FoW -- Field Fortifications

After getting my ass handed to me a while back over a buddie's mine field (my boys just would not cross that thing) I figured it was time to invest a little time in some field fortifications. Since I built these almost exactly as Battle Front have suggested both on line and in print I won't go into a length discussion of how they were made, I'll just hit the high points.



Each base is 2 x 8 inches, just like the rules say they should be, set on masonite bases I cut from some left-overs. Since I don't own a real drill, I twisted the wire in my Dremmel. If you try it that way, be carefull -- you will snap some with anything above minimum speed on those things.



I decided to go all-out (no, not me!) and bought a pack of their beach obstacles. Each base has two of the hedge hogs used as supports...



... and to make some handy corner bits:



I had a few twised strands that didn't quite have the length to make a full piece (remember what I said about twisting wire at 20,000 RPM?) so I cranked out a "cleared" section:



All told, I made enough barbed wire to supply a standard Pioneer Platoon in Flames of War. If I want to do any real fortification type games, I'll need a lot more, but for now this should be pleanty (I wish I'd used all of this in the tournament I was at yesterday...)



I also made up a mine field to slow tanks down (when I'm not a dumb-ass and leave them a nice big fat gap to roll through...)



It is just a simple base with match sticks cut down for the corner supports. I strung a thin wire around the whole thing, wrapping it around each post and glueing it in place with super glue.



And it just wound't be a mine field without a warning sign. You can also see one of the exposed mines, made from a bit of plastic punched out with a hole-punch and a bit of round sprew glued on top.



Before everything was put together, they were covered in my standard basing paste (coffee, water, and white glue) and painted up to match my table. Bits of grass finished the bases, and then I glued on the wire. The wire was quickly rusted with some chestnut ink shot from the air brush -- I didn't even bother to paint the wire as metal, since it already was, well, metal. The burnt color in the cleared section of wire was also done with a quick air brushed shot of black.