Chalk it up to new terrain ideas

One sees lots of great terrain on Facebook groups like 6mm Miniatures & Wargaming where the German member Privat Proofley featured in a wargame (featured above and in the album below) he posted on 15April2023:

Yesterday’s 6mm wargame (rules „Schwerpunkt“ by „Kriegsspiel mit Stil“, based on „Great Battles Of WWII“): After D-Day, the Battle of Carentan broke out in the French Hinterland between Utah and Omaha Beach. My American 101st Airborne troops encountered fierce resistance from the German 275th Infantry Division in and around the city in the swampy terrain, as well as incoming forces from the 17th Double S Division. Violent attacks by my determined parachute troops allowed us to liberate Carentan and the German counterattack was repelled by the timely arrival of US 2nd Armored Division forces from Utah Beach! an exciting game. Many thanks to Plastikgeneral David Deathtouch and Master Fabian Daneaxe who teached us the game and lend us his wonderful miniatures.

As fellow fans of Great Battles of WWII, I have been following (a Facebook feature) the Kriegsspiel mit Stil club’s and Privat progress. I note that the terrain mat seems to be a one-time custom job. However, it the roads and rivers could have been with sprinkled tan model RR ballast and blue glitter as I suggest. It appears that the rivers are chalk. Chalk could be mostly brushed or vaccuumed up. But the roads look like the ballast or sand was glued down which makes them permanent.

Like the other custom terrain expert, Bruce Weigel, they have made their own version of GBoWWII, a company-per-stand ruleset by Bruce McFarlane in Canada.

I added their Arnhem game* at the bottom. Note that their buildings were handmade and then cast in ceramic. Their goal was to make a compressed “footprint” for each building so that they could crowd them together and look more like an urban area than two buildings of proper dimensions. Alas, they don’t feel they are good enough to sell.

Click on a photo to enlarge.

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A Danish gamer, David Muir, on the Facebook 2mm and small scale wargaming uses chalk for a lot of his terrain on a wool cloth which he brushes off to re-use his terrain mat. The following photos are described below from his 23MAY2024 post:

The battle of Nyborg 1659. The Swedish army has been corned at Nyborg on Funen Island. The Coalition fleet has isolated them and the two armies of Eberstein and Schack have united and outnumber the Swedes more than 2:1. The commander of the Swedish force, Sulzbach´s request to surrender is turned down by the Swedish King watching from the town of Korsør across the narrow straits. So, the Swedes prepare to fight in front of the town of Nyborg. Their defense is anchored on a bog and lake on the left and a forest on the right. Their troops and leaders are more experienced than the Coalition forces. The coalition army was really 2 armies. The commanders could not agree on who should lead so they settled for the rather peculiar system of each general taking command every second day. Eberstein has his army ready to attack at 11:00 but the other army lead by Schack will not be in position before 12:20. The lake and bog are impassable for infantry but cavalry can scout for a crossing 1d6=6. The Swedes are outnumbered more than 2:1 but must be beaten in 12 turns. The Swedes have 8x 6-pound guns not very effective firing round shot individually, but at close range firing canister they will cause casualties on attackers. Eberstein has 6x 6 pound-guns and 8 regimental 3 pound-guns attached to the infantry.

Swedish units are marked with red dots and Coalition with blue dots, a white dot indicates a cavalry unit. 1:1000, 2mm figs, homemade rules.

You can see signs of an erased chalk road that is probably more apparent in the photo than IRL. In future games, one can say they represent “trails” with no game effect. Note how he puts sky backdrop and cotton “smoke.” I like the field edge brush, which serves the purpose better than trying to represent furrows at this scale.

Below is a WWII scene which shows the painterly look of David’s terrain. He does different treatments for the fields here: some textured, some chalked, some sprinkled flock and others plain. Chalked roads are subtle but discernable. His big sections of woods are a “nubby” bath mat! All very impressive. Not custom terrain but all can be repurposed

Portable battlefield 120cm x 120cm. When playing a game away from home it helps to cut down on the setup time for the terrain. The only thing that doesn’t stick are the houses, so they are added afterwords.

Second attack on Caumont, France, 13.06.1944. Rene takes the Germans David takes the Americans. The day before at dusk the Americans were hit by a German counterattack by the 2nd Panzer division with infantry and assault guns. The Americans retreated except for a single platoon that was left isolated in a corner of the village. The second American attack starts in the early morning with 3 platoons supported by 5 Shermans from the 743rd Tank battalion. The Americans must retake the village to win.

Rene can set up several dummy units and one 88 antitank gun hidden somewhere on the map. His infantry are 3 platoons with a single MMG supported by a lone JagdPz. Its frontal armor is too strong for the Shermans 75mm gun so I will need a side or rear shot. All hedges are bocage, EC is normal with no wind at start. Scale is 1:1000. Rules are modified ASL (Advances Squad Leader).

The styrofoam under the mat folds down to 48×48″ and is thus more portable even on his bike!

Here’s how he use bulldog clips to attach the “sky” backdrop

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6mm wargaming & terrain group is another source of terrain ideas. Randy Mott says:

116 INF Regiment lines up to start assault on bocage positions, June 1944. White squares are smoked artillery rounds hitting on second move. I used the felt fields with the crop rows already done. Bought a bunch… Old Combined Arms. Vehicle 1:1. Infantry stand = platoon

With stream below ground level, this appears to be a custom table. Or perhaps he just covers over the gully with the felt mat and no one knows it’s there. Maybe he used two felt mats on either side of the gully.

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A new wargamer, Stephan Dee, from Canada, found this wargame terrain photo, but I cannot figure out which group he was posting on, so you can see how he’s doing with his terrain. People ask for advice frequently, and that’s a big advantage of being on Facebook.

It looks like repurpose-able terrain, but unsure about that not custom. I like how the woods (or maybe it’s an area of brush is defined by scattered bits rather than set areas. That allows troops to move through rather than on top of the woods or brush. My ideal woods approach is pinned trees to outline the woods and fill in some spaces between but mostly bushy lichen and bits—all of which can be quickly picked up and replanted individually to make room for troops and vehicles.

Update as of 14 June 2024: I found another nice terrain approach by Ian Denyer of the 6mm wargaming and terrain group. I asked him if his tables were custom, permanent, or recyclable. He answered, “Definitely not permanent. Flexibility and space are at a premium for me, so I need something which can be used for different locations/scales and pack away easily.” He linked to his blog posts, The Battle of Carlisle, and Making a Scrubby Table. Immediately below are some of his photos, and the preceding link shows how he does it. I note that he uses grits for roads (I use model railroad ballast, but sand might work).

“Dried tea leaves (from used teabags) for tracks and buildings, fields, crop lines etc. for colour.” This is brilliant as I drink a lot of tea and haven’t considered drying and recycling tea. I note he uses a rather fuzzy ground cloth, and it makes nicely rolling hills. Felt can be used to make more defined edges for hill contours—a positive if you have rules requiring precise delineation.

He notes that it only took him 30 minutes to strip the old table and make a new one. I’m sure that’s because he has the material at hand and experience. This reminds me of how quickly a sand table could be made. Other people may spend that much time making custom hills, gullies, road sections, etc., and still may not have enough for a future game. So good job, Ian, in joining the terrain masters on this page.

Battle of Carlisle by Ian Denyer

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*Some more from the Berlin club: MarketGarden.

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