Battle of Guam: update, 10/22

 I know, I know...my Battle of Guam is taking longer than the entire Pacific campaign.

I've had a burst of energy of late, and on the smaller toy soldier table (out in the studio) I've been assembling a pretty good-sized section of jungle.

I spent a lot of time in the jungles, as well as the highlands of Guam, and although my recreated jungle won't be nearly as thick, tangled, and diverse as the real thing, it'll still make for a convincing scenariao.

The jungle floor is comprised of 9" x 9" mats of plastic "aquarium grass" which is available, very inexpensively, from Amazon.

The mats come in two varieties, what I refer to as elephant grass (left), and ferns (right)

The individual plants plug in to the mat, so it's very easy to move them around to get a more realistic jungle floor.

I can almost hear the mosquitos.

The mats are set up on a grid, which makes it very easy to...

pass my reissue Marx palm trees through,

as well as the Marx three, and four-frond ferns that I add throughout for a little more foliage diversity.

Also from Amazon, I was able to get bamboo;

 

Though not nearly as tall as that in the groves on Guam...

it still makes a convincing and pleasing effect.

All of the Marx components were given light oversprays of other colors - yellow, browns, gray, to give ferns, fronds, and tree trunks some dimension and variation.

I think that the result is quite convincing; and I am able to keep my Civil War backdrop as it is very similar to the mix of terrain that is found on the island.

After fifty years, it's good to be back on Guam, though it's much smaller than I remember it.

Enjoy the Autumn, and...

Soldier on!

Mannie