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.

Use Facebook   and  FB link

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 1908 RPG discover a small shop on Shepherds Bush (now GW) but all my models and books could be bought from many toy shop, 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 someones 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 not what I like 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 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?