Lanchester 6x4 armoured car

I have been slow off of the mark.  I blame the football! However I have managed to finish (just) a 20mm Lanchester armoured car (6x4). I accept that many will not have heard of the Lanchester armoured car (LINK) as I had hardly heard OF IT Either. So if you know nothing about it you are completely forgiven and if you know too much about it seriously "get a grip". For those who don't know(Raises own hand) it was built in 1927-28 and served the British empire as a "Colonial" armoured car until the outbreak of WW2. So totally suitable for my Back of Beyond (BOB) games.


As you can see from the photo of a Real one, it is not made up even if I have not seen one in real life. While not that effective in a BOB setting it should I hope do very well. I believe this one is at the Bovington Tank Museum. You can use it in WW2 as well as 2 were given to the Belgium army while the majority served in Malay ad I think Singapore! Elsewhere they were part of the home guard and used to protect cabinet officials on journeys. So unless you are going to make scenarios up they will never get a huge amount of use.


This one is 20mm (1/72nd Scale) by Front Line Wargames (LINK) and I purchased it from Tim as a "Mist cast" for the princely sum of £1 (Bargain) while at the Broadside show.  .In all honesty I do not think it will get a massive amount of use despite in my head (and so far only in my head) a game where British armoured cars have to stop a train! All in my head may come to fruition and may not, so do not hold your breath! The Mis  cast now painted does not show, in fact if I had not mentioned it I doubt anyone would point it out!

This one based and painted for Back of Beyond I have painted sand. but in all fairness I have no idea if any actually were they may all be green. Photos are mostly black and white and of training so I may have taken some liberties with the colours but as it will only be seen by club member (at this stage) who am I to worry!

If Tim Miscasts some more I shall snaffle them up all to bring the Train chase that stage closer. But until then this will just be an armoured car perhaps even captured and used by a different side.

That's It for today. Have fun, Paint if you can or at least plot and devise some fun games.

All te best Clint

Maximillian 34 (Kind of Review)

Each to their own. And As I have been banging on about Dieselpunk for more than a year you might guess (correctly) that this is my cup of tea!

Ok what do you get? A full colour, soft back, stapled rule set 54 pages in all. 

Production: I would say a lot of time, effort and energy has gone into the production values of this set of rules. Which is not to say they are well padded with junk, however there are a lot of Photos and a lot of things that could easily have been condensed. (More of this later). The booklet when you pick it up feels of good quality and is a pleasure to flick though. Being stapled is not a bad thing it allows the pages to be turned very easily with no fear of it falling apart in your hands. Overall I do like the production, it is so much better than many rule books as it feels as if the whole thing was a passion project and not started just to take money from the gamer. Good Quality throughout the book.

Pictures: I am an old school wargamer who grew up on Table top Games rules. As such I like the whole thing to be about the rules. It is after all what I am paying for. As you can see to the right there is a lot of "wasted" space. The Contents and the introduction could quite easily be put o one page on the inside cover. and not 2 pages in. These are VERY Minor gripes though. The Pics of the minis are good and the minis well painted and overall the layout is fine. It has a nice mix of 1930's pics (mostly associated with either war or racing, seriously what else did we expect) Pics of minis, diagrams and film poster(for modern films set in the 1930's or 1930's style adverts. Overall the pictures do add to the rules But as they an take up 1/2 a page (or in the pages above 1/3rd of a page) I do wonder if they may have been better on the internet or just reduced in size. Again only a minor gripe as they are all relevant and do add some flavour to the rules booklet.

Mechanics: Yep how does it play? The answer is that the rules are simple. I mean that comment to be positive. They are so much easier than Car wars by Steve Jackson. Players are allowed to premeasure and are not forced to make abstract judgements about corners or distances. There is even a nice rule suggestion that anyone taking this too far buys the other players a drink. I am guessing NOT a Cup of water! Most of the mechanics revolve around a player rolling 2 different coloured d6, with more or less D6 depending on circumstances. With only 5's and 6's counting simply add the positive dice and take away the negative dice to determine a result. As most wargamers have D6 in a variety of colours this is not much of a hardship. So all moving and shooting mechanics are very simple and logical and straight forward. mechanics for shooting and moving are similar but not the same. Which lends to consistency and logic and not having to learn 2 different mechanics to complete a game turn. Again overall the mechanics are good , sound, quick the learn and logical. Range for example is for every FULL 12" you add one negative dice.
 So 0-12" no dice added, 12+"-24" a negative dice added, 24+"-36" two negative dice are added to the dice roll (and so on ever 12" an extra die is added). Like I said Simple and effective an straight forward. So Simple logical and straight forward that it is easy to explain as a show game for participation purposes!

There is a section on Building the cars to play the game ( NOT a section on Model making but all the starts needed and there are not too many.)
A couple of weapons have been left out, no smokescreens for example, but no silly weapons have been included either. |So a very healthy 1930's feel is maintained.

Overall the mechanics are very sound.

 Background: There is no Background. This maybe to include more options, So "Back of Beyond" Very British Civil war" "A Right Bloody mess!" (I think that is what they call the Australian Civil war (fictional before anyone questions the notion)), "Crimson Skies" (but on the ground) or your own dystopian alternative history are all playable. Just remember the 1930's and you can't go far wrong. I personally like background in these types of games. to me it is more useful and interesting than pictures, but each to tier own.

Negatives: There is in my opinion too much wasted space.  Take the double page spread above and to the right. If the publisher and games designer feels this is absolutely essential to the rules (you  may guess that I do not)Putting it all on a single page should be quite sufficient, not a page for each vehicle. I do realise that the publisher does try to make the page numbers devisable by 4 but as there are more than 4 pages of "Fluff" I feel it could be reduced.


Conclusion: I will admit to being bias towards this period so please be aware of that before I sum up. The rules are clear enough for a dyslexic (I am one) to understand. They are not complex and they are (to me at least) logical. The main drawback is the lack of vehicles that are available without conversion and model making. I know at my club if the rules take off there will be some "GOD AWEFUL!" contraptions . I guess at many other clubs as well. Therefore I have 3 choices. 1) Make everything myself. (this is currently my favourite option). 2) make players stick to the official Eureka miniatures (I know this will be limiting) or 3) just put up with it (he types through gritted teeth).
Overall I am impressed and look forward to getting some vehicles done and up and running.

Thanks for reading al this. If you have any questions more than happy to answer them. If no questions comment as you choose or choose not to comment. I am happy either way.

Take care, have fun and paint/game if you can.

BoB AAR (Number 2)

Board layout from my seat

Sunday at the club I put on another game of Back of beyond. (AKA BoB). The forces were Tim playing white Russians with graham as an ally who was also white Russians but secretly working for the Red Russians. Matt playing ti Indian British troops) supported by Peter Playing Askaris troops all the way from Africa... (Just don't ask it's complicated, just go with it.) All the troops are IT Miniatures and all the vehicles ae a mixed bag from all over the place.

Tim had been told that he had to rescue a cousin of the Tsar (Teresa was her name). Graham was to twart him but still assist and report back if need be about Tims Activities. Matt was to send a telegram and put an end to the Russian (white Russian) troops on Indian soil. Peter was to aid him as best he was able and to perhaps show the African troops as being superior fighters.

At this stage no one knew anyone elses objectives, nor should they, Telepathy does not exist as far as the players know....unless of course you know better.

View while sitting down
British or the left and Russians on the right.

below is a very brif aar. lots more happened and

Peters Askaris turn up
on paper they are weak troops

Grahams Red Russians turn up

Tim's white Russians turn up



Matt had choice of star, BEFORE he knew what his
objective was






Tim with a tank moves to a position where he can extract Teresa.



Grahams Red Russians rush in lorries
to get into cover



Matt approaches the telegraph station
ready to send a telegram



Peter moves up and starts to shoot at the Red Russian Trucks.
With some success.

He hits the engine and forces it to a stop.

Local militia are not happy to let Teresa go with tim
but he makes a convicing argument and they agree to help out
well a bit, but they are just not effective at all



Peter moves his troops to catch Graham in a pincher.
Yeah but Graham has played before and knows that is far easier said than done.

Matt has now sent the telegram and starts ineffective fire
at Tims white Russians.



Graham unlimbers his HMG and takes his troops out of the damaged truck
1 is wounded but the rest are ok just shaken up.



Tim continues his oratory (took more than a simple question
 to determine an outcome
mean while he advances on Matt laying down fire as he does so.



Tims return fire is very effective though and Matts
 second unit is nearly wiped out!















Peter continues to try a pincer action and runs into
 return fire from the HMG



Peter opens up with the armoured car.
Armoured vehiles are a lot more effective in this game
a duel, tank vs Armoured car results

Peter does finally manage to circle around the flank
he closes for the melee

While the tank is unhurt it is forced to retreat and several of Tim's infantry
catch bullets in an unfavourable way.

Tim hustles Teresa and Yacob another cousin, into the truck
and starts driving for the board edge.



Graham rolls high and Peter low/average and peter losses the melee
Both sets of troops are forced to retreat
leaving the HMG and an officer all on their own



Matt has very few troops left and each time he recovers
enough to do anything Tim fires at them
and forces a morale check.



With half of Tim's troops incapable of fighting on the tank slowly
OK very slowly reverses continued fire at Peter
armoured car jam the turret and Peter has to move to fire each time.



Over the wall and round a corner the officer goes.
You can almost hear him say "Hang on I'll be back!"

Grahams officer says something about the better p
art of valor and leaves a lone
machine gunner to face all of Peters troops.



Continued reverse, now with a damaged engine as well
finally sees Tim's tank safe



Peter finally assaults the HMG which is facing the wrong way
one sitting down man against a whole squad
The result
 Peter recons he should have a truck and an MG in
the next game!

The Game ends and peter still has a functioning armoured car

In the campaign matt is now on 2 points as is Tim, Graham is on 1 1/2 points and Peter is on 3/4 points. I know I have never mentioned a campaign in this before. It exists ONLY in my head. That way I can stop it when I want.

Overall. the rules work pretty good and I do like the setting so this will continue for a while longer. Tim may or may not buy the rules and Matt already has a copy. So the only thing stopping us is enthusiasm. Which at present is above average.

Each faction does have a secretet mission and knowledge of these has not as yet been revealed. But I promise they are all logical and with that I will say no more.

Can I "Burro" these!

yeah sorry forgive the title.

Just 2 20mm pack mules for Back of Beyond. Could be any force at all, as everyone needs pack mules.

Figures by "Frontline Wargames (LINK) Look under IT Miniatures if you want to find them.

That's todays quick update, now to go back to day dreaming about writing my own set of rules. A Pipe dream nothing more

And Relaxing over the weekend.

Telegraph poles.

 let me take you back to November when I bought these. (23rd November 2017) . As you can see they are now painted and based.  A figure 20mm is included to show scale and the fact that if put about 1 foot-2 foot apart these will look most suitable for BoB wargaming.

They can also be used for anything up to modern in wargaming in the set scale. So Along with BoB they can be WW2 or WW1 20mm as well as modern. While I have not seen any pictures of them in Afghanistan that will not stop me using them as they instantly give height to the battlefield. (which most wargames are lacking if you were to ask me... thank goodness you did not!

As mentioned at the time they are 3D printed and they are a little rough. None of which bothers me in the slightest. Personally I think they are great and just what the BoB battle field needs.

Obvious scenarios include, stopping a message getting through, perhaps calling up reserves perhaps furthinging the campaign story. Maybe calling for a plane to rescue an important person or artefact. Maybe to chop down and use to stop a train, maybe to show a no fly zone (due to the wires) anyway you get the idea and I am sure there will be supplementary scenario ideas.

all 10 (more than I need) are now finished and will enhance the battlefield in due time.

Lastly some more strange Japanese WW2 tanks for my PBI forces.  I expect them to provide more of a laugh than a threat in games as let's be honest not the most potent of ww2 tanks. But they did exist and they were amphibious and were cheap on eBay. And they is good enough for me. I hope to get them painted this week. More about them then.

Have a good weekend and paint if the mood takes you.

FT 17 (20mm BoB)

There are currently a load of things on the painting table. There is some more VBCW in 28mm, some 28mm ECW (Don't ask going badly!) and more 20mm Back of Beyond stuff. However today here is the 1/72 nd scale (20mm to wargamers) FT 17.

Let us be honest the FT 17 was never a "Good tank" it had a crew of 2 (driver and Commander/gunner). It was designed as a "Mosquito" tank were swarms of them would take the battle field.  Despite not being a food tank it sold well to other counties. (Link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault_FT). And saw action in many different wars and settings. So it is totally suitable for Back of Beyond wargames.

This one is armed with a 14.5mm HMG while others were armed with a 37mm cannon.  Personally I prefer the HMG as there is no way you would want this to fight other tanks, but it did in a you use what you have kind of way.

The model by HAT comes 2 in a box and is very easy to assemble. There are 7 parts so it goes together without issue. Instructions are printed on the box but generally you do not need to look at them as the pieces are pretty much fool proof. Unless you decide to musk it up you wont.

One of the interesting things about the tank is that the front wheel is actually made from hard wood in real life. While the tail at the back is designed to help cross trenches.

All in all a great gift and very welcome in the back of beyond universe were tanks should be very rare indeed.

Thanks for looking today no idea what next time I will need to start getting things finished and not new things started on the painting table.

All the best Clint

Yesterdays game at the club.....

At the club there were 3 games, a large "Shako" a small "Dirtside!" and a small "Chain of command." As I had things to do I left early and did not join in any game. I know I would have been welcome at any of the games and did indeed have offers yet somehow I declined and still returned home full of enthusiasm. How on earth did that happen!

I am only going to look at one game, as many will know I am not a Napoleonic's fan so you may have already guessed it is not that. I returned home feeling enthused by the "Chain of Command!" game.  The ONLY problem is the guys playing tend to buy everything on eBay already painted ad sell it a few months later. Which gives anyone a very short window of opportunity to get involved.



Battlefield BEFORE
Any Patrol arrives.

Also while at the club Peter gave me these two kits. ! FT 17 and one Ford truck both in 1/72nd scale and both for my BoB or Back of Beyond collection so I am very grateful. The tank only had 7 pieces so was very quickly stuck together and is already in the painting queue. Thanks Pete They are bother Brilliant.

Back to the game:

Firstly I like "Chain of Command!" I know it is not everyone's taste but I like it and it is for me. WE had an encounter patrol of Germans attacking (Kevin) and British (Relfie) defending.


British occupy the building and set up the Bren team on over watch.
While Relfie takes the area close to camera
Kev develops a 75mm Infantry gun in the corner of the walled area
back of picture.



Germans Hustle into another building and fire is exchanged.
Relfie by now occupies 2 buildings
and kev 1 a wood and a walled field and the building shown above.











Germans continue to press forward
However Concentrated fire from 2 positions
force the Germans in the wood
to fail morale check and retreat and eventually unable to rally in time
the Lmg team flees.
 







 

By the time I leave it is not looking good for the Germans.
Relfie uses his 2" mortar to drop smoke on the Infantry gun
which severely limits what it can see and shoot at.
Kevs unit in the walled field fails to close the distance and is shot at close range.
british Morale is 11 at this stage and German has dropped due to losses to 3

 














 So as I leave it is not looking good for the Germans.  I suspect an English win but one can never be sure. the British light mortar was out of HE rounds and was in retreat. Both the buildings and the wooded area had taken casualties while Kevs Unit in the building was still pristine. But as the Platoon was now on low morale very little would be needed to break morale.

From what I have seen of the rules I do like them and feel I need to dust of my 28mm ww2 figures.