3 points

Although not very clear there are 8 figures in this unit. (I Promise).Which in the SAGA rules means these are warrior level troops. Not Militia or elites, but more your standard fighting men. As mentioned previously I could find no historical precedence for giving them all the same shield colours, I have gone so purely for game convenience so that I know which unit is which. These clearly are the blue and whites. as opposed to red and whites and yellow and whites shown previously. The second photograph is my unit of berserkers. I am not totally happy with them and will swap out the Dane axes (2 handed axes) this coming week for a couple of guys with two weapons. It's little things like that which tend to bug the hell out of me. Which is why I have called today's post 3 points, and not 4. I have previously shown the other two points, and will take great delight adding the berserkers when I feel I am happy with them. The last picture is them all jumbled together.In retrospect I should have taken the snap from a higher angle. Therefore that will be the plan for the final shot. I only need a couple of figures to get there, two more berserkers and a warlord. One of the club was looking for a dog to have on their warlord stand. I shall blatantly steal that idea, unless I can find a female captive of course. They are Vikings arfter all.

That's it for now. Thanks for looking I should post again on Monday. All the best Clint.

Today's SAGA

As you can see I am slowly expanding my SAGA warband. Only 5 more here, but a few more on the painting table that should be finished by Tuesday next week I suspect. That however depends of if I get sidetracked. As I have a single box of Gripping Beast Hirdmen, I shall attempt to build everything from that one box. So far so good. Yes it might seem tight fisted of me, but I am not in a position to through money at every project that comes along. Having said that I have 3 or four figures from many years ago which I can add to this warband, but seriously only 3 or 4 and I will have to be very selective which ones I use. One for example is wearing "Russ" trousers so I won't use him this time, only 0ne has a bow, so he won't get used either. Two others are in padded gambisons and so they don't look right with all the rest. And so the list goes on. Realistically I am expecting to re-use two of them.

For those that have voted on my poll thank you very much. If you haven't there's still two weeks to go so for the sake of a button click what have you got to loose.

That's it for today. I'll post again Saturday. Thanks for looking all the best Clint.

POLL

You may have already noticed a Poll in the top Right hand corner of the blog. It will be running for a little over two weeks. Please vote on what you think I should start as my next project. All views will be considered, and may well sway me away from one thing and on to another. I should be clear though I will retain the final decision.

That said I can see merit in each of the above ideas.

I shall finish the Saga Force (vikings) I have started probably by the weekend. And have a number of other things to concentrate on as well all at the same time.

The historical options are much more focused at this stage with regard to look and feel, at least in my mind. If I was to say War of the Roses as an option (Not on the list of options) then the project has a clear look and feel. There would still be a lot to decide on, rules, scale, number of figure, any special terrain requirements etc. However we all know roughly what it would look like. I cannot say the same about Sci fi or Spy-fi. Here the opposite is true, I know the rules and scales but not the look I would be after. Which at least to me creates an interesting dichotomy.

The ideas in detail:

1. Wild West. As mentioned yesterday I bought some 15mm Apache figure (both foot and mounted) and I can see a game set in the Hollywood wild west genre. The rules I think would work best would be Peter Pigs "Patrols in the Sudan" obviously I would have to tweak them to make them more specific to the setting. For terrain I would need to build not boards but free standing pieces.
2. 7TV/7ombie Tv. This option really is wide open to a vast interpretation of ideas. In this option only the rules are really set. I should make it clear that I will not be building a city if this is selected, so don't just see the word Zombie and think "Oh Great another Zombie infested city". Loads and loads of unfocused ideas on this one, but at least I know the rules and scale.
3. British Colonial. While at Broadside I chatted with Guy Bowers (editor of WSS) and we both agreed that you tend to see very little variety in British Colonial games they tend to typically be either Sudan or Zulus. At Broadside there was a Maori Wars game, which is what prompted this discussion by the way. So it would be one of the lesser played British colonial games.
4. Sci Fi. Another really wide open idea. Several people at the Rainham club have mentioned 15mm Sci Fi in the last 6 months. So forget the 40k high fantasy science fiction, and think more Traveller 2300. Rules yet to be determined, possibly Stargrunt possibly Gruntz. Setting also to be determined. I see enough Desert worlds and Ice worlds at shows, and they look good. But I am sure there are more options.

So those are the options, have a think, make a choice, and have some fun.

All the best Clint.

Loot and Scoot

Broadside is over for this year, and planning has started in preparation for next year. I'll talk about some of that at a later date. As a show I really dd not realise how much money I had actually spent, in my frenzied trolley dash of good-ness. Despite the expenditure I think I am most happy with the free items I was given. The first was from Fran (http://theangrylurker.blogspot.co.uk/) who on the day was far from Angry, Lurking yes but as angry as a raging Caterpillar. A genuinely nice guy as are the other "rejects" I met. he gave me this VW camper van for the Afghan game, I'll need to weather it a bit but I'm very pleased with it and it will get a good home. So many thanks Mate really appreciated.

The purchases include, 3 buggies from Ainsty Castings, I should have had a better look at his products but time was against me.Some clear acrylic bases from Fenris. 8 packs of 15mm Apache figures. When we think of colonial wargaming we always focus on the British army, usually in the Sudan or Zululand. But there are so many other options. American colonial is of course the wild west but we never use the term colonial for it.  2x28mm Bigfoot from Newline designs very versatile figure and why not have a Bigfoot hunt game, or maybe something a little more abstract. Two Vikings from Grubby tanks, again for the Afghanistan game, not a vehicle the British troops enjoy being in when faced with an enemy who use IEDs. Some crooked goodies from Crooked dice. (they have too many scary angels in one particular sculpt so that sculpt was only £2 each and I must say I am really looking forward to painting a scary angel.) They are the stone angels from Dr who in style and they do look very good when painted as statues.The tee shirt was from the BRITISH LEGION, I made a donation and was given a tee shirt which I shall wear with immense pride. I also picked up some Saga dice from Wargames Emporium, hey are a couple of nice guys as well definitely worth chatting with. I wanted some saga dice but had not settled on which force I was going to build. They sold out of Anglo Danish dice so I grabbed the Viking dice at the end of the day sometimes it's easier when the decision is made for you.

Unrelated to the stuff I bought I also had a good chat with Guy Bowers of WSS. He is looking for a club to put a specific game on for the magazine. I am not sure Rainham are the right club for the game, but it is something I shall talk to the guys about and See if they like the idea.

Have yet to focus on my next project, and am looking for some feedback from the Rainham club on Sunday when we meet next. I will get my SAGA force done in the next week or so.And I have some pro painting to get done. You know I'll show what I do. But for the next few days terrain is not  going to be my focus.

Thanks for Reading (or just looking at the pics). I shall post again on Thursday. Until then take care roll some dice and have fun. Cheers Clint

BROADSIDE Show Report

A BIG THANKS

to all the Bloggers who helped publicise the event. The good news is that the numbers through the door were just about DOUBLE last years which is testament to the power the grass roots wargamers can bring to an issue.

I thought I took more pics! The evidence tells another story so I hope some of the other bloggers will make a better job of the show report than this one.  Not making excuses, I should have taken more pics but in the excitement and turmoil of the show I just didn't simple as that as I was trying to wear three hats all at the same time. Hat 1 running a game, Hat two, helping to run the show by checking on the traders etc. Hat 3 Promoting the Rainham wargames club. (Hat 4 was getting photos buying stuff and having fun). Anyway the first 2 photos are set up in the main hall. The game being set up in the middle was a rather nice 15mm Alamo game which I really regret not getting a pic of as I have seen it before and it does look good. The second photo is Kev and Peter from the Rainham club and of course my game. Third Picture is the game in progress. But As I know you have seen this set up before I won't say anything else about it now.

Maidstone club one the prize for best game in show with their 6mm D-Day Pegasus Bridge game. It would not have been my personal choice, but it would have been in the top 5 and therefore I can no complaints as the judges would have had a lot longer to look at everything and hopefully be more open minded than me. So well done Andy and the Maidstone guys.
MHWC, the hosts of Broadside put on a Rapid fire game in 20 mm. Probably the biggest game at the show in terms of floor space, and I really liked the look of it despite the fact that you see so many WW2 games at shows. Which I guess on reflection shows their popularity.
I can  say very little about the next few pics except give scale. They are a 28mm ancients game from a club, a10mm game put on by a games company and a 28mm game from the another club with a strong association with "Tolehaven".It's a shame that some clubs still persist in show games with unpainted figures, I am sure they would rather have everything painted and ready to go, but real life probably got in the way. It happens sometimes and for the most part does not happen very much at all. *Climbs off soap box*
 Think of this report as a learning experience and the next show report will be better. The last two Pictures are of course the Posties Rejects one of the game and one of their guys. I'll leave it to you to work out who each one is. From my point of view meeting them all was one of the show highlights. I shall give my thoughts and reflections on the show later in the week once I have mulled them over.

That's it for today. I feel sure there will be a few more show reports in the next day or two so just think of this as a taster of what's to come. AS I type this I think it was a better show than last year and hope that next year will be better still.

Thanks for reading, all the best and more soon. Maybe tomorrow. Cheers Clint

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