Wargame Columns

Here is what I do to make cheap and quick columns for ancient wargames.

Supplies you will need:

Utility knife

Ruler

Pencil

Hot-glue gun

cutting mat (to keep you from getting in trouble with your significant other for cutting up the table)

Piece of cardboard

Measure out the length of cardboard for the size of columns you need. I am using 3 1/8" as I wanted a column a little over 1" in diameter.

Use your utility knife to cut just the first layer of paper between each ridge.

Now that the valleys have been cut, curl the cardboard into a cylinder to help loosen the paper attached to the ridges. Once you have done this a few times gently peel the paper from the ridge.

NOTE: Keep these pieces of paper handy as we will use them in a later step.

Most of the time the paper will leave fuzzies attached to the ridges. These are easily removed by scrapping the blunt edge of the utility knife along the ridge.

separate one ridge along one edge of the cardboard. This will be used to securely glue the cylinder together by overlapping a ridge.

Roll the cardboard gently to train it and test fit the overlapping ridge.

Once satisfied, hot-glue the ridge to create the cylinder.

The base and Top I am using are double corrugated cardboard from our furniture delivery, but you can just as easily use regular cardboard from the source you got your cylinder from.

Hot-glue the top and base to the cylinder.

Remember those paper strips? Well I like to use them to cover the unsightly corrugation of the base and top (credit to Wyloch's Armory for this). Just run a bead of hot-glue on the corrugation and place the paper over top. Cut off any excess paper and you're ready for painting.

The last step is to paint to your taste. I painted my columns with cheap acrylic paints from a big box store.

All in all this is a pretty cheap and easy way to make columns or ruins for a Diorama or, if you're like me, for wargaming.

Hope you enjoy!