Nostalgia or a way forward?

Given the overtime I have worked this week it is little surprise how little painting I have managed. Although the brush has been still the mind has been active. The beginning of the year I was talking down the club about possible games, one of the members said that they had never done any "Cold War Wargaming". In my late teens it was either Dungeons and Dragons or Modern wargaming with very little variation, perhaps the odd game of traveller as one of my early group went on to become an astrophysicist . Makes you wonder where it all went wrong for me! Still moving on.

I still have two "armies" in 6mm packed away on a shelf covered in dust. One German and one Russian so It would not be the biggest leap to start playing again. Having talked (via email) to a friend in the Maidstone club is seems he still plays this period and is active on one of the forums. I won't go into too much detail but lets just say he is the kind of player who uses a spray can for more than undercoat on his 1/300th scale figures. (I am sure you get the idea). While this approach would not suit me it does him and who am I to criticise.

In my pondering I suspect this period is having a minor revival, or may be due one. Force on Force carry a scenario book called "Cold War Turns Hot." This is by far their best selling supplement or so they claim on their own forum. Force on Force can be played in any scale, but to me it is best suited to the larger scales of 15mm or larger. SO I have dragged out my old rules to see if they are as complicated as I remember them, or if being older and more learned in the ways of the rules writers they are simpler than I remember. Challenger 2 was the rules of choice back then, but as I occasionally see "Cold War Commander" on eBay a more recently published set of rules I think that also might be worth a look. The rules my friend uses are are available FREE online if I join their forum so I shall also look there as well as I would gain an opponent straight away, and one who is itching for a game, his normal adversary having passed away last year.

Time will tell if this is a flash in the pan idea or if it has legs. But for now it is something to think about because at present I like the idea of a few games with lots of figures on the table. Now to me due to time space, storage and money lots of figures and a new project means smaller scales. It is therefore possible that I shall start to think about building some 6mm terrain boards in the next week or two. In an ideal world the terrain would need to be northern Europe is feel and be versatile enough for as many periods as possible. Perhaps a generic 20th Century board will be the best setting as It could concievably be used from Fraco Prussian war al the way up to Modern and even Post Modern. I need to think on this further before I start though.

 

All this Nostalgia has taken me back more years than I care to consider to the extent that I am even craving childhood treats. Hence the Nesquik! Yes I did buy a tub before you say and it is not quite as good as I remember, but it is still enjoyable. I will probably go shopping on Monday now and see what else I can find.... Second childhood? I never escaped the first! I hope to get something painted today, but I am reliant on the postman to deliver a couple of things to help me progress items on the paint table which I have already started. I don't want to get into the trap of starting something fresh and loosing interest on what is already started (in this instance more 15mm Sci Fi figures/Vehicles), but I fear that is a possibility if the postie is lax today and being a Saturday he just may be.

 

I am not sure If I can get to the club tomorrow, but will endeavour to post again on Monday. Until then thanks for reading and take care Clint.

Blackhawk 1/72.

Coming home from work I was lucky enough to get a copy of the new Helicopter magazine with a die cast 1/72nd scale Blackhawk. At £2.99 I think this was quite a bargain, I will not be getting any more now the 1sr (introductory) issue is over and the price goes up. However for 3 quid I cant complain. It comes pre-painted and assembled so for the money there really is nothing to do in order to get it on the table. I have taken a couple of snaps (as you can see) on my Afghanistan boards because they are the right scale and setting. I feel sure you'll approve. 

I I have nothing to share from the painting table today (or work up the garage (AKA my shed) as I have been doing 3 hours overtime at work each day and it really is stopping me get things finished. Still the overtime funds the hobby so who am I to complain. I should say that since taking these snaps one of the rotors has snapped off and one of the m60 machine guns has broken off as well add that to the broken stand I have to conclude that the plastic components are quite brittle. Still they will be easy fixes and for the price I am still happy with this purchase. So happy I have thought about getting a second Blackhawk but have decided against it on balance.

Short and sweet today. I shall post again on Saturday. Until then take care and talk to you soon. All the best Clint

PBI Germans

Following last club game where I got very lucky and actually won a game. I decided to build on that success and start a second PBI force.  As previously discussed I already have an American Infantry company for PBI, I also had an un-started German late war force for Flames of war. Logically I decided to use what I already had and get to painting the Germans. And so today these are the first ones to roll of the paint table.  As you can see they are all on 30mm square bases unlike the flames of war bases.

I decided early on that I wanted a late war force and that being the case and with the figures already in my grubby little hands I just had to paint camouflage. Thus I have tried to paint HBT (dot) as well as Oak leaf (Both Autumn and spring... but mostly spring) in addition to field grey. For those of you interested in such things these are SS camouflage patterns, This was a deliberate choice as I really do struggle to paint "Water and Tan" (AKA Splinter A), perhaps I just need more practise, but to me it never comes out right. Splinter B is just not an option before anyone asks. I decided a mixture of Camouflage patterns was preferable as I wanted to keep a rag tag look to the company. Making it seem battle worn and adhoc as opposed to straight off the parade ground. You can just make out the patterns on some of the uniforms, and will have to take my word that they are much clearer in real life. As you can see 9 stands in all finished as of this morning. Two Panserfaust Stands, one Command Stand, two rifle stands and four light machinegun stands. I think this is about the right mix for late war Germans as they did tend to retain their LMGs in preference to their rifles. Also the Panserfaust stands can act as rifle stands should no armour be present. The fallen trees are of course small twigs repainted. The Repainting was very necessary as they did look like twigs wand not trees when just left natural. I did try it first hoping I could save time and effort, but in the end the paint was splashed.

 

That's today's post another one on Thursday. Until then thanks for looking and take care Clint.

Update 1.1

I shall start with a quick explanation. With this 7TV project I shall label each update first with the board number and then with each update in order of progress. So Update 1.1 is board 1 update 1. While Update 0.6 is the 6th update based on the concept and other items which don't require actual terrain manufacture.

Until Friday night this was the work area I was allowed to use, because my brother in law had been using the garage to store his car. Initially he told me he need ed the space to repair the car. 2 years (well that is an exaggeration 22 months 17 days to be precise) later he finally came and fixed the car, it actually took him a total of 7 hours to make all the repairs to get it to pass an MOT. SO I am pretty p*ssed off that it took him so long to actually get round to it. Still relatives what can you do. Elbow room at last!

This is the area I can now use. As you can see there is an inspection pit in the middle of the floor. Which is actually a curse, twice now people have asked to borrow the garage and then inconvenience me by leaving things for a really long time. I feel they have taken advantage of my good nature. This being the case I am now going to build work benches across the far wall which should make the space too narrow to get cars in (and open their doors). This being the case I will get t use the full area for my hobby and not as a junk storage area until others finally decide to get round to fixing their car. From now on they can do it on their drive or in the street.

Ok Rant over. This is the start of the first board. You may remember the thumb-nail sketch I showed of how I wanted it to come out a few weeks ago. Well I have not been idle. Working on a 15mm chipboard base I have attached a 6mm mdf back to create the height of the first cliff. It is glued and screwed together for strength and rigidity.

I then layered polystyrene insulation to give the cliff the desired shape. And added a slightly raised main battle area. You can see on the end the wooden blocks I and screwed and glued it to to create a firm  junction between the chip board and the mdf. Using bandages dipped in plaster I then draped the cliff to cover any gaps and holes. This will make the next stage easier (I hope). It will also mean that I can use fell materials.

The observant will not that there are two small openings  cut into the back board high up on the cliff. I can foresee two possibilities for these holes. Option one, is that they are the lairs of something adversarial, more of that when I get round to writing background and painting figures. Option 2 is that they may allow egress onto another board! Although that is not currently the plan.

Well that is today's update. It has been slow progress so far, and no doubt will continue to crawl along, but it is progress none the less. That's it for today. I shall post again on Tuesday. Until then take care and talk to you soon. All the best Clint

BBIB (Review)

I was feeling a little flush last week so decided to buy another set of rules. I wanted a set of rules we could play wit any amount of club players with the minimum of fuss, figures and scenery. With that criteria it was going to be naval or air war. Just because of the terrain. I finally settled on Blood Bilge and Iron Balls (BBIB) written by Alan Abbey of http://leofwinewargamerson.blogspot.co.uk/ . I am very glad I did. I must be honest I do know Alan in real life so bear that in mind as I write this review, because I feel I should disclose that we are friends and therefore this review could be considered Partisan and perhaps Bias.

Lets start with the price. The Cover price is £16.99, I bought mine from Amazon and it cost £11.98 including postage. I will therefore consider this a 12 quid book and not a 17 quid one. So  having covered the price, what do you get for your hard earned cash. The book itself is about A% in format, hard bound and 134 pages in thickness. The paper is a good quality stock and gives all the indications of a serious publication. One of the things I like about these rules is that the have gone back to basics with the format. I have described them as an "Old man set of rules!" By that I mean there is minimal FLUFF! I remember back in the early 80's Games workshop describing Warhammer 40 000 rulebook prior to release as the most visual and illustrated rule book ever. This seems to be a trend that has continued with bigger and more glossy pictures quite often irrelevant to the rules but just included in a kind of seductive "wargames porn" way to sucker the buyer into thinking they had bought something special. So if you buy rules to look at the pictures (Wargames Porn) then this is not the set of rules for you. In BBIB you will find diagrams and scenario maps, but you will not find sketches or glossy pictures of models that the average player would struggle to emulate. If you want a set of rules to put on a coffee table look elsewhere. These rules are more like the old skool rules by "tabletop games" that I started out with. Perhaps that is why I think of them as an "Old Man" set of rules, because they very much remind me of my wargaming roots.

 

The 134 pages are broken down as follows:

• Pages 1-33 are the rules
• Pages 34-41 are the optional rules
• Pages 42-58 are the scenarios
• Pages 59-76 are the Campaign rules
• Pages 77- 134 are various appendices.
Taking each section at a time.
The actual mechanics function around both Dice (d6) and Cards. The cards are of two varieties, 1 deck of standard playing cards with Jokers included which determines the level of damage and the location of damage should a hit be achieved. The second deck of cards is what the mechanics of the game rest on. Each fleet has 3 cards, A movement card, a shooting card and a Repairing card. All the fleets cards are shuffled together and drawn at random. This means that you may have to fire before you move or repair, or any other combination. Once the deck has been through the turn ends, the cards are reshuffled and drawn again. This means that it is possible to get shot twice in a row without being able to reply, move or repair. But what works for one player can also work for the opponent.
Another reminder of the old skool rules is the fact that each sheet has a "Record sheet" this reminds me of battletech or car wars, as damage is marked on the sheet a it is received by each ship. To hit a ship you must of course be in arc of fire, (And Line of sight of course.... goes without saying really) Depending on the range you roll a d6 (for each gun factor firing) to achieve a hit. Point blank range is 2+ extreme range is 6 per gun factor. Hits allow you to draw playing cards which as mentioned above indicate both the location (by Suits) and the damage by the Number (Including Jack, Queen, King).
Movement is by the direction of the wind and how you have rigged the ship. The rigging is abstracted to full sail, half sail and No sail. So you don't need to be an expert in real life, But your ship WILL move as it is rigged and with the wind direction., There are no brakes or accelerators because the wind is your engine.
The optional rules are optional, they include things like fire ships, British gunnery islands and shoals as well as merchant/transport ships. I don't have a huge amount to say about this section except to say that the rules are optional and therefore I wont use them for the first couple of games.
There are 4 scenarios, one is historical (The Battle of the Nile), the other 3 are much more general in nature. The Battle of the Nile has all the ship record sheets for that particular battle in the appendices as well as full colour ship templates should you wish to start with pieces of paper on the tabletop to represent ships.
The section of campaign rules is for a generic campaign. Designed for club games where all things start equally. It would have been nice to have a historical campaign setting as well although that can be worked out by yourself should you wish. Personally I would have liked a historical campaign but don't want the bother of working one out. The club campaign rules seem to be harsh with the weather, each campaign turn there is a 1 in 6 chance of a storm (3 in 6 in the depths of winter). And storms have a 2 in 6 chance of sinking each ship in the area. This would be something I would "Tweek" as to me it does seem very arbitrary and overly powerful. I do realise that nature is not to be underestimated, so I shall put this down to personal taste
The biggest portion of the book provides you with everything you will need to play. It has ship record ships for everything from a sloop to a 140 1st rate. Permission to photocopy or download from the Pen and Sword website (http://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/). Which saves you having to cut the book up.
 
My overall impressions of these rules are very favourable. I can see a good fun club game resulting with much complaining about turn sequence and conversations that star "But If I had been able to move when I wanted then you would not have been able to....!" I love the fact that these rules are a return to the old fashioned types of rules without padding and fluff. I don't buy rules to read a short story or to look at an irrelevant picture, I buy rules to play a game. These rules take the basics without getting sidetracked and explain them in an easy to follow way. So for me these rules are a step in the right direction. So if you want an set of rules reminiscent of the past but with more up-to-date feel have a look at BBIB.
 
That's enough writing for today. I shall post again on Sunday. Thanks for reading all the best Clint.
 

 

Gurkhas

 Here are some 28mm Gurkha's of the Victorian period. They were painted for a friend, who gave me the flags to put on as well. I don't think the flags are historically correct, but they are what he wanted so who am I to argue. There are 8 figures in all including a couple of conversions (Not carried out by me). I think they are foundry miniatures from way back, but again I can't attest to that it's just my feeling about them, nothing more. I will say I did not enjoy painting them, well you can't enjoy everything, but they are done now. Just a quick coat of varnish and they can go back to him.
I took all the colours from various Internet sources so if they are wrong you'll have to forgive me. As I know my friend will.

I am very pleased with the results of the poll. I will close it a day early. No clear winner, with Pacific and Western Europe both getting the same number of votes, with Eastern Europe just one vote behind. North Africa/ Mediterranean just a single vote. I found that result the most surprising. I deliberately kept the far distant project very vague as I did not want it to influence the choice in voting. I shall still keep it close to my chest but strongly bear the results in mind.

Unrelated to the poll I have decided to build on my PBI success and start a second force. A force able to fight against my US infantry company. That being the case it would have to be Japanese or German, although I did look at doing a late war Russian force for the possibility of an alternative history, but quickly decided against it. So given that  I had a stalled FOW project of 2nd "Das Reich" SS Panzer Regiment I decided that was the way to go. More of this another day.

 

That's it for today, thanks for reading. I shall post again on Friday, all the best Clint.

PBI AAR

My Army list. All Average quality, Aggression levels 1,2,3,4.
Command Platoon : Command stand and 5 stands of riflemen (Garand)

1st Platoon: Platoon Commander, 5 Rifleman stands (Garand), 3 LMG stands (BARs) 1 Bazooka stand.

2nd Platoon: Platoon Commander, 5 Rifleman stands (Garand), 3 LMG stands (BARs), 1Bazooka stand.

Support Platoon: Platoon Commander, 3 Medium mortar stands, 2 HMG stands,

Armoured support: 3 75mm M4 Sherman Tanks.

Total points 400 (Exactly)

Being a typical Peter Pig game you know from the outset that things will not go the way you plan. Graham my opponent had wanted to try the US army list out for over a year, wanting to see how Browning Automatic Rifles (BARs) and Garand rifles would work in the game, both being somewhat different from the standard LMG and bolt action rifles available to his Germans or Russians. He also wanted to try a Panzergrenidier force all half track mounted. So I chose an aggression level of 1. The most dug in and defencive stance possible, knowing that he would take a much higher aggression level. We went for the Random terrain. So random that 1/4 of the board was nude except for a single building square. Opps! Oh well these things happen. As defender I got to position the three objectives, seen above). The crashed aircraft on the road, The defencive command post (middle left) and the brown building bottom right. I also had three squares of prepared defences and 3 squares of "Potential" mines. One of the quirks of the game is that the defender nominates the table edge he want with the attacker forced to have the opposite. You then roll 3 times to see if the attacker can change this. Not wanting to defend open ground I gave that to him. We went through the Pre-game reconnaissance procedure to determine our starting forces. Being totally committed to defence my pregame reconnaissance was slow. As such I had to start the game with one random platoon. As it turned out my support platoon which was better than my command platoon, but still had no real anti-tank capabilities.

Graham started with 2 Stugs IVs, Company commander mounted on a motorcycle combination, and 2 full platoons of Panzergrenidiers in 6 Hanomags. I wanted some anti tank stuff at this stage I really did. You can just decern his force at the far side of the board while my 6 stands are clustered middle left. The German artillery strike drops short and my troops breath out. And then the rolling thunder of the mechanised infantry charge forward. (Attacker always gets first turn). I am a little surprised at just how fast they move. I should not have been but only having used Russian infantry in the past who can be reluctant to go forward I was in my head thinking that they would only advance 2 squares at most. Graham got the majority of his forces inside my minimum mortar range. GIT! The mine fields did slow him up and make him select a different route, but did not overly affect his plan. Shots were exchanged with no real casualties.
My turn. Starting with the mortars I noticed the motorcycle and side car were in range of the mortars. I fired the mortar and needing a 6 (2 dice rolled and results counted SEPARATELY) managed to get 1. So the mortar had hit the square. The German company commander needed 2+ to avoid being a casualty and so Graham rolls a 1. Result! Dead German company commander. The only other thing my mortar could target was the second platoon all in halftracks. I had no chance. The dice gods on the other hand thought differently. And the Mortars dropped with pin point accuracy on the Germans on my right flank who were heading towards the blue building. So how and I still don't know how, Graham needing "Anything but a one!" to avoid casualties rolled horribly. I am in shock now, the right flank is still not secure but I had stalled the platoon with a lucky mortar strike.
I rolled a 6 for the count down as well.
German turn 2. The Panzergrenidiers on my left were de-busing and getting "Tiggy". My Hmg was giving as good as it got though and I was still on a high from my ridiculously lucky mortar strike. Graham took a morale check for his troops on my right and they were forced not to advance. They could and did retreat one square and disperse to become three mortar targets as opposed to one large one. The Stugs firing at dug in infantry were mostly not hitting the target and definitely not causing me any casualties.
US turn 2. Having one artillery strike at my disposal, I played it. It arrived on time on target and chewed some holes in the debussing Germans, and managed to knock out a halftrack in the process. My Hmgs were holding their own and keeping the left flank secure. Given my success with the mortars on the right flank and as the Germans could not advance they were my only target any way. I plopped some more shells their way. Graham dice deserted him again and I managed to knock out most of their troops who were manning the inherent vehicle MGs. I am not saying it server them right for being in open topped vehicles, just that the dice were on my side again.Again I rolled another 6 for the countdown.
German turn 3. My HMG position got overrun. they had done a good job, but eventually they were just out gunned the the German first platoon. The rest of the German shooting, especially from the Stugs wasn't up to much really.

Us Turn 3.  My turn was over quickly a couple of shots with the last Hmg and still dropping mortar shells on the German second Platoon.

German Turn 4. Morale tests for the German first platoon forced them to retreat back to hard cover. Being that this was the very open board there was only one place for them to go. so the slipped into the outskirts of a village and started the second MG duel. The German second Platoon failed it's morale check very badly and retreated off the board. Graham took it well but would not give up the fight. He advanced the two stugs and machine gunned my last HMG at point blank range.

US Turn 4. My Sherman tank support arrived. On the board at last now I had something to worry those Stugs. Or  to put it another way the Stugs had better targets than the dug in Mortar teams. The Shermans turned up and one died instantly. One got a shot off, hit but failed to penetrate.  The German sniper fired for the first time and pinned my support platoon commander and one mortar team. Seeking revenge I drooped mortar shells from the other two mortars on the edge of the village. To no effect. The count down was getting critical now and still the bulk of my infantry had not arrived. But at least I had the Sherman's.

German turn 5. German reinforcements. A support section, single sdkfz 251 with a command section a HMG and a mortar appeared at the table edge. They had enough action points to drop a single mortar shell onto my defenders. SPLATO! Graham had leaned how to roll dice. DRAT! result the death of the support platoon commander and my last HMG. So only 3 mortars and 2 Sherman left. But the attackers had no infantry to take any of the objectives. Graham trundles a stug forward onto my casualties to stop me removing them.

US Turn 5. Finally I managed to drag some more infantry onto the table as 1/2 of one of my platoons arrive. My tanks take a morale test and one can't move. And when I roll for motivation I Can't motivate it sufficiently to get a shot of. The return fire from both Stugs either misses or fails to penetrate the armour (I got luck again). My other Sherman moves forward to get into a shooting position. It gets hit my Stug opportunity fire and takes major damage. (It can't move and needs to pass a check before it can fire again. Which it fails to do for the last few turns of the game. I sacrifice a mortar stand to create a command stand. 1 less motivation, but n o other real option. Again I roll high on the countdown and knowing that we only have 2 maybe 3 turns left end my turn.

German turn 6. The German mortar continues to plague me, the Stugs fail to motivate sufficiently to take out the Sherman. They manage one shot between them which missed the damaged tank. The end game feeling is setting in.

US Turn 6. I bring on the rag tag last dregs of platoon no2. ($ stands from a possible 10. But I know If I don't get them on this time they won't have any time to do anything when they do arrive. I get my Mortar to drop smoke in front of the German mortar to block line of sight, with luck it should stop him firing next turn. My infantry move up including my bazooka team into the prepared defences that they support platoon have been defending. This means that it ill threaten at least one of the stugs next turn but does not have sufficient motivation to get a shot of this turn. But it all put pressure on Grahams forces. My one functioning tank is not sufficiently motivated to either move or fire so I end my turn.

The countdown is so low a 5 or 6 will end the game. I roll a six.

 

Conclusion. Luck was really on my side in this game. Seriously it was the luckiest game I have had for about 3 years. I did make some mistakes and should have played he pre-game less flamboyantly. But generally I managed to do roughly the right thing at the right time, which is very unlike me! The real downside is that we did not get to see how the US weapons (Garand and BAR) functioned in a game setting. However, as I told Graham, allowing me to win has galvanised me into wanting to get another force for the PBI. And he has beaten me 2 out of three times.

 

That's a long AAR for me. Hope you found something of interest in it. I shall post again on Wednesday all the best Clint.

 

 

Harem complete

I have now finished all the "Fembots" that I currently own. I am not expecting to purchase  more so as far as I am aware that is now it. The latest two are the one in the blue in the middle and the one in the Pink Nightie with the robot face. So that is another set of figures I purchased at BROADSIDE this year. So many more to go I feel I must have caught Shiney-bloody-itis at least for that day. Still ever figure painted is a triumph against the disease.

Thanks for the votes on the poll. I know it's for an idea FAR in the future, so nothing immediate to waffle on about. I am finding it interesting that it is coming out very equally at this stage. You button pushing is appreciated in this respect. Once again my Thanks.

 

The Cliff Dragon Palace has now started, nothing to show just yet. but the first board has started to take some form of shape and I should be able to share progress on this blog by next Friday if all goes as I hope. (Crosses fingers). I will need to start purchasing some figures for it in the next couple of weeks. I am scouring eBay in the hope of finding what I want cheap, but for the present I just cant see them. For the defenders I am giving myself several options and just not one of them is coming up on eBay at a sensible price, so I may have to buy direct from the manufactures. The week after I do eBay will be flooded no doubt!

 

Finally, three people have commented on my blog and for the comment to reach my email inbox, but then fail to appear on the blog itself. I have no idea what is causing this. So if you do comment and it fails to appear at least you know I am receiving the comment in private.

 

That's it for now. Short and not too sweet. Club tomorrow and I have a 15mm WW2 PBI game to loose so this afternoon I will start to work out my force. So there you have it. All the Best Clint

 

 

Update 0.2

Tigers Nest Monastery

Using this as inspiration, the Tigers Nest Monastery in Bhutan. I have started to plan the "Cliff Dragon Palace" Which is my working title for this 7TV show game. I need to be clear that the Tigers nest is inspiration, my version will not be a copy in any way. Making a realistic copy would not suit the game too much and it is the game that is more important than the terrain after all. SO I guess I am saying "Oooh nice picture, but it won't look like this!"  YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Firstly let me discuss the parameters. At Broadside we can get 5 foot diameter tables free of charge. The standard 2'x6' tables cost us about £5 each to hire last year so as one of the show organisers it makes sense to make the most use of the free tables as possible. I shall therefore build the game to fit within this table boundary.

 

Fiddlers Green

You only live Dice

 Another consideration is that I want it to be a participation game. The current 7TV participation games fall between two stools. Yes they are all good games look great and play well, that's not the problem. The problem is that the larger games take 2-3 hours to play which most people at shows are not that willing to spend (at least in the UK) sitting at a table playing a game. They want to talk to the traders spend their money grab any bargains they can and see everything else going on. The other option is to have the much smaller games, Like "Fiddlers Green" which can be played in about 40 minutes-1 hour. These are nice taster sessions that allow players to try the rules and still get to see the show. My concept is to combine both these ideas. Therefore I propose 3 or 4 linked games all on interconnected boards. Linking the games will keep a continuity and allow some players, if they choose, to play each of the scenarios in sequence while the majority of players just play one scenario. I hope this will cover both desires.

As I want the scenarios to be very strongly themed I have decided on a "Chinese" Pulp feel. I will keep the forces very limited for each section. Ideally 8 figures each side. This is still a lot of figures over the 3-4 boards but it keeps the morale checks for figure loss simple.

sketch of 1st bard

The Concept for forces of Good (hereafter referred to as Sky Pirates) will be to use the Artisan Sky Pirate figures for the extras on all of the scenarios/boards. I may be more flexible on the Star and co stars, mostly because I don't want to have to keep painting the same figure again and again, but time will tell. While the forces of the Dragon Cult will need to change from scenario board to scenario board. This will allow me to show players different things in the game. I will keep the Pulp "Chinese" Theme throughout though as I want it to feel cohesive. One of the ways to do this is to have some of the extras from board 1 also appear on board 2, some on board 2 to appear on board 3 etc. I hope that makes sense, I am sure it will further along in the project.
So the sketch is of the first board, it consists of a gentle slope up to the main gate, a Gate house, some form of Stable (Maybe for Yaks or camels or donkeys) an open courtyard area where most of the fighting will take place and an inner gatehouse/barracks which blocks the exit up to the next board. All the buildings will be solid simply because people watn to see what is going on and having the action inside buildings just adds unnecessary complications.
I shall start building this board this afternoon. You already know I will show it step by step as each stage is completed. Anyway that is my current plan for the first board.

POLL.
Observant among you will note a small poll has appeared at the top right. Please feel free to vote. It has nothing to do with this project, and is basically just for fun but with my mind looking towards future projects. And besides Polls are fun.

The question is.... If starting from scratch with no other WW2 armies in your collections which theatre of war would you most like to do?

That's it for today. Have a good couple of Days and I shall blog again on Saturday. All the best Clint

Home made Bocage.

Continuing with my PBI project I felt I needed some Normandy Bocage. That being the case I thought I'd have a bash at making some. So I made a trial 9 pieces. I think I will need more, now that I have done them, but I thought I should try them out first before making loads, just in case it did not work.  Anyway what follows is a very basic guide should you decide you want to make some yourself.

You will need:

1. Time, patience and a sense of humour.
2. Stanley Knife.
3. Steel edge.
4. Hardboard.
5. Polystyrene
6. Water based paint. Emulsion or Acrylic
7. PVA
8. Sand
9. Clump Foliage
10. Somewhere you can make a mess.

That being the case I worked up the shed, I have (at present a small work bench which allows me to build things up to 4 feet long and 2 feet wide. Clutter realistically makes this 3 feet by 2 feet but on a good day I can always tidy up and get an extra foot of space.

• 
  Working with what I had I decided to cut the hardboard with a Stanley knife and the assistance of a steel edge (actually a roofers square bought at a market for £2). In PBI the battle board is divided into squares. With each square measuring 6 inches on a side. I therefore cut the hardboard into strips 5 inches long and 1 inch wide. This is by far the most tedious part of the whole process. There is nothing I can say to make this a joyous event, unless you want to use a power tool, which could work but I like my fingers attached to my hand, so a trusty Stanley knife will do for this task.
• Once you have sufficient bases cut and you are happy with the size and shape, best to give then a light sanding to rough up the surface and to neaten them up.
• The fun stage next. break small chunks of expanded polystyrene into pieces about as big as the nail of your little finger. These will become the wall that the hedge sits on. It is especially fun for me as my nephew does not like Polystyrene, and it's always fun to see him squirm.
• Using PVA (white wood glue) Stick them in a line down the centre of the hardboard bases. You are using PVA as some glues will melt polystyrene and for this that is not the effect you are looking for. Do not worry about the line being straight, Your average medieval farm worker who needed to move large stones was more interested in getting it moved than making it perfectly straight. Close to straight is good enough.
• 
  Once the glue is dry "Seal" the polystyrene with a couple of coats of water based paint (emulsion or acrylic). I add some PVA glue to the mix as well. The glue dries clear but adds strength so in my book that's a winner.
• Make sure everything is covered.
• If you use a stone colour so much the better as you will not need a top coat them. As you can see from the pictures I used a grey.
• Allow to dry overnight.
• Using a paint and PVA mix paint the base, taking care not to get too much on what is now the wall of the hedge.
• Using a sieve sprinkle sand on to the board. This will become the grass.
• Allow to dry.
• Once dry remove excess sand with a couple of shakes or taps. Then "seal" the sand with paint. As you can see I used BLACK acrylic for this. I would suggest a quick trip to "the WORKS" to get their big tube of acrylic paint (2 tubes for £5 currently) treat you self get a black and a green perhaps.
• When sealed I painted the grass a selections of greens. A Basic green to begin with and then dry brushing on a lighter tome by adding yellow.
  
  

• At this stage it starts to look like a piece of terrain. And you really are nearly there.

• 
  The next stage is to add the clump foliage. I find "Woodlands Scenics" to be the best clump foliage, I grant you that it is expensive, but a pack will go a long way. I would suggest I used about a handful in all to make these nine hedges. Break the clump foliage into small lumps about half the size of a sugar lump. I used 3 different colours but the lighter shade vary sparingly (mostly because I had used a lot on previous projects.) To attache the foliage I dip it in a pool of PVA, to make sure enough glue is involved. As mentioned above it dries clear so no need to be shy with it. Obviously don't overdo it because it takes longer to dry the more you use.  I picked the different colours out of a pile at random. And I did seem to get a nice mix. If you are not getting any variety then feel free to select which piece come next, it's your model terrain after all.

With luck it should come out a bit like mine. Overall if you take out drying time I would guess 3 hours was taken in total, with cutting the boards taking the longest single process, and also the dullest. But it needs to me done so what else can you do.

To Me the big question is having made these as a trial what would I do differently in order to improve them. Overall I am happy with them I do recognise that they are not perfect, but they will serve as Normandy Boacge in 15mm (or 20mm) for the present. However I would change the polystyrene wall section. Next time I will make the boulders wider so that I can better place the foliage on top. The thing about making things for the hobby is you can always improve things as you learn from your mistakes, which must mean I have learnt a LOT! I have yet to add some muddy areas near the two gaps to represent passing farm vehicles or animals, but other than that they are done.

That's today's post, I hope it was of some use to you at least in a "Ahh that's what he did, I would have done it like this...." kind o way. If so let me know I am happy to learn more.

Thanks for reading. I shall post again on Thursday. All the best Clint.

Double trouble

I have called todays post double trouble for two reasons. Firstly I have finished my second Yetti. I am sure you have already looked to the right and noticed him, if not feel free to do so now! As my second Yetti, I have no plans for more just yet, double trouble is a good enough title. The Front on Faceial shot was a bit blurry so I have left that one out, but two photos would seem to fit todays theme better so I will not retake the photo we shall all just have to imagine it! As mentioned last time it is from Newline designs nicely cast and not overly expensive, cheap if you are going purely on the metal involved. When I originally bought these two I was thinking of a 6mm King Kong game. I still have not ruled it out, but as it stands I don't want to make the 6mm scale city, far too many other "priority" projects.

The second item is the list of questions Ray ("Don't throw a one") and Fran ("The Angry Lurker") put forward from one of thier late night discussions. I know that many bloggers have already put thier 20 awnsers up so now you have to suffer mine as well!

1. Favourite Wargaming period and why?

I think I should Say whatever the guys down the club are playing. It is all well and good me saying I like this or that period but if I am doing it on my own then that's not a lot of fun.

2. Next period, money no object?

28mm Battletech! That took no time at all to think about.

3. Favourite 5 films?

In no Particular order, Terminator, Pay it Forward, The Godfather, Once apon a time in the West, and Aliens.

4. Favourite 5 TV series?

Blakes 7, Cheyenne (I was named after this programme), Spooks, Hustle and Thunderbirds.

5. Favourite book and author?

Favorite Book, "Architecture of the Italian Renaissence"
Favorite Author.... don't know so a random I like......"Larry Niven"
If book and author have to be the same publication..... "Dream Park" Lary Niven and Steven Barnes.

6. Greatest General? Can’t count yourself!!

Duke of Marlbourgh.... I equate my generalship to a par with Captain Mannering from Dad's Army!

7. Favourite Wargames rules?

Having thought long and Hard about this I have to go with Necromunda (1st Edition). It spawned lots of off shoots (never as good as the original) and kept me and my friends ammused for several years.

8. Favourite Sport and team?

Favorite sport to take part in White water Kayaking, favorite Team "England"

9. If you had a only use once time machine, when and where would you go?

Despite the fact that I would like to say something clever like Nazereth to see (or not see) a particular biblical event (or not). I think "realistically" as realistically as one can be when talking about time travel. I would have to settle for going back to win the rollover euro lottery JACKPOT. Win it the week before it reaches the top when no one else won it!

10. Last meal on Death Row?

The Still beating heart of whom so ever framed me to put me on Death row, Ketchup and a couple of slices of bread and butter! Lemon marague pie and Icecream for desert and a bottle of "berlina weiss" beer to wash it down. (Better make it a crate of beer.)

11. Fantasy relationship and why?

Phillipa Forrester. Intelligent, charismatic, witty and good looking.... "Thinking mans Crumpet!" Nuff said!

12. If your life were a movie, who would play you?

Ideally I would get Nick Park to do me in "Claymation" If you want a "real" Actor, Ron Pearlman.

13. Favourite Comic Superhero?

Favorite hero... My dad of course.
 Favorite Comic superhero, Boris the Bear. He kills all the fluffy animal cartoons in the first edition!

14. Favourite Military quote?

"I counted them all out, and I counted them all back." I vividly recall watching this on my black and white telly.

15. Historical destination to visit?

Florence.

16. Biggest Wargaming regret?

Not finishing all the wargames projects I have bought figures for in the past.

17. Favourite Fantasy job?

Location scout for the James bond films.

18. Favourite Song, Top 5?

Annes Song By John Denver. Jane By Barenakedladies.Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones, Stand by me by Ben E King, and the Earl of Oxfords March.

19. Favourite Wargaming Moment?

Provbably the Necromunda campaign I ran about 25 years ago. All the players in it still talk about it and is most likely the reason I said the Necromunda rules for question 7.

20. The miserable Git question, what upsets you?

Cruelty, injustice and my own inadequacies.

I would also like to pose a couple more questions to Fran and Ray.

21, Top 5 Artists, (2D or 3D including Architecture, print, or design.)

22, Favorite Mythical creature.

Thanks for reading more on Tuesday! All the best Clint, hope that was not too self indulgent.

Post script I ammended a couple of awnsers when I thought about them some more.

3rd Squad (15mm Stargrunt)

 Here is the latest addition to my FSE 15mm Sci fi Force. These troops again wearing Kepi Blanc and equipped with the same weapons. The vehicle is a variant of the other APCs. As you can see it is armed with a missile system turret as opposed to a more traditional gun style turret. How this will play out in the rules I will wait and see. I suspect the missiles will be more use as an anti "tank" role but time will tell. I just about have a grip on the infantry rules so adding vehicles has got to be the next step. As you will know, this is my third squad of 15mm FSE troops with hover vehicles. Which means that one more squad, a command squad, with command vehicle I will then start on the opposition force. I have already decided the other "Army" will be Krav Ak, The first GZG alien race. Other races, like the "crusties" also exist, but for me Krav Ak are the force of choice.

At the club on Sunday Peter was kind enough to give me a pressie! On his travels across the country he managed to pick up "Little Nellie" or I should say a die cast model of the famous James Bond Auto gyro, "little Nellie". It is about 25mm scale and is a very welcome addition to my 7Tv props. In my head I already have a plan for it bringing the plan to fruition is always the tricky bit. I must say I am very grateful for this gift it really is just my sort of thing.

I did have some good news on the job front last night. I have now been told that my job is "Safe" til December. Additionally I have a 90% chance of retaining it after Christmas as well so that has taken the pressure off, at least until December.

I have several things on the go, but nothing else at a stage I can share today. I shall post again on Sunday and with luck I shall have something at least one of the started items finished. At least that's the plan. T