Once, Twice, Three times a Table.....

(With apologies to Lionel Ritchie and the Commodores....;-))

This was a table that grew in the telling....(With apologies to J.R.R. Tolkein....;-))

This is my original dining table, rescued from our local Scout group. It is 5ft x 2ft 6" but with rounded corners that restricted the placing of sufficient quantities of Hexon.

This is the next stage of development - an off cut of MDF acquired from a local timber yard which is exactly 5ft x 3 ft but without the rounded corners! I can happily fit sufficient Hexon on this to cover my desired 13 s 9 hexed playing area.

....And finally, the new, all-singing, all-dancing super deluxe 6ft x 4ft folding gaming table!

And just for lighter relief - this is the bag of blocks I collected from my joiner and no, I am not giving a prize for the best guess as to how many are on show!

Tabletop Teaser

The two halves of my new 6ft by 4ft gaming table are finished! I tried the two halves for size when on top of my  usual gaming table and it looks just fine. I will be adding the hinges tomorrow and so will photograph it in all its glory for a later blog entry. When not in use it will live in its folded configuration tucked just behind the table I am currently using. The finished article will not be painted in any way as I will be using coloured cloths when I need to or my Hexon - of which I will need to buy another couple of sets and some more scenery in due course. That will be an expense for when I am back in work methinks!

I was very pleased with the fact that even when set up the table does not take up too much room and so moving around the table will be pretty easy - at least for three quarters of it anyway.

I also picked up my blocks today (around 600 or so!) from my joiner who is also cutting some hardboard for me for movement trays for the blocks. Originally I was going with Volley and Bayonet base sizes but have abandoned that idea and so am using two sizes only - 3" square and 3" x 2". The smaller size will be used in both orientations - 3" x 2" and 2" x 3" for reasons that will become clearer in due course.

On top of all that it appears that I have landed a second interview for a permanent job which is good news and so all being well I may be able to get that extra Hexon sooner rather than later!

Finally facing my Waterloo....Part 2

The 'Prince of Wales effect' Scots Greys cavalry charge - aficionados of the Red Arrows will know all about that one!

It has been a busy day for a number of non-wargaming reasons but I have managed to give a little shape to how I would go about tackling the 1815 Waterloo campaign using my Hexon terrain, 'Napoleon' by Columbia Games and a version of Bob Cordery's 'Memoir of Battle' 19th century rules with a nod to 'Volley and Bayonet' and a sprinkling of yours truly for good measure.

The ground work has pretty much been done in respect of the forces but with a rather novel twist. Back in the day (roughly 10 years ago) I went through a rather lengthy process of converting all the Columbia Games divisional sized units into, in effect, Volley and Bayonet brigade sized formations - with a strength point and morale rating as required for those rules. In effect I would be using divisions as brigades on the table top which was driven by the collection I owned at the time. The armies would be made up of corps which  would consist of, for example, four bases of infantry, a base of skirmishers, a base of cavalry and a gun. Now if you extend this basic principle into Memoir of Battle speak you could say that the above formation would be represented by 4 x 4 block infantry units, a 3 block skirmisher unit, a 2 block cavalry unit and a 2 block artillery unit.

This then, will be the basis for the order of battle for the three armies - in effect a 4 block regular infantry unit will represent a division.

There is one small issue though that would need to be addressed - the application of morale and physical unit strength. As the rules stand units of better or worse than average quality are represented by the addition or subtraction of a block/figure which would give a regular infantry unit a range of from 3 to 5 blocks/figures. This is fine if the units are uniform in strength which of course for 1815 they most certainly were not.

I spent some time pondering the unit strength/morale issue and how to best replicate this within the desired rule system and have come up with the following. Units will be represented on the table top by the number of blocks equal to their strength rating. This is very close to the standard 4 - 3 - 2 infantry, cavalry and artillery unit size. However, and this is where the unit roster comes in, the number of 'hits' a unit can receive is equal to its morale value. Unit blocks will only be removed when the hits remaining get down to the number of blocks in use. For example, the Old Guard division under the command of Friant has a strength of 5 and a morale of 7. This means that it will deploy with 5 blocks but the first two hits scored against it will be recorded against its roster details. The third hit will mean the loss of a block. An advantage of this method is that small units with high morale will be around for longer and also it means that from a campaign perspective units will have a little more durability. Units that have a strength rating higher than their morale will lose blocks on their first hit to bring their strength and morale into line. This also raises the issue of reductions in combat efficiency due to losses which I will give some thought to although I suspect that the system employed in Command and Colours: Napoleonics whereby the number of combat dice is reduced based on the unit size may be the solution.

On with the roster sheets and the inevitable rules tinkering....

Oh, and I will need to watch the film again - purely in the interests of research of course....;-)

Finally facing my Waterloo....

Warning: Prolonged exposure to such imagery will result in an acute attack of  'War Games Project Syndrome'

You know how it is. You are busy tidying up the man cave when you happen to come across an old notebook full of ideas from way back when and before you know it, you are looking at the relevant section of the library and thinking to yourself - "Mm,....I wonder....!?"

I had one of those moments today.

I was in the man cave busily gluing the frames to the hardboard for the new gaming 6 x 4 ft table top when I had occasion to delve in the back of the cupboard for some more PVA. I came across an old box file and curiosity got the better of me and I opened it. There was plenty of odds and ends contained therein but what caught my eye was the three notebooks that at first I did not recognise. I should point out that it is my invariable custom to take a new A5 sized notebook with me when I go on holiday for any random scribblings I might care to make. These were old - old as in ten years or so old. Two of them contained a number of ideas for Victorian Science Fiction land ironclads whilst the third, and the oldest, contained a lot of notes and rules ideas etc for the 1815 Waterloo campaign.

At this point all thoughts of PVA were forgotten.

The notes consisted of a summarised version of the tactical rules from Columbia Games board game: Napoleon (covering the 1815 campaign at divisional level), a self-penned DBA inspired set of Napoleonic rules and also a conversion of the three armies order of battle  from the board game to that using the system from Volley and Bayonet by Messrs. Chadwick and Novak. There is a dedicated 1815 scenario booklet available for Volley and Bayonet (and I am referring to the first version of the rules - not the current set) but these are at Brigade level rather than Divisional - the board game has a block representing a Division whereas the Volley and Bayonet system uses a base for a Brigade.

Whilst reading these notes I was taken back to a DBA based set of Napoleonic rules called 'Le Petit Empereur' that I had acquired the three armies for use with - 15mm Naismith figures on 40mm square bases - and used successfully on a number of occasions. The figures went a long time ago - to a Frenchman in fact - but the desire still remained, albeit lurking at the back of my mind.

It would not be a difficult task to bring the orders of battle up to the latest rules and techniques I am using - Memoir of Battle or similar; even Command and Colours: Napoleonics - and to marry the result to the map movement system from the board game to produce a stonking 1815 block based campaign. I have everything I would need to undertake this as a project to hand (the red and blue blocks are finished and the remainder would be the work of a couple of evenings at the most). I could even 'hex' the campaign map for strategic purposes and scan it in for plotting moves on.

No prizes for guessing what or where this is - funnily enough my block armies look very similar....

Do I want to do this? Of course I do - 1815 is to far in my genetic make up to ignore the call. Should I do this when I have a number of other projects either on the go or yet to be started?  That is a tough one BUT - I am fortunate in that this would fall firmly in the realm of being a 'cerebral project' - that is all the work I would need to do to get his off the ground is very much paper (or PC) based. It would not interfere with the ACW river stuff as the painting for the ships is still underway; nor would it effect the NW Frontier kit as I still have a number of areas to cover before that kicks off. Angels 20 Battle of Britain models are few in number and once I have the decals will not take long to finish.

In the end I suppose a game is better than no game and so if this is as achievable in the way I would like it to be and as I think it currently is then all should be well.

By the way, the frames on the two halves of the new table top are now glued in place and are under a large number of weights. Tomorrow I shall be drilling, screwing and hammering so it should be finished, barring any unforeseen problems pretty soon.

Taking the Biscuit....Literally!

If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes!

Well I never! Just when I think I am back in a sensible frame of mind with some definite projects I can progress with and complete something comes in from the left field to upset the proverbial apple cart. I am talking about biscuits - and not the edible variety either. I mentioned in my previous post that I was visiting the local timber yard for the wood for the frame of my folding 6ft by 4ft gaming table. This was duly obtained (at a cost of £7.50 for the three 14 ft lengths) and as I was waiting to pay the man my eye was drawn to a bag of shapes hanging above the counter. These shapes were roughly 2 1/2" long and in a rough oval shape. My first thought was - ship hull shapes! The shapes are called biscuits and are used in biscuit joints (where dowel pegs used to be used) for joining panels and such like. The idea is that a hole is cut into either piece of wood requiring joining  and the biscuit is placed in between and glued. The biscuits are made from wood and designed to expand when in contact with PVA, thereby filling the join. My subsequent research has shown they are available in different sizes (from around 3" downwards) and appear to have a width equal to just under a third of the length and usually with a pattern embossed on them - this is to provide a 'key' for the glue to adhere to. Cost wise you could probably get a bag of a hundred or so for around the £6 to £8 level.

So what has this got to do with anything?

Well, the shape is virtually ideal for the basis of a ship model although I suspect they will need to have some work on them before use. I would have to see what effect PVA has on them when used as either a sealant or to assemble a model with. The embossing present could probably be filed smooth - at least for the areas of the ships deck that are exposed. They are quite thin but I reckon that they could be doubled up is need be. The sides would need to be sealed as they are not smooth and the plywood effect is quite noticeable. I would suspect that one end of the shape would have to be sharpened to get that pointed bow effect

I am quite excited about this because it could be the answer to the problem of uniform hull shapes and the cost is such that they will certainly not break the budget. I intend acquiring some of these to experiment with and will of course post the results on the blog in due course.

Wooden it be good....

Not quite as bad (I hope!)

I have had a very productive and, dare I say it, inspirational day. It kicked off with a visit to my local joiner for some 'block chopping' and general advice about matters woodwork related. The blocks will be ready for me to collect first thing Tuesday morning and so the relabelling to the new design and standard can at last be completed. Roy, the joiner, is also cutting me some movement trays from some hardboard off cuts which will be sized as per Volley and Bayonet (mostly 3" squares). In the meantime I will need to finish the designs for the 'modern' equipment which should not take too long all being well. Whilst at his workshop I enquired about the possibility of 'routing' MDF with a square grid. The short answer was that his company did not a machine to do this so it would have to go down the manual route (no pun intended!). He did give me some useful tips as to the best way to tackle this though which is handy should I decide to try it. The final piece of advice he gave me was in connection with joints - specifically the joints I will need for the frame for my planned folding 6 x 4 ft gaming table. The best type of joint is a simple butt joint which is a relief as even I can manage to do that without too much difficulty! I have all the PVA, panel pins and long wood screws - plus the hinges so all that is missing is the timber which I shall be acquiring tomorrow - all 36 ft of it!

I also sorted out the ACW ship models and the news with these is actually pretty good. When work on these ground to an ignominious halt I had already half painted some 16 models of the 32 remaining so picking up on this should not be too demanding. I had already printed off the flags and name labels and have sufficient clear plastic for the bases so I have absolutely no excuse for not getting on with them. By way of additional support I will make sure that the grey set of blocks are labelled first so that a typical 'Blue vs Grey' ACW action can be fought. This will mean of course I will be forced into looking at the relevant chapters of  'Battles and Leaders' - how we suffer for our hobby eh?

Finally, I had a minor reorganisation in the man cave of my paints and modelling stuff which in itself was no big deal but it felt so much better after I had done it!

Using your Sloth

What a life - hanging upside down in a tree eating and sleeping most of the day....

It has been a rather strange couple of months since my last contract ended in early March. Even allowing for the inevitable job hunting via the internet and agencies; the endless amount of paperwork that has needed completion and not forgetting the rather large (and mostly completed) DIY list that SWMBO kindly provided I fully expected to have rather more time available for gaming related stuff than when I was at work.

This has been true, up to a point.

The problem is though is that I have found it really difficult to get motivated towards undertaking anything that would require a sustained effort. I often suffer from these periodic bouts of lethargy but this one seems to lasting longer than usual. So with this in mind and following on from an email exchange with Bob Cordery I have finally decided to get my act together and start something - or rather start something and finish a couple of things off.

The repaint of the Angels 20 Battle of Britain aircraft can be started but I am waiting on ordering some decals first of all. In the meantime though, I have managed to acquire all the paints I shall need and some rather nice modelling masking tape as well. To tell the truth I am looking forward to getting cracking on this but there is no urgency as the models are usable as they are.

I am visiting my joiner/carpenter chap tomorrow in order to get the last of the blocks chopped into halves - this will mean I can press on and get the remainder finished to the new standard. I also have to mess around with the rules to accompany them but that falls into the realm of a cerebral 'while-the-TV-is-on-with-nothing-in-particular-so-I-can-use-my-netbook' moment and thus does not count as time usage as such.

The other project that has pricked my conscience sufficiently to warrant a concerted effort to complete is of course my ACW river collection. I STILL have some 32 models to paint of which half have been started and I still have a couple of cat related damages to repair (the General Bragg, times two). I duly got the collection out to take another look at them in order to goad myself into action and I have to say that whilst it has not ignited my creative juices with a bang at least there is a flicker of enthusiasm there!

Scratchbuilt ACW City class river gunboats - all of 'em!

You will note that there has been no mention of anything naval related (at least not of the blue water variety) nor the 54mm North West Frontier set up. Of the former this is simply because I feel like I need a break from it and for the latter I have come up with a short term idea involving an old set of grid based rules designed for larger scale figures called Volley Fire. These used to be available from Irregular Miniatures and although abstract and very stylised do give a challenging game.

The best description of my current frame of mind is not unlike that of somebody whom has first gone to the local gym after a long absence. Everything seems to take twice as long and the pain afterwards seems quite severe with aches in places you had forgotten you had. Still after a few sessions you soon get back into the swing of it and I am sure that once I have shaken off my circumstantial sloth I will also be in fine fettle; lean, trim and hungry (in spirit if not in body!) and ready to dive in to which ever distraction trips me up first!