Happy Christmas

Seasons Greetings to all who lurk hereabouts.  I hope you've been enjoying a safe and happy period with your respective family and friends.  Personally, I'm having an exciting time fighting off a wonderful selection of health conditions, some of which I can't even spell!

Santa was very kind to me as usual but this year the focus has been away from wargaming stuff.  I think he approves of my focus on reducing the size of the lead pile.  What I did get was this:

It's a static grass applicator.  It uses two AA batteries to created a static charge in the sieve-like end that causes static grass to stand up.  You need a potential difference across the gap and this is achieved by attaching the bulldog clip to a conductor.  I've experimented with a craft-knife blade poked into the wet PVC glue being used to attach the grass.

I have to say I was sceptical at first but the applicator really does seem to work.  I've tried it out on a scenic piece I'm building for this week's Black Powder game and on one of my river sections. All 6mm scale of course.

Left to right - upgraded river section; coffee-stirrer bridge; new river
boom section; old, un-upgraded river section.

My plan is to improve all of my 3" wide river sections to a new standard.  The green-painted tile-grout banks will be repainted in various shades of brown and dry brushed with the ever-present Iraqi Sand.  They'll then get static grassed.

I always tried to make sure there's a new terrain piece in every game I run.  It's a good way of making sure your terrain collection stays as fresh and interesting as your armies.  This time I thought it would be interesting to have an alternative to the "defend the bridge" scenario.  So our 18th century Russians will be defending a bridge and a river boom.

This one is based on the example constructed during the American Revolution to deny British ships freedom of navigation on the Hudson River.  It consists of (plastic rod) logs joined together by (Green Stuff) iron chains.  A few Irregular miniatures scenic items are dotted about the primitive fort set up to defend the site.

One the photos you can see an un-upgraded river section on the right.  As well as improving its banks, I'll also paint the end black to prevent that bit of fluorescent blue showing through.