Can you tell what it is yet (2)

The answer is probably clear by now but for those still in the dark it is 35 of scale 10-15mm dry stone walling. What cha mean it don't look like that? Well it is now close enough for the wargames table. (Yes Jo you guessed it was walls give yourself a smug point and well done!)

Ok so what did I do? starting from the hardboard bases I cut chip board into thin strips. Without a guard or a guide it was all done by eye and some are noticeably thicker than others. That's not the point, it's not even the issue! Then as the chip board was about 12mm thick I was able to break them with my hands to give an un even top and a ragged edge.

Then with a hot glue gun I attached the chip board to the Hardboard bases. I will be the first to admit that I am barely competent with a hot glue gun but it worked for the most part. I only used it because it is pretty instantaneous in drying...... I think it dries too fast if I am honest. A couple of safety tips, as I have seen kids in schools try to use them in glue gun fights I can assure you that it is not a good idea unless you want to ruin each others clothes and loose all your pocket money for a long time! I would also suggest you do not eat the glue (hot or cold!) And lastly if you get it on you immediately wipe it off onto the work bench, do not wait to attract a teachers attention or rush to a sink. Additionally it is not butch and macho to see how long you can bear to hold the hot glue! Lecture over and common sense reinstated for the thicko's out there, you know who I am talking too!


The following day (I went in for some tea) I painted the hardboard areas with a mixture of green paint and Pva White wood glue and coated them with sand. The day after that I watered down some burnt umber acrylic and added more PVA and washed the chipboard to make it darker.

Another day later I repainted the hardboard and sand in a medium green and when that was dry I dry brushed some light green and yellow onto the bases.

As you can see it is all very straight forward but I did need to do it as otherwise my 10mm SCW battle field will look very barren indeed. So these added to my hedges and buildings should give enough cover so the machine guns do not decimate the other troops. This method will work for 10mm troops and 15 mm figures and 20mm figures should you wish to try making cheap simple and effective dry stone walls.

Thanks for looking today and I plan to update on Monday. And If I forget my camera at the club tomorrow I will have to let you in on one of my secret plans (Mathyoo already knows)!

As ever comments are welcome. Have a good weekend and take care of you and yours all the best Clint.

I am sure you are no doubt sick of 10mm SCW by now. So I will say sorry as I present my latest two

trucks. I thought I had finished, but yes here are 2 more. I am expecting a small parcel of figures to arrive so I was going to Blog about them. Unfortunately they did not arrive so maybe by Saturday. I was going to blog about the wargames terrain that is being worked on up the shed, but that was not dry yet. Or I was going to blog about what I am sure will be my next wargames project (a real step back in time to my early wargames years) but until I get either the terrain up the shed finished or the parcel arrive I feel that will be premature!

So I had two spare bases and two spare trucks so I thought I would expand my SCW forces yet again. (Sorry if this is getting boring by now). They are both Skytrex "Action 200" Range. (LINK ). While I have not found any detail of command vehicles in the SCW that has not stopped me painting one. After all if they were used in WW2 it can't be too much of a leap forward. And an open top 6 wheel truck with a left hand driver. ( By which a driver seated on the left and not one who only uses his left hand.) I think this was originally part of the American forces for WW2 but without rivet counters commenting who really cares.

So while I am forced to wait on other things to arrive or Dry I thought I would just bash out a couple more SCW trucks. Now the good news is I have no more bases for any more trucks (Yippee! I can hear you shout even from here). So It is very unlikely I will get any more done.

Thanks for looking today and with luck something interesting by Saturday. All the Best Clint.

They don't like it.... yeah we all know!

Yeah we all know how that line goes and it is very common for wargamers to utter the immortal lines. They did have great script writer back then but that is really no excuse! These figures were hidden from me last time I painted my 10mm Sudan figures up, they have since re-emerged from the "put somewhere safe" place and now had some paint slapped on them.

So today I am pleased to have finished another 9 stands of 10mm Beja from Pendraken. Who are rapidly becoming one of my favourite figure manufacturers.


All painted and based to fit in with my existing colonial SUDAN figures. So they should give the forces of the Mahdi a little bit more of a punch.

That's just a very quick update for today and at least it's a few more painted figures and lets be honest the Mahdi can do with more troops which may mean I can paint more British troops (eventually).

Thanks for popping by and with luck I may get something in the mail.

Have a good few days and I'll post again soon.
All the best Clint

Rural Spain 10mm

I could not leave it alone! "Leave it! Leave It!" Yes I know but I was like a terrier. Consequently I have painted a few scenery/terrain bits for my Spanish Civil war game. While at Salute this year I came across The Square a wargames company I at the time had not heard of and miracle of all miracles they had some 10 mm Spanish terrain. So of course I bought it. So today here are three of their rural Spain buildings. I seem to remember they cost about £6.75 for all three. Resin cast one piece castings and they have a real rustic appeal. They are not perfectly cast, but for the price I am very happy with them.

All three of them were good fun to paint and that's from a person who does not like painting terrain or indeed resin. Still never mind that. I did find a couple of air bubbles and some bits of miss cast detail but I would get some more of these if I was able. So from my point of view I now have three 10mm Spanish Farm houses. I would like some out buildings as well, but I am sure I can find something for that. You just never know. This has even made me think very briefly about getting some 10mm Peninsular war Napoleonic's- I quickly sought medication and am recovering now. So no Minnie Sharpe antics planned!

As you can see I have painted some different coloured doors and window shutters. This will allow me to quickly identify buildings and maybe even have them as objectives. For example if you say the blue house it does become very clear which one it is.

I have tried to keep them in traditional Spanish rural colours but If I was to get another pack I might consider doing some in an un whitewashed look.

Well that's it for today. If I don't get side tracked by the football I will have some figures done soon and the "Can you see what it is yet" Terrain moved a step or two closer.

Hope to see you Tuesday, all the best Clint

Can you see what it is yet?

Yes a bit cryptic perhaps but I have started making some terrain up the shed now that the Robins have left the nest. (Yes I had Robins nesting in the shed!)At this stage nothing to see as I just slice up hardboard with a "Stanley" knife. Just to say at this stage all the hard board has been chopped to the right size, with is to say as strips 8-12mm wide. I will no doubt continue this for the next few days.

Yes it's boring with little to see but it is a nessercary step.

That's today's up date. Very un glamorous but much as I would like showing freshly painted every other day is a hard thing to do.

 There are a couple of things on the painting table at present and with luck I should have something painted by Sunday (no promises).

All the best Clint.

Enough for now?

I think I now have enough Spanish Civil War troops. They are all 10mm Pendraken miniatures. One of the benefits of the Spanish Civil war is that the uniforms, clothing and equipment are about the same for each side. Thus by changing the flags Republican Militia can represent Nationalist Militia, and as regular army uniforms were used by both sides again by having interchangeable flags that issue is resolved.

The top picture shows my forces as I have tried to explain they can be seen as interchange able by swapping the flags I shall list the troops from right to left, starting at the front and moving backwards.

• 3 Platoons of Guardia Civilia with a single 14.5mm Hotchkiss Machinegun.
• 6 platoons of troops in regular army uniforms. These may be regular army, Communist or Facist troops or indeed most other factions as mentioned uniforms were used by all.

• Regular army uniformed Machinegun company again all 14.5mm Hotchkiss machine guns. 10 guns in all and company command. These may be split inot the platoons or grouped together as the situation demands.
• 1 Platoon of Guardia Assaulto (pre war paramilitary police). You had to have served in the army before being accepted into this force before the war but I am not sure that was the case during the war. Again used by both sides.
• 2 Medium trucks to be used as tows for the 155mm (French) Field Guns. The guns have crews in regular army uniforms.
• a Single Bilbao Armoured Car of the type used by the Guardia Assalto.

• 7 platoons of Militia dressed infantry. Again these could be on either side as Flange Militia, Poum Militia, Anarchist Militia, Communist Militia etc. So very versatile troops again just needing a change of flags.
• 2 Heavy trucks.
• 5 Medium trucks 3 with Trailers. Again all trucks are interchangeable and my be used for transporting troops or supplies.

• 2 Platoons of militia armed 14.5mm Hotchkiss Machineguns. Just as the regular army machine guns they can be grouped together or allotted to each platoon.
• 5 stands of Cavalry both mounted and dismounted. These were mostly used as scouts.
• a small platoon of Dynamiteros. only 6 stands because we don't want to over do it.
• Trucks already mentioned.
• A single Armoured truck armed with a machine gun and enclosed.
• a Light truck with 3 medium mortars. These are in regular army uniforms.
• 4 Tankettes (Italian C33s). 2 man very light tanks armed with Breda Machine guns. A gift from the Italian Fascist Government
• 2 Unknown tanks I am not sure what they are but they look right and will probably not be used
• A light truck with ambulance markings.
• A staff car of a type usable for civilian as well as military intentions.
• 3 T26 of Russian Origin but used by both sides as sufficient numbers were captured. They are in a grey livery as they were at this time and interestingly Russian Tanks changed to a green livery by the end of the war. Needless to say many were re-painted to suit local conditions.
• 2 Italian 65mm Mountain guns with Civilian crews and also packed up on mule mounts for transportation purposes.
• 1 105mm Howitzer with limber. Civilian crew.
• 1 fuel tanker with trailer.

Additionally I have sufficient casualty markers for a game and a single pill box. Unpainted (and unmade) I have a transport aircraft. Yes tis will be done, but aircraft were really rare. Although I might buy some just for fun.

By many peoples standards this is not a huge army it is however large enough for a battle and I hope enough to keep 6 people entertained for a day. I am writing my own rules as I have not found any commercial rules for this conflict that I like. So please do not ask what rules I will be using. I am going to keep it simple though and not sweat the small stuff.

 I hope that has satisfied you with a SCW fix now you can see what I have been working on.

So what's next. Well in the short term more 10mm colonial stuff.
Thanks for looking today. Have a good couple of days and I hope to see you all soon.
Best Wishes Clint

A couple more trucks

Having forgotten my camera for the club yesterday I will gloss of that. Just admit I lost. And forgetting my camera I am thinking of as a "senior moment".

So I thought I would carry on with some more 10mm Vehicles for my SCW collection. Yes well spotted here are two more Opel Blitz trucks (old Skytrex action 200 range) and a heavy trailer. That's a very very brief update for today, thanks for looking and I will post again on Wednesday.

Take care all the best Clint.

Modern British Mortar crew.

I know I was expecting Spanish Civil War as well.. OK so what went wrong. Well as I was putting away my Camels from the Arab revolt game I found some British soldiers from my Afghanistan game a few years ago that were un painted. This little selection is from Brittania now run by Grubby Tanks LINK.

These were given to me when I placed the order a small gift from Andy Grubb for my purchase. So I got side tracked and managed to paint them up this morning.



These troops are 20mm and nicely proportioned. While I had no use for a mortar and crew at that stage (or indeed now) as they were free and I needed the room for my camels it would have been rude not to have painted them up.

Obviously this is a three man team with an 81mm mortar. As it is hot work crewing a mortar all the figures are in light kit and ready to drop all kinds of brown smelly stuff on the enemy. There is an officer with a map and two other men in the crew so I would expect a great rate of fire from this weapon.

As I look on this as a finished project now there really is not much else to say just that they round out the troops I already have.

When I found these troops I found 12 more troops for the SCW tucked away somewhere safe which is why I have delayed doing those just yet as I now have some extras to do. After those I only have officers and flag bearers to go so expect them finished very soon. Mid week I would expect.

Hopefully more on Monday. Until then take care and make sure the paint does not dry too fast in the sun. All the best Clint

SCW Regulars

Well It has been a little while since I last posted any painted figures but that does not mean I have been idle. So here are another 14 stands of Spanish Civil War Regular troops. By Regular I do of course just mean that they are all wearing the "regular" Army uniform. 






You can see there is one command stand as well as a machine gun stand as well as 12 other infantry stands. These will help bulk out my troops and should mean that I am getting to a point where I can get a game suitable for a few players. Yes I shall do a group shot a little later which should show the forces as a whole.




One of the joys of painting 10mm figures is that they are pretty straight forward to both pain and bas. Add to that that they are easy to transport and cheap to buy and you can see why I am falling in love with them. It is also worth noting that more companies are now producing 10mm figures than ever before.


That's it for today but I am slowly approaching a couple of new (or at least very old) projects so expect more about 1 of them by this time next week.

Thanks for looking today. Maybe another post tomorrow and then back on track Monday.

All the best enjoy any sun that may be about and take care. All the best Clint.

Taking of Akaba

Arab Revolt   - 1916 to 1918

The taking of Akaba

Prince Auda Ibu Tayi with 50 Arabs, “advised” by Lawrence of Arabia (and 22,000 British gold sovereigns) leads a daring assault on Akaba (a port on the Red Sea) to break the deadlock in the Middle East War. The force crosses the harsh Nefud desert terrain swelling to 500 men as they travelled, attacking the Hejaz Railway on route, and avoiding the Turkish cavalry sent to intercept them.

On July 6^th 1917 the Arabs meet the Turkish infantry guarding the land approach to the port at Abu al Lissan. The Arabs skirmished ineffectually at first but goaded by Lawrence they charged on camel back into the enemy positions.

During the fight the Arabs lose a handful of  men killed and an unknown number of wounded - far less than the losses to snakes and scorpions in the desert! The Turks are overwhelmed, many are killed after surrender as the Arab leaders struggle to hold back their jubilant men.

Lawrence was lucky to escape unhurt as in the excitement of the charge he managed to shoot his own camel in the head! Luckily he was thrown clear and managed to avoid being run down by his own allies!

The arrival of the Arabs from the desert resulted in the surrender of the Akaba garrison.  Lawrence then made an epic dash to inform the British, who quickly sent ships with supplies and transported units of Prince Feisal Arab Army to consolidate the success and launch the next phase of the campaign. The success also encouraged many men from the local tribe to join the revolt, which diverted Turkish troops, and helped the Allies advance into Palestine.

The game was set up much more to the Laurence of Arabia film than the "Real History". In Reality the battle was mostly focused around a Turkish block house. Which was situated between two towns (Akaba and Ma'an). Wikipedia has an entry on the battle should you be interested in what actually happened. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Aqaba

 

And indeed was more balanced as a game.  I did use a very simple set of rules that I had made up myself and they led to a quite balanced game.  On the day we played 2 games. Tim and myself took the Arabs in the first game with Peter and Graham taking the Turks. In the second Game Peter had to leave early and Richard sat in for him.

In each game the two Turks in the trench died very quickly (as they are supposed to). But after that each game went completely differently. 

 

 

 

 

 

In the first game I had spotted a gap in the Turkish troop line (they were spread thin. And managed to slip around half a dozen Arabs into the  rear of the army.  When I brought my arabs into melee the Turks (Peter) was able to beat them of with bayonets and my atrocious dice rolls. Not once while in Melee in the first game did I roll higher than a 2 on d6. Mostly I threw 1's. While Tim managed to hammer into the Turkish main line and not only keep them occupied but also to break them. All the while my troops in the rear stopped the Turks from getting any reinforcements which resulted in the Arabs being able to out gun the Turks and close for melee combat. It was a close run thing with each side capable of winning it.

Lucky for me the Arabs won the first game but it was balanced on a knife edge at one point.

 

The Second Game was more one sided. We had all learnt from the first game. I think I used up all my favours from the dice gods as well as my Turks were turning out to be crack shots (I rolled high on the dice a few times more than usual). My troops this time (now the Turks) were rubbish in melee (my dice rolls). But as My troops were mostly able to keep the Turks at a distance the rifle fire was the telling blow. Additionally both Tim and myself had learnt the value of slipping Arabs into the rear (ohh err! Waits for Tamsin to make a choice comment!) so we put a stop to that. Which allowed us to keep reinforcements arriving.  And by having reinforcements we were always able to keep up the pressure on the Attackers .

Overall it was a very good day and we mostly played for fun. The photography is a bit hit and miss as mentioned on Monday my Camera was playing up and it is no where near the quality of Grahams hence the different colour tones.

Anyway thanks for looking and with luck more again on Friday.

 All the best Clint

 

 

Broadside 14

Well if you are not sick of me saying so Yesterday was Broadside 14. The annual wargames show by MHWC. (I am no longer one of the organisers, I was given no tasks or responsibilities this year so I had better not claim that I am in any way involved any more.) Several people on the day said that it did not seem at all busy. I personally thought quite the opposite, I shall probably hear the official figures in about a week so that will tell all.

It was a hot day and the room was quite stuffy. Despite this We managed to get two games of the attack on Akaba in. The Arabs won the first game and the Turks won the second game so it seems quite a balanced game which is what toy want I think from a game point of view even if it is not reproducing History exactly.

Anyway here are some Photos of the games in general before my camera packed up. Strangely it works again now I have got it home.  Ho Hum such is my affinity to technology, Thank goodness I am not a Borg!



Gravesend Wargames Club,
2nd Afghan War
Won a Prize for the best painted figures.



Russo-Japanese War
Posties Rejects
Won a Prise for  Best Game from the Publics point of view.



Magnificent 7 Game in 54mm
Skirmish Group
Won a prise for the best use of space.

So Congrats to the Clubs who won. And Commiserations to the rest of us! I am not bitter, No not at all. (And only a little jealous!)

 

Some of the other games I personally liked were:

 

A wild west skirmish using Dead mans Hand rules,
Sorry I  don't recall the club!

Maidstone Wargames Club
28mm WW1 Skirmish
(I can't help thinking this board would
make a great Victorian Gothic horror Game!)

Deal Wargames Club
My personal favourite game.
a 15mm Vietnam game.

Worth noting these river vessels are no longer available
but I think they were produced by "the Scene" Back in the day.
20mm Vietnam Riverine craft can be sourced by a number of companies
 but I would struggle to find any 15mm ones these days.

AND FINALLY.

 

I will leave the Arab Revolt game for now as I am expecting another club member to send me some shots. I am sure the following bloggers will put some up soon though.

 

Ray (the Badger) Rousell http://onelover-ray.blogspot.co.uk/

 

Fran (Hedge Hugger) Lee http://theangrylurker.blogspot.co.uk/

 

(Big) Lee Hadley http://www.blmablog.com/

 

Alan (Tottenham Forever) Abbey http://leofwinewargamerson.blogspot.co.uk/

 

Tamsin (Wargames Girl) Piper http://wargaminggirl.blogspot.co.uk/

 

Robert (Bob) Cordery http://wargamingmiscellanybackup.wordpress.com/ (Says he will most likely post on Tuesday)

 

There will probably be a few others as well.

 

Hopefully again on Wednesday. See you all soon and take care one and all.

Broadside Swag!

Having just got in I will do a show report tomorrow. But I just thought I would do a quick loot post.  I did keep my spending down mostly!

So what did I blow my "Hard earned" on? (Right to left)

• A very serious book about the conquest of the Aztecs, Incas and other tribal societies. I am tempted to do Donnybrook based around Hernan Cortes but first I thought to read up on it a bit! (Arrived home to comments like "Oh another book like you need that!")
• Army painter primer spray paint (a slight preparation for the Analogue painting challenge come December as I know I will have a fair few of one type of figure to paint! (I'll say no more at this stage)
• A single Magpie miniatures figure (which I hope to send across the pond as I think this is just the type of figure that Anne O'Leary would like!)
• A KR multicase! (This is Fran and Rays Fault as they guilted me into buying better protection for my figure the rotter's, )
• 5 Miss cast resin bases. From Gladius Game Arts, 10p Each so I though why not!
• 2 Packs of MDF bases from Colonel Bills.
• 1 Pack of Dixon Miniatures (again from Colonel Bills)...  No Not Gangsters or Aztecs!

And that's all I spent and It would have been a lot cheaper without those pesky Rejects getting on my case about needing figure boxes. Fran says it would make you weep to see how I transport figures. And says he's going to do a blog post about it!

Cheers for Reading and with luck a quick show report tomorrow!
Take care hope to see you soon. All the best Clint.