Adventures on the Wargames Table

I thought I'd posted this a while back, but clearly not, lol! Anyway, minefields were a popular feature of the desert war so I've chopped up a piece of MDF, probably from an old chest of drawers!  I should point out that Charlie Foxtrot does a lovely minefield set too. I began by chamfering the edges of the MDF squares (6" x 6") then glued on some posts to which I would later be attaching some barbed wire. The posts are simply bits of matchstick.  For variety I've modelled some in a collapsed state.  Also, I've used a counter-sink to make the holes for a couple of craters.  The edges will be raised using some putty or filler. However, I forgot to pre-stress the MDF to avoid 'curling' when the sand is applied... So I raided my bookcase!  Each piece has a matchstick under the middle to help bend the edges.  Leave for 48 hours. I added some rocks along with a few items from my bits box. The discs (to represent the actual mines) were m...

I wanted to add a few more scenic items to my tabletop so I had a look at the very reasonably priced  Hovels range of accessories.  I’ve already got a few things from this range so I knew they were good... so I thought I’d do a mini product review.  First is the European Haystack. Raw resin & nicely painted version (not by me 😉) I’m not 100% sure if haystacks actually looked like this in Normandy ‘44 but it does look good on the table.  They’ll also be handy for the Eastern Front.  NB - if you have a PhD in European Haystacks then feel free to not email me. Next are some crates and sacks along with a wooden water trough and pump.  The resin has very few bubbles or imperfections, plus will need very little trimming or cleaning. Finally, barrels of fruit (potatoes for Ostfront!) and heaps of grain sacks Customer service is great too.

I’ve been investing a little time in sprucing up some of my scenery items and I felt it was high time that my chateau got a new paint job!  I never particularly liked the original finish on it (NB – it wasn’t painted by me, lol!) as it was (a) quite untidy in places, and (b) the colours were too ‘pink’ and didn’t really go well together, especially when placed in the grounds I’d built for it. The original looked like this The original chateau (not painted by me) Yeah, it’s “o-k-a-y” but it sort of looks a bit like custard, which is a trifle annoying 🙄  Anyway... I think it could be improved quite a bit. The first step was to re-paint the ground floor brickwork to actually look like bricks.  A solid base coat of Foundry Conker shade was a good start, then I picked out a few bricks in darker brown tones and one or two in a much lighter red (go steady with these tho!).  Next, I applied a wash of GW Agrax Earthshade to pick out the brick edges.  Then I...

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...