Friday, 4 August 2023

A Very Brief Respite from FPW French Infantry

My intention to take a break from the French infantry for the FPW was very short lived. I had thought about making some scenic items, some scatter pieces to dress up the table and I got quite inspired by a cross sculpture I had seen in a game on the Perry Facebook page. Remembering my visit to the Musee de 1870 at Gravelotte a few years ago and seeing this cross in part of the Rezonville panorama, I thought I would make one myself.

I had just started to gather the materials needed when I thought "I am sure I have seen this recently" and sure enough I then remembered that John from Hand-Built History had built this very piece. John has done a fabulous job with it (much better than I could do) and I didn't want to duplicate it, so I made a much simpler model.

The cross is made from some plastic card scrap and given some surface and edge damage. The main pillar is a spare gun barrel from the old Wargames Factory WSS set that has been trimmed and then roughened by a light sanding. The base was made from Milliput over a MDF form.

This piece will be paired with the water trough I made a few years ago, that I don't think has ever made onto a table. 


This was the limit of my inspiration for terrain...so now it is back to the French infantry.


18 comments:

  1. A couple of beautiful terrain pieces there Mark. I particularly like the contrasting stone effect between the darker stone base on the lighter stone of the monument and water trough.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Lawrence. I did the whole thing in the white originally, but it was too much and since I had done the trough with a great base I decided to match that.

      Delete
  2. Replies
    1. Well it had been laying there for 13 years in the spare bits box...I figured it was time it was put to some use!

      Delete
  3. These are good looking pieces. Thanks for the mention!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Nice work. Funny what inspires.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I had been thinking of making this for some time because when we visited the Rezonville battlefield my wife bought a fridge magnet tgst had the Rezonville cross on it and it sits on the fridge at eye height, so every time I go to the fridge...there it is.

      Delete
  5. A great looking piece for the battlefield

    ReplyDelete
  6. I too think the gun barrel is a great idea and one that I would never have thought of! It reminds me that I want to make something similar for my 10mm games and have ideas sketched on on scraps of paper some where...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's always nice to find a practical use for all those left over plastic bits.

      Delete
    2. Excellent pair of terrain pieces and nice example of recyle/reuse!
      Best Iain

      Delete
    3. There is almost a degree of guilt about all this spare plastic laying about!

      Delete
  7. Lovely work Mark…
    And excellent use of spare barrel.

    All the best. Aly

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was just such an ornate barrel that needed a use...

      Delete
  8. Those are some nice scatter pieces. Should add a little atmosphere to the table. 😀

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank Stew, I think a few more items like this will be made in the not too distant future.

      Delete