tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33989976809619775522024-03-12T22:13:52.091-05:00Wargaming from an ArmchairBillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17886933129961582137noreply@blogger.comBlogger74125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398997680961977552.post-7228944362820067972016-03-05T12:07:00.000-06:002016-03-05T12:07:24.781-06:00Combat Patrol - France, 1940<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Combat Patrol is a recent set of WWII skirmish rules by Buck Surdu. I think they are the most innovative and easy to use set of rules for this period I have seen. Using cards to resolve all the actions in the game keeps the focus on the game and not on rules and charts. In my experience, after two or three activations new players are having no trouble with understanding how to play.<br />
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I had done one Combat Patrol game with my local gaming group. They liked it, and asked for another one. Some of the main people were out of town this week, and we only had 3 of use. I used a scenario my brother did with another set of rules. Always an iffy idea. It goes to prove once again, that no scenario survives contact with gamers.<br />
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The scenario was set in France, 1940. The French are trying to wire a bridge to blow. There is a security force of one squad and an MMG. Another squad plus a Panhard armored car is entering across the board because they have heard that there is a German force coming to keep the bridge from being blown. <br />
The Germans have two squads, an MMG in a captured French truck (need to buy some German trucks) and a Pz i and a Pz II they have managed to get across the river upstream.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-33RnmWTj0Pc/VtsbDft13pI/AAAAAAAAAbM/18OHqklDmQU/s1600/20160303_184004_resized%2B%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-33RnmWTj0Pc/VtsbDft13pI/AAAAAAAAAbM/18OHqklDmQU/s400/20160303_184004_resized%2B%25281%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
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This is the German starting position after some activations. The orange dice are the activation dice. Each leader rolls a die at the start of the turn, and the dice is placed beside the unit. Buck usually uses a more subdued die color for this. As I wanted to take pictures, I used a brighter color. There is an activation deck with numbered cards. That deck is shuffled and you turn a card. The units with that number by their leader are activated. There is a process for deciding which unit goes first when two or more units have the same number. This is all explained in Buck's Youtube video about the activation process. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0G9UBH2ccdk<br />
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Now, as I said, no scenario survives contact with the players. Light tanks can move quite a ways in this game. Don, playing the Germans, proved this on his first activation when the Pz I went all the way up the road and attacked my French engineers.<br />
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He missed, but unlucky for me the same number came up the next card turn. His Pz I was now firing 2 machine guns at close range with no moving mod. He started picking apart my engineers before my security force could react. I was playing the basic game, since it was fairly new players. there are rules for reaction fire that might have affected his ability to do this. Another lesson learned. <br />
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There were victory conditions for each side. The French had to blow the bridge and get the engineers off the board for a major victory. The Germans had to prevent the bridge being blown and destroy the engineers for a major victory. The Germans did this handily. <br />
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The rules work very well. You use the cards for moving, firing, determining if cover affects the shot, where the shot hits, etc. You can use either the basic rules for wounds, where a wounded figure only activates on certain cards, or you can use the more detailed rules that show where the figure was hit. The cards also do the vehicle combat. The players quickly know what they need to hit with their units and the modifiers, which are on the cards. It all goes very smoothly. <br />
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Buck has also done a Youtube video of how resolving hits works with armored vehicles in the game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIFdOkNWsfo<br />
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I am enjoying these rules. After I play a few more times I plan to take them to a con in the future to demo them.<br />
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Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17886933129961582137noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398997680961977552.post-14228697462322315292015-11-15T22:32:00.000-06:002015-11-15T22:32:41.911-06:00Combat Patrol: WWII, First Impressions<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Lately I have gotten the bug for WWII skirmish. I saw that Buck Surdu was publishing a new set of WWII skirmish rules called Combat Patrol: WWII. Now, I happen to think that Buck's G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. rules are one of the best small unit sets out there, and I have played them many times. I decided to buy a copy. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The rules are available from drivethrucards http://www.drivethrucards.com/ . The game uses cards for almost all randomization, so cards are needed to play. A set of cards includes the activation deck and 4 player decks. There is a set A and a set B. Only one set is needed to play most games. For large games you might need more decks for more players. A set of 4 player decks and an activation deck is $27. A pdf copy of the full rules is $5.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The cards are very high quality. These are professionally produced cards with rounded edges. They are going to last very well. The font used on the pdf is not my favorite. It does the job, but a more modern font would help. Its a quibble, and possibly my own. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The rules are well laid out. First is a very comprehensive table of contents. I had little trouble finding rules I needed. The first 8 pages give the basic rules, and the next 3 pages have a sample scenario. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I decided to set up a small scenario to try out the rules before I spring them on my local club. Now, a disclaimer. I don't like solo gaming. I have never been able to get into it. This was simply to get a better understanding of the rules. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I thought I had a picture of the whole setup, but I guess I forgot. The basic scenario was two French squads defending a crossroads. They were in various types of cover. One half squad was behind a fence. One was in a building, and the other two were in woods.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The Germans were just outside of minimum range. They had 3 squads, and had to assault and take the crossroads. They were only going to have 5 turns to do this, so they had to move out. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This is one squad of Germans looking across at the French. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The way movement is handled is that each maneuver element rolls a die and that die is placed by the leader of that element. This is done for both sides. Then the activation deck is used. You take a card and turn it over. I was not using the special cards, only the number cards. If for example you pull the card that says "2", all units that rolled a 2 for their activation are going to go. If both sides have units with that number, you roll off to see who goes first. (or you can pull cards, there is a randomization number on each card) During the activation, each figure in that element can perform one action. The actions available are move, shoot, throw grenade, recover from stun, reload, or rally. The figures in an element do not have to all perform the same action. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Most actions are controlled by the cards. When you move, you pull a card from your deck and look at it. It will have a move distance that correlates to your Guts attribute. A unit will not necessarily move the same distance each activation. When you fire, all the information you need is on the cards. You fire individually by figure. You pull a card, and based on your accuracy, distance to the target and some other factors you might hit. There is NO looking at tables. You can see from the card if you hit. If you do, you then pull another card to see what the result will be. The card tells you the severity of the wound. It also has different levels of cover indicated on the card. If the target figure is in cover and that level of cover is present on the card, the wound or incapacitate is changed to a stun. After the first couple of figures I fired, where I had to look in the rules to figure out the cover, I didn't have to check any more. This process is VERY smooth and easy to do. Each wound or incapacitate an element takes, a morale marker is put by the leader. When that unit activates, the first thing you do is pull a card for each morale marker and resolve them. Some are no effect, some are run to cover, some are remove all morale markers. It works very fast. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So, I did not finish the scenario. As I said, I really dislike playing solo. Once I established that the rules worked well, I stopped. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Verdict, I like it. There are rules for support weapons and tanks. There are rules for shooting bazookas and blowing holes in buildings. There are more complex levels of resolution of wounds if you want to do that. (I won't be doing that) It is a very complete set of rules, but the cards make the it easy to play. I am going to take this to my local club to play. </span></div>
Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17886933129961582137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398997680961977552.post-61209514893072534092015-10-28T01:41:00.001-05:002015-10-28T01:41:54.179-05:00Arc of Fire Early French platoon and supports<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
My brother recently got me into Arc of Fire. I have owned the rules for a couple of years, but I am really bad at just reading a set of rules and being able to figure them out. I learn by doing things rather than by reading them.<br />
So, my brother got me into 2 games. By the second game, I was picking it up. In my opinion, it blows any other WWII skirmish game out of the water. Its much better than either Bolt Action or Victory Decision. <br />
So at the second game, my brother started talking about some early war French he had bought. He dislikes painting, and I have much more time now that I am retired. I offered to paint them, at which point our friend Dave started laughing. My brother bought them for me for a Christmas present, and now was getting me to paint them for him. <br />
So, I finished them recently.<br />
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I definitely need to get a real camera instead of my phone. We have, in 20mm, 3 squads, a command group, a sniper team, a medium machine gun, a mortar, a 25mm AT gun, and a P16 halftrack. They will be given the baptism of fire on Saturday.<br />
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In addition I have been painting more 40mm figures for my Charge rules. I have a squadron of cavalry (9 figures) almost finished. Those will give me another blog post. I have another squadron started.<br />
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Being retired, I have much more time for painting and building stuff. I have some 20mm buildings in the works that will the subject of another post.<br />
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Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17886933129961582137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398997680961977552.post-5632824095999863382015-09-07T21:56:00.000-05:002015-09-07T21:56:45.788-05:00Wargaming Again<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
So, its been since April that I put anything on the blog. In the meantime, we moved from Kansas City, Missouri to Fort Collins, Colorado. I am retired now, and we had decided a long time ago to move back to Colorado. <br />
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I miss the guys I gamed with in Kansas City. They are a great bunch, and I had many good times.<br />
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Since coming to Fort Collins, I have gamed with my brother, playing Arc of Fire. I enjoyed it very much, and will paint figures for it. I played a game of Desperado at the local game store (Gryphon Games) and that was fun also.<br />
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This weekend, my friend Brad Thorton came up and we played the first game ever with my 40mm figures painted for the ImagiNations of the Grand Duchy of Waldo and the Ruskin Palatinate. We were using the rules All the King's Men, from the website of the same name. <br />
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http://www.allthekingsmentoysoldiers.com/<br />
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The rules were written for their 54mm figures, I hope they will excuse us for playing with the diminutive 40mm figures. <br />
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The rules are easy to play. The units are 12 for infantry, 6 for skirmishers or cavalry. I have no cavalry at this time, so we had equal forces:<br />
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1 grenadier unit<br />
3 line units<br />
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1 gun<br />
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We ended up playing 2 games, it moves quickly. Its a card based game, where you take two of the suits out of the deck. Each side is then moving on either red or black cards. Each unit starts the turn with a green marker. When a unit is moved, it degrades to a yellow marker, and if it moves again in the turn, it goes to red. Green units firing have successes on 4/5 and 6, yellow on 5 and 6, and red on 6. Units can and do get activated multiple times in a turn. At the beginning of the next turn, all the units go back to green markers. <br />
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Firing is an opposed roll, with the firing unit needing more successes than the defending unit to cause casualties. Taking fire casualties also causes a drop in color for the unit. <br />
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Melee is an opposed roll, but both sides take all the casualties caused by the other. The attacker, no matter what his color going in, rolls as green in melee. At the end of the melee, both units are automatically red, no matter what color they started.<br />
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The first game was a straight up battle. <br />
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Brad was on the far side with the Grand Duchy of Waldo, I am the closer army with the Ruskin Palatinate. This battle ended up with a definite win for the Grand Duchy of Waldo. I used my grenadiers to charge a unit, but then a fresh unit on the other side charged them and destroyed them. I had previously lost my skirmishers and one other unit. If you lose half your units the game is lost.</div>
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The second battle was a little more challenging. a river crossed the table, with a bridge in the middle. There were two fords by the woods along the river, causing you to lose speed for the ford and the woods. Each side's skirmishers started on the table a foot from the bridge. I managed to put my skirmishers on the bridge, and push two units across a ford. I caught Brad in a crossfire and defeated his units in detail.</div>
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It was a fun day, and I liked the rules. They are a free download at the All the King's Men website. They have more tactical decisions than you might imagine for a free set of rules, and worth a look.<br />
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Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17886933129961582137noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398997680961977552.post-45524374599820367182015-04-09T00:57:00.000-05:002015-04-09T00:57:12.453-05:00ImagiNations<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Again I have been awful about posting. I have been very busy. I retired at the end of January. We have been getting our house ready to sell, and now have a contract pending the inspection and appraisal. <div>
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Its an unusual house, and we love it, but its time to move back to Colorado.</div>
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So, I have most of my wargaming stuff packed. I am working on finishing up some units.</div>
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I have been working on ImagiNations in two different periods, but with the same countries. They are the Grand Duchy of Waldo, and the Palatinate Ruskin. Both are named after neighborhoods in Kansas City.</div>
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So the figures on the left that unpainted are 40mm grenadiers for the Palatinate Ruskin. They are being done in NQSYW units, to use with the Charge! rules. The cavalry in the foreground are the Grand Duchy of Waldo Light Dragoons from the late 1800s/early 1900s. The rules are not totally decided yet, but will be old school.</div>
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I am sorry to be leaving Kansas City and the Thursday night group that games at Jaye's house. I am looking forward to gaming with my brother and other gamers I have known for over 30 years in the Denver area.</div>
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Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17886933129961582137noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398997680961977552.post-32410451202181504482015-03-07T17:05:00.002-06:002015-03-07T17:05:53.296-06:00Packing up<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I haven't updated this in some time. I retired at the end of January. My wife and I are in the process of packing everything up. We are planning on moving to Colorado at the end of May, assuming our house sells. <br />
I am keeping some stuff out to finish painting. I have been working on the 40mm Shiny Toy Soldier figures I bought. I have plans for another purchase of these to make up the armies for both sides. <br />
I am finding that retirement has advantages and disadvantages. I certainly appreciate not having to go to a job every day that I was pretty much over. It was a good job, and I had good people around me, but I was ready to retire. On the other hand, I am a pretty social person. I miss the interaction. I think when we get to Colorado I need to find someplace to volunteer.<br />
So I am in a state of change, soon to move to a different state!</div>
Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17886933129961582137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398997680961977552.post-25822718343895066652014-11-09T21:49:00.001-06:002014-11-09T21:49:31.904-06:00Grand Duchy of Waldo first unit<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I have become a fan of 40mm figures. I bought Prince August Molds, and am making armies for Charge! I also was interested in the period around the end of the 1800s and beginning of the 1900s. I bought a bunch of figures from Spencer Smith's Shiny Toy Soldier line. <br />
They require some assembly. You have to attach their right arm and the head. The variety of uniforms gives you a lot of choices.<br />
I bought figures for two sides. <br />
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<span style="text-align: left;">This is the first unit. Its painted in Toy Soldier style, with a shiny finish. </span></div>
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Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17886933129961582137noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398997680961977552.post-76494757058517907602014-10-29T19:03:00.001-05:002014-10-29T19:03:54.067-05:00Old School Wargaming<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I got back into gaming a couple of years ago. I had much different aims than when I used to game. When I was younger, I thought that I was simulating warfare. I am closing in on retirement, and realized that the reason I game now is mostly social. <br />
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I have been working on armies I want for retirement. I have been painting 40mm homecast figures for Not Quite the Seven Years War. I have made good progress and should have an army on each side by spring.<br />
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I also have gotten interested in the early 20th century, something that utterly bored me in my 30s and 40s. I also wanted larger figures.<br />
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So, last spring I bought a bunch of figures from Spencer Smith figures, their Shiny Toy Soldier line. As with most projects this one has been on the back burner since I bought the figures. Last night I assembled a unit of infantry.<br />
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I say assembled, because you order a basic body type, a separate head and right arm. I got the arms all in the marching pose. The figures are sort of Prussian. The other army will be sort of Austrian. This is Imaginations in the 20th century.<br />
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It was necessary to pin the head and arm to get them to stay. I bought samples, and I had problems getting them to stay assembled without pinning them. I must admit, I kind of enjoyed it. I used to just paint figures as quickly as I could. Now the process is more enjoyable.<br />
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So, next spring I will move from Kansas City to Longmont, Colorado. I will miss all my friends here, but I know a lot of gamers in Colorado.<br />
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I am enjoying this hobby more than I have in years, and look forward to many more years in retirement.</div>
Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17886933129961582137noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398997680961977552.post-60784080830431736432014-10-21T19:13:00.000-05:002014-10-21T19:13:29.943-05:00When Empires Clash! - First Look<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Bob Cordery, of the Wargaming Miscellany blog, has published a set of rules via Hulu. They are for fighting colonial battles and campaigns during the Victorian and Edwardian era, using a gridded table.<br />
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I got them a few days ago. I have read them several times, and the first thing I need to say is that if he doesn't want to publish rules, Bob ought to give seminars in how to clearly write rules. He provides diagrams and explanations that are very clear and to the point. In addition, with both a table of contents and an index, the rules are very easy to digest. <br />
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The are differences in the capability of the different types of troops. Combat has modifiers, but they are easy to remember. They have to do with troop value, supporting troops, presence of command, and a die roll that is 2D6 for regulars and 1D12 for native troops. This gives the regulars more consistency, but the natives can get the occasional high roll that can be devastating.<br />
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A stand is 40mm wide, and for infantry 20mm deep. With 3 figures on this stand, it represents a company of infantry. The cavalry stand represents a squadron, and the artillery a battery. The board is intended to be gridded in 50mm squares, at least 12 x 12 squares. <br />
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This allows you to play reasonably sized engagements with fairly small numbers of figures.<br />
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The movement and combat rules are very clear. Bob includes 29 army lists in the back of the book. From my read, looking up rules won't be necessary after a few turns. The game looks like it will play quickly and intuitively. The price here in the US is $8.31 plus postage. A very good value for the money. <br />
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I have been in something of a painting slump at the moment, and have been looking for a project that won't take forever to accomplish. With armies consisting of 13 to 18 stands each, this looks like what I need.<br />
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And for my wife, who is the diehard sports fan in the house, Go Royals! First game of the World Series, and they haven't been here since 1985.</div>
Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17886933129961582137noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398997680961977552.post-14278920250063384892014-08-13T21:35:00.000-05:002014-08-13T21:35:12.050-05:00New Paint RackI have been looking for some way to organize my paints for a long time. I know there are purpose built paint racks from some of the gaming companies, but I thought they were a bit expensive and I didn't like the look of the laser cut mdf racks.<br />
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I saw a mention of fingernail polish racks somewhere, and looked them up. Through the magic of Amazon Prime, which my wife has, I got this.<br />
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http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0052FZORC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1<br />
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It comes in three pieces, with 6 bolts that you use to attach the sides.<br />
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This is right after I put it together. Now for the painting table:<br />
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I mostly use the craft store paints. My paint jobs are meant to be looked on the tabletop, not close up. Each row holds 12 of the bottles, and there are 6 rows. I have smaller bottles on the bottom row that fit more loosely. This was all for $22.30. <br />
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I am very pleased with it. It has solved a long standing problem on my table.Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17886933129961582137noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398997680961977552.post-72039279185857235782014-08-09T21:25:00.000-05:002014-08-12T08:59:33.571-05:00Steamer WarsThere are no pictures. We didn't have miniatures for this, so Jaye made counters and we used those. Not much to take pictures of.<br />
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The rules are by David Manley. They are available on the Wargame Vault website as a download.</div>
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http://www.wargamevault.com/product/132076/Steamer-Wars</div>
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They are $8.40.</div>
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The booklet is 38 pages long. The rules are covered in about 10 pages. There is a complete campaign game for the Lake Tanganyika campaign in WWI. They are advertised as being for the period 1910 to 1920, but there are paddlewheel steamers, gunboats, and steamboats. I intend to use these for battles between paddlewheel steamers in colonial games.</div>
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The game also comes with a page of 5 turn gauges that you print and cut out. I printed it on light cardstock, which seemed to work well. There is no QRS, but the shooting rules are on two pages and are all you really need to refer to.</div>
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We tried this with our Thursday night crew at Jaye's house. As usual, we went too big. Each person had a large, medium and small gunboat. Six players, 18 ships. I doubt he intended for fleet battles, but it worked well. I was "running" the game. I needn't have bothered. Everyone had figured out how it worked in about 2 turns, and it played easily.</div>
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You start out by rolling initiative, which can be modified if you have a personality in charge of your side, depending on their ability. If you win, you get to either move first or have your opponent move first. Larger boats move before small ones. This brought up a question. Large boats move on one side then the other, then repeat with smaller boats? Or does the side moving move their large boats, then their small boats, and the other side does all theirs in the same order?</div>
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There are three range bands. They are close, effective and long. We were using all light and medium guns. You are rolling to beat a number. There are 11 possible modifiers, having to do with target size, crew quality, speed, etc. </div>
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If you hit, you roll to see if you damage. You can get no effect, suppression, light and heavy damage. Suppression affects your gunnery next turn and also a morale roll at the end of the current turn. For light damage you roll once again on the Damage Table. You can take hull hits, gun crew hits, gun hits, and then if you manage to roll a 10 it is a critical hit with various bad things happening. </div>
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We found that for the most part, the boats didn't sink. We were using light and medium guns, and the medium guns are listed as being 57mm. So, you aren't making huge holes in the hull. Instead you damaging the guns, engines, wheelhouse, etc. A lot of the ships lost their guns, which made the owner generally lose their morale and they turned around and left. Remember, we had a lot of guns firing because we were using 18 ships. </div>
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If you are suppressed or damaged in a turn you take a morale roll. You are looking for a 3 or better on a 10 sided die, but there are some modifiers depending on damage you have taken, etc. If you have a 1 or 2, you retire but can roll again on the next turn. If you get to 0 or below, you flee and can't roll again.</div>
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There is a 10 page article in the rules about the Lake Tanganyika campaign. </div>
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So, how was it? It fit us pretty well. Its fun, easy to play, and goes quickly. There is some chrome, but not so much that the game bogs down. With 6 players and 18 ships we finished in about 2 hours. </div>
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Thumbs up from me.</div>
Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17886933129961582137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398997680961977552.post-32186524379215143282014-05-14T21:29:00.000-05:002014-05-14T21:29:52.035-05:00PalletsI wanted to try a small scatter terrain project, making pallets. I have some barrels and am going to be casting boxes soon from Hirst Arts molds with Rob. I am planning on putting some of them on pallets.<br />
One of the things I have that make these projects easier is The Chopper from Northwest Short Line.<br />
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This makes cutting wood evenly and quickly much less of a chore. <br />
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I considered making a little jig to make these, but finally settled for two parallel lines 1 3/8s inch apart. That was the size of my pallets. I had some small basswood lying around, and I just used what I had. First I set two wider pieces so they were touching the outsides of the parallel lines.<br />
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Then I glued three more pieces of wood across that, using small dots of viscous superglue.<br />
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I seem to have missed the final picture. I glued 5 smaller pieces of wood across the 3, making the pallet. This is the finished product beside a 25mm figure. The pallet is a bit too big, but doesn't look too bad.<br />
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I did about 10 of them in 20 minutes, and then ran out of wood. Here is what I have done so far. I plan to get more wood. They make up fast, I can do it between other projects.<br />
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When I get them finished with the loads on them, I will post more pictures.<br />
<br />Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17886933129961582137noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398997680961977552.post-81449106089089607652014-05-04T20:49:00.000-05:002014-05-04T20:49:07.070-05:00Too Much Painting, Not Enough BloggingI have been working on a new project for the last month. I have been getting things finished, but neglecting to blog about it. <br />
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The Thursday night gaming group at Jaye's has played Mayhem a couple of times. We like it. We use 28mm figures, and each unit is one stand 60mm by 60mm.<br />
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They are by Brent Spivey, and can be purchased in download form for $9.99 at:<br />
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http://www.wargamevault.com/product/110359/Mayhem<br />
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It is a mass battle game, but you can customize your units in many different ways. So I have been working on both orcs and humans. I finished some orcs and allies first. <br />
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I have been doing this as cheaply as possible. I have some orc figures I bought a long time ago, and I painted those up. I also found some Kings of War orcs on sale at my local hobby store. The troll I had for a long time. I didn't have another one, so I did a little diorama with him coming out of some rocks. Not sure how it turned out, but it works for me. Large critters like ogres and trolls are called behemoths, and have special rules.<br />
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I have several more stands of orcs and about 8 stands of humans in various stages of being finished. The painting is pretty average. My painting skills have declined as I get older, and my ability to paint for long periods of time is over. What I do to compensate is that I try to paint something every day, even if its just one color. This works well for me.<br />
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This project has an endpoint, which is unusual for me. I plan to do about 12 units per side. Jaye has a lot of figures painted, and that will make a good sized force for the Thursday night gaming.<br />
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A week from Saturday Rob and I have a casting session planned for the NQSYW figures. I got some lower melting point metal from Rotometals that I hope will make casting the cavalry easier.<br />
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I also plan on starting on my 40mm Shiny Toy Soldiers soon that I bought around the end of the year. My intent is to do them for a set of rules called Edwardian Splendour which can be downloaded here:<br />
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http://www.legionsofempire.com/EdwardianSplendour_Draft_1.pdf<br />
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As I finish more Mayhem units, I will try to blog more. Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17886933129961582137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398997680961977552.post-20618808088882708852014-03-30T20:50:00.000-05:002014-03-30T20:50:28.598-05:00Hearts of TinIt has been too long since my last post. I have not been gaming too much. This changed Saturday, when Rob Baldwin and Rob Keefe came over. This was the subject of some interest to my wife, because my regular gaming group has two guys named Jaye and two guys named Scott. She was wondering if there were only certain names allowed for wargamers. <br />
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Rob Baldwin and I have been working on 1/72nd ACW plastic figures. We got them cheap at a Hobby Lobby, but they appear to be closing them out. I bought the last two packs at the local store last week. In fact, because we used Litko bases, the bases were more expensive than the figures.<br />
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We were using Hearts of Tin, by Ross McFarlane. His blog is Battle Game of the Month, a blog I always read when a new post arrives. http://gameofmonth.blogspot.com/<br />
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Actually, Ross had changed the rules a couple of times since we first started on this, as we not the speediest painters around. This resulted in changing the unit size from 5 stands to 4 on the day of the battle,<br />
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It was a meeting engagement, mostly because I didn't know enough about the rules to balance any other kind of scenario. Control of the crossroads was the point of the battle. The roads are just yellow felt. I ran out of time for making the terrain, just barely finishing the fences.<br />
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We each had 2 brigades, one of three units and one of four. They each had an artillery battery attached. In Ross's rules you roll a die for the commander (in our case each brigade had a command figure) and that is the number of orders you get that turn. It generally was not enough. Each infantry unit got 3 actions it could perform. These included moving 4 inches, firing, etc. <br />
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I put the larger brigade on the right flank, which turned out to be a mistake. There was insufficient space for them to manuever, and they were fairly ineffective till too late in the battle.<br />
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You fire by regiment. Each one, at least for long range fire, gets one die no matter how many stands they have. So even units that are worn down get the same fire as a fresh unit. A 4-6 causes a hit. The target unit rolls a die and saves on a 4-6. An artillery unit fires the same as a regiment, although with longer range. We did not get close enough to do close range firing/attack, where the unit throws as many dice as it has stands. That is where the numbers will start to tell.<br />
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In the end, my left flank crumbled. If you cause enough stand casualties that one side is to half their number of stands, then that side loses. Rob got me to half and won the game. All in all, a fun time. We discussed how you could modify the long range fire so that smaller units would be less effective. A -1 modifier per stand loss would do it, and a single stand unit could not effectively fire at long range. There also seemed to be no special rules for counter battery fire. Both of my batteries were destroyed by hits they couldn't save. We weren't sure that it should be the same as for infantry fire, so we just played it like it was.<br />
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We then played another game, this time using a set of rules Rob Keefe has been working on. By this time I forgot to take pictures. Rob Keefe's rules used a similar method of activating units, but there was also an overall commander who could give points to his subordinates. It also cost a pip to move a leader.<br />
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The combat was bloodier. You threw a die per stand, and killed on a 5 or 6, no saving throws. The battle was very bloody, and I eked out a win at the last.<br />
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It was a good time. Rob and Rob, who had not met prior to this game, discovered that they lived about 2 blocks apart in Lawrence, about 45 minutes from my house. Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17886933129961582137noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398997680961977552.post-15836317704083702882014-02-04T14:08:00.001-06:002014-02-04T14:08:21.473-06:00Got Sails of Glory Kickstarter<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I got in on the Kickstarter for Sails of Glory. I got it late, 2 days after it was released on the street. They had some major problems getting all the product out to the people who invested. I think I will not be doing Kickstarters any more. I will just wait for the product.<br />
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As to the game itself, I have not had the time to play it. I got it the day before we went to Puerto Rico. While there I got sick, and have not been up to much at all since I got back. A trip to the ER yesterday because of shortness of breath indicated that I had what is probably a virus in my lungs. So I am on prednisone and inhalers. Its helping.<br />
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Anyway, the components look very good. I have read through the rules, it seems pretty straightforward. For the Kickstarter I got the 4 ships that came with the game, and 4 more. I have since bought 4 more so our group can play it. We will do that Thursday, weather permitting.<br />
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The game uses a LOT of counters. I spent one whole evening bagging up the components. A suggestion has been made several places to simply scan the ship mats and either use a fresh one each time or laminate them on some cardboard and use grease pens. I will probably do it. It should be much easier than keeping track of tons of counters. <br />
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I also have not painted much. The basement has been cold, and I have not been feeling well. Not a good combination.<br />
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I am sure that in a couple of months I will be complaining about the heat here. :) Life in Missouri.Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17886933129961582137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398997680961977552.post-71684882297327855722013-12-25T21:02:00.001-06:002013-12-25T21:02:38.179-06:00 A Very Merry ChristmasI hope everyone who reads this had a good Christmas. I haven't been posting lately. My wife had knee surgery about 10 days ago, and I have been pretty busy taking care of her, doing housework, cooking, etc. It hasn't left much time for hobbies, unfortunately. She is doing much better now, so I hope to get back to it soon.<br />
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Zori did get me several hobby related items for Christmas. I got The Wargaming Compendium, which I am looking forward to reading. Also, two rules sets, Of Gods and Mortals and In Her Majesty's Name. She also got me another Defender's of France box of WWII French 28mm figures. <br />
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I have been reading Of Gods and Mortals. I had heard it was based on Song of Blades and Heroes. It is, but it looks like it may go a bit faster. Instead of activating all figures one by one, the mortal figures are activated by units. The God and Hero figures are activated individually, but there are not that many of them.<br />
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I have figures from Saga that I can use for the mortals. I just need to find about 4-5 special figures and I will be ready to go. <br />
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In Her Majesty's name looks easier than doing GASLIGHT, which requires a fair bit of pre-game time to figure out your troops. Also, GASLIGHT is a very large book or several smaller one. <br />
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I should also mention that I got 2 shirts for Christmas, so its not all fun and games. :)<br />
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On a personal note, this last year was somewhat hard for me physically. I also had knee surgery. I am wondering if the fact that my house has spiral staircases has contributed to my wife and I both having knee problems. <br />
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We are going to Puerto Rico next month, so some time on the beach in warm weather can't do us any harm.<br />
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I hope all of you have a wonderful New Year.<br />
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BillBillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17886933129961582137noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398997680961977552.post-55061126020418706302013-12-01T21:28:00.000-06:002013-12-01T21:28:10.265-06:00Charge! Regiment finished<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I finished the third company for my first Charge! regiment. Three 16 man companies each with an officer and NCO, and a Regimental officer with flagbearer and drummer. <br />
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This brings my total to 102 figures and 2 guns with the grenadier company, light company and gun battery.<br />
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As yet I have no cavalry. I haven't had much luck getting the cavalry molds to come out right. I also am not sure what I am going to do for a mounted officer, which I would like to have for my infantry.<br />
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I still have another company of infantry to start painting up. That will probably be a different coat color for a different country. <br />
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I haven't painted this many figures in years. I find I really enjoy the whole process of casting and painting up the figures.Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17886933129961582137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398997680961977552.post-29691607779974904882013-11-17T20:36:00.001-06:002013-11-17T20:36:49.837-06:00Sails for the ship<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I had posted a picture of this ship previously, but without sails. I had started and stopped with this project a couple of times as I wasn't satisfied with the result. I ended up buying slightly heavier cotton cloth, which looked better. <br />
My current plans are to finish 2 x 10 gun brigs, 2 x 8 gun schooners, 2 x 4 gun cutters and 2 x 4 gun sloops. I still have a lot of sails to cut. I actually only have 3 ships ready to rig, but 2 more have the masts done and are ready to paint.<br />
I want to mention once again that I probably would not have been able to do any of this without the use of my Optivisor. My eyes are not what they were, and it works well not only for painting but for the stitching and running of small black thread. <br />
The rigging is definitely for wargaming. It only bears a vague resemblance to the actual rigging of a ship. <br />
The next step is to buy a bunch of 15mm cannons for the ships. Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17886933129961582137noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398997680961977552.post-49362538475952381792013-11-03T20:30:00.000-06:002013-11-03T20:30:13.200-06:00NQSYW Light Infantry Company<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Latest addition to the forces of the Grand Duchy of Waldo, the first company of the light infantry regiment.<br />
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This brings the total forces to:<br />
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2 companies line infantry<br />
1 company grenadier infantry<br />
1 company light infantry<br />
1 artillery battery<br />
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My next project is the third company for the line regiment, which will finish that unit.<br />
<br />Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17886933129961582137noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398997680961977552.post-53856686554453975942013-10-26T22:50:00.002-05:002013-10-26T22:50:23.634-05:00NQSYW - An Afternoon Casting<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I had painted all the 40mm figures that I had cast. The weather was going to be 65 and sunny, perfect day for casting some figures for winter painting.<br />
I recently bought another infantry mold, in a slightly different pose. That one and my regular infantry figure were both casting well today. I got 2 full companies of infantry, and a company of light infantry. Actually, I just clipped the bayonets from 12 regular infantry and will paint them in dark green. <br />
With command figures, it all came to 51 foot. <br />
I also tried again to cast cavalry. I thought I was doing well, until I went to cut the sprue metal off of them. All but five had the swords break off. Oh well, I will try that again.<br />
All in all, a great day casting.<br />
This will give me the final company for my regiment, and a light company. I now also have an extra company of infantry, which will get painted with a different coat color, as I plan to start doing a second army.Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17886933129961582137noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398997680961977552.post-34785886237780655822013-10-08T17:21:00.000-05:002013-10-08T17:21:25.392-05:00More Ships<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I have built two more ships. This is the original one, plus another small one, and a 10 gun brig. I still have to figure out how to do the sails, and at some point I need to bite the bullet and order a ton of cannons. I plan to do another 10 gun brig, two more small ones, and about 6 more either 6 or 8 guns ships. I have 4 more in process. <br />
When I cut the hulls for the next ship, I will see if I can do a tutorial on how I build them. I pretty much have the process down now.<br />
<br />Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17886933129961582137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398997680961977552.post-20905926661288202942013-09-29T20:08:00.000-05:002013-09-29T20:08:00.139-05:00NQSYW - Artillery Battery<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I recently finished an artillery battery for the Grand Duchy of Waldo's army. That brings me to 2 companies of line infantry, a company of grenadiers, and an artillery battery. I need to finish out one more company of line infantry, some light infantry, and some cavalry. I recently got a new cavalry mold, and I have a second mold of my main infantryman on the way.<br />
<br />Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17886933129961582137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398997680961977552.post-14384797722647046572013-09-22T22:10:00.001-05:002013-09-22T22:10:44.343-05:00Small Ships<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Last week at our regular game, Jaye started talking about doing small ship battles using rules in Rockets Red Glare, a set of rules for the War of 1812.<br />
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One thing holding us back from this is that we don't have any ships. There are commercial ships available, but they tend to be a bit pricey, and a more toward the larger side than we need.<br />
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I thought I would make an attempt to scratch build something that would work.<br />
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This is my first attempt. Its a bit rough. I made the sides too high, and had to trim them off with scissors. They are just made of cardboard. I think it will look better with some cannons and some 15mm crew. For scale, its about 6 inches long and 2 inches wide. I also need to do something about sails.<br />
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As for cost, most of it was stuff I had. There is a layer of balsa and a layer of 3mm light ply. The masts and spars are dowels. All in all, its less than $3 of materials.<br />
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I have 2 more cut out and waiting to be built. Another one this size, and a larger ship about 10 inches long that will be a brig with about 5 guns per side.<br />
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If the guys think that this will be acceptable, I will go into production mode and make about a dozen in various sizes.<br />
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<br />Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17886933129961582137noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398997680961977552.post-37533319855419770382013-09-07T16:20:00.000-05:002013-09-07T16:20:13.874-05:00A Morning Spent Casting<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I recently got a cannon mold and 2 molds of artillerists for my NQSYW project. I also got an order of metal in from Rotometals. It was supposed to be in the mid-70s until around 11, so I decided to take advantage of the good weather and see if I could get a battery done.<div>
Casting brand new molds always is a problem, but I got them to cast after some careful venting. The cannon mold was used, and cast pretty well once it got warmed up.</div>
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So now I have enough for a battery for my Grand Duchy of Waldo force.<br /><br /></div>
Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17886933129961582137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398997680961977552.post-57166468350574945402013-09-04T16:45:00.002-05:002013-09-04T16:45:55.051-05:00More Progress, NQSYW<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I recently finished the second company of my regiment, leaving only one to go. The figures in the background are my company of Grenadiers.</div>
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My immediate goal is another company of line infantry to make up the regiment, a company of light infantry, an artillery battery and 2 squadrons of hussars.</div>
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The figures are fun to paint, and large enough that with the optivisor they go pretty quickly.</div>
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As many have mentioned today, Don Featherstone has passed. He was an inspiration in my wargaming, as I am sure he was to many other people. The first Historicon my friend Darryl and I went to, we were sitting at the bar and Don came up and sat down and started chatting with us. Its about the only time Darryl and I have been at a loss for words. </div>
Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17886933129961582137noreply@blogger.com0