Trenches for The Quar, Part II Blocking -in the trenches

       The handy tool that I had when I made my Great War trench board has long since burned out so I was forced to come at things from a different direction. The design that Zhodani Commando approved was based on 2" squares, so I began by making a bunch of shapes out of green-board in multiples of two; 6"x6", 4"x6", 4"x4" and so on. From there it was a simple matter to start assembling these on the wooden base-boards to match the design on the graph paper. I roughed up the surfaces of the foam with some 60 Grit sandpaper to ensure that the glue got a solid grip. I use Titebond wood glue which is water-based and won't react with the foam. I drew lines on the surface of the base boards to make sure that the trenches lined up going from board to board to avoid any unattractive dog-legs at the joints.

 

the first board getting laid out, a cross between Tetris and Legos

(I was never any good at either of them!)

Another Terrain Project, this time it is a Quar thing

 

 

some of my Great War trenches

        My endless taskmaster, Zhodani Commando, has fallen under the spell of the latest release from Wargames Atlantic; The Quar. I was aware of this little niche in SciFi/Steampunk gaming from previous contact with Zombiesmith, and it has an amusing mythos and some interesting minis. Being a stone-cold historical gamer (wink) I resisted the urge. The release of inexpensive plastic models tempted but did not seduce; I cannot say the same for Zhodani.  The essential idea is that there is a race of anthropomorphic ant-eaters that are trapped in a perpetual war that blends Steampunk with Great War technology. To provide something for his armies of Quar to fight across Zhodani  need some entrenched terrain that has been blasted a bit by artillery. Having seen my Great War trench board Zhodani asked if I could build some geo-morphic boards for him. Having no big projects on the table at the moment I agreed (why does it always go like that?).

Game at my place, Saturday 8JUN24 7pm

 The title pretty much says it all. 

 

We will be giving "Here's the Ruckus" a go.

Medieval skirmish game, simple rules, looks like fun!

For you ambitious types yo can see the QRS here

Put A Spot Of Paint (and some bases) On It ! Ottawa Longhouses, Part II

        Some time ago I started  building some Ottawa Longhouses for my friend Zhodani Commando. They have sat untouched for a couple of weeks now and I felt that I had best get them off the "To be painted" pile before I forgot about them entirely. As it turns out it only took a couple of hours and they were finished. The process was a progressively lighter series of drybrushing going from dark brown to a pale brown-gray and them some line work to pick out the saplings that were the outer frame. 

 

the base-coat was Krylon Dark Camouflage Green

 

 

then a heavy drybrushing with Americana Soft Black

 

 

and then a nearly as heavy drybrushing with a 50/50 mix of Soft Black and Slate Gray

 

 

this was topped with a lighter drybrushing of Medium Gray

 

 

then the sapling frame was picked out in Honey Brown and the doors painted in Lamp Black

 

The models were so light and wobbly that they would get knocked around during play 

so I decided that they needed some extra heft and went ahead and added bases

Bolt Action Operation Overlord at Michigan Toy Soldier 06/08/24

        Drew and Pete at Michigan Toy Soldier have been working their backsides off on this project for some time and it promises to be a treat for the eyes. I have seen their work before and can attest that it will be well worth a trip to the store to view in person! I plan on attending just to get some pictures. Being a bit of a lazy sod I'm not going to type in the entire announcement but will add pictures of the handout below.

Wargames Atlantic 28mm Medieval Foot Knights 1150- 1320

       In conjunction with Footsore Miniatures new Baron's War rules and minis Wargames Atlantic has released Foot Knights 1150-1320. This set of figures depicts European Knights on foot clad in complete chain-mail and wearing (mostly) Great Helms. They are perfect for the Crusaders in both the Holy Land and around the Baltic Sea as well as for the Baron's War in England and innumerable conflicts on the continent of Europe. A hugely versatile set to say the least!

       The minis are cast in a medium-hard gray plastic that takes the delicate detail of the chain-mail very well and exhibits no flash and very little in the way of mold-lines. The figures are separated at the waist to allow different positions and have individual arms and heads. The minis wear the calf-length surcoat over their mail and are provided with heater style shields and headgear that varies from bare-headed to full-on Great Helms. The chain-mail is very finely sculpted and other details are very well executed too. Most arms have the weapons cast into the hand (which to me at least is very much preferable) These minis take me back to my childhood days of buying individual Timpo 2nd series Crusaders at K-Mart for forty-nine cents each.

 

box front, with a nice illustration and, more importantly, some very well-painted minis

Wargames Atlantic 28mm Citizens/Gangs of Rome

       Every once in a while you come across a set of figures that you just know will more often used outside of the purpose intended by the sculptor. Wargame Atlantic's  Citizens Of Rome set is just one of those, the versatility of this set is near limitless. The way that the figures are broken-down and the vast array of options provided (which would be greatly expanded by access to even a limited "spares bin") mean that you are apt to see these lads popping up all over the Classical Ancients scene!

       The stated purpose is to provide minis for the fun and intriguing "Gangs of Rome" miniatures game which it will to perfection. The set is cast in firm, medium gray plastic with no flash and few mold-lines. The minis are sectioned at the waist and arms with the usual individual heads. Some will be unhappy about the amount of assemble required but it is crucial to creating the individual characters required by the rules. In addition it allows for a simple staggering number of options to create troops for your armies and unarmed figures as the innocent citizens of Rome.

 

front of the box, just another day in ancient Rome

28mm Wargames Atlantic British Expeditionary Force (and Dad's Army)

       The folks at Wargames Atlantic keep finding new areas of the plastic minis market that others have failed to explore, this latest offering is an example of that; the 1940 British Expeditionary Force. Like it's precursor, the Old Contemptibles, the B.E.F. was highly trained, well equipped and tiny. It also had the additional and unfortunate similarity of being led by men entirely unprepared for the coming conflict. Fortunately this lack of ability did not apply to the common soldier and the individual parts of the B.E.F. fought bravely and with skill. The minis are cast in the usual medium gray plastic with no flash and only the faintest of mold-lines needing clean-up. 

       The troops represented give you everything needed to build a 1940 B.E.F. platoon except a Boys Anti-tank Rifle (which could be easily modified from the prone Bren gunner, which I intend to do!). This isn't a huge liability as the Boys was unpopular for being large, heavy and generally ineffective and was probably "lost" at the earliest opportunity. 

       An interesting addition to this set is the inclusion of obsolete and imported weapons to allow the player to represent the Home Guard, a.k.a. "Dad's Army", that was raised to protect Britain after the debacle at Dunkirk and the fall of France. These include the Lewis Gun, a Browning Automatic Rifle  and a couple of Springfield M-1903 rifles. These can be used to reflect the desperate days when England felt that it was under dire threat of invasion. This is a great inclusion for players wishing to play out a scenario from Operation Sea Lion

 

front of the box, its nice to see well-painted minis as box-art

Blackpowder Napoleonics, What if Napoleon had waited just a bit....Prussian vs Russian 1816

        To celebrate the return of The Trunkmonkey from his extended sojourn in Japan (sightseeing, not work) we decided to throw on a Napoleonics game (he had been working on his Russians before he left and my Prussians had been gathering dust since December of 2021). The scenario is based on the idea that Napoleon had gotten better info on the back-stabbing and infighting at the Congress of Vienna and sat things out while negotiations were degenerating into the Conflict of Vienna. With Napoleon still cheating at whist on Elba the Powers fell into hostility and then armed conflict. Thus we find the Prussians and the Russians arguing over who got what slice of Poland.

       The battlefield was a sleepy town in the plains of northern Poland, which we see below.

 

the Russians, being the smaller force, were tasked with defending the town and the vital road junction

they deployed on the hills and in the town along the upper edge of the picture

Scratchbuilding 28mm Ottowa Longhouses, Part I

        As so often happens to me a request for some unusual terrain from a friend saved me from the "Curse Of Idle Hands". In this case the stimulus was provided by Zhodani Commando who asked if I could build some Native America Longhouses for use with his 28mm Ottawa figures. I took a moment to consider the basic structure (a long narrow building with a curved roof and either bluff or curved ends, barely more complex than a box) and agreed. As usual I forgot to consider the finer details, as we shall see further down the page.

 

notice the immense size of the longhouses and the pallisade around the village

a very nice illustration that I nicked from Researchgate 

28mm Perrys, Dutchy of Warsaw Elite Companies 1807-1814

        Fresh from Perry Brothers studios comes Duchy of Warsaw Elite Companies 1807-14; the companion-piece to their Duchy of Warsaw Line Battalion 1807-14.  This set is everything that we have come to expect from the gifted hands of the Perry Brothers; natural poses, perfect proportions, exact details, a host of options and ease of assembly. 

       The figures are cast in a firm medium-gray plastic with no trace of flash and few mold-lines. The design and breakdown of the figures simplifies assembly and painting by making the backpack, coattails and hanger all one piece that can be painted separately from the figure and assembled onto the miniature afterwards. I have found that this saves no end of time and effort. The minis in this box will provide you with the Light Troops and Grenadier companies that often served in amalgamated battalions. This set provides all of the various types of headgear worn by the troops and comes with a color brochure the provides all the information that the gamer needs to paint their troops.

 

box front

For Liberty and Freedom! OR Stamping out the terrorist enclave; a trip to Central Africa in the 1960s with R.U.P.

        Last weekend Rich Uncle Pat put on one of his trademark Cold War in Africa games. In this instance we played SPECTRE rules instead of the  usual modified B'Maso regime. Please excuse the gaps in the photo record as I was busy absorbing the new rules and often forgot to snap pictures. Further games in this genre by Rich Uncle Pat can be found here.

       These rules emphasize the limited amount of command energy that a force has, your CinC only has so much "processing power" and if he focuses his attention in one direction others areas will stall. The command energy is represented by Momentum Chits, these can be expended to cause units to take actions, a unit may be given any number of chits and can perform an unlimited number of actions (with progressively diminishing returns) until the supply of chits is expended. 

       The game is played in a modified I-Go You-Go system; the Attacker moves first by selecting a unit and having it perform its actions, the Defender may expend their momentum chits to react to Attacker moves. This continues until the Attacker runs out of momentum or chooses to stop. The Defender then may move and shoot his units in reply using his remaining momentum (if the Attacker has reserved some momentum he may interrupt the Defender's actions) This neatly handles overwatch and pass-through fire without any cumbersome rules. Shooting inflicts hits that are mostly reflected as Stress but may occasionally cause actual wounds or kills. In all it is a rather elegant system.

 

another of R.U.P's exquisite tables, 

the defenders mission was to avoid destruction, 

the attackers were searching for hidden supply depots