"1st Bull Run in 6mm, Pictures, " Topic

Hi all,
I just uploaded som pictures of my "big project" of the last 3 or 4 years… well, I got distracted many times on the way, but I finally got to play my Bull Run.

Check them out and let me know what you think link

I tried to make the table as historically accurate as I could given the sources I could find here in Italy and the problems imposed by the scale. It is about 1"=100yd's.

The height of the hills and trees is probably out of scale, but so is the height of the miniatures, at least I am able to draw reasonable lines of sight just crouching on the table, and hills and trees look almost realistic compared to men and buildings… I think the overall effect is ok, even if I would like to improve some things for the next time.

We are using the Piquet Hallowed Ground 2 grand tactical rules (a unit represents a brigade. We use 6 stands per unit instead of 4).

Thank you for looking, ciao, Vezio

Excellent stuff! Model railway grade terrain,great!

It looks marvelous! Reminds me of the battle diagrams in my old volume of the "American Heritage Picture History of the Civil War" by Bruce Catton. Great setup! Lots of tiny blue and gray uniformed men locked in desperate combat!

Dave

Actually that was one of the books that inspired me… Thank you, it is good to know I managed to get close to the target.

Vezio

Very nice contoured scenery, and variety of colored leaves in the trees!

Beautiful job. This really highlights the use of 6mm for gaming. You've got a masters touch in the terrain department.
I initially thought the terrain was one seemless set until I got to picture 10.

There was a time I started 1st Bull run in 20mm (1/72), but the size and scale just didn't look right. You've really done an excellent job.

What rules are you using….it looks a lot like Fire and Fury? Whoops, I just re-read your message and it clearly states Piquet.

Beautiful! That's some of the best wargaming terrain I have ever seen.

Impressive!

Mark

We had an earlier thread about 'ultra' games in which the terrain is drop dead, over the top, fantastic stuff. This is clearly one of those. As others have said, this is about as good as it gets and is perfect in 6mm.

fantastic terrain!!

Well done.

Wow, that may be the best terrain I've seen for an ACW – much less any other – game.

very nice, very nice.

Wow! That's incredible. How modular is the terrain? Can't praise your setup enough!

Thanks,

John

Thank you for posting.

fantastic work and a great inspiration !!!!!!!!!!

Thank you guys, you inspire me with your comments, now I have to really go all the way and finish the last two boards and paint some more minis to be able to play 2nd bull run.

The Table is made out of three boards 50x125cm, about 20"x49". First Bull Run can actually be played on two boards only, but the plan was to be able to play the two battles on one nice table. 2nd Bull run will have 4 boards 50x125cm side by side and one 60x150cm at the bottom, alligned to the south western corner, so to include most of the roads approaching the battlefield from the south, part of the railroad and the Mount Pone.

Outstanding stuff. Well done. Have you posted anywhere the method used. And maybe the odd progress pic by chance?

I would love to see how it was all done.

David
wardepot.blogspot.com
6to20painting.blogspot.com

I took some pictures of the work in progress, but my PC's hard drives broke twice in a row loosing all my pictures… I still haven't tried to recover them from the oldest HD, which might still hold some of them, but if I do I will post them.

If you are really interested I can describe how I built it, but it is mainly pink boards, woodland scenics grass mats, glue and flock and some patience to research and draw the layout

woooooah that's a bit tidy.

That looks fantastic, well done.

Do you find that such detailed terrain interferes with game play at all?

Stunning!

Nice work. Looking forward to seeing what you end up with when you finish.

Hello Vezio!

You have captured the look and feel of the terrain to a very high standard. I'm sure it gives your players a lot to think about during a game, much more so then what is encountered in most games. It also clearly shows that 6mm
is certainly one of the best scales to game in. The only down side is possibly storage of the boards.
Bravo, well done, excellent work.

Best regards,

Glenn

Truly a wargaming work of art .Well done.

Do you guys know of any good manufacturer of 6/10mm snake rail fence?
I just can't be bothered to do it myself… I have a 2nd bull run to prepare ;)

Very nice. What was your source for the location of the woods? I think that all of the streams and most of the roads are the same as they are today (though the roads were unpaved then, of course), but the woods now are much more extensive than they were in 1861, and by 1862 the area had more in common with the Moon regarding vegetation! That would be the hardest part of modeling the the terrain for BOTH battles. The Confederate Army camped and built forts all over the place near the battlefield, and the farmers lives were disturbed such that many would not have planted crops in the spring of '62, changing the look of the area greatly.

Here's a site that shows that change: link

Nicely done.

first… I am reading your post only now… I used those pictures as a reference, but I thought they were taken in the winter after the battle so the terrain is more barren than in summer. I checked some other pictures available online and on some books I own. I also used the Historical Atlas of the Civil War and the GMT Red Badge of Courage game maps. At the time I made it Google Earth had no pictures of the area. I don't know now. I should check back. I must tell you, the woods, the fences and some of the roads were the hardest parts… some are just an educated guess. ;)

I am glad I managed to give the general idea of what the battlefield might have looked like if watched from an helicopter. And glad you guys like it. Thank you.

The terrain does not interfere too much with gameplay. We decided to allow units to conform to terrain, we forbade balancing on fences (if you cannot cross you stop behind, and for the Line of Sight we decided to apply the "what you see is what you get", but your little men had to be able to see the whole figure of the oppont to be able to shoot to a formation. The only hard bit is to decide who is at a higher elevation… that sparked some argument. We rolled a dice to decide.

At the moment the 2nd Bull Run project is on hold, but I think I'll try to get it done during the summer. I'll keep you posted.

Ciao, Vezio

Darnit, for some reason I cannot get the pictures to come up:( I'll keep trying…

Vezio, can I ask; where in Italy are you located?

I am in Rome.
Did you manage? It looks like the gallery is working today…
Try fotoalbum.virgilio.it/vezio

Ah now it is working! WONDERFUL stuff! Great what can be accomplished at that scale:)

I'll actually be in Rome in about a month… is there a decent toy soldier shop there?

Very impressive terrain and miniatures. I also game the ACW in 6mm but use black powder. My basic unit is a regiment, which is represented by a single 60x30mm stand.

Your work is really inspiring and shows that there is a lot more I need to do with my setup – very well done!

Miles
lairoftheubergeek.blogspot.com

Stunning. Truly amaazing. It would be an honor to play on such a battlefield. Would probably take a couple of days. You would have to remind me to play, I would be too busy admiring the terrain to pay much attention to playing.

AWESOME!!!!!!!

Truely Inspirational

thank you guys. Your appreciation makes the effort really worthwhile.
Bosco, I posted some picture of a black powder game in 6mm. Just go to fotoalbum.virgilio.it/vezio and browse the two Kernstown albums.

Lord Ashram, I do all my shopping exclusively online in the UK or the US, but there is a store very close to the Colosseum, it is in Via Cavour, it is called strategia e tattica, If you are visiting the city center and have some spare time, you might want to have a look. Nothing amazing though.