Through the barricades

Scenery is an important part of any wargamers' table. Making good scenery helps set the scene and improves the overall game experience, in my opinion. Locally, we are playing many Medieval games, so it seemed apt for me to write on some terrain preparation I've been doing. 

The Barons' War  Second Edition set came with four barricade sprues containing a whole host of parts. Since there were no instructions, I had to use a little detective work to figure out how the pieces went together. The set is very innovative, as the parts can be used either as barricade material or to build a Medieval market. It's clever stuff!

The painted versions looked excellent! Could I get mine to look as good, or at least 'close enough' for our wargames table? Well, I started out with good intentions, but then I encountered a few snags along the way.

The main challenge with this set is that there aren't enough pieces to complete all the barricade parts. The set seems to have been designed to provide you with most of the barricade bases filled, but not all of them.  However, this is not necessarily a problem, as I always like my models to be unique and different. Having two sets of identical barricades just seems 'wrong' somehow.  Additionally, I'd lost one of the major parts for the chest, so I had to improvise anyway.  Therefore, I decided to assemble them regardless

For the first one, I had plenty of parts and used the online pictures as a guide to assemble the barricade. So far, so good!

By the time I assembled the second one, I realised I would soon run out of stakes. There are four on the frames, which is fewer than the number you'll need. I did contemplate cutting up and shaping the spare sprue 'bits', but then  I  remembered I had some chopsticks which I'd kept for occasions like this.

Thankfully, the chopsticks were of a soft wood and could easily be whittled into shape. I tried to make them look irregular and match the stakes I already had. I also started rummaging to see what else I could add to the barricades.I did have a stack of extras (such as boxes, urns, and other bits and pieces), but I couldn't find them!

In the end, I also hunted through old sprues and added a few extras, such as a peasant's tool, a discarded helmet, and a few shields to throw into the mix. Any loose bric-a-brac would have been thrown into the hastily constructed barricade.

Thankfully, the Atlantic barricades come with a lot of spare parts, so I was able to assemble five good barricades with parts left over. The set includes eight 'bases' for barricades, but I had what I needed for my game.

In my next blog, I will look at getting these painted and ready for some action on the table. For now, and for tonight's game, they will remain brown, having received a healthy dose of Trench Brown from The Colour Forge.