Adventures on the Wargames Table

The family summer holiday this year was to the Aisne in Picardy, specifically to a gite in the tiny village of Vendresse a few km’s south of the Chemin des Dames. Now, since we have the not-so-little ones with us the amount of Great War sites we could visit was rather limited. However, we did a few things so I thought I’d post up some notes and pictures of our visit to this very beautiful part of France. Chemin des Dames This is a very prominent and picturesque limestone ridge between the Aisne and Ailette rivers. Also the site of much fierce fighting during WW1. Rather than repeat a lot of information here, follow these links if you'd like to know more. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemin_des_Dames http://www.webmatters.net/france/ww1_chemin.htm Vendresse http://www.webmatters.net/cwgc/vendresse.htm In the very early part of the war, Sept 1914, the forces arrayed to hold the ridge included a number of British battalions. Therefore there are a few British cemeteries in the...

Yes, you read the title correctly! I have finally managed to put brush to model again. Whilst tidying up in the man cave recently I found some partially painted Vikings and was inspired to finish them off. Here they are. Starting with four Bondi archers to bring the unit up to a more useful 12 figures. And again. The others are a small group to Bondi to top up two larger units both to 24 figures. A point worth noting here is that I've given shield painting a go! I didn't have transfers suitable for the four figures with larger shields so I gave them simple halved or quartered patterns and I'm rather pleased with them. The other four use the splendid LBMS dark ages transfers. All painted in my usual base colours, a light brush of 'dip, varnish, then highlights. It's been a real pleasure to get painting again. The Wargames Table will be taking a short break soon to enjoy two weeks in France. I've plenty to read and I may even take so...

Crumbs, but these new Viking figures from GB's new Shieldwall range have really caught my interest! In particular, the two central figures could make a splendid diorama if I can source a few similarly dynamic Saxons. I can see the bare-chested fellow fending off one opponent with his shield whilst he despatches another with his sword! Anyway... You may have noticed that the old Wargames Table has been a bit quiet recently...? Well, I've been feeling a bit 'low' with regard to gaming for a while now if I'm honest. To be honest the Roman Fort posts were a bit of a filler in that I couldn't find the motivation to do anything else. Every time I've tried to arrange a game or a show (or even a proper painting session) something has intervened, whether it's work :o(, broken teeth (no joke!), illness, weather or DIY, etc. Whatever; it has led to a total collapse of enthusiasm - in fact for a while I wondered if I should just pack it all up and flog every...

What better way to celebrate my 250th post than with some Roman fortifications! Here are the towers, built to go "in line" with the wall. I may also build some "corner" towers. and and All made from 3mm foamcare, card and yet more coffee stirring sticks. The next step is to fill any gaps with DIY filler, then get some textured paint on to the polystyrene to seal it. After that comes the PVA and sand/grit texture.

But first ... The Wargames Table has just passed 100,000 visits! Many thanks to all of you who visit and post comments! I really do appreciate you reading my blog. Last year (crumbs was it really that long ago?) I started building a modest fort for my Romans to shelter in after a hard day of showing barbarians the potential benefits of joining the Empire. Part 1 - http://thewargamestable.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/roman-outpost-fort-part-1.html Part 2 - http://thewargamestable.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/roman-outpost-for-part-2.html Part 3 - http://thewargamestable.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/roman-outpost-fort-part-3.html However, as with a lot of projects I ran out of steam. Now, after a long time enjoying Dark Ages gaming, I'm getting back in to my Romans! You may have already noticed the change of blog banner. Anyway, back to the fort. Whilst there are plenty of figures waiting to be painted I couldn't resist expanding my fort in to something more substantial. So here it is. ...

Following the recent success with fir and deciduous trees , I decided to branch out (groan!) and make some Palm Trees. The green foliage in the following picture seems to have gone a bit "luminous" in the photos, but it was actually a mid-shade of green!? They were made from some bits and bobs I found in the garage and study, so they were something of an experiment. They are actually for my eldest to use in her homework project on desert environments. Here's an old White Dwarf article explaining how they're made. I wrapped the trunks of my trees using masking tape (the paper tape used to protect edges when painting), the sprayed them brown and washed on some ink. A darker green for the leaves and some more detail on the bases would help, but for a 'first go' I think they're fine.

Have you ever played a game where you had to improvise a counter or token to denote a unit's status? Perhaps a D6 is placed next to the unit to indicate that it is disordered or shaken. Then have you ever, in the cut-and-thrust of battle, grabbed a handful of dice only to later realise that you've also picked up the marker dice? I certainly have! :o) This is particularly true for units in Shieldwall given the amount of Dark Ages games I've played in the last few months. Therefore I've spent an evening using up some spare shields and transfers to make these counters. These are the Saxon counters And these are the Viking counters They're just 25mm round MDF bases (from Warbases) to which I've glued some rocks and grit/sand. The rocks are there to provide something to prop the shields against and make the bases a little more three dimensional. They're painted black, then highlighted with the Foundry Slate Grey palette followed by a final highlig...