Adventures on the Wargames Table

I'm delighted to announce that Wargames Table chum Colin Farrant has now launched his MDF scenery business on the web! You can find out more here http://www.charliefoxtrotmodels.com/ . Colin is a very nice chap to do business with and the quality/price of the kits is superb! Plus they're very easy and enjoyable to build. After construction all the walls need is a little bit of texture, e.g. masonry paint, and they're ready to paint. Here's the Norman Farmhouse as painted by Jenny. Good isn't it?! The Commandos approach cautiously... ... and decide to check out the back yard. The doors, windows and shutters are separate items (included in the kit!) so they can be painted more easily, then added in to the building structure. The detail is ace. Jenny has painted the plain floors in an antiqued wood effect. Plenty of room to add furniture if you like, or leave it empty to accommodate more figures. Colin also has a lovely old Norman-style stone ...

Here's a quick 'how to' for making what I think are rather nice hedges for your wargames table... It starts with strip of plastic-card, about 6 inches long and an inch wide. You could use MDF or even ordinary card - although paper-based card is prone to warping. Cover them in PVA, then sand / grit, paint to match your terrain and apply a garnish of static grass. Voila! Tip - To help prevent any warping or curling of the plastic-card when the glue/sand dries, I 'bent' them for a few days before applying the glue and sand, by putting a kebab stick under them and weighing the ends with piles of books. The end result was that they are flat. This pic gives you a slightly better idea of scale. I then glue (smelly 'all-purpose' glue!) on pieces of roughly torn Woodland Scenics clump foliage - using three colours, Light / Medium / Dark green. These are available from many model shops or on-line. Each bag is about £8 but will make a LOT of hedge. I estimate...

To take my mind off some of the heavier day-to-day stuff in life, I've been day-dreaming a bit about what armies I'd really like to build if I had (a) the money, and (b) the time... Early Imperial Romans First up it has to be completing my rather too modest EIR collection. I really like the Black Tree Auxilliary figures - they're top notch, but the Legion figures are definitely a bit "middling" in terms of figure quality. The newer range from Aventine are good but they are kitted out for a slightly later era than the conquest of Britannia. The Legion need to be at the larger end of the figure scale to fit in with the Auxilia, so I'll probably have to stick with the BTD Legion figures. Caesarian Romans A couple of years back I bought an army deal from Warlord when they released their plastic range of Caesar's Legions, along with some light troops such as Numidians. Typically for me they are still on the sprues. But I now I find myself looking at the F...

Gravesend Wargamers Club War & Conquest National Tournament Saturday and Sunday 9 th – 10 th May 2015 Venue: Kegworth Village Hall Nottingham Road Kegworth Derbyshire DE74 2FH “The armies of Rome and their many enemies” The theme of the weekend is the armies of Rome, from Republican to Early Imperial and their many enemies.   2500 point armies from any of the Republican, Caesarian or Early Imperial Roman armies or any of their enemies. If you fancy a weekend of gaming and good company, please get in contact with us via email at philipturner@seaas.co.uk or telephone 07794908204. The cost is £25 for the 2 days, with lunch provided on both days. More details of the games, etc can be found on Dave's blog, here . If you would like to know more about the Gravesend Wargamers Club please follow this link: www.gravesendwargamersclub.co.uk We look forward to seeing you and enjoying a few games of War & Conquest together. Phi...

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...

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...