Murder Mysteries of the Raj

Last week I discovered a period mystery series by author Barbara Cleverly (almost a spoonerism for Beverly Cleary...).

Simla being the winter capital of the Raj, this at once caught my eye. It's the second in a series about Scotland Yard detective Joe Sandilands, set in 1922 India. An unusual period for a colonial series, but it does inspire some ideas for games set in the Northwest Frontier or the "Back of Beyond."

According to the dedication in the third volume, the hero is named for Brigadier Harold Sandilands, DSO, GOC Peshawar District during the 1920s.

Some of the atmospheric military elements in the series:

• A brief combat scene between Afridis and Highlanders in 1910, in which one officer is captured and tortured, left for dead but another officer goes back for him.
• Guns hidden under a fortified hut, and a race to prevent them reaching a tribe before it revolts.
• A house burned by dacoits and the hot-trod "posse" of Indian cavalry that goes after them.
• Life on a military "station" - officers' wives, polo, clubs, a regimental tradition of riding in pajamas to commemorate a famous battle.
• Fictional units named the Bengal Greys and Slater's Horse.
• A handful of VIPs and tourists coming out to a fort to see the "real" frontier, to the chagrin of the Army who have to look after them.
• Two of them are kidnapped and brought to an Afghan fort, while a Bristol Fighter is sent out to look for them.
• And lots of references to Kipling, including a few elements of plot such as the Pathan orphan who is adopted by a British officer.

This description of Afghan cavalry would make for an interesting conversion:

"They seemed to be a regular army force down to the waist but irregular frontier raiders below that. Chestnut silk turbans, loose khaki tunics, patch pockets, cross belts and aigulettes with, below them, baggy trousers and tall boots. Many were armed with spears which, taken in conjunction with the fluttering flags, managed to give an air of a medieval force. All, Joe noticed, were equipped with bolt-action rifles as good as anything carried by the Scouts."

Only the first four books of the series, out of thirteen, are set in India; the rest are back in England. They are:

• The Last Kashmiri Rose
• Ragtime in Simla
• The Damascened Blade
• The Palace Tiger

Enjoyable reads, and worth it for the inspiration and characterful descriptions. Check them out.

Painting a 3rd Edition Ruin

 I picked up this Warhammer 40K relic at Recon, and have been slowly assembling and painting it.

Undercoat with Chaos Black spray:

Basecoat of Army Painter Castle Grey:

I bought a GW large base brush for this, then made the mistake of using it like a drybrush. All those windows, hard to get the brush into or on them. I'll probably do a second coat.

Added a second coat, this time with a large drybrush, but like the first coat more of a rough layer. The lighting on these photos is poor enough that it's probably not noticeable; I wonder how much a lightbox costs, because the one at work is impressively useful. I will, however, have to do something like wood for the slats in the second floor.

Next a rough and heavy wash of Agrax Earthshade, with inadvertent pooling. Using this paint type takes getting used to.

I left the wooden slats untouched at this point.

A cat investigates.

My next effort was done outside, in the natural light of a Sunday afternoon. I enjoyed it, despite the heat.

A layer of Ash Grey on the upper floor. Not always successful
at avoiding the crevices...

Selective layer of Ash Grey on details, and a bit of edge
highlighting on the columns.

While idly watching some Games Workshop painting videos, I actually learned a tip that I've never heard before - and am too late to use here. When you're laying down color, don't go back over wet paint, because it's partly dry by then and the mix of dry and wet layers will result in a poor finish. So not just thin coats, but wait for the first to dry! Interesting, and something I'll definitely take care over in future.

Final pictures in better light:

The final step was to paint the wooden slats with 
Hardened Leather Speedpaint.

And a video!

I think the contrast with the floor is too stark, but I'm happy with the window detailing - which was relaxing and enjoyable. I think this is the first piece of kit-built terrain I've ever painted; it was certainly worth the attempt. I may go back and edge-highlight the rest of the jutting wall bits and possibly the windows too.

Space Marine: The Board Game

I picked up Space Marine this week. Partly to see if there were any solo mechanics in it (given that one side is a single miniature) and partly because it was 20+ minis and a heavy card "gameboard" for forty bucks, which is surprisingly good when we're discussing Games Workshop. The boards themselves are two for sixty bucks...

I haven't played the videogame.

The packaging is surprisingly
enviro-friendly; the paper envelope
contains dice, for example, and plastic
is saved by leaving the bases loose.
(Don't let your cat in the box!)

Assembling the titular Space Marine.
A bit complex for such a small figure,
it's hard to close the space between
the push-fit components.

The finished figure.

Three Termagants, enough for the first scenario...

... which covers basic moving, shooting and armor saves.

The dark lines represent walls - blocking line of sight rather than providing cover, but they look just the right size to fit the card walls that came in the Warhammer Alliance set, which will be nice if I get around to running this at work.

The rules are abbreviated:

• Both move 6".
• Marine gets two shots, hitting on 3+.
• Nids get one shot apiece, hitting on 4+.
• No wound rolls.
• Nids get 5+ armor saves.
• Marine has a 3+ save and five wounds.

After the first moves and exchange of fire, the Nids miss every shot.

After three turns, the Marine killed all three Termagants but took two wounds to do it. I think I see how the seemingly asymmetric "armies" (twenty critters vs. one Marine) are not as badly matched as they appear.

The Termagants (twenty of them, from the new starter set) are far easier to build, with four parts apiece. I am thinking of building them all, prepping them for "slap-chop" painting and then using them for a paint program with Contrast. After that, maybe small games pitted against the Battle Sisters ... but that's for another day, or at the rate this is likely to go, another year... A productive day as is. See you next time.

Slow going

Work and home have taken up a lot of my time lately. A sudden parental visit coinciding with a week-off and some urgent tasks at work have led to not much time to game. A few things I'm desultorily working on:

I do witter on a lot about books on this blog, but I discovered something useful today. The popular ebook app Libby (until recently known as Overdrive) has free access to two well-known wargaming magazines:

Screenshot from my library's catalog.

Miniature Wargames and Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy are two journals I haven't seen much of because, unlike the other big sellers of the industry White Dwarf and Wargames Illustrated, they haven't much web presence. A few issues are available on the semi-legal Scribd, a handy place for finding some out-of-print stuff like Airfix magazines. My library (or perhaps the app) are limited to about a year's back issues, but that'll take me a while to get through and enjoy, and they can be checked out for three weeks. Hey, they're worth the few pennies of my local tax dollars that paid for them!

The other gaming thing I've done is start in to painting the classic 3rd Edition Warhammer 40K ruin I bought at Recon:

Thus far, I've undercoated it in Chaos Black and based it in Army Painter Castle Grey, damaging a large basecoating brush in the process while trying to get inside all the windows. I may do another thinner coat; then I intend to shade it with Agrax Earthshade and highlight with Ash Grey for an aged, stony look. I'm undecided whether to layer, edge or drybrush the highlight, though; any suggestions? Maybe layer, then edge with an even lighter color. I've also just noticed that there are wooden slats at the edge of the broken floor, which should probably be in some sort of brown... I've been watching too many Youtube painting videos.

Finally, I reread Return of the Twelves. I never get tired of that one.