The effects of artillery

One thing I find lacking from many wargames is the lack of visual representation of the effect of artillery and bombing. For my 6mm games I have a large collection of ruined buildings, some of which are ruined versions of the intact version, for example:

Lately I have been playing games in 3mm using the “Travel Battles” game boards with a 1” square grid. I have no ruins as yet, but have pressed into service my 6mm shell craters and some smoke and flames markers that I sourced from Early War Miniatures.

I decided that I needed suitable markers for shell-pocked ground which would fit the 1” grid and indicate difficult terrain. I experimented with Milliput modelling and repair material.

Having mixed a small quantity I rolled it into balls and flattened them out, making sure they were no larger than 1” x 1”. The problem was to make them as thin as possible, but not fragile.

After making the splodges I dug out some shell holes with a sharp tool, leaving the surrounding edges of each hole proud of the surface.

Next step, after allowing 24 hours to dry, was to prise them from the work board. I broke some. I decided that next time I will use greaseproof paper as used by cooks to help the separation process.

Next I painted them with a coat of Coat d’Arms “Muddy Green” brushscape paint.

I followed this by dropping wet black acrylic paint into each hole and then wet-brushing various greys and browns over the surrounding upturned earth to create the following:

And here is the result on the gaming board:

This morning I smoothed off the undersides with a metalworker’s file. I would have spray-varnished them, but found that I have run out. A new order sent to Amazon. Now I just need to make about another two dozen, based on my last game which involved a creeping barrage by nine batteries.