An Aquarium of Thorn Thickets

Dervish Jihadiyya fight from an 'Aquarium Thorn Thicket'!
Dervish Jihadiyya fight from an 'Aquarium Thorn Thicket'!

When BattleCry 2011 in Auckland was looming earlier this year I had promised Gerry from Castaway Arts to help with some Colonial TSATF demo & participation games (and provide the troops & terrain to save Gerry bringing it over from Cairns, Australia), and as part of that I wanted to try and have some new troops and terrain on table to add something fresh to the appearance. The troops were covered by the presence of the first of my Gunboats (which had just been completed for me by Kieran of 6mm Wargaming) and the inaugural outing of my British Infantry in Grey Uniforms (See the report of our third BattleCry 2011 TSATF Game). However terrain was a different story – as always I was leeching off Kieran for his Palm Trees – I do have my own, around 400 of them actually (and about 10 different types and sizes), but getting to basing and finishing them is a different story – but anyway, it otherwise was pretty much all standard stuff (well illustrated on this blog over the past few years). I needed something quick, easy, and cheap, to churn out a piece of quick new terrain…

Continue reading “An Aquarium of Thorn Thickets”

A Warlord Games Windmill

The Warlord Games Limited Edition Windmill
Warlord Games' Windmill

When I recently ordered a reasonable order of Warlord Games ECW figures (See Return to the English Civil War) to maximise on the postage I couldn’t resist grabbing a unique little ready-made model of theirs – the very limited edition Warlord Games Windmill. It’s a great model because it’s a typical small basic type probably seen all though much of North-Western (& parts of Eastern?) Europe, rather than a more substantial structure. This is great because it makes it probably usable from the Middle Ages right through to the 1960’s or so. What’s more, although it’s nominally for 28mm figures it looks like it’ll likely sneak in with my 20mm World War II and Modern stuff, albeit slightly on the large side!

The model is a Pillar Windmill – (from eHow) “The pillar is the most ancient type of windmill, dating back to the 13th century…

Continue reading “A Warlord Games Windmill”

I get myself a Dremel

Dremel 300 Kit
Dremel 300 Kit

Some recent discussion on the Auckland Wargaming Club group about dips and washes referenced the Tabletop Terrain blog (another New Zealand wargaming website), and while I’d past by occasionally, I hadn’t had a particularly thorough look around – when I did I came across an interesting reference to Dremel Tools being available locally here in Auckland, NZ, for a reasonable price. Previously I was unaware of them being available for reasonable money – I have seen them occassionally in the Hardware chain stores, but up to NZ$300-NZ$400 for a basic tool with no attacehmnts! So if you really wanted one it paid to import them from the US or Australia but still worked out fairly costly. Anyway needless to say I visited the Test ‘N’ Tools Website (they are located here in Auckland), and found them available (as Stu at Tabletop Terrain had said) for much more sensible prices, so I promptly ordered the Dremel 300 pack (essentially a starter pack with the Dremel Tool in a case and a small selection of attachments).

Continue reading “I get myself a Dremel”

Straw Doormat Wheat & Barley Fields

Union Zouaves passing through a wheat field
Union Zouaves in a wheat field

One of the terrain features both Kieran Mahony (6mm Wargaming) and I have in our collections are assorted fields, and one type is made from a straw mat. The following are some photos of the straw fields I have, these are part of a large batch Kieran made for he and I and a couple of other AWC Members. I’ve been asked a couple of times now about them in some of the photos so I thought I’d provide some clear photos of them and a basic outline of how Kieran constructed them. These are simple static fields and not the type designed to have sections removed to allow troops to be placed in them. Kieran designed them as partially harvested to leave enough room in most cases for troops to be placed in them without needing to bother with removable sections.

Continue reading “Straw Doormat Wheat & Barley Fields”

Ryan’s Basing & Painting Techniques

Ryan's Company Commander
Ryan's Company Commander

Ryan Davies is a member of the Crossfire Yahoo Group, and he recently put together a document detailing his techniques for painting and basing his 1/72nd scale figures – as a way to give something back to the wargaming internet community which he believes has helped him a lot over the years with his wargaming efforts. Ryan details how to cut bases from brass with a jewellers saw, his technique for labelling & indentifying his bases, and storing them.

Ryan then moves onto painting, especially soft plastic figures, covering how to paint, shade and seal them. He covers the merits of just brands of commonly available model paint, and the moves on to the actual techniques for basing the figures.

Continue reading “Ryan’s Basing & Painting Techniques”

I take a foray into Vac-U-Form Plastics

Amera Plastics Nissen Hut
Amera Plastics Nissen Hut

Some recent discussions on the Crossfire Yahoo Group brought up the old Bellona range of vac-u-form moulded plastic terrain. Many of you will remember these old classics from the days of Charles Grant, Donald Featherstone, and Terrence Wise, the terrain featuring extensively in their books, and later books by other authors such as “Operation Warboard”. For those like me, in countries like New Zealand, this was something you marvelled at in photos and wished you could get hold of… Bellona has long since gone out for production decades ago, although there was some suggestion the moulds had been purchased by someone in recent years to resume production – but to the best of my knowledge this is not the case. However the discussion led to Amera Plastic Mouldings, a company very much in the tradition of Bellona, and producing many very similar terrain pieces to the original Bellona range.

Continue reading “I take a foray into Vac-U-Form Plastics”

Roundie Town

The following is a brief photo gallery of the Auckland Wargaming Club’s Wild West Town, entirely scratch built by member Wayne “Roundie” Steward and photographed by member Kieran Mahony. It is the scene of many a gun fight by the clubs various “Posses” using Games Workshop’s “Legends of the Old West” rules. Continue reading “Roundie Town”