2mm ECW Modular Terrain

I was thinking about terrain for my 2mm English Civil War project today. This requires a grid pattern on a board or cloth between two and three feet square, assuming I use the Portable Pike and Shot rules. One possibility I hadn't previously considered is to make a set of modular terrain tiles designed to be put together in different layouts, modelled to include roads, rivers, hills and woodland, rather than using templates plonked on top of a cloth. To speed this up I was wondering about the Sarissa Precision Terrain Tile System, which has 200mm x 200mm tiles that divide neatly into a 50mm grid. The basic set isn't too expensive and even includes half tiles that could be used for rivers or similar linear features such as fortifications or earthworks. I think this might be a really neat solution. 

2mm ECW using Portable Pike and Shot

I'm enthused by the Portable Pike and Shot rules for my 2mm English Civil War in the West Country project, with two variants of the system provided in the book for me to try out. Both versions use a grid for movement, firing and close combat, the default or mimimun size being eight by eight squares. This is a bit small for my plans so I'm going to try a ten by ten grid with 60mm squares, giving enough room for manoeuvre but keeping the total area down to about two foot square or thereabouts. Ideally I'd like to use my Hexon terrain but I think it would be difficult to deploy my regiments in any sort of battle line, unless it is staggered in some way? 

'What If?' Wargaming Facebook Group

I've been thinking about setting up a new Facebook group dedicated to counter factual, historically plausible miniature wargaming, having not been able to find anything like this online. This would not be alternate geopolitical history as such, in other words not 'What if the Nazis won WW2 by use of wonder weapons?' but would focus on specific turning points in known history, when events might have had potential outcomes different from reality. 

I'm thinking here of the wargaming chestnuts like Operation Sealion, the Schlieffen Plan, War Plan Orange, the Cold War, Hot War genre or even famous historical flashpoints like the Fashoda Incident. This is bread and butter stuff for naval wagamers, myself included, so I have played quite a few mini-campaigns in this vein, including the Indonesian Confrontation of the mid 1960's and Anglo-French naval clashes in the 1870's. Perhaps the classic example of the sort of thing I'm thinking of is the late Victorian 'invasion' scare of the 1880-90's which spawned the famous Battle of Dorking counterfactual book by Sir George Timkyns Chesney.

Obviously, there would be no room for Victorian sci-fi, Nazi werewolves, Martian invasions or other weird stuff, as the premise is historical not fantasy. There are lots of other groups for this sort of craziness, so the focus would definitely be on historically possible or even probable events, with the caveat that they must be based on real situations that could have occurred in a plausible or at least believable way. There would be no other limitations, so naval, air and land based wargaming in various scales would be allowed, as long as miniatures were involved. 

If this is of interest or if you have any thoughts drop me a line and I'd be very happy to take your ideas on board. 

Precursors of Nelson

A rare trip into town today and the Oxfam bookshop. The result is a pristine hardback copy of this book, which looks excellent as reading material for the upcoming holidays. At least one of the projects for next year is to complete my 1/2400th Age of Sail Napoleonic fleets, but in the longer term I could definitely extend my focus back to the American War of Independence. 

1/200th Lacquered Coffins?

I'm still farting about with different scale options for Lacquered Coffins, with club games firmly in my sights. The default is 1/300th scale using my pretty extensive collection of aircraft, but I've also been considering 1/144th scale as an alternative. Today I remembered that I had a box of Blood Red Skies Yak-1 models that I bought after playing a game at the club. I really didn't like the rules but the models aren't bad, if a bit plasticy. The scale is 1/200th so mid range between my other options, with the advantage of visual fit on the 40mm bases and a good range of 3D printed or injection moulded models. They are, however, much more expensive than 1/300th scale models. Swings and Roundabouts! 

The Portable Pike and Shot Wargame

I've continued my search for a set of fast play rules to use with my 2mm English Civil War armies, as a step up from One Hour Wargames. I had overlooked the Portable Pike and Shot wargame in its different configurations. After a quick look through of my digital copy it looks absolutely perfect for my 2mm regimental basing, as well as having options for both siege warfare and campaigns. I've now ordered a hard copy to read over the holidays, the aim being to work out how to use the rules for my solo campaign games next year. 

2mm Royalist Cornish Army Progress

I've been off work today with a bad back, so only managed to add a couple of regiments to the 2mm Royalist Cornish Army. This was done standing up as sitting down hurts! Nevertheless, this completes the order of battle for the Cornish army of the 1643 campaign, with nine pike and shot regiments, three horse regiments, a detachment of dragoons and two artillery batteries. I've even included a command base for Lord Hopton. The next thing to do will be to texture the bases with a mix of filler, sand, PVA and acrylic paste, which I'll leave to set solid over the holidays, ready for painting in the new year. 

Flame Out Above the Falklands

I was supposed to be playing a game of Flames Above the Falklands at the club tonight but I've had to postpone it until next week, as I've done my back in over the weekend. It's been giving me grief all day so I asked if I could shift the game along so that I can take part without having to stand up all evening. The car is also still stuck in the garage for repairs, so I'd have to ask the other half to pick me up, even though she's feeling unwell herself, so not really a good idea. I'm hoping the car and the back will be sorted by next week, as I'm keen to have another crack at Wings at War over the Falklands. 

DIY Flight Stands for Lacquered Coffins

I've been away in West Cornwall for a family reunion over the weekend, so got back very early today to find a package of bits from Warbases waiting for me. These are the components for some prototype flight bases to use with 1/300th or possibly 1/144th scale aircraft. 

The basic design uses a sandwich of two 40mm square, 3mm thick mdf bases, a double frame for 7mm mini-dice and a 50mm steel nail. The nail is upside down in the photo but will have the tip cut off and glued into a pre-drilled hole on the upper square, the flat nail head being the surface to which a magnetised model can be attached. It's all very simple and also cheap to put together, making it possible to supply multiple stands to match different terrain cloths without breaking the bank.

I'll glue this lot together during the week and will probably finish them off with a snow or tundra finish, to use with my 1/300th scale early war Soviet models, which I'm going to continue painting next year for both Arctic Eagles and the Contuation War. I also have some plans for Western Desert themed bases to use with 1/144th scale plastic models, assuming I don't go down a Russian Front rabbit hole with those as well? 

2mm ECW Reinforcements

I had an email from Irregular Miniatures this morning to let me know that the rest of my order of 2mm ECW figure blocks is now on the way. This is great news as it means I can complete the Cornish Royalist army and move forwards with the Parliamentarian army as well. I've always been impressed by Irregular's customer service and it is still second to none, despite the longer than expected delay. Excellent!