Adventures on the Wargames Table

My Sharp Practice models have been on the shelf for a little while as I’ve been heavily into WW2, primarily our North African games.  But the other day I just fancied painting something that wasn’t green/grey or sand coloured.  My Anglo-Portuguese army is coming along well so I thought I’d try painting a few of my French figures from Front Rank. Getting these ready would be handy as I have friends who want to play regular Peninsular games, others who like the Russian theatre and yet others who have suggested a campaign with British naval forces (indeed one splendid fellow has written a whole campaign booklet!).  So getting these on the table would give me plenty of options for glorious victory ... or a “ deferred victory situation ” as sometimes happens 🤣 I wanted this force to have a slightly weather beaten, on campaign sort of look so I thought I’d try my base coat, wash and highlight technique.  Most of the figures are wearing greatcoats as again I like the...

Painted these for my good friend, Colin at Charlie Foxtrot Models .  The first item is actually a raised grain store but adding some planks (coffee stirrers) to the front makes it an ideal cosy home for some chickens.  Colin keeps chickens and I've done my best to paint the models to look like his own livestock, including Colin's big black cock 😳 ... which he calls “Bert” 🤣 Both items are from Hovels and were beautifully cast plus great fun to paint.  The thatch and walls were painted in the same manner as this thatched hut.   The dog and chickens are from Redoubt. This is a covered haystack which I reckon is probably suitable for a wide range of historical eras and regions. The other 'side' ... which (funnily enough) looks very similar Thanks for looking :o)

This piece was commissioned by a good friend.  It uses the Debris of War graveyard kit with a few extra gravestones.  The bases were custom cut by Charlie Foxtrot Models.  Models are Front Rank and painted by me. Thought I'd do a "sort of" step-by-step of how I went about it... I started by base-coating a few gravestones then decided that it might be interesting to just arrange the pieces to see how it might look.  This proved to be a good idea as it was clear a few more gravestones would be needed! The walls and gravestones were painted in the same layered style as for the Charlie Foxtrot Church and Grainstore I did some time back.  An additional step here was using a whole bottle of Agrax Earthshade to really bring out the lovely texture in these resin items. With all the resin components painted it was time to lay it all out again just to be doubly sure it fits, looks good, etc.  Then I drew around each item so that I'd know where to apply ground ...

The Early War in Europe is, in my humble opinion, quite fascinating.  Whether it's the myth surrounding "blitzkrieg", or the astonishing collapse of France - considered to be the world's pre-eminent military power, or the adoption of new tactics and technology many of which were effectively lessons learned from the Great War, it's jolly interesting stuff and bursting with potential for some very satisfying wargames. My Desert War project has reached the point where I have two substantial forces and lots of scenery, so I feel I can simply add the odd unit/vehicle/building as and when I fancy without it being one of those half finished projects many of us wargamers know only too well. So my attention is being drawn to the Early War theatre.  Looking at my existing collection of (nominally late war) British I note that many of the figures are perfectly suitable for the early war era too.  Obviously equipment such as Sten guns and PIATs will have to stay in the bo...

The coronavirus crisis isn't stopping us from enjoying some gaming fun here at The Wargames Table! To enable us (me and chum Paul, who lives 160 miles away) to play Chain of Command I first set up a table in my lounge.  Then I moved a bookcase so that my laptop (using Zoom) could get a good view of the table.  To give a more detailed, roving view we also used Facebook Messenger video chat on our iPads. Anyway, enough of the tech stuff ... here's the table. As I was introducing Paul to the game, plus the fact that he was playing remotely, I got him to play the German defender holding the chateau in the "Attack on an Objective" scenario.  I would be using a regular British platoon.  Rolling for supports, Paul got an static MG42 and an Adjutant, I got an additional section, another 2" mortar and a Sherman. On a practical note, we agreed that a certain amount of extra leeway in terms of lines of sight, distances, etc would be needed.  Also allowing your '...