Thursday 24 February 2011

Bocage

In a couple of weeks the gaming group will build a game-board portraying Normandie in 1944. Rumours says that American Shermans will meet Germans. Probably hit by Germans…
So, what is so special about Normandie? The answer: Bocage, that is some smallish pieces of pasture surrounded by high hedges, making life miserable for the attacker.

We need lots of bocage!
In the excellent magazine Battlegames, number 21, there is an article about how to build bocage. I made an inventory of what I had at home, and modified the process to suit my needs.
First of all I sawed bases from 3 mm fibreboard, 20-30 cm long and a couple of cm wide. With my sharp hobby knife I cut into the sides giving them an uneven form, and about 45 degree slope. To build up the bases I used foamboard (bought at Kreatima in Stockholm) cut into strips as long as the bases and slightly less wide. Here I have glued two 5mm thick strips onto the fibreboard base.
When the glue is dry I form these bases by cutting into them, giving them an uneven texture and a suitable cross section.
Time for painting. I made a batch of my ordinary ground colour, mixing dark brown paint (from Flügger, in a handy ½ litre samples pot) with sand from the beach (some different sizes, mixed with some debris). I have so much sand that I get a very thick mix, and smear a lot of it onto the bases, in several layers, to get structure. When dry I dry brush with a beige paint.
Now to the hedge!
A while ago I bought a roll of one inch thick rubberised horse hair from JA Milton Upholstery in UK. The postage killed me, but at last I had this mythical material in my hands.
It is what it sounds like, and is excellent for making trees and hedges.
I start by cutting some uneven lengths. The roll is far too thick, so I rip it apart in the middle, which works very well. After that I cut it in length to suit the bases, and I go over the lengths with a pair of scissors, to get uneven edges.
In the original article they used hamster bedding, but I don’t have that available. Instead I try with a mixture of materials from Noch and Woodland Scenics (turf, clump foliage etc) mixed in a can to get something that looks as a mixture of leaves from all sorts of different shrubbery.
I sprayed my hedges with adhesive from Noch and dipped them in the mixture.
When dry I spray with GW Purity Seal to fix everything in place, and then I glue the hedges to the bases with my glue gun.
I’m rather happy with the result.
Now for some hamster bedding.

My further adventures here.

3 comments:

  1. Jag har använt frigolit som bas. Men mina är inte riktigt färdiga än, så vi får se vilket som blev bäst.

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  2. Nu håller jag på att färga hamsterströ, så jag kommer att ha en variant till när vi spelar.

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  3. Jag är klar med mina. Blev väl en knapp halvannan meter bocage, och jag har 90% kvar av taglet. Fick slut på frigolit dock. Hoppas det räcker till spelet.

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