As readers of my blog will be aware, my terrain tiles are commercially built products that I acquired in the 1990's from the now defunct 'Purbeck Terrain'. The road system was designed ideally for 15mm and is something I have been planning to change since switching entirely to 6mm.
Although the original can look striking when laid out I was never entirely happy with it. The designers sank the road into the board a few millimetres which was not very practical for wargaming purposes. Even less so for 6mm!
I was recently scanning the 'Rapid Fire' Normandy scenario book and the battle maps had the look of something familiar about them. The road networks depicted were the same as my terrain boards! The scenario maps were in square feet for 15mm/20mm figures so would be a simple matter of transferring to my 9" square boards for 6mm. This would provide for more realistic distances as an added bonus.
With the Cristot scenario beckoning it gave me the impetus to finally do something with my road boards.
Continued -
I have a number of sheets of balsa wood purchased years ago and no longer have a use for. I therefore decided to use these to raise the road level gluing them to the board. I could have merely used filler but it would have required a considerable amount to do all of them and my skills are such that I would in all likelihood create an almighty mess! The balsa wood aided achieving a level finish.
A first layer of filler added. It was still a little way short of the surface level so a layer of artist card completed the job.
More filler is added before a layer of sand to the road surface.
A wash is added to the road surface and the white filler is painted over. Several drybrushes of the road surface and green flock added completed the job.
The finished board.
Before and after comparisons. I now await the re-opening of the Heroic & Ros site to order my late war British figures and I can then crack on with this battle not to mention several other WW2 projects.
If H&R's British infantry is as good as their other upgraded figures then I will be a happy man. Just their German Heer infantry and US infantry to go!
Very effective Jon and much more suited to 6mm figures and vehicles. Looking forward to seeing these boards in action at a future date.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks Steve.
DeleteWhat a transformation (and a leap of faith!), a stash of balsa wood serves well in a moment of need - as my rail track attests to.
ReplyDeleteCan be really useful to be a hoarder at times!
DeleteThey look great, Jon. But I thought the original looked great, too. Sorry, I'm utterly of no help ;)
ReplyDeleteI'm very much looking forward to you getting on with Cristot, and hopefully other battles in and around Caen. I have a very ambitious campaign plan for Normandy in 6mm, but haven't gotten to it yet. Perhaps you can motivate me!
V/R,
Jack
Thanks Jack. I have photos of the original roads being used in the 'My Wargaming History' tab above. When used with 15mm they did look effective although the slightly sunken style did look odd when placing buildings around it.
DeleteI am currently reading 'Normandy 44' by James Holland which focuses on the troops at the sharp end with personal accounts. Great from a wargaming perspective as it provides detail on how troops operated and also highlights simple command failures. An example being the commander of 4 PzIV's that had been positioned hull down and concealed ready to greet an impending British attack. He was momentarily away from his command when a British artillery battery commenced. The other 3 tanks took it upon themselves to immediately retreat only to be met by an irate commander telling them to get back into line. They only just made it with seconds to spare!
I have a whacky idea of doing the whole of D-Day and the liberation of Normandy using BKCIV rules!
Jon,
DeleteAhh, gotcha on the roads. Normandy '44, eh? I'll have to check that out, thanks for the heads up, always looking for wargaming inspiration.
"I have a whacky idea of doing the whole of D-Day and the liberation of Normandy using BKCIV rules!"
Yes, yes, dammit Jon, YES!!! ;) This is one of my 'wargaming dreams,' though I'll put a finer point on mine: I want to pick up on D-Day, but right after the landings (for some reason I have no desire to do the actual landings), and I'm much more interested in the Commonwealth area, rather than the US side, though I could probably be talked into doing both ;) But yes, pick up on 6 June '44, right after the landings, and take it all the way through Falaise. In 6mm, with Blitzkrieg Commander, with a caveat: I have a wild hair to play the fights in BKC, but each stand is a company, rather than a platoon, and when there is close combat, I don't play it out using the BKC rules, I actually play out a separate company-level fight using 5Core Company Command.
I've gotten a start, but nowhere near kicking it off yet, too many other projects have gotten in the way. If you're interested:
I played out three test games using BKC last year:
http://hakunamatatawars.blogspot.com/search/label/Blitzkrieg%20Commander
I've got my 6mm forces 98% ready:
http://blackhawkhet.blogspot.com/2019/10/there-and-back-again-with-6mm-wwii-for.html
And I've been working up a roadmap, which you can get an idea of here:
https://www.thewargameswebsite.com/forums/topic/normandy-caen-campaign-help-requested/
I was really inspired by Matt Crump's blog, here:
https://wargamesinthedungeon.blogspot.com/search/label/Blitzkrieg%20Commander
Sorry, I hope I don't frighten you by being overly eager, but this is something near and dear to my wargaming heart.
V/R,
Jack
I know what you mean about the landings but having been inspired by some of the demo games at various shows I feel the need! I too have considered having 1 stand represent a company rather than a platoon and may yet go down that route. Have you watched the Little Wars TV episode on their version of D'Day? Used 'Rommel' rules and encompassed the entire thing on one board! To me though that was just a little too abstract and resembled more of a boardgame with miniatures.
DeleteMany thanks for the links. I have yet to go through them in detail but will definitely do so. I will be particularly interested in seeing how you progress this project on your blog. My problem, as always, is too many projects on the go simultaneously! Very keen to get this one going though, just a matter of acquiring and painting the models and figures.
All the best
Jon
Jon,
DeleteI haven't seen the Rommel deal on Little Wars, but I agree with you, it might look cool but doing the whole campaign on one table is not what I'm looking to do.
My pleasure, and hopefully they prove interesting, maybe even useful. Yes, the too many project plague; because of this, I've actually toyed with the idea of playing a very scaled down version of the campaign. Maybe the same amount of operations, but in small games on small table that could be played in maybe an hour.
But then I'm scared I'd get in this weird spot where I feel like I didn't really do it, but I don't want to do it again since I already did it? Ugh...
V/R,
Jack
Will be looking at your progress with great interest Jon.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks Carlo.
DeleteThe updated versions look great, although I doubtless would have left the originals as they were myself! :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks Peter. They do look a little bare but when roadside terrain and furniture has been added should look ok.
Delete