Author: Jeremey

2025 Open Day this Saturday (28th June)

There are just three more days to go before our Open Day this Saturday (28th June). This is a great time to come and see the Maidstone Wargames Society in action.
Details of how to find us on the day are on out About us page. The open day runs from 11am to 4pm so come down to introduce yourself to the society, re-ignite your passion for miniature wargaming or to find out what it’s all about and if it’s the hobby for you.

We also have a last minute update from member David, he’s been preparing a large number of vehicles for a 15mm alternative history game. We cannot wait to see the result and the terrain they will be on.

And don’t forget we have other games running on the day:

28mm Vietnam Game

28mm Fantasy Adventure Game

28mm Lord of the Rings Battle

28mm Barons War Game

And we will have a WW2 6mm game of Spearhead on the day.

We’re open to the public from 11am – 4pm on the day, hope to see you there.

Work in Progress Wednesday

Welcome to another work in progress Wednesday. We start this week with Peter M and another amazing scratchbuild. Peter has been mixing and matching with various models to create a new spaceship. Can you guess what the parts are?

Next up and Tony F has been putting the final touches to some 6mm buildings for a Hammers Slammers game. I think he can stop now.

For the same game Tony has also painted up some 6mm Hindi faction forces.

We move on to Marcus who has made progress on his tower for Frostgrave.

Complete with interior staircase and additional scenic pieces for the roof.

And lastly for this week, I discovered and old miniature I’d forgotten I had, the old Ral Partha D&D Ettin miniature, I plan to strip the 30+ year old paint and start again.

And that’s it for this week, we will see you at the next work in progress Wednesday.

Work in Progress Wednesday

Welcome to another work in progress post. This week we start with Marcus and some Denizens for the Labyrinth appearing at the Open Day later this month. He has also been busy scratchbuilding a tower for Frostgrave. Apparently this is one of three to be constructed.

Moving on and Tony F is also busy painting for an upcoming game, although I believe these are for a 6mm Hammers Slammers game at the Broadside wargames show this Saturday.

First up we have a small 6mm town which will be a likely objective in the game.

There will also be lots of wooded areas apparently, well you need to break up those lines of sight.

And finally from Tony F some monorail tracks.

Last but not least for this week and Phil has been painting some more 10mm orcs, it’s becoming a nice looking horde, but a little bird tells me he is supposed to be sorting out his 28mm orcs for his open day game!

That’s it for this week, we’ll see you next Wednesday.

Work in Progress Wednesday

Back to our work in progress this week and we start with Mark J and some Microart Studio MDF buildings for a future game of Chain of Command.

Next up and Tony F has been scratchbuilding 6mm storage tanks from IKEA doorknobs.

Moving on and Stephen has been covering a few genres, first by finishing his sci-fi cantina, complete with droid server.

And some resplendent 15mm medieval knights, a great chance to add some bright colours to miniatures.

And with that we will see you next week.

Open Day 2025 – Games preview

As we get closer to our open day let’s have a look at some of the games being put on.

Mark J is putting on a large Vietnam game, complete with tanks, helicopters and a whole host of miniatures. Mark has been putting on a number of Vietnam games at the society, this game will be a good example of that. If it’s a period you’ve been thinking of getting then the open day will be a good chance to see a game in action.

Next up Marcus has repurposed his award winning 3D Labyrinth game into a Frostgrave / Fantasy Adventure game. If you fancy a treasure hunt this will be a good game, Marcus’ set up is a huge selection of 3D dungeon tiles. There will be adventurers and monsters galore.

Next up and we have a Lord of the Rings games being put on by Tony F and Phil, who have an extensive range of miniatures. This time round we are promised the battle of Azanulbizar. So it will be a clash between Dwarves and Orcs/Goblins, with no doubt the odd troll or two. If big fantasy battles are your thing, they often appear at the society as either Lord of the Rings or Dragon Rampant. Or any other fantasy rules we feel like giving a try.

And the last game we are show casing is Stephen’s Medieval Barons War game. Stephen has an impressive collection of scratchbuilt terrain for the period so expect an almost model village feel to his game with plenty of armoured  knights running amok.

We have two other games members are still putting together and will post details nearer the time.

Details of how to find us on the day are on out About us page. The open day runs from 11am to 4pm and is a good day to introduce yourself to the society, re-ignite your passion for miniature wargaming or to find out what it’s all about and if it’s the hobby for you.

Open Day of the Maidstone Wargames Society 2025

Our Open Day will be on the 28th June this year. We’re open to the public from 11am – 4pm on the day.

This is a great day to come and see the society in action and throw some dice in one of the various games we will have on the day and chat to the membership about the hobby and the club.

This year we have an eclectic selection of games on offer, which might just be the incentive you need to either get back into the hobby or to find a new home for your own armies and games.

Name Scale Period
Vietnam 28mm Vietnam
Technicals 15mm Modern/Alternative History
Battle of Azanulbizar 28mm Lord of the Rings
Second Barons War 28mm Medieval
Catacombs 28mm Labyrinth/Frostgrave
Spearhead 6mm World War 2

Pictures and more details of the games will be appearing on our blog as we approach the day.

Details of where the club meets and location of the Open Day can be found here:
https://www.brigademodels.co.uk/mws/directions.html

Work in Progress Wednesday

It’s Wednesday and this week we have a small offering of progress for you. I blame the sudden nice weather, always slows down the members projects.
First up we have a wonderful picture from Marcus of a bunch of aircraft miniatures for the RAAF and their New Guinea theatre of war.

Next we have an Age of Sigmar miniature from Tony F. Sigmar is not something he plays but was given a freebie miniature so decided to paint it up as a statue.

Moving on and Mark J has started on some 10mm WW2 German Panzers, I think he may be going full company on this one.

And lastly for this week, I’ve managed to paint up a 3mm Spherical dropship. I originally sculpted the dropship for the 3mm range some twenty years ago, but now that the moulds have worn out Brigade Models have redesigned it as a one piece resin miniature.

And that’s us for this week, see you next Wednesday.

Work in Progress Wednesday

It’s Wednesday and the progress continues with some 10mm 3D printed Orcs and Trolls from Phil.

We follow that with Mark J and progress on building a Huey helicopter.

Next up and Eric has been painting up more Mechs for an upcoming game of Alpha Strike. This time it’s a group of Clan Mechs.

Marcus continues to be busy with various aircraft projects, the first being some Mirage F1’s and a Buccaneer.

And some G4 Betty’s for the Japanese.

And that’s us for this week, we’ll see you at the next one.

Eisenhower – Rules First Look

Colin, John Le and Paul L had a try out game of the new Eisenhower rules from Sam Mustafa. The rules were released earlier this year and are ww2 strategic / operational in scope.

Players control up to 6 divisional formations across a table representing a ground scale of 24 by 16 miles.
Our game was a home brew eastern front Barbarossa type scenario pitching 2 Panzer divisions and a motorized infantry division against a Soviet defence of 2 infantry divisions with a reserve tank corps.

The armies were made up from 2mm Irregular ww2 models with bases of 4x4cm representing battalion strength units.
The table is gridded in 6×6 inch squares and this controls placement and movement of the units.

This works well for this scale of game where the players represent corps commanders. At this scale its not mm placement of units which count but key decisions such as which areas of the front are you attempting to break through in, which units are you structuring your offensive with and are your reserves in the correct position based on the timescales of the offensive.

The rules feature a number of innovative mechanisms including an objectives based victory point mechanism where the objectives move once they are secured so ensuring a dynamic game of movement for the two sides, each of which takes the role of strategic offensive or defensive.
The time period represented in the game is between 4 to 6 days with each day consisting of separate rounds which allow formations to move and combat across the table. At the end of each day is a night phase where supply is checked with potential attrition of units. Exhausted units can also be recovered to a worn status.

In our game we had the Soviets dug in with prepared positions across the table. The panzer divisions lead the attack with mixed success in achieving objectives early on and forcing a breakthrough. We ended up concluding that in our scenario the Soviet reserve tank corps was too powerful when placed on the table at the outset. A more balanced game would probably be achieved by holding it as reinforcements off table which is catered for within the rules.
Future scenarios we will explore include France 1940 and a Normandy amphibious landing.

Work in Progress Wednesday

Welcome to another work in progress Wednesday. We start this week with Stephen and a right bunch of scum and villainy, getting ready for a future game of Stargrave, and a were wolf that we are hoping won’t be making an appearance in the same game.

Next up we have Felix who has been painting orcs from his Isengard battlehost.

Following on from that and Tony F has been preparing for a forthcoming 6mm Hammers Slammers. He has been working on some roads.

And some power pylons.

And lastly for this week Marcus has continued painting up his planes, adding some tiny decals to them.

And with that we will see you next week.