Flashpoint Baltic Update

An interesting report over on The Aviationist website of recent activity over the Baltic States, with Russian spy planes clearly testing NATO response times and systems:

''On May 25 NATO fighters intercepted one an Il-20 Coot spy plane flying from mainland Russia to Kaliningrad in international airspace over the Baltic Sea. The Il-20 intelligence gathering aircraft did not have a filed FPL, did not maintain radio contact and did not use the onboard transponder, a kind of behaviour that has raised some concern in the past, when Russians spy planes flying in the vicinity of busy airways have almost collided with civilian traffic in the region as happened for instance on Mar. 3, 2014, when SAS flight SK 681, a Boeing 737 with 132 people on board from Copenhagen to Rome almost collided with an Il-20 Coot, about 50 miles to the southwest of Malmö, Sweden.''

This would be a very good basis for a potential flash point and a realistic scenario for a campaign start point, with NATO or Swedish interceptors forced to shoot down a Russian Il-20 Coot in response to a near mid-air collision, or NATO interceptors accused of shooting down a Russian spy plane after a collision has taken place. At the very least, there's a decent scenario for Target Locked On! or similar? I really should get those 1/600 aircraft painted up!

Deepcut Studios 'Waterworld' Sea Cloth?

I've been hunting around for an affordable sea terrain cloth for use with naval games for ages but, thus far, have found them to be far too expensive or only available from the USA, with all the import duty extra cost that that entails. I've been stung by HM Customs and Excise too many times before, so don't buy stuff from across the pond if I can possibly avoid it, unless it's of minimal value.

One option I have considered is the Deep Cut Studio range of cloth terrain mats, which now includes a very nice 'Waterworld' themed sea cloth in both 4' x 6' and 4' x 4'. I have one of their 'Red Planet' cloths which I won in an eBay auction and it is a very good product, being foldable for storage and iron-proof so that any creases can be smoothed out.

I've used it for X-Wing and it is probably the best terrain cloth that I own, better in my opinion than the Cigar Box Battle tundra cloth that I've also used for X-Wing and Bolt Action. The only down side is that it's not cheap, with the 6' x 4' cloth working out at around sixty quid and the 4' x 4' one only a tenner less, including postage and packing from Lithuania.

I can't afford this at the moment but I am thinking about saving up over the next couple of months in order to splash out for a 6' x 4' cloth. This would be very useful for all of my naval projects, even though the basing on my 1/3000th scale WW2 French fleet and 1/600th coastal warfare collection wouldn't match up.

It would be possible, however, to match the basing on my 1/2400th scale projects going forward, including the 1864 Danish and Prussian ironclads and the 1904 Japanese and British pre-dreadnoughts. It would be great to have a single approach to basing and to have a good quality, easy to store cloth that I can deploy over and over again for my naval wargaming.

Vae Victis

We're on holiday in Brittany for a change, so I have bought a copy of Vae Victis as usual, this time including the game rather than just the magazine. The feature game is of the German assault on Dixmunde in 1914, which is quite apt as, famously, many of the defenders were Breton fusiliers de marine. In fact one of the local streets a stones throw away is named after one of them. There's also an good article on the French Indochina War with a platoon level scenario for Bolt Action, Castor au Tonkin: Les Paras sautent sur Dien Ben Phu, so lots of interesting things to read in this issue for a change.

Rise of the Battleships v2

I finally got round to printing out the revised and reformatted second edition of Rory Crabb's pre-dreadnought rules, Rise of the Battleships, today. This updated edition of the rules was automatically added to my Wargame Vault library so I didn't have to shell out for a new copy, which I thought was a nice touch. Anyway, I hadn't really taken a close look at the rules, assuming they had just been reformatted to match the house style that has now been adopted across his different rulesets.

However, on closer inspection, the page count has almost doubled, from 31 pages to 54 pages, with extended fleet lists, the addition of a series of generic scenarios and a general tidy up across the text to make them easier to navigate. I did notice one thing missing, however, in the shape of a quick reference sheet but I'm assuming the old one will be perfectly useable. The overall look of the rules is also much more professional than the first edition.

The more I read these rules the more I like them, so I think they'll be my first port of call for the 1/2400th scale China Seas pre-dreadnought naval project.

Naval Thunder: Rise of the Battleship

It's Friday. It's the holidays. I had a pay rise. It's time to download some new rules! I splashed out on an extravagant but well-priced bundle of the pre-dreadnought Naval Thunder rules, to add to the rules that I already have for my planned China Seas solo campaign 1/2400th scale project. I have the Second World War variant of the Naval Thunder rules and really like them, although I've yet to give them a proper test run. The pre-dreadnought version is very similar in focus, layout and content, so it is a good addition to the digital book shelf. I particularly like the inclusion of ship record cards for just about every ship you could mention, with all of the major powers and a couple of minor ones thrown in for good measure!

Cheap Precision Drill Bits

I was in Homebase the other day and saw this drum pack of precision drill bits discounted to only six quid. The drill bits vary in size from 1mm all the way up to 3mm, so perfect for use in  a pin vice or with a hand held electric power drill or similar. There are upwards of a dozen drills in each of the smaller sizes, so more than enough for your wargaming and modelling needs, with the larger drill bits left over for your DIY jobs around the house. Bargain!

East Riding Miniatures River Wedges Review

The river template pie wedges arrived from Tony at East Riding Miniatures today and I've been playing around with them on the workbench just to see how many wiggly shapes I can make. It's great fun! (I clearly don't get out very much). The wedges are the wavy edged variant in 30, 45 and 60 degree segments, so you can make tight or gentle bends very easily and also S shaped meanders.

The lasercut mdf sheet is slightly thinner than the main template sections but this will be sorted out when I texture them, so it's not a big problem. I'm very happy with this product and also with Tony's customer service which is second to none. I now just need to find another free weekend to turn them into an actual river for my desert themed terrain collection. I'm off on holiday soon so this will probably not be for a couple of weeks at least.

Mad Mitch's Tribal Law

I've just started reading this book on the role of Lt Col 'Mad' Mike Mitchell and the Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders in the withdrawal from Aden. It's had mixed reviews but it is very interesting and obviously well-researched. It's all good background for my on-going Britain's Small Wars post-colonial skirmish project, even if I veer off in an imagi-nations direction rather than stick to the purely historical. He was certainly a character and very much a modern equivalent of that great Victorian military maverick Col Fred Burnaby. Stirring stuff indeed!

Who ate all the pies?

A bit boring but you get the idea?

I never thought I'd be typing that as a post header? Anyway, Tony at East Riding Miniatures has now manufactured a range of laser cut 30, 45 and 60 degree pie wedge shaped terrain templates to use with his existing mdf river templates. These are available with both a smooth outer curve or an irregular wavy edge, so that you can use them for rivers and also road lengths. The latter is an obvious addition to my desert terrain that I hadn't considered but now I'm thinking, why not? After all, it would be good to have a desert track for my Old West stagecoach to be ambushed on and it would be a lot less work than the river that I'm now going to finish scratch building! You can order your pies here:

http://shop.eastridingminiatures.co.uk/pie-wedges-6403-p.asp

Singin' the Blues

I asked my wife what she thought of the river sections that I made over the weekend. She said they were too green and, on reflection, she was probably right. As a result, I had a go at re-painting them in shades of blue, which looked alright to begin with but soon ended up as a right mess of streaky brush marks over the still visible green basecoat. Needless to say, I should have seen this coming but I am now back to square one with the offending bits in the bin. This is not a big deal, as they were only test pieces anyway, so now I will start again with all of the river terrain sections on a production line in order to get a good 4' completed all in one go. I just have to work out a good  combination of blue shades, taking my time to blend them into something less smurf and slightly more aquatic in tone.

Tumbling Dice 1/2400th British Pre-Dreadnoughts: Battleships and Armoured Cruisers

ABB1a Centurion Class BB (rebuilt)

ABB5 Canopus Class BB

ABB14 Cressy Class AC

ABB15 Drake Class AC

I promised to post some photos of the Tumbling Dice 1/2400th scale British Pre-Dreadnought models a while back but just didn't have time to get it sorted. So, to make up for my wayward time keeping, here are some pictures of a couple of the battleships and a couple of the armoured cruisers, warts and all. The armoured cruisers and very imposing models, especially the Drake Class which is half the length of HMS Centurion again. I like the exaggerated detail on these models, although others might find it a big over the top, as I think they will paint up very nicely indeed with a simple wash and dry brush technique. I'll add some photos of the protected cruisers, destroyers and gunboats tomorrow.

Prototype River Sections Finished

Before the wash and gloss varnish

After the wash and gloss varnish

I decided to paint the water in shades of green, with a blend from dark to light toward the edges of the river bank. This looked good when I first applied the various green shades but has been lost in the wash and varnish stages, which is a shame but not a complete disaster. I added a couple of coats of gloss acrylic varnish and some Gamers Grass Moss tufts to break up the banks and cover a few dodgy bits. I think the end result is OK, so will crack on and make a few more river sections over the next week or so, of I can find the time.

Modular River Terrain Test Continued

It's been a busy morning but I've now started painting the two prototype sections of modular river tiles, following the tried and tested method that I've used on the desert terrain. I'm now waiting for the GW Agrax Earthshade wash to dry completely, before I can add a light dry brush to the river banks. I'm hoping to get at least a basecoat on the river itself by the end of the day, although I'm unsure if I will paint it in shades of reflective blue or a muddy brown?

I've also ordered a rather cool plank and post bridge to go over the river from Supreme Littleness Designs. This has a nice western look to it, despite being designed for Napoleonics, Seven years War, Malburians et al, so I think it will fit in very well. I'm sure there's a scenario or two that I can devise featuring a bridge, no doubt involving some blowing up with dynamite! When it arrives, I'll work out the best way to base it and paint it, so that it fits in with the rest of the river sections.

Royal Navy China Station Fleet Extras

I was having a closer look at the China Station fleet list c1900-1905 that I devised a while ago, when I realised that I'd omitted some significant warships from the line up. The most obvious of these were the protected cruisers of the Diadem Class, HMS Argonaut and HMS Andromeda, both of which were stationed in the Far East in the time frame that my list covers. I'm not sure how I missed them but I did, so I have now edited the list to make sure they are there!

Notice the pair of single gun mountings

This class of protected cruiser was unusual in having no large calibre main gun turrets but instead were armed with pairs of secondary calibre 6" guns behind shields fore and aft. It was all very controversial at the time and obviously wasn't repeated, being far less potent than even a single large calibre mounting. Anyway, I've added them to the list and have also ordered two 1/2400th scale models from Tumbling Dice to fill the gap (ABB19). I've also ordered some B class torpedo boat destroyers, which I left off the original list as well.

Modular River Test Sections

I turned out a couple of test section of the modular river terrain today but, due to the damp weather, I've had to wait for them to dry out before I can undercoat them. In the end I abandoned my cunning plan to use string as foundation for the river bank edge and just slapped on a mix of PVA, filler and sand with a few stones pressed into the surface for good measure. The river was textured with acrylic modelling paste which is the bit that is still drying out, much to my annoyance, otherwise I would have sprayed both pieces already with Halfords Ultra Matt Khaki, ready for painting tomorrow.

River Wedges with Wiggly Edges

I had a nice email from Tony at East Riding Miniatures today. He's come up with a simple solution to my bendy river conundrum, in the shape of some curved 'pie wedge' sections of different radii, based on an order that another customer made for some road sections. The idea will be to modify the dimensions to be compatible with the 4'' wide river sections that I already have, with a slight wiggle to the outer curved edges to give them a more riverine look. I think this is an elegant solution and from a commercial point of view is also less wasteful and more economically viable. Perfect!

An Inflexible Link

I was browsing through the Kindle Bookstore yesterday, when I came across this autobiographical account of the naval career of Lt Cdr J.A.Brander, who I had never heard of before.

There are a number of reasons why this attracted my interest, not least of which is the parallel life and times of my maternal grandfather, who also served during the Boxer Rebellion on the China Station as a Royal Naval engineer artificer.

Not only that, he later became the engineer in charge of the naval yard in Falmouth after the First World War, so there's a Cornish connection too. I also have an old photo of him in his full dress uniform which is almost identical to the one on the front cover.

This interesting little book was only a couple of quid and obviously relevant for my 1/2400th scale Pre-Dreadnought China Seas project, so a good find all round.

Bendy River Bits

I contacted Tony at East Riding Miniatures to ask him if he could design and laser cut some river bend templates for my desert river scratch building terrain project. As expected, he emailed me back with a thumbs up and some suggestions for the format, shape and size of the various curves. He's going to do some designing and test cutting tomorrow, so I'm hoping that he'll come up with something by the end of the week. I'll keep you posted on how he gets on and, in the meantime, will crack on with the first stage of construction, which will involve some string, glue, scatter material and a lots of textured filler.

Across the Rio Grande

I enjoyed making the cactus bases for Fistful of Lead: Reloaded games the other week, so thought I'd carry on with my desert terrain scratch building efforts. In the rules there are a number of campaign scenarios, one of which features a river crossing by a renegade gang, who are attempting to escape the posse that are hot on their heels. I like the sound of this but don't have any river sections, apart from some winter ones that are not exactly suitable for the Mexican border. What I do have are some lasercut 2mm mdf river templates from East Riding Miniatures, which I will be using to create a 3' plus length of river 4'' wide, including a handy removable ford section. I may also ask Tony at ERM to cut me some bends to match the straight sections that I already have, so that it doesn't look too regular.  

Back to E Boat Alley

Way back in late February I assembled and undercoated a number of coastal warships in 1/600th scale for use with Schnell Rules for Schnellboote. These were also to fill in the gaps in my existing collection of MTB's, MGB's, S Boats and trawlers. I went off to do other things in the interim but have now dusted off four of the models in an effort to get them painted over the next couple of weeks. I have two Raumboote, now with torpedo tubes neatly removed, an M35 minesweeper and the Hunt Class I destroyer escort that I've already deployed in it's unpainted state for a couple of scenarios in E Boat Alley. Unfortunately, other things have got in the way this weekend including six hours of volunteer car parking for the kids scout troop yesterday and a four hour cricket match this morning, so I haven't been able to get them underway just yet.

Biting the Dust in the Back of Beyond

Circle the Wagons...it's just not cricket, you know!

Unfortunately, I've come to the decision that I'm not able to continue umpiring or running the Back of Beyond club campaign this summer, due to a clash with my son's cricket training and matches which are taking up both Tuesday evenings and most weekends. This is a real shame as I've enjoyed the games that I've played even though I've lost them all! I'm also not going to be running any more campaigns for the foreseeable future, as I just don't have the time to set them up or to oversee them, not to mention the fact that my chosen games of AK47, Bag the Hun and Fistful of Lead: Reloaded aren't top of everyone's list when it comes to club interests. C'est la Vie...as my other half would say.

Monroe's Legacy

I've been reviewing the various sets of pre-dreadnought rules that I have on my hard drive this week, taking some time to read them through to get a flavour of the mechanics and to test the waters, so to speak. I have about half a dozen assorted rules from a range of publishers, so there's no shortage of options to choose from or to play around with, which is one of the benefits of naval gaming as you are not tied down to any basing regimen or complicated terrain requirements.

I've also been perusing a number of rules sets that I don't already own, with particular reference to the Naval Thunder Pre-Dreadnought variant and The Admiralty Trilogy Group's offering, Dawn of the Battleship. These both look really interesting, especially the supplement for the latter that covers pre-dreadnought scenarios involving the precursors of the USN Great White Fleet, both historical and counter-factual, Monroe's Legacy. 

I've read through a sample of one of these fictional scenarios and it is both well thought out and realistic, with some cracking ideas that would provide for a very engaging game. This could be a model for my own solo mini-campaign ideas for the South China Seas, who knows? The cost isn't prohibitive but I'd be looking to get both the rules and the scenario supplement, so it could add up to quite a bit.

On the other hand, it's pay day tomorrow and I've just had my contract extended to the end of July!

The Coal Scuttle Brigade

I had a dog eared old paperback copy of this book and read it a couple of times but have lost it somewhere in the pile of stuff up in the loft, so I was very pleased to find a digital copy for 99p the other day. It is a cracking read and full of the sort of tough action you'd expect from the East Coast convoy merchant ships and their crew, not to mention the wavy navy which dominated the trawler, frigate and destroyer escorts. It's also packed with scenario material and useful information that makes all the difference to a realistic game. A good read and definitely worth the minimal outlay, even if the original 1970's artwork on the cover had been replaced with a rather uninspiring photograph.

That's more like it!

Old West Terrain Board Ideas

All this cactus terrain construction has got me thinking about knocking together a proper, custom made desert terrain board for Fistful of Lead: Reloaded and other skirmish games in hot places. I normally just chuck a beige coloured cloth over a table but, now I have a half decent set of terrain pieces, I thought I might as well have a permanent but portable desert terrain board as well.

The majority of scenarios for FFofL:R are on a 3' x 3' area, so not too big to be a single square board, as long as it isn't too hefty. I could make one out of wooden battens and mdf sheet but, I thought I'd try out a 100mm x 100mm stretched artist's canvas frame, which would be very light and is designed to be painted on after a skim of acrylic medium to add some texture.

The only problem would be that the canvas is a bit 'bouncy' but with some expanded polystyrene sheet cut to size and fitted inside the frame, I reckon it would be far more rigid. It's worth a try and, if I can find a cheap one in The Works or Hobbycraft, then I think it could work really well. It would definitely be better than a cloth and I could match the texturing and colour scheme to my existing terrain.

Stumped!

It's cricket training and matches for the sprog on Tuesday evenings from now until the summer holidays, which means that I won't be able to get to the club for any convivial wargaming other than the few occasions when he's not involved. This is only about three or four days between now and August, so I am well and truly stumped! Any games I can get to will have to be 'off the cuff' or something I can just throw together at short notice if rain stops play, so it will be a case of fitting in the gaming around the cricket rather than the other way round. It also means that I'm going to have to knock the club Back of Beyond campaign on the head early, although I'll try to set up one last big multiplayer battle if I can to wrap it up. Bugger.

Old West Cactus Scatter Terrain Finished

I blitzed the last couple of stages on the cactus scatter terrain this evening, adding a mixture of Gamers Grass Dry Green and  Light Green tufts, together with a few sprigs of Army Painter Meadow Flowers, to add a bit of colour. I left these to dry while I painted the abandoned wagon wheel in various dusty shades, then over brushed the tufts in Foundry Boneyard to tone them down a bit. I'd like to add some more but I think that's it. I'm quite pleased with the overall effect and can't praise the plastic resin cactus more than enough, as they are easy to work with, perfect for 28mm and very good value for money at only £9 for twelve bases worth. Fill 'yer boots!

http://shellholescenics.co.uk/index.php main_page=product_info&cPath=254_262&products_id=2060

Old West Cactus Continued

I've now painted the actual cactus in a combination of Foundry French Gun Olive Green Shade, followed by a dry brush in Foundry Phlegm Green Light and Army Painter Necrotic Green, which took ages to do but looks the part. I now only need to do a bit of tidying up here and there before I can add the tufts to finish off the bases. I'm quite pleased with these so far and am now thinking of adding some other scatter terrain pieces including some rocky outcrops and scrub.

Old West Cactus Bases Painted

I finished painting the bases on the cactus scatter terrain pieces this afternoon, with the end result looking not too bad. I copied the same approach that I have used on the rest of the desert terrain in my collection but the match isn't spot on for some reason, not that that's a major problem. I'll paint the cactus plants themselves tomorrow and add some tufts, static grass and the like to finish them off, ready for another game of A Fistful of Lead: Reloaded. I think the Bad Times in the Badlands scenario would be perfect for the cactus debut!

Baltic Air Policing NATO exercises

There's been quite a lot of air activity in the Baltic States of late, with USAF F-35A's forward deployed to Estonia for familiarisation exercises and the multi-national NATO exercise Ramstein Alloy 4 in Lithuania. The brilliant The Aviationist website has some outstanding photos taken of the latter, featuring Dutch F-16's and German Eurofighter Typhoons, which have given me some more thoughts about painting the 1/600th scale Oddzial Ozmy planes that I have based for Target Locked On! I may even dig them out this weekend and have a go?

https://theaviationist.com/2017/05/04/ramstein-alloy-4-served-to-exercise-baltic-air-policing-alert-aircraft-procedures/

Pre-Dreadnought China Station Royal Navy Fleet

HMS King Alfred

I've spent some time over the weekend working out the various potential permutations for a Royal Navy China Station pre-dreadnought fleet. This is based on various online sources and the relevant titles that I have on the bookshelves, so isn't just plucked out of thin air and should bear some relationship to the actual deployment of warships on the China Station c1900-1905, the time bracket for my proposed solo mini-campaign. I've also worked out the various codes from the Tumbling Dice 1/2400th scale range, so that I can order a few battleships, cruisers and torpedo boat destroyers as a starting point. I think that 1903-04 offers the most scope for an interesting mix of warships, with potential for a naval clash against my Imperial Japanese.

HMS Centurion

Royal Navy China Station Fleet c1900-1905

Pre-Dreadnought Battleships                                                                         

HMS Centurion (Centurion Class) 1894-1901 / 1903 – 1905                            

HMS Barfleur (Centurion Class) 1898-1901                                                                    

HMS Goliath (Canopus Class) 1900-1903 / 1905 (recalled)

HMS Albion (Canopus Class) 1901-1905 (relieved HMS Barfleur)

HMS Ocean (Canopus Class) 1901-1905

HMS Glory (Canopus Class) 1900-1905 (refitting 1901-02)

HMS Vengeance (Canopus Class) 1903-1905 (relieved HMS Goliath)            

Armoured Cruisers

HMS Cressy (Cressy Class) 1901 -

HMS Hogue (Cressy Class) 1904 -

HMS King Alfred (Drake Class) 1903 -

HMS Leviathan (Drake Class) 1903-1904                                                                   

Protected Cruisers

HMS Iphigenia (Apollo Class) 1900 / 1903 -                                                         

HMS Thetis (Apollo Class) 1902 –                                                                              

HMS Sirius (Apollo Class) 1903 -                                                                             

HMS Dido (Eclipse Class) 1900 – 1901                                                                   

HMS Talbot (Eclipse Class) 1902-                                                                                              

HMS Eclipse (Eclipse Class) 1903                                                                             

HMS Bonaventure (Astrea Class) 1901 – / 1904

HMS Astrea (Astrea Class) 1900 - 1901                                                              

Torpedo Boat Destroyers

HMS Arun / HMS Dee / HMS Itchen (River Class) 1904                               

HMS Erne / HMS Errick / HMS Exe (River Class) 1905                                         

Old West Cactus Basecoat

I've been out at the sprog's cricket match most of the evening, so haven't had time to do anything apart from an undercoat on a couple of the cactus bases that I prepared over the weekend. These have been sprayed in Halfords Ultra Matt Camouflage Khaki ready for dry brushing and washing, once they've thoroughly cured. I'll just do these two as test pieces for the moment so that I don't muck up the whole lot in one fell swoop! It's all a bit unexciting and beige at the moment but should look better after the next stage.

15mm Sci-Fi SWAT APC

I was in Poundland today when I spotted these Hotwheels toys near the check out. They're supposed to be some sort of X Ray scanning rescue vehicle but I thought that, with the big yellow plastic arm removed, they would make pretty good SWAT trucks or APC's for the 15mm GZG Sci-Fi police figures that I bought in the Xmas sale.

I picked up three of them and drilled out the plastic rivets on one, to separate the plastic body and inner section from the metal chassis, so that I could remove the big yellow arm thing. After re-assembling the parts I reckon I could either add a crew figure into the top hatch or a weapon mount from the GZG or Brigade Models accessories range, to create armoured riot response vehicle for SWAT transport and fire support.

They would also do as generic transport or cargo vehicles for military use. Not bad for a quid each!

Old West Cactus Basing

I didn't get the cactus bases painted today but I have blended them in with a mix of wall filler, PVA glue and sand, followed by a sprinkling of model railway ballast to add a bit of texture. I'll sand them down a bit tomorrow when they have completely dried then basecoat the whole lot in a desert khaki shade to match my other terrain, ready for some washing and dry brushing. I think they will look pretty good, especially if I also add some tufts and weeds around the bases.