Bonnie Blue Flag Rules

Some of the kind people at the Wargames club have been running a couple of BBF games to teach me the rules. I have read the rules a number of times but had only played it once. After finding out they played the game there, it wasn't long before I had arranged a game. We're going to play again next week too, I'll be an expert by the end of all this.

So, it's been a real treat playing with people who know the rules back to front. I even managed to add my input into a couple of the rules they were getting slightly wrong. After doing years of research has given me a slight advantage and to be honest, I too used to get the 10% rule wrong. It's 10% of the number needed not just 10 and under on a D100. I used to get this wrong too until I read other blogs discussing the rules.

The players use Wufun figures to keep the weight down on transporting armies to the club. I think my heavy 28mm metals would probably give them the cold sweats.

A really good idea that I gleened from one of the players, was to use some sort of counting tool to help with the adding and subtracting. I looked on eBay and managed to find this counting slider which is actually a score counter for table football.

I've added a dot in-between the numbers to count as fives. This little tool really helps to take all of the mathematics out of your head and put it down on the table.

A simple set up with club scenery.

50% needed to roll over...quite a tricky roll.

I did take my D100 this week for a laugh. The other team borrowed it and it ended the game for them with a failed roll. The Union retreated after loosing their centre regiments, leaving the cross roads for the Confederates to take.

 Another good night and I'm really grateful I've found people willing to show me the ropes.

Here are some shots of our first game where I took some simple terrain along. Teddy bear fur wheat fields are a classic for ACW games.

For me it was nice to use a lot of my collected bits and bobs from over the years.

The Wufun figures look very effective and after a while you stop noticing they're 2D.

Cardolan soldiers

while I had the plastic kits out, I took the opportunity to put together a few more Fighters for the Cardolan force. This is a slow burning project that is just ticking along in the background.

I wanted to see what the cultist arms would look like on the Oathmark humans. Very nice is the answer.

The heads are Victrix  late Roman ones I believe. They have the perfect look I was going for with this noble, yet doomed troops.
 

More cultist arms on an Oathmark heavy infantry torso. The resin shield is from eBay.  It's a early Gondorian one from the movies and should help with the Middle earth feel to the warbands.

These Oathmark heavy infantry figures make for great Cardolan soldiers. The other set does too, lots of chain mail and leather.

The cultist knight archer arms are really nice, far too good to use on orcs.

The cultist belt packs are really useful bits too, I thought of my Dwarves when I saw them. They are nearly all gone now, I may need to buy another box.

Long swords of good quality to turn the tide against the foul folk of Angband. More late Roman heads from Vitrix.

New Kit Bashing Opportunity

I saw this new box set of Frost Grave Cultist knights and thought they could make great orcs. Sure enough, they are ragged with brutal weaponry, very orcy.

 They also have corroded, pitted armour and weapons, which again makes them ideal for Goblin folk.

 I went back to my old favourite heads for these figures, the Warlord games plastic orc ones. Not only did they look the best but they had a ball neck joint that fitted perfectly into the new Frost Grave torsos.

They stand a little straighter than other plastic sets so could make good Half orcs. The first in the line here uses the head and arms from an Oathmark orc set, just for variety.

Amongst the new cultist set was this nice cloaked torso. This is too nice to waste on orc filth, so I turned them into warriors from Cardolan.

 The flowing robes looked great for a ranger type character. 

Sean Bean lives and fights again!

UPDATE: I thought I would see how the new Cultist arms looked on the old Warlord games orcs. What I like about these figures is you can make them very hunched over, very goblin like.

As there are lots of spare arms left on the sprues, these figures seem real value for money using up all the left over bits.

This is a cultist knight head, there are a few that can be used for orcs. The shield is from a Wargames Atlantic Afghan set.

The War Against Chaos

As noted in Wargames Illustrated, my hobby work area was a bit cluttered to say the least. It looks more like a fine artist's floor than a hobby table. 

Well, all that is about to change! My wife and I got to doing some talking and a cunning plan was hatched to order some more storage boxes that could be put up on the wall. 

The first plastic box experiment had worked so well for the Vallejo style bottles, that the idea of buying a few more seemed to be a great idea, getting all the dropper bottles off the work top and on the wall.

It was by chance really that I found this type of storage box made for a great paint rack. It's clear so you can see through the sides too to help you locate colours. It also keeps the paint by the top of the bottle, with the paints laying horizontal in the storage.

On getting back from a Roleplay meeting, I found my wife had put them up for me as a surprise and filled them. 

 

I had a few more dropper bottles to add from the Chaos horde, but the hobby table was looking a lot clearer.

 It might take a bit of time to get used to the new system, but at least now I can see the actual paint colour rather than search through a sea of white lids.

Finding the odd straggler still hiding in plain sight, he will soon be categorised and processed don't worry.

Originally the paints were stacked in rows of three, meaning nine paints could be stored. However, on messing around with them, I found by stacking them three,two,three,two, ten paints could fit in the space. This looser formation also meant the pots were looser and easier to get out.

For the first time in many years the clouds of Chaos start to pull back to reveal a clear sky.

A wall of paint is revealed in the gleaming sun. The last bastion of clutter wars.

There is still a way to go, but this is a great start. I have to admit the clutter had started to affect my painting a bit. There was so much on the table with unfinished projects that I had gone a bit snow blind with it all. 

Having a place to store half my paints off the table, will guarantee a free working area clear of bottles in the future.

Look! See there, a figure has entered the clearing...get him!