Das Rattenloch: Part 5 – Putty and Painting

A bit of a bumper update this one, to go through the last stages of building the late First World War German bunker, das Rattenloch, and its painting.  I don’t know how many of you have taken on board a project and felt it weighing like a small millstone around your neck until you finished it.  Well, that’s kind of how I felt in finishing this terrain board off!

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve really enjoyed the process of getting to where I have done.  However, what started out (rather over-optimistically) as a weekend project is still on-going three weeks later.  I’m not sure why it’s taken so long, although you’ll see that the “putty” stages with the bunker took a great deal longer than expected.  I’m sure there’s a quicker way of doing that part, and I’ve offered some suggestions of where I went wrong.

"Das Rattenloch" – Part 4: The Defenders of the Position

With sincere apologies in advance for yet more mangled German, this blog post introduced the occupants of das Rattenloch. What I wanted to try and do as part of the project was to integrate a small number of figures closely into the terrain. I would have one section to deploy intact into the bunker itself, and another couple of sections and support weapons which could be deployed into the position once the bunker was destroyed. The German defenders would be position defenders, or Stellungsbattalionkämpferer - far from the elite of the German army, but still more than capable of clinging on grimly in the face of repeated British attacks.

I was quite taken with the idea of trying to match the painting of the German defenders with the painting of the bunker (of which more in a future Blog post) and to try and match up the bases on the figures with the terrain in which the bunker is located. I thought this would probably be simple enough for the Stellungsbattalionkämpferer occupying the intact bunker position, but perhaps a little more challenging for the troops who would be occupying the destroyed version of the bunker which I’m currently building.

This might not make a huge amount of sense to you all right now, but please hang in there.  It should become clear eventually!

"Das Rattenloch" – Part 3: ground cover

Another quick update on the (now-(correctly) renamed) “Das Rattenloch” terrain board.  I’ve added the ground covering this evening.  By comparison with the endless sticking of cardboard planking onto the trench sides in my last post, this stage was completed pretty fast.

Broadside 2012 - Sunday 10th June

Just a quick post this one to remind the blogosphere that this Sunday, 10th June 2012, is the Broadside wargames show in Sittingbourne, Kent.

As I write this, I am attempting to persuade my lovely wife that a trip to Kent this weekend is exactly what our family needs in the post-Diamond Jubilee period.

In case I don't make it, I wish everyone going all the best, particularly fellow bloggers Fran, Ray and Big Lee (and others from the Postie's Rejects club) who are staging a game based on the pivotal battle of Amiens in 1918.

 These guys' phenomenal blogs set the standard for the rest of us to follow,  and as it seems like there's been a couple of glitches with themarketing of the show (though no fault of the show organisers),I thought that the least I could do was to give them  a bit of support and spread the news of the show.

So if you're in the lovely Garden of England this weekend, see if you can make it over to Broadside as it looks like a great little show.  

I did a little more work on the (newly renamed) "der Rattenloch" last night and I'll hopefully be posting the next set of photos tomorrow or Saturday.  Catch you all then!

Die Rattenkeller – Part 2: Trenches

I have to be honest with you, dear Readers .... the next part of the building of the Rattenkeller terrain board is pretty uninteresting.  It’s a reminder that big chunks of terrain building is, well at least in my book, all about patience and doing repetitive tasks as well as you can.  The overall effect is worth it in the end – you just have to tell yourself that as you start getting very, very bored!

I did find a couple of podcasts (Life After The Cover Save episode 50, The Overlords episode 101), some decent music ("Seventeen Seconds", The Cure) and a couple of DVDs (“The Guard” and “Drive”) on the portable DVD player helped a lot to keep the concentration going.  Well, I know …. but it was a lot more interesting than the Jubilee concert on Monday night!

Anyway, how far did I get towards finishing?

"Die Rattenkeller" – a Jubilee Weekend project

I don’t often go green with envy, but the moment I saw it, I knew I wanted one.  And in the year since it first appeared, I’ve kept thinking about how I would make it, how it might be different, how he did it, and how I could try and do something which was worthy of comparison.

What on earth am I talking about? Here’s an idea …