"Photos and review of Acme Terrain's snake rail fencing" Topic

The Johnny Reb Gaming Society presents a series of photos and commentary on Acme Terrain (Randy Miller)'s 10-15mm scale zig-zag fencing sections.

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I was just looking at those fences today! They do look very nice. A couple of questions, if you know:

1. At 9mm height (from the base, or in total including the base?), are they too tall for 10mm figures, or were the fences usually shoulder high?

2. Are the bases integral to the fences – i.e. would the unfinished versions be based?

Also, do you know how these compare to the fence system from BTC?

Cheers,

Christopher

BTC sells kits of wooden rails to make your own fences, and Doug also sells finished products as well. His are wooden and a little larger, more to true 15mm scale. Randy's are made from cast resin and a bit smaller. I would not necessarily intermix them in the same field, but, as farmers were not uniform in their construction of fences, the two systems could be used on the same tabletop. My own layouts include these kinds of fences, as well as 3-rail Stone Mountain and 5-rail Musket Miniatures. A little variety looks good!

Not having any 10mm figures in my collection any longer, I cannot comment on the first question, but if you look at photos of old farm fields here in southern Pennsylvania and central Maryland, the fences were of all sizes. Some actually were taller than a man; some only came to the waist.

Scott is quite correct in his description of the set. I designed the fences from the new ones located at the Chickamauga and Gettysburg National Battlefield Sites. I was fortunate enough to visit both last summer and took many pics of the new split-rails fences that had been added. There are so many variations of the rail fence since they are the farmer's own creation. Here's a great article on Wikipedia about the rail fence…

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Doug's fences (as well as all of BTC stuff!) are top quality. My intention was to design a fence system that I could cast without having to build each section from separate pieces. I use a heavy wash (GW-Citadel) on the painted fences to give the spacing effect, then dry brush with the aged-wood acyclic from the various craft paint suppliers.

The height of the fences are chest high for Perrin/Magister Millitum – these being "true 10mm". This is consistent with the fences at the National Battlefields but I have seen photos of many other designs (particularly from period photos from the William A. Frassanito books) that are not that tall.

I have the gambit of 10mm ACW figs and the fences work well for them all except GHQ… I have 6mm stone and split-rail fences for those too.

Here is a link to a pic that shows both scales:

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Sorry about the Afrika Corp 15s – There were handy during the photo shoot!

Many of the sets that I have made have ended up on 15mm tables but these are gamers who, like Scott, use 10-12mm terrain for the 15mm figs.

I have started masters for 28mm and true 15mm fences and should have them ready for casting by mid-April.

Thanks Scott for your support and fantastic service to the hobby!