Battlegames News

Henry over at Battlegames has announced that the magazine, and hence him, are having financial difficulties.

Read more at the link.

I did my bit today, buying a few back issues and a couple of PDFs. A small thing, but it is what I can afford right now. Feeling saddened by this news as I only just found the magazine in the last six months, and have enjoyed every issue.
 

Heroic 6mm

I've decided that there is something heroic about 6mm in today's wargaming hobby.  Quite simply 6mm is no longer 6mm. The dread size creep that has plagued the 25mm mainstream end of the hobby for a number of years, so that we are now seeing 28mm figures that are described as large 25mm.  Then in turn these became the standard "28mm is the new 25mm", which are now in turn being replaced by 32mm figures standard of "32mm is the new 28mm".

In some ways this is a product of the expansion of the wargame market and the popularity of 25mm, which of course was driven by Airfix plastic toy soldiers that were nominally 20mm, though actually averaging around 22mm.

I'm not going to rehash the old do we measure to the eyes versus to the top of the head arguments, because quite frankly they are ad hoc post justifications for the state of the hobby, and are just opinions about what is, or should be the standards that should be used.

Instead I will say that I think it is a reflection on the economic growth of the hobby and competition to produce the best selling range that one can, which is no bad thing.

Therefore I now want to point back to the title of this piece. I think that 6mm is becoming more popular, and the evidence is in the size creep that we have seen over the last 25 years or so, ever since Herioc's & Ros brought out their figure ranges in the then newish 6mm. They of course were less than 6mm tall, averaging around 5.5mm, and newer ranges increase the size and bulk of the figure, thereby producing nicer looking, and therefore better selling toy soldiers. Hurrah!

However, we are now at the stage where the market leaders are producing figures that are 8mm tall (sometimes taller) that are marketed under 6mm branding. Originally the Ral Partha BattleTech figures were to this Heroic 6mm size, though later on they were joined/replaced by true 6mm figures, becasue AFAICT there was a drive to be compatible with GHQ, who are steadfast standouts for 6mm figures being to a scale, and therefore approximately 6mm tall.

Recently though, Iron Wind Miniatures have started producing figures of battle armoured troops for BattleTech that are 10mm tor taller, but nominally falling into the 10/12mm size range.  New standard infantry is being produce to match the larger figures, and so inevitably we have nominal 6mm figures that will be around 10mm.

For me this leaves me with one obvious choice. Go 10mm, as 10mm is clearly the new 6mm and get on the size creep bandwagon at the head of the curve, rather than be left behind with true 6mm. After all 10mm figures have more bulk, look better and paint up well.

So welcome to the world of Heroic 6mm, using 10mm toy soldiers to play games with.
   

Wargaming Phases

It has come to my attention that not everyone understands that wargames are played in phases. Heaven forbid I thought that this was a truism that everyone knew about, but clearly not as evidences by this recent'ish thread on the Pendraken forum.

So let me review the phases of wargaming...

1. The Acquisition Phase

This is the ooh shiny I must buy it when I see right now phase that is common to all wargames. Triggered by seeing something new, generally in a shiney metallic material that grabs one's attention.

2. The Maturing Box Phase

The acquired shiny toys are placed in a suitable place for painting later, usually some sort of shoe box equivalent, but it can be a cupboard. Neither is considered superior to the other, except that cupboards tend to be larger and therefore more stuff can be maturing at the same time.

3. The Inspiration Phase

Once one has bought new and shiny things for painting one can become inspired to dream about how one is going to paint them and the the great games that one is going to play with them? This is often call the the Daydreaming Phase, and much time can be "usefully" spent here while the shiney toys mature.

4. The Planning Phase

After daydreaming, sorry being in the Inspiration Phase, one then moves on to the Planning Phase where one finds that one needs to find out more about the subject and how to paint the shiny toys. This is not a do-one-thing then do-the-next-thing model so the player can then interrupt the cycle to go back to the Acquisition Phase, so as to get the necessary extra shiny toys to meet the requirements defined from the Planning Phase. In a clever game mechanism this can result in the whole project entering the Maturing Phase for another round before going back to the Inspiration Phase.

5. The Painting Phase

Shiny toy miniatures are now prepared for painting by being placed on the work bench. Depending on the demands on the wargamers spare time, this phase can stretch out and lead to more planning. This is especially true if a new set of rules are purchased that require a re-assessment of the basing requirements, and therefore the number of figures needed for the project, which can result in another round of going through the Acquisition Phase.

6. The Playing Phase

Once the shiny toys have been painted, based and varnished they can then be lovingly deployed onto the field of battles where the likelihood is that the you will lose the game you are playing. This will cause you to reassess the need for further acquisitions of new shiny toys that will add more flexibility to the deployment of the forces, and it's ability to deliver a satisfactory victory by roundly thrashing one's opponent, or not as the case might be?

And that in a nut shell is why wargames have phases.
   

SELWG 2011: Crystal Palace

Hard to imagine that this time last year I was in hospital on an IVF antibiotic drip and had to have emergency surgery for a burst abscess in my breast. Where has the time gone? Indubitably another sign of getting older, as time just flies by nowadays.

Anyway, off I went this year to make up for missing the last one. Went with Trevor and his son Oliver, but like all good expeditions we arrive later than expected, around 11.45, and therefore missed bumping into Richard Clarke from TooFat Lardies.

This was not a big spend show for me as I only bought one thing, a book from Anita's Books, who always have a good selection of titles that tempt me to open my purse.  In this case I bought Aircraft of World War 1 1914 -1918 by Jack Herris and Bob Pearson published by Amber Books.

I thought the show felt quiet, but the traders all seemed to be happy enough.  

Talked to Leon and the crew at Pendraken, and Dave on Caliver, whom I have known for more years than either of us would care to remember.  

Bumped into Richard Partridge from the Southend Wargame Club, not to be confused with the Southend-on-Sea Wargames Club, or South East Essex Military Society, which started off as the Southend Wargames Club started by Ken Lazenbury.  

The Southend wargame scene is a bit like a Welsh village and its churches stroke pubs, with ones that one doesn't go to, or not, as the case may be.

Games at the show were all rather nice.  First one to catch my eye was the Yom Kipper War game by the Essex Warriors seen above.  Centurions massing, what was not to like?

Seen before at Salute, but here it is at SELWG, the rather lovely (to be honest I'm totally jealous of the look) WW2 game Budapest 1945 by Loughton Strikeforce.

 

Trevor and Oliver played in the Central London Club's WW1 Air War, which had some really nice 1/72nd scale aircraft.  The German schemes are my favourite, so here is a picture of some of the aircraft that appeared in the game.  

Still think that the Bristol Fighter was the best Allied aircraft of the war though.

Finally, this WW2 Warsaw Uprising by the Shepway Wargames Club.  Again lovely buildings to die for.

Bought coffee from the Costa franchise, which was much nicer than the coffee at Newbury, and talked to a chap called Alistair who lurks on the TooFatLardies yahoo group.

Busy Doing Nothing, Totally Spaced

Working the whole day long, as the song goes, but in my case not so much finding lots of things not to do,  as not being able to finish projects and photograph them.  As Trebian notes blogs are about what you haven't been doing.

I have been away too. Last weekend off to sunny Devon to see my Father-in-Law, family issues to discuss, but we did manage to go out for a meal with Maria and Cary (boyfriend) of Buffers for a slap up meal at the West Bay Hotel in Bridport.  Buffers is a great shop for all your terrain needs, and I bought some more Woodland Scenics Realistic Water, which I'm using for my Vietnam river project.

So not a lot of painting done last weekend, and this weekend it is SELWG, so Sunday I will be out with Trevor and Oliver lowering property values and generally causing mischief while having fun there.

In the meantime I've been watching Spaced, a geek sitcom starring Simon Pegg, Jessica Stevenson and Nick Frost, all of whom are recognisable for their roles in various things like Dr Who, Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead.  I can't recommend this TV series highly enough.

It is a sitcom that speak to my inner geek. So much of the humour just really resonates with me.  Writers block, imagining film scenes and quoting dialogue are part and parcel of what I think makes life fun.  So if you have any interest if SF films, comics and geek culture you should check it out.

BTW: Spaced is being repeated on TV, but the DVDs are dirt cheap, so go on treat yourselves.
   

IABSM 3 Teaser

Breaking news just in from TooFat Lardies...

The rules are 104 pages long, full colour. The contents are as follows:

1. Introduction
2. Contents
3. Playing the game
4. The basics
5. The Game Deck explained
6. The Rules
7. Optional Rules
8. Aces
9. Recruiting Your Force
10. Normandy Handbook (Brits, Germans and US for Normandy with orbats, stats etc.
11. Random Scenario Generator; 6 types of random scenario, infinite variety of games
12. Historical scenarios, how to write them and balance your forces
13. Two starter scenarios
14. Two historical scenarios

Richard Clarks said "The cards arrived from the printers yesterday. The tokens are being made, and Hugh Jarce is being cast."

I can't wait to see these rules, just feels so exciting. Previews of the layout look really polished and I think this is going to be the must have WW2 rule set, and I hope to steal loads of ideas from it for my own games.
   

Reprising Progress

I meant to post this a few days ago, but didn't quite find the time to sit down and write it on Wednesday afternoon as planned. Went to the dentist instead of writing a blog, I know which I prefer.

Anyway, been painting and doing basing of figures for my Mummerset campaign.  The basing being the problematical bit as after playing four games BattleTech with miniatures using our house rules certain things have been brought into focus for me and the group I play with.

Infantry are really tiny in comparison to mechs and vehicles and are readily confused by people who need glasses to read. BattleTech is not at heart an infantry centric game.  The clue is in the title, and while there are rules to expand the repertoire of infantry types, those rules tend to add to the rule burden, rather than actually creating a wider focus on combined arms.

As a result we have already gone from "realistic" platoons with mixed weapons by squads back to generic platoons that have a theme e.g: this is a laser platoon, or SRM launcher platoon, which is a shame in a way, because it loses flavour.  However, we are still employing squads that fire as platoons, which is good, and one of the things I've been doing is re-examining the way I base the figures.

BattleTech is a boardgame that has one hex equaling 30 metres, which means that infantry platoons are tripped up by the granularity of the time and ground scale assumptions; 10 seconds per turn for those who are not familiar with the game.

Therefore the game is working to a 1:1000th ground scale where the models are nominally 1:300th scale so we start from the position where the models are just over three times too large.  Now one solution is to use smaller models, say 2mm miniatures, but this is not to everyone's taste, and one can argue that one might as well use counters at that point.  Depending on your taste for such things. The other side of the coin is that you change the ground scale, which funnily enough is exactly what the official rules recommend.

Of course the eagle eyed alert reader will of spotted that even increasing the ground scale from 1:1000th to 1:500th still doesn't make the model scale equal to the ground scale.  Not generally a problem except for two things.  BattleTech miniatures are notoriously inconsistent in scale, with the dreaded scale creep over the last 25 years making newer models larger still, and the original smaller models were in my opinion closer to 1:220th scale (Z gauge in model railway terms) to begin with.  What you are left with is how to decide what compromise works best for you?

I'll be direct and to the point here and say that my tastes run towards mechs being shorter than the nominal 40 foot height that the board-game assumes,  and having a larger range of sizes depending on weight class.  So I visualize a light mech at around 20 to 25 feet tall, a medium mech around 25 to 30 foot tall, a heavy mech 30 to 35 feet tall, and assault mechs 35 to 40 foot tall.  Just my opinion.

So measuring up mech models and making some choices about how to interpret their size we can chose a scale that makes us happy.  My choice is to assume 1.6mm to the foot, or around 1:160th scale. Now that choice means that even with a a larger ground scale the models are still about three times larger than the ground scale.  So all that examination has lead us precisely no where.

Therefore one just has to be pragmatic and accept that one's choices have costs and benefits and decide what is important to you.  I want the infantry to based as squads that make up platoons, but given the size of the infantry models the most I can get on a 25mm base is three to four models, which to me is not enough to represent a squad.  So I've ended up having two bases per squad, and four squads squad platoons require eight bases in total.  However, as we have played games the need to be able to remove single casualties became apparent, and after some experimentation the solution I have reached is to add to single figures bases, and one base with two figures on it.

My reasoning being that the double figure base represents the platoon commander and RTO, while the two single figure bases represent a sergeant and runner.  The second single figure base is not strictly necessary for playing the game, but does keep the numbers even, which for some reason pleases me, as the number is 28.  The same a standard British platoon, and nominally the size of a standard BattleTech platoon.

We shall just ignore the whole frontage that a platoon occupies, as we've already accepted that the figure to ground scale is an abstraction to make the game playable on the size of table we have available.
   

Mummerset 09.04.11: The 2nd Battle of South Boring AAR

   
This session was to resolve the situation from the Republican Guards pincer movement on the defenders of South Boring.

Background

Elements of Colonel Whales's 3rd Royal Guards have pinned down by an attack by General Spencers 1st Republican Guards who have numerical superiority. See the last report for further details in the first link above. 

1st Republican Guards 2nd Battalion

1 x Hornet custom modified 3132 Inner Sphere tech worth 585 bv (move 5-8-5, armour 69 points, and 10 single heat sinks). Loadout 2 x medium lasers, 1 x LRM5 (with 24 rounds of ammo), and 1 x small laser.

1x ConstructionMech MOD custom modified 3132 Inner Sphere industrial tech worth 335 bv (move 3-5-0, armour 40 points, and 1 single heat sinks). Loadout 1 x LRM10 (with 12 rounds of ammo), 2 x machine guns (with 100 rounds of ammo), and a lift hoist.

1 x MaintenanceQuad MOD P custom modified 3132 Inner Sphere industrial tech worth 576 bv (move 3-5-0, armour 48 points, and 6 single heat sinks). Loadout 2 x LRM10 (with 12 rounds of ammo each), and 2 x lift hoists.

4 x Vedette light tanks worth 475 bv each (total 1900 points).
4 x Striker light missile tanks worth 564 bv each (total 2256 points).
4 x 3039 wheeled APCs that could carry one squad of infantry worth 157 bv each (total 628 points).
4 x 3039 GEV APCs that could carry one platoon of infantry worth 102 bv each (total 408 points).
1 x Morningstar City Command vehicle worth 412 bv.

1 x mechanised infantry platoon.
1 x PAL infantry platoon.
2 x jump infantry platoons.
2 x foot infantry platoons.

Also again on call were three artillery batteries in support of the assault.

4th Battalion of the House Steiner 4444 Regimental Combat Team

1 x Firestarter 2C XP custom modified 3132 Clan tech worth 1683 bv (move 6-9-6, armour 58 points, and 10 double heat sinks). Loadout 1 x ER Large laser, 2 x ER medium lasers, 2 x flamers, and 1 targeting computer). 

3rd Royal Guards 2nd Battalion

1 x AC5 field gun battery.
4 x foot infantry platoons.

Initial Deployment

As the players had aerial recon and orbital dominance the forces under the command of Major Alexander Mercia (Oliver) were deployed on table in order of the line of march. After this Trevor deployed his forces, which were all initially out of sight or hidden.

Click to embiggen.

The above shows Major Mercia's forces moving down the main road hunting for the enemy, which he has to engage and eliminate and then leave the opposite side of the board within fourteen turns (time set by length of the previous game where General Spencer transmits the withdraw order to the Republican Guards).

 

So, Oliver was very much on the clock and he can't just rush everything to the other side as he would lose if the defenders are still in place.

At the far left you can just glimpse the missile tanks that were positioned to provide indirect fire for the supporting forces, it was a pity that the enemy was so well hidden.

 

In the middle left you can see the advancing industrial mechs and slightly further right the wheeled APCs moving towards a building they suspect is defended. Smoke from an artillery barrage has also been placed on the table.

Click to embiggen.

The first shot of the game sees Trevor brewing up Oliver's leading GEV APC and effectively killing all the infantry inside it too as an added bonus. 

 

Oliver's forces are very bunched up due to the choke points (it is assumed that routes outside of the board are mined or blocked to prevent passage). It sucks to attack dug in defenders.

Click to embiggen.

The battle has just got down and dirty with Trevor's Firestarter bugging out to the far right with Oliver's mech forces in hot pursuit.

 

As can be seen another GEV APC has been hit, but this time the infantry inside were able to get out. Also a wheeled APC has been brewed up with the loss of one PAL infantry squad (Power Armour Light).

 

One of Oliver's industrial mechs is very lucky in that an offboard artillery barrage just misses it after over shooting its target; the building to the left near the front of the board.

Click to embiggen.

The Firestarter is leading the Republican Guard mechs in a merry chase around prime down town real estate that presents exciting investment opportunities for an entrepreneurial real estate developer looking to get in on the ground floor of a major redevelopment of an up and coming residential area.

 

Oliver's Hornet has jumped on top of one of the building trying to catch up with the Firestarter that can just bee seen center top of the picture.

Click to embiggen: Last turn of the battle that ended up being quite a blood bath.

Result of the Battle

Oliver's Hornet mech was taken down by a combination of SRM armed infantry and one of his own artillery barrages overshooting and hitting it just to rub salt into the wound. One industrial mech was still standing relatively unscathed, but the other had been well and truly cored.

 

Trevor's Firestarter fell to three critical hits on the engine shielding and a whole heap of armour sanded off by being under constant fire.

Losses were high on both sides.

 

The Oliver's Republican Guards lost five platoons of infantry, which left one platoon of infantry that was combat effective. He also lost one tank, three GEV APCs and four wheeled APCs.

 

Trevor lost two platoons of infantry. However, Trevor's remaining forces were not in a position to control the battlefield having no armour, and so they agreed to collect the wounded and allowed each other to retrieve mechs and vehicles for salvage.

Oliver and Trevor.

Since Oliver did so well, actually inflicting losses on House Steiner I have promoted his character Major Alexander Mercia to Lt. Colonel, and of course the Republic news service will hail this as a great victory over Colonel Whales Royalists, who only withstood the attack down to the support of the offworld mercenaries that he had employed to subjugate the citizens of Mummerset to the old rule of Kings again.
   

Colours 2011: Newbury Racecourse

 

I haven't been to Colours, which is held at Newbury racecourse for a couple of years. When I checked my diary I see it was 2009. That was the year I was checking out terrain and making the decision to make my own, rather than buy a commercial product.

Going back was like visiting the past, as it seemed to me that nothing much in particular had changed, which is not a bad thing by any means. What had changed though was the fresh coffee stand was not open this time, and as far as I'm concerned this was a disaster.

I don't want to be drinking alcohol as I'm driving, so I want something nice to drink, and for me that does not mean instant coffee. So that was a disappointment.

We drove down to Newbury from St. Albans where I had been taking a few pictures for Richard Clark, so by the time we arrived we were quite hungry, as well as thirsty. To say the least the food service was desultory, and I ended up having a hot sausage roll thing that was very unsatisfactory. So from a culinary perspective Colours was an epic fail, which may sound a bit unfair, but the lack of choices really affected my experience of the show.

As to the show itself.

Traders were in the usual plentiful abundance. The win of the day was getting a copy of Battle (1970 edition) for five pounds from the bring and buy stand. I then found a dealer with Testors Dullcote, and bought their last four tins. Then I bought some Basetex texture paint as I had run out. Yes, I know I can make this stuff by mixing paint, texture and glue, but it is simpler and less messy to buy a pre-prepared product. 

Spoke to the crew at GZG, as we go way back to when we were all young and foolish

Looked around at other stuff but didn't buy anything, partly because the most of the traders I might have bought stuff from weren't taking credit cards. I don't know if this was something to do with the venue, or what? 

So, mostly browsed, rather than bought anything. However, did see some fabulous new building from Fieldworks, but though they said these would  be up on the website this week they are not yet posted. However, as soon as they are I will be ordering one of each of the nine new buildings I saw. 

I should have taken a picture I suppose?

 

A couple of games caught my attention. First up was Edward VIII Cocktail Bar - A Very British Civil War set in 1938 called The Battle of Ambridge.

I especially liked the seaplanes above. The other more low key affair being the Royal Air Force Wargames Association game Stargate GB-1.

 

Reminded me of a miniature version of the Contact! airsoft LARP I'm involved in. Talking of this, a picture of a twelve inch to the foot scale military vehicle at Colours 2011.

My American M1009 CUCV radio truck in three colour NATO camo.

Weekend Photoshoot

Been a bit of a busy weekend for me as I went up to St. Albans Saturday morning to shoot a few photographs for Richard at TooFat Lardies for his forthcoming I Ain't Been Shot Mum 3. He says he is pleased with what I did, but for me the proof of the pudding will be seeing the end product etc.

For me the photo shoot was quite stressful, because it has been an awful long time since I've taken pictures on any sort of commission basis, and it was a lesson in how stress makes you forget things. However, in spite of all that I took 94 pictures in an hour and a half, which was all the time we had, because the hall was booked for use by another group.

Some are appallingly out of focus, and other have camera shake to die for, when one take 94 shots one is bound to get a few good ones. I just hope that I got enough good shots for Richard to be happy and able to proceed with producing the rules.

I've been looking at the manual and dummies guide I bought to refresh what I need to know to get the maximum out of my camera. Oh ye,s some very cropped teasers for your delight.

Enjoy.

PS: I'm really excited by these rules and I don't even play WW2, but I can see I'll be using them for modern actions though.