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