Apartment Wargaming: Terrain Inspiration

Hey everyone! If you are like me you are constantly thinking about the hobby that comes along with playing the tabletop games we play. Every piece of garbage, packaging, rocks, sand, etc I see laying around I am sizing it up, wondering if it could be used for table top. Is it to scale? What could I make out of that? I also find myself paying particular attention to the lay of the land in forests, coastlines, rocky outcroppings, river beds and banks, rolling hills, rock formations, etc that I encounter in person or through pictures or nature shows. You can also draw tons of terrain inspiration from movies and video games or even better your own imagination.

I live in a historic section of Canada. The Atlantic Provinces were home or jumping off points to many early explorers, settlers, fisherman, traders, and envoys from Britain and France in particular, but also for other European countries through out history that migrated to Canada. The French and the British claimed and reclaimed the area for hundreds of years fighting battles over land and resources before the British finally took a foot hold over the area. Through the years of fighting and colony building, many fortresses were erected around Nova Scotia from the 1600's to the mid 1800's in both French and British styles of architecture. Around the mouth of the Halifax harbor sits three fortresses that were built over this time to protect the deep, natural harbor that traders, merchants, and military used for port, and the colony that was being built around it.

This harbor also held particular importance for defending ships that were preparing supplies and fuel for the war efforts of World War I and II. Canada had joined the British in both wars with Germany from their infancy due to Canada still being part of the Common Wealth. Newfoundland was not yet part of Canada and started sending soldiers to war when Britain declared to fight. Due to Canada's allegiance to the thrown, and the potential threat of Germany defeating Britain and assimilating Newfoundland colony, giving the Germans a foot hold for attack in North America, some of the fortresses around Halifax were beefed up, expanded, or modernized in preparation for war escalation.

We often take our dog for a walk around one of these fortresses called York Redoubt, and thought I would share some of the architecture and battlements that are still in place there, as well as some of the ruined remnants of the old fortress. I hope to do more of these as this blog progresses, hopefully they can assist you in your battlefield construction!

Observation post.