TODAY

Well it's 6:30 am and I am all ready to go. I have been up since 4am just checking that I have everything right and correct not that I think I have, bound to have forgotten something.

Since getting up I have printed spare Flea market forms, spare Parking vouchers, some quick reference sheets  and the scenario we shall play.

The next stage is to move everything to the front of the house ready for pick up. My lift arrives at 8:15 or there abouts. We should be packed and on the road by 8:25 and arrive at the hall about 8:45. And that's when it all begins. The doors will have been open from 8am so it should be in set up mode by then. I have asked RWC (Rainham Wargames Club) to arrive at about 9am. I have not told them yet That I have put my hand in pocket and booked 5 bacon Sarnies for us. Hope no one's on a diet. They'll have to buy their own teas coffees and beers though (I can only think of one club member who might want a beer at 8 am..... the rest of us No.) . But I think the Sarnies will be very much appreciated.

I have 19 items for our clubs Flea market stall all stuffed in carrier bags and I think it's all at a price to sell. However I expect to be bringing most of it home again. Probably with a lot more from other people. Time will tell.

In my head I have a small shopping list, some things MUCH more important than others. Nothing too exciting but we all know come about Wednesday I'll post a shot of the swag I walk out with. You never know might happen tonight when I get in.

Now I still have time to get some cornflakes and have a final read of the rules.

Talk soon Cheers Clint

2 Days to Go!

 As I am sure you are now WELL aware of BROADSIDE

will take place on Sunday and this is the last post from me before it does. I did contemplate detailing the show, but lets be honest if you are interested you're either coming or not by this stage, I really doubt there will be any last second changes of plans. However I would be doing the show a dis-service  if I did not put a link in as well. http://www.mhwc.co.uk/broadside-2012 
So there you go.
I thought I should also show where I am with regard to Saga. As I already had a box of Gripping Beast Hirdmen, also known as Vikings it was an obvious place to start. Given the lack of uniforms and the universal use of equipment by all sides, often given to loyal followers when stripped from the dead of either side following a battle. These troops can easily be used as Scots, Viking, Anglo Danish, Anglo Saxon, Welsh etc. The main differences come at the levy quality troops which would most likely not be given battle trophies. In the Saga rules "Dane Axes" are not given to Vikings, (they get berserkers instead) so the guy on the right in the SAGA rules would be Anglo Danish. In Real life obviously every faction used every weapon but for the game this guy is an Anglo Dane. The top unit of four figures are in my mind "Hearth-guard" as I have unified them with the same colour shields. While not a uniform as such it does identify them as being together. Call it Artistic licence. I am sticking to geometric shield designs just for ease of painting but I think it works quite well and gives a good look. Lots more to do of course. but at least it's a start.
That's it for Today. I may sneak a quick post in tomorrow (no promises) as I would post on Sunday, but I will be at the show. So take care and speak soon. All the best Clint.

Progress of sorts.

Having no focus I am doing a bit of everything all at the same time but mostly taking the opportunity to finish things off. Always worthwhile. The top picture is some "Zombie" ground scatter. Tim at Frontline (http://www.frontlinewargaming.co.uk/) makes these in resin. I was lucky enough to be given these by him at Cavalier back in February and finally managed to polish them all off. (I had already done some. But now I've got them all done.) They are not brilliantly painted, but they can now be put away and use for any forthcoming Zombie games.

The Second Picture is a few more bases for PBI. Two BAR, two Garand and one carbine (Command) stands. Slowly slowly moving this project forward. Obviously I had to finish all the Afghan boards and figures first so these have been on hold for a while. I can now press forward with this project now as well as several others that are part done. I had an email from Karl at Crooked Dice yesterday, it seems he'll be on his own at the Crooked dice stand at BROADSIDE, selling things and playing a game. He  did mention the "Fiddlers Green" game which involves Spy-fi agents against scarecrows in  very English village setting. I'll have a chat with the Rainham Wargames Club ( the club I belong to) and see if next year they'd like to do something Crooked Dice based for a couple of shows. Karl lives about 15 miles away from me so it could benefit us all. I'll have a chat with Karl on Sunday, as well as RWC and see if it's a good fit for both parties. I personally like the idea but I am only one voice among many.

I'll try to have some SAGA figures done for my next post on Friday. Thanks for looking take care cheers Clint.

What next?

Well that is the question. I have a feeling of Anti-climax now the Afghan boards are finished. (OK there are a couple of very small tweaks to make on them, but I'm not doing that in the rain.) So a week before Broadside and having booked the week off work I find myself twiddling my thumbs.

Don't get me wrong it's a fantastic position to be in. However I can't help thinking I should be working on something wargaming.

I have loads of ideas of course, but I don't want to start something and then get inspiration at Broadside and loose impetus.

As a club our next project will be SAGA. That being the case I will probably build a force for the game. Which is why I have photographed these two. About 18 months ago I was going to build a 28mm Viking DBA army, just for fun. Shame to let a few painted figures go to waste so I may well work on these this week. I really need to bite the bullet and decide which faction I want to do. Viking, Anglo-Dane, Norman, Scots, or even Breton. The others don't interest me. I think I'll just paint and see where it takes me. I have a couple of Ulfhednar and some with broad axes so Anglo-Dane or Viking seem to be the place to start.

In addition to Saga I will also get a bit of a mix of other projects progressed as well until I can get some focus.

That's it for today, thanks for reading. Hope the Jubilee celebrations are to your liking, after all they almost definitely won't be repeated in our life-times. All the Best Clint.

Finished Afghanistan Boards.

Here are some snaps of the finished boards. Truth to admit I have a couple of tweaks to make. But for the sake of it, I'll call them finished. Some have been cropped to take out the background which is pretty uninteresting, unless you really like seeing a messy shed maybe another time. That's all for now I'll post again on Monday. Thanks for looking, and enjoy the jubilee. All the best Clint

Afghan Buidings WIP

Here are some pictures of the buildings that will go on the boards. Each board has a specific place for a specific building which you can see in the bottom picture. But we'll talk about that in a while. In these shots the buildings are nearly finished you can see that they have all been painted the same colours and in the same style this is because most villages are all built of the same materials and have the same vernacular aesthetic. Close examination of the pictures will reveal at least three different sand colours on the buildings (all a mix of emulsion and ready mixed poster paint and maybe a dash of acrylic as well), that's part of the joy of water based paints they can all mix together as long as you are somewhat careful. The darker shade was dabbed on and then wiped off to create a patchy affect. and the lighter shade was brushed on lightly from the top and dragged downward. It's not perfect, but it looks OK to my eye. The last pic shows one possible layout of the 4 boards, as you can see the roads exit from 3 sides of each board which allows many different combinations. This will not be the final show layout, unless it happens by chance or the players on the day decide they want it this way. It will be finished by the weekend and I plan to show it all put together with figures and grab a few pics for this blog assuming the weather on the day is sufficiently good to take photos outside.

That's it for today. Thanks for looking. Next post on Saturday. All the Best Clint

Adding colour and Texture WIP

A few more work in progress shots. I started byadding texture to all the boards. This was done mostly using wall filler from the 99p store.  I also added some white wood glue (PVA) and some yellow poster paint. The yellow paint was added for no reason other than to confirm the glue had mixed evenly. Without a coloured paint in the mix everything is white and you think you have an even mix, but you cant really be sure. Using a cheap disposable brush. 30p for two from Wilkinson's in this case I painted the filler mix on. Before the filler could dry I sprinkled with builders sand. The only reason I use Builders sand is because of its cost, any type of sand would do.

Allowing it to dry overnight I mixed up enough paint to cover all the boards with at least two coats. Again mixed in some PVA and painted all the boards while sitting in the sun. By the time I had finished the fourth board the first one was dry. So I painted them all again with the base colour, a very dusty looking yellow.

Then I mixed some burnt umbar acrylic which turned it a kind of Brown-grey. which I then painted the roads. Adding some white to the mix I then painted all the walls.

And that's where I have left it over night. I hope the low angle shots  give an idea of both the finished texture and the walls and crop fields.

I'll post again on Thursday, all the best and take care folks. Clint

Laying out the last board (WIP)

As I am by now hoping you should be aware that Broadside is two weeks today. And by the time I finish this post in two weeks the door of the show will be open and At that stage I really will be in a flap. The only thing I can do is wonder what vital thing I will have forgotten.  That being the case I thought I should share the last of the boards layout with  you.

As you can see from the top picture I wanted something which could represent a built up area. A village square if you will. I can imagine a few shops selling all sorts of things from farm produce, maybe a leather workers or a shop selling cloth or farming supplies Or anything that a small agricultural community could want. There are four building "blocks"  clustered around a small square. Most of the buildings are of similar heights, mostly for ease of construction. One building is noticeably larger. (Third Pic on the right hand side). I have left the building deliberately vague in its use. It may be the village elder/tribal leaders house, that of a local dignitary, maybe it's a mosque or perhaps the home of a major drug runner. From that point of view it does not matter. If it is a mosque though the coalition troops better not fire apon it.
The last two pics show the entry and exit points for the village centre. I have left them deliberately tight without much room for the vehicles to manoeuvre. My background reading suggests this is the right approach and it will give plenty of opportunity for ambush from the Taliban point of view.
I intend to have everything finished before the end of the week so progress on these boards might become rapid and I might need to leave one or two stages out of the blog.  I will try to keep it step by step if I can, but my primary aim is to finish everything to a high standard in plenty of time.
Now that the light is at the end of the tunnel I am beginning to wonder what I should tackle next. As a club I think we have settled on playing SAGA probably as a league, but that will only involve figure painting, and I have really enjoyed this so far I am pondering loads of different projects. Perhaps I would be wise to wait and see if anything at BROADSIDE grabs my attention.

Well that's it for today. I will post again on Tuesday. Thanks for reading enjoy the rest of the weekend and hope its the weather you want where ever you are. Al the Best Clint

THANK YOU

This post is basically a thank you to all the bloggers who have started to advertise the Broadside show.

http://www.mhwc.co.uk/broadside-2012

 

Please check the webb site for more details of the show.





 I am humbled by the number of Bloggers who have posted info about our show on thier blogs, or who have promised that they will. It is really touching. It speaks very highly of the wargaming community thier kindness and willingness to help those in need. I'm not going to say anything else remotely embarassing but just to let you all know you are all valued and appreciated.  Many Thanks.

This Thanks also extends to Jasper and Guy at WSS. Jasper contacted me within 6 hours of the Rejects blogs being published and others taking up the call. WSS are doing what they can to help the show. If you norrmally recieve a newsletter from them, expect the next newsletter to carry the show infomation. Not only that, but they have asked when the release of thier newsletter best suits us. I cannot tell you how much this means. It's really fantastic! We hope that Guy from WSS will be able to atend the show as well, but no garantees on that.

This action by WSS clearly shows they are involved in the hobby, and not just about selling papers. We all know the quality of thier publications both from production values and (most importantly) content. It is also important to note that they must be at least browsing blogs to keep up with the grass roots of our hobby. A 6 hour response time from Reject bloggers is staggering for a publisher. I am really impressed, I only hope the other magazine can take note and follow (in some way) thier lead.

All the best, Thanks for reading this. Big thanks for the show support, and Happy Blogging. Cheers Clint.

British Squad



Fire Team A

Fire Team A (back)

As you can see I have managed to paint some British Infantry. Actually I have finished all the figures now. (Until I buy more of course and we all know I will even if I say I wont). The figures are all Elhiem 20mm painted in acrylics. I have taken 2 pics of each fire team.The weapons are as follows (left to right).

• Grenadier with Sa80 UGL (Under slung grenade Launcher)
• Gunner with L108A1 SAW
• Squad leader with Sa80
• Gunner with Minimi

Fire Team B

Fire Team B

Fire Team B (again left to right).

• Gunner with L108A1 SAW
• Gunner 7.62mm GPMG
• Fire Team Leader with Sa80
• Gunner with Minimi.

I feel sure that this is not the correct TO&E for a British Squad, however it is the one presented in some of the scenarios for Force on Force in the "Enduring Freedom" supplement. I could have put a designated marksman rifleman in the mix for example and taken out a Minimi. But at the end of the day I am happy with them as a force and for this purpose it is for a game.

Thanks for looking, more on Friday.All the best Clint



Bad News

It's very disappointing. As a Show Broadside is still young, very young. As such we need all the help and support we can get. So when two of the three wargames magazines that you have bought advertising space in fail to deliver the advert for the show it's very disappointing. The main problem is that shows ARE time critical. With a wargames product, for example, if you advertise a month later you can still sell your products. If on the other hand you are running a show and the adverts get missed out you can't run the advert again. The show is over, the traders disappointed with the numbers and the public uninformed. So while we should have adds in Wargames Illustrated and WSS this month, just weeks before the show we only got an apology from those in charge. Disappointing! I know some of you have put show details on your blogs and that is very much appreciated I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. Especially now that 2 wargames Magazines have failed to promote the show. In addition to the adverts, or more rather the lack off adverts in magazines we have had to cancel the DBA tournament. Personally I was never convinced by the tournament at the show, but a number of people have pulled out so we have had to cancel that part of the show. We have contacted our first reserve club though and offered then the tables we would have used. Which may work in our favour. Time will tell. We will also get to see just how powerful advertising is and maybe look at which magazines should get our advertising budget next year.

With all that bad show news I thought I should put some British Casualty markers on here as well. These are all Britannia one piece castings. I realise that casualty markers are a controversial subject, more so as they are a current conflict and our own forces which is why I have not "over done" the blood and gore. Obviously the man being treated had to have some indication of injury, but I have left the red paint from the other two.

That's today's post. (I sneaked an extra one in). I hope to post again on Wednesday. Thanks for looking all the best Clint

Club Game- It all went horribly wrong

The club had three games going on Sunday, 4 of us playing "Infinity". A game we had tried before, but  had never fully got to grips with. So Ian and Relfie on one side and me and Kev on the other. I can't tell you what forces we used but only 5 figures each. I had 3 with "Combi rifles" one HMG and a shotgun. The top pic is my starting position. We started playing the game after a couple of turns realised we were playing it wrong and re set the game and started again. We all had a quick "shuffle" of figures in our deployment zone which allowed me to move the guy with a shot gun and the HMG in to better positions. I don't really want to talk about how badly me and Kev got beaten.... but we did. BADLY. All our figures wiped out with Ian and Relfie retaining the majority of their troops intact. We were out played, no excuses they made better use of the terrain and punished us if we tried to close with them. The second pic is Ians troops. Relfie played a blinder he kept me pinned and merged with every bit of cover to stay out of my lines of fire, Then when he got the chance popped out into the open and picked my guys off. I had harassing fire from Ian, but generally Ian was enjoying picking of poor Kev. The third Pic shows my growing casualties, 3 dead and only 2 remaining. I tried to move the shot gun up as it only has a range of 16 inches, well out ranged by everything else that could fire 48 inches or more. He nearly made it to cover but Ian managed enfilade fire as he tried to dodge across a very narrow strip of open ground. With just 2 men left Relfie brought one man forward in a John Wayne type heroic action. I am not blaming the dice (for a change) It was a bold move and it paid off and my last two guy soon perished .

The Fourth pic shows Kevs plight. his HMG was taken out quite early in the game, and as he tried to recover the momentum his chaps were butchered by Ian.

I'll not dwell on the gory details any longer. It was fun and I did enjoy it. But how did I find the rules? Well the game was fluid and easy to understand (having not read the rules) I knew what to do with the mechanics from about 1/2 way through the game. We did have to stop and look a lot of things up, hence the restart. I think if we'd set up a proper scenario we might have gotten a better game. Generally speaking as a science fiction set of rules I would put them somewhere between Stargrunt and 40k. Definitely a step up from 40k but to me not as good as Stargrunt. Stargrunt are an old set of rules now, but they work and work well.

 I managed to get a couple of shots at one of the other games, Tims "Good dusting" Sudan game in 15 mm. I won't say anything about it other than I was told the British lost. This is a work in progress I believe as Tim alters the "good dusting" rules to better suit our club.

Our club meeting on 3rd June is now cancelled, so we won't get another chance to tweak the Afghanistan game before Broadside. A Blow, but I remain confident the we shall overcome this setback without too much difficulty as I don't expect games at shows to be that competitive if played as a demonstration.

I estimate that I have less than 30 hours work to finish the Afghanistan game, and three weeks to do it. Which has taken the pressure off as I feel confident I shall complete it. This in my mind was the cut off date to abandon it and do WW1 Zombies if it was not going well. I am at the stage where I think pushing on is easier than hastily re-vamping an old game.

That's todays Post. I'll Blog again on Wednesday. All the Best Clint.