Adventures on the Wargames Table

Crikey! Real Life (tm) has been rather hectic recently...  When I haven't been working towards crazy deadlines I've been out having heaps of fun with my lovely girlfriend Sarah.  Anyway, I've managed to squeeze in a bit of brush time and fancied painting something a bit different. The figures are Front Rank miniatures - beautiful sculpts!  The resin fountain is by Grand Manner and the church is from Charlie Foxtrot Models . Painting Napoleonic figures has always been a slow process for me as I tend to get bogged down with lots of details.  So with these I've tried a slightly different approach. The flesh is painted in the usual Foundry triad but most of the rest of the figure is just block painted or given a very quick single highlight.  I decided that lots of highlights and details are just lost when you're actually playing and viewing the figures from several feet away.  A friend (thanks Paul) suggested I follow the old adage of "faces, bases...

Like many of us I was playing fantasy wargames ‘way back in the day’ using various incarnations of GW’s Warhammer Fantasy Battles.  So when Warlord announced these rules I was mildly interested, then I noted the author and my interest increased substantially.  Some good chums got the rules and said many good things, so I jumped in and bought the book. The Book. The pic I took for eBay (oops... Spoiler alert!) Initially I thought the production quality was very good, despite the book arriving with an errata card for some missing text.  But after an initial read through I see that Warlord still aren’t bothering with a thorough proof read.  This is a pity because otherwise the book is a thing of beauty. Reading rules and actually playing them can be quite different experiences.  I skimmed through to get the gist of things knowing that a friend was going run some games for me and another friend me.  There are plenty of detailed explanations of how the ...

Following the hard fought encounter at Capela do Campo das Estrelas, the wounded Lt Carruthers fled into the hills and found refuge amongst friendly Portuguese villagers at Vila Nova de Capelo. But with French patrols closing in, the villagers hid Archie (and any grog they couldn’t carry) as best they could and headed for the safety of the higher hills.   Both sides are searching for Carruthers! The main objective is to find him and move off your own table edge.   The secondary objective is, as ever, give the enemy a good thrashing! Dramatis Personae Paul – French (Boo!) Colin – British (Huzzah!) ( Who, as it turned out, was “indisposed” ) Matt – Portuguese (Huzzah! in a Portuguese accent ) Paul’s French Force Capitaine Pierre d'Escargot (III)   3 groups of Line Infantry Lieutenant Victor Feu (II)   2 groups of Line Infantry Lieutenant Rennie Lescun (II)   2 groups of Grenadiers Lieutenant Francois Rapido (II) Sergent Hector Soixante-...

Yes, the blog is back in action. It's been "off air" for a little while to allow me to do some behind the scenes tidying up, de-cluttering, etc.  It's been going since 2007 so a clear out was definitely required!  It shouldn't (in theory) appear any different. The break has also given me some time to mull over what I want from my blog and to think about what readers/visitors like.  I started way back with two blogs; one for battle reports and one for painting, but quickly combined them.  As time passed it became a more generalised hobby blog with show reports, product reviews and random waffle, etc creeping in. I know from the stats that battle reports are often very popular but I must admit that these are by far the most time consuming posts to write.  They also require me to faff about taking lots of pics during the game along with making a few notes, which can at times be a bit distracting from the enjoyment of play.  So... in future there will be fewe...

I found this little half-track in one of my "bits" boxes.  It's a Blitzkreig model and the casting is okay but, to be honest, not quite a crisp as recent kits from Warlord. I tested a slightly different technique compared to my earlier Panzer II, etc.  Primed with AP Skeleton Bone spray and given a base coat of Foundry Boneyard shade.  Then gave it a pin wash of AP Strong Tone was (from a bottle not a tin).  The base colour was used to tidy up the edges and panels.  Paint the tracks and tyres black and highlight with grey.  Then highlight everything with a dry-brush of Foundry Boneyard mid and light.  That's it! The crew figure is from a Warlord 251 kit, painted the same as all my other DAK. Base from Charlie Foxtrot Models; textured and painted as described for my other DAK vehicles.

More firepower for Rommel's finest!  This time it's a lovely Pak 38 from Warlord Games. The kit was pretty cleanly cast but it was a little fiddly to put together. Not a view any Allied tanker would enjoy. All painted and based using the recipes I've described in earlier posts.  Check out the "Painting" tab above if you'd like more info.

Another January and another chance for this dynamic duo to strut their stuff!  Colin kindly asked me to join him on the Charlie Foxtrot stall. It was suggested last year that Colin and I looked like a slightly camp, ageing boy band... So Colin went for a new corporate look ... it certainly drew a few comments! :-D Colin also had a little present for Lard Supremo Big Rich. Here are a few pics of some of the demo and participation games on offer. Robber Knights using homegrown rules A fantastic AWI table Beautifully painted figures too The British hold the fence line The same Charlie Foxtrot kit (Tidewater) used for both buildings. A superb Star Wars Legion table The Battle of Omdurman - this was so good! An epic Age of Sigmar game The Lardies running a very enthusiastic participation game! Reinforcements! Saga v2 An astonishingly large and crowded Indo-China war table Skirmish Wargames - Normand...