A busy weekend, Society meeting 24th February and Cavalier 25th February

Andy rounds up a busy weekend for the Society. Photos by Andy unless stated otherwise, header photo by Stephen.

Last weekend saw both a Society meeting and our annual trip to the Cavalier Wargames show run by Tunbridge Wells Wargames Society.

Only three games at the meeting on Saturday, perhaps due to some members only being able to get out on one of the days.

First up, David ran a Napoleonic Corps game using General d’Armee rules and figures from his collection. This was a popular game with half a dozen members partaking.

Eric ran a Judge Dredd RPG, only a couple of photos of this one I’m afraid.

Judge Dredd RPG
Judge Dredd Bar room Brawl

Finally on Saturday Andy and Stephen finished off their Lion Rampant Five Battles campaign, joined this time by Treasurer Mark and new member Charlotte.

Game one.

This was a Convoy mission, the Christians had to escort three “baggage” markers diagonally across the table, a cart, some monks and some civilians. The Muslim forces had to stop them.

Much reduced cavalry face off (Charlotte)
Andy’s convoy and escorts (Charlotte)
Egyptian Light Cavalry (Charlotte)

Game 2. This was to be our “Big Battle”, with two commands on each side. Here the objective was simply to defeat the opposition.

Andy’s warband
Andy’s Warband (Charlotte)
Charlotte’s and Stephen’s warbands
Stephen’s view point (Stephen)

We will post a write up of the final games in the campaign in the near future.

CAVALIER

On Sunday half a dozen or so members travelled to Tonbridge for Cavalier.

The Society’s game for this year was masterminded and built by Phil, and was a 3D representation of a map game published in the 1977 Warlord Comic Summer Special portraying a Luftwaffe raid on Southern England during the Battle of Britain.

Phil’s board, 560 individually marked squares!
Airfields and ammunition dumps are three of the targets for the Luftwaffe
A close up of the town
A copy of the original game can just be seen at the bottom of the photo

A year’s worth of gaming (Part 2)

Club member Stephen reviews the games he has played at Maidstone Wargames Society this year. This is part 2 of the article covering July to December. If you missed part 1 it can be found here.

The first meeting after the Open Day can be an important one because it would be the first ‘true’ impression of a club day for anyone returning after the Open Day. We do try to have a few games going and it’s important that games are open to any new member to help them feel included and part of the club. I had a game of Dragon Rampant with Andy.

July – Dragon Rampant

We got in two games. Andy was using his goblins, and I used two new armies – elves in the first game and dwarves in the second. And Andy won both games. Not just won, but won quite convincingly. That’s the thing with new armies – it takes time. You have to get to know each other, trust each other, respect each other. Just like any relationship.

At the end of July came more sci-fi. Another game of Stargrave – Jurassic Moon! I’m sure you can work out the inspiration for that one. Films, TV, and books all provide an endless resource for Stargrave games. Yet again, another sci fi game in my decision to do more sci fi during the year.

In this game Tony’s captain would get killed by a pack of velociraptors, meaning Tony lost his crew and will have to start all over again. Meanwhile, Eric kept throwing grenades at everything. We also used the Side Hustle cards, which provided a great new element to the game.

July – Stargrave – Jurassic Moon

We are now two-thirds of the way through this gaming year, and another sci fi game for me – Battlestar Galactica by Ares Games. This uses the same game engine as other games such as X-Wing. The game was run by Alan, so fulfilled two briefs for the year’s gaming – play more sci fi, and play more games run by other people. Best of all, though, was the chance to game with club members I seldom game with. Alan umpired with Dave and myself taking the Cylons and Pete S and Chris taking the humans. I don’t wish to gloat, but suffice to say that Dave and myself had a very rewarding day!

August – Battle Star Galactica

And then on to a bit of fantasy – Elf King Red. This is a free download set of rules by Rick Priestly. In brief, the game is based around an elf civil war, with each player taking control of a different ‘Circle’ of elves. It’s one of those games with just a few miniatures per player – a leader (or Thane in the rules) accompanied by six companions. Just seven figures per side!

We had a four player game – Andy, Tony F, Phil, and myself. We played two different scenarios (we agreed that each player must devise a scenario, but obviously never played them all). Andy’s scenario involved hunting down a rampant werewolf whilst mine was all about taking control of a temple in the wilderness.

August – Elf King Red

It proved to be a nice fun game. These sort of things always work best with some kind of scenario driven game. There’s a few holes in the rules, which is OK (they’re free, after all), especially if you’re a group of friends and playing the game in the spirit of fun. We certainly coped with any hiccups and any uncertainties were easily resolved. EKR will make a great one-day session of linked scenarios.

It had been a little while, but the first meeting in September was back to our Wars of the Roses campaign – Battle of Hedgeley Moor. This was an encounter I was unfamiliar with, with newly crowned King Edward sending an embassy to the Scots only to be ambushed by the Lancastrians.

September – Sword and Spear – Battle of Hedgeley Moor

You know what, it’s just not fair! I really thought I was going to win this one, it was looking good at one point. But did I? No. You can read the full report here: Wars of the Roses – Battle of Hedgeley Moor – Battle Report – Maidstone Wargames Society (brigademodels.co.uk)

A closer game this time, so I suppose some things are improving.

The second meeting in September was supposed to be Rebels & Patriots but Andy had to pull out at the last minute, so I grabbed some spaceships and we had a game of Starmada instead. Like Full Thrust this is a space fleet game, but it’s quicker and dirtier than Full Thrust and can handle large fleet battles better. We played three games. The first was a simple meeting encounter so we could all remind ourselves of the rules. The grey fleet won this so we decided the next battle would be an attempt to take control of a mining facility. The green fleet repelled them this time and so we moved on to the last game – a chance for the greens to consolidate their position. But the greys won again. We decided this represented a minor victory for the greys. They hadn’t managed to take control of the mining facilities but had done enough to press the greens for trading benefits.

September – Starmada

The first meeting in October was on the 14th, which meant only one thing: HASTINGS! A few years ago we’d re-fought the battle so what we did was have a special Saga day based on the Norman Invasion. Norman and Anglo-Dane armies only.

October – SAGA – Battle of Hastings

The four of us decided to play multi-player games. Each player would keep track of victory points throughout the day and the player with the highest total would be declared winner. The day went to Tim with his Anglo-Danes with Jeremey, also using Anglo-Danes, in a very close second. It seems English resistance to the Normans is alive and well.

Since we meet in such a large hall I often wonder why we don’t do more one-on-one games. There’s enough room. So at the second meeting in October Tony G and myself had a few games of Barons War. This was Tony’s first time, so we kept it small. As such, we got in three games. Barons War provides a really good section on scenarios, which always benefits skirmish games. I won the first, then Tony won the second, which left a third deciding game. It went to Tony! The more I play Barons War the more I enjoy it. Like many rules it’s not always as clear as it could be – though not as bad as some rules out there. But as you play it the more sense it makes. A very enjoyable session.

October – Baron’s War

Right then. So, November. And another ding-dong in our Wars of the Rose campaign.

This was the Battle of Hexham and marked a turning point in the war. Not only was it a turning point in the actual war but it was also a turning point (hopefully) in our campaign. Rather than give details here you can instead read about the remarkable events here.

November – Sword and Spear – Battle of Hexham

The penultimate game of the year was a bit of a 90s throwback – Battletech! This game ticked two boxes for my year’s gaming: more sci fi AND play other’s games as well. Back in the day I used to play a lot of Battletech (and Silent Death). This was Eric’s game and we played a version of Battletech called Alpha Strike which, to be honest with you, bears no resemblance to the original game at all. Which is not a bad thing. Battletech was a very 90s set of rules and I’m not sure I have the stomach for it any more. But Eric had done the right thing by introducing us to Alpha Strike because it is a much more streamlined, playable, and therefore enjoyable game. Splendid fun. And check out Eric’s fantastically painted mechs. When I used to play I would go for lurid colours (I remember doing one in purple and yellow). I much prefer Eric’s muted colours.

November – Battletech Alpha Strike

And so on to my final game of the year. And yet more sci fi. Another game of Stargrave, but this time with a festive feel – I called the game ‘There Ain’t No Sanity Clause’ (full credit goes to The Damned for that). Santa Claus has been kidnapped by hordes of psycho-penguins and the players must spread festive goodwill to release him.

December – Stargrave – There Ain’t No Sanity Clause

Five players took part. They had two goals – as well as collecting loot tokens they also had to collect clues that tell them what they have to do to release Santa. The culmination of the game was a group rendition of We Wish You A Happy Christmas. In addition, if the players give back captured loot tokens to Santa (the loot were presents for all the good boys and girls) then they would receive double experience for those tokens.

A suitably festive ending to the year!

So those were the games I played at the club during 2023. I did well on my pledge to play more sci fi, but not so well when it came to playing other’s games (though I did do that more than usual – so not too bad). You know what, I don’t think I played a duff game all year. I thoroughly enjoyed every game. This is the advantage with being a club member – the variety of games and the quality. I’m going to continue with my determination to join in other games during 2024.

 

After-Action Report 26th August: ‘Square Bashing’ 6mm Franco-Prussian War

Club member Peter reports on a game that he ran at the society recently.

You know how it is – you collect all these armies, have great fun and lots of memorable actions – and then one day you realise that the last time you played this fab little game was the turn of the century! So, post-retirement I have been dusting-off a variety of games and systems which deserve wider exposure – and ‘Square Bashing’ is certainly one of them…

The System/Rules

Briefly, ‘Square Bashing’ was developed by good old 15mm manufacturer Peter Pig and some associates and is a sort of boardgame/tabletop ‘hybrid’ which allows for fast yet accurate handling of large formations, beyond the capability of most other rules. It achieves this by using markers on a normal wargame table to denote squares, roughly 25-30cm on a side. Units are made up of so many bases but orders/activation, movement and combat are by ‘square’. Movement in march mode is relatively fast, but once ‘deployed’ things slow down – a lot! Thus, it encourages thinking at the true Corps and Army level, as it takes precious time to deploy and then re-orient units in the field. Speaking of which…

The game also has a fiendishly simple but vital initiative and ‘battle clock’ control on game length, whereby the loser of the initiative roll each turn can choose to either go first or move the countdown clock on by whichever of the two dice scores they choose. Thus, can asymmetric forces fight on more equal terms, as the large force cannot simply sit back and grind an opponent down but has to ‘get on with it’ before nightfall or some other key event. More on this aspect later…

The system has been used very successfully for WW1, Russian Civil War – and now mid-19thC battles. It was the latter in which I had some input, and to demo the system it seemed the most appropriate -so……

The Game

The game was based on a real encounter during the opening phase of the Franco-Prussian War, when the initial French assaults had been thrown back in some confusion and the German States were seeking to force the nearest French army back into the fortified zone of the city of Metz. Whilst this was too strong to assault and the Germans lacked any giant siege guns, having 150,000 extra ‘guests’ for lunch would overwhelm the supplies held there and, eventually, force their capitulation.

The game was therefore set-up as follows:

      • The table was roughly 9×6 squares, each representing about 0.75Km a side. It consisted of rolling, low hills, dotted with farms and light woods with the odd dense bit of forest.
      • Two French Corps would deploy anywhere in the first three rows, with orders to keep any German units away from their base edge. Just off table behind them, however, was the main French escape route, with progress of other units denoted by very slow-moving wagon markers – or so it seemed to the players!
      • The three German Corps were allowed to enter anywhere on their baseline, but there had to be at least one square gap between corps (or risk massive traffic jams). Their orders were to simply push ahead and ‘slam the door’ on Metz. The only complication was that the three Corps were from two different armies, Prussian III Army and the Bavarian contingent. I had little to do by way of briefing to add a little ‘healthy competition’ between the different commands…

So yep, five complete Corps, plus reinforcements, on the table in one afternoon’s play!

The initial French deployment was extremely ‘sparse’ – worryingly so, until I noticed that they were only using 1x Corps! Somewhat happier when the available units doubled in size, they were slightly more chastened by (a) the ground scale, which meant that their ‘old fashioned’ artillery could not support everywhere if grouped too heavily; and (b) the unending stream of Germans now marching onto the table…

Prussians begin to arrive as French ‘beef-up’ their extended front line

I won’t give a blow-by-blow account, if only because I was too busy to observe the minutiae of turns. Essentially, a dramatic cavalry thrust by the French on their extreme left was almost immediately destroyed by a combined-arms Bavarian group attempting a right-hook. The French were a little worried about a follow-through here, but this was closed-off by the adjacent French infantry division left-facing and thus threatening any attempt to exploit.

On the main Bavarian front, the French reinforced an advanced village/farm complex at a key crossroads which they proceeded to hold against several Bavarian assaults until literally blown-away at game end by massed batteries, themselves taking long-range hits by infantry fire. The French stand had, however, blocked any advance in this sector, as per orders.

French left Corps throws back Bavarian assault in confusion, but is starting to be by-passed…

In the centre-right, the Prussians were feeling their way forwards whilst deploying stronger formations in their rear. An early probe on their left against a large farm complex was bounced in short order by some Algerian Legionnaires and a Light Infantry unit. However, long-range bombardment and a full divisional assault eventually carried this position and was threatening the French extreme right until a timely reinforcement galloped on in the shape of a Guard Heavy Cavalry division (to add some ‘tone’ to an otherwise unseemly brawl by foot-plodders).

The centre was initially a see-saw with no major advantage going to either side, despite the mounting casualties. However, when the main Prussian assault finally got under way the close-range firepower of the Dreyse rifles, plus long-range artillery support by rifled pieces finally blew a gaping hole in the French centre, through which one of the reserve cavalry brigades poured. These galloped over the low hills to see a most unusual sight – strung-out before them in the distance were a long column of French army vehicles and assorted support units!

French reserve cavalry (foreground) on their way to destiny…

While this information was relayed to the commanders in the rear and tired infantry units summoned to exploit the position, minds were soon brought back to the current battle as they looked to their left down upon the gaily deployed French Cuirassier Division – facing the other way. As the clock reached game-end, the French cavalry were thrown into almost complete disorder when hit in the flank downhill, at least one French commander choosing to die here on the field, safe in the knowledge that some of the army, at least, had escaped the vice closing on Metz….

Final moves – French right is finally destroyed as the Guard Cavalry arrives (not Prussians on hill to their flank!)

After game observations

All players very quickly got to grips with the system, and I was pleased to see how feverish conversations soon focused more on high level plans re bunging one or two divisions in here, how many brigades to place there, grand battery vs close support etc, possible terrain restrictions on exploitation and so on.

It was also salutary to see how reserves now played a key role, as although units fought well for a while, they soon lost their initial ‘edge’, then went to ineffectual despite several apparently holding ground. This is what happened to the Bavarians on the German right and the French in their centre-right. Once the Prussian reserves arrived, the previously successful French were stretched too thin and quickly dissolved – but not before buying vital time, which was the point! Gosh, commanders following higher orders – whatever next?!

Forces

The Prussian Corps were ‘square’ formations – 2x regiments per brigade, 2x brigades per division, 2x divisions per Corps. The French were similar except that these particular Corps had three divisions apiece. However…… Prussian forces had two important tactical advantages – their infantry at close range got a key bonus (Dreyse rifles being ‘slam-fired’), and their artillery was more numerous and had greater range (just). Lower-level leaders were more prevalent (not ‘better’, just more effective), and so individual units were slightly more flexible (elite divisional light infantry could be attached to brigades). Cavalry were still a threat as while they fared badly against infantry etc in stand-up fights (the French left were ‘vaporized’ in turn two!), they could also fall suddenly on disorganized units or a flank and create chaos out of all proportion to their numbers.

The French ‘advantages’ were not really of much use – their infantry rifles could fire two squares, and did seriously harass the Bavarian Grand Battery. Their prodding of the Prussian centre however may have simply stirred-up the ant’s nest which then lunged forward! But what of the famous Mitrailleuse machineguns? Well, they had to deploy with the artillery (as per doctrine), so missed-out on supporting the infantry fire-fights. On the few occasions where the enemy came to them (‘’Fortress Norfolk’ on the French left), the Bavarians soon saw their effectiveness……

The Clock

This feature as already discussed was central to the scenario design. It’s fair to say that the French were first to realise that ‘all’ they had to do was allow time for the sluggish Army wagon trains to exit left – terrain, losses did not really matter. The Prussians were slower to pick up on this, understandably focusing on the detail of battle. However, as they got closer to the French rear edge and could discern no form of counter-plan, it very quickly dawned on them what game the French were playing, and they went over from considered progress to major punches, sometimes surrendering the initiative for the turn to the French in order to adjust the clock by the smallest amount! This was very successful, as the French – on the overall defence – rarely needed the initiative anyway, although a couple of Bavarian brigades might dispute this plan!

My thanks to all for a great trip down memory lane (and for loans of scenery).

Prussian:              Pete S, Paul L

Bavarian (almost Prussian):          David P

French:                 Mark N and ‘Bob’

Society Meeting 13th May 2023

A short round up of games played at our last meeting.

The usual FOG suspects staged a 6mm game, Mid Republican Roman vs Later Selucid.

Mark ran a 28mm Judge Dredd game, with virulent scenery, you may need your sunglasses.

Close up of the tower block

Jeremey and Stephen continued their refight of the War of the Roses, this time recreating Towton.

Each were “assisted” by two sub commanders this time, on the Lancastrian side with Stephen were Andy and Tony G, with Tony F and Peter joining the Yorkist commander, Jeremey.

Andy & Tony F both switched sides since the last campaign game (not unusual in the War of the Roses). There will be a full report on this game written up by the victorious commander.

Armies deployed, Yorkist on the left, Lancastrian on the right
Yorkist Centre
More Yorkists
Stephen’s victorious Border Horse.
A truly dismal roll by the Lancastrian’s French crossbowmen, three 1s
Lancastrian centre, what’s left of it.
The Lancastrian dead. Units with red dice were Andy’s, blue dice were Tony G’s and black dice were Stephen’s

 

Society Meeting March 25th 2023

We had a very good turn out at the last meeting, 5 games in progress with over 20 members present.

First up, John and Alex were play testing John’s Border Reivers game.

All quiet at the Bastle house, for now.
Action at the ford.

Mark ran another Dungeons and Dragons session, taking his adventurers to sea and then deep into the dungeon depths.

The dungeon master looks on as the adventurers ponder their next action.
Action at the Quayside
Dungeon delving
Who let the dogs out?

Paul ran a 6mm FoG Ancients game, Late Bulgarians vs Ottomans.

Light cavalry on the right somewhat outnumbered
The centre of the battle seems a bit empty
Clash of cavalry

Stephen and Jeremey continued their refight of the War of the Roses, using Sword and Spear rules, this time recreating the Second Battle of St Albans. There will be a write up of this game shortly.

The Yorkist camp, artillery and cavalry await the approaching Lancastrian vanguard.
The artillery has fallen to Lancastrian archery, but the first Yorkist reinforcements are now approaching the camp
A Lancastrian pike block about to dispose of some Yorkist archers, but Yorkist Men at Arms are waiting behind the archers.
Towards the end of the battle, the Yorkists have pushed the Lancastrians back from the camp
On the Yorkist left flank there are few Lancastrians left.

Finally, Mark H ran a War of the Spanish Succession game, using his own fast play rules.

Cavalry advance
More Cavalry
The armies line up
Cavalry wings clash
The infantry engage

 

 

Society Meeting, October 22nd

It’s been a while since we posted any pictures of society meetings, but here are some from our latest meeting, which had a good turn out with five games in progress and around 20 members present.

First up we have a 2mm Ancients game using Strength and Honour rules, Republican Romans vs Germans.

Marcomanni & Suebi Warbands clash with the Auxilia
Same clash, different angle
Close up of the Suebi Warband
Line of battle

Our second game was a clash between a 100 Year’s War English army and some Ottoman Turks, this time in 6mm using Field of Glory rules

Archers flanking Men at Arms
Close up of Archers
Archers holding the hill
Cavalry charge the Men at Arms
Men at arms punch a hole through the line of Archers

Slightly later historically we turn to the War of the Roses, and a game based on the Battle of Wakefield, this time in 15mm using Sword and Spear rules.

Battle of Wakefield, starting positions. Jeremey feeling somewhat surrounded.

In the background you can see Stephen’s representation of Sandal Castle, you can see an article on its construction here.

Close up of the Yorkist right flank.
Lancastrian Left Flanking force
Yorkist Archers, the small dice show the remaining strength
Uneven archery duel, all units started at strength 3.

Our fourth game, chronologically, takes us to the East End of London, where things go bump in the night. A Victorian Gothic Horror game using “A Fist Full of Lead” rules in 28mm.

Just another day in the East End
A bit of a barney
Hello, hello, hello, what’s going on here aaarghh
It’s not even safe indoors
A Hansom Cab
Police raid a house of ill repute
They’s big n hairy & I be afraid of ’em

And finally, we go to Vietnam, with a 1:600 scale Air game using Thud Ridge rules.  Only a couple of photos of this game unfortunately.

SAM-2 site protecting a vital bridge as a Skyhawk attacks.
Close up of the Skyhawk, pursued by MiG-15s

 

Populating the Desert

At our recent Open Day I ran a 6mm sci-fi game using the Hammer’s Slammers:The Crucible rules. I created a lot of new desert terrain for the event and thought I’d write up some of the methods I used to create it. If you want to read about the game itself, there’s a report on the Hammer’s Slammers website with lots of photos of the game in action.

Sacred Sands
One major component of almost every item of terrain is the ground texture. I used a mixture of sand (bird cage sand from a pet shop), household emulsion paint and PVA glue in a ratio of roughly 3:2:1. I had a litre of paint mixed by my local B&Q to match Army Painter’s Skeleton Bone spray paint (I sprayed a small square of plastic card which they stuck in their scanner) for a very reasonable £18. I made up batches of the ground texture mix in an ice-cream tub so that it was always ready to go – and after building all of the terrain below I have about 2/3rds of the paint left.

Once dry, the ground was washed with a decent coat of Citadel sepia shade, then drybrushed with Citadel Tyrant Skull. This pretty simple method gave me a quick to apply, good looking and consistently repeatable ground texture.

I scoured eBay for suitable grass tufts in various sizes and shades of dry grass and found a good pair of sources in Boontown Metals and Serious-Play. These were used sparingly, the desert was supposed to be arid.

Happiness is the Road
The roads were made them from Busch model railway roads, which are a sort of very thin self-adhesive foam with markings printed on in white. The two-lane roads were 40mm wide, maybe a little overscale but some sci-fi tanks are pretty big so they look fine. As a base I used 3mm sheets of black Foamex – this is less likely to warp, as card or MDF is prone to. The edges were roughly bevelled with a knife and textured. I made some T junctions and crossroads by butting up sections of road surface and drawing in the road markings with a white acrylic paint pen.

2-4-6-8 Motorway

I had visions of making a big four-lane highway for a couple of reasons – firstly, it would be an impressive large terrain piece, which 6mm scenery can sometimes lack, and secondly it would cut down lines of fire and prevent heavy tanks dominating the battlefield and being able to fire from one side of the table to the other (heavy tank guns have no maximum range in Hammer’s Slammers). The motorway was mounted on 2″ thick insulation foam – I used normal white polystyrene, pink or blue foam would have been better but I already had the polystyrene to hand. This was cut into four 8″ wide, 18″ lengths with a hand saw – do this outside, it makes one heck of a mess! The edges were then bevelled at a 45° angle with a hot wire cutter resulting in a 4″ wide plateau. I ran two lengths of Busch roads down either side of this plateau, leaving a narrow central reservation. The edges and centre were textured as normal, and I put in a small piece of tiled plasticard in each section – the intention with this is so I could put in road signs at some point, although I haven’t done that yet.

One length was cut in half, and one end of each short length bevelled to match the sides. I scratchbuilt a simple bridge from plasticard and Plastruct girders, which was long enough so that one of my normal two-lane roads could pass underneath. The bridge was made so that it could be lifted out – this was for two reasons; firstly, I thought that attaching the bridge to the two end pieces would be too fragile, and secondly it gave me the option to add a destroyed version later.

I’ve learnt in the past that linear obstacles need more than one crossing point, otherwise you end up with a nasty bottleneck and the whole game ends up revolving around this one point. So I used the hot wire cutter to make two tunnels under the roadway – one larger one which is big enough to take a road, the other smaller one which is big enough for infantry on foot or small vehicles. For the larger one I used a piece of plastic cable trunking to make the concrete tunnel, the small one was made from plasticard. This left three crossing points so gives the attacking side more options. The sides of the embankment are rather steep, too much for heavy vehicles, but I allowed light vehicles (jeeps and infantry skimmers) and infantry on foot to climb them as if in bad going.

Houses in Motion

All of the buildings are from Brigade Models’ various desert-themed resin scenery ranges. I stuck them on more 3mm Foamex with Uhu glue and textured between them with the usual mixture. The buildings were sprayed with Army Painter’s Skeleton Bone, washed with Agrax Earthshade (GW) and drybrushed with Terminatus Stone (GW again). To add a splash of colour, doors and details were painted using GW Contrast Paints which give a decent effect in one coat.

One of my main sources of inspiration for the look of the buildings was the various Star Wars stories set on Tatooine. One standout feature of these is the fabric awnings across the entrances and frontages of many of them. I tried to replicate this using pieces of textured paper hand towels (some nasty thick industrial ones that don’t so much dry your hands as redistribute the water…) which I soaked in watered down PVA and strung across paperclip wire supports. Once dry I used Contrast Paints and drybrushing, often matching the awning colour to the other spot colours on the buildings.

I put some buildings on sections of road which allowed me to do some more interesting things such as a footbridge that passed over the road, or parking bays/side roads. The obelisk outside the tower below comes from Brigade’s 2mm range.

The objective of the game was to capture a series of radar stations that controlled the approach to the nearby starport. These all came from the Brigade range including several with ‘golf ball’ style radar enclosures and another tall tower with a radar on top. I added extra small buildings to the bases of some.

The Temple of Doom
I had a ruined ancient temple that had been cluttering up my office for ages – it was an aquarium ornament picked up from a pet shop. This was stuck on a small polystyrene hill with ramps and steps up to the summit. I repainted it in the same way as the other buildings. I discovered that the resin was rather fragile – it had an accident that lowered the heights of all the columns at one end…

Hanging on the Telephone
I scratchbuilt some simple telegraph poles using lengths of cocktail stick and short pieces of plastic strip for the crossbars superglued together, based on 20mm wooden discs from The Works. Ground texture, a single coat of brown contrast paint and a quick drybrush and they were done.

We Got the Power
In a box in my shed o’ stuff I unearthed three 3D printed power pylons, bought back in the days when they were still a sensible price on Shapeways. These were duly stuck on Foamex bases, sprayed with gray primer and drybrushed – again, job done and some welcome height added to the board.

Blood on the Track
A monorail ran across the town, made from Brigade Model’s elevated track and a selection of freight wagons. The pylons were based on 30mm wooden discs and the track was painted in the same way as the buildings. I initially painted the track silver and washed it but that made it too dull, so I went over the rail again with a silver paint pen to make it brighter.

And finally, a few shots of the game on the day. The Slammer’s Regiment (silver hovertanks) were mostly painted by Jon Roche, the Zaporoskiye Regiment in their superb green/white/brown urban camo’ were painted by Mark Johnson. The blue tracked vehicles are Guardforce O’Higgins, painted by me.

Society Meeting 23rd July 2022

A short roundup of the games at our last meeting.

Four periods/genres were staged at the last meeting.

First up, a couple of games of Field of Glory, using 6mm figures, Early Alans vs Selucids.

Stephen, Tony & Andy played three, three sided SAGA Age of Vikings games, using the Battle Royale scenario from the Book of Battles. Victory is normally decided by Survival points in this scenario, and that’s how we played the first game. In the second game we decided to use Slaughter points, and in the third reverted to Survival Points, but with 5 points for controlling the central objective (the building) and for each charge made.

The first three sided battle.
Stephen’s Hearthguard
Tony’s Vikings
Vikings and Scots clash
Tony’s Viking Warriors vs Andy’s Anglo Danish Hearthguard – battle joined!
Tony’s Viking Warriors – the aftermath, where did the Hearthguard go?
More Scots and Vikings

The first two games finished with the same result, Stephen won, Andy came second and Tony came third. The third game was a tie between Stephen and Andy, with Tony bringing up the rear.

Alan staged an Early WWII game using the I Ain’t Been Shot Mum! rules.

Germans advance through the woods
British Anti Tank Gun
German combined arms
German advance

Finally, Peter ran a 75mm Lord of the Rings skirmish game. This is a participation game set in the Mines of Moria, with players controlling one main character and one Hobbit each. They must buy time for the NPC Gandalf to cast a delaying/blocking spell on the escape route – before the Balrog turns-up! There will be a more in depth report on this game in the near future.

The initial onslaught, “They have a Cave Troll”
They had a Cave Troll!
Gandalf concentrating on his spell.
The Balrog arrives.

Society Meeting 11/06/2022

A bit later than planned, but here’s a brief photo roundup of the games staged at our meeting on June 11th.

Field of Glory, 6mm Ancients.

Sword & Spear (15mm) – Wars of the Roses

Star Wars Armada

Work in Progress Wednesday

Jeremey has briefly been sidelined, so Tony F takes over the WIP Wednesday reins this week.

The club’s gone relatively quiet lately – obviously everyone’s efforts went into the jubilee ! However, there has still been some progress – Mark J has employed his magnifying glass for his 6mm Saxons (above), then broke out the electron microscope for some 2mm Antonine for Strength and Honour, which are based on perspex.

Warbases’ 2mm Roman Legion (Mark J)

Marcus meanwhile has been working on some 28mm Spy-fi and 15mm Sci-fi miniatures.

The initial stages of some 28mm Spy-fi from Marcus (who, like Bond, seems to have an eye for the ladies !).
15mm Sci-fi from Marcus – mostly Brigade Models but with the odd interloper.

Jeremey has been converting a Copplestone figure to act as his Stargrave crew’s first mate.

Jeremey has named this image ‘Avon’ – a nod to the Blake’s 7 character perhaps ?

And finally, something from me – these were missed from the last WIP Wednesday post (about which I’m not bitter at all…) but since I’m in charge this week, I’m putting them in. First, it’s more additions to my Middle Earth armies – half-a-dozen elf spearmen to accompany the cavalry I painted a few weeks ago.

Six Rivendell elf spearmen

Next is my take on Radagast the Brown – it’s not either of the official GW figures which are rather expensive, but a Conquest Miniatures hedge witch. I added a bird from an OOP Celtos figure which is positioned as if the wizard is talking to it, painted up as a falcon.

Talking to the birds…

And to round things off, another small piece of 6mm desert terrain, an oasis made from 3mm Foamex, a sand/paint/PVA texture, cheap palm trees from eBay and clear PVA for the water.

Water, water everywhere.