As sometimes happens we are just not in the mood. It was club day yesterday and I was just not in the mood. Maybe it's Curt's painting challenge taking it's toll, or maybe it was because the rugby was on or maybe the stars were just not right. But unfortunately I was just not in the mood. Which means I did go to the club and had a chat with the good folks (and some of the less good) and instead of having an AAR today I just have a few snaps of 2 of the games that were being played.
Firstly Dave and Paul put on a huge 28mm Ancients game of Greeks vs Galations. It stretched the length of 2 table tennis tables with hundreds of figures on each side. It really was a spectacle to behold. There were so many figures that it did look like a show game as opposed to a club game.
They used the fantasy "Kings of War" rules as they wanted to be able to finish the game in a single day. My observation is that the rules worked very well with such a horde of figures and combats were quickly resolved.
In addition to Paul and Dave, Ian and Kevin also played and having never played the rules before understood them and got to grips with them very quickly. I left after they had each only had 2 turns so I have no idea how any of the games were resolved but they had gotten into contact and casualties had been inflicted and Dave had even lost a whole unit from a failed morale check.
Overall it did look like a good game and they would have made room for me if I had wanted to join in. But as already mentioned I just was not in the........ you know the rest.
One game I did not take any piccies of was the new Peter Pig dark age rules. The reason for no pics was that they had just finished the pre-game so the terrain was in the process of being set up. I am sure I will get to play this fairly soon so I will keep an open mind about it.
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Following the ACW game I played last time, Tim had tweaked the rules a little and was having another game with 3 other chaps. Including a guy who had never played any wargames before but wanted to try one out so came along. This is great any club can always use new members and he seemed like a decent bloke and I hope he enjoyed it.
The rules were a tweaked version of "Honour and Glory" with Tim having amended the mistakes from last time and lessened the effect generals had on units shooting as well as evening up the turn distribution. I would imagine these amendments would improve the game.
Tim also mentioned some linked games of ACW and is planning some kind of campaign. More of this as/when it happens. But if anyone in the club can Tim can.
I managed to scrounge 2 sets of rules to flick through as well both of which I am interested in. That is the great thing about clubs someone will either have it, be that a set of rules or armies for a certain period, or if not they will know someone who does and they will be able to point you in the right direction.
Anyway the rules in question are "Body Count" an old set of Vietnam rules and "1644" by wargames foundry. This later set as Tim wanted me to read through the campaign system as I would be interested in doing a campaign as well, and he thought this was the best place to start.
And Finally It's wrong I know but,
ENGLAND
Beat
WALES!
I find that when I get near the end of a terrain board everything comes together in a rush. Today is an example. I have painted up the building top go on the board. Yes It's a bit rough in places, but seriously who cares too much about that. Yeah alright I know I do! But it's not too rough and plenty good enough to pass. 
just a quick update as I wait for paint to dry. I am now at the stage where I just have to wait for them to dry and them dry brush them with a couple of lighter tones and they I can plant the trees.
At that stage I will plant the trees. I want to add 6 trees to each board. These will be palm trees that I have bought from China via eBay. They will simply fit into holes I have yet to drill. At that stage the boards will just about be done. 
Having bought these in June last year I have finally gotten around to finishing them. As you can see these are WW2 US halftracks. They are by the Plastic Soldier Company and come with 5 sprues in a box and each sprue capable of making one halftrack. There are several options on each sprue allowing for different weapons mounts, different bumpers, optional stowage and up to 8 people in each vehicle. With all the options I wanted to peep them fairly uniform though and have just changed the bumper on one of them. This allows me to identify a platoon leader vehicle should I need to. And that is the only reason I changed one. 
I found them quite fiddly to put together due to their size but would happily get more if I needed them. The instructions were clear and concise and once you had worked through the process once or twice you knew how to do them. They did not come with the decals though but I had some spare. As already mentioned you could put up to 8 figures in each M3 Halftrack I settled on 3each though as I want to use these more in a battle taxi role. So my three figures are the driver and co-driver (a one piece casting so easier to have them both than just a driver) and a guy to operate the .50 Browning. 2 of these are just sitting and "relaxing" in the back, the other three are poised at the guns. The soldiers manning the machineguns are two piece castings allowing you to position them and the weapons at different angles should you choose. I felt no need to do this.
