Adventures on the Wargames Table

I've been having a very cathartic clear out and tidy up; and as part of this I've decided to re-organise how I've been storing my WW2 troops. I've ordered a bunch of Really Useful Boxes but in the mean time I picked up a couple of 4 litre boxes from WH Smith. Old storage solution The figures (mostly individually based) were stored in the old GW cases with foam trays. Well protected but a bit fiddly. So, with some of the 'teams' already mag-based I decided to go the whole hog and mag-base the lot. To line the boxes I needed some steel paper so on Easter Monday afternoon I placed an order with Trevor at Magnetic Displays / Coritani . Within about 15 minutes (I jest not!) I received an email from Trevor saying that the items would be in the post first thing on Tuesday morning. Sure enough on Wednesday morning the order arrived! You simply cannot get better customer service than that. A good price and excellent product too. Highly recommended! I already have ...

Having recently completed the Signal Box from Charlie Foxtrot it was pretty obvious that I'd need to sort out some railway tracks. So this is a "how to" post with some suggestions for building railway tracks for your wargames table. I started with some pieces of track from the bargain bin of my local model shop - don't ask what the scale is as I have no idea - I just bought track that looked about right. As the very helpful lady in the shop commented, brand new track can be pricey so see if they have any 'off cuts' or second hand track. For example, a brand new set of points might cost around £12 but mine cost only £6 :o) I began by dry-brushing the black plastic sleepers with dark brown paint. It takes away the plastic look and makes them look more wooden and weathered. This picture shows the unpainted underside and a 'painted' section, so you can see the difference. I decided to base the track on some strips of cork tile. It's cheap(is...

Well, "review" might be a bit of stretch as I’ve only played two games and ‘helped’ (in the loosest sense of the word) with a third game. Perhaps “first impressions” might be better? :o) A rulebook Kings of War (or KoW), from Mantic Games , is a fantasy themed massed battle rule set that seems to be pretty squarely aimed at those gamers who have boxes of GW figures stored in their lofts from those glory days of Warhammer yore. Mantic have their own range of figures but encourage players to dig out their old troops too. How refreshingly sensible. I’ve been an historical gamer for quite a few years now but as someone who got in to wargaming back in the 80’s through Warhammer, I cannot help but get a little misty-eyed when I think of my old Orc & Goblin horde (mainly Kevin Adams figures ... lovely!). Sadly, and perhaps foolishly, I sold those figures long ago. Anyway, enough nostalgia for the moment, back to the game. My impression of Colin from CFM .. ;o) It’s...

Managed to get along to the club last Sunday for a game of Bolt Action with Orange Dave. He had his early/mid war desert British and I had my Late War Germans - not quite historical I know - but good fun all the same :o) First, here's a few pics of some of Dave's most recent brushwork. This is the OQF 2lb Portee. Lovely isn't it! Another view. What I hadn't realised is that this particular model had been equipped with an experimental "temporal displacement reactor" which allowed it to zip about the battlefield with frightening speed ... definitely not Cricket!?! Or rather it was a case of both players not quite knowing what the rules are!! :o) Here are some of Dave's infantry, mainly Perry's I think. Right ... on to the game. Just 500pts per side for the Maximum Attrition scenario. I threw some of my scenery on to the table and we set to. Here's the end of turn 1 - we both put most of our forces on to the table in turn one keep...

Wargames Table chum Colin has produced yet another superb building – the Signal Box – so I’d like to show you how it all goes together and offer some suggestions for painting it. Here’s the kit, all 79 pieces of it! This is Colin’s. Lovely! In this picture I’ve labelled the ‘groups’ of pieces. Note – the rectangular piece in the bottom left of the upper floor group is actually the base for the signal levers – Doh!? Because (a) the upper floor has two layers of wall and (b) the balcony and stairs could be a bit fiddly to paint in situ, it makes sense to spray/paint some of the components before building the complete model, I'll mention this later. Tip - always dry fit any pieces before gluing and use good quality wood glue. Lower Floor This just a straight-forward box, four walls and a base, plus the comb shaped balcony supports – make sure you get them level. Now for the base colours. Grey primer spray; the supports are blocked out in black. I applied a very th...