Thinking Out Loud Review

Mark's list has prompted me to look ahead at future projects and plans.  Back in March I posted my ideas for where I wanted to go and hoped that it would be a good reference point before I span off in some other direction.  The idea was that it didn't confine me to the tyranny of a schedule from which there could be no deviation but rather it would be a list that emphasised where the easiest routes would be for creating new battles/periods whilst allowing as much variety as possible - I didn't just want a rigid list of tick boxes.

There were 5 lists with the headings;

1. Completed Armies/Periods
2. Armies/Battles/Campaigns where I have the figures/terrain but they need painting
3. Existing Armies/Periods that can easily be expanded into new Armies/Periods
4. New Periods that only require new terrain
5. New Periods that can use the desert terrain

The subjects within these lists were substantial (I didn't want to limit myself) but realistic.  As you can guess, I have hardly completed any of them for all the usual reasons but what I am pleased with is that they are all still relevant and I still want to do them.  Rather than being put off by my lack of progress I am still happy with what I did get done and looking forward to when I get a chance to tackle the remaining subjects.

The lists are still a good idea and give me structure for where I want to go with painting and terrain.

So, what did I achieve?

I got the 18th Century Naval kicked off - and I will build on that during 2019.
I got the mountain terrain kicked off - allowing me to put on the Monte Cassino game - more to come with Iran-Iraq War Thursday night games and an Operational East Africa game.
Iran-Iraq War has been started - I will try and get some photos blogged soon and I will be putting on a Thursday night game in January.
I have my first Franco-Prussian battle scenario organised and ready - I want to do a dry run with Mark asap so that I can test it's suitability as a Thursday night game on his hex terrain.
Mark and Russ helped me try out an 18th century set of siege rules which worked well - I need to blog this and get some saps/trenches built - and then we will have another Thursday night game and the basis of an 18th century operational game.

Is there anything I want to add to the list?

Oh yes!  The recent meeting with Mark and Russ and subsequent emails with Jon have convinced me that we have a very simple business plan that can very easily be implemented.  Fortune does not beckon but if we keep a very simple focused approach to its running it should open new opportunities to improve our wargaming and enhance our enjoyment of the hobby - which is what it's all about really!

Fistful Of TOWS 3 Rules

Spearhead has always been my go to rule set and I have no gripes with the WW1 or WW2 versions of the rules. They have provided me with many hours of enjoyment over the Years.

When we decided to buy into the Modern period it was an auto pilot decision to go for Modern Spearhead.

I have spent a great deal of time and money building my Soviet Army which is over 60% completed but I am just not inspired to play these rules again.

There was only one other option on the table, find something else that will cater for Regimental / Divisional level operations.

I stumbled on A Fistful Of TOW's 3 which little wars TV has a great review of here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dsnqdn8oBuY

If you take the time to watch the video you will see the appeal of this rule set.

It's fast play, the rules are slick and elegant and 100% points based. No re basing required and designed for micro armour.

The book is massive and contains a huge amount of army lists spanning from WW1/WW2 and moderns.


I will probably buy these in the next few weeks and aim to put on some Modern games later in Jan.

I am not asking anyone else to buy into this as the rules are not cheap but so long as you are willing to turn up and play with your figures is good enough for me!

List for 2019

Tis the season for new year resolutions that you have no intention of keeping

So just a short list that i will endeavour to finish this year

1. New set of operational boards and terrain for north west Europe etc,

I want to try and lift the standard of  terrain we game on.

2. City board for speahead games.

3. Medieval rules {find,play test and present)

4, Siege rules for the above

5. Operational games (Bastiogne will be the first i will present)

New favourite website

They have a fab website and YouTube channel



Possible new set of rules Russ
I may get it if only for the siege rules
there is a supplement with lots of battles and a campaign in Sicily

DAYS OF KNIGHTS 2

Medieval rule set 

i need these.

Both rule sets are reviewed on the web site,

I particularly like that a large portion of the revue relies on play ability and enjoyment.

Thursday night Ancients

Another outing for the Magnus imperium rules

This time its Alexander versus Darius at the battle of issus

 Persians set up across Alexanders line of supply,

Greek mercenaries on the river edge 

Persian foot backing them up

 Alexanders army facing them 

numerically inferior but hopefully quality will tell

 Persian right wing which was meant to pin the Greek left flank on the other side of the river struggles to comply

 Greeks closing boldly

 Cavalry clash on the Persian left flank

 Greeks struggling to get to grips with the Persians

 Pressure from the Greek right flank begins to tell

Day ends and the Persians are still on the field 

Better luck next time Alexander

D Day Beach Boards - First Attempt!

I have some leftover 5mm foamex pieces that I mainly use to prime minis on but thought to try out an experiment on creating a scaled down D day beach board.

Sand effect is Baccus basing scatter with a mix of sharp sand.

I decided to try out Ian's tissue method with PVA.

After applying a base coat of Vallejo deep sea blue I liberally applied pva to torn of pieces of tissue.

Left to dry I then dry brushed some deep green and white to try to simulate the waves effect at the beach.

This shows a better looking picture

 I have painted on the clear gel here which is not quite dry.

 Job done

Afterthoughts.....

It's a starting point if anything and you have to have a go to build on the concept. I am sure this can be developed into something that will work.

I was just trying to create a visual here so nothing precise! the techniques used are nothing groundbreaking and we have used them before.

Happy that I spent a few hours on this as it's something I will bring along to the Jan Workshop.

Update on future projects

Jon has come back with the following response to our initial discussion;

Hi Ian
I can use the same website design package that I use for A Brush too Far. It has an online shop with a cart and will cater for PayPal and card payments and will calculate and add on postage. It also has a function allowing PDFs to be purchased and downloaded. It will need a catchy name, decent photographs and a frequent news letter. I recently had an email telling me that TSS has been sold and the website has been relaunched under new ownership

Jon

It looks like we could be up and running very quickly!

I have asked Jon if a blog would do the job of a newsletter.

Mark needs to decide what hill sizes/packs we can initially produce and sell - the fewest and easiest just to get things kicked off - and can Russ produce the pictures?

We need a name for the business.  My offering is Taylor and Shakespeare Scenery (TSS) - not because I'm making a takeover bid but purely for search engine optimisation - we need a business name that people are actually googling; if you can think of another name that could work better like polystyrene war-games terrain then I would go with that.  Does anyone have any experience at looking at google analytics?

Dremell Multi Tool Set

Recently there has been a lot of discussion in the group about using 5/10mm foamex boards to create new more visually appealing gaming boards.

Unlike foam the Foamex is a compressed PVC foam board so is inherently more rigid and sturdy.

This is not to say it cannot be fabricated to create rivers/roads and other features.

This Dremel tool set from Amazon is perhaps an essential buy for the group as it contains a lot of different tools such as grinders that can be used to cut into the foamex and then milling tools to remove excess areas of foam so as to create depressions for rivers.

Anyway, just an idea. There is not really any other easy way to fabricate the Foamex. A sharp stanley knife will cut through it but the precision of these tools could allow much more creative results.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dremel-4000-1-45-Corded-Multitool/dp/B0033UWLXI/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1545998857&sr=8-5&keywords=dremel+tools

Ideas agreed on future projects

Mark, Russ and myself have had a discussion about future projects and possible business ideas and we have agreed on the following actions;

1. Ian to blog our action list
2. Russ to get cut off foamex samples for Mark
3. All to attend a workshop to create test samples and agree European terrain boards by end of Jan
4. All to of us to make at least one blog entry a week
5. Ian to write up operational game rules for Joy of Six display game/PDF
6. Ian to rewrite PDF content for Russ
7. Joy of Six meeting to agree project in February
8. All to organise day out in March to Timecast, Wroxeter and Oswestry Hill Fort.

6mm paper terrain buildings

I found this rather nice link to some paper 6mm buildings.

I could well be tempted here as there is a lot on offer including 18th Century Star forts and  European WW2 building for Normandy games.

Check the site out. The buildings come in kits and don't need painting! just assembly with glue.

These have to be the future. I wonder how much this village would set you back if you bought if from timecast?



https://www.paperterrain.com/

Freiburg 1762 presentation

Europe 1762

Close up. Prussia holds Saxony hostage in order to retain Silesia.

There was an evolution in battlefield tactics during the SYW in which Frederick the Greats oblique order evolved into separate divisions manoeuvring against a static defence.  This evolved into the Napoleonic corp system.

Light troops became an essential part of all armies - allowing regular units to manoeuvre in columns closer to the enemy line before deploying.

Freiburg is the culmination of all these tactical evolutions.

         

Frederick's very capable brother, Prince Henry, who many thought was a superior general (as he would have agreed!) employed all the tactical developments of the past 7 years to pull off a final victory with a second rate Prussian army. 

   

Objectives

Austrian/Reichs Army victory - hold the two principle fortified hilltops, the Line of Supply through Freiburg and maintain an army morale of at least "Hold".

Draw - Prussians take the two principle fortified hilltops but the Imperials are able to maintain a Line of Supply through Freiburg and an army morale of at least "Hold".

Prussian marginal victory - Prussians take the two principle fortified hilltops and the Imperial army morale is "Retire".

Prussian great victory - Prussians take the two principle fortified hilltops as well as Freiburg and the Imperial army morale is "Retire".

Special Rules

Prussian army morale is Attack/Attack/Hold/Retire
Imperial army morale is Attack/Engage/Hold/Retire

Prussian Line and Grenadier units do not require a +1 command for each unit that fired in order to move.

Prussian movement bases get double move.

Abbatis work like barbed wire - a unit stops movement on contact.  One full move to clear with no other actions.  Foot only and no group moves.  Skirmish foot may move at speed 2 if unopposed.

1R if uphill in melee

Defences give 1R for defenders in melee and 1L for firing on defenders.

Artillery in defences fire at +/-45 degrees.

Game ends in 24 turns.

Foamex Boards Link

Unfortunately due to my lines of supply being cut off I cannot source the 5mm boards we use for our operational games any longer.

Off to the market I have found a company which supplied the boards in 3mm 5mm and 10mm in all colours and offers a cut to size service so they will cater for imperial measurements which was something I could not offer.

Price wise you are looking at about £3 more per board than what I was able to get.


Here is the link below

https://www.cutplasticsheeting.co.uk/pvc-foamex-board/white-standard-foamex-pvc-foam-board-matte-finish/



Hope this is of some use

Thursday night game

So it was back to old school ancients this Thursday as frank commanded the Greeks and i took the Persians

 Greek Hoplites take the top hill 

 Persian centre and right 

Medes infantry hold the right hand side of the settlement whilst mercenary Hoplites and lights move up on the other side.

bottom right is the Persian reserve cavalry

 Greek left wing commander moves up 2 units of Hoplites and one of peltasts.

Persian bow and javelins moving thru the swamp to engage.

 Persians push forward on the left with lots of lights

 Greeks off the hill and into the Persians

 Persians were content to skirmish with the Greek right flank.

Greek wing commander couldn't get the Hoplites moving.

cavalry duel in the centre as Greek peltast and archers take on a medes regiment.

 Greek Hoplits slowly push back the mercenary hoplites.

Combined skirmish fire kept the Greeks at distance.

End game :- draw

Greeks could not get all their Hoplites into close combat where they outclassed their opponent.

The Persians were happy with that outcome too and were content to keep them away with bow and javelin fire.

Cheers Frank

Good game

Post battle points

A few points from the operational battle on Sunday

a) Happy with the ability to choose aircraft each air phase rather than just at the start of the battle?

b) Is the 2 base corridor for medium bombers too powerful - should the effect be lessened e.g if on bombs of  4, should a medium bomber have a 2 base corridor but be on a bombs 5 instead

c) Should aircraft be 'called in' on battalions that can be seen by opposing battalions (like artillery)?  Also should aircraft be allowed to attack unspotted enemy markers

d) Are we agreed in terms of line of supply that it cannot be traced back along a contested table?

Also any comments as to how to improve things for the next battle (be brutal - I have thick skin and want to know how best to run one!).

War of the Ring

I promised I would post a picture of the war of the ring boardgames by Ares for Mark and Russ.  Fantasy isn't my bag but the reviews of this are very good; the system allows a simultaneous war to proceed between the growing power of Sauron and the divided free peoples of Middle Earth - but do you use your heroes to defend strategic centres of resistance or assist Frodo with his quest to Mount Doom?  Looks very clever.

The battlefield for Sunday - middle and bottom tables

Table 2A. Frozen river, woods, hills and dense undergrowth.

Table 2B - frozen river and small lake with hills, woods and dense undergrowth

Table 2C. Road, bridge, ravine, hill, woods and dense vegetation

Table 2D. Frozen river, small lake, frozen swamps, woods and hill

Table 3A. Airfield, airfield buildings (treat as village sector) , woods, hills and AA bunker

Table 3B. Town flanking road, hills, woods, dense undergrowth. Town sectors plus vehicle redoubt (treat as village sector).

The battlefield for Sunday - top 4 tables

Table 1A. Frozen lake in front of woods. 

Table 1B, Village flanked by high hills and woods

Table 1C. State Farm flanked by woods and hills.  

Table 1D. Village flanked by woods, area of rough ground and dense vegetation (only infantry can enter dense vegetation - no support weapons except MG's allowed).