I thought I’d share some of the ideas of Willem from SixMil Builders on terrain for hex mats/tables. In particular his interlocking MDF roads. He also makes 6mm buildings to match.
Making Stuff
My interest in wargaming includes military history, gaming, and modelling. This part of the website focuses on the last of those.
Operational Terrain 1: Experimenting with River Templates for 4 Inch Hexes
Quite a lot of the Operational Level Wargames I looked at recently use a hex grid. And 4 inch hexes seem about the right size for the table top – at least to me – so I have been wondering what to do about terrain. My normal terrain will sit on hexes fine. But rivers are different. That realisation lead to experimenting with templates for generating river features to sit on top of a hex mat.
Making simple terrain templates for wargaming
I ran out of cardboard terrain templates in my recent game of Crossfire so I made some more and took the opportunity to take some photos. It is a pretty simple process.
Crossfire in the Western Desert – Brett Simpson’s North African Terrain
Brett Simpson has been busy building up terrain and troops for North Africa using Crossfire. He is also experimenting with my ideas on Crossfire in the Western Desert. Brett has been sharing photos with me as he went along so I thought I’d share them more widely.
Ponyri Station – A Hit the Dirt Blast from the Past
I was filing old papers tonight when I found a few photos of a very early game of Crossfire. Real photos, you know, the ones on photographic paper, from a shop. It took a while but I figure the game was Ponyri Station. I thought I’d share because, aside from the fact these are the only photos I have of a game of my favourite scenario from Hit the Dirt, they also show how I started out in Crossfire – using anything I had.
Crafting trees using wire, steel wool, and flock
Brett Simpson sent me a photo of a tree he’d made. I thought it was fantastic and asked Brett for some step by step instructions. So he sent me his approach to crafting trees using wire, steel wool, and flock.
Why hexes are awesome and why you should make your own
Ross Kearns has launched a kick starter for a Tabletop Hex Terrain Toolkit. I asked Ross to write a guest article about it. All words and images are Ross’s.
How to use Sisal String as Long Grass by Barrie Lovell
Around 2000 Barrie Lovell published, on the Grunt! website, a tip for adding undergrowth to Crossfire / Incoming! bases. Barrie dyes sisal string and uses this as vegetation. Since Grunt! has disappeared I thought I’d republish the article here. Barrie had in mind Vietnam / Incoming! and World War 2 / Crossfire. But this is a good technique for the Portuguese Colonial War / Fogo Cruzado.
Custom Fire Mission (FM) Markers for Crossfire
I’ve been experimenting with How to Track Fire Missions (FM) in Crossfire for years. In my latest experiment I’ve made some custom FM markers.
Stalingrad – Lonely 15mm Chimneys from Ironclad Miniatures
Some of my projects take a long time to come to maturity. Inspired by the Stalingrad terrain of Battlefront Miniatures, I asked John Lowen from Ironclad Miniatures to make some of the chimneys that featured in the south, John made some beautiful models, and I painted them. You’ll see the photos below. Unfortunately the last step took 10 years and it seems Ironclad no longer stock the chimneys. Perhaps this post will inspire folk to ask John to reissue them.
Mark Bretherton on Scratch Building Ruins, Urban Boards and a SU-152 Game
Mark Bretherton played my SU-152s Up Close and Personal scenario again. In his previous battle report he described the scenario as “cracking”. It seems he still likes it.
This time Mark included some photos of his game and of his urban Crossfire set up. I really like the effect Mark has achieved with his terrain and table so asked him for more details on how he did it. Everything is scratch built and looks fantastic. An inspiration. All words and photos are Mark’s…
How to Make Your Own Rubble Material for Stalingrad
My big Crossfire game set in Stalingrad is going to require a lot of rubble. Although I’m happy with the sand I use for flocking, it isn’t chunky enough to be rubble. I needed something grittier. So I made my own. It is pretty simple. Brute force simple.
I got four wargaming boards from TMterrain
My current wargaming boards/mats/cloths are a bit of hodgepodge, including about six different types of battle board/mats/clothes – none of which I’m happy with. I’m still looking for the perfect solution and also see a chance to rationalise on a consistent approach and colour scheme.
I wanted to try building some wargaming boards with a wooden frame but it all started looking too hard for a carpentry klutz likely myself. Luckily Simon Miller of the Big Red Bat Cave suggested I have look at some of David Marshall’s work at TMterrain. I ended up buying a table from David and I’m very happy with the result.
How to Use a Big Ruined Factory Feature For Crossfire?
I picked up a 15mm Ruined Factory feature from Wargames Tournaments. Perfect for snipers perched on an upper floor. The trouble is that Crossfire demands that building are made up of regular shaped building sectors. Mine are usually 3″ x 3″. So what should I do? How can I use that big feature in Crossfire?