I've hand-constructed a small 15mm brickyard for my Gettysburg gaming (to represent Kuhn's Brickyard on the first day's field or the small brickyard near East Cemetery Hill for 2nd day gaming). Examples of the unique shape of the kilns within these yards can be seen on the Coster Avenue mural by Mark Dinkleman at Gettysburg and in Bradley Smehl's painting of Ike Avery's attack on Kuhn's brickyard. Use the "two foot rule" - these rather crude brickyards will look presentable from a distance, and will serve to add a little unusual touch to the wargamer choosing to recreate these battles. Materials needed... 1 small Styrofoam ball (no more than 3" diameter depending upon scale of the troops and buildings). 1 stick of square balsa wood (from model railroad stores or Hobbytown) 1 base plate (cardboard, plastic, wood, etc.) Helene's Craft Glue or similar tacky adhesive brick red paint black or dark brown paint razor knife Woodland Scenics flocking (fine turf, brown) Clump foliage clusters Needle point or fine point Sharpie or Avery Dennison equivalent Steps... 0. Study the paintings by Smehl and Dinkleman for examples of what the yard should look like. 1. Cut the Styrofoam ball exactly in half. 2. Glue each half of the ball onto the base, keeping a distance of 1" or so between the halves. Set aside to dry. These hemispheres will represent the actual brick kilns. 3. Poke 3 small guide holes in a triangular pattern one quarter of the diameter across. 4. Cut a section of balsa so that it would extend 1/4" above the "roofline" of the Styrofoam hemisphere. 5. Force the balsa strip into the guide hole and glue in place as chimneys. Allow to dry. 6. Cut various size blocks from the remaining balsa strip, glue in place on the base near the kilns as stacks of finished dried bricks awaiting shipment. Allow to dry. 7. Paint the blocks, chimneys and hemispheres with the brick red paint and allow to dry. 8. Paint the open space on the base with black or dark brown paint and sprinkle on Woodland Scenics brown fine turf to represent the dirt yard. Allow to dry. 9. Add small bushes as appropriate using glue and the clump foliage. 10. With the fine point marker, add "mortar" between bricks on the kiln, color in a door for each kiln (or paint it in), and place strapping bands on the stacks of bricks in the yard. Also color in the top of the chimney for soot. 11. If the base is large enough, add a small office building and / or supply shed. 12. If you so choose, add tent flaps and poles to the sides of the kilns. The Budget Wargamer Terrain Tips Low Cost Trees ACW-era Brickyard Virginia "Worm" Fencing Low Cost Hills Low Cost Roads Low Cost Crop Fields Back to Table of Contents -- ACW Newsletter # 1 Back to ACW Newsletter List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2003 by Marc Shefelton. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com