Monday 11 July 2016

Dust clouds

Some of you may remember my desire to do some 1/300th scale Arab Israeli wars as I harken back to my youth. Well I have moved it ever so slightly forward as a Project. Yes I have painted 2 SU 100
Soviet Tank Destroyers used by the Egyptian army in the wars up to and including the 1973 Yom Kippur war. So that is an extra 2 vehicles done.

Also I think I have found the rules I like. Simple enough for big battles yet detailed enough to have a good fun game. The rules in Question being "Cold War Commander." The rules do cover most actions from 1946 to about 2010. But you may have to do some slight research to get balanced forces and NOT use vehicles out of period with other countries. For example some WW2 tanks, APCs and artillery were being used in the Yom Kippur war including German Panzer Mk 4s but the main front line troops were not using them very much at all. Also the famous Russian T34-85 was being used by both Egypt and Israel (Israel captured about 300 from the war of 1967 and they were used but only in desperation as the main Israeli tanks were either British Centurions or US M48 Pattons) and while the rules do give a very good place to start the army lists are very broad in regard to who can have what. But seriously nothing that a little background reading on the Net would not sort out, that is UNLESS you have players who want to always have the best equipment in unlimited numbers..... We have all come across them I am sure.)

 One of the things about the desert is the fact that vehicles moving (Particularly if moving fast) tend to have dust trails following them. I stole this idea shamelessly from BIG LEE LINK and I hope he does not mind me sharing it and does not want to batter me for doing so!

So following Big Lees example I decided to make my own.

This was done in a very few easy steps.

Firstly MDF bases were used, although you could use other types of bases and for bigger scales that is probably the right thing to do. To the MDF bases, some "Woodlands Scenes" Clump foliage was super glues.

Once dried I watered down some PVA white wood glue. (Which is technically a resin ("Resin W" if you want to know) ) I then soaked the clump foliage in the watered down PVA and left it for a couple of weeks. This allowed for thorough drying and... (Yeah it was up the garden shed and I forgot about it!I will confess!)

But Once dry it had a solid texture and not spongy like Clump foliage usually is. So once dry I sprayed the bases with Grey Primer. Other colours are available it was just what I had available. Then I used two Highlights to colour the dust clouds. Starting with the desert floor colour and then adding about 50% white for the second coat.

The grey still shows through and the desert colours tie the dust clouds to the terrain and setting.

Other than drying time (which was long... too long really as I forgot about them) the 15 dust clouds took about 45 minutes from start to finish.

Simply placing one behind a vehicle will tell me if it has mover either this turn or last turn.  Which may alter its chance to hit or be hit when firing occurs.

A simple game addition which will remind me if the vehicle has moved and will look the part in game without distracting from the look of the game.


Thanks for looking today.
I may not post for a couple of days as I am about to start a conversion and I dislike doing work in progress blog posts.

Cheers Clint

30 comments:

  1. Good decision on CWC. I've been playing for several years and they play really well with the right period feel (both ww2 and moderns). Awaiting the revamp of BKC and the CWC to follow.

    Cheers Andy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Andy. CWC seems to have the right balance of detail and playstyle. I have a couple of players who will balk at using CMs and not inces, but that is an easy conversion as they seem to be in 10cm increments (which would equate to 4 inches)

      Delete
  2. Replies
    1. Thanks Dave. In Idea mercilessly stolen from Big Lee Hadley. SO to him goes all credits.

      Delete
  3. Never used the rules but I love the idea dude. Those dust clouds are excellent and better than using generic tokens!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Andy. Generic markers tend to clutter the game but visually offer very little to increase the enjoyment.

      Delete
    2. I think you're right Clint, although I've just bought some tokens for my Bushido games, wish I'd seen your article first I might have had a crack at building some myself.... :-(

      That said they are fairly unobtrusive and fit quite nicely, they are due to hit my big on Friday.

      Good luck with the conversion buddy, look forward to seeing your work when it's finished

      Delete
    3. Thank you Andy. I would imagine that some tokens are hard to replicate in a manner that fits the table and the game. You have probably done the right thing in buying tokens after all.

      Delete
  4. The dust is great as is the header!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Ol Bean. I have a couple of VSF ideas running wild in my head at present!

      Delete
  5. The dust markers are great- attractive and practical at the same time.

    Cheers,

    Pete.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Pete. I have to give Big Lee Credit for them as that is where I saw them first.

      Delete
  6. Nice work Clint - they look very convincing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Curt, To my mind better than having a cardboard marker. And very very very easy to do.

      Delete
  7. Such a clever idea and well executed by your good self.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Michael. The Cleverness must go to Lee Hadley in this instance. All I did was see what he did and copy it. So for the idea I can take NO credit.

      Delete
  8. Great looking dust mate...glad my tutorial was useful. I really ought to make some more...hmmm something for the weekend sir!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Lee. I am already thinking I will need more as well. As you say maybe something for the weekend!

      Delete
  9. What an interesting and informative post. I would never have thought of doing something like this, so well done to you for taking this inspired and very effective approach.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Bryan. Once you see it done by someone else, in my case Big Lee, you do feel compelled to do the same.

      Delete
  10. Nice work on the markers Clint :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Tamsin. They turned out well in the end and for little real effort or expense.

      Delete
  11. The dust markers look good and as you say, they are an intrinsic part of any desert warfare. I remember seein something similer many years ago whit a chap who played WW2 desert actions.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. THanks Joe. As metioned Big Lee who plays ww2 western desert was my inspiration as he has done the same and well worth checking out his blog and scanning back to see his desert clouds.

      Delete
    2. I do occassionaly look at Big Lee's blog. BTW, the chap I was thinking of was the late great John Sandars, who wrote the Airfix guide to WW2 in the desert.

      Delete
    3. Thanks Joe. No Ideas are unique, it is possible Big Lee saw it there, aND I SAW IT FROM bIG LEE!

      Delete
    4. Haha, I just thought you'd like to see more of the same idea.

      Delete
    5. Thanks Joe always happy to.

      Delete

Please feel free to leave a comment.