Fire and Fury Games' Battlefront WWII Building Terrain

Click on the Thumbnail for a full-size photo	Description
In the Beginning...	You need to start with a solid gaming surface. Dave provided us with some sawhorses to support some building material.
Base Terrain	The first step in building an attractive table is to provide a base covering to cover up the bare surface. This provides a general ground cover of the proper hue. Rich is partial to blankets, not only because they give a uniform color, but also because they conform to the hill shapes underneath them better than some stiffer materials. Here a light brown blanket simulates the sun-blasted steppes. As the covering tends to get dirty, it is best not to use blankets that are in active use as bed coverings :-) You can also use commercially wargame terrain coverings for this purpose.
Laying out the hills	Here Rich is using some cut insulation materials for his hills. He lays the hills out on top of the blanket to get the general feel for the terrain.
Setting up the hills	After figuring out where the hills will go, they are put under the blanket to make rolling terrain. We prefer to put our hills under the terrain because it the rolling terrain look more realistic.
Swampy Material	Rich found this fabric pattern at a local fabric store. It is almost perfect for swamps (men and women go to the same stores but for different purposes :-)
Dirt Roads	We lay out tracks of railroad sand for our dirt roads. You can pick it up at the end of the gaming session with a dust buster.
Towns and Fields	Squares of courderoy are placed to simulate plowed fields. Commercially available buildings are put on top of town sector layouts.
Trees	We place model trees to deliniate wooded areas and fill in the swamps. Some RR model telephone poles add color. One good source of trees and modeling equipment is your local Railroad Hobby shop. Much of the terrain and modeling equipment they use are useful in wargaming as well.
Entrenchments	We made some models of entrenchments to show our dug-in and entrenched positions.
Lichen Hedgerows	Lichen (also obtained at Railroad Hobby shops) is used around the edges of our fields to show hedgerows.
More Lichen	Lichen is also used to fill in the edges of the woodlines. Russian reserves lurk menacingly.
Battle Begins	The Germans are in their jump-off positions.
Russian Position	The Russians await the onslaught on table 1.
Russian Position on table 2	Other Russians await the onslaught on table 2.
Aerial view of table 2	The start of the German Assault on table 2
Table 2 Again	Another view of the German assault on table 2.
Table 2 Turn 2	The Germans close with the trenchline.
Three German Tanks	A closer view of some of the assaulting Germans.
Table 1 Crucial Moment	The initial German assault suffered a bad roll, and almost was beaten off, but the Russian SU-85s came too close and were destroyed in a sudden turnaround.
Ferdinands stalled	On the other side the early Ferdinands were impervious to fire, but couldn't force their way through the Russian positions. At one point the Russian infantry assaulted them and had a reasonable chance of getting an "Exchange" result in close combat.
Table 2 Breakthrough	The Germans break through on the other table.

Click on the Thumbnail for a full-size photo

Description

You need to start with a solid gaming surface. Dave provided us with some sawhorses to support some building material.

The first step in building an attractive table is to provide a base covering to cover up the bare surface. This provides a general ground cover of the proper hue. Rich is partial to blankets, not only because they give a uniform color, but also because they conform to the hill shapes underneath them better than some stiffer materials. Here a light brown blanket simulates the sun-blasted steppes. As the covering tends to get dirty, it is best not to use blankets that are in active use as bed coverings :-) You can also use commercially wargame terrain coverings for this purpose.

Laying out the hills

Here Rich is using some cut insulation materials for his hills. He lays the hills out on top of the blanket to get the general feel for the terrain.

Setting up the hills

After figuring out where the hills will go, they are put under the blanket to make rolling terrain. We prefer to put our hills under the terrain because it the rolling terrain look more realistic.

Swampy Material

Rich found this fabric pattern at a local fabric store. It is almost perfect for swamps (men and women go to the same stores but for different purposes :-)

Dirt Roads

We lay out tracks of railroad sand for our dirt roads. You can pick it up at the end of the gaming session with a dust buster.

Towns and Fields

Squares of courderoy are placed to simulate plowed fields. Commercially available buildings are put on top of town sector layouts.

Trees

We place model trees to deliniate wooded areas and fill in the swamps. Some RR model telephone poles add color. One good source of trees and modeling equipment is your local Railroad Hobby shop. Much of the terrain and modeling equipment they use are useful in wargaming as well.

Entrenchments

We made some models of entrenchments to show our dug-in and entrenched positions.

Lichen Hedgerows

Lichen (also obtained at Railroad Hobby shops) is used around the edges of our fields to show hedgerows.

More Lichen

Lichen is also used to fill in the edges of the woodlines. Russian reserves lurk menacingly.

Battle Begins

The Germans are in their jump-off positions.

Russian Position

The Russians await the onslaught on table 1.

Russian Position on table 2

Other Russians await the onslaught on table 2.

Aerial view of table 2

The start of the German Assault on table 2

Table 2 Again

Another view of the German assault on table 2.

Table 2 Turn 2

The Germans close with the trenchline.

Three German Tanks

A closer view of some of the assaulting Germans.

Table 1 Crucial Moment

The initial German assault suffered a bad roll, and almost was beaten off, but the Russian SU-85s came too close and were destroyed in a sudden turnaround.

Ferdinands stalled

On the other side the early Ferdinands were impervious to fire, but couldn't force their way through the Russian positions. At one point the Russian infantry assaulted them and had a reasonable chance of getting an "Exchange" result in close combat.

Table 2 Breakthrough

The Germans break through on the other table.

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