THANK YOU

This post is basically a thank you to all the bloggers who have started to advertise the Broadside show.

http://www.mhwc.co.uk/broadside-2012

 

Please check the webb site for more details of the show.





 I am humbled by the number of Bloggers who have posted info about our show on thier blogs, or who have promised that they will. It is really touching. It speaks very highly of the wargaming community thier kindness and willingness to help those in need. I'm not going to say anything else remotely embarassing but just to let you all know you are all valued and appreciated.  Many Thanks.

This Thanks also extends to Jasper and Guy at WSS. Jasper contacted me within 6 hours of the Rejects blogs being published and others taking up the call. WSS are doing what they can to help the show. If you norrmally recieve a newsletter from them, expect the next newsletter to carry the show infomation. Not only that, but they have asked when the release of thier newsletter best suits us. I cannot tell you how much this means. It's really fantastic! We hope that Guy from WSS will be able to atend the show as well, but no garantees on that.

This action by WSS clearly shows they are involved in the hobby, and not just about selling papers. We all know the quality of thier publications both from production values and (most importantly) content. It is also important to note that they must be at least browsing blogs to keep up with the grass roots of our hobby. A 6 hour response time from Reject bloggers is staggering for a publisher. I am really impressed, I only hope the other magazine can take note and follow (in some way) thier lead.

All the best, Thanks for reading this. Big thanks for the show support, and Happy Blogging. Cheers Clint.

British Squad



Fire Team A

Fire Team A (back)

As you can see I have managed to paint some British Infantry. Actually I have finished all the figures now. (Until I buy more of course and we all know I will even if I say I wont). The figures are all Elhiem 20mm painted in acrylics. I have taken 2 pics of each fire team.The weapons are as follows (left to right).

• Grenadier with Sa80 UGL (Under slung grenade Launcher)
• Gunner with L108A1 SAW
• Squad leader with Sa80
• Gunner with Minimi

Fire Team B

Fire Team B

Fire Team B (again left to right).

• Gunner with L108A1 SAW
• Gunner 7.62mm GPMG
• Fire Team Leader with Sa80
• Gunner with Minimi.

I feel sure that this is not the correct TO&E for a British Squad, however it is the one presented in some of the scenarios for Force on Force in the "Enduring Freedom" supplement. I could have put a designated marksman rifleman in the mix for example and taken out a Minimi. But at the end of the day I am happy with them as a force and for this purpose it is for a game.

Thanks for looking, more on Friday.All the best Clint



Bad News

It's very disappointing. As a Show Broadside is still young, very young. As such we need all the help and support we can get. So when two of the three wargames magazines that you have bought advertising space in fail to deliver the advert for the show it's very disappointing. The main problem is that shows ARE time critical. With a wargames product, for example, if you advertise a month later you can still sell your products. If on the other hand you are running a show and the adverts get missed out you can't run the advert again. The show is over, the traders disappointed with the numbers and the public uninformed. So while we should have adds in Wargames Illustrated and WSS this month, just weeks before the show we only got an apology from those in charge. Disappointing! I know some of you have put show details on your blogs and that is very much appreciated I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. Especially now that 2 wargames Magazines have failed to promote the show. In addition to the adverts, or more rather the lack off adverts in magazines we have had to cancel the DBA tournament. Personally I was never convinced by the tournament at the show, but a number of people have pulled out so we have had to cancel that part of the show. We have contacted our first reserve club though and offered then the tables we would have used. Which may work in our favour. Time will tell. We will also get to see just how powerful advertising is and maybe look at which magazines should get our advertising budget next year.

With all that bad show news I thought I should put some British Casualty markers on here as well. These are all Britannia one piece castings. I realise that casualty markers are a controversial subject, more so as they are a current conflict and our own forces which is why I have not "over done" the blood and gore. Obviously the man being treated had to have some indication of injury, but I have left the red paint from the other two.

That's today's post. (I sneaked an extra one in). I hope to post again on Wednesday. Thanks for looking all the best Clint

Club Game- It all went horribly wrong

The club had three games going on Sunday, 4 of us playing "Infinity". A game we had tried before, but  had never fully got to grips with. So Ian and Relfie on one side and me and Kev on the other. I can't tell you what forces we used but only 5 figures each. I had 3 with "Combi rifles" one HMG and a shotgun. The top pic is my starting position. We started playing the game after a couple of turns realised we were playing it wrong and re set the game and started again. We all had a quick "shuffle" of figures in our deployment zone which allowed me to move the guy with a shot gun and the HMG in to better positions. I don't really want to talk about how badly me and Kev got beaten.... but we did. BADLY. All our figures wiped out with Ian and Relfie retaining the majority of their troops intact. We were out played, no excuses they made better use of the terrain and punished us if we tried to close with them. The second pic is Ians troops. Relfie played a blinder he kept me pinned and merged with every bit of cover to stay out of my lines of fire, Then when he got the chance popped out into the open and picked my guys off. I had harassing fire from Ian, but generally Ian was enjoying picking of poor Kev. The third Pic shows my growing casualties, 3 dead and only 2 remaining. I tried to move the shot gun up as it only has a range of 16 inches, well out ranged by everything else that could fire 48 inches or more. He nearly made it to cover but Ian managed enfilade fire as he tried to dodge across a very narrow strip of open ground. With just 2 men left Relfie brought one man forward in a John Wayne type heroic action. I am not blaming the dice (for a change) It was a bold move and it paid off and my last two guy soon perished .

The Fourth pic shows Kevs plight. his HMG was taken out quite early in the game, and as he tried to recover the momentum his chaps were butchered by Ian.

I'll not dwell on the gory details any longer. It was fun and I did enjoy it. But how did I find the rules? Well the game was fluid and easy to understand (having not read the rules) I knew what to do with the mechanics from about 1/2 way through the game. We did have to stop and look a lot of things up, hence the restart. I think if we'd set up a proper scenario we might have gotten a better game. Generally speaking as a science fiction set of rules I would put them somewhere between Stargrunt and 40k. Definitely a step up from 40k but to me not as good as Stargrunt. Stargrunt are an old set of rules now, but they work and work well.

 I managed to get a couple of shots at one of the other games, Tims "Good dusting" Sudan game in 15 mm. I won't say anything about it other than I was told the British lost. This is a work in progress I believe as Tim alters the "good dusting" rules to better suit our club.

Our club meeting on 3rd June is now cancelled, so we won't get another chance to tweak the Afghanistan game before Broadside. A Blow, but I remain confident the we shall overcome this setback without too much difficulty as I don't expect games at shows to be that competitive if played as a demonstration.

I estimate that I have less than 30 hours work to finish the Afghanistan game, and three weeks to do it. Which has taken the pressure off as I feel confident I shall complete it. This in my mind was the cut off date to abandon it and do WW1 Zombies if it was not going well. I am at the stage where I think pushing on is easier than hastily re-vamping an old game.

That's todays Post. I'll Blog again on Wednesday. All the Best Clint.

Village centre WIP

 Ok I'll admit it, I have put of work on the last board because I did not know what I was going to do. Then time started running out and I had to bite the bullet. As such I have decided to make the last board more a village centre set around an open area which could at times also function as a market square. All the buildings are clustered together. Take "Building 1" for example the section with the lower roof may or may not be a separate building or even 2 separate buildings. 

Building 1 Has the tallest building in the village centre. As such it could have a number of different functions. I can use it as a Mosque which means the coalition can't target it too much and air strikes are really not on. Or I can imagine it as the Village leaders residence, a local politicians house, a drug dealers dwelling or any other significant building in a small village, even a school. I looked at pictures of Mosques and some of them are really small and plain while others are big and highly decorated. So I made this to be deliberately ambiguous in function, with a couple of small workshop businesses tacked on the back.

 

Building 2 is equally nebulous in function they could be dwellings or shops or anything that a small village needs. But probably not a "Pub" perhaps a doctors or a shoe mender might be more in keeping. All that matters is that they are small buildings huddled together.
 

Buildings 3 and 4 are likewise open to interpretation with regard to what function they would carry out in the village, but there exact relationship to the village occupants does not need to be detailed. They are just General village buildings clustered together sharing walls with each other and getting the "feel" of a village.

Construction they are all made from "Grey board" cut with a scaple and glued using white wood glue to a thin mdf (2-3mm thick) base. In the same manner as all the other building I have created for this project.



As I have mentioned when displaying the compounds (and can be seen on building 4) I don't really plan what they will look like before I start. All I do is plan where they will go on the board, mark which edges face road and then start cutting the card.

As we now only have three weeks to go before BROADSIDE. Now is time to take stock. The show seems to be on course. The club tee shirts have taken a step backwards with the realisation that I was being over ambitious with their design.The Moon boards are finished and ready for Ainsty castings. I now just need to finish this game. I want it finished in 2 weeks time. I feel that is realistic but it will mean me pulling my finger out and stop procrastinating. But I think it should happen. Everything is set and ready to be finished so it's just a case of doing it.

That's today's Blog, Thanks for looking I'll post again Monday. Cheers Clint

Post Script: I had to edit post due to missing pics, which are now added.

Sniper team

 AS you can see I have started painting the British troops for the Afghanistan game. These two (yeah only 2 today) are Elhiem (http://elhiemfigures.com/index.html) really nice figures, well proportioned, well cast and most importantly they come in the right mix of weapons for British Squad composition. As already mentioned these are 20mm figures, but the sculpting is of a quality associated with 28mm figures. All in all I am very happy with my purchase of them.

I hope to have a terrain shot ready for the next post on Saturday. Hope you'll pop by and have a look then. All the Best Clint.

WMIKS

I managed to paint some British stuff over the weekend. Here are two WMIKs, (Weapons Mount Installations Kit) pronounced Wimik. As you can see they are armed differently, the one on the left has a .50 heavy machine gun in in the back in addition to a 7.62mm GPMG next to the driver. The one on the right has an Automatic Lightweight Grenade launcher (ALGL) made I believe by Hekler and Kock. The HMG version is the most commonly encountered but as Britnnia (http://www.britannia-miniatures.com/catalog/) make both versions of course I was always going to purchase both models. The crew are metal as are the wheels, but the chassis in resin. They were easy enough to put together and I would recommend them as a nice fun bit of kit to wander around your Afghan battle set up. They don't look anywhere as slick as American Hmmvs but to me they actually look better. They are also a lot smaller being based on a Landrover Defender chassis. But if you want any more details there's plenty more on Google. From my point of view they are a couple of lightweight fighting vehicles for the Brits.

I posted on this blog on the wrong dates over the weekend. It was probably only me that noticed, however back to posting every other day from now on. On an unrelated note my mind is now wandering to Post Broadside ideas and thinking about what of the many projects I should tackle next as I can at last see the end of the tunnel with regard to this project.

I can't mention anything about what the club is doing on Sunday I don't think it's sorted out yet. I know some of the guys read this and might email me with what they want to do, but as yet nothing is decided.

That's today's Blog, Thanks for reading take care and next blog post will be Thursday. All the Best Clint

4 weeks

Just a quick note to say BROADSIDE is 4 weeks today.

As it stands I feel confident I shall have the game ready. As mentioned previously I have the week before hand off work, as a "Panic Reaction Test!" Just in case I encounter a problem. Don't get me wrong I'll keep finding, some would say creating potential problems all the way up to the doors open. Including wondering if anyone will turn up. I know they will but knowing that will not stop me worrying about it.

I still have a lot to do, but I am now wondering what else I can add to the game. I might add a pair of canal boards with a ford on one and a vehicle bridge on the other. They only need to be 6 inches wide. Just a thought.

Like I said just a quick post with a 4 week warning.

All the best Cheers Clint

Large Compound Board

Three photos today, Not what I was hoping to show, but I have yet to finish what I wanted to show. Such is life. The top picture shows the large compound (still shrink wrapped) in it's board setting. Fields, roads and walls have all been positioned and glued down. The first layer of sand and plaster is also in place. I plan to do the second layer this week so you really will get a step by step guide of how it was made for better or worse.

The Second photo shows two boards butted up next to each other. At the same level of completion. This really is the extent of my workspace so for now I can't show more than 2 boards at a time. I grant you that I have yet to get all four boards finished, but by showing two I hope it gives some indication of things to come. I think the roads will all work with the level of cover and I hope it gives both a pleasing game visually and from a game play point of view when finished. Time will be my judge here.

A view of the two boards from the other direction. which does show the roads and fields of one board assisting on another. There will be a prize at BROADSIDE offered by Pen and Sword Publishing for the best game at the show. I origininally ruled myself out of this being one of the organisers. As it turns out we have an independent judge, namely Henry Hyde from Battle Games Magazine. I have no idea what his criteria for "best game" will be and it will no doubt come down to his personal likes and dislikes. I still don't anticipate winning,  most shows have some interesting games and I don't think Broadside will be the exception there, but nice to be able to take part. I think this project is beginning to get there now and as such as inevitably happens my mind has started wandering trying to decide what of the myriad of ideas I shall try to tackle after this one. But I refuse to get sidetracked just yet, I shall finish this first.

That's today's post, thanks for reading enjoy the rest of the weekend and lets all hope it stays Sunny! All the Best Clint

Broadside Layout.

 I have finished the following additional Taliban.

1 extra Taliban RPG team on a motorcycle.
1 extra  Taliban HMG 12.7mm
1 Taliban 80mm Mortar and crew.*
2 Extra Leader types with Binoculars
1 Extra Taliban with a rifle.
Now that really is all my Taliban done.

*The 80mm Mortar is an objective piece only, The minimum range is greater than any on table dimension (including diagonals). The 50mm Mortar has a minimum range of 18 inches on table top so that can be very effective.

Well No progress shots today, Which is not saying Progress has not been made, just that today I am not photographing it. The reason being the plans for the two halls are done for Broadside and I thought it should be shared.

I will apologise for the faintness of the images. The guy who puts it on CAD is great at doing so, but is not a designer and does not consider how the images will be used. Ideally all the lines should be thicker to make them clearer, and thus the writing would be clearer. I did try to manipulate the images to create a greater contrast, but the image was bleeding out, even changing the colours did not help. SO if you get a migraine stop trying to spot traders or clubs.

That should just have moved the plans down low enough so the "Clutter " on the right does not interfere with the plans.

So please SCROLL DOWN













































 I'll be happy to answer any questions in comments about who's coming and where they will be.

Let me pre-empt a couple, Posties Rejects are on one of the central tables in Wyvern Hall.

Crooked Dice are in the main hall (stay on the right hand side when you enter the main hall they are the third trader along (with round games table in front).

Rainham Wargames Club (And me a lot of the time) Are in the main hall directly in front of Wargames Emporium stand. If in doubt ask ask at the info desk for the stand, OR should there be a Star-Wars Stormtrooper (scout trooper) about feel free to ask him as he's known me about 20 years.

Tim (Frontline) will be where he  was last year. By which I mean he'll talking to traders leaving his wife behind the stall. (Yes you will Mate! You always do!).

The Flea Market will be in the Projectile Hall. A separate but linked space.

As I said any questions please ask. And If I can get Mark to make the lines bolder so they can be seen clearly I'll post the plans again.

Hopefully this should be readable. But only time will tell.

Main Hall

Wyvern Hall

WIP 1st board. (short and sweet)

And Today's update is still more work in progress. I feel I should be apologising for not having more, but sometimes that's just the way it goes.

At this stage I have glued all the scenery in place and started to "texture" the board. The buildings have been removed, so you are just looking at the ground scatter. Except for the fields all the base board has had a layer of plaster glue paint and sand. It could do with another layer of paint and sand to cover any gaps which you can clearly see on the road sections. All in all it is coming on. And If I do some each day it will get finished in next to no time.

In addition to making the terrain I have also "Started" painting the British troops. Yes I was feeling guilty about it and decided to get them started while it was raining. They are so far from being finished that I'd be embarrassed to share them just yet. But rest assured they are now in production.

That feels like a really quick update today, but I can't force it if there's not masses to show. I'll post again on Friday. Cheers Clint

Still learning the rules.

We had another club game yesterday. Force on Force. Given that the last game the Taliban were easily out gunned it did lead to a rather one sided game. Taking that into account I adjusted the Talibans numbers up and the British numbers down. I also added a reporter and camera man as well as a Terp (interpreter) to the British which would count as dependants. WE played 6 people played and it would have been better with 4. We managed two games, so everyone got to be both British and Taliban forces. The first 3 pictures were taken near the end of he first game. (Unfortunately Relfie did not attend due to work commitments and he usually gets me some extra

pics which he then emails me. Which is always appreciated). 

I think it's fair to say that the first game was a blood-bath. Two of the youngest club members took charge of the British. They seemed to base their tactics on "Call of duty" computer game more than real life.  One of them seemed intent on taking the DMR (Designated Marksman Rifleman) from it's normal place in their own fire team and assigning it to his command. He then constantlyreffered to it as a sniper. As a club we have not used "Snipers" in Force on Force just yet and a DMR does not fill the same role. Peter was also with the younger players, but he was to suffer from trying to act as a team when they were not. Peter took a few light (50mm) mortar rounds before getting his team where he wanted them. (Top pic) . Patrick galloped his command section with cameraman reporter and terp straight forward and left them dangling in the open with no cover at all. Frasier kept his troops in the poppy fields . The Taliban sprung the trap and caught Patrick stood right in the open with no cover and cameraman filmed it all. Frasier could have attempted to react to the Taliban but choose not to leaving his command section fully exposed. The Cameraman was the first casualty and suffered a serious wound. The Terp died outright and his troops took a couple of light wounds.  All in all a "cluster-flup!" Taliban Tim then revealed his rooftop troops as well and squirted of some fire at Frasier's lot in the field who then ran round the corner out of sight with a couple of wound markers. They hugged the walls and reached the next corner turned it into the line of fire of a 12.7mm HMG and another Taliban squad. Disaster! Peter laid down some semi effective fire on both the HMG and the first lot of Taliban (Kev's).

 Patrick still making morale checks got inside a building with "Fake Adie" the wounded Cameraman and the wounded soldiers. To his credit he did then TRY to call in air support, but due to low dice rolls noting turned up. His position was then close assaulted by Kev's Talibs and the managed to capture the reporter, the wounded cameraman and three British Soldier (all wounded). Clearly this was decisive victory of the insurgents. Nothing at all would stop other journalists from reporting the  captures of the British subjects which included two civilian non-combatants. Basically Game over. 

We swapped sides. And a different result. Peter went home (was on a night shift that night so needed to catch a few hours before work). I took Peters place. Now the Younger players (both about 14 before you ask) decided that they would do the same tactics that had been employed against them. Well Patrick tried exactly the same position a Kev, but had placed his HMG in what I thought was a better position. The Cameraman died again.The difference was of course all the British troops with overlapping fields of fire could and choose to bring every gun to bear. (I was hiding my troops at the back (far left of the picture).) Anyway coming to the point All Patricks troops were squashed pretty quickly. Having tried to move to a position of safety Stew flanked me. I was very lucky and won the reaction test and shot back first and did enough damage to stop him tearing me a new one. I gave Patrick some new troops (two RPG teams on motorbikes) he rushed them forward, got them to a roof top and Kev (who the others had MADE be the CO called in an air strike. They had managed to task a Dutch AH64 Apache with hellfire's, rocket pods, 30mm chain gun and a strong desire to use them. Kev Designated a building with Taliban on the roof. Total overkill later two smoking ruins several civilian casualties (and a good number of Taliban causalities). Both sides could claim this as a win, The Taliban pointing to the waste of civilian lives and the death of the cameraman. Whilst the British achieved the objective despite several wounds and the valiant sacrifice of a television news reporter. They also got to destroy some buildings which did put smiles on their faces.

We ended it there as time was pressing. All in all I learnt a lot about how to structure a better game. Everyone learnt don't leave troops exposed in the open and I got to use the Taliban I have been painting for the show. Several issues were raise in the game and I acknowledge I'll have to re-read the rules a few more times (about 30 times) before we really become fluent. However as a learning curve we managed a game so not too bad.

Now as we have less than 5 weeks before Broadside now (was 5 weeks Sunday morning). I really must make a concerted effort to get the terrain and the British finished and NOT GET SIDETRACKED!

That's it for today, another totally bias AAR. Thanks for looking. Thanks to Kev for the use of his terrain and Brits and thanks to the guys for playing. All the best I'll post again on Wednesday. Now I'm off to B+Q for model supplies. Cheers Clint