Painting at the Library

 So, that went well.

It wasn't nearly as chaotic as the first two attempts at this were. I spent about three hours and only had about a dozen takers - two to four at a time - which was much more relaxing. There were few enough that I could change most of the water myself without leaving the kids unsupervised. 

To be fair, most of the folks who came by were there for DnD, and many of them took a mini without having time to paint it. I painted three myself, mostly for demonstration purposes. There are fifteen left of the forty or so I started with. I did decide to stick with the four Warhammer Alliance types, though I added some of my own paints.

Undercoating went badly, partly because the canister ran out of paint. The figures came out ... dusty. Worked alright, but I think skipping the undercoat step might work for a project on this scale - the sample figures in the magazine are not undercoated, for example.

A few examples:

I even got in a simple game demonstration with a few of the kids, facing off single Space Marines and Necrons. A couple of the parents read through the magazines.

May add more photos when they are distributed by the staff member who took better ones.

The small, laminated paint palettes are harder to clean than they look; we tossed most of them and a couple brushes, but overall the kids paid a lot more attention and I managed to teach a few basic techniques. I had hoped to run a Youtube painting video for inspiration, but the screen was in use for 3D scanning.

Oh, and I asked a coworker to print a couple of Victoria Miniatures' "Space Aussies" for me:

Not great. Might try printing them at larger size instead.

It would seem the printers at work aren't the best for the job. We have one at the club now, though, so I may try it one of these weekends.

In related news, I have started reading Playing at the World, a history of early DnD which appears to have plenty about early wargaming - both board and miniature - to go with it. A thick and wordy tome, but good so far.

Looking Forward to Vacation

Planning a trip to Maryland to visit an old family friend in the last week of August. Might see a couple museums or something, but likelier to just relax and shoot the breeze - I want to get away from work. At least this month I won't have to do storytime as the auditorium we normally do it in will have its air conditioner replaced. (As a hint to how chaotic a mere storytime and craft can be, we literally do not have room anywhere else in the branch for the 30-50 people we typically get for programs!)

I'll still have chess and occasional other boardgames to run, as they have few enough attendees that they can fit elsewhere. I've also been building my Warhammer Alliance minis in preparation for a painting program August 9. Like papercrafting, I find assembling the little guys to be enormously relaxing - I have 18 of 48 done so far. Though I may stop at the half that are fantasy, given the DnD theme of the event. I also have leftover elves, dwarves, goblins and Skaven from old Warhammer starter sets that will look more like DnD character miniatures than the Space Marines and Necrons also in the box. After building, I'll undercoat them with the one spray can I have, white. I prefer light brown for figures that may end up any color, but white will also allow kids to experiment with Contrast paints if they like. I am a bit torn as I don't know the numbers we'll get; most will be playing DnD and we have five seven-player tables planned, plus a couple other "background" activities. It might be best to just use the Warhammer Alliance stuff to keep things structured. There's a good chance we'll have an older crowd too, more amenable to instruction to thin their paints and clean their brushes. (I'll finally have a partner this time to help refill the water!)

I missed my goal of finishing the BEF minis. I have 16 built and ten armless/headless bodies based, plus the prone figures who I haven't decided yet whether (or how) to put on round bases. 

An officer conversion has a cuppa while his LDV comrades
look on. My brother shouldn't have any problem painting these;
He doesn't know much about WWII but he has watched Dad's Army.

I also built six more of the Zvezda trees, but am struggling with the bigger ones. May have to try to get some completed Merit ones after all.

Readingwise, I am working my way through Henry Hyde's Wargaming Compendium for the second time; again, I find his style of wargaming writing (shared by the writers of Charge!, The War Game, and 1990s-2000s White Dwarf to be relaxing. And I need that. Also working on David Drake and Eric Flint's Belisarius series, about four novels in.

Oh, and I just dropped off two old military posters to be framed. Now I just need a second bedroom to turn into a gaming den...

*cough*cough*hack* Mk II (or is it III?)

Haven't had a great couple weeks. I took my entire course of antibiotics this time and still find myself sick now. On the other hand, my injured finger has recovered - while there's still a bit of pain I'm assured I can and should use it to strengthen.

• Finally obtained my second CS Grant scenario book, Scenarios for All Ages, after (like the other volume) it took three trips across the Atlantic. Shared with the late Stuart Asquith, there are a similar number of scenarios, mostly small and basic (only half a dozen units a side, most of them). To my delight, there is a version of Sittangbad from Charge!
• I've been a little more cautious with ebay stuff lately. I was looking for the OOP simple plastic trees from Merit that feature in The War Game, and while they're a bit expensive I found Zvezda trees which look similar. I received two boxes a couple days ago. They're a little fiddly to put together, but the smaller ones don't require glue and I've built about a dozen without pricking my fingers on the pointy edges too much. The larger ones seem looser. The very tops of the trees are easy to lose. Overall, they look like they'll go well with my Wofun 18mms. I found it easier to build them from the bottom up - largest layers first.

  

  Assembly.

  

  The tops of the trees would be just fine for very-small-scale games.

Completed. They seem hefty enough to stay in place without
basing, especially sitting on a cloth mat. We'll see.

• As of today, I've only got twelve of my 30 Wargames Atlantic BEF built; still hoping to finish them by August and then send them off to my brother to paint for me.
• Waiting on Victoria Miniatures' Space Aussies 2 pledge manager; I hope it and the 3dprint files might come in time to make a few on a YouMedia printer before August 9 (when I'll be visiting for game day).
• Speaking of which, still have my painting program to prep - will need to construct and undercoat the Warhammer Alliance minis before then. Another deadline.
• Reread the rules for Fistful of Lead, with the intent to try a couple solo skirmishes. I'm increasingly sure it'll work for Picacho Peak, if I ever get around to running it...

So that's it - another short post but with some hopeful progress. 'Til next time.

*cough*cough*hack*

Down with bronchitis again, ie a 4 day weekend. I probably won't be spending it gaming, because standing up and leaning over a table is harder than sitting at a pc or lying sacked out with a cat staring at me. So, more reading. I haven't gotten to Unsung Hero of Gettysburg or Queen Emma and the Vikings yet, but I have started on a duology about WWI cavalry - The German Failure in Belgium, 1914 and Chasing the Great Retreat. 

So far the first is quite absorbing. Clearly written amidst controversy over the Schlieffen Plan, the authors' contention is that the goal was less to "sweep into Paris" than to find, fix and get around the Allied left flank. Destroying armies is better than destroying ground. Whether the Germans recognized this at the time is, like the flanks, up in the air.

The key to finding that flank is reconnaissance, and it would appear that the Imperial Germans were not very good at it. I look forward to reading the rest.

In modeling, my count of constructed BEF is six of thirty. I belatedly realized I'd put a prone figure on his feet, so that he's on his tippy-toes and arching his back as he points towards the foe:

This is why kits should have instructions!

I will probably have to go back thru the figures afterward and add some webbing-equipment. I tend to build figures barebones, but with historicals I should maybe be more accurate. I'm leaving off the gas-mask pouches on this squad, but I'm not sure where to put the canteens or sure which bits on the sprue are ammo pouches. Hopefully I can find an Osprey book on the Battle of France for examples.

Well, that's it for this abbreviated post. See you again soon, hope your weekend is better than mine.

Reading Again

As usual of late, I haven't got much gaming done. There was a TSATF game at the club last Saturday that I missed. I might get something in during the Fourth of July weekend, if I can clear off my table:

Hey, at least it's full size now.

Been reading a lot instead. Just today, I received one of my Charles S. Grant books that has taken three trips across the Atlantic to reach me, an old classic:

I've only taken a quick glance through it, but there is plenty of food for thought. Two of my favorite scenarios, for one - Fontenoy and Sawmill Village. I hope to try them out at Das Krieg Haus one of these days. Sawmill Village and a couple others provide a choice of units to the player and the first, with about six units rather than the original four, would probably be enough for two players a side.

Several of the scenarios require map-moves - not quite mini-campaigns as they are over the course of a single day and lead up to a single battle. Others are for specific periods (mostly 20th-century, with airborne and one specifically Vietnam scenario), and there is at least one small-scale skirmish game, with a dozen guerrillas, 50 civilians, and a middling number of opposing troops. Charge! isn't quite designed for it, certainly not with my Wofuns, but there are enough minis in the club collection for a try. There are even a couple scenarios that would work in The Sword and the Flame. Rest assured I will take a closer look at this book and see what I can make of it. Playing the 52 scenarios at the rate of one a week is, while a tempting prospect, sadly not doable here.

A better choice for an "ongoing" project would be my 30 BEF plastics, of which I've still only assembled five, one of which I reassembled after its arms fell off. One a day, thus finishing them within the month, seems an achievable goal... though a plausible excuse for not finishing will be that I sprained a finger at work. Physical therapy is going well, but I suddenly wonder what the physiotherapist and gamer Donald Featherstone would have suggested for wargamers with injured hands... he seems to mostly have dealt with sports and dancing injuries, though (maybe he had early members of the Sealed Knot in to see him?).

Enough asides; what else have I been reading?

The Siege of Gibraltar, 1779-1782 by Tom Guffie - part of a "British Battles" series by Batsford. Fairly short, but comprehensive. I'm unfamiliar with the siege, but I've always wanted to visit the Rock and this scratches that itch. I'll look for more of this series.

The Boy Generals, by Adolfo Ovies - the first two volumes of a three-volume trilogy (the third appears to not yet be published) about George Custer and his rival Wesley Merritt during the American Civil War. The first volume covers events up to the end of Gettysburg, the second the beginning of Sheridan's Shenandoah campaign; the third will go to the end of the war. Merritt, who has been forgotten because, unlike Custer, he wasn't interested in publicity, was two years senior to Custer at West Point. They were both promoted to brigadier just before Gettysburg and emnity developed from there. While they're also absorbing biographies, the series is largely about the development of the cavalry from riders with swords (which Ovies characterizes as hussars), to mounted infantry with carbines (characterized as dragoons). Custer was basically the former sort and Merritt the latter, except that Custer seems to have used mounted action as a partner to Spencer carbines. Two of his regiments used firearms to pin the enemy while the other two got into position to charge. So while he was famous for his charges, he's shown to have more depth than is usually depicted.

Unsung Hero of Gettysburg, by Edward G. Longacre, is recommended by approving mentions of its subject in The Boy Generals. It's a biography of David McMurtrie Gregg, another Union cavalry general, which I haven't started yet but looks quite good. While he commanded Custer during Gettysburg, like Merritt he was unassuming and led an unrecognized if busy career. I look forward to reading it.

Queen Emma and the Vikings, by Harriet O'Brien - A biography of a Norman queen of Saxon England, betrothed to Aethelred the Unready and the mother of Edward the Confessor. Another period I'm not very familiar with, but looks very involved with a great deal of intrigue and interesting characters.

In "fantasy" news, my coworker who was going to GM Dungeons and Dragons at an August library event has had to beg off, which may put me on the spot. There is a meeting tomorrow to discuss plans which I hope to attend; at this point, while I am expecting to do a painting program in the background of the gaming, I don't yet know the space I'll have or the people who'll be backing me up. I like to think I've learned lessons from previous tries, so I will have plenty to say!

Thanks for reading. Until next time...

A Bit of Bolt Action

I went to Finn-Con yesterday, a small local convention in the library of Miami-Dade College. I spent most of it manning a table for the public library outreach, but got to take my lunch hour with a demo of Bolt Action. Second edition I think. (There was no point taking actual lunch, since the lines were half an hour long.) I've been meaning to try it as a test for Very British Civil War, so it was nice to see these books:

No historical scenario here either, just a handful of units on the board to demonstrate mechanics and a decidedly un-WWII table:

Not a bad trench table, with corrugated cardboard for the metal
sides and matchsticks for the flooring.

No idea what sort of armored car this is.

Finnish ski troops.

Assorted troops of many lands.

Australians.

We played across a third of it, and I came in during the first turn of a demo against Gabriel, who was playing British. I got Germans. Both sides had three infantry squads, a transport (SdKfz251 v. Bren carrier), a tank (StuG v. Cromwell), an officer base, and a special weapon (Germans: heavy mortar, British: sniper team).

The report will be a bit incoherent and misremembered, as I lost what few notes I had partway through writing this. Fun game, anyway.

While I've bought the small 3rd Ed. "beginner" set as a test for VBCW, I haven't yet absorbed the rules; in particular, the "pinning" rule stymied me. When a unit takes a casualty, it also takes a pin test, which if failed must be passed when the unit attempts to activate. Activation checks must also be taken if an officer isn't close by. They are roll-low on 2d6.

What I do like about the system is that it isn't entirely IGoUGo. Activation dice are drawn and the side that comes up gets to activate a unit. There also aren't saving throws, and an infantry unit that loses CC is wiped. (The rules may have been simplified a bit, though; for example the squads were only armed with rifles - no smgs or light machine guns.)

So, Turn 1: "The British are coming, the British are coming!"

Yeah, the Brits climb out of their trenches and head for the German lines. What is this, the Somme?

Well, no. A bit more like Cambrai.

One squad just walked across the top, another overloaded itself into the Bren carrier and drove. A perfect target for my StuG! ... which had already activated that turn. An 8cm mortar round into the open-topped vehicle? ... eh, needed a 6 to hit and missed. They could hit on a 5+ next turn if they chose the same target and it hadn't moved. Well... The British sniper team took out my command element, while my rifles and 251 MG concentrated on the dismounted squad, killing about half of them but failing to pin or break them.

In Turn 2, the Brits got closer - but not close enough for my back line, as rifle fire has a range of only 12". So I had to scramble my third squad forward. The StuG readied to take a point-blank shot at the loaded carrier - but had been pinned last turn and failed to activate - the lost command element would have provided a bonus to the roll. My rifles continued throwing fire into the leftward British infantry, driving them down to two men - who still didn't break.

The rightward Brits about to assault - their third squad can be seen coming behind.

In Turn 3, the Brits got into the trenches. I failed my rolls to fire into them as they closed, and lost the first combat. (Like 40K, dead casualties don't get to fight, and the attacker goes first, so...) My second squad assaulted back... and still lost the combat. My third finally cleared the trench, thus preventing the Brits from winning the scenario at this point.

During combat.

At some point during this kerfuffle, the StuG and Cromwell exchanged fire. I missed (damn dice!) and Gabriel hit, eliminating the StuG. My leftward rifles took on the leftward British infantry and eliminated them. And that was the game, from my POV at least, as I had to get back to work and presumably the GM took over again for the Germans. At that point, they had an intact Hanomag, mortar team, and a battered infantry squad, while the Brits had their Bren carrier, Cromwell, and an intact infantry squad and sniper team. I think I'd hurt his command squad at some point but not killed it.

While I'm certainly misremembering some of this, my impressions of the game as a whole are favorable. If Gabriel turns up in the comments I'd welcome his recollections. It was an enjoyable outing. The GM was one of the Bolt Action club that plays at a local store on Monday evenings, so I may see him again too one of these days. Thanks for reading.

Lastly, here's what little progress I've made so far
on my 30 BEF troops...

Vacation and a Bit of Inspiration

Visited family in Tucson for a few days, the first real vacation I've taken in years. Need to do a couple more soonish. The flowers were blooming:

I visited the Miniature Museum, which has a pretty fantastic collection, if weak on military subjects. I did find a few:

A Victorian parlor with a few South African souvenirs
on the back wall.

An ECW-era tower.

19th century toy buildings with printed paper for details -
very much the sort Wells might have used.

The glass screwed it over, but this is a 
tavern ripe for VBCW.

Details from a living room.

Napoleonic house with party going on, some officers in attendance.

The entire house.

Part of a WWII home front street scene.

A Scottish band, around 54mm.

A modeler's table.

A T34 diorama.

Part of an antique shop - there were a LOT
of miniature antique shops!

A village street corner - would love to borrow
this and play a cityfight game on it!

A few details.

A room in a "great house."

Another shot of the village.

A "green army man" installation made by 3d-printing local residents.

A magnificent and naturalistic Japanese house.

An enormous Christmas village that reminded me of 
Oriskany Jim's Christmas Carnage.

An 18th-century Jacobite house with weapons hidden under the floor.

I also got to visit my brother, who is really good at painting 40K. (Sorry, I really should've taken some pics.) He offered to paint some of my historicals for me, so I think I will build up the 30 BEF figures and send them with appropriate images and links for him to work from.

The first two Wargames Atlantic Scottish militia.