Telegraph lines?

[Hammers]

Have any of you intrepid adventurers gone about drawing telegraph lines across your game boards? In case you have, how have you modelled them and how do you prevent them from getting knocked over by less dexterous gamers?

[Westfalia Chris]

Have any of you intrepid adventurers gone about drawing telegraph lines across your gane boards? In case you have, how have you modelled them and how do you prevent them from getting knocked over by less dexterous gamers?

I really like using telegraph poles, although I have never bothered to actually draw lines. This was due to my usual preference of having single-based individual poles, as seen here:



And here:



Obviously, this is not really convincing, but a basically satisfactory compromise between looks, handling and stability.

If I were to actually "string" them, I would probably follow the approach used by the good Captain Blood for his African Table trees, i.e. have steel (?) pins instead of bases and pin the poles to the table.

Then, having constructed the wire fastenings using thin steel wire or pins with a little decorative pearl as the isolator (as can be seen in the second pic), and then use elastic thread cut to an appropriate length, slightly longer than the distance between two poles, with loops knotted at the ends, and simply slip this on top of the isolators.

After the game, you can remove the poles and reposition them for the next.

[Hammers]

If I were to actually "string" them, I would probably follow the approach used by the good Captain Blood for his African Table trees, i.e. have steel (?) pins instead of bases and pin the poles to the table.

Then, having constructed the wire fastenings using thin steel wire or pins with a little decorative pearl as the isolator (as can be seen in the second pic), and then use elastic thread cut to an appropriate length, slightly longer than the distance between two poles, with loops knotted at the ends, and simply slip this on top of the isolators.

After the game, you can remove the poles and reposition them for the next.

Sweet looking board. Sticking the poles into the game board seems rather rough on the board and would shorten its life span, wouldn't it?

[1ngram]

Check out the Model Railway Forums and you may find ways of doing this.  I've seen layouts with 'rubber' telegraph poles which bend (and thus do not break) when leaned upon.  They even were 'strung' with material I have seen on sale in US which, similarly stretches if accidentally 'pyounged'.

[Plynkes]

Just the poles. Wires seem more trouble than they are worth, so are left to the imagination.

Besides, our gaming gang does have its own resident "less dexterous gamer" who would somehow manage to knock over scenery even if it was nailed to the table. Can usually be found with three or four trees dangling from his jumper on gaming nights.

[Westfalia Chris]

Sweet looking board. Sticking the poles into the game board seems rather rough on the board and would shorten its life span, wouldn't it?

Naturally, although if you use a thin-enough pin (like a needle), then the elasticity of XPS (which I would most likely use) should close it to some extent. Worst case, you could give it a "go over" every few monts and just stip a bit of sand and glue onto the most visible holes.

In theory, you could obviously string the single-based ones, too. That, however, is a mishap just waiting to happen - if you get caught in the wire, all the poles will skitter across the board.

As noted before, I don't really bother with the wire (which would probably be grossly overscale, anyway) - for me, the poles are sufficient "visual cues" that help me imagine a telegraph line.

That said, for a static display or diorama that is not likely to be handled much, I would very likely go the whole nine yards (or what distance of wiring is required).

[Thunderchicken]

Hammers, I've been building my own with balsa wood and a chopped plastic rod for the conductors. These are still WIP but the partly painted one is on a weighted base to keep it steady:



As for wires, it would look lovely but I'm not going there.

Besides, our gaming gang does have its own resident "less dexterous gamer" who would somehow manage to knock over scenery even if it was nailed to the table. Can usually be found with three or four trees dangling from his jumper on gaming nights.

  I've seen pikemen attached to jumpers too. Is this the same gamer who rolls dice across the gaming table with excess enthusiasm, usually towards your lovingly painted figures?

 

[Hammers]

Just the poles. Wires seem more trouble than they are worth, so are left to the imagination.

Besides, our gaming gang does have its own resident "less dexterous gamer" who would somehow manage to knock over scenery even if it was nailed to the table. Can usually be found with three or four trees dangling from his jumper on gaming nights.

I feel bad because I a brave of the Lessdextrous tribe to.

[Luthaaren Von Tegale]

Can usually be found with three or four trees dangling from his jumper on gaming nights

you mean I'm not alone?

On Telegraph lines - like the rest I stick to just using the poles themselves made from wooden BBQ skewers and based on a 2p piece - they seem stable enough even though I'm one of the "less dextrous tribe" too.

vT

[Trooper]

Besides, our gaming gang does have its own resident "less dexterous gamer" who would somehow manage to knock over scenery even if it was nailed to the table. Can usually be found with three or four trees dangling from his jumper on gaming nights.

That guy belongs to so many wargames clubs doesn't he?

[sukhe_bator]

Even more of a problem in 15mm. I just use poles on bases

[Patrice]

Very nice work 

But does anybody makes and sells telegraph poles for 28 mm scale ?

[koz10]

We've found that stringing bare copper wire strung over our telegraph poles and hooked up to a 12volt battery works nicely. People only make the mistake once of touching or knocking them over. Same concept with lances - sharpened metal wire works well with those ham handed guys who grab everything without thought to the time that went into painting them.

The realism of actual telegraph wire is something we give up for the sake of common sense. Do people actually have running water in their fake rivers?

[Remington]

Patrice, Westwind sells them in groups of ten in their Battleground Accessories range, made out of metal so they are more resistant to snapping than balsa. On the other hand it's a pain to get them completely straight, something that really bugs me, especially as an architect, trained to spot a straight line from a mile away.

[Ignatieff]

Anyone got pictures of what Russian/Central Asian/Chinese telgraph poles actually looked like post WW1 - mid 1920's?  I reall;y want to get some, and this fascinating thread has got me going again!