Finished Canal

I have finally finished a Canal to use on my wargaming table. I started working on it half a year ago but it ended up in the to do pile quite quickly until recently, when I decided it was time to finish it.

This Canal is specifically designed to work with the bridge I did some time ago and that can be found here. The base is 3mm MDF and the sides where made with 3mm cork sheet.

I originally painted it blue, but many people suggested that blue water is only found in fantasy games, so I mixed some paints to try to get something brownish green.

I didn't manage it. I ended up with a brown mix impossible to repeat, so my original plan of having a 6 foot long canal was truncated. I covered the sides with matte varnish and the water with gloss varnish so it would have a reflection.

 

The size of the canal is 4 foot long and 8 inches wide. The length was chosen so it would cover a regular 4x6 foot table. The width was chosen specifically for Chain of Command where an assault boat powered by rows moves at 1D6 through water. I wanted to make sure that it would take at least two phases to cross the canal.

On the side of the bridge there is a 6mm tall plataform made with MDF and covered with 5x5mm cardboard squares (the same as the bridge ramps) that represents the plataform where the mechanism to operate the bridge would be.

All in all, I'm quite happy with my canal. The water does reflect the bridge and buildings, and that was one of my objectives. In the future I want to add some removable flood gates. Flood gates where supposed to be part of the sections I planned to do later, but removable flood gates will be more flexible. I would love to have some docks and a canal boat, but that is a project for another time.