Adventures on the Wargames Table

Having seen Jenny and I play some Chain of Command recently, my youngest - Katie - asked if we could play some Lord of the Rings games. A superb idea indeed! As we hadn't played for ages I decided to keep it to a simple scrap between Thorin's Company (with some Elves helping out) and a variety of Goblins. The Company, pursued by angry Goblins, have taken shelter in an abandoned farmstead in the wilderness. Here they are. Here come the Goblins! Thorin had directed Fili and Kili to set some traps, so Katie was able to set up three hidden traps that would be activated at the end of any Goblin movement phase if they were close enough. She really enjoyed using these! Having made their way across the table - being shot at by Dwarf bows, a few spells and the traps - the Goblins close in on Thorin and Company. This was also the point at which both sides reinforcements were activated. Here come the first wave of extra Goblins ... "They have a Cave Troll!" At ...

Very recently we were lucky enough to be allowed a preview of a new set of Great War wargaming rules penned by Wargames Table chum "Orange Dave". They're entitled "Zero Hour" ... and sub-titled "Instructions for the gaming of offensive actions in the Great War". They're aimed at battalion (or larger) sized actions for two or more players and should be playable within an evening, i.e. 2-3 hours. The rules are still at an early-ish stage but all the basic mechanisms for moving, shooting, supporting fire, checking morale, managing the 'command integrity' of the companies and battalion, etc, are in place and work smoothly, resulting in a well paced, fun game of toy soldiers. Here my BEF advance towards a newly constructed German (ably command by Jenny) trench line, with a Mk IV leading the way! The smallest infantry unit is the platoon, represented by 10-12 figures including an LMG team. Support teams such as HMGs and Mortars either operate...

Here's some more of my chaps. This is the third squad, all lovely Artizan Designs figures. BTW - Artizan/North Star are having a sale so you can pick up a German platoon including a free tank - bargain! There's also deals for British and American forces. The Obergefreiter (a 'Junior Leader' in CoC parlance) ready with his Panzerfaust. Steady! A Panzergrenadier platoon also includes a Panzerschreck team. In their first outing they missed a Centaur... three times... consecutive shots. Supports next!

Yes, I've been painting again! :o) Here's some more Germans for my Panzergrenadier platoon for Chain of Command. First we have two Senior leaders. Both Crusader figures and based on octagonal bases with some flowers to aid spotting them during play. The second figure is a support list option, but I've found the extra leadership quite useful in the few games I've played so far. Next is a second squad for my force, consisting of a Junior Leader and two LMG teams, one MG42 and one MG34. Mostly Artizan figures. Here's the MG42 team - I rather like the prone pose of these figures. I didn't have enough MG42 teams but I did have some (Crusader) MG34's - I reasoned that if the weapons were still serviceable then some may have been in use in '44 ? Another squad to go then it's on to the supports!

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!