Adventures on the Wargames Table

Wargaming plans are just like real military plans in that they usually don't survive contact with the enemy, or in this case, real life!  Anyway, despite setbacks we muddled on as best we could.  But rather than play the full-on campaign the decision was made to make this a "practice game", i.e. not worry about the campaign aspects - we'll do it 'properly' at a later date. The Paras have to roll as their drop was a bit of a muddle, they got two Senior Leaders and a Sniper for the HQ section ( Look Hans, no pesky 2" mortar! ), No1 section was fine, but both 2 and 3 were missing a Bren.  So they'd have just three Brens against my six LMG's plus I'd taken an MG42 team and an adjutant as supports.  The Paras get no supports ... I was feeling quietly confident. Here's the table ... now, I do have a heap of wheatfields (golden grass door mats!) but they're in the garage somewhere, so just imagine the open spaces covered in rolling fields...

Yes, it’s the start of yet another project here at the table!  Soviet forces for World War Two, primarily for Chain of Command, hence the Patrol Markers and (temporary) Jump Off Points. George from  http://musingswargameslife.blogspot.com  kindly made the markers for me 😎 The figures for this project will be mainly Artizan with a handful of Crusader models.  The few that I currently have are superb, more about them in a future post.

Last weekend was show time again for Charlie Foxtrot Models and Colin kindly invited me along to help out.  Here we are. Business was quite brisk on Saturday so I only had time for a quick look around the games but two in particular looked very good.  The first is WWII in the east, put on by Brian, Chris and Laurie ("Combined Oppos") with the Japanese trying to capture a bridge from Allied forces. The other was another WWII game set around the Red October factory, this time in what looks to be 15mm, possibly 20mm?  Very impressive. The show itself seemed well organised and quite well attended.  Also, a big thank you to Tom and Lloyd (nice to meet you fellas!) for helping Colin pack up and load the van! Much appreciated :o)

A quick post today to show you some explosion markers I’ve made for our World War Two games.  I made a couple quite a few years back and kept thinking “need to build a few more” 🤣 so at last here they are! One is still green coz I ran out of spray! They are very easy to build: start with an mdf base (I used 40mm squares, 3mm thick) and drill one hole in the middle and then several around the edges ensuring the drill is held at an angle.  Next, glue cocktail sticks or kebab skewers in to the holes to form the armature.  These should have a variety of lengths.  Then, glue on lots and lots of scenic clump foliage (or similar foam) starting with large pieces around the base and smaller pieces as you work out towards the “arms” of the explosion.  Keep turning the piece around so as to ensure a roughly even shape. To paint them, first spray a couple of heavy coats of black (or very dark grey) until the base colour of the foam is hidden.  Ensure it’s thoro...

It's been a busy few weeks recently hence the blogging has rather tailed off.  However, things are still moving along gently in terms of hobby fun.  A recent (and fantastic) holiday to France has inspired me to add to my scenery collection.  So I've made a start on the splendid " Banque de France " kit from Colin at Charlie Foxtrot Models . This will probably feature as a more up-market residence with gardens, etc, or I might make it in to a " Mairie " for the forthcoming "village" project.  I'll do a couple of proper blog posts on this as it develops. I also want to build a small garage / workshop / petrol station so I've ordered the workshop kit from Warbases.  Additionally I bought some cold frames and a greenhouse for the grounds of the larger house.  I've ordered the petrol pump set and a 30's style car from 1st Corps too. But it's not all Normandy!  My DAK forces will get some hefty reinforcements in the shape ...

Here's my first 40K figure in well over 20 years and I've thoroughly enjoyed painting it! I'm leaning towards an Evil Sunz themed army and my paint scheme reflects this, i.e. quite a bit of red, but much of it is equally applicable to all Ork clans. The recipe, starting from a black undercoat (GW Chaos Black), is as follows: I began by drybrushing various metallic items (weapons, armour, etc) in GW Leadbelcher, GW Warplock Brass and GW Gehenna's Gold (use this last paint sparingly).  Do this first as it can be a little messy, then tidy up with black.  Be sure to leave some of the plates and glyphs in black as these can be painted later in clan colours. Base Colours Ork flesh - Foundry Dragoon Green shade Trousers/Vest/Boots/Straps/Pouches - a variety of browns or leave some bits black. Good browns are GW Mournfang Brown, GW Scorched Brown, VMC Leather Brown, Foundry Spearshaft shade, VMC Flat Earth - just get a good mix of dark/mid/light browns. Tip -...

The Orks are coming! It's been almost 25 years since my last game of 40k. That was back in the 90s with second edition.  It all began back in the 80s with "Rogue Trader" - Tim had Space Marines and I had Eldar.  After that I collected a fairly sizeable Imperial Guard army to face his Orks.  Then we all played Gorkamorka which was an absolute blast!  Eventually these forces gathered dust and were sold on as I moved towards more historical games in the early 00s. So why 40K now?  Well, quite simply because I love the models and indeed the whole background of the game.  I've had a desire to play something non-historical for a while.  I had hoped that Warlords of Erehwon and my Middle Earth Orcs & Goblins would fill that role but I really didn't enjoy the game so I turned from fantasy to sci-fi... I'd heard good things about Star Wars Legion but whilst I love the films I didn't actually fancy gaming them. A friend and colleague, Rob, had re...