That plastic trench line terrain would be pretty cool. Plastic trench terrain would directly support WGA's most unique line (WW1). Plastic trenches would also be useful and popular for just about any 20th century war gaming and sci-fi gaming.
Inspiration can be taken from GW's "Wall of Martyrs."
Although with slightly less skulls.
GW's "Wall of Martyrs" is partially built from bodies. It would sadly not be unrealistic for a WW1 trenchline to have bits of skeletons and fresher bodies sticking out of the mud. A generic leg with hobnail boot sticking out would work for all theaters. (Trenches often changed hands and one could find a mix of dead in and about the trench).
The plastic trenches should be modular and capable of being built in different configurations.
I think there is a market for this but it needs to be cost effective. Plenty of different terrain material options out there, resin, foam, plaster but cost effective modular plastic kits that are generic enough for multiple settings... seems a very marketable item.
In addition to the trenches, bunkers and heavy weapon positions would be nice. And perhaps later specific accessory sets to help theme the trenches to suit the various particular settings.
We got lucky and won some Ziterdes foam terrain trenches for a fraction of what they cost new. I would really struggle to justify their normal retail price with our budget.
Actually, that isn't a bad idea, though I am not sure historical trenches can be done as a cheap plastic kit as your still going to be paying $32-$35 a kit🤔 (thats a good price 25-40 infantry but for good trenchline it might end up costing in the same ballpark as the some of the current options you both mentioned), probably the cheap but good option at the end of the day is still going be craft sticks and sculpting clay.
I can't help thinking that most of such trenches would be easy for even beginners to craft using traditional model railroading terrain-crafting techniques. BUT...
Maybe something that might be right there in Wargames Atlantic's general wheelhouse might instead be textured or detailed bits to build into such projects... boxes of things like...
plank platforms/walkways/walls
scaffolding
door-frames and doors
small sections of sandbag walls, straight or built into machine-gun nests
battlefield bits like gabions, barrels, ammo boxes, tables, stools, ladders, flag-posts....
frames and stakes and other components for barbed wire and other fencing
maybe also bodies, as suggested by JTam (though on the other hand I bet that's just as much a way to put all those pesky leftover arms and heads from other projects to use, and a box of Wargames Atlantic classic fantasy skeletons could supply a planet's worth of grimdark bones and skulls to decorate with....)
...maybe sections of brick, stone, reinforced concrete, and plate steel walls as well, to build pill-boxes and sci-fi trenches from....
You supply your own foam, plaster, recycling, and whatever else it is terrain sets get crafted from, and Wargames Atlantic supplies the detailed bits that would require more advanced scratch-building?
Folks can do great things with Hirst Arts or even just carving up foam... but it takes time. I certainly recall the days of making terrain out of soup cans and grab tanks out of deodorant bottles back in the 80’s.
The advantage of professionally made plastic kits is the savings in time for the hobbyist. Less time spent casting or sculpting, the more time there is for painting and playing.
You hit the nail on the head. The beauty of a plastic trench kit is you glue a few big pieces together. Paint it two colors. Sprinkle a little earth or chalk powder on it and your done. Playing games.
I would have bought the Wall of Martyrs a long time ago if it wasn't so 40K centric. I would definitely pick up a WGA trench kit as I can game with it from the Ametican Civil War to the 40th Millennium.
@JTam Sorry, no pictures of games (I'm always too busy gamemastering to get any) but you can find a step-by-step of the process of building the terrain on my blog under the heading Adventures in Blueboard and Foamcore.
Prefabricated walls, sandbag top edges and floorboards would have greatly speeded up construction.
I also recommend these Iron Clad Miniatures trenches. By my calculations you can get around 4ft of trenches for less than £100, and I'm very pleased with mine.
Possibly a bit shallow and better fit for 20mm than 28mm, but works well as a first line fire trench.
Great customer service too, overall a great little company 🙂
I see that you posted about my story in Wargames Illustrated and my large scratch build trench system glad you liked it and I appreciate the kind words. Here are a few more pics of it. Let me know if you would like more. I use a lot of Wargames Atlantic figures in this project. Thanks,
