I'd like to make some terrain that are modular trench pieces, but reading through the description of Trenches in the fortifications section I have some questions and wanted to everybody's opinion -- basically, I just want to make sure that what I make is something that is a good representation of the rules and not under or over powered for the AP cost. Any help would be greatly appreciated:

The books says trenches are 2 inches wide and 12 inches long, but doesn't say how tall/deep they are supposed to be. It says that it gives you the benefit of being "dug in" (which, if I'm understanding that correctly basically just means that its like the unit is in hard cover, so you can still fire while you're "dug in"), but also says that trenches are either the 12 inch segment or they contain circular "firing positions" that are 6 inches in diameter.

So -- the way I read this, coupled with my admittedly small knowledge of how trench warfare actually worked, is that the trench segments should be tall/deep enough to completely cover a miniature -- maybe 1 3/4 - 2 inches (generally blocking line of fire to and from the inside of the trench with the exception of maybe artillery etc.), and that the "firing positions" would be lower, like maybe 1 inch, so that units could easily see targets (and vice versa).

Or do "firing positions" not really add anything special and Trenches are more or less just oddly shaped peices of difficult terrian with a 12 inch line of hard cover (that have the added benefit of letting command sections relay orders to other units inside the trench but further away than 12 inches w/o a radioman)?

In game terms it doesn't matter how deep a trench is and unless you are physically going to dig a trench in your terrain board, then you only want to make it 20mm high or so, or it will just look like a wall. The 6" pit would be used to hold heavy support wearpons, a dug in tank or artillery, maybe even a walker in this game?

ah i get where you are going with this, undead.

Its true, most trenches tend to be lower then head height, thus giving blocking line of sight to the soldiers within.

major however has said all i would say, In game terms they simply mean it gives hard cover (it does not block line of sight). There for it would be around a depth that would expose the soldiers head/sholders, maybe even parts of the chest. The same goes for firing pits.

A little idea - if you would like to make trenches but find that doing so would be difficult, sandbag fortifications are also perfectly reasonable, and easy to make.

Thanks guys, that helps -- I completely didn't think of putting walkers in the "firing positions" but that sort of brings it all into focus and explains the relatively large size. I'll shoot for something like "chest height" on the mini's for depth.

Instead of digging a trench into a fixed game table, I'm planning on making some pieces that are basically 12 x 6 inch "hills" that have a straight 2 inch wide channel along the back. Then maybe a couple that are more like 7 x 6 with the circular firing position carved out and maybe a 2 inch wide channel in a "T" shape so that you could place them inbetween two trench sections to make one long line or a right angle. That way you could arrange them differently every game if you wanted to (and should be easier to store since I don't have a dedicated gaming table).

good call undead, thats pretty much my plan, the "mound method" is so much easier to use.

Back in the day i used polly filler to sculpt the mound edges and matchsticks for the woodern slats. Just food for though, though im sure the net has thousands of tutorials

Or if you want to save time:

www.ironcladminiatures.co.uk/shop/category_16/25_28mm-Trenches.html

www.wargameterrain.co.uk/index.php