What do you See?

 

Most people would say they see a really cheap wire brush head on top of a very messy workbench.  Not me!  No I see a incredible well organized storage depot of 6mm scale pikes!

I went to the hardware store to pick up some modeling supplies and spent some time in the brush section looking for just the right "pike brush".  The bristles had to be stiff enough to be sturdy but not break or impale when brushed by a hand.

I also picked up a gallon bucket of pre-mixed tile grout plus some other odds and ends for terrain making.  Getting ready for the last push in the challenge

Parthian Army in 6mm - Done (Challenge Submission 3)!

My third submission for this year's Painting Challenge is complete - a 6 6mm Parthian army in 6mm.  The figures are from Baccus (of course) and where a lot of fun to paint up.  Looking forward to getting these chaps on the table top when the lock downs begin to ease.

As with the earlier Republican Roman force these are all based for the Age of Caesar rule et and use 40mm square basing.

While one first thinks of cavalry when considering Parthians, they did field some infantry.  My little force has 8 bases of foot archers and 2 bases of skirmishers.

and 4 bases of medium, spear armed infantry.  Maybe not the most fearsome of foot borne troops but they'll be effective speed bumps.

The workhorse of any Parthian force are mounted archers and this little army has 20 bases of them.

The armored fist for the Parthians are cataphracts and this force can field up to 10 bases.

Lastly, just for a bit of fun, some armored camel cataphracts - because who doesn't want camel borne cavalry.

I'll add to the infantry when the Baccus cart opens up.

Next up for the Challenge - a return to work on the 15mm Stalingrad project

Parthians Coming along nicely and preparing to return to the Stalingrad project

 

A 6mm Parthian forces has been painted up and based.  All that's left is to scenic the bases and these chaps will be ready for the tabletop.

These figures are part of the Baccus miniatures Hail Caesar Army Pack plus one pack of 36 armored camel cataphracts.  The Baccus army packs come with a nice discount and do give you a very broad set of troop options.  As with my Republican Romans these are based to be used for the Age of Hannibal ruleset but the basing is flexible enough to use with just about any ancients rules set.

I'm still fiddling with the color scheme for the base scenery - I want a more arid look than the standard "European Field" I used on the Romans.

I  am looking forward to getting these guys on the table soon as cavalry heavy armies are a lot of fun to play in just about all ancients rule sets.  My track record as a commander of horse armies is actually pretty poor but I always have fun zooming around the tabletop.  Plus who doesn't dream of commanding a charge of cataphracts mounted on armored camels?

Once these gentlemen are finished, I think it's time to return to my Stalingrad project, roughly 40% of the table is done and using my AMAZING math skills, I am able to calculate that implies there is 60% remaining to be done.  I'm hoping be able to put this game on at Historicon this year.  I know it's a pretty iffy proposition on the chances of Historicon being held but let's think positively.  Perhaps a more precise way to set the deadline is the earlier of Historicon'21 or the next HMGS convention.  

A picture of the North section of the map, which is bounded to the North by the January 9th Square /  Pavlov's House / Grundin Mill area.  I'm thinking of darkening the road sections as they look a little too "bright" to me.  The game table will cover most of central Stalingrad down to the Univermaf Dept store and Red Square.

Republican Roman Army with Italian and Spanish Allies (Challenge Submissions 1 & 2)

 

My first two submissions for Challenge XI consisted of a 6mm scale Republican Roman army along with some support troops from Spain and Italy.  The figures are all from the Baccus 6mm line and were a joy to paint.  

These chaps netted me 610 points and consist of 150 mounted figures and 920 infantry of various types.  The troops are based on 40mm square bases which is the standard used for "Age of Hannibal" at the club.  These rules were written by a club member and are a very nice fast play set of rules that allow player to recreate entire battles and finish them in an evening.  They're a lot of fun and I enjoy playing them a lot.

On the left side are the Spanish troops:

- 4 Bases of Scutarii medium infantry with 24 figures per base)

- 6 bases of Caetratii light infantry with 8 figures per base

- 9 bases of Spanish light cavalry with 5 figures per base

15 Mounted Roman generals.  The different sized command bases denotes rank with the larger the base, the higher the rank

The heart of any Roman army - heavy infantry.  8 bases of Hastati, 8 bases of Principes and 2 bases of Triarii, all with 24 figures.  In the back are 6 bases of Balearic slingers and 2 bases of scorpions for a little fire support

On the right side are some Italian allies - generic hoplite infantry in the front. Italian medium cavalry.  In the rear are 12 bases of Roman Velites.

The final group are 4 bases of Samnite infantry.

I'm planning to also use the Spanish and Italian troops as Gauls and maybe even Germans if the need arose.  We don't have a full Gualic at the club but could probably cobble together a respectable force with pieces from peoples various collections.  

As you've seen in a previous post, next up on the "Ancients Hit Parade" are some Parthians.  Depending on how hard Mr Berry cracks the whip at the Baccus Casting Furnace, there will also a medium sized Dacian force (with Sarmatians!) and a relatively large Successor Army (cause who doesn't want to paint Ellies?).

With the Republican Romans and their allies done, next up on my list of 6mm Ancients are the Parthians.  When the Baccus cart was last opened I purchased a Hail Caesar Army pack of Parthians plus a pack of Camel Cataphracts because who wouldn't want to paint armored camels?

The Baccus army deals are a great way to get started as they are offered at a nice discount so if you're just starting out give them a look.

Assume I don't break anything this army pack should yield the following:

18 bases of mounted Archers, with 4 figures per base

4 Bases of javelin armed light cavalry with 4 figures per base

12 bases of cataphracts with 6 figures per base

6 bases of camel cataphracts with 6 figures per base

4 bases of spearmen with 24 figs per base

6 bases of foot arches with 16 figures per base

2 bases of skirmishers with 8 figures per base

9 Generals 2, 2 figure bases and 5, 1 figure bases

All of the bases are 40mm squares which have just been purchased from the good folks at Litko.  I ordered them on Monday and got them in two days.  Really top notch service.

I really like fielding cavalry heavy armies for ancients games and am looking forward to trying these guys out on the table.  My first few outings will likely result in complete disaster as cavalry armies tend to be finicky forces to field but they are always fun.  I doubt all 6 of the Camel units will ever get used at the same time but their just too fun not to paint up.

When the Baccus cart opens up, I'll likely pick up another pack of Spearmen (for another 4 bases) and maybe another pack of horse archers.

Now for some research on how to paint Parthians.....

 

"And So it Begins" The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge version XI.0 has started

This year's Painting Challenge has started and after a fairly long painting session yesterday, I've painted and based the majority of my planned Republican Roman army.  All in glorious 6mm with the figures from Baccus.  The bases need to be painted and have some scenery added which will be today's project. 

Along the left side of the picture is a row of partially painted Spanish and Italian allied troops and some Roman generals in the back.  I'll try to get those chaps finished before Christmas.  In addition to being Spanish, Italians or even Samnites, these figures can double for Gauls and Celts in a pinch.

All of the figures are based for the ruleset "Age of Hannibal" which uses 40mm square basing for all units.  Generals are based as single figures on round 25mm bases.  The rules are simple but very fun and allow one to play very large battles to a conclusion in an evening.  They were written by fellow club member Greg Wagman and I suggest you check them out.

There has been a rather silly logistical failure on my part for this year's Challenge.  I seem to have forgotten that is one is building several armies that all use 40mm square bases, one should check ones supply of said bases.   Let us just say the currently my demand for 40mm bases exceeds my supply.  Well my failure is the gain of those fine people at Litko as an order for a rather large number of 40mm bases was placed yesterday afternoon.  Let us all hope their base making machinery has not gone on Christmas break yet.  Crack that whip, Mr Litko - I NEED those bases!!!!!!

Ok, that last line might be a little over-the-top.

 

Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge XI: 6mm Republican Romans Assembling for for duty

Preparation efforts for the AHPC XI are accelerating to a frantic pace here in the Lair.  On the work table getting ready for priming is a good part of my planned Republican Roman army.  All of the figures are from Baccus and there are Romans, plus Italian and Spanish allies.

There will be a lot of 6mm ancients painted during this challenge.  The last time the Baccus cart was opened up in early November, I think I can safely say there were some unwarranted exuberance in the shopping cart.  Somehow over the course of a few days 4 different armies were purchased.  Historical scholars will debate for years on what exactly transpired and if I was lead astray by the wiley Peter Berry and his cunning and diabolical marketing ploy of "superb miniatures for a very reasonable price".  At this point, it's best I do not comment further as my lovely, yet fierce wife does peruse this blog and any statements I make can and will be used against me in a future tribunal.  We live perilous times.

In a addition to said Republican Romans, there other armies to be painted are some Parthians, a Dacian/Sarmatian force and a Successor army with lots and lots of Phalanxes.  

on advice of consul, I can not comment of the prospects of a 5th or 6th army as that does require the Baccus cart to be re-opened.  But there are candidates under review......
 

6mm Ancients - UNLEASH PRIMER!

 

With the start of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge (version 11.0) a little more than 3 weeks away, it's time to start prepping mini's.  In addition to finishing up my 15mm Stalingrad project, you'll be seeing a lot of 6mm Ancients - literally thousands of the tiny blighters.

My first of two orders from Baccus has arrived.  In that tiny box were figures for a Republican Roman army and a Parthian one.  The second order, which is still being processed has a large Sucessor Army and my favorite - Dacians.

First up for priming are some Roman Hastati, which I will be basing in 3 ranks of 8 on 40mm square bases.  40mm squares are the standard used for the rules Age of Hannibal, which we use at the club and I highly recommend.  I also used 40mm bases for my Russo Japanese armies.

Lighter infantry, such as velites Velites will be less dense, with maybe 6-8 figures per base.  Dense formations like Phalanxes will have 6 ranks of 8 figures so 48 per base.  Steve from the club has a beautiful Macedonian army and has 64 figures crammed onto a 40mm square base.

My Republican Roman army will have 16 bases of Hastati/Principes, 2 Triarii, and handful of Roman cavalry plus both Italian and Spanish allies (mostly light troops)  

 

Urban Ruin Test Hexes: 15mm or 6mm?

One day conventions will come back - when?, well none of us are sure, but they will be back.  I've been thinking of designing a tactical Stalingrad Campaign to run over a multi day event and have been debating scales between 6mm and 15MM using hex terrain.

Both tests have the same 3D printed building on them and were painted and dry brushed the exact same way, which was:

1) Dark Grey primer
2) Black ink wash
3) Dry brush Medium Grey
4) Dry Brush Green-Brown

Let's take a look at the 6mm version.  Obviously, one can fit more on a 4" wide hex in 6mm than 15mm but the level of detail is limited.

 The positives of 6mm is that it will be easier to have iconic buildings like Pavlov'sHouse or the Unimag Department Store (all of which are available for 3D printers.

The cons are more artistic in nature - it's a lot harder to add details to the rubble like bricks etc.  Not impossible but a lot harder.  Also this is mainly an infantry fight with a handful of vehicles and a wise club member has a rule 15mm for infantry fights and 6mm for armor.

The 15mm version of the building requires two hexes for a single building ruin.  It's a lot easier to add more interesting textures and shapes to the rubble.  It was also more time consuming and I struggled to get the right mix of adhesive (diluted PVA glue) and ballast to really adhere.  I needed to use a lot more tile grout!

The rear picture shows a more interesting set of textures and there is a lot of opportunity to add small details - weapons, damaged equipment etc.

In addition to testing scales, I'm going to need a lot of city hexes to fill an 8x4 table so I was also tweaking with the build process and set of the following "Rubble Making Station".  My collection of model railroad ballast and talus rock was laid out from smallest (left) to the largest (right).  Not shown on the extreme left is my trusty light brown tile grout.

 The builds in progress.  I added a lot more little detail bits to the 15mm test

Close up of the 15mm before priming.

I really had a fun time building both test pieces and each has their own +'s and -'s.  I think I'm leaning to 15mm as the goto scale.

What do you all think?

Urban Test Hexes: 15 or 6mm?

The latest scientifical-type test undertaken here in the Lair are some urban hexes.  The weather on the Chesapeake Bay has been horrible (thus creating hobby time) and I needed a break from secret project 12AZ36.  This confluence of events created the perfect opportunity to start yet another project - Urban Terrain hexes. 

One of my long term gaming goals is to bring the WW2 tactical board game "Old School Tactical" to the table top and I'll need some urban hexes.  Old School Tactical is a hex and counter game that reminds me of the original Squad Leader - before it became pretentious with the "Advanced"superlative.  I've been thinking about how to bring it to the tabletop and one of the first decisions is scale 15 or 6mm.  I fired up the Prusa 3D printer and printed off a building ruin in 15mm scale (which was what the STL file was set too and then scaled it down to 40% to get to 6mm scale.  The first picture shows the size difference - it's pretty dramatic and at 6mm I had room for 2 buildings per hex. 

 Here's a few close ups of the 15mm building.  I printed it at my standard 0.2mm layers and it took 3.5 hours to print.  There were a lot of strings going across the gaps (windows and doors) which would have taken a long time to clean up but I realized something - 3d printers melt the material to flow through the print head so what if I held the piece over a lighter?  Presto 90% for the strings disappeared.  The burning method works well for a ruin but may not work all that well for a piece that isn't supposed to look, well, ruined.

I glued 2 hexes together and then mounted the building on them - all with Eileen's Tacky Glue.

The base was masked with some flexible modeling paste (liquitex).  One that sets I'll add some texture and other forms of rubble.

I can fit two versions of the same building on a single hex in 6mm.  The one on the left is the same building as in 15mm and the one on the right has it's back wall still standing.

I printed both of these out using a 0.1mm layer setting and each took about an hour to print.  They had the same issue of strings across the gaps but the "trial by fire" clean up method wouldn't work.  How do I know?  These models are prints 2 and 3.  Print 1, ummm, melted.  It took me about 45 minutes to clean up both models with a hobby knife.

For the 15mm test piece I was going to need a lot of scale bricks in the rubble so out came my trusty proxxon hot wire cutter.  I set the width to just under 1/16th of an inch and made two passes to create 1/16th square "boards".  It doesn't take a lot of EPS foam to make a bunch of these sticks.

In all honesty the bricks are a little over scale for 15mm but close enough for me.

Some of the sticks I set aside to use as boards and the majority I started cutting into by hand into bricks.  This part is a little tedious but pretty easy.  While doing so, one also gets a free lesson in the wonders and joys of static electricity.  Our hobby never ceases to amaze me.

I'll be thinking up some suitable concoction to create a rubble mix.  It will likely involve tile grout as the binding agent.

God's Own Scale Podcast

I've recently subscribed to Sean Clarks "Gods Own Scale" podcast.  Sean focuses on 6mm historical gaming, which has re-emerged from the shadows as a new favorite of mine and it's a huge favorite at the club.

Sean interviewed fellow club member Greg W and has said some very nice things about our Little Wars TV channel.

I highly recommend this podcast and suggest you give it a listen.  I subscribe via Apple's podcast service but I suspect their are a lot of other ways to get to the podcast episodes.  It's well worth your time.

Congrats to Big Lee for winning Sean's blog of the month - a very well deserved honor.

Battle of Liaoyang: Terrain Prep

 With the club now re-opened (in a socially distant way), it's time for me to run a big game.  Given my current infatuation with the Russo Japanese War, the game in question will be the Battle of Liaoyang.  One of the defining battlefield terrain features is the city of Liaoyang itself as it had 30 foot tall walls. I've decided to 3D print a representation for both the city and 3 villages that will serve as objective markers.  These are not architectural models (I made up the layout) but size wise and shape its how the city is represented in period maps.  I found some 3D model files for Chinese buildings and fortified walls on the Wargaming 3D site and downloaded them.  I experimented with printing sizes and settled on using a print scale of 15%.

 With all the components printed out, I cut some bases from thick cardboard and glued the pieces down.  I found PVA glue worked best as I am printing with PLA.  These were then primed (all i have on hand is tan) and left out to dry.

The battle itself was a rather long affair running from August 25th to Sep 5th, 1904.  We'll be refighting the climatic part of the Battle during August 30 to Sep 1.  The opposing armies were fairly evenly matched.  The Japanese had 8 infantry divisions and roughly 125K men pitted against a Russian force of "approximately" 135K in 12 Infantry and 2 Cavalry divisions.  The historical reference materials have fairly large variances in reported Russian troop strength - from 128K all the way up to 245K!  Some of the Russian troop counts are suspect as their sources are various Russian commanders who either supported the Russian CIC (Kuropatkin) (lower counts) or despised him (higher counts).  "Alternative Facts" seems to have existed far before the Trump administration.  I'm going with a troop count that matches the formations present.

Another terrain feature of the battlefield was a low ring of hills to the south of the city and along the eastern edge of the map.  I've got a number of hills that are large but decided the game needed some smaller ones that fit better with 6mm figures.  The terrain on the Western side of the side was pretty open but did have lots of fields of Sorghum, which was just about ready to be harvested and approached 9 feet in height (think cornfields from the ACW)

Speaking of ACW, the rules I'm planning to use are based on Greg's wonderful ACW ruleset "Alter of Freedom". I really like the command mechanics in AoF and think they are a great way to simulate the command issues the Russians faced without making then "no-fun" to play.  This will be my second outing with my modified ruleset and I'm hopeful they work out well.  The first outing was another R-J War battle Tashinchiao - which was fought in July of 1904 with about half the forces we'll be using for Liaoyang.

For those of you who are familiar with Alter of Freedom, the scale of Liaoyang is a little bigger than Gettysburg.  If you are not familiar with Alter of Freedom well you're living a life of unnecessary deprivation - below are some links to some videos from the club about a game staged with AofF and a rules review.  Its a great set of rules that you should go out and buy.  Go ahead, treat yourself - you deserve it.

Battle of Antietam

AofF Rules Review

Normally this time of year (late June / early July) is filled with frantic preparations to put on my game at Historicon.  With this years convention cancelled, it's actually very calming to have to have something to frantically prepare for - it's a reminder that things will get better eventually.

Be safe everyone - and don't be an ass, wear a God-Damn mask in public.

Virtual Gaming Attempt 2: Some Conclusions are Emerging

 Last Monday, I put on my second attempt with virtual gaming for the club.  Overall it went better than the first attempt but that was more due to the smaller scale in terms of units and the rules.

I re-ran the same battle as last time (Tashinchiao from the Russo-Japanese War) but used Greg's Alter of Freedom rules, which move the scale up from Battalions to Regiments.  That cut the number of unit bases in half and reduced the table top from 6x4 to 4x4 in  size. 

I made some changes to Alter of Freedom to include indirect artillery fire and machine guns but tried to keep the tinkering to a minimum.  I may have failed but I did try...

The Japanese were able to stage an effective attack and the outcome of the game was still in doubt after we called a stop.  I had four players (2 for each side) and we managed to get in 5 turns of a planned 12 during a 3 hour game session.  Had we all been playing in person, I am convinced we would have gotten all the turns in.  As for the outcome I think it was a toss up.  One Japanese division was chewed up at the cost of 2.5 for the Russian formations.  The game could have gone either way.

To me this is the biggest issue with staging a miniature game with lots of bases - it's just inefficient as one person me has to move all the pieces, roll the dice.  It's also frustrating for players as they try to communicate where to position units for maximum effect and I often misunderstood their instructions and needed to constantly tinker with placement.  There were some comical moments with exasperate players constantly telling me to move unit "over-there" or "where I'm pointing" only for me to remind them I cant see them.

 Because I was so busy running the game, I couldn't take any pictures during play so have posted some end of gaming session pictures.

The Japanese (Greg and Josh) elected to attack the center- left flank of the Russians where they saw a gap in the defensive setup.

The attack pushed the Russians off the hill but reinforcements moved in to stem the Japanese tide.  Both sides launched attacks and counterattacks - its was a swirling battle and was really fun to watch.

The Japanese left flank saw no action during the game but that may have changed had we gotten more than five turns in

Indirect artillery was an important factor in the game but it wasn't over-powering.  I still need to tweak the rules to make it more streamlined its use in the game.

While Zoom is a good platform, we still experienced some issues with players have a hard time keeping the map camera they wanted pined (visible on the main screen).  This could have been my fault as the host, Im just not sure.  Given my general level of technical ineptitude, it probably was but there will always be issues with people using different types of bandwidth and devices.

So what have learned after putting on 2 "virtual games" and playing in two others.

1) Game Type Matters
Games with lots of bases and free form movement are very difficult to stage.  It's exhausting for the GM and frustrating for the players as they just don't have the same control over unit placement.  Games that have movement grids (squares or hexes) will be a lot easier to put on as unit placement options are limited.  I'm hoping we can try "Rommel" or something like "Too the Strongest" in a future game to see if the gridded movement speeds things up.

Naval games where a player commands one or two ships also should work well - again you need rules that have gridded movement like "Fire as She Bears" (octagons) or "Hammering Iron" - ACW ironclads (hexes).

The next game I try to put on will likely be a Napoleonic naval game using Fire as She Bears.

2) Games with lots of Bases / and lots of different unit types/capabilities are hard to stage.
Camera resolution and your players bandwidth can limit the visibility of units and often results in players mistaking unit x of superior infantry for unit y of conscripts.  I tried to manage this by color coding unit labels and keeping all the units of a formation the same quality but there still were points of confusion.

3) Multiple Cameras are a must and you need at least one "mobile" camera to zoom in on key spots.  I had two cameras up and running - a mid-level logitech webcam and my I-phone on a tripod.  The I-phone provided far superior image quality and about halfway through the game I started placing it on the table to zoom in and that worked well.  One I-phone tip I learned is the camera on the back of the phone is superior to the one on the front.

4) Is it worth the trouble - Hell Yes.  Despite all of the technical and gameplay issues being able to spend time with my gaming club is more than worth the effort to stage a game.  Trying to keep some semblance of out Monday night traditions is important and something I'll continue to be working towards.

Test Marsh and/or Swamp Terrain

 On glaring gap in my terrain inventory is marshes / swamps.  I've always found the concept of building decent "marshy" terrain a bit daunting.  But with a little time on my hands in between conference calls (and sometimes during...) I decided to give it a try and made two test pieces.  The first one had a small tree and the other did not.

Here's a close up of the first one.  I think it came out "OK". I've set several goals for this project:

- These need to be usable for scales ranging from 6mm to 28mm
- I can only use materials on hand (that's not as limiting as it sounds
- it's easy to store so vertical feature (like trees) need to be removable and I'll need to make different sized trees for the different scales

I grew up in the bayous of southern Alabama, so have some pretty direct experience with swampy terrain.  Thats a plus and a minus as I'll also have a certain level of bias.

 My second test piece has no vertical aspect.  It kind of looks like a pond with bad landscape management.

Please ignore the 6mm Russian troops - I'm running another Russo-Japanese war game over Zoom tonight.  The are useful as a scale reference.  The bases of 40mm squares.

I know, I know, the paper tracks are crap - I need to get something better.  My apologies for those of you who are offended by these lame tracks

Here's another picture of the first test on the table.  I would appreciate any comment, especially suggestions on what might be improved.

The bases are 1/8 inch (3mm) thick black PVC sheet.  PVC has become my terrain material of choice.  It's cheap, durable, easy to cut and DOES NOT WARP.

Terrain Making - Entrenchment & Barbed Wire Markers

This weekend I made some hasty entrenchment and barbed wire markers.  The goal was to make something that was a bit scale agnostic and could work for 6 to 15mm gaming.  Their first use will be a re-running of the Battle of Tashihchiao from the Russo-Japanese War tomorrow night.  That game will be another "Zoom-Tabletop Game" but more on that in another post.

The design idea for the entrenchments comes from the 6mm-terrain tips website, which is run by a fellow club member, Greg.  The Bard wire concept came from another club member, Ed, who used it to scenic some 6mm WW1 bases he painted up.  I rarely have unique ideas of my own and am happy to steal from others.

The tutorial on the 6mm website recommends using paintable window caulking as the material to paint.  I had some laying around and cut bases from strathmore board (picture frame backing) to 10 x 60mm in dimension.  Why strathmore board ?- I had it lying around and it's easy to cut.  Why 60mm widths? - because thats the width of my 6mm civil war bases and these stands need to work across both multiple scales (6 to 15mm) and periods (Naps to WW2).  OK maybe no barbed wire until the R-J War.

When working with caulk, it's important to put down a sheet of wax paper or you'll have a really sticky mess.  Also have some water close by to wet your fingers while shaping the material.

I did a quick paint up of the entrenchments and then realized that these just wouldn't work.   There is no ground texture to the caulk so they appear way to smooth.  I don't want to add ground foam as these need to work in different climates / seasons.

Sometimes projects don't work the first few times you try - especially with terrain projects.  Don't get mad - it's a learning opportunity and figure out a different way. 

It turned to an old friend in this terrain making time of need....

 Mr pre-mixed, flexible and tinted tile grout (Mr T-G, for short).  Good old Mr. T-G has bailed me out of innumerable terrain making quandaries and, I'm happy to say, he didn't let me down this time.

To paraphrase Homer Simpson, "Oh Tile Grout, is there nothing you cant do?"  Bonus points if you can mention the item Homer is speaking of in the original line below in the comments.  No googling 'cause that's cheating

I cut out some 20x40mm bases for the barbed wire and covered them with a very thin layer of the tile grout.  There a huge difference between the texture of the caulked bases vs the ones with tile-grout.

I made some new entrenchment bases.  When working with tile grout the drying time seems to lengthen exponentially based on layer thickness - try to keep it as thin as possible.  I used some 2 inch long wooden sticks as a substrate and then covered them with the grout

It took me about 30 minutes to redo the bases and apply the grout.  I then left them to dry over night and

painted and washed them with a black ink wash.  I'm very happy with how they came out.

With the entrenchments done, it wash time to make some barbed wire.  I cut a 9 inch section of 18 gauge copper wire, and stripped the insulation covering.  Once the wire was exposed I unwound individual strands to make "barbed wire"

After extensive research into the history and provenance of barbed wire, I determine the exact scale diameter to make the loops.  As all of you know by now, historical precision is the hallmark of all my work and gameplay.  Using my workshop calipers, I found the exact diameter brush I need and then wound the wire around it to create loops.  Yes that's exactly what I did.  Well, either that or I just grabbed a random brush to make the loops.  I'll let you decide.

 With the wire loops made - I turned to a product I used during the dark days of my sojorn into  model railroading - it's called "Blacken-It" and it does what it says to metals.  I cut the looped wire into 35mm lengths (+/-) and dropped them in the solution and a few minutes later I've got black barbed wire.

Please be careful with this stuff as it is highly toxic if ingested.  Also, as a precaution against our idiot President making future pronouncements, Blacken-It has no effect on COVID-19 either when appleid externally or ingested.  Like other household disinfectant, such as bleach or Lysol, one should not ingest these items.  Of course, if you need to be convinced not to listen to the Orange Moron, then well I'm not sure you can read so these warnings may go over your head. 

My apologies for the slight rant, but as the spouse of a medical professional who is treating patients during this time, I have developed nothing but contempt and disdain for the current idiot in the Whitehouse and his duped supporters.

Let's get back to miniatures, shall we?

Once blackened, the wire is attached to the base with a few drops of super glue.

 and - boom - I've got 28 bases of barbed wire

I'm very happy with how this project turned out.

Hopefully, you'll see these markers used on all sorts of games in the near future.

Stay safe and healthy