Abattis

 As promised, here's part three of my current project of terrain items for the Franco Prussian War, namely some abattis. What, you may conceivably ask, is an abattis? It's a form of field defence created out of trees, brushwood or branches arranged so that they create an obstacle to attacking enemies.The name abattis comes from the French meaning 'cut down'. The trunk or main branch of each item is placed towards the defending troops, and a tangle of branches and twigs project in the face of any assailants.They were usually built under the supervision of engineer officers and were used from about the 16th century onwards. Barbed wire served the same purpose and mostly replaced abattis, although I've seen photos of this older method in use on the eastern front of World War One 

Generally the cut-down trees were simply dragged into a line, or brushwood and branches were piled into a line. But there were various refinements. Trees on the edge of a wood could be almost cut through and then dragged down to create an obstacle that could not be pulled out of the way by attackers becuase it was still attached to the ground. You may read that the ends of the branches were sharpened, but I think this was actually quite rare. Sometimes the trunks might be fastened down somehow, or the abattis laid in a ditch, to create an obstacle without impeding the defenders view or field of fire. Anyway, not wanting to build something that would fill up my table I went for the brushwood kind of abattis. We'll start with some of the reference photos I found.

Here's an abattis from the American Civil War. This is the "friendly" side.

And the same sort of thing from the enemy side.

My abattis. Frankly I am chuffed with how these came out. They are made from twigs and a few root fibres (see below). I glued them to the bases in layers of a few pieces at a time, which was a bit fiddly. Tacky glue holds such items adequately, but lacks "grab" so you need a bit of superglue in places.

Here you can see better how things are arranged from the rear. The bases are all 50mm deep, cut with irregular, chamfered edges, and in sections 2", 3"and 4" wide. I made 42" in length overall. The bases were grassed before I glued on the twigs.

French infantry defend a length of abattis. You've seen these guys before, but this gives you an idea of the scale of the abattis.

Here's what I used to make the brushwood/ branches, if you fancy having a go yourself. Most of the twigs are this type, which I got a big bag of from Dioramapresepe in Italy a few years back. They keep changing their range, but I'm pretty sure this is the stuff: Mixed twigs for trees, bushes and landscapes Diorama Nativity scene 12 pcs It comes in much bigger pieces than you see here, but breaks apart very easily. I did also use some garden twigs, specifically from box (buxus) bushes, and these might be easier to find. Finally I used some wispy pieces of root, woven in amongst the twigs to give a slightly denser effect. None of these items needed spraying or painting in any way as they are naturally the right sort of colour and texture.