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...