Building the world's smallest crucifix

For the record I'm an atheist, or maybe a heathen. Pagan, whatever. I don't care, I don't believe.

But the little people who live on my gaming table are probably religious, more or less anyway. There's a saying that there are no atheists in a fox hole and that may be true. But if we are a little bit more serious the inhabitants of Normandy in 1944 would mostly be of the Christian faith. So when I saw this little roadside shrine on eBay I knew it would fit right in.

Made by Extratech, the copyright is 1999 but the kit is still available.

The kit has sat in my stash for a while but when Chain of Command was released I started to think about how to model jump off points. A small shrine would be instantly recognisable on the table top while at the same time blending in amongst the scenery if placed along a road or in a village.

That photoetched fret is tiny. The brush tip is my 00 fine detail brush!

I had some trouble deciding how to paint the crucifix. As far as I know these things would be painted and sometimes covered in gold leaf, but I figured any valuable stuff would get knicked quickly especially during wartime. So I settled for a simple wooden cross with the Jesus figure painted white.

The crucifix glued in place. It was fiddly but not impossible even for my stubby fingers.

I painted the metal gate black to represent cast iron. The shrine itself was painted Dheneb Stone and Bleached Bone and washed with Devlan Mud. The roof tiles was painted with Wargames Foundry's Terracotta triad.

The gate in place.

I glued the shrine to a 40mm diameter base from Warbases which was covered with Tamiya soil effect. Grass clumps and flowers were then added. The bottom of the shrine was slightly uneven causing it to lean slightly to the side, but I think that only adds to the atmosphere of the piece.

Lt. Winters checking out the Shrine.

Chain of Command recommends 40mm for Jump Off Points and I wanted the shrine to be consistent with my other Jump Off Points. If I'm playing another rule set the base is discreet enough.

"Nope, no germans behind it!"

A nice little piece in my opinion. Took just an evening to assemble and paint, including the base and waiting for the glue to dry. It's small terrain pieces like this that will enhance your gaming table and bring life to it.