I’ve recently been talking to Tony Won (a wargamer & historian in Belgium) about various things Dutch-Belgian and Hundred Days related – Tony is a bit of a Hundred Days expert with 30 years effort on the subject, but is also a wargamer who obviously has some very nice models in his collection.
Continue reading “A Wonderful 28mm Château d’Hougoumont”Category: News / Resources / Reviews
Chitty Chitty Bus Bus!
A month or two ago I was lucky enough to pick up this Corgi Transport Through The Ages collectors set from a wargamer in Australia. It is a Limited Edition Military Transport Set consisting of an A.E.C. Omnibus and a Model-T Ford Ambulance. They are nominally about 1/56th scale so in theory ideal for 28mm figures and will be ideal for use with my World War I forces in the Middle East & Africa (ANZACs & Colonial British) and the Ambulance should be useful for the Eastern Front too (for my Russians). The bus is actually from Flanders 1914 and the BEF but I’m sure I can fudge it into some scenarios in other theatres somewhere! Perhaps the Russians had omnibuses?
Continue reading “Chitty Chitty Bus Bus!”Najewitz Modellbau Buildings Arrive
Over the past 18 months I’ve regularly looked at the models buildings and wagons (and the Berlin Tram) by Najewitz Modellbau in Germany – they look fantastic in the photos and I’ve always been keen to take the plunge – however the description of the material has always had me a bit wary – the wagons & tram and some of the smaller scale buildings being laser cut Finnpappe which they describe as “…no word for it in English dictionary is a product made of ground wood pulp. To say it is cardboard is the wrong title for it. It´s more similar to MDF, quasi ‘MDF-light’.” However the larger 1/72nd and 28mm buildings are kitsets of a resin material, the type isn’t clearly specified on the website – but I took the plunge recently and ended up ordering a selection of the 1/72nd scale buildings…
Continue reading “Najewitz Modellbau Buildings Arrive”More 20mm Eastern Front Buildings
Following on from my order from Lancer Miniatures I previously posted about, as mentioned I had ordered buildings from several other manufacturers as well, and my order from Area 9 arrived a couple of days after the Lancer one. Area 9 is a comparatively new manufacturer that’s started up in 2010 – in fact I only stumbled over them a couple of months ago thanks to a post on the Crisis In Alcovia blog earlier this year! They have some very nice looking stuff, and in the 20mm range I couldn’t resist ordering one each of their three buildings, and an assortment of wooden paling fences…
Continue reading “More 20mm Eastern Front Buildings”Some 20mm Eastern Front Buildings Arrive…
Right now my 20mm WW2 & Modern era buildings are rather bare on the ground – I have a couple of very nice larger 15mm TimeCast buildings (a Belgian Townhouse and a Petrol Station), and a 20mm bombed out German HQ Building from ESLO. Otherwise I have some plastic kits awaiting completion (Airfix Jungle Outpost & the 2 Italeri Farmhouse & Manor kits) and a 20mm resin Jungle Building from Frontline. So my existing Western Europe and new Eastern Europe theatre troops desperately need buildings for their games – not to mention long-term Mediterranean/North African and more Pacific/Burma stuff! Consequently I have been purchasing several new Western & Eastern European buildings from about 5 different manufacturers (i.e. Lancer, Area 9, Hovels, TST, Sentry) – and where possible have chosen to purchase them pre-painted to save time, and get some terrain (especially Eastern Front) usable as promptly as possible. The first of these to arrive are from Lancer Miniatures in the UK, which arrived promptly in NZ just 1 week after ordering.
Continue reading “Some 20mm Eastern Front Buildings Arrive…”
Samokhodnaya Ustanovka Arrive!
Yes, they are here, masses of Soviet Samokhodnaya Ustanovka (SU) Assault Guns and Tank Destroyers – part of (a larger than planned) arsenal I’ve been accumulating for my 20mm scale World War II Russian forces for Crossfire! The real bonus is being able to obtain off EBay 4 Forces of Valor model 85041 SU-122 models (representing a vehicle of an unidentified unit on the Eastern Front, Winter of 1942/1943) – and at a reasonable price – they are rather rare (as they were only ever manufactured in limited numbers by all accounts) and usually quite expensive (due to their collectability) – most recently someone was trying to sell a single model on EBay for as much as US$90 (although about US$40-$60 is more usual)!
Classic Wargamer’s Journal: Vol. I Issue 4
About four weeks ago the latest edition of the Classic Wargamer’s Journal arrived, promptly and quickly after dispatch as usual. There are articles, feedback, and AARs (After Action Reports) covering the WSS, F&IW, SYW, Franco-Prussian War, Colonial Darkest Africa, and World War II. Daryl Haselton continues his series on wargaming the Indian Mutiny in 45mm, and Peter Verduyn concludes his on a Tony Bath “Hyboria” style imagi-nation campaign. Other contributions cover the Wild West in 54mm, and a get together (care of CWJ) of a couple of OSWs (Old School Wargamers) in London.
Also included is more excellent discussion on the character of commanders, and of Charlie Wesencraft – an often overlooked contemporary of Charles Grant, Donald Featherstone, et al – as well as playing ‘floor wars’ (ala H.G. Wells & Robert Louis-Stevenson) with 42mm figures; and an interview with UK wargaming stalwart John Ray. And the issue concludes of course with the Tales of the Golden Head (a Colonial Skirmish ‘comic book’ style serial) and Conrad Kinch’s take on wargaming. As with Issue 3 there’s a pull out sheet with diagrams and instructions, this time for making a “Cardboard Flatpack Bomber” for those impromptu beer ‘n’ pretzels WW2 air wargames (and Issue 4 includes an AAR report of one such game using them)!
Continue reading “Classic Wargamer’s Journal: Vol. I Issue 4”
Empress 1840’s New Zealand Wars Māori and Colonial Figures
Roly over at “Dressing The Lines” has got his first batch of NZ Wars figures done, and I must say they are looking pretty smashing! He’s done a great job of them and also of giving the bases a New Zealand touch with ferns and tussock-like grass! Roly is planning to experiment with using a suitably modified “Sharp Practice” for his games, however this requires a reasonable number of figures (i.e. dozens to 100+), and Roly has the luxury of another gamer at hand doing the same period. I have been rather procrastinating over ordering some of the Empress Miniatures figures as I’ve been undecided about what rules to use – however I’ve pretty much decided on initially trying SDS (“Song of Drums & Shakos” – a variant of “Song of Blades & Heroes“), which will allow interesting games with just 6-30 figures a side… Needless to say Roly’s efforts are a much needed prompt to get organised and order some figures! The photo is a small lower resolution one of some of his figures – Make sure you check out the full set of photos at Roly’s Dressing The Lines blog… Continue reading “Empress 1840’s New Zealand Wars Māori and Colonial Figures”
Custom Moulding: Replicate Your Scratchbuilds!
A friend just pointed out the following Model Distributor who offers a nice service casting custom models for people who supply an original master. They say “Send us your scratchbuilt master model and we will make an RTV (Room Temperature Vulcanizing) rubber mold of your model. We can then make approximately 75-100 copies of the master before the mold begins to deteriorate.” With a cost of as little as US$8 for each subsequent resin casting of the mould this could well be a fine option for those people wanting to churn out several dozen copies of an original figure or model – although the initial mould creation does cost around US$175. Check it out at the Fidelis Models Website…
When You’ve Stuffed Up Varnishing That Model!
Try out the suggestion from the “Nice Manners For A Thief” blog’s “How to save your dipped models from the dreaded Dullcote Frost“. Frosting (or that whitish build-up on model s0 is usually caused by a combination of poorly mixed and/or old varnish and temperature – varnish is quite fussy about the latter and if it’s too cold to too hot when you spray or brush on the varnish in will ‘frost up’… HSHP’s article specifically deals with the issue occurring when using the dipping technique, but the general rule applies for all varnish jobs gone bad… Well with keeping this little tip in the memory banks.
Modern Spearhead Rules Back In Print!
For those who may not be aware I co-authored with Alex Macris the Modern Spearhead Rules that were published in 2000 – these were a development of Arty Conliffe’s highly successful WW2 “Spearhead” rules originally published in 1994. In the last year or so these rules have gone out of print and been difficult to obtain. We are pleased to say that there is now a reprint in progress and they should be available from July, and will be able to be purchased at Historicon 2011.
For full details see the announcement at ModernSpearhead.net.
From the Modern Spearhead website: “Modern Spearhead is an operational level game that is designed to recreate the view and challenges from a Brigade, Divisional or even Army Corps level – The player’s major issues are when to attack or defend, when to issue order changes to formations, and when to commit reserves, rather than focussing on what individual elements (tanks and soldiers) are doing.“
Table Top Teaser Anyone?
One of my enduring memories of wargaming as a teenager was getting my copy of Military Modelling and looking to see if there was a new “Table Top Teaser” by C. S. Grant (Charles Stewart Grant, the son of the author of “Battle – Practical Wargaming” and the single most inspiring wargaming book ever “The War Game”; Charles Grant); these ‘Teasers’ were a highlight of each issue (when present), and I used to imagine all sorts of ways to play them with the limited troops and resources I had at the time. It was especially trying waiting for the following issue with Part 2 of each Teaser, where the scenario was played out and an After Action Report (AAR) provided! While they only appeared over the five-year period 1978-1982 (there were 17 in total) they seemed to go on forever and always provided inspiration and a catalyst for ideas for future games. I had always planned to drag my old Military Modelling and Battle magazines out and scan these all into PDF or similar electronic format for my personal use, so I could more easily go through them when looking for inspiration or planning a new game.