Adventures on the Wargames Table

It's that time of year again where we look back and take stock of our achievements… and this blog is no exception! The Good Things about my hobby this year… Great War BEF Battalion I'm delighted that this is now "complete", i.e. 1,000pts. I hope to add more in the future but at least I can now take part in most gaming days without needing to borrow figures. The Great War has real enduring appeal for me, in terms of history, modelling and gaming. So expect to see more of this sort of thing. Wargaming Shows Amazingly I've made it along to a few shows, specifically Legionary, Salute, Attack, Colours, and Warfare. At these shows I (or more usually 'we') have helped stage demo games of War & Conquest. I've really enjoyed this as it's a chance to chat to a wide range of gamers, about an equally wide range of topics, as well as tell them how good W&C is! It's also good to go along and pick up a bit of hobby "buzz" - i.e. some extra m...

I cannot recall doing this sort of thing before, plus I thought readers might find it interesting. Many of you probably don't even need any painting advice! :o) But may be there'll be the odd tip that you might find useful. As you may already know, for my Dark Ages figures I generally use a 'wash' technique with Army Painter Strong tone - although I do also use Games Workshop and Windsor & Newton inks. Most of the paints are Foundry but again I use some GW and Vallejo colours. Where a colour is important I'll mention it specifically. Step 1 - Preparation Like all projects, a good start is essential. I know it's a bit boring but time spent on good preparation pays dividends later. I undercoat all the figures using GW Skull White. I've tried other primers but this one works the best for me. I always attach any weapons, e.g. spears, bows, swords, axes, etc, before undercoating as this makes the bond as strong as possible. Super glue gel works well f...

Things are very busy here at The Wargames Table... Using up the last few days of annual leave, I've now finished for the Christmas hols (hooray!). To be honest I'm a little behind schedule with getting my Saxons and Vikings ready so you'll not be surprised to see that they feature significantly in the photos of my current gaming workbench** (**When I write "workbench" I do in fact mean the dining room table... oh, for my own gaming room!?) This little lot, around 80+ figures, are mostly the rest of my Saxons plus a few Vikings and character models. All awaiting a good wash of AP Strong Tone. Then I'll need to varnish them (brush not spray!) and highlight them. Plus I've got shields, bases and movement trays to do. Plenty to keep me occupied :o) I had thought that it would be a Good Idea to let the figures build up for a big batch of AP washing, however looking at them I'm thinking that may be I should have done them in smaller batches of...

We went to Bath rather than Erebor, but we did manage to see the new Hobbit movie! First off, we really enjoyed it! A superb film indeed. The characters are brilliant; those Dwarves are a very entertaining bunch. Comic one moment then fearfully serious the next. It was so good that we've already decided to book tickets to our little, local, family run cinema to see it again next weekend. If you're a Tolkien "purist" then I think you might cough and splutter a few times as they've taken a few liberties with the storyline, plus raided various other appendices and books to add more background information. But that was always going to be the case when turning a single novel into a franchise of three long movies. I think it strikes a good balance between 'comic' and 'serious' - there are some perfectly daft bits, yet others are dark and sombre. As you would expect, the visuals are breath-taking - particularly the Dwarf kingdom of Erebor under ...

A quick post today... I have in mind a project for next year that would involve a more sandy style of basing so I've been experimenting to see what might work best. Here's what I've come up with. These were done using GW 50x50mm bases covered in sand/grit then painted using the following colours: A good base coat of Vallejo 877 Gold Brown, followed by a heavy drybrush of 912 Tan Yellow, then a light drybrush of 847 Dark Sand. The static grass is the darker 'autumn grass' (GW's I think) then a couple of 'mini-natur' grass tufts to finish off the more arid appearance. What do you think? For the project I'd also need to make a new battlefield, probably 6'x4' in three 4'x2' sections, plus some suitable terrain, etc. So it's not going to be soon - although I've already bought some of the figures! The battlefield will probably make use of the remainder of a large can of sand coloured masonry paint I bought earlier this yea...

I sometimes find moving units of skirmishers a bit of a chore so I began thinking about how best to do make suitable movement trays. After a quick bit of email discussion the chaps at Warbases have come up trumps again! I simply drew what I wanted at 1:1 scale in Word and sent them a PDF as a plan for the trays. Within a few days they dropped through the letterbox - and at a very reasonable cost too. Here are some Ceorls - or perhaps Geburs - trying out their new mode of travel. Here's a couple more shots This is what the basic tray looks like This is after adding some sand, grits and rocks. Then painted to match the figure bases with added static grass, clump foliage and grass tufts, etc. I'm very pleased with the results and will make several more (I have 4 trays in total). They were easy to order and very easy to sand/paint. Hope you found it useful / interesting.

Painting time has been a bit limited recently. However, it looks like the house sale has 'gone south' so maybe I'll be able to get some more toy soldiers done. Here's the latest addition to my Saxon army. A unit of fearsome Huscarls. The best troops available to any Saxon King or Ealdorman. Looking more directly at them we have this pic. These are a mix of Gripping Beast metals and plastic along with a Musketeer (Early) Saxon standard bearer. I have so many figures either part-painted or ready for the dip, mostly Saxons but also a few Vikings too. Hopefully I can start working my way through these over the next few weeks.