Perceptions VS Reality

        One of the big hurdles that wargamers face is the difference between the scale of the figure and the reality of the military formation that it is being used to represent. We happily use a dozen or so figures on a rectangular base to represent up to a thousand men in a long, very thin, line. Recently I had the opportunity to  visit Bastion Gaming Center just as Rich, the Resident Painting Wizard, was putting the final touches on a Warlord Civil War gaming set. Looking at the simply huge number of figures he had painted it occurred to me that there were enough soldiers on his workbench to represent a Union infantry regiment of 600 men at 1:1 scale. We gathered up the minis and a few minutes later had them laid out in a two-deep line on a three-hundred figure frontage. The results were edifying, see below.

 

the regiment drawn up into one two-rank line;

 six hundred men and one colonel out front on his horse 

note how thin the line is in relation to its length

 

the ten sixty-man companies as separate entities

 

an "assault column" mostly used to maneuver, 

notice how much closer the individual companies are to their colonel

 and how much more compact a formation it is to move about a battlefield

          I confess a very limited knowledge of Union battle formations and will look into it further so I might bring the gentle reader more photos of accurate formations while I have access to this interesting resource. I would welcome suggestions from readers with a more profound knowledge than I possess.

Gaming Update 19JUN21 7pm

        We will be gaming on 19JUN21 at 7pm at my place. Probably some early WW2 fighter plane action if things come together! Been itching to use these 1/72 scale models

Adjustable Flight Stands for 1/72 Scale Fighters

 

       I have been building these adjustable flight stands for some time now (ever since R.U.P. came up with the idea during our long-running VSF campaign). The actual process is rather straightforward and provides a sturdy stand that will happily hold most reasonably-sized models. For those of you who might want to build your own here is a step-by-step introduction to my method.

1/72 scale Lippisch P-13a by PM

        This one is an entry in the "What Were They Thinking" category. A plywood-built, charcoal-powered ramjet armed only with a pair of machine guns which was incapable of taking off by itself is the sort of thing that only the Benzedrine-driven minds of late-war Nazis could dream up. Wikipedia has further information. The model was simple enough but crude and the parts-fit was sub-optimal. The model consists of seven ill-fitted parts (the worst being that the canopy is too small for the opening) for the aircraft and four for the trailer (did I mention that the Nazis hadn't troubled themselves with any sort of landing gear, just a skid underneath). I wasn't feeling over committed to this build so there are some areas that would have benefited from more work but it just didn't happen. Still, it is a decent looking model of a simply daft aircraft.

KI-27 "Nate" 1/72 scale Haswegawa

 

       Another addition to the "Spats" collection. I always liked pre-war Japanese paint jobs, they doubtless have some recognition significance but I just like the bright colors on the pale gray background. This kit is the usual standard for 1970's Hasegawa, good outline, light surface detail which is mostly raised, good parts fit. The only concern during the build was that the hard plastic had gotten very brittle over the years and began to crack (shades of old Airfix figures came to mind). But a liberal application of superglue blocked the  cracking and things went smoothly enough. 

GAMING UPDATE SATURDAY 5JUN21 6:30PM

        We will be gaming this Saturday at 6:30pm at R.U.P.'s house. 

        Arab-Israeli air combat using Check Your Six rules.

  PLEASE NOTE THE CHANGE OF LOCATION

                   PLEASE NOTE THE CHANGE OF LOCATION.

                                 PLEASE NOTE THE CHANGE OF LOCATION