10mm Napoleonics: Review of 4Ground's 15mm walls

Packet contents of the 15mm walls

I picked up a packet of 4Ground's 15mm walls at Cancon yesterday. I had been eying them off on their website, but waited to see them to check the sizing for 10mm, before buying a packet. The detail looked impressive on the packet, they use a laser to etch the MDF sheets.

In the packet there are three sheets - 2 wall sets, a base set and a clear set of photo instructions. The sheets are 2mm thick MDF. The walls are etched on one side with a rough stone pattern. Some of the walls have removable sections for a ruin or damaged effect. You glue two sections of walls back to back to make a 4mm thick section, the glue it onto the base.

The base has been burnt to a dark brown, looking like earth, removing the need to paint, although you can if you wish. The laser etching on the brick work leaves a dark brown mortar line. The bricks are a buff colour. I thought about painting the bricks, but liked the look as they were, so left them. You could seal them.

Scale of the pieces with some Redline figures in the background

The pieces popped easily out of the frame with only a small attachment point. I didn't trim them as they seemed not too noticeable. The laser seals the edge and makes it a nice dark brown, you don't need to paint this. All the pieces fitted together firmly.

They have a clever way of doing the bases which allows walls to be joined up without needing T pieces or corner sections.

After glueing the pieces together, I added my usual coloured ballast base mix and some flock. On some of them I put glue on the walls and used coloured flock to simulate bushes and vines growing over them. The whole process of assembly and flocking took about an hour.

In the box you get just over 1.5m of walls which is very good value. There are

More scale shots, Redline Jaegers and an Old Glory Office

12 x 60mm wall sections
4 x 60mm damaged wall sections
2 x 60mm large gate sections
2 x 60mm small gate sections
8 x 30mm wall sections
4 x 30mm damaged wall sections

One packet is certainly enough to dress up a battlefield, two if you have lots of built up areas. I would even consider getting some to cut up to add to building bases.

While walls are not too hard to scratch build, I was impressed at the speed it took to get a quality item onto the table. It would have taken me many more hours to achieve this.

The quality of the walls is excellent. 4Ground seem to be adding lots of new products all the time. They have some very nice pre-painted kits for 28mm and 15mm.

I have asked if they could start a 10mm line with some accessories (wheels, walls, carts), some European style buildings or kits to add to foam blocks (doors windows, roofs). They seem interested but need a number of requests to start something new. If you are interested in 10mm stuff and like the look of their products, please write to them and encourage them to do some good work. I can see some very nice flat packed village sets for Russia or Belgium or Spain, or some walled farm kits. They are cheap to post, easy to make and look great on the table.

For more information see their website at www.4ground.co.uk