Turnip28 Terrain 1

 I have not had much time to work on any more troops for my Turnip 28 force but enough time for some terrain pieces and the game board.

Putting game boards together I try to make them as generic as possible so I can use them with other games and scales as well as making them as portable/storable as I can.

I have found using EVA foam mats ticks a lot of those boxes as well as being a cheap option

Test board to get the mud texture

Mud ingredients. The Flexible filler adds more texture and adhesion to the board than PVA and the flexible element stops the base cracking off. Filler and paint were mixed with garden soil. The soil I took from an embankment which tends to have more roots.

After the success of the test, I used one tile to build an earthwork and wood fortification.

First two boards with Mud layer added

Adding detail to the first set of tiles. The tiles are 10mm thick so deep enough for some digging out but the larger ones have been cut out and a Plasticard sheet added underneath. The pink test tile was cut up and shaped to add some mounds

I have added several trench points that can be used as part of the main defense or abandoned features

To fill the battlefield I used original Napoleonic inspiration...

Mantlet assembled using  Coffee Stirrers. Wheels are MDF and card for the Iron rims.

Completed Mantlets with colours and heraldry of the Rocket Brigade

There is room for two soldiers behind each mantletChevel de Frise. Anti-cavalry defense,  sort of medieval barbed wire. (one done and more planned) 

Gabions (made by Renedra ) Cheval de Frise and bound log piles made from twigs and thread

Defensive set up

Completed the two small wagons for the Artillery train. These will be used for transporting rockets and other supplies. The front set of wheels are magnetized so they can be removed and the wagons turned on their sides as barricades 

Artillery train so far, only the final guard wagon to add.

The original Coongreve Rockets could be launched from tripod launch rails or wheeled versions like aboveRocket Artillery launchers

Turnip28.Artillery Train. 2

We should give her a name’ 

‘What?

The basket creaked as Trooper Orson turned around to face his companion and repeated his statement.

“We should give her a name’”

“Who and what are you talking about?’” responded Trooper Kurt as he turned away from the basket edge and faced Orson. Both of them unconsciously moving to match the movement around them

“The Balloon, she deserves a name. It might even bring her more luck” said Orson with increasing enthusiasm. It had been on his mind for several weeks now and every time they had gone up it had  sounded even louder in his head until it had finally come out.

“IT has a name, or rather a designation. Observation Balloon. No 126. IT doesn't need anymore, especially as we only have the one now, not like it's going to be confused with anything else!’

Trooper Kurt responded dismissively. He got on well with Orson, which was just as well as they had spent so much time together in a basket that measured barely more than a meter square and had no toilet. But he enjoyed the silence and sometimes Orson’s unusual thinking and enthusiasm got the better of him.

“ I know that but it deserves something a bit grander, and I was reading this old book about Ships and they all had names. AND you even named your pistol’ Orson garbled out, caught up now in the moment and desperate to convince Kurt.

“ That’s different. Winona saved my life. She earned it! “ Kurt responded and started to turn back to the basket's edge, he felt he was losing the argument and wasn't sure if he could even muster enough energy to care either way.

Rocket Brigade Troopers Bard Orson and Wullam Kurt assigned Balloonists attached to Observation Balloon No.126 belonging to the 107th Experimental Rocket Brigade were lost.

The 107th had been attached to an Expeditionary Force under Lord General Harrowpike but had become separated when the Artillery Train had become stuck in a mud belt. The army had moved on and the 107th was to catch up once they had been freed but the weather had changed and the fog rolled in. The rearguard had yet to be found and the open mudflats of the Wasted Sea and thick fog gave no clues.

After the train had been pulled free, horse and men pulling each wagon from the dark mud like rotten teeth from a corpse, the 107th had reformed and the Balloon sent up to help the search but to no avail.

So each day the Brigade waited for the fog to clear and the Balloon went up.

Scanning the sickly white horizon beneath the basket, Kurt searched in vain as he had done for the last ten days for a break in the fog or anything that could give the Brigade a direction.

“Okay. So what do you think we should call her?’ he broke the silence again, feeling Orson’s eyes on the back of him and knowing this wouldn't go away.

“Well’ Orson began what was clearly a prepared speech “I was thinking about the Luftroot and how it was discovered”

Kurt turned around and stared at him blankly. He had only skimmed through the Balloonist Primer during his initial training and was surprised Orson had clearly read it all.

“ What about the Luftroot? you want to call it Lufty?’ he joked to cover his confusion.

“No! Do you remember reading about how they first found it? The root and been found and everyone thought it was just another root. But when it was burnt it started to sprout while nodules like tumors that blew up and then burst. The sap is acidic but the wood has a high metal content. The burning released both and made Hydrogen, the lifting gas. “

“ Okay. Thank you for the history and science lesson “ Kurt interrupted before his eyes were caught by a glimpse of a branch in the distance, but Orson had not noticed his distraction and carried on. 

“ so I thought the ballon is a bit like the white bulbs that come up when we burn the root. So I thought we could call her the Tumorous’ it sounds quite feminine as well’” Orson announced with pride and waited for Kurt's response, hoping it would match the one his head had repeated endlessly

“You want to call the Balloon ‘The Tumorous?! ”Kurt finally replied as he reached into his uniform for his telescope and brought the blue dusted copper cylinder to his eye to scan the horizon. 

“Yes!”

“Okay, as it clearly means far more to you than me. The Balloon gets a skirt and a name, but it will cost you” Orson smiled as he spoke and slid the telescope back into the leather holster on his belt

“ She is the Tumorous. But I get your Coltsfoot ration and it will be your turn to climb down the tether and tell them we finally have a break!”

As with virtually every project, I will try and start doing everything at once! Planning for troops and terrain, buildings and vehicles, and oddities in between and Turnip28 has proved no different. Putting together the Artillery train and game board also allowed me some time and experimentation (the right colours and mud mix etc) while I settled on what I actually wanted my force to look like.

In the end, I settled for quite a grounded palette with historical uniforms and some fantasy elements.

Main wagon with Luftroot and space for the balloon to rest when not in flight which I decided to instead  of a tether winch (which I might make up later...)

The first of my Rocket troopers and I based their uniforms on their historical counterparts plus some obligatory rusted armour mud and roots 

Trooper Kurt and his lucky Carrot

Observation Balloon 126. 'The Tumorous' 

The balloon is currently plain but I will add full Brigade heraldry to the side once 

Troopers Kurt and Orson aboard

Horses will be added to pull the wagon and the rest of the train.

Turnip28.Artillery Train. 1

The emerging Turnip28 world has fired my imagination and building frenzy so after the sketches I have finally found some time to actually start putting something together. Usually, I would start with the troops and work on the big stuff afterward but with some Perry Agincourt English foot, 1450-1500 Light Cavalry, and some Victrix French Old Guard on order I was reluctant to wait so started on the Artillery Train.
The original meaning of an Artillery train was just a collection of everything needed for a unit of Artillery all ready for marching but I thought I would turn it into an actual Train, abet a wagon based one!
From my initial sketches, the train would be one lead wagon pulled by Horses, this would have the Observation Balloon winch and a giant root as the counterweight.

It would then be followed by several smaller carts that carried the rockets and a final Guard wagon.

The Guard Wagon would essentially be a mobile keep.

Starting with the lead wagon, I used coffee stirrers scored to give more texture and some wooden spoked wheels I picked up on eBay (to save a bit of time)

Size next to Perry Minature Dragoon

I added cardboard to the wheels to give them iron rims

After completing the base I realized I had made it unable to turn so had to rebuild the front and used magnets to attach

Completed wagon with sides and bar for the horses

I have build two of the smaller wagons using the same method

Starting work on the Balloon 

I wanted a wicker base and large enough for two figures that could sit within the large wagon

Metal wire wound around the wooden poles. With hindsight I would have left the corner ones long as they became the main balloon tethers, instead I just added some more halfway through

The basket sitting in the wagon. 

I later changed the bases from round to 20mm square which fitted even better

Plasticard frame opened up the poles and the tops were pressed into the polystyrene ball.

The whole ball will be covered in PVA/tissue paper

Artillery Train so far

With such a muddly theme I also started experimenting with some terrain. The mix is soil, some cheap acrylic paint (brown and black), and flexible filler ( I used Stanley Flexible filler). The mixed dried well on the foam base and held the soil well with some flexibility. I have used Foam playmat/gym mats before and plan on using another set for a muddy battlefield with some half-buried dead, bones and rusted armour with some scattered wooden walkways WW1 trench style.