Inspiration

Not that I need any extra....

I seem to have inspiration coming out of my ears lately. Well, that's what I'm saying it is!

Currently on the stocks are some early war British tanks and stuff. These may or may not be entirely related to the KISS My Arras project. My slight hesitation in allocating them to this game is that my original intention was to use 6mm toys, the following are, of course, 15mm!

My painted up Zvezda dingo, bigger than real life

A&A Miniatures Matilda II repainted

Nice new A10 from Zvezda with A&A Miniatures
Crusader cunningly disguised as an A10

I am experiencing some excitement at the prospect of receiving the PSC Great War game shortly. It may even arrive next week. This, plus my recent re-reading of Volley Fire has caused me to take another look at Square Bashing (first edition). Just look at these great photos from the RFCM Yahoo Group....

These were posted by cycleman572004 and show his use of some great orginal Airfix Germans and some Hat French. The inspiration here is that he has used single 1/72 figures in place of 15mm bases. Lots cheaper and allowing a smaller battlefield size. I'll be giving this some more thought. Check out his other photos because they are fantastic.

I'm hoping not to make any more random Zvezda purchases, excluding the U-2 and Blenheim that happened to just pop into my rucksack the other day, so I can get round to sorting out the rest of the Firestorm Neuve Chapelle.

Volley Fire

Nice rules....

Following a comment on my last post I thought it would be nice to provide a bit more information about these rules by Nick Bouette.

I got these a very long time ago from Irregular Miniatures. A quick check on their website indicates they are no longer available, at least from them.

These rules use a six by six square grid, any size really depending on the scale of the troops used. Bob Cordery has provided a good description of the mechanics in an earlier post on his blog so no need to go into detail here.

When I got these rules I was very interested in using them to game the 1918 German offensive against the British. I felt these rules would be very effective at showing the use of barbed wire, trenches and redoubts and also that they would easily cope with tanks as well as stormtroops (diagonal moves for these guys). Happily I have boxes (and boxes) of Hat and Revell troops for the period and a load of tanks, all in 1/72. I like to think that this project is not delayed, it is maturing!

There is a very interesting sidebar to these rules. The use of a lead unit in each square to act as attacker and defender and the use of terms such as "spent" for units taking damage, indicate a lineage going back to Avalon Hill's Turning Point: Stalingrad. 

Any excuse to use a picture of a great map like this!

Free stuff

I have mentioned Clayton J Callahan before on this blog. This guy is a character: soldier, Federal Agent and science fiction writer as well as wargamer. I admire his enthusiasm and highly recommend you get a copy of his Battlefields: From Broadswords to Bullets. A unique and simple introductory set of figure rules for plastic men from ancient times to the far future. Get them here for free (for the rest of this month) and share the simple joy of playing toy soldiers as God and nature intended!

Favourite Rules

Just the five?

I was reading David Crook's Wargaming Odyssey earlier today in which he has come up with his top five favourite sets of rules. I wondered whether I would be able to arrive at a similar list. Tough choices. However, you need to set appropriate criteria. In my case, as I rarely play anything straight out of the box, my favourite rules are those which I have plundered most for ideas. These are, basically, the ones I have carried around with the the longest and which are therefore the most widely traveled.

1. Battle: Charles Grant

I have carried this around since I bought it in Scotland about 45 years ago. This drove my early "proper" gaming. The original Meccano Magazine articles are available (officially of course) on the web.

2. Warring Empires: Chris Pringle

This set me off on the 19C gaming kick. Highly innovative rules which led on, unfortunately, to Principles of War by people that missed the point of the original set. Nice to see Chris return to 19C in Bloody Big Battles. However, these are still available from Irregular for a fiver!

3. AK47: RFCM

That's Mr Pig to you and me. No picture here because the cover of the first edition is pretty naff. Great rules and ones which I much prefer to the later second edition. probably the only set of figure gaming rules I'm happy to use without some sort of grid. Also, a top choice as the basis for a future WW2 set.

4. Volley Fire: Nick Bouette

An unusual basic set of rules using card activation and a small 6 by 6 grid.

As you can tell, these are getting a bit knackered. I get these out very now and again for inspiration.

5. If I had got Blucher this would be number five but I haven't so it is probably PBI second edition by RFCM: You never know, this might arrive for Father's Day (hint). Otherwise, its the second PBI which I still think is probably one of the best small unit WW2 games going. Playing it reminds me of reading 18 Platoon by Sidney Jary.

That leaves a lot out including Bruce Rea-Taylor's OMG game, Rapid Fire, Clive Lane's hex grid rules (still in the garage) and many others.

In case you were wondering, I'm still working on the Neuve Chapelle game which is coming on quite nicely, hence limited recent blogging. 

Firestorm Neuve Chapelle (3)

And some other new stuff...

Well, the map was too cluttered to be able to see the area boundaries and understand how they would interact in play. I have spent some time today (while listening to Sarries win the premiership, hurrah!) making a simplified map. Next step is the counters.

I quite like this presentation and will probably use this as the basis for a complete re-drafting of the map.

New stuff

I am rekindling my interest in the full range of gaming activities and I have spotted some really nice new stuff:

W1815: A new game by a Finnish company which allows the playing of the full battle of Waterloo in 15 minutes! As well as that, it is getting top marks from Phil Sabin and Charles Vasey. This looks really special.

Here is the BGG link. This should be available shortly for £20 or so. It is certainly on my list.

Fivecore Brigade Commander: I have just bought this through Wargames Vault. A very interesting way to play a toy soldier game at brigade level on a 2 foot square area.

This is from Nordic Weasel Games and clocks in at 70 odd pages. My initial scan of the rules indicates they are based on the same very simple engine that features in many of Nordic Weasel's games. Its a bit like the Ganesha "Songs of ....." engine and is very good, and possibly even more simple.

I also got the first of the Nordic Weasel Battle Packs, a monthly compilation of new material for Fivecore games. This edition includes a new short game (Assault Marines about power armour skirmish) and data for brigade commander for Blitzkrieg 1939-40.

At less than £9 for the both, very good value.

A note from your sponsor....

As any of you who drop in from time to time will realise, I use this blog as a not very serious scratch pad for the sometimes very random stuff that I think about in terms of the hobby. I don't keep a close eye on the hit counter and I am really surprised to see this is now over 13,000. I find this very gratifying so let me say thank you to you all for your interest.

The other thing I have noticed is that my most popular recent post is the one featuring the the very nice picture of Sidse. I think there is a learning point here!

"I knew nothing about the about the cows scene, honest!"

Look out for more unjustified Sidse photos in future installments!

Firestorm Neuve Chapelle (2)

Map underway....

Rain prevented lawn mowing this afternoon so I now have a nearly complete Neuve Chapelle Firestorm map. Hurrah!

I am very happy with this so far. However, the areas need some better definition. Also, I can't credit the original map maker as I have lost the reference but will do so as soon as I can. By the way, at this resolution it will not print out very well so I have some work to do to recreate it in a printable A3 format which will be just the right size for a Firestorm game.

I also have to apologise to Norm for losing the interesting sub-locations from my original map. On review I couldn't make them work for this game. 

Small and cute!

And nothing to do with Danish actresses!

I've had some R&R today, down the pub with my eldest children watching Sarries beat Saints. Top result and it looks set to be a great final against Bath next weekend.

In the fraction of time I have between rugby and Eurovision (afraid so) I have put together a recent purchase of a Zvezda 1/100 Dingo armoured recce vehicle.

A very cute little model. Almost dwarfed by a 10p piece. Other recent purchases include a Zvezda U-2 and a Blenheim which I might have a go at over the long weekend.

Firestorm Neuve Chapelle

Finally on the stocks....

I have got my finger out and started doing some real work on this project. I have missed the 100th anniversary unfortunately but still aim to finish this one during the course of the next month or so.

Initial design work is focusing on the map.

Getting the Firestorm grid right is a real problem. I'm never too sure how realistic these grids are. I need to ensure that the combats occur in the right places and that the right options are available. 

The OB is pretty straight forward for the British forces. German forces are more difficult but I have a copy of Landrecies to Cambrai by Capt. G C Wynne which is simply brilliant (a Helion reprint of articles from Army Quarterly published in the period 1924-39). I expect to be able to mine this book for ideas for some time to come!