Adventures on the Wargames Table

If like me you're keen on History and Archaeology then this series may have piqued your interest - The Celts: Blood, Iron & Sacrifice . Auntie Beeb produced this natty little info-graphic. I thought the tribal map was quite interesting/useful. It's presented by the eminently watchable Prof Alice Roberts ... and that annoying Scottish history bloke (who also does shampoo adverts I think?). Now, I haven't actually watched it yet as I'm still heavily into WW2 history. So I'm saving it for a quiet evening when I'm feeling a little more in need of "Blood, Iron & Sacrifice" ;o) Anyway, if you've seen it then please do let me know what you thought. PS - Less than 36 hours until The Last Kingdom !!!

First off, the sniper ... a List 3 support choice in Chain of Command. To be honest I've found these chaps a bit hit or miss ( please excuse the dreadful pun! ). In one game they can be great, causing heaps of 'shock' and generally worrying your opponent, then in others they're total Rhubarb! (or should that be " gesampt Rhabarber "?). They excel at taking out teams like PIATs and 2" mortars but against full sections it can be a waste of a shot. He's actually one of the Warlord games sniper team figures from the Fallschirmjaeger range. I particularly liked the figure as it was a little bit different from the more usual "aiming" figures. I mounted him on a slightly larger base, 30mm, just so that I could add some extra foliage. And now the conundrum ... I find myself at something of a painting impasse ... what should I do next? I've got a couple of little scenery projects on the go (more in future posts) but I'm not sure w...

Last Sunday I met up with Steve for a long overdue game of Chain of Command. Steve gave his regular German platoon a run out against my British regulars. We rolled for the scenario and the result was Attack and Defend. We agreed that the game could represent an action shortly after D-Day with the Allies trying to take an important German held crossroads. Here’s the situation after the patrol phase. Germans in red, British in blue. Steve had placed his initial markers well forward within his deployment zone. This was a good plan which left little space for the British to manoeuvre before the markers were locked down. I was pleased with the Jump Off Point on the edge of the wood near the house, but the other two were not ideal. Supports I rolled 9 so Steve got 4 points, as our force ratings were equal. I chose a Sherman M4 and a Universal Carrier with a Bren Team. I thought that as this was a push to capture a defended position it would be appropriate to take a littl...

This post (my 400th!) is all about taking the basic painted building and adding those little extras that will make it look a bit more interesting. I think buildings always look better with a scenic base. If you're ordering from Charlie Foxtrot then drop Colin a line to ask for a custom base. It will add only a small extra cost and saves you the bother of cutting stuff up. Alas, I forgot to ask for a base so here I've used a piece of 2mm plasticard. Glue the building to it with a few dabs of your favourite all purpose glue. The base is then covered in thinned PVA glue and a variety of grit/sand. You can see that in front of the door I've placed a couple of pieces of thin plasticard that I've carved to look like flagstones. The sanded base can then be painted to match your other terrain or battlefield. My recipe is VMC Leather Brown base, then highlights of VMC Flat Earth, VMC Gold Brown and VMC Dark Sand. I use two different static grass colours, GW Scorched Gr...

This post is all about painting the recently constructed MDF building from Charlie Foxtrot Models to a decent gaming standard. The building has been textured with a magnolia coloured masonry paint, then it's been lightly sprayed with Warlord Dunkelgelb, although any cream or light brown would suffice. You can see that the spray has speckled the roof but that's okay as it will need tidying up before it is painted anyway. The first highlight has been applied using Foundry Base Sand shade 10A. It's been stippled on to the walls. (stipple = use a large, old brush and load with paint as if you were heavy dry-brushing, but instead of brushing, you tap the end of the brush on to the wall. If you're not sure then practice on a piece of card first.) Next is VMC Dark Sand, again stippled to allow some of the colours beneath to show through - but only a little. Finally I've applied white. Go easy here as white can be quite harsh; it's easy to add more if yo...