Fieldworks - Work-in-Progress

I mentioned in the previous post that I needed some more fieldworks to get the sort of total length required for Kunersdorf. The quick and dirty approach to this would be to use the lengths of dowling I'd cut several months ago to create gabions. I'd adopted this approach when building up additional fieldworks for the Leaguer of Grimsby with my 10mm ECW collection.

I've mocked up some MDF bases with the nascent gabions to get an idea of the correct dimensions. Some of the 'gabions' I've temporarily stuck onto 30mm wide MDF bases. 13 in total so over a mile's worth in game scale. On three larger bases I've mocked up 'bastion-shaped' fieldworks for some of the artillery. The key thing is being able to fit an artillery base (30mm square) into the battery position. The largest of the three is to go on the Grosser Spitzberg. They are all slightly overscale in terms of ground plan for Kunersdorf, but I wanted the smaller ones to be able to accommodate a 30x30mm base and for the gun base to be turned towards either face. The larger one was to accommodate two gun bases (each representing about 10 guns).

These gabions need to be stuck down permanently, painted and the bases sculpted. They won't be 'diorama standard', but I think they're a quick and cheap way of creating fieldworks.

The asymetrical Grosser Spitzberg battery in the centre. Three dowels are 8mm, 6mm and 5mm diameter. The smallest ones are probably the best for this scale of figure, but even then may be a tad too broad. But close enough.

I've been thinking about abattis and whether to represent them. My other fieldworks, aside from the gabions, are earthern ramparts (made from beading) and I was tempted to leave it at that. I have vaguely thought of using the tips of toothpicks stuck in modelling clay, but that would look more like chevaux de frise. It would also require rather a lot, so that's probably too much fiddly snipping and sticking for my liking. I have an idea for abattis but I want to do a mock up first to see if it's any good. There's a certain item usually found in the bathroom cabinet which I've thought must have a modelling application, but could never think of what that could be.

Also I did a stock take earlier and found I have enough bases overall for Kunersdorf but I am a few bases short of Russian musketeers and horse grenadiers, and Prussian fusileers. I'll also press one of the surplus cossack bases into use as the Bosniak lancers in the Prussian order of battle. Austrian horse grenadiers can stand in for Russians, Austrian musketeers will fill the gaps in the Russian line and a spare Prussian grenadier base will stand in for fusileers. More significantly I'm short of 7 Allied artillery bases, so will have to consider revising the ratio of 1 base to 15 guns. A 30mm wide artillery base has a frontage of 150 yards with my groundscale so 10 yards per gun is not overly dense.

So things are coming together. I should have all the material/matériel I need for the game.