Adventures on the Wargames Table

It’s not quite the end of the year but I’ve already been considering what I have and haven’t achieved this year, plus looking at what projects I have on the go, what might be lined up, etc. Rather than bore you with the details I’ll go straight to the conclusion ... I’m trying to do far too much! This is not exactly a surprise, in fact I’ve always been inclined to get too carried away with starting one gaming project after another, rather than focussing on finishing something – or at least getting to the point where I have a vaguely decent sized force completed. So ... I've decided to restrict my gaming attention to a very limited set of rules and/or figures. Yes, I'd love to try out Bolt Action, Dux Britanniarum, Dux Bellorum, Hail Caesar, etc. But I have to be realistic. On a 'good' week I can only manage about 5 to 6 hours of painting, often less. So I need to limit the scope of what I aim to paint. In the next couple of weeks (i.e the run up to the Fes...

Before I go any further let's get one thing clear ... it's all Orange Dave's fault! ;o) OK, so he didn't actually force me to purchase a box of Perry Afrikakorps, but he did arrange a game of Chain of Command recently where he clearly stated that he would be using Perry's 8th army figures. What else could I do but purchase some of Rommel's finest? I only managed to paint a few (I ordered the box just 5 days before the game) but that was ok as Dave had only got a few painted British, so we were about even. I'm really impressed with this set of plastic figures. Only £20 for 38 miniatures. They're a little fiddly to build sometimes but they're nicely detailed. A few more 'rifle arms' in the box would have been handy though! With only a few additional blisters of metal figures I'll be able to build a very smart force for Chain of Command. The games themselves (we squeezed two in to one club evening) were visually rather awful - a ...

Yes, dear blog reader I couldn’t resist all those packs lining the walls of the Foundry shop! After seeing some of the lovely figures at the recent W&C National Tournament I just had to make a 'proper' start on another Dark Ages army. To be fair I have (a) got a decent sized Saxon force done, (b) already made a tentative step towards a Norman force when I purchased some plastics to do Saga force, so it's not entirely a new army. Really. If you think about it. ;o) Plus I already have a few packs of Normans from Crusader Miniatures in the lead mountain. Then there's the old GW Bretonnians that have a few re-usable figures. So, actually, it made perfect sense to get some Normans from Foundry! It's not a project that I'll start immediately - I really have to get my CoC Late War Germans done first (otherwise Phil is going to get really cross!). After that I'd be keen to paint a few Normans!

To celebrate the recent birthday of Wargames Table chum Phil, I painted a few figures for him to add to his WW2 collection. Firstly, here's a Parachute Officer with a mug of tea from Artizan. Phil bases his leaders on octagonal bases with a few red flowers. Painting recipe: Trousers - Foundry Bay, Vallejo English Uniform. Jacket - Foundry Moss Light, Foundry Bay Shade/Mid, Foundry Dragoon Green Shade/Light. Webbing - Foundry Storm Green Mid/Light. Secondly, in order to ensure no bias to one side or the other, I also painted up this 5cm mortar team from Crusader miniatures. Painting recipe: Uniform - Foundry Slate Grey Shade, Vallejo Grey Green. Bag - Foundry Buff Shade/Mid/Light. Mortar & Gas mask container - Vallejo German Fieldgrey (highlight with base + Bleached Bone light)

At last! My first complete Panzergrenadier squad for my German Chain of Command army. Here's the Squad Leader (MP40) with one of the MG42 teams. To make the Squad Leader slightly easier to spot in the thick of the action I've put him on an octagonal base, courtesy of the ever efficient Warbases . Here's the other MG42 team. The whole squad. The whole squad again. I used basically the same painting recipe on the rest of the squad as I did on the first three figures I showed in the previous post. I've just completed two Senior Leaders (a second SL is a support list option) and almost completed a Panzershreck team. Then it will be on to squad number two. More soon ... hopefully!

My first attempt at World War 2 figures and the start of my Panzergrenadier force for Chain of Command! A chap with an MG42, an NCO with an MP40 and a rifleman. It's also my first attempt at any sort of real camouflage scheme - "Splinter Pattern". All the figures are from Artizan Designs. I found the following links very useful in getting to grips with what turned out to be a relatively straightforward (if a little time consuming) camouflage scheme. The WWS guide on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8l3q1uK2tM (My thanks to Phil for the tip!) Fellow blogger moiterei_1984 (again, thank you!) has a very useful tutorial here http://www.lead-adventure.de/index.php?topic=64023.0 Artizan's own Camo guide http://www.artizandesigns.com/guides/germanpatterns.pdf Here's a couple of slightly closer shots. I used the following painting "recipe"... Grey - either Foundry Slate shade followed by Vallejo Grey Green, or just Grey Green h...

Telegraph poles are one of those items that really seem to make a wargames table look like a 20th century battlefield, so I really had to get some. I considered making them from wooden dowelling, etc but then I saw these from 4Ground. They're advertised as ready painted but I decided that they needed to look more "concrete-y" so I painted the main 'post' black then layered on the Foundry 'Slate Grey' triad. They also make good places to put signs advertising shows - as this keen eyed subaltern has noted. Here's a closer shot of the different styles of 'tops'. The kit includes enough parts to make 7 posts with up to 2 of them being like the post on the left. Oh - and one more thing - pay close attention to the construction diagrams when building them! They're fairly easy to build, as long as you read the notes first.