Awayday - Battle of Britain Bunker

Last weekend (8/9th September) was the annual heritage open days weekend and I went up to London in part to see the Battle of Britain Bunker.  Opening for individuals as opposed to groups has always been a bit limited, but it was a bit of a shock to discover the 2 hour queue waiting time to get in.  Health and safety meant that only a limited number could be down it at any one time because of evacuation difficulties.

I see that website now has virtual tour.   Only one of its kind left - there were I think we were told five to cover the whole of the UK, and this was the one that directed the Battle of Britain.

Worth the wait ?  Yes, since  may never get the chance to get inside it again.

Same weekend saw me also get to a big medieval tithe barn - Harmandsworth.  Saturday saw me in Central London:

Wallace Collection for an exhibition on The Noble Art of the Sword: Fashion and Fencing in Renaissance Europe which finishes on the 16the unfortunatley and no photography.  Only a few rooms, with perhaps 20-30 swords, fencing books, clothes and some other accessories.  Rapier hilt fashioned to look like chains or ropes etc.  As a three musketeers fan though this was my sort of exhibition. 

Another one that finishes soon 930th September) is The Horse from Arabia to Royal Ascot at the British Museum which in the first part has some nicely displayed stuff from Ur and other biblical kingdoms on the development of the chariot.  This then moves through the muslim world to the thoroughbreds that are the backbone of English racing stock.  

The morning had seen a visit to some fairly average exhibitions at the National Army museum with lunch an (expensive - this is Sloane land - but nice) salt beef bagel from the farmers market, and the evening was rounded off with lashings of German beer and sausage.   

Partizan 2012 (May 27th)

As always Partizan entertained and inspired me.  If I could only ever go one wargames show then I suspect Partizan would be my show of choice.  Quality participation games, quality demo games, and lots of the great and the good in the wargames hobby there. 

Firstly I must make big apologies to the staff at Wargames Soldiers Strategy - I didn’t take any photos of the naval wars of the Roses game. 

There are some pictures on the Too much Lead Blogspot and here at Another Slight Diversion

  

It was only going to be a morning visit as I had both mum to visit on the way back to the in laws and then to get back down to Exeter.  The plan was to start at the furthest place from the entrance/exit and work my way backwards.  That sort of fell apart as at 10.30 I was offered the chance to play Muskets and Tomahawks.  I was intrigued what was within this rule set given that I’m a fan of the fairly innovative SAGA and this is by the same author. 

For the most part the rules are very similar to what we have seen elsewhere – dice rolls to hit, dice rolls to kill (or save), dice for morale etc.   The cards reflect that this is a card driven activation system.   Where M&T has evolved is that rather than one card per unit (as per Battlemasters), and lots of rules from Two Fat Lardies (Which I also like) this give different numbers to different types: at its crudest analysis then irregulars like Rangers get 4 cards with one action (move, shoot, reload) per card, whereas regulars get 2 cards but 2 actions per card.  There is a bit more to the system than that – Indians, Civilians, Grenadiers, Officers and morale all playing a part along with optional event cards.  As I understand it so far (need to read rules) the contrast with the Two Fat Lardies system is that your cards are guaranteed to come up, compared with the “tea break” card that causes a re-shuffle although I’m not sure.   More on M&T and the French Indian Wars in a subsquent blog post.  

The Camera came out somewhat sparingly – as usual these days.  A few more pictures will appear on my next blog entry ‘scatter terrain’.  

An Arthurian game from Westbury Wargames

A VBCW game from the Gentleman's Wargames Parlour 

A Vinland game from Shaun at the Bunker.

In talking with him he did admit that lots of the rock - including that at the left had been reused from a '633 Squadron' game.  

A World War One game from Great War Miniatures.  Lots of really nice details in this and freely admitted to be a spatial compression game (so that a manufacturer can show off what they do) - the front line to the artillery to the supply tractors would in reality have been miles.   A nice change from the brown mud games.   

A Wars of the Roses game from Perry Miniatures.  As one might expect, this was stunning although I might have liked something that told me about the battle or the sides/heraldry (if fictional).  

Muskets and Tomahawks participation from Rich Jones. 

I probably spent more at Partizan on goodies than I did at Salute.  

        

~Muskets and Tomahawks

~Two Rice paddies (A4 size) from The Last Valley

~Song of Arthur and Merlin (Ganesha Games) - Ready printed copy from Dave Thomas

Various bits for M&T - Two Totem poles (Grand Manner) for use with Indians, Redendra Bell Tents for regular soldiers, Trade goods (two different sets) from Ainsty Castings, and some second hand French Indian Wars which I have now identified as Redoubt Enterprises (and good sculpts: I feel some Redoubt stuff is good and some poor). 

Chris

Legionary 2012

Legionary is my local show in Exeter.  It's had somewhat of a chequered history in recent years having been through several different hands and venues.  Alongside this has been the rationalisation of show attendance by traders and the effects of the downturn in the economy.   With Exeter being roughly 100 miles from Bristol then aside from any overnight costs its going to be a good 5-6 (if not more) gallons of fuel for anyone to get there and back from North of Bristol or West of Bournemouth.  In 2010 I'd been somewhat disappointed and whilst 2011 saw it move to the new venue as part of my general lack of enthusiasm I didn't go.
As always the show was very mixed - lots of Warhammer 40l/Fantasy and Flames of War from traders, and generally smaller local traders.  This does not always mean little league as for example Black Scorpion produce some of the finest figures available today in my opinion.   The Square and Dreamholme are some of the big producers of resin terrain.  None of these had much new though to interest me, and the first two (not sure about the third) were certainly at Salute only a few weeks previously.
A major part of the show in recent years has been the tournaments - Warhammer fantasy and 40K (Flames of War and Warmachine have been in/out as well in recent years) - which do not interest me at all.
The quality of the wargames on show seems to reflect the very variable nature of the hobby at the moment.  Some were very good, some were just disinterested in people around them, and a few (Saga / Dystopian Wars / War and Conquest) were linked in with traders at the show.
I'd arrived reasonably late on the afternoon and still had my stick re my bad back (see Salute blog).   I only got the camera out for two games, although a third featuring the Sudan was interesting but not of much interest to me to record.
Firstly a VBCW game from the Abbeywood Irregulars.

Next was a Victorian themed steam tanks plus HG Wells/Jules Verne "liftwood" aerial gunboats.  NOt something I particularly want to game but some excellent modelling being demonstrated. 

I had a quick explanation of the use of Strategy dice within War and Conquest from Rob Broom and Scarab Miniatures,  My copy from the Northstar sale had arrived that lunchtime and I'd not even had time to open it.  Had I been more organised then I should have allowed time for a walkthrough of the full game/rules.   

I bought very little at the show - a reflection probably of it coming only a couple of weeks after Salute and the traders that were there.  I got a few figures out of a bargain bin to convert into SAGA personalities - if its cheap when it goes under the hacksaw and I botch it then I'm not too upset.  One discovery made as I was literally heading towards the door, and people were starting to pack up /go home was some laser cut MDF terrain from Warmill - had I looked more closely then getting one of their cargo pods for me would have been on my list.  As it was I got a stargate (small centre one) for my chum in London.  Warmill are exactly the sort of small supplier with a niche product that I would like to see at Salute if the economics could be made right. 

Chris

   

Games Expo 2012

Saturday 26th May saw me get up at an unearthly hour - 5.45 I think to be on the road for 6.45 to try and get car parking at the venue in Birmingham.  In the end we didn't but were one of the first cars turfed out onto the side street and got parking within a hundred yards or so of the venue.  I got here for Saturday morning and had 9.30 til 2 pm at the show.   It encompasses everything - LARP - RPG - Miniatures - Boardgames.  To be fair the historical miniatures side of the show is varied and generally small - I think they had the UK Flames of War tournament one year.  This year it was a busy and well attended Warmachine tournament.  Mostly the miniatures side is the Horror/SF/Fantasy skirmish/collectable/display end of the market - the 28-32mm stuff.

I got to play a boardgame - Snowdonia - in what appeared to be a finished pre-production version.  Interesting resource management game but nothing military about it.  No pictures I'm afraid.  

There was a very nice Pirate game from Redditch Wargames Society which suffered somewhat from its location of being next door to the bring and buy and therefore lots of people nearby and somewhat crowded.

Lots of Buildings by Grand Manner (Spanish Convent and other peninsular stuff painted slightly different colours to be more grungy and piratey and less whitewashed Spain) and Cutlass rules from Black Scorpion.  There were some other miniatures games but generally of the Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror genre which don't do much for me.  

Total purchases at the show were two dice - with a logo on one side - as presents for others, and a couple of very reduced price but still in shrinkwrap boardgames, again to give away as presents.  

I didn't go last year (and not sure about the year before) but am looking forward to the change of venue.  The timing though now appears to be fixed which means that there is always going to be the clash with Partizan.  

Website is here - Games Expo

Salute 2012

Another month, another post...

Mid April saw me head up to London and Salute, probably the biggest wargames show in Europe.   As a one day show it's more of a shopping and networking thing than the chance to play, and with my hearing aid I find the general level of background 'white noise" such that it would be fairly uncomfortable to play games.    This year things were made even harder by my bad back from the week previously.  Fortunately my nice chum Andy took one look at me on the Friday and decided that he would drive to Salute on Saturday rather than use public transport, which meant no German beer for him in the evening...

I had an OK show - saw and chatted with a couple of friends.  The demo/participation games failed to make much of an impression on me for the most part, possibly because the best ones seemed to be repeats.  Notable exception must go the VBCW boys from the Gentleman wargames parlour.

For photo blog reports then Joe Dever does it much better than me.  

http://ilovewargameing.21.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=4000

And what did I come home with from Salute:

From the nice man at the relaunched Ainsty Castings the temple dogs and some cemetary gates (essentially pillars with brass gates).  Scots dice for SAGA from Gripping Beast along with Harold Godwinson, and some Jomsvikings.   Measuring sticks (for SAGA essentially) from Products for wargamers although having used them on the Sunday I'm now thinking if i should have bought the slightly more expensive "patterned" finish ones, rather than the smooth ones as they might provide a better grip.  

Next up is a MDF Viking wooden tent from Warbases and a MDF Roman Ox Cart from 4Ground.  Lots of MDF scenery on show from various people, and I've seen some other stuff later in Exeter.   Samurai Bunnies from Eureka miniatures and some plastic Ashigaru spearmen from Wargames Factory although I think mine were bought off the Gripping Beast stand. 

Last item was a copy of Flashing Steel from Ganesha Games although mine came from the Ainsty Stand.  I'm a long time 3 Musketeers fan so this was not a hard sell, and I'd been meaning to investigate Ganesha games because of their Arthurian Song of blades and heroes.   I've read through it a couple of times now and it seems a reasonably solid Skirmish with RPG elements (e.g. skills) type game, even if I was disappointed that the stats within the book are for Pirates rather than the Musketeers.  A post on the forum is to the effect that this is to avoid stifling creativity but I still feel that some benchmarks and ideas would be nice, especially given the title.   

On the Sunday I got out to Berkhamsted castle - again without camera but with stick.  Textbook motte and bailey castle that history seems to pass by after the the 14th century, although it lingers on into the 15th as a bit of sideshow.  English heritage also have a site.  

Chris  

Pirates

Firstly there is an arcane art in getting good photos of miniatures, and one at which I need to do some work.  The short answer comes down to getting out the tripod and setting a focal distance to give a good depth of field (and slower shutter speed, which means the tripod is necessary).  These are all handheld shots.  So apologies for quality but I wanted to post sooner rather than later.

Until a while ago I would never have bought pre-painted figures.  A combination of circumstances, time vs money, lack of skill and a need for quality models for demo purposes have altered that.  These were all painted by my chum John Csonka in Hungary - some were commissioned and some were presents.  The deal is normally modelling goods, figures, paints etc in return for painted figures as John can't just nip out and buy stuff in Hungary, or get much stuff at shows or mail order it easily.   As always I understand that Games Workshop is all pervasive.   John also has that skill of producing figures that "look good" when viewed - possibly its colour choice, possibly its painting technique.

The story behind these figures is that I wanted Pirate Captains (with a view to running Legend of the High Seas, although Cutlass has now also come onto the market) at the local club and I wanted different colours - so a yellow captain, red captain etc...

All the Pirate Captains

Top row in detail

Bottom row in detail

Here comes the Navy

Pirate Girls

Milady and some scurvy scum

Specialists

It's here and its good...

It arrived on Saturday morning and on the quick read through so far its very good value and an excellent addition.  Four new boards, which are all very different, and which are also very different from the first four.  Lots of spice and more different play styles.  

From the Gripping beast pages... 

SAGA Northern Fury
"They came from the North spreading terror before them and leaving desolation in their path"
Studio Tomahawk and Gripping Beast Publications are proud to announce a new supplement for SAGA!

Due 1st quarter of 2012, Northern Fury will give you 4 new factions to lead into battle, and contains the Battleboards and rules needed to play these warbands. It also has new Heroes of Viking Age for these factions plus a specially designed multi player scenario which will allow you to form allegiances and vanquish your enemies.

The new factions in the Northern Fury supplement are:-
The Bretons - These warriors fought on horseback using javelins and hit and run tactics to disrupt their enemies before dealing that killer blow
The Jomsvikings - Pagan warriors who's wrath and ferocity was legendry, historians still argue about their existence, but now you can field them in your games
The Scots - Descendants of the Irish migrants established on the western coasts of Caledonia, the Scots whose spears invited death to all who came near
The Anglo-Saxons - Sons of Ælfred the Great, they were known for courage and tenacity in battle, the Vikings feared them and rightly so, at the Battle of Brunanburh the seeds of England were sown

Alongside this publication we will be releasing new ranges of Bretons and Jomsvikings miniatures as well as a host of new "Heroes of the Viking age" to complement the factions to date.

Robots for £1

No point having a blog if I don't post the bargains I've found on it...

Today's bargains from Poundland were some Robots..  I'm not a Warhammer 40K gamer, but do hanker after SF and Cyberpunk RPG, and have got a couple of Science Fiction Miniatures skirmish sets.   Faction Wars from Fire and Forget games, which desperately needs some rules for vehicles, the free Chain Reaction 3 from two hour wargames, Void (aka Urban War) from Urban Mammoth and had been thinking of Tomorrow’s War from Osprey.   I'm much more a Total Recall, Bladerunner, Battlestar Galactica, and Firefly movie fan than Space Marines and Starship Troopers.  

A large box from the Walle movie of some years ago, and then some "Androidyz" which might be American aimed at the Italianmarket which arrive to Poundland via Russia... The Walle box was hard to see what you actually got aside from a picture and a description, whilst the Androydz were fairly easy.  

Close up of an Androidyz in packaging.  Per the flyer that comes with them then there were 24 different models.  Mixture of ones with weapons, to buzz saws etc.   I got "Night Shield" which has a stick, shield and gun - so can be some sort of security robot, and "Scuba Miner" which has a drill and claw for use as an industrial robot.   

Out of the box with some Games Workshop figures for scale comparison.   The Walle stuff as one might expect from a disney licensed product is the most sturdy and is part of a playset - the blue robot has a winching crane hook activated by turning the arms.  The Androydz have a metal wheeled chassis, plastic uppers and arms that move  at the shoulders.   All likely to benefit from a respray and repaint.   The mining robot is probably my favourite at the moment - might see about getting another one or two of the "engineering' style so that I can stencil numbers on them for a consistent workforce theme after the respray.  

The Dutch in 1940

Every so often I will come across a topic about which I know very little and use the power of the internet to research the answers.

Some of January disappeared in one such item – namely the Dutch in 1940.  My Dutch chum Jan had talked of the Black devils and paratroops and Holland wasn’t the walkover its lack of mention or time would suggest.  My knowledge on this was very poor – at least with Belgium I knew about the landings on Eben-Emael and the deployment of Brandenburgers (and how wearing an enemy uniform over your own but removing it before firing was within ‘acceptable” rules of war, dating back to Napoleonic periods and ships flying various nations flags…) but Holland ?  Nada, except that the Dutch resistance HQ in London was at De Hems which is one of my favourite drinking holes in the capital. 

The internet of course is your friend here..

http://www.waroverholland.nl/

Black devils is a reference to Dutch Marines at Rotterdam:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands_Marine_Corps

http://www.dutchmarines.com/History.html  

Re-enactor pictures here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/battle14/with/4609568630/

And was Holland the straw that broke the camel’s back ? 

http://www.waroverholland.nl/index.php?page=had-it-been-worth-the-sacrifices

Which then set me thinking about making Dutch Tram for use here, as well as in VBCW which has been on the back burner for a while.  

One ebay purchase later and we have some inspiration. 

I think if I take the roof off, remove the stairs, and give it a new roof and a repaint then it will do as a stand in for a single decker tram in 28mm scale.  

SAGA - dice

One set of rules that I have recently taken a shine to is SAGA from Gripping Beast which is miniatures plus dice on a battleboard.   Starter armies (4pts) are perhaps 30-35 figures, whilst the full 6 pts will put it up to 50-60 figures probably, so not an impossible task to paint.  Plus I can reuse my existing armies as well.
The game as sold uses special dice (although ordinary d6 can be substituted) with symbols on each face.    At £12 a set though its a fairly expensive option but the nice boys at Gripping Beast have made the symbols available so you can print your own and stick them onto blank dice.   So, a favour from a chum and I've got them onto laser label (self adhesive) sheets to give that a try.  Results as below.

This is the labels as they came out.  The square design soon proved difficult to fit on the dice that I had because of rounded corners and I resorted after the first dice to trimming the corners on the labels.  

This is a set of my dice - bottom white (Anglo Danish) contrasted with official dice from Gripping Beast (Vikings at top, Normans in the middle).  So far the idea seems good.  

The white dice worked OK, but the Green and Blue dice were going to be too dark for the black design.   Trimming off all the corners was starting to get to me as well - better to ask for another sheet from my chum with say octagon borders rather than squares and slight smaller, and in say a brighter colour - yellow or pink.   A web search came up with another supplier of blank dice without the same style of rounded corner and in brighter colours.  So, Purple (will still need yellow but seems appropriate for say Byzantines), Pink, Yellow and Lime Green.  

Original Beast dice contrasted in size with the new ones in detail.  

Fitting them onto a battle board.  The bigger dice do take up more space but not so much as to totally hide all the text.  

 

In the beginning

So, no painting done for a couple of days but I unwrapped and set up the portable/folding studio that will be the basis for taking pictures of bits and pieces and possibly even photos to sell some stuff (unpainted and unopened GW blisters or promo figures) on Ebay.