Adventures on the Wargames Table

Various rules require a way to track the status of units during the battle e.g. Casualties, Fatigue, Push & Shove, Shock, Momentum ... whatever! Anyway, I decided to make some dial counters to represent this for my EIR and here they are. The casualty figures are from Black Tree Miniatures; a mix of Auxiliaries and Legionaries. As they're casualties I decided to skip my usual layered painting style and instead opted for a block colour and wash effect, followed by some basic highlights. Here they are with the armour painted black and given a dry-brush of GW Leadbelcher, the rest of figure is just one colour, i.e. Foundry Flesh B, Foundry Boneyard B, GW Mephiston Red, VMC Leather Brown, etc. Now for the wash... GW Agrax Earthshade of course! I'm sure something like Army Painter wash or ink would be just as effective. After that I simply applied a few highlights of the original 'block' colours. The completed figures were matt varnished - you might like t...

Our D-Day campaign marches on! Game Four is loosely based on scenario three from the Chain of Command supplement Kampfgruppe von Luck, entitled "Attacking the Corridor of Death". The Germans have gained the upper hand after driving in the Paras forward positions during game three of our campaign. For this game Orange Dave would be starching his upper lip, waxing his moustache and commanding the Paras. The Germans would soon be heading in to the heart of Le Bas de Ranville. Here's the map from TFL's supplement. My own take on it is slightly different; mainly because it was easier to find the church than dig out other buildings! Anyway, I think it looks okay. Dave has deployed half his force on the table, although (very sensibly) you can only see the odd figure. He placed his mortar behind the church with the spotter in the stone barn. As they lost the last game, the Paras could only fortify one building rather than two, so Dave chose the old cafe. This ...

Yes, the re-basing continues. Here's a couple of officer types (Curteys Miniatures) riding through the desert. It's not all re-basing though! Here's the next batch of Legion ready for some varnish. Wanted to post these as with the holiday season fast approaching they'll have to wait a little while for their shields ;o) Cheerio!

A while back I looked at re-basing my Romans to give them a more sandy-based theme. I've now also decided to give them magnetic bases to make storage easier. So I needed to add suitable movement trays. Here's the next unit, 14 Auxiliaries. I'd like to offer a little tip about making movement trays... In the past I've bough them ready assembled and then trimmed steel 'paper' to fit inside, then added texture to the edge. However, sometimes this has resulted in a badly fitting, slightly wonky, piece of steel 'paper' (which just annoys me) or perhaps the texture has strayed within the bounds of the tray. Not a big deal to fix but here's my new approach. Buy the trays unassembled, that is (as shown below) the rim is left unglued. If you already have the trays then it's simple to slide a modelling knife between the rim and base - just take it steady! Next, cut a piece of steel 'paper' that is slightly larger than the tray base. I ...

Game three of our Normandy campaign sees the action switch back to the airborne bridgehead east of the Orne river. British 12 Para hold Ranville as the German 125th Panzergrenadiers begin their counter-attack on the village. It is late morning on D-Day now and the Germans are pushing through orchards and along a sunken lane on the southern edge of Ranville. As I’ve mentioned before, some of the campaign games are inspired by the Chain of Command supplement “Kampfgruppe von Luck” (KGvL) – this time it’s “Probe Amongst the Hedgerows”. Whilst Chain of Command is not quite my cup of tea, the supplements are well worth a read. Anyway, here’s a map of the table And here's my take on it. and In the game I would be leading the German forces; basically a reinforced platoon comprised of regulars and inexperienced troops. I wanted to reflect the fact that a good number of the German troops stationed in Normandy were not exactly first rate! That's five squads, tw...

Wargames Table chum Dave Toone is organising a get together for fans of Warhammer Ancient Battles. Details here on Facebook. D o you miss playing historical mass battles? Do you enjoy exciting, brutal wargaming? Have you got a painted army gathering dust? Then why not reignite your passion for Mass Battle Wargames! Put aside your warbands and gather the entire might of your army for the epic conflicts that lay ahead. Let your mighty heroes stand once more at the head of their troops before they slip into distant memory. Bring hundreds instead of dozens of warriors to fight epic battles, then tell the exaggerated tales of those battles to any fool that will listen! Now is the time to put aside your fear, banish all doubts and book your place in the Warhammer Ancient battles, Shieldwall event. Saturday 12th & Sunday 13th August 2017 The theme for both days will be: The Dark Ages in the British Isles. Using the WAB 1.5 rulebook and the SHIELDWALL su...

My social calendar has been pretty hectic recently but somehow I've still managed to squeeze in a bit of terrain building! I already have some roads that are about 3 inches wide but I wanted to add some narrower roads, i.e. lanes or tracks if you prefer. Incidentally, I need these for the next game in the Normandy campaign - this provided the real spur to make them. As with my other roads, it all starts with a 300mm x 300mm cork tile, 3mm thickness. My tracks are about 2 inches wide so I simply cut a number of strips, plus a couple of angled sections so that it could join the main road at a variety of angles. Trim the edges to about a 45 degree angle to better help them blend in to the table. Painting: Texture the cork with fine masonry paint (add in a little fine grit for extra texture if you like). Drape the strips over thin paint brushes to prevent any curling as it dries. Then base coat with Americana Milk Chocolate, followed by dry brush highlights of Americana Honey...