Adventures on the Wargames Table

No, not exploding broccoli ... it's one of Orange Dave's new blast markers! Having seen mine, Dave asked if I could make some for him. These will initially be featuring in games of Great War action. Three smoke "blasts". A couple of sprays of grey primer, followed by a couple of pure white. Three explosion "blasts". A couple of sprays of black primer, followed by a light spray of grey. One poison gas "blast". Spray as smoke the hightlight with some green. This pic might show the green-ish hue of the smoke a bit better. Simply a quick drybrush with Foundry Phlegm Green light. These are the armatures on to which I stick the Woodland Scenics foam, using smelly all purpose glue from (UK) Bostik or Uhu. MDF bases with holes drilled for kebab or cocktail sticks. A trick to help make them slight more durable is to prime the foam with very thin PVA before spraying. Make sure you allow plenty of drying time tho. Thanks for looking!

My good friend George recently invited me to take part in a marvellous naval campaign set at the outbreak of WW1.  I've never taken part in anything like this before so I jumped at the chance!  My role was that of Admiral Souchon, the commander of a small German fleet stationed in the Mediterranean.  My mission was to (a) disrupt the French as they brought troops back from North Africa in preparation for the European war, and then (b) deliver the ships to Turkey at Constantinople as per a secret pact of mutual support.  Two other players (Simon and Rob) would be taking the role of Britian and France. My flagship was the battlecruiser SMS Goeben , shown here. George acted as the umpire, giving reports and map updates as the hours and days passed.  The players would then give orders, course heading, speed, orders for sighting the enemy, etc.  I opened the action by sailing for North Africa with the intent of shelling the ports and sinking whatever ships...

As you will surely know it's 100 years since the Battle of the Somme began. Lutyens monument - Inscribed with names of 72,246 men with no known grave Let's take a moment to pause and remember those of all nations who fell on that day... and the many days that followed. If you have the opportunity then I highly recommend a visit to this extraordinary and moving memorial. There is also a visitors centre that is worth seeing. If you'd like a little more information then the BBC have a couple of interesting videos here and here . Lest we forget.

Last Sunday I visited the club (Bristol Big'Uns, Iron Acton) to play another game of Dave Stone's exciting new WW1 rules "Zero Hour". Since our first play test back in January, Dave has made a number of minor modifications to the mechanics based on a series of games with other players in our group. However, it's good to know that the basic structure of the game remains intact - an indication that they're about right! Our forces for this game represented two slightly depleted late war battalions on the western front - perhaps at the tail end of the German Spring Offensives in 1918. Dave led the Stormtroopers whilst I led the British reinforced with some Kiwis. Deployment is done by Company, here they are at the start. (The table isn't quite as visually appealing as before, mainly because we both forgot to bring much in the way of terrain!?!) Dave's Germans Battalion CO Stormtrooper Company  - Company CO  - 3 Platoons Infantry Company  - Co...

Orange Dave kindly arranged a splendid evening's Great War gaming, so with the help of Rob, Steve, Mike, Alan and another Steve, we went Over The Top! The battles took place on two tables, the smaller table was the French sector (possibly the Verdun area) and featured a network of bunkers. The larger table was The Somme where the Canadians and British were seeking to breakthrough the German front line and capture their objectives, a ruined village and a shelled wood. Hopefully Dave will post his scenario notes on the Scarab forum . We begin with the BEF and CEF deployment, the CEF (me) are on the left flank and include a Mk I tank. The RFC Reconnaissance aircraft passes along the Allied lines giving a better view of the German trench line. Now a closer look at the Germans as the RFC buzz over the trenches. Watch out sir! Fritz has a machine gun trained upon us. Bank right and dive! The first British objective; an area of shelled woodland affording an excellen...

At long last I have started painting my Great War German army for the Western Front! As with any new gaming project I like to paint a couple of test figures first, just to make sure I've got the colours right, etc. Here's a soldier and a junior officer. From behind. The figures are Great War Miniatures. Painting scheme was 1. Black undercoat 2. Uniform, Foundry Granite Shade, then Foundry Granite mid. 3. Skin, Foundry Flesh, shade, mid, light 4. Blanket, Foundry Rawhide shade, then mid. 5. Leather, various colours but Foundry Bay Brown shade, followed by a mix of Bay mid and Foundry Scarlet gave a good rich leather finish. Also used Foundry Deep Brown Leather, and Vallejo Leather Brown. 6. Boots & belts, quick highlight with Foundry Slate Grey shade. 7. Pistol & Rifle, very light highlight with GW Boltgun metal. All comments welcome! Do you think the "field grey" uniform is about right? Thanks to Ray Earle for the tip about the Foundry c...

Last Sunday Rob kindly invited me to join him and Phil at Scarab Towers for a game of Great War. Not knowing exactly what we'd be playing I simply packed most of my terrain and all my Western Front British and set forth. When I arrived I was delighted to find that Rob and Phil had set up a splendid looking table and two armies were deployed ready to begin. It didn't take me long to realise that this was no conventional Western Front battle... Instead, we were fighting along the banks of the Piave as the plucky Italians (with the last moment addition of a few Brits) had a crack at the Austro-Hungarian (A/H) trenches. Here are the A/H Trenches packed with troops. Gulp! If you're wondering why they bear more than a passing resemblance to Germans troops then that's because Germany supplied much of the materiel for the A/H army. EDIT: Rob @ Scarab has some super photos HERE . Should have linked them first time around!? The Italian/British left flank. Mainly Itali...