How to….. BOCAGE

Bocage is definitely something that many modellers and terrain companies have tried to produce and failed at for some time now. We like to think we have gone some way to offering the gamer a bocage terrain that embraces what it was/is really like.

Our difficulty was making it look good whilst retaining playability and the ability for the wargamer to get his/her fingers in amongst it all!

Fig #1 – Basic piece of large bocage with adjoining hedge mound.

Fig #2 Straight small bocage painted entirely in Salisbury Stone emulsion.

Fig #3 Basic piece of large bocage with adjoining hedge mound now painted with emulsion and field area flocked.

Fig #4 Straight small bocage piece flocked. I went only up to the edge of the mound with field flock in the first instance, but this can and probably should be varied to remove too many ‘straight’ lines. Be very rigorous in removing the green flock in order to avoid getting any residue on your tracks and mounds when doing later flocking.

Fig #5 Straight small bocage with flocked mounds and track. I use kiln-dried sand mixed with an earth flock in a ratio of 5:1. Subsequent use of chinchilla dust [cheap as chips] gives excellent results too.

Fig #6 The large bocage piece similarly flocked.

Fig #7 The small bocage straight revisited and extra green flock added in track area. When doing this type of work, think about how the track is being used and flock accordingly.

Fig #8 Now the fun part J  I use Javis clump foliage in three different green colours. I also add in some other clump from Serious Play. Using a hot glue gun, I attached the clump in runs of no more than two inches at a time, often much less. You will find as I most certainly did, that whilst the hot glue gun is the best way of attaching the clump, it also leaves strings everywhere, and I spent considerable time removing them from the models. If you find a better way, share it with your fellow gamers, bearing in mind that it is the instant adhesion that is important here. Also bear in mind that I did over a hundred and fifty pieces of small and large over a few days…the glue gun rapidly became my dearest enemy!

Splay some clump down the bank on either side to break it all up.

Fig #9 In many cases the bocage tracks are completely overgrown. This is not practicable for us wargamers, but the effect can be produced in places by building up the clump into an arch. Notice also how tufts have been added to the piece.