Monday 5 April 2010

Back to 'Base-ics' - Where the Grass is always Greener............

It has been a busy few days over the Easter break and no mistake! Firstly,on April 1st (the irony was not lost...) yours truly was presented with his first grandchild - a strapping baby boy called Ryley (I know it is an odd spelling but at least it has the virtue of being unique!). Many congratulations to my son and his good lady on this happy event with all good wishes for the future. Baby, Mum and Dad and all are well - as are the new grandparents.

After the frenzy of hurried dashes to and from the hospital - not to mention contending with an FSA inspection at work it was with great relief that we headed up to Norfolk for a very enjoyable weekend with family. On Saturday we managed to get a couple of hours in Norwich city itself and I made a couple of useful discoveries. Firstly, a very good toy shop called Langleys - good because upstairs has an excellent models and plastic figure section. I did not buy anything but it is always nice to have a chance to see products up close and personal. Secondly, I popped into Past Times to find out about the wooden model village in a bag (Bob Cordery has used this in many of his 15mm Morschauser games) and I am happy to report that whilst they did not have any in stock they are featuring in the 2010 catalogue and were in fact on order as it is a very popular item. the bag retails for £5 and whilst the buildings are a little on the cartoonish side they are ideal to use for gaming.

We returned home on Sunday and had a quick run around to our local branch of Lidl for some bits and pieces. It was there that I came across a really useful and unexpected piece of scenery. The object in question is a grass mat that is more like an outdoor carpet than anything else It is designed for outdoors and is very durable with a very realistic grass colour. It folds flat and the 'pile' is pretty short and so is ideal for a tabletop surface. It measures 1 metre by 2 metres and so can easily be chopped up into bespoke playing areas - I am thing of a 3ft by 2ft, a 2ft square and a Morschauser grid of some size. The price for this was a mere £5.99 so it is cheaper than buying felt!

The Easter break has given me ample opportunity to think about my basing question and I have decided that should I go for the full on Volley and Bayonet approach I will will be using base sizes of two thirds the original i.e. a brigade base will be a 2" square. Trying to place six 15mm foot figures on a 40mm square is a little on the cramped side. I am still thinking long and hard about this whole subject as the lure of the 40mm frontage is a compelling one and should not be dismissed lightly.

8 comments:

CWT said...

Hooray! Congrats on the grandchild!

David Crook said...

Hi CWT,

Many thanks - I will of course ensure that any bedtime story reading material is suitable and I have already planned numerous visits to selected museums and places of military interest. Another practiacl benefit is the endless round of visits to toy shops etc........;-)

All the best,

Ogre

El Grego said...

Congrats on the grandson's arrival!

Geordie an Exiled FoG said...

My sincerest congratulations :)

Paul O'G said...

Hearty congrats on the arrival of the grandlad! Man Cave Brewery products are flowing here in celebration! My lad shares the name, with a different though equally odd spelling :-)

David Crook said...

EG, FoG and Tas,

Many thanks chaps for the kind words! I plan to initiate him into the noble art of wargaming via some plastic army men in due course and I hope to have him painting figures to Golden Demon standard by the time he is ready for school........;-)

All the best,

GrandOgre

SteelonSand said...

Belated congratulations there Ogre (I've been a little off-colour lately, so have been away from the old computer), glad to hear you have already mapped out his initiation into the hobby!
All the best.

David Crook said...

Cheers SoS - I hope you feel better.

Ogre