The noble art of fencing

...as in building fences of course, what did you expect?

The last time I ordered a shed-load of bases from Renedra I also decided to check out one of their wargame fences. I selected on at random that I thought looked good and ended up with their Wattle fences. These are delivered as a grey plastic sprue with six pieces on them, intended for 28mm scale but probably suitable for 20mm too, maybe smaller scales as well.

The six pieces of wattle fencing.

I'm not exactly sure how old wattle fences are, except that people in various parts of the world has used the wattle and daub technique to build houses for 6000 years. I bet there has been wattle fences for at least as long. They are making a come back in modern gardening apparently, and one landscaping firm even claimed that "there should be no nails! And - they should be made in England!" 

Some modern wattle fences.

Each piece is 12.5 cm or about five inches long, except for the gate section which is actually two pieces, with the gate fixed to one piece. Together they make up the same length as the regular sections. Each piece is actually individually sculpted although the three whole sections look rather similar; there are also two sections in need of some repair and then of course the gate section.

You can build an enclosure 25 x 12,5 cm. 28mm Wargames Foundry Viking included for scale.

Small supports are provided so each piece can stand on its own, but I mounted them on bases from Renedra for added stability. As I had a bunch of spare 10cm and 6cm long bases 2cm wide I figured it was the easiest way. It also serves to get the fence a little bit higher as the figures will also be mounted on bases.

Our intrepid viking defending the sheep pen from sheep molesters. Note the detail of the wattle fence.

The fences were then given a quick base coat of GW Khemri Brown (foundation paint, now oop) and then drybrushed with GW Dheneb Stone (also a foundation paint). Old wood are seldom brown, but greyish instead, therefore I went with the more muted Khemri Brown instead of the richer Calthan Brown for the basecoat.

Based, basecoated and drybrushed sections. Note that I clipped the corners of the bases.

I flocked the bases with Gale Force 9's Summer Meadow blend. As usual I added coarse clump foliage, grass tufts, some flowers, and a little bit of gravel to vary the textures and make the bases look more natural. I also added some nettles I had left over from the hill I did earlier on three of the pieces. 

With grass and flowers added.

I'm a bit hesitant about how to rate this product. It costs 6 pounds which in my opinion is a bit much for one sprue of plastic. 75 cm of fence sounds a lot, but if you make an enclosure with it it's quite small, at least in my mind. But you can get two sprues for 10 pounds, increasing the value a little bit. On the other hand the details of the fence are excellent and it is very easy to get a good effect painting it. It took very little effort to assemble. It also serves to make your gaming table more interesting by replacing some of the old bendy sponge hedges you have been using for ages. It's also useful if you want to provide some cover or obstacle that's not a stone wall but not a hedge either. Again, to vary the look of your gaming table.

The finished pen, but where are all the sheep? Our intrepid viking has left to "aquire" some.

 I give Renedra's Wattle fences 4 out 5 if you like landscaping. Otherwise, stick to the sponge.