HPL-athon

Playing a horror game at the Club tonight, and it brought back memories of the old KGB.

Found these on YouTube.

It’s not to the tune of Queen’s “Bicycle Races”, but still.

And who could miss this? (where did I leave my copy of the Necronomicon?):

Title Says It All

This came on my CD in the car as I headed out to get some essential supplies this morning. They are a great band, I was boogying along the seafront with the aircon on, heading for an early shop – which then included the new CD “The End”.

Supplies – oscillating fan (it was 20°c at 0900hrs) and an LG widescreen LCD monitor (yup, I finally disconnected my CRT unit).

When I got back, the Boxer rifles pack from Old Glory was waiting for me. I only ordered it when I was editing a video after midnight on Thursday night/Friday morning. Good going. I’ll get all my figures to the same stage of prep and then wait for a rainy day to get a wodge painted.

So much to do before I can disappear to the hills with a clear conscience.

If you haven’t figured it out – I survived another teaching year, and I’m looking forward to next year. Emotionally and physically, I’m having a big clearout at home and at work. “Hello, Trail? Yup, I’m cancelling my subscription”. Life is too short to get dragged down by other people. I can’t define my life by what I am not. I like problem-solving, I like helping people, I like learning things. I am a geek. No more, no less.

Poor Choices By Me

Even James Mason could have done better.

28mm Renegade Early WW1 German figures gone to ground. A scenario from "Rommel’s Route to Verdun" from Tuesday night’s game using “Price of Glory” rules.

Knife Rest

I’d glued the stained matchsticks together a few weeks back, and ordered some more barbed wire from Barrule.com Before starting my paperwork today, I snipped off some model wire and wrapped it round the frame. A few dabs of super-glue, and it’ll be ready for staining at tea-time.

The plate is from Osprey’s “Fortifications of the Western Front 1914-18”. A book I’d used before, and wish I’d had before starting to model my trenches.

Over the last fortnight, I’ve managed to re-line about half of my trench sections with stained and snipped coffee-stirrers (big box bought from eBay). All manual labour, takes about an evening per section. Nice and relaxing. I reckon they look better than the underlying matchstick version.

Of course, it now means that the height of the trench has been reduced, but I was always needing to revisit that with sandbags and earthworks. But that raises a storage problem, so I guess I’ll be making these in lengths that will sit on top of the trenches.

Wulverghem and Messines Window Cleaning Co

For our third game of Iron Ivan’s “Price of Glory”, I wanted a decent objective. Looking through my books, I found the linked craters in Ospreys “Fortifications of the Western Front 1914-18”. A trip to B&Q last Tuesday evening found the saw working, and a sheet of 6mm MDF was duly cut to size.

A miss-burnt CD was used as a template to cut the holes in the polystyrene, and PVA glued the cut shapes to the baseboard.

The edge was finished with masking tape, and some plaster filler was used to cover holes in the polystyrene. Strips of plaster-coated scrim (aka ‘modroc’) covered the model, and was used to shape small shell-holes and parapet.

Bish, bash, bosh, coat the lot in watered-down PVA, then a couple of coats of burnt ochre. I’ll still need to get a finish to the trenches and a final surface that I’m happy with. Good enough for a Tuesday game.

The forward base is out in ”no man’s land”. The trenchlines are merely symbolic of the relative positions. The raid happens at night. Only support weapons can, well, support the raiders and raidees.

The objective. I’ll need to make a firestep to use with the sandbags.

The coloured ‘gem’ markers (aka ‘joob-joobs’) seem to work well. Green here depicts a casualty to that unit.

With the whistle blown, the British make a dash for the crater, and a bitter mass melee ensued. There was much cursing or dice-rolls, and promises to the gods of fate.

The question I was left with was: should I, as the German player, have fired off a flare to illuminate the scene as soon as I detected the British assault? I did, but it allowed the opposition to see my positions too, unleashing a battery of Stokes mortars.

Price of board: mdf 5 boards plus offcuts = under 8 quid. Polystyrene = free. Maybe 3 quid’s worth used of paints, scrim, filler, pva. At a guess, the board cost me a fiver. It isn’t finished, but is useable.

Figures: Renegade and Great War Miniatures

(previous games)

Minnie and her Flying Pigs

Another game of Iron Ivan’s “Price of Glory”. We had an introductory game two weeks ago. Since then I have been determined to get some terrain made.

The work allowed me to cover a 4 foot wide, 6 foot long table (see previous). The barbed wire is from Barrule’s workshops and is supplied in 30 foot lengths. I used 3 packs just to provide enough wire entanglements to cover the table-width.

Being me, I’d done some extra prep and made up some unit sheets. They seemed to speed up deployment. I merely copy/pasted the army lists into a word processor, and if there were 2 units listed in the OOB, then I copied them twice. Print on card and laminate before slicing into strips. Bish, bash, bosh. At which point I find that I’ve not enough riflemen for a 3:1 ratio against the Allies.

With Tommy Atkins unaware of the offensive (“Great War Miniatures” figure, painted by Hugh), I drop all the off-board artillery that I can reasonably pochle onto their HMG positions. Being me, I had made up ‘character sheets for my guns (additional background information from Landships website). Ideally, I’d like to have the off-board artillery set up on a side-table. I also need a pronunciation guide – if only to stop Carlos from grimacing.

Small groups of stormtroopers rush forward, supported by two MG08’s and some MG08/15’s. We quickly ... sorry, that should read “I quickly” … noticed that it was difficult to keep track of unit casualties, so started using the ‘Eldritch gems’ markers for losses. yellow means the unit has been activated, red is a morale failure, and so we used green for casualties.

I’ve still got a lot of work to do on the terrain. Especially to put a finish on the trenches. Then to expand out with communications trenches and a proper second line. Strongholds to be modelled, etc etc. From a rules viewpoint, they are great. With the deployment cards, I can think about adding a random element to the set-up, veterans and green units. Neither of us want to do the “rush the guns in daylight”, but it proves that the rules can cope, and a realistic outcome is obtained. Two units of German infantry get near the wire, but the rest are failing morale rolls and heading back to their trenchline.

Next time, a night raid. I may need to build an OP.

Berms and Funk Holes. W.P.

I deleted the introduction. I need no rationale. I blame reading “Charley’s War” when I was a kid. The more I read, the more I want to do it right. Painting the right uniforms. Adding the right mud. My skills are limited but I can try. Taking my time. Reading more books. Looking at more photographs. Taking my time. It won’t be ready for Christmas.

Workflow:

1. 600x300mm polystyrene sheets. Masking tape to protect the edges.
2. Then applied ‘modroc’ (sheets of plaster-coated scrim). Shallow bomb-craters were made by rolling up the scrim into a tube, and then shaping it into a circle.
3. Plaster was then applied (using “no more cracks” as it is pre-mixed and promises not to shrink).
4. Watered-down PVA glue was applied to the surface, sprinkling on some ‘ballast’.
5. I had settled on a standard base style for the figures, so will be building up the terrain boards, trenches, etc to match. I used Daler-Brown 223 Burnt Umber, mixed with water in a plastic tub.
6. There is still much dry-brushing and maybe even getting some more realistic-looking craters. The markers are “Eldritch Gems” that seemed to work on Tuesday, so I ordered some for myself.

Each stage taking about 3 hours to dry. Having completely under-estimated the task, so I ran out of various supplies last weekend. I expanded the trenches that I had made before, deciding on 3 lengths per side. If each were separated by 3 terrain boards (3 x 300mm), then I’d need 9 boards, not the 4 originally intended. More modroc, more paint, more plaster, more PVA.

Since I was in the creative frame of mind, I dug out the pack of Humbrol “Air Clay” I had bought a couple of Decembers back. This was what I bought it for. I tried various techniques, but settled on one where I roll the clay into a tube, flatten it into a rectangular section, and then cut it into the right size with a Stanley knife. The knife naturally ‘nips’ the clay, so minimal footering is required.

1. Once on the crumpled carrier bag, the air can circulate under the clay, drying more evenly.
2. I decided on plastic-card for a base, scoring it to provide a purchase.
3. I used some of the models to give me an idea of what size the emplacement would be. The bags are then glued in place with PVA glue. Allowing one layer to dry before moving to the next one.
4. I then textured the inside and out with the same plaster, and then painted with water-down PVA to seal the materials, and strengthen the walls.
5. The whole model was then painted in the same brown as the terrain boards, before dry-brushing with a different shade of brown (Citadel Foundation Khemri Brown).
6. I’ll paint in any ‘holidays’ when I notice them.

It may not look as good as one made by an expert, but the clay cost me a fiver, and the plasti-card about two quid for an A4 sheet. It doesn’t take much filler, nor paint.

Opposing with manly firmness his invasions

On this day, we had to have a wargame involving the American War of Independence. We rebels won.

25/28mm figures from Front Rank and Foundry.

Kirriemuir

Kirriemuir, originally uploaded by dimacleod.

I'm at a wargames show in Kirriemuir. Targe it's called. Should be a fun day. I might even last the whole day and not give up and go home.

Club Night

A close-up taken with the Nokia 6220c phone’s 5mp camera (with flash). Do I care what applications the iPhone 3g has, when the camera on it cannot approach that on the Nokia (at the moment)? I can guess that it will change, but such it the marketplace in mobile phone technology. And we users can only benefit.

Long live the Digital Revolution.

28mm WW1 figures painted by Hugh. Wall by Games Workshop. Ruined church by Hovels.

Trip Flare

As it is an overcast day out in the World, and I’m rebuilding the PC and staring at the washing machine (positive healing vibes, positive healing vibes), I dug out the newly arrived Hoya R72 infra-red filter, and set up some wargames figures on the coffee-table. A halogen table-lamp is close-by the right-hand side of the scene, the camera is set to a 15 second exposure at f/5.6 and ISO 200. After some fuzzy shots, I remember to switch off the automatic focus. Not great, but a start.

Best to get these basic mistakes out of the way early…whilst no-one’s around, and in the warmth while supping a cup of coffee.

How I Paint

I got some new wargames figures in from Great War Miniatures recently, and took some photos along the production line.

Background

A recent game had shown me that my small collection of Late War WW1 Germans were short on PBI. I had too many special weapons, and not enough rifles. I was limited to manufacturers that work well together, in this case either Renegade or GWM. I ordered a variety of packs from the latter.

Preparation (Saturday morning)

Opening the packs, I used a knife and files to remove the small amount of moulding flash. Then I glue the figure onto a base. For a 'skirmish' game, the figures are based singly. I use a 1 pence piece here, with a small magnetic disk glued to the underside (so that the figures do not move in the metal storage box).

I have to wait for the glue to dry, and then apply more glue to the base and sprinkle on 'ballast'...and wait for that to dry. So I complete the earlier batch of figures on the right-side of the table.

Base Layer (Sunday morning)

With the base dry, I can apply the black undercoat. I use a Games Workshop "Chaos Black". Expensive to use in bulk, but I find it works well.

The figures rest, temporarily, on a 2 pence piece so that the painted edges of the base do not bond with the cardboard working tray.

Mid Layer (Sunday noon)

I now dry-brush the figures with a coat of GW "Codex Grey". This highlights the main areas for painting, giving the figures a more 3D look. All this helps me envisage what I'm painting. I can also see any 'holidays' where the undercoat failed to reach.

I then work on the bases. This is a 3 stage job, painting it in light brown, then applying a darker brown wash, and then dry-brushing in a different shade of brown. I'm aiming for a brown appearance here. During my research stages, I had decided that I wanted to depict the trench warfare stages of the Great War. No grasses or dashing uniforms, but mud and grime. All my Great War figures have the same base colours. Mud reaches up boots, shoes and the legs of horses. HMG crews end up with a 'plimsoll line' of mud and I only paint the parts of the clothing not covered in mud.

And now, Paint (Sunday & Monday evenings)

With the preparatory work done, the figures are now ready to paint. How do I know what to paint? Well, I cheat.

When I first start a new project, I look into the military structure, uniforms, artwork, photographs, movies, re-enactors, and the like. I buy a lot of the Osprey Books (which contain much of the research already), and use the Internet to find images of the period.

I then start building up a painting card, trying out shades of paint that match the image I want to portray. I hate mixing paints as I can never recreate the mix again, so I buy shades of paints. And from different manufacturers too.

And paint some more (early Tuesday evening)

I tend to grab a paint pot and just paint. I tend to work in layers, painting the dark flesh holding the rifle before painting the rifle. that way, if I go "over the edges", the upper layer will mask the mistake.

I'll split up figures into groups. Similarly posed figures will be separated by helmet colours, so gameplay is facilitated and any groups of "camouflaged stahlhelms" don't look too 'samey'. Some of the figures had earlier tunics, so I added the red piping. I used to be able to do that on 15mm tall figures, no I find it fiddly at 28mm scale.

Eventually the figures are completed, and each one gets an inspection to make sure I haven't missed out anything.

From timings, it looks like this batch took about 8 hours of painting. That's approximately 20 minutes per figure. Of course, if I was painting one figure, it would take me longer than that. Economies of scale apply here. If I wasn't enjoying painting them, the task would become a chore, and painting takes longer. So I prefer to strike whilst the iron is hot, and focus on one project at a time. Larry's pie chart shows the sad truth about wargaming projects.

Protection (Late on Tuesday evening)

Figures are transported to the custom-built varnish-spray laboratory, and are coated in a fine cloud of matt varnish. I never liked gloss varnish, but if the heating system in the bathro... custom-built varnish-spray laboratory varies, the matt varnish can end up shining like gloss.

 

Passing out Parade (early Friday evening)

Each figure is then dusted in a coat of Tamiya Weathering Master Mud, Sand or Light Sand, depending on how random I feel. Above, the figure on the left has not been dusted, but the one on the right has been dusted.

If you need a scale, each figure is just over an inch high. I am not good enough to paint in eyes and other facial details. A poor job is more detracting, and I can argue that at the distance depicted on the tabletop, fine detail would be obscured from view.

 

Marching Orders

Wargames figures have to be transported around. People have various solutions. I kindly got offered some magnetic strips that I can affix to the underside of the figures' bases. This allows me to use old biscuit tins and the like, and the figures don't move around much. Instead of dividing up the carrying box into small compartments, I can fit more figures into the box.

Job done.

I'll need to make some terrain for them, more trench sections, blasted forests and the like. The last thing I'm concerned about is which rules to use. The look and the feel is more important to me. A visual depiction of some of the hell that these guys suffered through in the service of their Father- or Mother-land, their Republic or Kaiser.

Trench model continues

Having added filler to the polystyrene blocks, it was then a case of spraying with car paint (filer primer first, then Rover russet brown) to get the basic brown appearance. I'll apply a wash and drybrush later. The aim is to match the same muddy brown of the figures' bases.

I decided to use matchstick for the duck-boards instead of coffee-stirrers as the latter looked too wide at this scale.

A flesh wash over the matchsticks stains them, and raises the figures up, doubling as a fire step. Still a lot of work to do to make them look more realistic.

Figures, 25mm Wargames Foundry WW1 French.

Cold Turkey

I've been away from the computer for over 24 hours. Though not exciting, I've been focusing on a wargames project that I said I'd get done during the holidays. A few of us at the wargames club are looking at recreating the horrific reality of the Great War trench warfare phase.

Stage One. Trimmed and glued polystyrene sections to 600 x 150mm MDF (nicely cut to size in B&Q). The sections will be at the end of the 600mm wide base-boards.

Stage Two. Coated polystyrene with filler.

They won't be as good as these ones, but the aim is to create a modular system of trenches for tense night-time raids across no-man's land.