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Irishserb – part of the problem is that the book is not getting good reviews for the rest of the content either. See the  review on the Meeples and miniatures page for one of the kinder third party reviews.

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Times change.  My wife and daughters game. I know other gamers who are female, or gay, or trans or gender fluid.   “They”, “the player”,”the acting side” it’s really not that hard to use neutral language.

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Good people is Annie!

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1973 or so – PanzerBlitz

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I would look a histories of weapon systems rather than specific periods.  For example, Ian Hogg wrote a book called The Naval Gun that covered everything from the medieval period to then modern weapons systems. Captain Nolan, of Charge of the Light Brigade fame wrote a book on the history and usage of cavalry, online and download version here: https://archive.org/details/cavalryitshistor00nola though its historical references may be a little out of date archaeology wise.  Books like these will often cover why things changed which can then tell you more about the period in which they changed.  So a history of the musket will tell you something about the pike and shot era and why firearms took over from pure pike blocks, then move into the period of the plug bayonet, then the development of the socket bayonet  and how that lead to Lace War tactics while also talking about the inherent accuracy of the weapon which lead to mass fire reaching its zenith in the Napoleonic period before moving onto rifled muzzle loaders and how they changed tactics again in the ACW period and how the Boers taught the British (again) to adopt skirmish order…  And so on.

Edit: Gunboat! by Bryan Perrett covers the Crimea to 1949 China. It’s all British apart from a side trip into ACW for a chapter but again deals with each period in fairly broad strokes.

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Well, I had the usual Britains, Swoppet knights and Airfix but didn’t do much with them beyond the usual games.  Then my Dad brought home Avalon Hill’s Panzer Blitz.  I did a lot of board war gaming and of course D&D (and WH with the same figures) and other RPGs. 1980’s “moderns” was my first proper miniatures collection. Later WRG ancients re-used my old Airfix figures. Then life intervened with school, work and children and gaming went quiet.  In 2009 I dug out the last of my old ancients based them up and got back into miniature wargaming.

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Very Pretty!

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I’m primarily a miniatures wargamer. I also play RPGs, board war games, Talisman, Euro games, CCGs e.g. VTES, card games e.g. Muchkin, Love Letter and Poker, Go, Chess, Family Games – Monopoly et al, dice games and computer games. I will play anything that will lead to an agreeable time shared with friends and family.

However the large majority of my hobby time and budget is spent on miniatures based games that take place during a real or imagined battle or war e.g. ancients, WWII, Space 1889, Saga, or have an element of conflict to them e.g. IHMN, Dino-hunts, or Car Wars.

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Nicely done.

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Nice work and that’s speaking as a Canadian who reenacts as an 1812 British Dragoon.

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Looking quickly at the Canadian side, it appears that the declaration should only be for the contents and not the postage.
However, it rapidly gets very complicated. For example, looking at send toys (among a great many more things) to Norway, shippers are advised to consult with Norwegian customs officials before sending anything to ensure they are not restricted or prohibited.

I can see a small vendor wanting to go through all the hassle of working through the maze of regulations. I would just ask them to ensure that the customs declaration is for the contents only and not the shipping and explain why. I suspect they simply don’t know or haven’t thought of it before.

From personal experience, I received a package of used miniatures from the US – with whom we have a Free Trade Agreement and one wold think much reduced tariffs. UPS (the pirates in brown) decided to act as my customs agent and charge me $40 for the privilege – the minis were worth $75. And – I had to drive to their office during office hours on a weekday to pick them up.

As it turns out I took the time to dig through the regulations and used toys carry an import duty of 0%. So I said no thanks UPS I will not accept the package. UPS went back to the shipper and demanded $75 to ship them back + US customs broker fees on top of the original shipping charge. Note that at this time, the package is still technically in a bonded warehouse, so hasn’t entered Canada and so there is no need to re-import it back to the states. Canada Post only charges $10, understands the tariff rates and generally ignores anything under a couple of hundred bucks – it’s not cost effective to collect.

I fought UPS and got the charges waived but never will I use them again or buy from anyone who only ships UPS.

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My table is 4’x7′ but can be broken down into 2 2×4 sections and 1 3×4.

28mm WWII Chain of Command Home Guard vs Fallschirmjager – I love the Foundry HG figures and the figure size works well for platoon+ and skirmish
25mm VSF/Colonials – my biggest collection mostly RAFM Space 1889
20mm WWII Chain of Command North West Europe – Cheap plastics Airfix et al
15mm Science Fiction (Gruntz) – Some figures are 35+ years old
15mm Ancients DBMM, DBA 40mm frontage
1/100ish Car Wars 3x using Hotwheels/Matchbox/Dollar store vehicles
6mm Ancients DBMM, DBA currently in progress but I am leaning toward 25mm figure scale bases with 60mm frontage

Future Plans: I am looking at selling off 15mm ancients and rebuying in 6mm. Future WWII is likely to be 20mm or 6mm for the Desert (using I Ain’t Been Shot Mum). I have a very old copy of the Striker miniature rules that I would like to do in 6mm – ground scale is 1:1000

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Nice work

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I would follow the mat. Wash with a dark brown red, dry brush with the orange and pick out highlights with nearly white.

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I have a good idea but this is a youth friendly site.

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Ok folks we are getting down to the wire and this is a really good prize so I a going to ask all of you who haven’t already submitted to not do so. Each one of you that does decreases my chances of winning and that’s not cool.

Seriously – I can’t think of a single gamer who couldn’t use this or who doesn’t have a mate, offspring or younger relative for whom this would be an excellent Xmas present. The clock is ticking down, take a photo and post it – you can’t win if you don’t play. 🙂

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Great looking game – Love to see some actions shots from the day.

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Victoria Dickson wrote:

I’d love to do a mummy, not sure what I’d use it for. But when has that ever stopped me? :p

Add in some mysterious looking desert types, an ex-foreign legion adventurer, an English brother and sister, some American treasure hunters and a couple of dual wielding New Kingdom Egyptian ladies and I can think of a pulp scenario or two….

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Jello fruit pots for small 15mm domes or big 6mm ones.

For my birthday a few years back a friend gave me his bits box. He was into mecha so lots of goodness in there. There was a bunch of sprue as well which can be heated and stretched to make everything from fairly heavy rods to very fine whip antenna you could use on 6mm tanks. Don’t forget clear sprue either.

At work we use a particular style of paper towel and the cardboard cores are fairly heavy and have an interesting end cap. Along with some CD spindles these have been turned into a couple of 15/25mm temples and a broken pipeline. More will be used as wall towers along with styrofoam scavenged out of a dumpster.

The edge texture on broken bead board makes for an interesting texture for ruined walls.

The cardboard core from a laminate used to make windows shatter resistant was used as the basis for a flying Martian eyrie.

Fuller’s teasel seed pods make great alien bushes in 25mm, small “trees” in 15 and big trees in 6mm. I also use them for Martian zarebas – thorn fences.

Wooden bird houses from the dollar store make interesting huts for 25mm. Especially when decorated with plastic plant bits also from the dollar store. They also have 12″ square “grass” mats that can be cut into strips to make hedges or you can pull each plastic tuft off to make small bushes.The dollar store is also the go to place for cheap clay, really cheap acrylic paint and of course all, your Matchbox/Hot Wheels sized Car Wars needs. There have been a few Hot Wheels models that you can drop right onto a 15mm SF table. Don’t forget the pet section for really odd looking aquarium plants, gravel and the occasional building or ruin. (Though proper pet stores are better for ruins. You’ll pay a lot more but still less than from GW.) Other kids toys will give you cheap dinosaurs and farm animals as well as wooden or plastic “bones” kits. Plastic vehicles don’t have to look that good if you are going break them down for parts or smash them up for wrecks and barriers. Look out too for trains and farm vehicles that provide interesting looking shapes to play with.

Spent tea leaves – I dry them out and mix them with mis-tint paint to make coarse flock. I have some MDF dust set aside for a finer variant.

Risk 2210 A.D. board game. The pieces can be used as is for robots/mechs in 15 and 6mm. The building like pieces can be used a maintenance or communication drones or if you are evil like me – mobile IEDs for Gruntz. The missile units can be cut off their legs to make micro missile turrets for Car Wars.

Octagonal dental floss containers make interesting turrets

Dead black jeans – cut the legs into strips and use as flexible roads edge with flock or fine gravel stuck on with PVA if you wish.

Pins. Round heads can be used as radomes or bearings or just as decoration. Straight pins can be used as a source of thin wire – the classic gamer purpose being 6mm pikes.

There’s more…..

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I was born in Winnipeg Manitoba where there is a big statue of Riel . He’s still a contentious figure. I have been out to Saskatchewan but the main sites aren’t that easy to get to and most are just a roadside plaque. The conflict was small and mostly consisted of arrogant government commanders making stupid decisions until they had built up overwhelming force. It does however show how an irregular force could do quite well against “Imperial” troops.

I trust you have seen the Perry’s 28mm Interventionist forces?

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Well done.

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Very nice. I’m thinking about doing the North West Rebellion.

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Wow!

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Mike wrote:

Cheers, may rob this for my sci-fi games.

And I might nick it for Colonials – lots of opportunity for hidden units.

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Jack Vance the SF & Fantasy writer is worth mining for ideas. You might say he is not Alt since his magic system informed that of OD&D but I find his worlds to be very different from the rest of the SF and Fantasy genres with his Tschai series very much in the sword and planet category.

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I posted earlier in favour of a Colonial board because that is one of my primary interests. I do however like the idea of a general 19th century board to avoid fragmentation. I would observe that combat changed hugely between Napoleon and the Russo Japanese War with the tipping point somewhere around the American Civil War.

But I may have a solution, encourage tagging of posts and perhaps even develop a standardized set that can be used in a drop down menu on each post. This way everything from Waterloo to Port Arthur can go on the same board but users can easily filter for content most interesting to them.

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Darryl Smith wrote:

Perhaps Soldier’s Companion will work. Part of GDW’s Space 1889 range, but the SC rules cover colonials. They add a fieldcraft rating, something that Greg Novak used for his Herero War rules, which gave the natives some advantages.

I’ve been going backwards I started with Soldier’s Companion for VSF and recently picked up TSATF for colonials. The two are very similar and it is obvious the TSATF had a huge influence on SC. Unit sizes (20 foot to the company) are about the same with SC cavalry being a bit larger at 20 figures per unit. These are suggested numbers not cast in stone and smaller platoons of 10 and detachments of up to six are provided for.

Initiative is the biggest difference – and part of the reason I picked up TSATF. SC uses opposed die rolls modified by a handful of modifiers to determine initiative with the highest modified roll being the active player. The active player can move and fires first while the passive player can only conduct defensive fire. Regular forces will tend to get the initiative more often. However, initiative can be claimed by declaring a charge from ambush (usually by natives) or by winning more hand to hand combats – again usually natives. This results in the Colonial power player moving across the table until the dastardly natives leap from ambush. While the opposed die roll is fine for a club game, the one time I tried it in a convention setting, it resulted in one set of players sitting around waiting while several turns went by. Oddly due to the quirks of the dice it was the Imperial and not the native players who where twiddling their thumbs. This was not fun for those concerned. Because of this, I bought TSATF to look at that initiative system as a possible replacement. As an aside, I was running some games to test some VSF rules I wanted to add in. Since a defending player gets to fire no matter who has initiative, I found that the best way for a formed body of troops to handle a Gatling gun was to charge the damn thing and get into rifle range as quickly as possible before it picked them apart.

Combat is the usual roll to hit, roll to save but is focused on the gradual degradation of morale rather than out right kills. Morale check modifiers are based on hits taken rather than kills so a unit under fire can take a lot of hits, save them all and still break drown. It works for me.

As Daryl mentioned, SC has a field craft rating which acts as a defensive bonus when being shot at and reflects your ability to spot hidden ambushes. Basically natives in open order in concealing terrain are quite hard to hit, while those in mass formation don’t get the same benefits. On the European side Your Horse Guard heavy cavalry won’t see a fuzzy until he jumps out of the thorn bush right next to them while the Rifle Brigade can see the blackguards a mile away. Add into this that you can’t shoot through friendly or enemy units to hit a target beyond but you can move through friendly units as long as one is in open order, and you get some interesting tactics. Natives will want to use light troops to screen their mass formations of hand to hand specialists from fire until they are close enough to charge. European forces will want to scout with their lights to expose ambushes and see off the enemy screening forces so breech loader fire can be brought to bear. To round out this section I would close by saying natives are vulnerable to Martini fire and Lee Metfords will really chew them up so to get a decent game you need to have many more natives than Europeans (3x at a minimum) or recycle units.

Other things in the Soldier’s Companion – Artillery – lots of it and of every conceivable type from black powder muzzle loaders to Hotchkiss rotary cannon and ranging from Gardener guns to 18″ naval guns. A large number of national listings covering all the major and many of the minor powers of the time. Siege rules – if that tickles your fancy. And of course all the VSF stuff. Mars, Venus and the Moon with their attendant arms and armies can be used, or not, but also vehicle rules for tripods and land ships which can be used for historical machines like Crimean steam tractors and ACW trains.

EDIT – one final thought, I will likely wind up using the Soldier’s Companion rules with a TSATF or Lardy like initiative system.

EDIT EDIT As for mass battle, I would say SC is about the same as TSATF. Casualties and morale are at the unit level but you will need to track Leader and NCO losses either through removing the appropriate figure or marking on a unit card. I play on a 4×7 foot table with 25mm figures single based roughly to ground scale and I wouldn’t want to use more than two 20 figure companies plus supporting arms on the European side and six to eight on the native.

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Yes please

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Nicely done.

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Dude! (sorry, Kyote, but it’s appropriate here 🙂 ) where did you get Grizzly and Huskies? Do they have Cougars? What scale?

1/285 – 6mm CinC:

http://www.pfc-cinc.com/page/page/313009.htm

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Rhoderic wrote:

Alas, the spamming seems to have started. This is why we can’t have nice things.

MarioChins would like to sell you Russian souvenirs in the HFG thread.

More spam in the OT62 thread

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That’s definitely a bit of KR 16 I like. Still working through the rules.

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At 1/1000 you can go either way – vehicle light or heavy. The real difference between it and other games is that you need to write orders that are appropriate for the unit and the level of game you are playing – so as a platoon commander you tell section leaders what to do. Once you set that order, it can be difficult for you the player to change it. Regulars will do sensible things liked taking cover and returning fire on their own, greens have to be lead by the nose to do anything and elites/power suits are under player control. You can however assign a regular Sergeant to a green section to keep them moving. Of course there are never enough player actions to go around so you are forced to make interesting decisions. This also makes it excellent for solo play since once you create your doctrine, the bulk of both forces will run themselves.

Anyway – enough about that – this is the KR16 page after all

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Ok so very loose. Not a problem. What I am considering is going to 6mm for the old Striker rules. They use 1″ square bases at a ground scale of 1/1000 i.e. the same as old school micro armour. They also use multi-figure bases for anything other than commanders and elites. So what I was looking into was a dual purpose force for both Striker and KR 16. I already do Gruntz in 15mm so I have no problem with very compressed ranges, but I want to use Striker to give a “harder” sf game.

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Those are amazing!

Ooooooo…. Laaaaaaa….

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What’s the ground and time scale for KR 16?

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Congrats Gary

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That’s impressive

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So very glad to hear you made it through – best wishes for a speedy recovery!

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Very nice and I love the golems.  Claw wings can go on the next version.

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