Best Historical Game at Salute 2018

Here is a gallery of pictures from Salute 2018 of our Zeebrugge 1918 game.  Lots of detail added to the Vindictive, including; a new coat of paint and weathering, the 11″ Howitzer, two 7.5″ Howitzers, the foremast together with its fighting top and pompom gun, and crew figures for Vindictive and her guns.  We had lots of players take part on the day leading their squads to attack targets on the mole.  The game won the Robert Bothwell Best Historical Game Memorial Award.  The games creator, Phil, can be seen pointing at his creation below.

The marines and sailors advance
The trophy!
Two of the objectives for the squads – flat railway cars and covered wagons
The aft 11-inch Howitzer and crew
The game builder Phil (left), with club member Jeremey
View across the Mole to the Vindictive
German Naval Infantry take position
The forward 7.5-inch Howitzer
An aerial view from above the mole to the Vindictive
The harbour battery – another squad objective
German Naval Infantry using some crates as cover
Vindictive alongside the Mole
More Defending Naval Infantry
Vindictive alongside the Mole
Assembly complete before the show opened
The midships 7.5-inch Howitzer
Aerial view from behind the Vindictive
Aerial view of Vindictive from Aft – 11-inch and 7.5-inch howitzers in shot
A nice shot of the aft 11-inch Howitzer
Ready to advance!

‘Coming Soon…

The quaint, and peaceful, medieval port of Stephenshaven. Quaint and peaceful for the time being only!

This is my work-in-progress for one of the games at this year’s Open Day on June 23rd. It will feature a full table (6’x4′) medieval port!
The game will be set during the Hundred’s Year War and will be a French raid on an English town, or maybe an English raid on a French town.
I will be using the Lion Rampant rules and any visitors will be welcome to join in for a game.
If you fancy a go then come along to the Open Day where you will be welcome to join in my game or any of the others that members will be putting on.
Right, back to the scalpel and paint brushes for me…

Zeebrugge 1918 – Salute and National Museum of the Royal Navy

The finishing touches are going in to the model of HMS Vindictive prior to two big outings for the game at Salute (London Excel on 14th April) and the Zeebrugge Centenary events at the National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth (Museum Galleries at The Historic Dockyard on 22nd April).

These are the almost finished 11-inch and two 7.5-inch howitzers that were fitted to provide covering fire for the attack in place of some of the Vindictive’s 6-inch guns.  These guns had been designed as anti-submarine weapons firing a special “depth charge” type shell.  The 11-inch was the first gun completed.

Also below, continuing the Italian food theme is some spaghetti that will be used as part of the final model.  Any guesses what it is for?

Gasland Race Day #2

Some club members have recently been spreading post-apocalyptic death and destruction with the new Osprey Games’ Gaslands game. Last meeting saw the second Race Day, with five teams of two cars battling it out around the Langley Circuit.

After some mayhem (several cars slid off the track at the tricky first corner), destruction (two cars met a fiery end courtesy of a flamethrower), the winner by a bumper was Swampy, Tony’s pickup and one of the slowest cars on the track !

The Red Dragon And The White Wolves

Hark now and listen to yon bards!

Listen as they stretch the strings on their harps, as they tell their tales, for this is a story that children of the land must know.

Out there, there ‘pon the hill of dreams. There lies the Red Dragon, restful in its slumber. Though listen keenly and you will hear the howl of the wolves. Two vicious wolves, Guttersnipe and Ragamuffin by name. Though these are no ordinary wolves, these are the very worst kind – White Wolves!

These White Wolves looked on the Red Dragon’s hill, and their lusts and craves led them to steal the Dragon’s sheep, the Dragon’s wealth.

But this Dragon would have none of it.

Guttersnipe and Ragamuffin crept viciously in the dark, keeping low and trying to look innocent, they wished their white hides would make others think they were peaceful sheep – such is the treachery that these two knew.

What they would come to know all too soon, though, was the might and power of the Red Dragon who, upon seeing the two White Wolves making for his wealth and sheep, he rose up and with keen claws and fiery breath he did smite the two wolves! Harken and listen, I tell you! Harken and listen, for the Red Dragon’s wrath was furious and righteous.

And there lie the remains of the two White Wolves. The two wretched carcasses. And the Red Dragon, as a show of his power, did rend their tails from their hides and he did place them upon his war banner so that all would know that any who dared meddle and steal from the Red Dragon would meet an equal fate.

Arise now. Arise and go.

Go out into the land and the people will know thy name. For thou art no longer just Owain of Bangor, thou art OWAIN THE WOLF TAMER.

Middle-Earth March

A post from webmaster Tony F…

I have two Middle-Earth projects on my To-Do list this year – the first is a refight of the Scouring of the Shire mini-campaign with Phil, for which I’ve completed all my Hobbit figures and just need to finish off various bits of Shire scenery. The second project is a game for the club’s 2018 Open Day, part of the Siege of Minas Tirith – it turns out that I have most of the Gondor figures I need already painted, although I will use it as an excuse to paint a box of Knights of Dol Amroth which have been sitting in the pile for a while. When I was sorting through my Middle-Earth figures I came across an awful lot which I’d started but not finished – dozens, in fact – plus many other that have been based and undercoated but no more. So I’ve resolved to slowly work through these and complete as many as I can, both ones for the two main projects plus any others that take my fancy. March has been quite productive, I’ve finished eight figures (although only one of these is for the Open day game).

I’ll start with the elder race first – in the main picture above is Gil-Galad, Elven King who was slain by Sauron at the Battle of the Last Alliance (he can be briefly seen in the opening part of the Fellowship movie). To his right is Haldir, who turned up with his elves at Helm’s Deep in the Two Towers movie for no immediately obvious reason (in the book he stays firmly in Lothlorien for the duration).

Next in order of age are the Dwarves – this is Balin, a member of Thorin’s company who survived Smaug the Dragon but died in a vain attempt to retake Moria. This is the early GW version of the figure rather than the one who appears in the Hobbit movies.

These two are Murin and Drar, a pair of Dwarf adventurers who are inseparable (you can’t use one in a Dwarf army without the other). I’ve never come across any reference to them in any of Tolkein’s books, so I think they’re a purely GW invention, but nice figures nevertheless.

Moving onto the race of Men (and Women), here we have a Captain of Rohan (l). He’s acting as bodyguard to Eowyn in her Pelennor Fields/Dernhelm armour (r).

And finally, the one figure that I do need in the Open Day game – a Knight of the White Tower. He’s a Finecast resin figure (the rest are metal) and has given me no end of problems with his bent sword – I’ve tried several times to sort it out with hot water (even clamping it between two pieces of flat plastic while it cools) but I can’t seem to straighten it out.

The Untimely Death of a Warrior King

Heading home to the Hebrides, King Olaf spotted an opportunity to raid the lands of Andraes Vilhelmsson near the coast. Charging into the village of Lindahl, he spied that there was just enough room in the Birlinn Nathair Mhara to load additional booty. The defending bowmen were quickly dealt with by the mercenaries from the King of Norway but the mighty host of Danish warriors took longer to break down and the heavy rains prevented the burning of the village. Sensing defeat, the cowardly Vilhelmsson fled the fight. Alas, Olaf’s warriors were tiring and failed to land a blow on the advancing bodyguard. Olaf leapt into the fight with against the bodyguard challenging them, He had dispatched many noble but foolish men this way before and the first man fell swiftly to his flashing blade. Then, witchcraft struck as Olaf’s blade shattered leaving Him defenceless and outnumbered and he fell, a warriors death. Thus died Olaf a Mighty Warrior King. His warriors returned to the Hebrides with his body and He was buried at sea from whence He came, flames flickering and spluttering in the night skies in the shadow of the stones of Callanish as the Nathair Mhara sank below the waves.

The Saga of Iomhair MacAulay

I am Olaf’s eldest son and claim the Title King of the Hebrides following my Father’s untimely death. I had spent several years of life on Iona where I was educated by the monks, now a man of faith I set out to rule the lands in a different way from my father but am bound by our culture to be at feud with Vilhelmsson. New recruits have joined from other islands and during the long autumn nights We are patiently sharpening our axe blades, waiting and planning. Winter is coming.

Lord Of the Rings Moria Reinforcements.

A To-Do list update from Andy King:

A raiding party comprising 8 Goblins, 4 Giant spiders and 13 bats. The goblins are from Games Workshop, the Spiders are from Copplestone castings and the bats came from a wildlife park shop (wish I could remember where).

The standard bearer was a simple conversion of one of the sword and shield armed goblins. I cut off the sword and tidied up the hand, then drilled it to take a length of florists wire. The sword was then stuck on to the goblin’s waist. The banner came from a Games Workshop flag sheet and was fixed to another piece of wire, then secured to the upright with needle and thread, with a couple of drops of superglue to hold it in place.

I don’t claim to be a great painter, my objective is something reasonable to use on the gaming table. The goblins were block painted using Vallejo acrylics on a black undercoat, followed by Army Painter “Tone” paints of various hues.

The spiders had a dark brown basecoat followed by drybrushing lighter shades of brown. Leg segments, eyes, pincers and body spots were then added.

The bats had a black basecoat followed by dark grey and brown drybrushes, with the mouth picked out in dark red.

All then finished with Vallejo matt varnish. These almost finish off my Moria Goblin army (some smaller spiders to follow) and will mostly be used in Dragon Rampant games. Perhaps they are out scouting and came across the trail of four hobbits and some ponies seen around here recently? Mind you, if they do catch them up my money’s on the hobbits.

Scramble! Scramble!

An update on a new project by Stephen…

A project I’ve had on the back burner for some time is the Battle of Britain using 1/144 scale aircraft.

These have primarily been Zvezda and Revell ‘Mini’ kits – BF109s, Stukas, Hurricanes, and Spitfires.

However, at Cavalier this weekend I picked up another Spitfire kit (just £1!) and a couple of diecast German bombers in 1/144 – a HE111 and DO17 – for a fiver each.

Yesterday I put the Spitfire kit together and also put some filler in the join lines in the two diecast models, and today I painted them up.

Another couple of bombers would be good, but for the time being these three aircraft can now join the others I have, which means I’ve now got enough for a game.

Best Participation Game at Cavalier 2018

Our 2018 Showgame of the Zeebrugge Raid won Best Participation Game at the Cavalier Show in Tonbridge today.  Congratulations to the builder – Phil (with a little help from his offspring).  Finishing touches to the HMS Vindictive model will follow in time for Salute in April.  Gallery below: