pilfered) straights around 20cm long and 4 corner pieces. Nothing elaborate but enough to add to a game board. Then I glued lollipop sticks to the outer edges and middle. This is an easy way of creating the ruts caused by vehicles.

Next up was every terrain makers friend filler!! I applied a layer of filler over the top, the lollipop sticks creating the rut effect I was after.

2 different colours as I ran out of filler and had to buy more.  Once they were dry I started painting. Just Just basic brown and then dry brushing a couple of lighter browns on top.

As I mentioned quick and easy was what I'm aiming for.  I added flick and that's your lot all finished!

Above there are pics of the finished article.  Not bad as basic a country track / road  I don't think!!

Also my great friends went to the games expo in Birmingham last weekend and picks me up the new bolt action british snipers all in ghillie suits so can't wait to get them painted up!

Have a good one folks!!

A New Kick starter

I've come across a new kick starter I've decided to back. It's from the Dice Bag Lady at  bad squiddo games . She makes an awesome line of female wargaming models and animal models to!
This is kick starter is the second one and is called "Ghosts of Gaia Two: Reinforcements - 28mm Sci Fi female minis and here is the link. There are lots of pledge levels from individual models upwards. I'm after a group of gun toting bunnies  (yep you read that right!) I'll be honest I don't much about the company as I've only recently discovered it but the lady that runs it is super enthusiastic  (and a bit mad but in a good way!) Which is always good in this hobby. So go and check it out and why not back it! !!
Work and life have got in the way so I'm hoping to put filler on the bunkers this weekend!

Off eBay for £2

Also got these ammo boxes as some scenery for the bunker complex quite cheap of eBay.
Have a good un!

The Blue Foam has Ran out!!

In my last blog I mentioned I had discovered more blue foam. So i made up another 2 bunkers of the same type and a bigger bunker for a small artillery piece. I used a bunker in a set from warlord as inspiration 

The roof also had raised walls so soldiers can go up there.

The roof comes off and inside my 6 pdr should fit nicely.
With more foam left I liked the idea of a bunker complex which i imagine would be quite a brutal close up fight. First up was the entrance to the bunker

The entrance has a hole in the concrete entrance for a LMG ambush!

The entrance has lotabof sharp corners and a hole in the concrete for a machine gun surprise.
Now I started work on a design. So I had an idea of what bits I needed.

I used cardboard as a base and used magnetic tape to attach the foam to the cardboard as this
enables me to take the whole thing down and put it away.  Also hoping I can adjust the design every now and then.
I made up some straight corridor sections, one straight corridor with an opening to create a T junction, corner sections and 2 rooms.

The corridors are nice and cramped to make taking the bunker a challenge. After a lot of cutting and sticking the end result does not look to bad I don't think.

Next up slightly watered down filler to create that concrete look then painting.

Quick Terrain Piece

A friend recently had asked for advice on making a dungeon for his D&D games, which could be almost modular as I guess you don't want to explore the same dungeon over and over. My thoughts went straight back the stone walls I made and how great the blue underfloor insulation is for 'carving' bricks into. So I passed over my suggestions and mocked up a quick example.

Its roughly put together but I think it looks quite impressive. I tried later on (with no photos sadly) using magnetic tape to hold the walls to the floor (this allowing it to be packed away) which seems to work quite well.
After doing this I realised my blue foam was down to a small sheet. Now I'm trying to organise my wargaming stuff for space saving so I decided to use it up so its one less thing in my terrain making box.
Quick scan through some YouTube videos and I settled on a WW2 bunker made by the Terrain Tutor. Here is the Link for the video. If you have never heard of the terrain tutor he a great sauce for all wargaming terrain ideas and techniques.  In the video he used foam board where as I used the blue insulation foam but other than that I tried to use the same techniques.  First of I cut out the bits required.

A couple of pieces cut out.

The cut pieces were stuck on top of each other.

Next I stuck it all together with good old PVA and then down into a cardboard base

No bad for a short period of time I reckon. Next up was to 'paint' it with filler

I write these as I build but update! I've found more blue foam!!! So have more bunkers and maybe a small bunker complex planned!! Will keep you posted!

Quick MDF Update

As I've mentioned in previous blogs, I have been aiming too magnetise my collection of MDF buildings so I can keep them flat packed until required. Well after drilling I dread to think how many little holes I've finished! !!

Sorry about bad picture but the magnets are only 3mm across!!

The lines you can see at to help me know what piece matches with another so putting together is quicker. As you can see the magnets are tiny (3mm x 3mm I think) but not are they strong. The buildings hold together nicely, I mean they won't hold up against heavy handedness but you can now take roofs off and different floors off the buildings without the sides falling off!

Some MDF factory and outbuildings all held together with magnets

I have a great (hopefully) idea for a bolt action scenario using all my MDF terrain to create a small town. This should result in some heavy urban fighting ☺.
Other things on the horizon are back to painting my Test of Honour force and brain storming ideas for a 3d dungeon as I was asked by a friend who plays Dungeons and Dragons. (Knew I'd find a use for the rest of that blue foam!!)

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