Wednesday 14 September 2016

Like a Bridge Over Troubled Water

Hi all

following the finishing of my river sections and having been very pleased with the results the next step would be, naturally, how do we cross this?  Now I built two fords into the straight sections and they are fine, they can allow normal movement over a medium strength river that counts as difficult terrain and slows movement, or they can be treated as difficult terrain and slow movement over impassible terrain - Lovely stuff!  However nothing says river crossing or looks quite so iconic on a miniature battlefield as a bridge.  Yes bridges not only look the part but offer a strategic objective to battle over, a vital piece of the field that generals have been fighting and dying over for centuries.

So I needed a bridge, now I've struggled with these almost as long as I have with producing credible river sections.  Most of my efforts have looked out of place or improbable, with thin card struts not offering any strength to a structure or not fitting the type of games I play. I ended up with simple wooden planks across the sections which look ok for makeshift structures and not a lot else. What I needed was a generic looking bridge that looked realistic enough and fit most genres.

Looking at the materials I had available (I was not going to spend money on this project) I chose to make the bridge out of foamboard, cardboard and Filler (Spackle).

Cutting a basic humpback bridge shape for both sides out of foamboard, I glued them to a cardboard base.


I then mixed filler (premixed) with plenty of water I then "painted" the runny mixture onto the each part of the model seperately and left it to dry a little.  When it was a little damp I used a cocktail stick to carve flagstones into the filler.


When it was fully dry, I gave it a light sand.


Then I sprayed the whole thing with matt black car spray and drybrushed the whole thing with a mix of dark brown emulsion and the cookie dough emulsion I use for my Temple project.  I lightened this up until it was pure cookie dough.  Then covered it with a dark brown homemade wash.



I then mixed green flock with a green acrylic paint and PVA glue with a lot of water and use this to brush "moss" onto the underside of the bridge and the lower support, adding some lichen to represent climbing plants.




So there we have it, a river and bridge that i'm really pleased to add to my games table.

hope you enjoy
dGG

27 comments:

  1. Very nice indeed! Great work from scratch. I agree that a nice bridge like that adds a lot visually to a table as well as being useful.

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    1. Thank you Jamie. I've always struggled with terrain building before, but the last two years it's finally come good so it was time to tackle an old bugbear :-)

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  2. More scratch-building from the Baron of "Bushido", and very nice it looks too. You truly must own quite the layout for this game now Andy - all of which I'm extremely envious over :-)

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    1. Once I've rebased my woods I'll pop a layout on my table and get some models on the table for you guys if that's something people want to see?

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  3. Made to measure and it looks great, too. A great piece of scratch-building, Andy.

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    1. Thanks Bryan, it certainly fits the river sections nicely ;-)

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  4. truly excellent work, and very attractive for the table. One of the best I`ve seen you do yet. Simplistic (I always think the little terrain project builds are the best) but very nicely executed.

    I checked, I have two humpbacks I bought from the pet shop. They were meant to be for aquarium fish tanks, but they were so nice (and cheap, about 3.95 each I recall) I went back in with a 28mm mini to check for size, and yep... perfect fit: was like they were made for the game table.

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    1. Thanks Steve, I could never find one that fit and was cheap enough so out comes the scratch builds. I know of some guys who walk around charity and hobby shops with 28mm figs in their pockets in case of a lucky find ;-)

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  5. Nice bridge you've built there :)

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  6. Superb! sir looks just like one I got as a kit a few years back.

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. That's good then, I had all the "ingredients" already so neutral cost too :-)

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  7. oh my, I`ve missed so much. Still just another week to go then "hunny I`m home".

    Very nice Andy. A bridge or two somehow makes a game doesn't it?

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    1. It does Hil, it does! Something to fight over, forces tactical thinking.

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  8. Simple, but very effective and it looks the business.
    I have a particular aversion to what has become almost the standard wargame bridge - the humpback, but other than having thicker boards with rivers cut into them, I can't see a way around them!
    Your own bridge does what it says on the tin and that's what's more important though.

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    1. Agreed Joe but humpback bridges are at least useful in all genres and across a lot of time periods even if a little overused in gaming, but alternatives are difficult as you say.

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  9. That looks excellent! Of course, you now need roads to lead up to and from the bridge :-) ...

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    1. Ooh you little bugger Hugh, now I'm looking at doing some.......

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  10. One of the best bridges I have seen built by a wargamer.

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  11. Now that is just splendid. Such a 'simple' build, but the end result looks absolutely fantastic. Very impressed, Andy. Immediately makes me want to try it myself - although I have no rivers that require bridges...hmm, drystone walls might be be worth a go...

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    1. definitely worth a go at drystone walls, crooked Wizards tower, ramparts all sorts!

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