Trees - Cedar of Lebanon 28 mm

Nothing quite like trees for getting us all going. For some of us the search to get the right good looking trees that fit, comes second only to that of getting the perfect rule set.

I've made a few over the years as I have failed to see how some of the offerings we used to get were at all compatible with 28 mm figures.
After all trees aren't two or three times bigger, they soar above us and nothings looks dafter than four inch trees (100 mm) alongside twelve inch  buildings (300 mm).
So much so that in 28 mm you will rarely see trees and building on the same table.







I was playing around with the idea of doing something different rather than a bristle brush offering and came up with this.

Two 28 mm LOTR figures are on the base and you can see the size. However I'm still not happy as I feel the trunk should be twice the size, so the model can hide behind it, but it's close.

In the second photo the same tree, revamped this year, some 8 years later and it begins to look like my objective. This is from a

Frostgrave shot with a Reaper mini and an even older LOTR figure Boromir, hate to think how old that is.

The trunk is still too narrow as I revamped the foliage rather than the trunk.



For those interested in construction.

Get some lengths of wire and twist them together.
I believe I started with six, twisting them from about two inches, using a vice and pliers. Where I wanted the first branch I separated out one piece of wire and twisted the remaining five strands, repeat for second and third, e.t.c., until you have two strands left. Normally you cut all the strands off at the point you want a branch to stop especially if you are doing a dead tree.(longer at the bottom, shorter at the top),
This time I made a giant loop of each strand.

The base of the wire strands were then splayed out to allow the tree to stand, whilst I left them at about two to three inches you can leave them longer and twist them to look like roots. I decided to 'glue' this to an old CD, windows 95 OS I believe, maybe I should have used an old 'Evergreens' cd.

I glued it using the same brown mastic that you might use on dark brown hardwood as it would save me painting it later. When set I then applied additional mastic to the trunk of the tree and branches smoothing up and down the trunk and along the branches to get a bark effect.
[NOTE, keep a small pot of water nearby and wet your fingers as you 'sculpt' the mastic this will stop it sticking to your fingers, also ensure you have tissues to wipe your fingers on after you are done in order to keep your partner happy.]

You can thicken the mastic up as mush as you want, either by wrapping string around the trunk first or by applying more mastic when the first is dry. A happy side effect is that when dry you can bend the branches or trunk to any shape you want as demonstrated by these two photos.

I then got some wire wool and partially threaded the loop through this gluing it in place and roughly positioning the branches horizontally. Lots more glue was the sprayed over the wire wool both on top and below the branches and then I drenched it with flock.

When I revisited the project I added more, better quality flock to top and underneath of branches, let it dry and sprayed and flocked again.
I then applied a sand/pva paste to the CD and when dry, dry brushed before flocking.
[Today I'd use brown wood filler].

I think the tree looks right with the buildings.





Of course today you can get excellent trees from 4ground, but at £24 for three trees?

So DIY still appeals to me as I can get the height I want too..

But 4grounds offerings are stunning.



If you want to see my take on a Si-Fi then look here Alien Trees 28 mm.

40k AAR Iron Warriors v Sisters of Battle 2nd June 2003

More nonsense from 2nd June 2003

40k was the only game back then, with occasional forays into WHFB.

Chaos Champion Dranask Wolfsbane, my alter Ego, with CSM and Dreadnaught in support.

Denis Jackman as club Competitions secretary had organised a 40k tournament and in it I have previously beaten 'F's Space Wolves but have just lost to Paul Douglas' Sisters of Battle. Although I read a rule sometime later that could have changed the game and saved a unit of mine. I did wonder at the time if I might have won under those different circumstance. Probably not Paul is a very able player still...............

I can balance that by remembering the time my Vanquisher's cannon targeted Denis' Harlequins under it's blast marker, dodge that!

Trying to make my battle report different I came up with the idea of doing a transmission, probably saw somthing similar in White Dwarf.

To Kommissar Jackman

The following transmissions have been picked up by our fleet as it approached the planet ‘Lost Founding’ in order to reinforce the Adeptus Sororitas who were attempting to recover an item of immense religious value upon the planet that had recently been wrestled from the Space Wolves.

+ + + +  To the omnipotent most fearful Abbadon from Daemon Prince Janrasuk commander World Eaters. + + + + Force Omega-delta sent on your orders to hold the positions won by us and the Iron Warriors of Dranask Wolf's Bane have begun to arrive. Prince Jahyovik informs us he has sufficient forces to relive our position  he ………..  + + +  ….. . .. .as instructed we advance in pursuit of the Emperor’s lackeys.  The wolves can be but a few days ahead of us.  *** Blood for the blood God!   + + + + +

- - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - -

.

+ + + +  Force Omega-delta to Abbadon warp disturbance delaying  arrival of heavy weapons and other units.  ……………….  . We are in position but await remaining units. + + + +    + + +  Intercepted comms link from Emperor’s brides. + + + +  Moving on our positions. + +  No doubt we will earn more souls for the Gods.  + + + + +  …………………         + + +  …… + + +  Positions under att.. …  Where are those  ………blue squad  incinerated. …..    Assassin  …   predator arrives still waiting remainder    **    + +  …. predator’s daemon disrupted - vehicle lost - - …. berserkers annihilated   …. ..       + + + ..  They are swarming all over us.  Jahyovik has stemmed the flow but is embroiled with these shield maidens. + + + ……….Land raider …arrives with chosen  they will recover blue squad’s bunker.  …+ + * + *+ *  ……  The god’s are deserting us  …. . + + + + chosen annihilated by assassin. Land raider disabled but is literally running down the redemptionists  the field has become a mass of bloodied bodies……….  Land raider self repairs the blood was good . ……….   + + + +  Plague Marines reinforce Jahyovik, they have destroyed second squad of redemptionists  …  .. Land raiders still churning first squad.    + ++ + + … .. ..  Jahyovik destroys Seraphim + + + Plague marines destroyed by lone Canoness… . ..   + + + + +  Jahyovik destroys retributor squad  and Exorcist…     Less than a third of attackers left ..     They are attacking our final position  ………….  + + + Assasinaaahhhgggg.  + + ++ + 

+ + + +  Kravus – Captain of the Wrath of Krondak Despoiler Class  - Have made rendezvous with remnants of fleet over  planet …. ..   they  have effected recovery of only survivor Jahyovik  … .. . . please your … . .. invited them to return to you or engage approaching Imperial fleet ..   outnumbers them 4:1   + + +  presumed as ineffective as they were in protecting the planet  .. .  they are no loss to you but if they take a few ships   … ..eir lives  .. . worthwhile.   as instructed Jahyovik  chained and imprisoned     …………..  …………   pleased  to know  runes have quietened him and cause pain in addit  …… .. ……… he now awaits the pleasure of the Gods. + + +  Unable to effect recovery of Land raider…. .. …  + + + it’s roaming the planet causing destruction + + any units that recover or escape the fires of the Emperor’s wives may rally to it.  + + Ship under attack  from reinforcing Imperial fleets . ……. . . .Planet lost to us . . . ..  +++ + ++   

Transmission ends

I can report that the Adeptus Sororitas not only recovered the artefact but also cleansed the planet of the chaos scum and are currently hunting down the corrupted land raider.

Praise to the Emperor! – the Living God!

Kommissar Foulgar

Chaos Warbands 2003

It's a funny old world, having found the previous article I then found the models.

Photo time!

Tim's Head Hunters, the three missing hounds are probably with the wolf riders in the WHFB Orc and Goblin storage box.

My Black Pudding Boys

Why are mine painted and Tim's not? It's 2003 Tim's 13 and I'm trying to encourage him to paint his own, which he is doing, homework, Takewando, scouting and other interests permitting.
I'm a little older after all duties are done, this is my relaxation.

Chaos Warbands - AAR 10th Jan 2003

Another gem from the past. (my opinion)

At Denis Jackman's suggestion the club was running a Chaos Warband campaign GW rules similar to Necromunda as the result of a battle affects the warband's development.

This was my After Action Report.

They Shall Not Pass

Dork Flumas - Black Pudding Boys (Mark Foulds) stood by the small alter he’d created in honour of Khorne a simple pike forced into the ground, the oldest skull, the first he’d taken, now clean of flesh was mounted on the central spike and he’d learned that it stared towards danger. He carefully positioned the misshapen head of the semi-intelligent animal his men had just eaten on the small pile of skulls, which surrounded the base of the spike. One day the pike would be hidden from view and he would be a great warrior.

As Dork turned to leave he caught the movement of the skull as its sightless sockets stared towards the west, quickly gathering his men he charged off to see who was intruding upon his domain.

From his position between the clumps of trees Dork watched the strangers lined up in front of him seventeen in all in a line running North to South. There were two groups of three marauders on the northern flank, five chaos hounds, then the leader on horseback, sunlight glinting of his shield and five Chaos warriors on the southern flank their mutated arms were barbed and fanged like second weapons, formidable opponents.

For a moment he though to let them pass, but knew Khorne would not favour such an act. He sent four of his warriors to the north the enigmatic chosen one holding a position behind them; the second group of four warriors went south whilst he followed, close enough to support either group.

Skull Crusher - Head Hunters (Tim Foulds) was moving east towards the ruined town of Wurldege, it was rumoured that there were men for hire living there. It was imperative that he got there quickly before they left, or worse were hired by someone else. As he moved through the blighted land he sensed the increased magic of sacred ground and moved eagerly forwards, this would be the sort of ground a band would call its own. There was rumour of a small band of men here. For a moment he toyed with the idea of killing their leader so that they would join him, but he knew they would not. Unless he defeated each and every one of them they would reform around one of their own, make him the new champion. He prepared his men putting them in a line himself placed in the centre. They would charge through, each man for himself and regroup at the town. Looking around he gave the signal and the Head Hunters advanced.

Head Hunters Turn one.

The Head hunters marched forwards the marauders towards a small wooded hill, the warriors moving north in front of a small copse, whilst Skull Crusher surrounded by his pack of chaos hounds cut south west to move around and down the southern flank. Skull Crusher didn’t want a protracted fight today he had to get to Wurldege by tomorrow evening.

Black Pudding Boys Turn one

Calling upon the chosen one to move southwards in to the woods to cover the centre, and commanding the Warriors in the north to go into the tree covered hill in front of the marauders. Dork Flumas moved south sending his other warriors into woods from where they could ambush the enemy leader or his chaos hounds.

Head Hunters Turn two

Both groups of marauders charged up the hill into the woods to attack the four chaos warriors who awaited them, The five chaos warriors, mutated arms snapping and flexing rushed into the small copse against the chosen one. Meanwhile Skull Crusher swung north cutting behind his warriors and to the west of the hill where the marauders were slogging it out with the warriors. He smiled grimly, the feint had worked, half the enemy force was out of touch and with luck those warriors would not get a fight today

Being in cover the four chaos warriors attacked the marauders two attacking each group. The flail smartly mashed the brains of one marauder and the mace did equal service in the to the other group. The marauders failed to hurt the warriors and the great weapons failed. One group of marauders decided to leave the battle whilst the others stayed on to fight.

Meanwhile the chosen one flashed his two weapons and neatly decapitated two trees much to the amusement of the chaos warriors who unable to retain their mirth failed to hit the chosen. None the less outnumbered as he was the chosen decided to fall back and tripped whereupon the warriors overran his position and found themselves within strike distance of Dork Flumas.

Black Pudding Boys turn 2

The careless charge of the chaos warriors had brought them within range of the Dork Flumas and his warriors in the southernwoods; who all charged in two reaching the target. Between them they kill one of the invading warriors and suffer no wounds, chaos warriors hold firm and all closed in for the next phase.

On the hill the marauders take down a chaos warriors the heavy weapon knocking him to the ground. Both sides determine to slog it out.

Head Hunters turn 3

Turning in his saddle Skull Crusher watches as his men hold of the enemy warband and gallops on to the east for his rendezvous, his will forcing the chaos hounds to lead in case any more enemy block his way. The two fleeing marauders rally and watch as their fellows are cut down.

The melee of warriors in the centre results in a wound on the leader, but all fight on determined to fight to the end.

Black Pudding Boys turn 3

The three knights on the hill are unable to stop the escape of the mounted group and charge into the rallied marauders who disable one warrior. All are steadfast and fight on.

In the centre the ‘Great Baker God’ affects the melee and nothing happens!

Head Hunters turn 4

Skull Crusher races on towards the board edge and stops 3” away, he had hopped to end the battle but all must fight another round of combat.

The marauders kill another chaos warrior; his companion can’t believe I tand stays to seek revenge.

In the centre the ‘Great Baker God’ still holds sway.

Black Pudding Boys turn 4

Oh shame the two marauders remove the last chaos warrior.

But in the centre Khorne comes to Dork Flumas’ aid and together with his warriors they kill two chaos warriors, the rest sensing failure turn to run but are cut down by the leader and his men.

Head Hunters turn 5

Skull Crusher leaves the eastern table edge and the battle is over.

Black Pudding Boys report.

Well Skull Crusher and his Head Hunters may have won the game but Khorne was not impressed, he didn’t even get his sword out! I had lost four warriors and a chosen and they all recovered though I will be speaking severely to the chaos warriors, being taken down by marauders for Khorne’s sake, as for the chosen, less topiary and more skulls.

A fun battle and it shows how much I need a fast unit. But I gained two favour points and got to roll on the advancement table where I rolled the Mark of Khorne! (Well what else did you expect me to roll????) This gives me frenzy and an extra attack.

Head Hunters report

Gained four favour point and the displeasure of Khorne, when I rolled for recovery I rolled two ones and had to use two favour points up to save two of my chaos warriors. On the other hand my leader rolled on the advancement table and gained +1WS, he must have spent the evening practising!

Conclusion

A number of lessons learned, most importantly that the rules need some clearer interpretation. All of us need to sit down and think about the situations that have occurred and how we have resolved them. Then we need to create house rules that can grow as our games continue. There is a certain element of conflict between using our men as units (regiments) or as skirmishers.

Mark's Black Pudding Boys

Tim's Head Hunters

                          ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reading this now in 2017, I wonder how differently I'd play the game regarding units/skirmishers given the wide range of rules that now exist. 

I believe using the Frostgrave rules concept with each band of men under a captain would work well, the captain able to take four men rather than one.

Lucky Dice? - B***dy Dice! - An article written 8th March 2004

When we started the Madgamers club we decided to run a small in house magazine, we called it Insanity.

I have rescued for your entertainment and mine some of the nonsense I wrote back then, this, the first I found to post but not first article, was most definitely triggered by some of the people I played against. I didn't just imagine all these traits.

Lucky Dice? – B****y Dice!

Many things can influence a player’s success on the field of battle:

1. The way he places his forces on the table, in relation to the enemy’s units.
2. His use of cover and terrain to its best advantage.
3. His placement of units so they support each other, giving covering fire etc.

As everybody knows all games demonstrate the player’s skills and have nothing to do with luck.

The fact that the opposing general has had an appalling sequence of dice throws and therefore loses in no way detracts from the winner’s skilled play and disposition of his forces.

The cry of, ‘He had all the luck, his dice throws always give him what he need,’ should be ignored. The loser’s dice rolls were probably just as lucky or unlucky as the winner’s. The winner ‘merely’ managed his luck ill or good better than you did! Remember Napoleon is reported to have said, that he only wanted Generals who were lucky. However in truth a lucky general is one who has planed ahead and is prepared to take advantage of his luck and arranged his forces to limit the damage in the event of bad luck.

Rubbish this only applies when you are winning!

Everybody knows it was the role of the dice that made you lose, a one or six at the crucial point would have made all the difference in the world. If you had had his luck and he your ill fortune, naturally you would have won.

In gaming the roll of dice can really can influence a game, especially if you’re the sort of player whose tactic is to rely on the throw of the dice. As a result of the fickle offerings of lady luck many of us have developed techniques or quirks that improve our luck. Some of these are listed below, you may recognise them, I trust you don’t use all of them!

I dropped it!      A player picks up his dice and ‘accidentally’ drops one or more of them. If they fall correctly he calmly rolls the rest in such away that it appears to be a single roll. If they fall badly, he calls out, ‘I dropped that’, picks them up and rolls again.

Oops, sorry!       His dice roll scatters into your unit knocking them back, as he generously stands your men back up, he place them within assault range of his troops. Where he was rolling armour saves then naturally they will now be out of range and you will be unable to assault him!

Scatter roll.        The player rolls his dice in such a way they collide with dice resting on the table. Any sixes within the scatter range can be claimed as rolled that turn. If there are none he can claim that the collision of dice affected the outcome or that he can’t tell which are his dice and re-roll all his dice. (The collision claim is also useable in Oops, Sorry!)

Jelly drop.          The dice are picked up in such away that if skilfully dropped they will not roll, but rather land with the desired number face up. Heavy dice are ideal for this as is a soft sticky landing pad, jammy bread is perfect.

Tilt!                    A dice that rolls with the correct value face up is not tilted even if the degrees of tilt exceeds 80^o, however if the roll is wrong a tilt of 5^oor less, is deemed sufficient to warrant a re-roll. The keener player will come prepared with a level for this and will argue over a list of one degree. The correct application of a level is not printable on these hallowed pages.

Rough ground.  A variation of ‘Tilt!’ almost as if it were master crafted! The rough terrain with its lumps and bumps will offer many more tilting opportunities; hence more dice will be available for re-roll or not as required.

Too many.          Pick up more dice than allowed and roll them into resting dice, identify only those with the right result, ignore others. Best used in conjunction with the ‘Scatter roll’.

How many?       When instructed to roll five armour save dice, refuse those offered by the opponent, (see quirks #1), instead pick up individual dice, counting slowly, fumble and drop dice and begin counting again, enquire as to the number of dice e.g. ‘Four wasn’t it?’ then roll the four dice. If they all save and the opponent doesn’t query continue with the game, if challenged roll one more. If they fail to save recognise your error e.g. ‘Sorry it was five wasn’t it?’ then re-roll all five dice.

Quirks.

1.      Never accept dice rolled by an opponent, you don’t want his aura to affect your roll.

2.      Always hide his lucky dice and use them yourself.

3.      Don’t let him touch your lucky dice reclaim and hide them immediately.

4.      Pick up sixes when you want to throw a one, conversely pick up ones and twos when a six is required after all a dice wont roll the same number twice will it!

5.      Roll dice one at a time, each can then be individually blessed, blown on or kissed.

Well I hope that all helps and has perhaps raised a smile.

But please remember this, if you’re winning and luck is going your way shut up and enjoy. Don’t gloat.

If luck is not going your way, grin and bear it. Even if there is no way you will win and the game is pointless, continue to the bitter end. Why?

1.      This may be the first game your opponent has won in a long time and why shouldn’t the poor sod enjoy full sweet victory. (You’ll want the favour returned wont you.)

2.      Remember the dice will change, especially if you hide his lucky ones.

Dranask Wolfsbane 

(aka Mark EA Foulds)

8^th March 2004  

This article was first posted to the in house magazine Insanity in 2004

Dranask Wolfsbane - what's in a name.

Why Dranask Wolfsbane?

Funny in some MMORPG that is me, my identity, shortened to Dran when someone wants to mention me in chat and those people when we've met in real life still called me Dran, not Mark or Tim's Dad, but Dran a being in his own right.

And strangely enough this alter ego of yours becomes part you and you it. Fortunately my MMORPG skills are such that I will never consider myself superhuman more a liability, I digress why Dranask?

As mentioned in the Madgamer's post we were running or rather trying to run a campaign and each of us had to name a leader. Short of an idea I shut my eyes and touched the keyboard, I didn't quite type Dranask, but close enough and the name was created, I believe it was unique, search for it on Google.

We failed to create a campaign but did create a Wargaming club, I think you will agree that was far more worthwhile.

 

Dranask Wolfsbane

In all the 40K games I played at the club and most if not all were, my disillusioned, some would say corrupted Iron Warriors were led by Dranask.

I had a few notable wins and some less memorable losses, though still some rankle, so much so that even now I still know why I lost, however as I said you remember your victories.
One frequent opponent was called Francis, or 'F' as he preferred, he always fielded a Space Wolves Space Marine chapter.

I do tend to lump all Space Wolf, Blood Angel and dark Angel players in to one group, people who play to win. People with beefed up fighting machine, ignore the fluff, you are here to win. 'F' was an exception but determined to win as was I. However no matter how many times we played it was either a draw or a major win to me.

I wasn't perfect then, and sure as hell am not now, but I recalled how in ancient times an exceptional leader might be given an honorary name to add to his birthing name I felt Dranask deserved such and so rubbed it in by granting Dranask the honorific name Wolfsbane.

Dranask Wolfsbane continued to fight many a battle, won and lost but rarely if ever lost against Space wolves, even new players.

Dranask then became my gaming name as I played on line, Call of Duty, Runescape, World of Warcraft and more recently Emporea.

I haven't a Cludeo.

I will admit it is not up there as favourite game, but with five in the family two of whom loved the game it did of course become a staple.

The original game was lost in the mists of time so a new one was needed
I didn't like the new plastics over metal models, they had little character as bland colours, at the least the old metal ones developed a patina that you might say was a little like inking.

So being a gamer I had to paint them!

I hope you approve.

No idea when I painted these, I'm sure my daughter will know, I will have to ask her.

Desert town

This month I went to the Joy of Six  a small show, which may be appropriate as it is all 6 mm figures/scenery, but all the human participants were 1:1.

I purchased some Desert Domes from Brigade Models for my games of Future War Commander.

Made from resin they are solid and attractive and I thought to paint them up for jungle terrain as Alien Domes.

Funny how your brush and paints take over. I tried a few colour schemes and ended up with desert terrain, ah well, will now need to purchase more 6 mm Desert stuff.  - Once again a project escalates, at least this time it is out of the packet, assembled mounted and painted before the next purchase rather than just adding to the resin/metal/plastic mountains.

They were very well cast, odd small holes that were ignorable, as they added character if you could spot them and a couple of small flecks that needed fettling, nothing serious and unusually for me I washed them before using.

I had to now choose between creating a dynamic scene or individually mount them. It's always a problem, you want the models to look good on the table, but you want to move the troops through the built up area the building are supposed to represent. I decided to go down the route I use for trees; felt cloth represents the woods' boundaries and trees scattered on the cloth make the point.

For game simplicity my towns have straight edges, none of this medieval mishmash of town planning, no a fresh planet with organised town planning from the beginning! I will place the terrain piece on the table, replacing them with grey felt if troops move in to that area.

Designing the layout

I originally thought to mount them on 2-3 mm MDF board that I'd cut into 100 mm (4") squares, they looked wrong and casting about for inspiration I saw the 6 mm  La Haye Saint model based 100 mm x 125 mm (4" x 6" almost), the rectangle looked better and when I realised I got four out of the strip instead of 4 + wastage I was sold.


The cleaned models were first assembled on to the 'cut' bases. This allowed me to think about setup. As usual I had no plan and was allowing the pieces etc to make the decisions for me.

Mixing the basing materials

Copydex and PVA backup

In the past I used to glue the models to the base with PVA and then spread around it a mix of paint, sand and glue, this was time consuming and messy. However I was recently shown another system used by a fellow gamer Chris McGill.

He uses a proprietary wood filler from Wilko, in this instance I used a brown one, you can get white. You can add colour to the filler I have a tube of Burnt Umber acrylic paint I use, although I soon saw the 'out of the tub' colour was what I was after anyway.

The paint or in my case a little water softens the mix up so you can spread it on with a knife, running a wet finger over the top will give you a smooth 'paved stone' finish you can draw lines in, in this case a dry finger roughened it up a bit as I wanted natural terrain, soil with all its lumps and bumps.


Once you have sculpted the surface you then attach the models with Copydex, ( I know weird), this then takes the best part of 12 - 24 hours to set.

Based and drying out/setting

The fact is that a later application of water to the terrain 'melts' the adhesive and the models can be removed and washed clean and reused elsewhere. In the case of 6 mm men no damage is done to a single model.

In my opinion this far outweighs any perceived disadvantage of waiting for it to set. However the odd piece will take longer to dry or be too heavy, then I use PVA glue, if the building breaks away from it's base, an application of flock hides the repair.

Once assembled I used a coffee stirrer to make paths from building to building, all leading to a central point I planned to put a 35 mm base there, a teleport/landing pad, we'll see.

I added some white some chips I'd rescued from a path some time ago.

Painted and the different densities of Ink show up nicely

The following day I started painting one base and after trial and error came up with the 'concept' I liked and finished it all off.

The buildings were first undercoated with and then painted in 'Sand' then I picked out the windows in blue (Caledor Sky), recessed lines in Golden Yellow and some patches of Jade Green, over painting the reds I'd started with, as always the scenery tells you what colour it wants to be Doors and window frames were painted with Mithril Silver.

I then washed it all over with Peat Brown, applying it straight on and watering it down in place so I got variety.

When dry I put more wash on the window's slats and doors to bring out the detail. You can't do this at the same time as the ink spreads out to other wet areas.

I dry brushed the ground with the same cheap acrylic, sand colour and was then was going to apply sand in patches but it looked wrong so I flocked over it and added flock elsewhere. Using a brown dessert grasses flock I bought years ago; GW I think.

Finished All pictures here

I had intended to ink the stone in interesting Alien colours, tried it out on a test stone, nope, so they stay as nature intended.

I like to think of the stone circles as part of the mechanics of the teleportation device/receiver, maybe on Earth that's what all the stone circles are copies off, mimicking the 'Sky Gods' bases.

Warmachine

Khador Faction

Back in 2011 I was introduced to this game and I must say I enjoyed it and it's very different mechanics. It makes you think outside of the traditional move, shoot, combat gaming box.
You activate a model/unit and carry out all three actions in any order before moving on to the next.

For instance you have a model engaged in a melee that you can't fire through, activate that model finish combat. Now activate your sharpshooter and take out the model that had hid behind the combat.

Why don't I play the game anymore? It's not played at my club or by my peers.

I had great fun painting the models, cheated by using a red undercoat and played around with snowy bases.
Used an Army Builder red spray to prime the models and after doing all the detail used a red ink to blend the [GW] Blood red touchups

Did buy quite a lot of models but got ruthless and sold most of them, don't play don't need.
Not my normal squirrel like behavior, of burying them somewhere in the house/attic and getting them out to dust before reboxing.

Other images here My Google Warmachine Album

MAD gamers, or more properly Maidenhead and District Gaming club. [1999 - current]

Frequent visits to GW Maidenhead, an exchange of cash for plastic/metal and I'm an addict.

The store manager noted a few of us frequent older players popping in and suggested we get together to play, as although it was possible to play in store space was limited and often full. so...

Chris Evans - store Manager
Chris Stillman
Mark Davies
Chris Davidson
Russ
Mike Emery
Mark Foulds

We started meeting and playing games, I actually won one or two! A novelty.

In our enthusiasm we started to plan a 40K campaign. Rules were devised a map drawn and the characters of the various wargamers became apparent.
Some were happy go lucky you have to be to play Imperial Guard. Others had to win at any cost, Dark Angels, Blood Marine players, you know the type. Some were right devious an Ork player. I played my Iron Warriors, I can't recall the other armies.

I'm not sure the campaign got very far, too many of us enjoyed a good argument two in particular enjoyed a good wind up, their favourite victim would be argued through a full circle until the two of them were agreeing with and suggesting to him what he had initially said and couldn't see what his problem was.
I thought the pair of them were just being difficult, it was years later it was pointed out to me by one of them that this was the highlight of the evening for them.

I recall one evening session that collapsed into one of these discussions, eventually enough was enough and we started a game at 01:00 finishing at 05:00. Still chuckling now, it was an improbable game six of us on a 4' x 6' table.

In order to play the campaign we had to create army lists with leader which we could position on the virtual map. I needed a name, with a void for an imagination that day. I decided to randomly hit keys on the keyboard a little tweak and a Chaos Lord gaming legend was born; Dranask.

The idea was that each small army group would march across the map to occupy hexs and receive resources, all bar one organised small 100-400 point armies that would survive an encounter with another player so sent forwards about 3-4 armies. One player made up 10 point armies and sent out 20. The rest of us were not impressed.

Mike wanted to start a club, but considered it impossible as the local authority had informed him he would need a gaming licence. At the time I lived next to the Town Mayor, a quick question or two. No we don't need a licence we are a Wargaming club, not a 'Gaming Club', as ever ask the right question.

Mike had the contacts and we started meeting at the Maidenhead Football club. Friday night £1 a night, a constitution was drawn up and the first members were.

Denis Jackman, Mark Foulds, Mike Emery, Chris Davidson, Mark Davies. Other commitments had pulled the other 'founders' away from the area.

The club went well and at one point we had in excess of 80 members.
Sadly due to a misunderstanding we moved away to 'The Rose' lovely pub lovely welcome, but not ideal and at the same time the local shop opened a 'Games Bunker (room) and many younger players drifted away.  We moved again to a local social club, a Thursday night so I was unable to attend and left the club, but it stayed there for many years.
Three factions developed, but two re-joined and are still Madgamers  men with a passion for historical wargames, rather than points driven games and a GW sponsored club that also plays none GW called Maidenhead Reapers meeting on a Monday so we have two clubs in town.

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MADGamers now meet at the North Maidenhead Cricket Club.

Why Blog?

I have posted to many forums in the past and then can't find the thread when I want to point someone at something I have done, it's too deep, archived or deleted, or maybe I have no idea where it is!
I understand why they archive old crap they want to stay fresh and topical, but I want to see it again, reminisce and show off old skills.

Add Photoshop's recent demands for $400 if you continue to embed your photos in a forum and of course all my old posts will have lost all their picture content.

No I'll start fresh, a record for me that others may see and enjoy or not. Let's be honest at the end of the day this is about me serving my own needs, scratching an itch if you like. :)

My friends have referred to me accurately as a gaming tart and as I add to the Blog I will add to a list (link_below) the games I have reported on in some way and have thus played, thus proving their point.

Games played for which there is a blog.

Who am I?

I've been a game player all my life, but not always been able to indulge the interest and only with the growing interest of my 6 year old was I able to rekindle the embers and now my wargaming interests have covered many rules and scales as well as SciFi, Fantasy and historical gaming as well as RPG. I also play online, though I wonder at the time 'wasted' 4 hours of intense activity leave you with nothing, yes you've had fun, but....  On the other hand 4 hours of serious painting, modelling leave you with items that will give you pleasure for years to come. I wont pretend that you have anything of value, but it is good to look at hold and show off, not so easy with the on-line or PC game.

So  briefly
1960s 20 mm Airfix WW2
Late 1970s early 1980s D&D and discover a small shop in Shepherds Bush (now GW) but all my models and books could be bought from many toy shops, my main supplier was in Harrow.
1990s my sons growing interest in games using my old RPG models, Bionicles and Might Max stuff to create games had me creating rules sets. A chance bin bag of someone's unwanted Wargaming stuff and we move quickly into 40K, WHFB.
2000s I'm running a club called MadGamers, we go to shows run participation games (MADgames) and I discover  other periods, models and Rules sets including DBA  (15 mm) and  Rapid Fire (20 mm).
2010 and I'm playing Age of Eagles a Napoleonic game and painting 15 mm and 20 mm and 6 mm. Playing SAGA, Lion Rampant, Frostgrave, BKC2, Black Powder, Hail Caesar!, Future War Commander, Warmaster, Battlegroup games and Bolt Action, but of 40K and WHFB, never a game, too expensive and while fun not what I want in a game.

I say too expensive, don't get me wrong they are lovely models, but I can buy equally good models in 28 mm and other scales for much less. My 6 mm Roman army cost me £60-100 plus rules books £40. My Dacian army cost me £60 and by buying other units, I have enabled it to be played as other armies, many for the price of two.

As to what I like in a game, that has changed over the years but now it tends to be historical, the broad sweep of battalion sized units moving and combining with others to take control of the map and act upon smaller units of the enemy, combining the action of artillery, air, foot and cavalry/tanks, with as much FOG of war as possible to render me speechless as nothing works. Playing against not just the opponent but the vagaries of the dice.
Yes I do like small 10-30 model skirmish games, but as a second choice or 'For a change'.

So there you have it my opinion two types of game Divisional armies with 100's of troops sweeping across the battlefield (6 mm & 10 mm) and skirmish games 28 mm a few models fighting it out.
Games Workshop's 40K and WHFB try to do the sweeping battles in 28 mm.
That surely was what EPIC and Warmaster were for, but maybe not so much of a cash cow. I can buy one 48 man unit of out of production Warmaster models for £14-£20 (£80 if I'm daft), or I can buy a cheaper alternate in the same scale that will make do for about £10, or a modern Age Of Sigmar 10 models for £37.50, come again?

Why do I blog?