Minefields as far as the eye can see

I had an inspiration yesterday that, for a change, was quickly transformed into a short project. Earlier this year I posted some pictures of minefield markers I had made for my 6mm FOW games. Minefields were a ubiquitous part of the desert war, especially the battles preceding and during Alamein, and any game of this period would be incomplete without at least some mined areas. But as I am planning on using micro armour on full or even over-sized tables (up to 8'x10') I would need a lot of minefields, and that would take a lot of time and money that I don't have if I am going to put on a game for the rejects before the year is out. 

160 Inches of minefield ready to deploy

My idea was to take five of the 8"x 2" minefield bases I had made and photocopy them! I used a colour photocopier and set the machine to make photo quality copies. The result was a sheet of five minefields at 1:1 scale with the modeled originals. I then cut these out and stuck them onto 8"x2" mdf bases (from Warbases). Once the glue had dried I painted the edges of the bases just like I have with all my others and gave them a quick spray of Testors Dulcoat to reduce the shiny surface on the paper.

The finish models took less than an hour to do and I now have over 13 feet of minefield that I can deploy as terrain when using larger tables. This means I can use multiple belts of mines just as they would have been used in real life.

Photocopied Minefields - Quick, cheap and easy to make

I know they don't look as good as fully modeled terrain but frankly once they are deployed on the table its hard to notice that they aren't 3D until you look closely. The equivalent length of modeled Minefield would easily have cost £40 to £50 and many hours of work. These only cost £20 (for the bases) and a few pence on the photocopies and glue. Not bad for a quick brainwave!