6mm MG nests - for either side.

 

I have been looking at what I would need to create a Westwall battle. It turns out I need bunkers. I have found some online that I might buy, but I also went to Facebook to see if there were some other ideas for scratch building them. A few examples were given. One was for MG nests built using cocktail sticks - something I had already contemplated. For the past two evenings I have sat down and given these a go. All of them are based on a 2p coin. 

In Battlegroup you can pay points for an MG emplacement as a defender and I wanted to actually be able to give these a go. Playing in 6mm leaves a few things sort of abstracted. These MG nests won't actually have a miniature in them, but I prefer it that way. I might go the same sort of direction for ATGs in emplacements, unless that is better represented by an extra base that I can slip under the original base. Unclear.

Step one was to chop up some cocktail sticks. My first attempt had them glued to a piece of card and would then later be attached to the base. Chose not to go that way. Second idea was the example on the left. NO base texture yet. Third idea was to just attach the cocktail sticks that represent walls into the base texture to hold it fast. That worked a treat. I then heavily lathered the roof cocktail sticks with glue and left it to dry over night. 

I then primed them white and painted the ground a light sand colour. 

Then I painted the cocktail sticks Vallejo Beige Brown. I gave the build up earth a bit of Vallejo German Camo Brown, then washed the whole thing heavily with Citadel Agrax Earthshade.

Once dried I gave it a drybrush with Vallejo Desert Yellow, then applied various flock and foliage. I am super pleased with how they have come out. 

These just open up my possibilities in terms of what I can field as a defensive force. Next stop: bunkers. I am also looking to getting some British and US paras for some Market Garden games...even though I have sort of missed that boat this year.