Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Resin Entrenchments from Architects of War


For an upcoming game I wanted to give the players the option of deploying their troops in some forward entrenchments and so I needed to come up with something to fit the bill.

I knew I could've made something from foam-core insulation, MDF, etc., but notice I did not say 'simply make'.  I know many hobbyists (yes, I'm thinking specifically of you: Scott, Sidney and Andrew) who would see this a simple matter of going to the DIY store, purchasing an assortment of items and then happily spend the weekend making some amazingly artful holes in the ground. Yes, yes, but to me this is not simple. In fact I believe this path leads to madness - to an activity which would take me away from reading, painting figures and following my prurient pursuits on the interweb.

So, being unrepentantly lazy, I decided instead to bolster the economy and purchase an off-the-shelf product, namely these great resin entrenchments from Architects of War.


These entrenchments come either as a four-piece set or can be purchased individually.


They are very robust and quite detailed, with lots of texture to grab hold of a drybrush (I particularly like the footprints at the bottom of the foxholes). They only needed a warm wash to remove the release agent and then it was a simple matter of tarting them up with some cheap craft paint. I think I did all four of these in about 2 hours, from unboxing to finish.

A sneak peak from an upcoming AAR.
My only quibble is that I found the entrenchments to be a little snug for my individually based 28mm models. If your guys and gals are based on anything larger than 25mm bases then these won't work. 


Nonetheless, while I was fiddling around, trying them out with different figures, I discovered that the entrenchments work very nicely with 20mm models, perhaps even better than the 28s. 


In these last photos I've put in some venerable SHQ 20mm WWII models in order to show them in comparison to the terrain. 


Note, these 20mm models are in the midst of being re-based so they would actually be about 2mm taller in the foxholes when standing astride their bases - pretty good fit, I think.

Granted, these resin entrenchments are not necessarily cheap, but they provide a quick, sturdy and attractive solution. A fine product that I'm happy to recommend. Now, back to reading, painting and, well, other things...

22 comments:

  1. Curt

    They did look nice on table, although I agree the fit was a little snug in places. I am afraid that I fall more in the DIY camp here - why pay money for something I could bash together myself?

    Cheer
    PD

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    1. Cheers Peter. Yes, I know where you're coming from but you're saving your sheckles to put a daughter through uni where I just have dogs (who will be in dog heaven before they're old enough for a university education) and so have more disposable income to spend on self-indulgent things. I also say this to cover up the fact that I'm simply rubbish at craft projects.

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    2. Of course I'd have a lot more credibility if I actually did something resembling modelling...

      Cheers
      PD

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  2. I completely understand your reasoning here. My attempts at terrain creation typically leave me frustrated. Those look good.

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  3. These look great! On top of it, I'm a big fan of AoW. I'm not good at turning X into Y like the fellows you mentioned above. No shame in that, I think.

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    1. Thanks Monty. I agree, AoW's product line is fabulous - very attractive and quite sturdy. Like a complete fanboy, I think I have almost one of everything they make (but I will deny it if my lovely wife brings me to task).

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  4. Those are real beauties on the table!

    I loathe building my own terrain, and don't do that any more than I would try to fix the plumbing myself. Thank heavens people out there are making products for people like us!

    Say - those WW2 20mm guys look sharp...

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    1. Thanks Greg. Yes, we are very sympatico on this (and many things). Leave it to the professionals (and the gifted amateurs), wot!

      Yes, it was fun excavating these 20mm boys from The Lead Archive. I discovered that I have scads of the little blighters! How cool is that. Now its time for a major rebasing project so we can use them for skirmish gaming (CoC and Bolt Action).

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  5. Great looking entrenchments and they should do the trick!

    Christopher

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    1. Thanks Christopher. The great thing about good terrain is once you have it then they're like the gift that keeps on giving.

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  6. I'm very, very rubbish at craft projects. So I´m always very interested in these items. Very nice painting work, Curt.
    Sadly, Architect of War is no cheap...

    On the other hand; have you seen the SCW Army Lists for "Chain of Command" in their Yahoo Group?

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    1. Yes, I can understand the concern with the expense. Shipping to Europe is probably no small touch either.

      No, I had not seen the SCW lists yet! Awesome, I'll definitely be going over to check them out.

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  7. Your entrenchments really look the part! Great work.

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  8. LOL ! Thanks for the 'plug'! They do look very usable, and I admit, buying ready made ready-to-go stuff certainly saves on time - a commodity this is tricky to put a price on!

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    1. Thanks Scott! Yes, I do put a premium on my time but terrain is very worthwhile as well. I suppose its just a choice where you put my time and resources - a sliding scale for each of us.

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