War Games Terrain Tiles

 My new house looms closer by the day and my thoughts have turned towards my up and coming war games room. For many years I have lugged a huge heavy piece of 6x8 MDF around the house to use as a gaming board. On one occasion it carved a channel out of  the stairs when i dragged it down them to set up a Roman game. It really is a dead weight and is just too big and heavy to move around with ease.

I have started thinking it's time to start over, a new room, a new gaming board. I have been thinking about terrain tiles! I have always liked the look of these and especially like the ones which are carved away to form river beds, roads and fords etc.

Can anyone out there recommend any good makes of gaming tiles for me?

Many thanks Secundus.

Author Rant

I have been reading a book this week while on holiday about the memories of a war gamer's life. It tells of his childhood collecting cap guns and reading Commando comics, playing with Action men and then Britain's toy soldiers( all this leading up to his joy of war gaming). I had read all this and was awaiting his chapter on him getting his first Fantasy figures which later progressed onto historical, but no. Instead he started to rant about Games Workshop and tear holes in the whole fantasy side of  gaming. He even went as far as saying poor old Tolkien should be put against a wall and shot for his part in the fantasy genre! At this point the book stopped being much fun for me and my reading started to tail off (I swopped the book for my HotT rule book instead). I will make myself finish it as I am almost there and there might be a small chance he can redeem himself. However, once you know someone is a history purist there isn't much point reading on. He also alienated me by slagging off 'collectors' who just put there figures on shelves and dust them once a year instead of gaming with them. This really put me out because due to space restrictions It's what I've ended up doing myself. Note to self...If writing a book on War gaming, don't slag off half of your demographic.

I myself don't mind taking the Michael out of GW, after all they are greedy bast@rds, but If It wasn't for them and the other companies back in the Eighties, I wouldn't have got into war gaming at all. There is a lot of good things to be said about the Fantasy ranges and their games and even though I joke about them, I can't ignore all the hundreds of hours of enjoyment my friends and I got out of them as teenagers. Even now reading HotT, I have started to look through my old collections and enjoy them again. I haven't played a Fantasy game for well over twenty years but I can't forget where It all began for me.

Anyway, that's it, rant over.

My rant was quite nice really, after reading two pages of the book to my friend, he was ready to murder something...probably an orc or some other made up f@ck. Thanks for listening and enjoy wargaming, no matter what bloody genre it is.

Moving House...the Lead Nightmare

Well after thousands of years hording metal figures the time has come to finally start packing them up to move. Cupboards, wardrobes, the loft and practically every sideboard in the house has delivered a box of forgotten warriors of one shape or another. I knew I had heaps of lead in the house but even I was surprised by a few boxes, that 28mm Saxon army in the loft was wiped from my memory about ten years ago. It's a strange mixture of joy and disappointment when you find them ( but mostly joy).

My figure display cases are now empty after the great evacuation of last weekend. I prepared myself for a really stressful day, but in the end it wasn't that bad. By the end of the day units were being packed at break neck speed. I was depressed to see just how much dust had built up over the years, my French blue Currasiers could of doubled as grey confederate cavalry when I finally removed them from the top shelf. Has it really been that long since I have moved them? Storage boxes may be the way forward after this grizzly discovery.

I used 'really useful boxes' to box my figures up, they were indeed...really useful. They come in a huge assortment of shapes and sizes, so I have managed to get some to store my scenery in too. This may be the way to go in the new house as storage room is going to be limited in my new war games room. Yes, you heard right, I now have my own hobby room to mess around in. Well that's the idea anyway, but we will see.

                                                                                            
  The new house is going to soak up a lot of free time so it may be a while before I can settle back into painting and gaming. Don't worry though, the hobby will still take up 98% of my waking life with reading rules and planning armies..always planning. It will all become good in the end once I'm there and settled. It will also be a relief to know that all my lead is in one room and not scattered across the galaxy in tiny boxes.

I have also been reminded of just how heavy a box of lead can be, with a biscuit tin of 'Black Tree Design' Ancient Germans almost pulling my arms out of their sockets on trying to move it. I'm realizing now that the packing was the easy bit...the actual move however will be another story I'm sure. 

My wife actually checked with the architect of the house to ask if the upstairs floor would be strong enough to take my thirty years worth of lead...he assured her there would be no problem. We're good to go!

Re-enacting the Prussian Landwehr

 Here I am at Chalke Valley festival of History last week. It was a boiling hot day and the dark wool uniforms became like ovens in the heat. This is me learning the drill, complete with Landwehr beard. I upgraded my sideburns for the weekend.

 It was quite hard learning a new drill, but even more so because the landwehr drill in German! After a while I started to get the hang of things as some of the words did sound quite English. I like the fact that even the language has been adopted so that we sound as well as look authentic.

 I got to fire my first flintlock musket as well which was amazing. After all my years reading and drawing history, I finally got hands on with it. I was amazed at the shower of hot gun powder that blows up when the gun goes off. It was a little scarey at first with the noise being louder than you expect, even though I hear them going off all the time next to me. I think I am now hooked!

Here is a nice group shot with most of the regiment marching in formation. My musket was a replica Brown Bess I bought ten years ago. I was very pleased to be using it in anger, as I thought It would just sit in a cupboard for the rest of it's life. I will apply for my shot gun and black powder licenses soon and when I have them, I can buy my own working musket and take the fight to the enemy. Until then, I will have to rely on the old cold steel!

 Being the man with the replica gun, It was my job to die in glorious fashion every now and then. I enjoyed this very much. I also got to play a Frenchman on the second day to help the poor old out numbered French...this was the highlight of the weekend for me.

Here i am on the second day in borrowed French uniform.

The excellent pictures were taken by Pat Patrick, Sarah Ford and Barry James Wilson.

Zing-zong Fleets assualt Inner Core, The Great Evacuation Begins

Zing-zong Heavy battle cruisers engage Bactain Class 4 frigates in high orbit.

Time to pack up and leave once the Zing-zongs show up. You can't beat a good space battle, saying that, you can't beat a Zing-zong Heavy battle cruiser either. Let's get out of here.

I can hardly hear myself think around here with all these blasted klaxons going off!

Re-enacting the Napoleonic Period

 Here is my list of things to get and rough notes on my new kit. If you haven't guessed already I plan to join a Prussian Landwehr regiment. Once you start re-enacting and meeting new friends, things can quickly get out of control...in a good way.
The picture was just a poor excuse for me to draw and colour up a Militia man with all his kit.

There is also talk of doubling up as French infantry in some re-enactments, to help the poor, heavily out numbered French re-enactors. This should be quite easy with just a few tweaks to our equipment. Apparently our drill is very similar in style to that of the French. Secretly I'm looking forward to playing as French infantry, I have always had a soft spot for shakos. Also, I have studied and painted so many of them in 28mm, I should be able to take what I have learned and put it into a new hobby.

Watch this space...

Basing for Regimental Fire and Fury

 

 Here we see another unit rebased for RF+F, these are large Renegade figures. Renegade make nice figures,even if they are on the slightly large side of 28mm. Best keep them in units together rather than mix them with other manufacturers.

 The larger 30mm deep bases allow for even these standing figures to have a little character, with sergeants walking in between the ranks. There is even room to put a fleeing soldier who has seen too much and has decided to retire to the rear.

 

It's an important note to remember to blow off the excess flock as it does tend to stick to the figures after basing is finished. Something I haven't done yet on this regiment.

 I tend to give some bases four to a base, this adds variety and comes in handy for command bases with their two standards.

"Get back in rank Johnny" no..he's gone.

Regimental fire and Fury

 The Union battle line surges forward.

 Below is the old Union units waiting to be revamped. The mighty Iron Brigade is next in the firing line.

 

Finished Bases in Battle

 

 I really like these new bases with their added depth, It now means figures have more room to be placed and a line can become quite ragged. This is a vast improvement to my old basing where figures were in straight geometric lines. Also, as mentioned many times before, these deeper bases can now house fallen and wounded characters, adding to the atmosphere of the game.

Finished! Time for War!

You can see on the picture above that I have dry brushed the tufts with yellow Ochre to dry them out and add to the dead grass look.

The rocks are now dry and give off that Devils Den look.

 

 A staggered firing line struggles to hold formation under the withering fire of the enemy.

 "Give'em the cold steel boys, give'em the cold steel!"

 

 

Finishing Touches and Tufts

 

  So the three layers are now dry. The dry looking base layer, the layer of dry looking stones and the third layer of 'Meadow grass'.

 This looks good enough to go with as it is, but recently there has been a flurry or excellent basing products to the market that can really add a little extra something to a base. mainly grass tufts from MiniNatur and Silflor. Other companies have copied these products now and they can be found in a number of good hobby shops and Websites. After all these added extras there is no chance of seeing any figure bases anywhere!

 

 I like to use the winter variety of tufts, as these can be dry brushed to fit in with different seasons. For example, for these ACW bases I will dry brush them with an Ochre yellow, so they look dry and parched. I learned this gem of BigRedBat.

 

 The granite base coat dry, I then dry brushed them again using Foundry's Granite 'C' colour paint. I also found some undergrowth flock and parched static grass on the Flames of war website. I have been trying to locate 'yellow' static grass for ages and finally tracked it down.  Both these products were added to a selection of bases to add variety.

 

 'Parched' static grass made by 'Force Nine' was added to areas of the base in small patches. These were little finishing touches that helped create that American feel.

Basing with Flock

 

 Now that the PVA glue is dry we can paint those slate rocks.

 

 I chose Foundry's Granite 'A' colour to do the first coat. I also covered some of the surrounding gravel with the paint to blend the stone work into the base.

 

Another huge attraction for me rebasing these old figures, is the chance to add little dioramas to them. Fallen comrades, rocks and small bushes all add to the playing pieces and set the mood and style of the war. By mixing up the poses of characters, a real struggling battle can be achieved.