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

Fortified Places Fort Watagua

 

 satellite view of Fort Watagua from Google earth

I (rather inexpertly) erased the modern amphitheater from the picture

       A recent trip took me into eastern Tennessee, always on the lookout for places of historic interest (there are more than a few in that area) I took the opportunity to visit Fort Watagua, a reconstruction located in the Sycamore Shoals State Historic Park. The park alone is well worth a visit but the interpretive center and reconstructed fort are top-notch. The rich history is explored through the visitor's center displays and multi-media presentations and is most evocative. This link to Wikipedia provides a good background to the development of the area in Pre-Revolution times.

Death Or Glory brings Warhammer 40K tournament this Saturday at Bastion Gaming

 

       Death or Glory will be bringing their tournament play of 8th Edition Warhammer 40K to Bastion Gaming this weekend. All the competitive slots are filled but please stop by and take a look at the cool minis and terrain. This stuff is inspirational. Take a look at the pictures below for a glimpse of the event they ran earlier this year.

 

Tom, the intrepid leader and brains behind Bastion Gaming

Goodies from halfway around the world

 

a couple of additions to the "spats" collection, a couple more for the "Polish" collection 

and a big "What were they thinking" with a Caudron CR 714

        I find it odd that when I am digging through Ebay  that I can often find cheaper kits and MUCH lower shipping when I look at sources overseas. I located these brand new models coming out of Poland from a source called Sukceno with an average price of $5.50US and shipping in the same amount they were cheaper than old kits for sale here in the 'States. Service was excellent, each kit was bubble wrapped then put back in the box which was wrapped and sealed in plastic-wrap the whole groups was then packed in another larger box and well padded with styrofoam and bubble wrap. Shipping took less than the three weeks that were suggested at the time of the order and he combined the shipping costs saving me even more! I highly recommend this service.

Not Even Half-way Finnished

        Having built a slew of Russian aircraft last week I pushed ahead to try to complete a portion of the opposing Finnish force. The air force that served Finland in the Winter War and in the Continuation War was a polyglot accumulation of aircraft that were secured from a wide variety of  sources. A good many planes continued to served well past their "best if used by " date simply because there was no alternative.  I have but a few of the types that flew with the Finns but will continue to add to the collection as opportunity allows. As it stands now I have a pair of Fokker D XXIs and a single Curtiss Model 75 (known here in the States as a P-36).

 

I reviewed and built the Revell P-36 here,

 it is a nice little model that goes together very well

A way to conduct hex-based movement without hexagons

        My recent efforts into building air forces for pre/early WW2 air combat has me looking at rules sets. Almost all of these operate with hexes as the unit for controlling movement and weapon ranges. They are also unified in the idea that the game will be played with 1/300 scale models. Being as my collection is 1/72 scale models adjustments will have to be made. To begin with nobody makes playing mats with 5" hexes, thus I would have to have them custom-made. Secondly there would be no other use for said mats and third I would have to find some place to store said items. On top of all that I would have to pay for them! This simply would not do. Another method would have to be found.

       At first I though of some sort of appliance, such as is used with Star Wars X-Wing or the cards from Wings of Glory. These free the game from the constraints of hexes with it's odd 60 degree turns but pose logistical complications in fabricating the many different maneuver markers (as well as the issue of handling and storing these large items). One of the things I liked about Check Your Six was the chart with the possible moves that a plane could make clearly laid out in the corner of the player's sheet. These show the path and orientation of the aircraft making the maneuver. How to reproduce that movement on a table without hexes was the trick.

       At first I thought of using hexes cut from MDF (I'm sure that there are a couple dozen places that would be happy to do that for me). The problem being the expense combined with the bulk and weight, additionally I'm not a patient fellow so I didn't care to wait for them to arrive. Casting my eye about the workshop I spied a pile on card discs that were left over from a arts& crafts project with one of my granddaughters. Circles stack into hexagon patterns naturally (see a honeycomb as an example) so there had to be a way to make them function as hexes.....

       Then it came to me............

Gaming Update, 8MAY2021, 7pm

 We will be gaming this Saturday 8MAY21 at 7pm at my place