The Busy Wargamer

I was off work last week and despite a bit of a slow start, I got a lot done while I was off. I managed to get in a couple of Solo games, film them both for my YouTube Channel (the first will be posted for viewing on Friday) to get some painting completed and I've had a big reorganization of my room to make more space for some new terrain.

Wehrmacht Checkpoint

The latter items were prompted along by the fact that I wanted some of the pieces for my most recent Chain of Command game. In particular, I needed a German checkpoint with a gate and guard hut.

I bought these from Peter Pig a few weeks ago but I didn't get time to finish them for the Painting Challenge. The models are metal and very nicely cast so there was little work needed cleaning them up. The set comes with the Guard Hut, the swing bar gate, and the sandbag wall. There is also a small drum stove but I haven't painted that yet.

Polybian Romans

I have also been busily rebasing some of my 6mm ancients figures. Actually rebasing isn't exactly true, I have changed the size of the bases the figures are mounted on. Madness I hear you cry, and you'd be right. This picture shows the Hastati, Principes, and Triarii of my Polybian Roman army as there originally based (on the left) and the new compact basing I have moved towards on the right.

The Romans had a line exchange maneuver that allowed them to swap fresh troops into the front line and the To the Strongest! rules have a new way of representing this in the game. I still needed to be able to move the lines of troops forward and back but they are now a single deep unit and the original basing gave them a massive footprint on the table. By cutting the empty half of the base off, and placing the strips on a movement tray, I can swap the lines around as needed in a much more compact and visually pleasing way.

Solo Wargaming

As indicated in my introduction I have managed to get a couple of solo games completed and filmed for Battle Reports, the first of which will be on my YouTube Channel on Friday. Both games were exciting to play out and have reinvigorated my enthusiasm for solo games. I'm still looking forward to getting back in the Shed-o-War for face-to-face gaming, but that is still a few weeks away.

The Fictional Punic War game The Battle of Aquilla will be available to view on Friday.

..and the equally fictional Assault on Morris Battery (a Chain of Comand game) will be available to view next week.

And there's more!

In addition to solo wargaming, I'm currently hip-deep in two remote games that are more about overcoming the fog of war and command and control than pushing mental figures around the table.

The first game is a Seven Years War clash being organised by one of the Rejects. It's being managed via email and our job is to issue the orders with the mechanics and movement being handled remotely by the umpire.

 

The Battle of Stoliboz has been as much about fighting the fog of war as it has the enemy but everyone taking part is enjoying the game immensely. Check out the game updates on the Don't Throw a One blog if you want to know more.

The other game is with another group entirely (flirting with other gamers!). I was approached by a long-time reader of this blog and author of Vultures Wargaming Blog to join in a game of What a Tanker using WhatsApp to issue orders. We are still early in the game but it's been another excellent lesson in trying to see through the fog of war (literally!).

 

This is the grainy B&W Aerial Recon picture of the battlefield we all started the game with. It's littered with the wrecks of vehicles from earlier games and has been largely blanketed in early morning mist up till now. I'm one of the two Allied players and somewhere on this map the enemy is lurking.

The game is still at an early stage but it's been great fun so far. We get updates in the form of photo's from the tank commander's perspective so figuring out even where my co-player is has been a challenge.

I'm back at work this week so I expect things to slow down a little but the remote games will keep me busy for several weeks and I'm working on some more 6mm figures for ancient gaming, so keep your eye's peeled for updates on this next week.

The Quarantined Wargamer - Unquarantined!!

Yesterday was a big day for me because I got my Second Covid Vaccination dose (my wife had her's earlier in the week). It's an important and much-anticipated step forwards for this family and for my hobby because I can start to think about the real possibility of some face to face gaming in a few weeks time. After the 17th of May, (assuming the Governments roadmap isn't changed) groups of up to six will be able to meet indoors and so some small scale gaming can resume. It's been over a year since I faced an opponent across the table and I'm looking forward to it immensely. 

Incidentally, I've not had any side effects with either dose. I'm not denigrating those that have had side effects and chosen to post about them, but I expect there are also a lot of people out there that haven't had any side effects and this non-news isn't celebrated enough. So there you have it, nothing happening here, nothing to see, move along, please. 😀

Until next week, Stay safe, keep gaming, get your vaccination and keep rolling high! 👍

The Hills are Alive

I'm off work this week but haven't achieved much. The family and I were supposed to be in Cornwall but the 'current' batch of Covid restrictions put paid to that, just like all our plans in 2020. I decided to have the time off anyway, as I'm still trying to get through my last years holiday allocation and figured I needed a rest. So I went into the week with big ideas, loads of games to play and figures to paint. Such are the plan of mice, men and wargamers! The wife and I have been getting out for walks and doing a bit of spring cleaning and generally taking it easy. I have however managed to finish one project.

Last week I shared an unboxing video of my newly bought hot wire foam cutter (here). Over the weekend I used it properly for the first time and made myself a set of edge hills for use on my small games table. 

The two large hills can fit together to make a very large hill. Many of the hills I already had in my collection were a bit battered and no longer fit for use. The high-density foam I use for these hills will hopefully last me a lot longer, and they were a lot cheaper to make than any commercial examples would have cost to buy. 

I have ordered some more foam and I'll be making more hills in a similar style, both grass-covered and some sandy hills for use with my North African desert games. I am working on some other models and if I can wriggle out of household chores I'll try to get them finished for next week. 

Buying new brushes

I recently bought some new brushes and decided that I would do a short video on what to look for when purchasing the most important tool on your painting desk. I'm not making any specific recommendations though, that's a minefield I'd rather avoid! 

I'm bound to have missed some advice out so please if you disagree or have more to add please leave a comment below or on my YouTube Channel, Miniature Adventures. And of course ff you did enjoy the video please like, subscribe, and share. Until next week, stay safe, get as many games in as you can, and of course, keep rolling high!