Fieldworks

In conversation with Kevin and Doug at Trumpeter's Bonsor night, Kevin mentioned that the Russians in the era of Peter the Great were quite keen on fieldworks.  They seem to feature in every pitched battle, especially when artillery was present.  I'd go further and add that fieldworks seem to have been part of Russian army activities through time, such as the great redoubts and flèches constructed at Borodino, and other fieldworks and camps that were constructed for the 1812 campaign, right through the Second World War and beyond.  "Sweat saves blood." 

So when I got home, I went through my various arts and crafts supplies, and pulled together a simple little field work.  The base is an old CD.  I built up some layers of cork board, and chopped up a pencil to use as the 'logs' on the inside, and laid down some stir sticks as base boards.  Slathered it first with sand and ballast, then with paint, and finally dusted it with static grass.  

Here is the bottom, showing the CD used as a base.

A few different views of the finished piece:

It's just the right size to take the cannon including the base:

 

But it gets a bit crowded when the artillery crew all attempt to squeeze in... 

If you look carefully, you can see that I've changed the stockings to blue, as the white that I originally painted them was not correct.

It's not just for the gunners; it could be held by dismounted dragoons

Or a forlorn hope of grenadiers

But it's not quite big enough for a full unit of 12 shot :) 

All in all, a fun little weekend project.