From MilesR: 2 Chambers of Challenge Submissions - Minefields, Boats and Panzer III's (110 Points)

 

It high time I had some submissions for the very creative "Chambers of Challenge" course.  First up is a set of six mine field hexes for the Stalingrad project as part of the Hall of Traps chamber.  What you say these hexes look blank - well look a bit closer and you might see a hasty placed mine or two sticking out

Maybe you can see them better in this picture - look in the lower right hex and you'll see a black dot.  There are at least 10 mines in each hex.  During the game players will have the ability to replace "clear" hexes with mined ones and it their opponents stumble on them, well boom.  But if they're vigilant, they just might spot them.  We'll see if this works but I think it will be a fun way to add a little tension to a game.

The dark splotches will lighten a bit as the glue /grout dries over the course of a few days.

I guess I can show you my "no painting required" hex terrain making method.  I take some blank hexes (see the hex making tutorial here) and use a small hole punch to make some "mines" form thin black matt board and glue them down.  Once the glue sets, each hex is covered with a very thin mix of flexible tile grout (earth tone color) which has a little bit of mod podge mixed in maybe a 1/10 ratio) as that extends the working time.  The hexes are set aside to harden - that takes a few hours.

While they set, I mix up my secret formula of dry sanded tile grout with some pigment - this is used to add a much fine texture to the surface.

After the grout sets, place the hex in a tray so it can the texture materials that falls of.  I use 5 different types of texture in making these hexes - mostly different grades of model railroad ballast and talus.

Spread a little undiluted modge podge on the hex

use a plastic spoon to sprinkle a little of the grout mix and then toss on a little of each other type of texture.  Once done use an eye dropper to drip diluted modge podge (1/3 modge podge and 2/3 water) and then set aside to dry.

Once everything setup up its rock solid terrain and there is no need to paint.

For my second Chamber, lets visit the Aquifer.  I present to you a US River Monitor and Patrol Boat from the Vietnam War.  These are 15mm models made by Battlefront which I am painting up for a club project and maybe a upcoming LWTV video.

These were pretty big for 15mm scale models but were a nice little detour.

Plus this is also my first entry in the Naval side challenge.  I doubt it will be my last......

Finally,  my last submission is 5, 15mm Panzer III J's - again part of the Stalingrad project.  These are from a Plastic Soldier Company box set which I, frankly, forgot I had and stumbled across cleaning up for the Challenge in early December.  

No fancy late-war German splinter camo paint jobs for these workhorses - just bog standard German field grey.  Old school, baby.

The details are not as good as other 15mm alternatives but these will do.  Especially since the life expectancy of a tank in urban combat is pretty short.

In terms of total points, I suggest the following

Hall of Traps: Minefields!

Lets go with 10 points of terrain (they do fill most of the six inch scoring cube but the design is really simple) plus 20 bonus points yields a total of 30 points

Aquifer: Vietnam Boats

These models are bigger than most 28mm tanks so let's go with 10 points each rather than the standard 8 for 15mm vehicles.  Thats a total of 40 points including the chamber bonus

Panzer III J's - this one's simple 5 tanks, at 8 points per tank is 40 points

All three sum up to 110 points.

There are a lot more hexes coming your way in the near future....