How To: Make Quick Forest and Bocage for Your Battleground!!

Today we are going to show you how to quickly make some trees for a small forest or create bocage for your tabletop battleground.

We picked up this artificial foliage at a local hobby and craft store. Each one of the yellow flower portions is approximately 6 to 7 inches tall. These come in several colors, we went with a yellow for fall foliage. They retail for about 9 to $12 depending on the store. Wait for the 50% off sale and then pick up several. We got ours for about $5 a piece.

First you'll want to clip off the flowery portions. Be sure to leave enough room to be a trunk. We left approximately 2 - 2.5 inches of brown stem to be our trunks. Beach peace contains five or 6 flowering portions which will be our trees. Shape your trees by clipping off various pieces to give them a nice form. Keep those clippings for later.

Using a hardboard or dense foam core, cut out shapes to suit your table top. Drill small holes into the bases and insert your trees. Once you know they fit nicely and are where you would like them to be, hot glue them in place.

We then added rocks around the bases of the trees. This will add support plus add extra dimension and cover for your troops.

Here are our two larger bases plus our thinner basis to make up our bocage or walls. We hot glued everything into place. The one tree base will allow vehicles to drive through the other one is a little thinner for foot traffic. The reddish piece of foliage also came from a large floral piece. We got over a dozen off of that one and they make great smaller trees or bushes.

Next we based everything with a dark green paint with some debris mixed in to add texture. We mostly avoided the rocks.

Next week did a dry brush of a light grey green to pull out our texture.

Then take your clippings and glue them into various places between the rocks to be smaller trees and bushes that are growing on your bocage. We also added ground cover and various other bits for bushes.

And there you have it in a matter of a couple hours we have a small forest and bocage pieces for our table top battleground. You can go heavier on the bushes and foliage for true Bocage or leave more rocks for field stone walls. Whatever you decide, be sure you have fun doing it.

Have a Great Battle,
The Old Crow

Assembling A 4Ground Two Story Terrace House for Bolt Action

Today we're going to assemble a 4ground two story terrace house which can be used for Warlord Games Bolt Action World War 2 skirmish game. Here we can see the very detailed pieces that you receive in this splendid little kit. The interior pieces all have a white base that gives you a nice plaster look. The floorboards and windows have a great wood look and feel to them and you also get a red tiled roof, a blue accents board with front door and window sills and even some stone lentils for your windows. Oh and don't forget the chimney stack.

The beauty of these kits is the double thick walls. Here you can see the outer walls are built and the inner pieces are being put in place. If you look in the corner you can see a little tab sticking up that will allow you to place the second floor on top and keep it from sliding off.

The stairs go together as nicely as the rest of the kit, here you can see them mostly assembled. If you use Renadra bases, the models will fit onto the stairs just right.

We have the ground floor assembled, stairs leading up to the second floor are in place and all the walls are installed.

The second floor, seen here assembled, is ready to be placed on top of the ground floor. You can see the tabs on this level too, so that the attic and roof assembly can be put onto it.

Here's another look at the second floor placed on the first.

The roof and attic assembly is designed to allow for the roof to be removed and replaced easily.

Next we have all of the details. We have brick pieces to go into the battle damaged areas. We have grey stone lentils for all the windows and doorways. We have a blue painted front door plus blue window sills and lots of wooden doors and windows. There are even little door knobs

We suggest using a pair of tweezers to insert the Windows, this worked best for us. So, here you can see the front of the building in it's completed stage with some armor and 28 mm US Marine for size.

Again we can't say enough about how well these kids are made. The ability to remove the floors so that you can place models actually inside of the building is a great feature for those who are looking for realism. Bolt action is a line of sight game, so these windows can be put to good use.

On our ground floor we chose to not glue the doors in so they can be positioned open or closed, or removed if they've been kicked out.

Here's a view of the rear of the building

And the side. This kit is a left end so the opposite side is not finished and designed to go up against the next building. 4ground makes left hand, center (or mid) and right hand terrace kits. You can see the great little brick inserts in the battle damaged areas of this kit.

Have a Great Battle!

The Old Crow

Warlord Games M18 Hellcat Tank Destroyer for Bolt Action - Part Two Assembled

The M18 Hellcat from Warlord Games, is well on the way to the tabletop. Here we have it assembled with a few Airborne Ranger Pathfinders.

The post 44 barrel with muzzle brake was used on this tank destroyer. Stowage was added in front of the hatches.

The Browning machine-gun is mounted on a flexible ring for use against aircraft and infantry.

Stowage was also added o the rear and an extra rifle was placed just outside the turret in case of emergencies.

Next we'll need to prime it, get it painted and onto the table for some Bolt Action Tank Wars!

Have a great battle!
The Old Crow

Warlord Games M18 Hellcat Tank Destroyer for Bolt Action

If you are a World of Tanks player, you probably love the US M18 Hellcat Tank Destroyer! Lets take a look at the Warlord Games Bolt Action version!

This resin and metal model includes a pre-1944 barrel and the post 44 barrel with muzzle brake. The detailing is great with stowage in the external turret compartments

The US M18 Hellcat tank destroyer was armed with a 76mm cannon and was the fastest tracked armored fighting vehicle of World War II with a top speed up to 60 mph (92kph),

The Hellcat's prodigious speed was attained by keeping it's armor to no more than 1" thick. Hellcat crews quickly learned took advantage of the vehicle's speed to minimize the enemy's ability to pierce its thin armor. Hellcats used their speed to outflank and penetrate the side and back of the heavily armored German Tiger and Panther tanks.

The M18 Hellcat saw service in the Western Front in the main. However it also saw action in the Pacific and in Italy. The US military also supplied the M18 to Chinese Nationalist forces opposing the Japanese in the Pacific theater. This was something of an overkill situation against weakly armored Japanese tanks.

We'll follow up once we get one assembled and painted!

Til then, have a great battle!
The Old Crow

SAGA Skirmish: Gripping Beast Vikings vs Saxons!

Had a chance to finally squeeze in some action with an introduction game of SAGA to some new converts. Using Gripping Beast Plastic Viking Hirdmen and Saxon Thegn boxed sets to build the forces, we once again, put them to the test. Here at the opening gambit, the viking line surges forward from the left to attack the Anglo-Saxon defenders.

The Saxons in a bold move rushed the Viking Ulfhednar and wiped the berserkers out. In turn their warriors were cut down by the Viking Warlord and his warriors.

After some crushing skirmishes, the Anglo-Saxons retreat. The Viking Warlord sends his warriors in to attack the opposing Warlord and his last two remaining Hearthguard who are defending from behind a stonewall.

Refusing to be defeated the Anglo-Saxon Warlord stands defiant! The Viking warlord joins his warriors in the attack!

The viking warriors jump the wall and attack and slay the last remaining Saxon Hearthguard....

leaving the Saxon Warlord to be surrounded and slain.

A great night of introducing SAGA to new players who in turn brought additional recruits to the miniature wargaming hobby!

Have a Great Battle!
The Old Crow