BSC2021 Mick's Vietnam War Difficult Terrain Hamburger Hill update 30th August

[Mick_in_Switzerland]

I have been collecting stuff (figures, vehicles and terrain) for the Vietnam War for about a year.

I will do a difficult terrain piece - possibly a 60 cm board or two using a base of XPS foam.
These will be sculpted and textured and planted with vegetation.

I have two possibilities in mind.
a) Rice paddies in front of a village.
b) A wooded hillside which has been battered by artillery and airstrikes as in the battle of Hamburger Hill.

[AKULA]

Both sound like a lot of fun to make.... less fun for the grunts having to slog their way across 

[Mick_in_Switzerland]

For the rice paddies, I am thinking of the Battle of Ap Bac in January 1963.

A company ARVN were airlifted with 10 helicopters and dropped at a landing zone in rice paddies in front of Ap Bac village.
The village and surrounding woodland were occupied by 350 VC who had prepared defensive foxholes along an irrigation dyke.
These foxholes contained 30 Cal machine guns and a 60 mm Mortar.
As the helicopters landed the VC ambushed them and 5 helicopters were shot down or destroyed on the ground.
Reinforcements (paratroops and infantry in M113) were sent in but all were pinned down.
The battle raged all day and at night the VC withdrew and escaped.
This was the first big success of the VC against elite ARVN units.

[Hammers]

Brilliant idea!

[Mick_in_Switzerland]

I have been experimenting with layouts for this project.

Here is the landing zone for the Battle of Ap Bac sketched out on two sheets of XPS foam.


As you can see, the difficult terrain is rice paddies and the walkways in between.
This does not seem worthy of a build something competition.
I still like the idea and will try this one day, but not now.

My second idea is a steep wooded hillside.
I made a wooden easel which holds XPS tiles. I have then started to sculpt the XPS foam.
I think this has more potential to make an interesting competition piece.

[Bravo Six]

Ooooh!  I'm looking forward to seeing how that steeped hill turns out. When I first looked at it, I thought you were doing a tunnel system. 

[Mick_in_Switzerland]

Today I modified the easel to add a top tile to the hill and cut out XPS Foam to make a rough hill top.
I carried on carving with the hot wire cutter.



Here is an aerial view showing the whole thing 120 cm x 60 cm by 40 cm high.

[Hammers]

Very cool. It's going to be very interesting to see how this turns out. I have never seen anything like it.

[Andym]

Thats going to be good. It reminds me of a WWII game I seen at Salute. I think they were supposed to be representing an attack on a hill in Malta.

Are you going to rough up the rest of the ground some how, or texture it with paste or something?

[Mick_in_Switzerland]

Dear Andy & Hammers,

I am still exploring the idea.
This is quite new to me and I do a bit, then get a new idea, and do a bit more, etc.

I have been thinking about this last night, and real hillsides feature ridges and gullies.
I need to rework the sloping tile to get get that effect.
The top of the hill will be rounded but with more layers than now.

Somehow I will link this to the ridge so that they flow together. (Not sure how yet)
If I do find a way to make a ridge, this will also extend onto the flat ground.

Everything will be textured with sand (or possibly ground cork).
There will be broken trees, tree stumps and logs.

The WW2 game from Salute in 2014 is here. Their hill is much steeper.
https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=130730.0

[AKULA]

Very striking idea...look forward to seeing evolve

 

[tomrommel1]

good start

[Mick_in_Switzerland]

I decided that rather than one tile, I need a hill top, a slope tile and a bottom tile.

I remade the wooden easel to accommodate this.
This is simple construction using 28mmx 13mm Pine with M5 coach bolts and wing nuts.
I remade some of the  wooden bars until I was happy with the layout.
Later the three tiles will be mounted on hardboard or plywood.



I decided that the slope needed to have ridges and gullies.
I could have decided to carve a new one out to thick XPS foam, but instead I cut the original into 6 strips.
I glued these together so that I have a W profile with three ridges and two gullies.
This looks a lot better.
I am still in the process of carving the landscape but I think you can see the concept.

[McMordain]

 
It will be hard to make a choice when it's time to vote. So many amazing builds.

[AKULA]

That is going to be really impressive once it’s finished and painted