Expanding a barricade.pt1

Terrain Tutorial

Hi everybody,

                    Picture this, we are all on jankers duty and restricted to barracks, you have run out of coal to paint white (you hope), the Sgt. Major is ordering more rations and PT kits from HQ for a bit and you are thinking "What can I do now?".

                   Well, I may have the solution for you today, embellish one of your old bits of terrain. In this case, I have a rough barricade made from a scrap bit of plastic that I had to hand. Couple that with a few carved up lolly sticks and scrap bits from laser cut models (optional), then we will see what we can make. I am using PVA wood glue here, but if you have a glue gun that should work too. This can work for a variety of model eras, from fantasy to bolt action and wild west. This is also a good tutorial if you have some new recruits with you, as no blades are needed..

Pick your terrain piece

First part to be fitted to the barricade,

Now in place.

The lolly stick has been carved on the edges with a craft knife to distress the wood and remove the straight edges. It goes along the piece in a roughly 30 degree angle to the right, attaching to the piece sticking out on the right.

Now in place.

Rear view.

 Now for the other side. The two square holes in the side wall planking do not give much cover to those inside,so with two more small bits of lollies broken along their length, I will convert the hole nearest to the corner to a mere slit to peer out of and leave the other one to shoot out of.

Before fitting.

I have added extra planking to reduce the target area on the left while still having a reasonable arc of fire and viewpoint.

Back to the left section of the barricade. I added a small wooden bar to the middle of the circular opening to prevent potential entry.

The bar in place

The Archer in action.

Inside showing shutter details.

 The central panel has had its face distressed, showing Dwarf axe blows and arrow dents.

Before painting.

 I now add whites and browns to the central area to blend it in more with the rest of the model.

Painting time.

After rough splashes of paint.

Added grunge.

More additions were made to the left edge of the barricade forming extra support for the plank sticking out, this has the benefit of attackers having to travel further round the hazard, giving the defenders more opportunities to shoot at them, or throw rocks if they are out of ammo.

Here we see our lone Elf defender against two Lizard Folk..

"Time to even the odds".

A close up of the supporting struts.

"An easy target".

Not up to professional standards, I was "winging it" as I went along, but sometimes that is all that is needed to put a bit of terrain on the gaming table.  I hope that gave you some inspiration to spruce up a model or even do a scratch build with some leftover materials, such as making rocks with foam core and filler, adding a standard to a wooden meat skewer. I add a base to the model in part two.  You may even have chance for a quick game before the Sgt. Major comes back. I hope so.

Stay safe everybody.

Ivor Cogdell

P.S. No Lizardmen were harmed in the making of this diorama.

A quick wish

Hi everybody,
                     Welcome, welcome, welcome, especially if you are new here.

I would just like to wish all of you in net land and game land best wishes, may  you and your family and friends stay safe in these perilous times.

Keep your distance and stay safe out there. May we see each other in happier days.

Thanks to all of the gamers, bloggers, vloggers and podcasters that keep pumping out great content for the rest of us, whether it is painting models, terrain magicians, tabletop battlers, club mates, reviewers, manufacturers etc. We appreciate all that you do to keep our spirits up, even if we do forget to hit the like button occasionally.



Ivor Cogdell

Quiz Question 11.04.2020 - Update 07.02.2026

Star Trek Discovery DVD Price change

Hi everyone,
                    I was (note: was being the operative word) going to buy season 2 of Star Trek Discovery on DVD the other day (9 April 2020) on Amazon, but when I checked the price, I found it had leapt from £22 to a staggering £28 GBP. Any ideas why this is so? Have they added more content, such as trailers for season three, if there is one? Is it because Picard Season 1 has aired in the UK? If you know or at least have another idea, I would love to hear from you.

 In the comments below, if they will let you or at

ivorcogdell @ hotmail.com

Many thanks and stay safe indoors,

Ivor Cogdell

Update

One of my spies suggest "It could be because season 3 will be shown on tv soon and they see it as a chance to up the cost." We are not saying that is correct; it is just a theory.

But if you know different.....

Ivor Cogdell

7 Feb 2026 - I have just bought Season 3 of Star Trek: Picard on DVD (Finally), and it still comes to £19 in the UK. Rippoff.

St Edwards Wargame Day

St. Edwards School Wargame Show

Pictures from Dec 1 2019.

Hi everybody,
                      Hiding on one of my hard drives are pictures of December 1st 2019 at St Edwards ? School Wargame day. Here they are for your delectation. Unfortunately, I was a bit under the weather, as they say and did not have chance to gather any notes as to who was who, but they might give you some idea of some of the fun that was taking place.

These were "Battle Mechs" From Circle Battlegroup, Based in Stocklands Green (My club.)

A second table of our Battle Mechs.

Possibly WW II Bolt Action ?

"Gaslands"

Possibly Roman / Greek ?

Fighting over a Temple ?

"Commit the reserves Charrge!"

All pictures are Copyright (C) Ivor Cogdell 2020.
These photos were taken on an EE Alcatel One Touch PIXI".

There you go, I hope there was something of interest there for you. Also at the show were assorted vendors, thanks for coming..Thanks to all the organizers and vendors that took part. Unfortunately I was unable to go to the WMAA day in March 2020, so these are the last of my show photos so far. Who knows when the next one will be ?

 Stay safe everybody.


Ivor Cogdell..

Thoughts on - Very Nasty Phishing - Updated again.

Hi all,
        I spotted a nasty scam the other day (7th April 2020) on my mobile Facebook page. It was supposedly an advert from Netflix, offering three months free tv in response to the Covid 19 virus. I thought Yaaay, good on them, I can watch some nice movies that I have missed.

Scrolling down, it asked me to enter my bank details for verification purposes. This is where I saw a red flag and got suspicious. Just to be on the safe side, I contacted Netflix by PC chat line, a very nice chap named Lucas who informed me that they were doing no such offer and that it was a scam.

The dirty rotten scoundrels, trying to get our cash in such a very despicable way. I'm just very glad I double checked it, loosing money is bad enough, but having money stolen from you, well that cuts to the bone. The company was based in Cyprus.

Report any scams to - Phishing@Company name. or phishing@gov.uk.


18 November 2020 UPDATE - The latest couple of scams I have come across are phone ones - 

1) - A robotic voice from an "internet Company" calls you to confirm a bill of £350 going out of your account-"Please press one on your keypad to speak to a Supervisor".   If you do this they can automatically get to your account and take money out.

2) - A variant on this one is that it claims "Your internet has been compromised by a virus and we are going to cut off your service."Please press one on your keypad to speak to a Supervisor".

3) - Another phone scam was a caller stating "Your PPI claim has been approved. You are owed £xxx." They will then try to get your bank details so they they can take money out of your account, not put it in.

In these or similar cases, just put the phone down and disconnect the call.

In instance 3) - Phone your bank to let them know that you have been targeted by fraudsters so that they cacn give you advice and track the spread of the problem.

Please spread this around to all of your friends and family so they are not duped by them.

Stay safe out there everybody, be alert for the scammers.

Ivor Cogdell