An urban battle mat, for less than £10!

Society member John describes how he made a Zona Alfa battle mat. This was written up after the mat had been made, so there aren’t many WIP shots.

I wanted a battle mat for Zona Alfa so decided to make my own following the Sea mat I made for Galleys and Galleons using the same techniques. Here’s what I used:-

As much weed control fabric for as many mats as I’m ever likely to use for £3.99 from Poundstretcher. 4 x decorators caulk from Wickes £4.00. The Wickes caulk appears to be the best. I’ve found lumps of dried caulk within the tube in other brands

Construction

The fabric appears to be polythene with paper fibre bonded to it in a small waffle pattern. If possible I wanted this to show through in on the finished mat so decided to start on the reverse of the mat with a thin layer over all of it, using a caulking gun without nozzle fitted to the caulk tube.

Firstly, I taped the material down to hardboard with masking tape, smoothing out any creases, before applying the first coat. I applied a thin layer of the caulk and smoothed with a trowel. Here I hit upon a snag. Some of the mastic seeped through the fabric and bonded to the hardboard I was using, I ended with a number of tears which were easily patched with packing tape – they would be covered with caulk later. I’ve tried using greaseproof paper under the fabric when applying the first layer and this seems to prevent the problem.

When the first layer was dried, I flipped the mat over and applied a thin coat on the second side. When this had dried, I decided which surface was going to be the playing area and applied a second coat to the reverse side. After this dried, I checked any areas with packing tape patching showing and gave these another coat of mastic, I dabbed the surface with a sponge to provide some texture.

Finishing

When fully dry, I cut the mat to shape (3 foot square) with a Stanley knife and straight edge and painted the playing area with grey match pots, blending the colours in. Now it was time to get creative with washes to get some variation in the colours. I used burnt umber and black acrylic tube paint. I started by applying blobs of paint on the mat and taking a jar of water, diluted the paint outwards. You can see that here.

I always use fairy liquid in the water when using acrylic paints to break surface tension. This created bubbles on the mat. See detail near base of photo.

I then placed cans under the mat to let the washes flow across the mat. You can see this near the top corner of this photo. Accidently, I spilt drips of wash on the mat and decided to leave them, see below.

When the mat was fully dried, I then dry brushed any raised detail with pale grey and then white acrylic, before applying some light green wash to indicate moss or alga growth.

The finished mat ready for use.

Storage and Transport.

For the two mats I’ve made, I store them in the garage on top of other items, I haven’t tried storing them rolled up and I wouldn’t stack mats on top of each other (I had a problem with two pieces of marsh terrain I made which permanently bonded together when stacked). Any creases disappear if the mat is rolled and unrolled. From the above photo you can see it unrolls flat.

Further Ideas

I’m thinking of making some 2 x 2ft mats for Perilous tales – a desert area, a swamp, desolate moorland as the techniques are quite versatile.

The Capture of Marco Linguine – Battle Report

John puts the 3D printed galleys supplied by fellow club member Colin into battle. This is a solo battle report using the Galleys and Galleons rules.

Introduction.
Rum Baba, an infamous Barbary pirate had been driven eastwards by the Christian warships but was still a thorn in the side of Venice. It was decided to despatch one of the newly built Galleass to their base at Chania in Crete to rid the Mediterranean of this menace for ever. En route, the Galleass and it’s escort were ambushed by Rum Baba and his pirate crews.

The Opposing Squadrons (details in Appendix)

The Venetian Squadron comprised the Lanterna Flagship commanded by Linguine, the new Galleass and a small Galliot to act as scout and draw the attention of the Ottomans. The Ottomans comprised Rum Baba in the Lanterna and three swift but lightly armed Galliots.

The Ambushing Ottomans lie in wait

Move 1
The Ottomans win the initiative roll and will move first each move. At the start of each move every vessel has to roll up to three D6 and roll equal or above its Q value to gain a successful action

This Galliot has a Q value of 2 so gets 3 actions, two of which it can use for movement. The double 3 denotes a change in wind direction one point anticlockwise. This does not affect the Galliots but may affect the Galleass which is propelled by sail.

The Galliots rush towards the Venetian Galliot intent on its destruction. Meanwhile, the Venetians move up cautiously and the Galleass takes in sail to maintain formation.

Position after move 1 from the Venetian side. They approach cautiously hoping to get a close range shot in before boarding actions begin.

The Ottomans move up and use their final action to open fire at long range. One point of damage is inflicted on the Venetian Galliot from this fusillade.

These two Galliots have a base combat factor of 2. The range is Medium so no firing factors are added. If the target is doubled by the modified dice roll a point of damage is inflicted and the target then has to roll on the Critical Damage table. If the attackers roll is even, it causes one point of damage with no roll on the Critical Damage table.

The Venetians move into close range and fire back

In addition to it’s broadside the Galleass is equipped with Chaser Guns which have a combat value of 1. All firing vessels get a plus 1 for close range. BOOM!
The Galleass rolls a 6. This is a critical hit and the Galliot has to roll on the Critical Hit table and sustains another point of damage. It’s hit again later in the move and now has 3 damage points, one more and it will strike. Ouch!
The Ottomans strike back. The Lanterna causes a point of damage to the Venetian Galliot which closes with the Ottoman Galliot and takes another point of damage so 3 points of damage each!
As the melee rages, the Galleass makes good it’s escape

Two Galliots and the Ottoman Lanterna close in on the outnumbered Venetian flagship and the two Galliots who have locked in combat fight to a standstill. The Galliots have the Derring Do special rule and attack with reckless ferocity. In the first round, all base combats are reduced to zero.

Here with base combat values at zero, the Lanterna is up against. Here it loses the combat but has the Veteran NCO special rule which gives a +1 bonus when losing by one or the adjusted roll is tied. Both vessels take a point of damage as the adjusted rolls are now tied.
With the Venetian Flagship on 3 damage points, the Ottoman Lanterna moves in to deliver the Coup de Grace and Linguine Strikes his colours

With the Venetian Flagship on 3 damage points, the Ottoman Lanterna moves in to deliver the Coup de Grace and Linguine Strikes his colours
With the Galleass now a dot on the horizon, Rum Baba takes Linguine’s surrender and collects his prizes. He hoped for a profitable ransom for Linguine and whilst He would sleep well tonight in the company of concubines, that Galleass worried him. His captains had been reckless, they would need to be more savvy next time.

Appendix – Data sheets for vessels involved in the conflict

 

Work in Progress Wednesday

This week we start off with some Sci-Fi rogues and scoundrels  from Stephen. The miniatures are all converted using various bits from other sets and miniatures.

Ricard Snyder – a soldier of fortune from the colonies
Jesrick Yoon – a bounty hunter with a fearsome reputation
Babu Dor – a Jovian pirate from the Don-Andros system
Acton Ianov – a ex-naval pilot who now makes his way as a smuggler

Next up Andy has made more progress on his Ox cart. I wonder if any of Andy’s terrain pieces will fit inside?

Travel in the olden days

Now we have some RAF and Luftwaffe forces from Marcus.

Aces High!

And finally (why do I always leave my stuff to last?) I’ve made some progress on my Tudor buildings. I’m trying several different colour schemes and seeing how grey thatched roofs look, since that is normally the colour of thatch after a short time.

The many shades of Tudor

See you next week.

 

A Quick Camping Trip

Jeremey puts the Romans to shame by building a marching camp in just a few hours!

This all started because I wanted to expand my Wars of the Roses army to the point where I could field both sides. In many rulesets dealing with Medieval warfare a camp is required for each army. I only had one camp as I previously only had one army.

I therefore set about making a camp from scratch. Yes I could have ordered some tents and camp equipment miniatures but I was in one of my “Just make something” moods.

The Start of a basic palisade

I thought the easiest option would be a stockade/Palisade style camp. I already had a base and dug out the air drying clay to make the bank and interior terrain of the camp.

It was at this point things just didn’t work, the clay just would not stick to the wooden base as I was sculpting it into shape. So I took it off the base and continued on the work mat. But then I realised I needed to make an indentation for the cocktail sticks, sorry wooden palisade fence before the clay dried.

At this point I threw my toys out of the pram as I couldn’t see it working and I’d have to wait for the clay to dry. Then I had a eureka moment and turned to my old modelling friend EVA foam. I make everything out of the stuff so why not the camp.

The air drying clay is ditched in favour of foam

I cut off of a EVA foam floor mat a couple of strips to act as the defensive bank and also (just because I could) another couple of pieces to turn into a hut/shed.

Life would not be worth living without a hot glue gun

I then fired up the hot glue gun and stuck the foam to the base. Instant results and no waiting for clay to dry.

20 minutes later and the palisade is complete!

Ah I hear you cry but how did you create a gap for the palisade. All that was needed was to cut down through the top of the foam bank and then push the cocktail stick down through the cut. I simply used a little bit of superglue to stick them together. I then went across the top with my wire cutters to trim all the sticks to the same height.

Back to the hot glue gun

At this point I could have gone back to some for of putty/clay to model the inside terrain of the camp. But I was on a roll and wanted the camp finished in a day!
So I went back to the hot glue gun and used it to build up the ground against the foam banking, and I also used it to create the muddy path between the two entrances. This is easy to do, you just use the nozzle of the glue gun to melt the glue as you run back through it. I also made a little pile of logs for scenery.

A splash of brown and a bit of flock

I then turned to painting the camp. A simply covering of brown followed by a bit of dry brushing with lighter shades took care of the camp and surrounding palisade. Once the paint had dried a bit I spread PVA glue and sprinkled some flock.

The hut/shed takes form

Having to pause to let the PVA glue dry I turned to the other piece of scenery the hut/shed. To build this I stuck two pieces of foam together wit the glue gun and then cut out the entrance, I then cut the top of the block into a slanted roof shape. The roof was made by cutting a very thin layer off the foam floor tile and sticking it down on top. This formed a nice curving roof.
To create the look that it was thatched was done by drawing the craft knife gently across the top. Just enough to score it not cut it.

The finished camp

A quick paint job on the hut including painting on the wooden beams in the wall for that medieval look took moments and then I stuck it in place.
At this point for finishing flourish I added some different flock to break up the grass areas. I do have a couple of figures I might add to this, but for a model that took me about 3 hours I’m really pleased with the results.

MWS Quiz 24th February 2021 – Answers

Here are the answers to Peter’s latest quiz…

Q1a: “Green Grow The Rushes Oh” was widely sung by American troops in which war?

Answer: 1846 War with Mexico

Q1b: What nickname did the Spanish/Mexican population give these troops?

Answer: “Gringos”

Q2a: What TV series usually ends with a rendition of ‘Over The Hills & Far Away’?

Answer: Sharpe

Q2b: In which century was it first regularly sung by British troops?

Answer: 18th – it was a folk tune in the 17th (at least), but ‘army lyrics’ were 1706.

Q3a: Many regiments in the 19th Century had a band. Apart from signalling & boosting morale, what other key function did they often perform in combat?

Answer: Helping with the wounded.

Q3b: How did the Romans employ musicians in actual combat with Carthage?

Answer: Used to help scare the Carthaginian elephants.

Q4a: For a full orchestral staging, what unusual instruments do you need for a performance of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 overture?

Answer: Cannon!

Q4b: What was the WW2 ‘Red Orchestra’?

Answer: German intelligence name for a loose network of Soviet spy rings across Germany & Europe.

Q5a: The song ‘Lili Marlene’ was already very popular among German troops before WW2. Where did the British army first start to take it up?

Answer: North Africa.

Q5b: “We’ll Meet Again” by Vera Lynn is sung during the closing credits of which famous Cold War film?

Answer: Dr Strangelove.

Q6a: Why did Beethoven’s 5th Symphony have such massed appeal in Britain during WW2?

Answer: The opening 4 beats formed the morse letter V (for Victory).

Q6b: Which award-winning Sci-Fi film used five notes as its main theme/signature?

Answer: Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Q7a: A special version of ‘Men of Harlech’ is sung in a famous scene from which film?

Answer: Zulu.

Q7b: What is the full title of the British army unit primarily depicted in the film?

Answer: 24th Regt of Foot (2nd Warwickshires). Note – they only became South Wales Borderers in 1881.

Q8a: Hollywood notwithstanding, the song ‘Garryowen’ was most famously adopted by which unit?

Answer: U.S. 7th cavalry

Q8b: ‘The British Grenadiers’ was introduced to the UK by William III, but actually first adopted by which British army unit in 1716?

Answer: Royal Artillery.

Q9a: Hail The Conquering Hero’ was played in the film ‘Waterloo’ on what occasion?

Answer: Duchess of Richmond’s ball in Brussels (entry of the Duke of Wellington)

Q9b: For which victorious British Commander was it originally devised/dedicated?

Answer: Duke of Cumberland, post-Culloden

Q10a: General Grant famously said he could only remember two tunes. Which was his favourite?

Answer: Dixie (he couldn’t remember the name of the other one!)

Q10b: ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ has been the national anthem of the USA since 1931. Which war was it written to commemorate?

Answer: The War of 1812

Q11a: Music has often been used to intimidate the enemy. Which track was played by the 1st / 9th (Air Cavalry) in their Hollywood debut?

Answer: ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ by Wagner; during the air-assault in the film ‘Apocalypse Now’

Q11b: Where was ‘rock music’ actually first used officially as a psyops weapon?

Answer: 1989 assault on Panama (attack on General Noriega’s palace)

Q12a: Which BBC series was one of the first ever to use all-electronic theme music?

Answer: Dr Who

Q12b: Why was ‘Deep in the Heart of Texas’ banned by the BBC in 1942?

Answer: Because it was thought that the clapping chorus caused too much production loss by factory workers!

 

MWS Quiz 24th February 2021

Peter sets the latest quiz with a musical theme. Answers on Sunday.

All together now…

Q1a: “Green Grow The Rushes Oh” was widely sung by American troops in which war?

Q1b: What nickname did the Spanish/Mexican population give these troops?

Q2a: What TV series usually ends with a rendition of ‘Over The Hills & Far Away’?

Q2b: In which century was it first regularly sung by British troops?

Q3a: Many regiments in the 19th Century had a band. Apart from signalling & boosting morale, what other key function did they often perform in combat?

Q3b: How did the Romans employ musicians in actual combat with Carthage?

Q4a: For a full orchestral staging, what unusual instruments do you need for a performance of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 overture?

Q4b: What was the WW2 ‘Red Orchestra’?

Q5a: The song ‘Lili Marlene’ was already very popular among German troops before WW2. Where did the British army first start to take it up?

Q5b: “We’ll Meet Again” by Vera Lynn is sung during the closing credits of which famous Cold War film?

Q6a: Why did Beethoven’s 5th Symphony have such massed appeal in Britain during WW2?

Q6b: Which award-winning Sci-Fi film used five notes as its main theme/signature?

Q7a: A special version of ‘Men of Harlech’ is sung in a famous scene from which film?

Q7b: What is the full title of the British army unit primarily depicted in the film?

Q8a: Hollywood notwithstanding, the song ‘Garryowen’ was most famously adopted by which unit?

Q8b: ‘The British Grenadiers’ was introduced to the UK by William III, but actually first adopted by which British army unit in 1716?

Q9a: Hail The Conquering Hero’ was played in the film ‘Waterloo’ on what occasion?

Q9b: For which victorious British Commander was it originally devised/dedicated?

Q10a: General Grant famously said he could only remember two tunes. Which was his favourite?

Q10b: ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ has been the national anthem of the USA since 1931. Which war was it written to commemorate?

Q11a: Music has often been used to intimidate the enemy. Which track was played by the 1st / 9th (Air Cavalry) in their Hollywood debut?

Q11b: Where was ‘rock music’ actually first used officially as a psyops weapon?

Q12a: Which BBC series was one of the first ever to use all-electronic theme music?

Q12b: Why was ‘Deep in the Heart of Texas’ banned by the BBC in 1942?

Work in Progress Wednesday

This Wednesday we start with some adventurers for Perilous Tales painted by John. Above we have the Gentlemen and below the Ladies.

and the Ladies

Next up a rarity from Phil showing his new Quar project.

Creevin and Fidwog cavalry

Steve has added a bounty hunter to go with his recent Spaceship model.

This is the notorious bounty hunter, Boone Sadist, with his ship Scourge Reaper…

Continuing with his Dark Ages theme Andy has an Ox Cart on the workbench.

And finally for this week I decided to scratch build a new camp for my 15mm Wars of the Roses army. I’ll probably do a post about how I built this camp.

See you next week.

Reinforcements Have Arrived

Jeremey shows off his Wars of the Roses army now that it’s complete (well almost).

On the 17th February 2020 I put up a blog post about the first Wars of the Roses units I had managed to paint up. This was the start of my very first historical army. Fellow club member Stephen was also painting up his own Wars of the Roses with the idea of fighting the various battles thoughout the year.

We managed one battle before lockdown scuppered getting down to the club.

First battle to test our Wars of the Roses armies

So I packed up the army for the following months and turned to other ptojects. But I kept drifting back to the army and found myself making terrain. Given the first Battle of St Albans was essentially a town battle I started making tudor houses.

Still a lot of work to do on these buildings. More plasterwork and thatched roofs

But Stephen started to post a few solo battles using his army and mentioned adding a few additional units, so I caved and ordered some more for my army. using the Sword and Spear army lists I went for a few of the support units. Welsh Longbows, Welsh Spearmen, General Spearmen and Mercenary Crossbows.

Welsh Longbows and Spearmen on the Painting Table

I painted these using the same method as my existing units. Stephen had painted his units in uniform colours but I wanted a much bigger variety. Although armies of this time were starting to wear their lords Livery, but I didn’t want to tie my units down to any particular faction.

I picked out a range of colours (various, browns, greens and the odd khaki shade) and painted different parts of each miniature so that no two miniatures were the same. This was potentially more time consuming but I still went through the miniatures like a production line.

Another new aspect for this army was to make the flags changable, in order to allow my army to represent any side in the conflict, or for when several lords bring forces to the battlefield.

Changable Flags for my Units

I simpy glued the flags together and left a loop to fit over the flag poles on the units.

And so finally I got to a point where I had a large enough army for a real epic battle.

The whole army with a multitude of flags
The Left Flank of the Army
The Right Flank of the Army

The Battle of Northampton – 10th July 1460

Stephen continues his refight of the War of the Roses…

This one was never going to go well for the Lancastrians.

This is the third battle in my plan to re-fight all major encounters of the War of the Roses. Like previous games I am using the Basic Impetus rules. There were a couple of important aspects to this battle that had to be reflected if it were to be a faithful re-fight.

Firstly, due to the rain (typical British summer) the Lancastrian artillery could not fire due to wet powder. They were in the line but totally ineffective. That was easily dealt with.

The Lancastrian Battle Line

The second, and most important thing, was Lord Grey’s betrayal of King Henry. As Warwick and the Yorkist army marched north they entered into secret talks with Grey and promised they would not harm him in return for his help. What happened in the actual battle was that the Earl of March (on the Yorkist left flank) advanced against Grey (on the Lancastrian right). As March’s retinue crossed the ditch and bank Grey’s men gave way and allowed them to roll up the Lancastrian line and capture King Henry.

This would have to be reflected. I was in two minds about how to deal with this. It didn’t help that this would be a solo game so I could hardly spring a surprise on myself. In the end, I decided that if March’s troops neither fired nor attacked Grey’s troops then Grey would give way when contacted (effectively counting as loses against the Lancastrian army). This, of course, would have a major impact on the Lancastrian army, but then that’s exactly what it had in reality!

Order of Battle

OK, so let’s get on with the battle.

The Lancastrian army had ensconced themselves in a bend in the river Nene on the opposite bank from Northampton. They had put a ditch and defences in front of their position. King Henry VI was with them but the army was led by the Duke of Buckingham.

The Yorkist forces were led by the Earl of Warwick with Lord Fauconberg on the right and the Earl of March on the left. With Warwick’s skullduggery and plotting with Grey, the advance of the Yorkist forces was led by March.

Armies Deployed

Like the previous two battles, this was little more than an attack on a prepared position. Therefore, I gave the Yorkists the initiative until things got within bow range.

The last thing the Lancastrians wanted was poor dice rolling. Being in a stationary position meant their fire should be more effective. But no. The God of Battles (the dice) were against them. Warwick’s troops in the centre got within bow range of the artillery and they soon sent the gunners packing.

Warwick Urges His Men Forward

March’s men started moving up. Now, it may seem like it would be a done deal – why would I engage the Lancastrian line with March’s men? However, I did decide that if the Lancastrians gave a good account and their bowfire proved effective, and the Yorkist looked like they would take a beating, that this would prove enough motivation for Grey to reconsider and then engage March’s troops. However, the poor rolls by the Lancastrians made that look unlikely.

Fauconberg also started exchanging bowfire with the Earl of Shrewsbury.

A couple more turns, and it still wasn’t looking good for Buckingham and his men. In truth, neither side was rolling that well for their archers, but the Yorkists had the edge. March’s men carried on with their advance, still holding back from loosing their arrows.

The First Casualties

Buckingham moved up his plate armoured men at arms and his billmen, hoping the Yorkists would have the decency to engage in melee rather then sit back and keep shooting.

March’s Troops Contact Grey’s

Finally, March’s men started clambering over the Lancastrian defences. No casualties had been caused to Grey’s men and so Grey dutifully pulled back and allowed March into the Lancastrian defences!

Across The Line They Go

It was now only a matter of time. It wasn’t a case of if the Lancastrians would lose but how much damage they could cause the Yorkists before they did.

March Engages Buckingham

Buckingham swung his billmen around to try and put something in the way of March’s assault. However, the levy spearmen in March’s retinue got stuck in and charged the Lancastrian archers. After a brief melee the archers fell to the spearmen.

And that was that!

The Battle Is Over

A Yorkist win. It had been a convincing win at that – Warwick’s troops hadn’t taken a single casualty. Exactly how it happened historically. The real battle lasted less than an hour and my re-fight took only a bit longer.

Next up then, is the battle of Wakefield. Unfortunately I will have to bypass that one – Wakefield was a large cavalry engagement and I don’t have anywhere near enough cavalry bases. Shame, because the castle would make a great backdrop to the battle. This one would make a good club game when we can get back together.

Therefore, I’ll move on to Mortimer’s Cross…

Work in Progress Wednesday

First up this Wednesday we have some more 6mm Hammers Slammers from Mark.

The first detachment for Hammers Slammers

I’ll let mark explain a bit more about the paint scheme “My first Slammers section almost completed minus the infantry, this is a Zaporoskiye strike detachment painted in a Berlin Brigade inspired urban cameo scheme; given that I’ve used green in place of grey I guess you could say it’s semi urban.  This section includes my second prototype which has a lighter brown, feel the darker works better at this scale. 5 more sections to do then I’m ready for battle.”

Next up Paul has well … Paul can explain the madness. “I have had a rush of blood to the head and replaced my 1/200th WW2 and Post War Armour Infantry, with 1/300th. Currently finishing off 8th Army and US in Tunisia, good start on the 16th Parachute/Air Landing Brigade (for post war interventions) and a Japanese WW2 Independent Brigade.

We’ve all suddenly decided to switch scales, haven’t we?

Andy has got close to finishing his Dark Ages figures, with just some shield transfers and bases to do.

The Dark Age mob is almost finished

And lastly for this week I’ve decided to paint yet more 15mm Wars of the Roses Men at Arms.

Two more units of Men at Arms and a couple of commanders

I didn’t paint these originally because I’d already done two units and the Sword and Spear army list said that was the maximum. But I’m hoping to have enough units to field both sides in a battle, and so added these to the painting table.

See you next week.