Defensive trenches are one of the staples of military strategy, so it's surprising they don't appear more often on Wargames tables. One of the perennial problems is, of course, that you can't go below ground level unless you are doing a fully modelled up table or modular terrain tile set. Fortunately, you can make something very similar to the trench without having to cut into the ground: earthworks. They can be used either to represent trenches without digging into the table (never popular with wives or mothers!) or as their own special sort of obstacle. Best of all, they are startlingly easy to build! Take it away, Grot!
And there you have it! Nice, quick and simple defenses! Of course, if you are making a modular tile set you can use polystyrene tiles and cut into them for the trenches, then line them with duckboards etc. using the same techniques seen here.
Tomorrow (when the paint is dry!) we'll post pics of some other things you can do with earthworks to build up a full set of fortifications!