6mm ACW post and rail fences

Fences are a very prominent feature on American civil war battlefields and my terrain collection wouldn't be complete without lots of them. The problem is, you really need a lot of them. Looking at detailed terrain research on the era and by leafing through maps on, for example, Maps of Gettysburg, you see that you really can't have enough of them. This means that you have to have a method which is both easy to do and cheap, if you intend on finishing up one day and not paying a kings ransom for a set of fences. So, here's mine:

Nearly two and a half meters of fences but still not nearly enough!

The sections are 18 centimeters long. I wanted to make them divisible by 6 as many elements in 6mm wargaming tend to be 6 centimeters wide. The fence is white 1 mm thick plasticard you can buy from hobby stores. I've cut it into 5mm tall strips using one of those paper guillotine cutters offices have. I then drew the fence graphic on the strip using a black thin-tipped permanent marker. I didn't do a very thorough job, so it will look better if you put some more effort in it. Just remember how many you'll need in the end. 

The finished fence strip was glued to a 2mm thick hobby cardboard using a hot glue gun. The cardboard was a poor choice as it warped a bit, so I suggest using something else. MDF, perhaps?

After the glue was dry I attached some model trees on the bases. Hot glue gun or green stuff both work fine. Then I finished the base with sand, some rocks, flock, static grass and foliage.

Johnny comes marching home

I like the end result, but even this easy method took hours to do and there's still lots more fences to do If I aim to get a "realistic" look for my acw battlefield.

Long time, no ASL

I haven't gotten much gaming done in months and I seem to have logged my last wargame in April. Now I got a game in with one of my regular opponents, and he suggested we play either Musket & Pike or ASL, and I gladly jumped at the opportunity to dust off my Advanced Squad Leader rulebook. The last game I played was at Kinkkucon in January and I tend to get a guilty conscience over not using my several hundred euros worth of ASL stuff. 

The scenario we played was S107 Tettau's attack. A simple infantry only scenario set during Market Garden with the Germans attempting to break through the British defense to reach the paradrop area. Considering I hadn't played for a while and my opponent having last played when Squad Leader didn't have the "Advanced" -prefix, there was surprisingly little rules reading during the game.

In the beginning the Germans go for a two-pronged flanking maneuver. The British occupy the village in the center with a Medium Machine Gun emplacement on the top floor of the large building.

The Germans start their advance and suffer casualties in the hail of machine gun fire.

The German group in the woods kill the British group in front of them, reducing the British force by 25% in one roll.

The Germans flanking in the woods at the top are in trouble as their leader is wounded twice and left behind. The groups advancing towards the village have more luck, pushing back some of the defenders.

The Germans attempt a breakthrough at the bottom but the machine gun emplacement keeps them in check despite malfunctioning twice.

The Germans are pushing through in both the top and the bottom of the map. The scenario hangs in the balance.

The British center is in danger of being surrounded and attempt a retreat with poor results

The Germans at the bottom break through, but have little time to reach the table edge.

The British counterattack in the woods at the top, sending the leadership-deprived Germans (they have a wounded 7+2 leader present) into a retreat.

The game is nearing the end. A British squad attempts to intercept the German conscript half-squad and the leader who have a chance of reaching the table edge.

The End. The British chase the Germans who managed to push through and break them.

It was a nice game with some interesting twists and turns.