Miniature Musings - Happy Birthday, By Brush and Sword!

 Ten year ago today, I posted my first entry on this blog: The Assault on Villa Fontaine - Flames of War AAR. I was just getting into wargaming properly (just starting in college and gaming in my parent's basement) with the 2nd edition of Flames of War, a somewhat unique entry to the hobby that's mostly dominated by Games Workshop.

Handmade bocage and fields (which I still have!), old Citadel Scenery hills, 2D buildings and partially painted miniatures. Ah, simpler times. 

I was also already spreading out into more boutique historical options, like the original edition of This Very Ground for some French & Indian War gaming. 

Of course, Warhammer made an early appearance with some Orks and Imperial Guard. 

Another early post was an AAR of one of my first games with my old Pennsylvania group; a wonderful group of gamers who I still infrequently get the chance to meet up with when I'm in the area.

Not all of my posts were about games. Early on I wrote my first (if infrequent) "Miniature Musings" about the closure of a local hobby shop. While focused on train modelling, Herb's Hobbies & Crafts was a great place for paint, brushes, flock, and terrain; everything a new hobbyist might need to start. It was a shame that just as I was starting in the hobby, a local resource was shutting down. 

I also started posting about painting as well, with my first "Painting Update" featuring the 15mm Fallschirmjager I painted for a friend at the time.

I remember being pretty proud at the time, as not only was it the first "army" I had painted, but I had taken the time and effort to paint splinter camo in 15mm. 

I also worked on my French & Indian War miniatures (18mm, from Old Glory/Blue Moon. I started out pretty focused on smaller scales!). 

It's interesting to look back at how I used to set up mini-dioramas for my miniatures, instead of the light box that I use now. Part of that was the ease of being able to leave my hobby supplies set up in my parents basement (as opposed to my own smaller and basementless home now). With the better camera on my phone in the present, I almost miss that old style. 

As for numbers, I've written 469 blog posts in the past decade (470 including this one). 322 of those have been after-action reports. Painting updates have taken up 99 posts. Musings, reviews, and scattered other posts make up the rest. 

It wasn't until 2015 that I started my end-of-the-year posts reviewing what I had played. The next year I actually kept track of how many games I had played, and in 2018 I started tracking what I had painted. It's actually a shame, when I think about it; what information have I lost in those years when I didn't track those numbers?

So, what the future for the blog? 

I'm not sure. I worry at times that burnout will eventually see me finally abandon the blog on my own volition, or if Blogger finally ends as a service (it's been going since 1999 and has managed to limp along in the current dumpster-fire environment of social media). 

I've had friends and other wargamers express appreciation for the pictures I take of their games, as ways for them to remember the effort they've put in and fun they've had. And I think that's the main motivation for continuing this blog. It's a way to document the experiences of an engaging hobby that's helped me meet a lot of great people and learn so much, while also providing a lot of entertainment. 

I can't say if it'll be here in another decade. But here's hoping!

Miniature Musings - Painting 2mm Miniatures

After posting about my positive reception of Strength & Honour on Twitter, I had Korhyl Miniatures (the maker of the resin armies I purchased at the convention) reach out to me and ask if I could come up with a post about how I ended up painting their 2mm minis. 

So here's the step-by-step process I took to paint a Roman Legion base. 

I started with the base which went into a quick soapy water bath before being air dried. 

Then a black primer, which I tried to make as thin as possible while still getting a good coat. 

As you can see, the individual blocks are still visible. 

Since this was my first attempt at anything this small, I decided to start with the base instead of the troops blocks. 

I used Vallejo's Flat Earth as a base color, and then dry brushed Tan Earth overtop to lighten it a little. 

Normally I'd apply a brown wass to Flat Earth to give it some depth, but with such a tiny scale, that'd probably be too dark. 

After the game of Strength & Honour, I was advised by Maurice to use extra fine point (that's 0.7mm!) acrylic markers, and he was right! The tips were just small enough to make the dots that give the impression of faces, shields, swords, etc.

Having a good set of pens with a range of colors is nice, especially when it includes pastels that can pass for various colors of skin and horse hair. 

The longest part of the process was dotting the blocks. 

Some advice: Do the shield dots first, then the face dots. I tried doing the faces first, only for the color to be covered over in places by the shields. You need the "faces" to give the blocks a sense of direction. 

I placed "shields" on the front and left sides of the blocks, and used silver dots to show swords and armor on the rear and right sides. 

I predominantly used a single shade of red, with a shade of red and white to break up the color monotony. 

I've heard plenty of hobbyists say that, when you get into the smaller scales, basing makes the unit really 'pop', so I tried that out here. I used two different flocks for grass, as well as tiny clumps of foliage in a couple colors to represent bushes or low trees. 

And with a quick varnish, that's a unit done. Accomplishable in a day, or less with some dedication, you could easily finish an entire army in a week or less and be able to play massive battles. 

I'd really like some thoughts and feedback. Anything you'd do differently? My only thought, at the moment, would be to make the entire top layer of the Legion base metallic, to show Roman armor, then adding the colored tops. Maybe I'll try that with a second base. 

Miniature Musings - Tabletop Simulator

I haven't played any more solo games, and my painting progress has slowed a bit so that I don't have enough to justify a painting post. 

I have, however, been fooling around on Tabletop Simulator. 

While the restrictions around the pandemic have been loosening (to where we'll be able to game in stores again mid-June, it looks like) plenty of people have had the time and inclination to hone their skills and develop more modules. 

For those of you who aren't aware of Tabletop Simulator, it's basically a physics engine designed around board games. It doesn't have any actual assets beyond the basics like Chess or Checkers, but it does allow users to import files of their own. These can be self-designed playing pieces, high-res pictures, or lines of code that actually follow the rules of the game. However, most of the time it's on the players to know the rules. 

As an example, this is a fantastic module for To The Strongest that features pre-made armies themed around 1066 England.

Each army has appropriate units, army lists, markers, tokens, and card decks to play with.

As you can see, I set the game up to look like a turn is being played. Thanks to TtS! grid-based movement, it's very easy to move troops around the field. There's also ten different pre-made terrain setups for the map.

There are plenty of modules for other games as well. This is a setup for the first scenario from Rangers of Shadow Deep.

There's a DBA 3.0 (and a 2.2) module.

There's even a X-Wing: Heroes of the Aturi Cluster module! It's a little busted at the moment since Tabletop Simulator updated, but I'll keep an eye on it for when it's hopefully fixed.

You can get Tabletop Simulator for $20 on Steam. There's officially licensed board games that you can pay for, but a lot of the modules are available for free.

Miniature Musings - WWII Day at Graeme Park

Every year a local park puts on a weekend dedicated to WWII living history and battle reenactments. The sound of music straight from the 40's drifted through the air, past women done up in rather impressive victory curls and men (and some boys) in uniform. 

I dropped by on a beautiful Saturday afternoon just in time to see a squad of Germans square off against a number of Americans, with a single British Paratrooper and a couple French Partisans tagging along.

As an overall thought - I wasn't particularly happy with the chosen location for the demonstration. It was in a rather overgrown field that blocked plenty of the events going on, so much of what the spectators experienced was a combination of the sounds of blanks being fired and the reenactors yelling at each other (sometimes in German, which I thought was a nice touch), and the occasional colored smoke grenade, which I assumed was used to indicate when certain events in the demonstration should take place. I thought the demonstration I went to a couple years back, which took place in and around a small collection of buildings, gave a much better show. Still, there's nothing quite like watching a bunch of reenactors running through the woods firing blanks out of rifles, sub-machine guns, and machine guns at each other. 

After a mandatory yelling of orders, the Allies went to one side of the field, and the Germans to another.

There were two viewing areas for spectators. The first was placed in between the Allied and German starting positions and was so crowded that I would have needed a stepladder or stilts to see anything. The second viewing area was placed behind the German starting position. Luckily for me, a great deal of the other spectators moved to the other area, so I got to see some of the later action.

The Germans were quickly forced back by the attacking allies, having been flanked on their left from the outset.

Some of the German reenactors were lucky enough to be captured instead of 'shot,' but there were some pretty convincing death tumbles. Kudos to the MG-42 gunner who managed to give the Allies a little scare after they thought all the Germans were either 'dead' or captured.

There was also an area for the living history folks who didn't take part in the demonstration, but whom had dug a convincing defensive positions, complete with machine gun nests and fox holes. I got to watch a little drama unfold as the replica M1917 sprung a leak, and a couple of its crew members leaped into action to repair it.

It was a fun event to attend, and I'll definitely try to remember to visit next year's WWII weekend.

Miniature Musings - Hobby Done Cheap with Foam Sheet Units

Last month, the Behind Enemy Lines podcast discussed Mantic's Kings of War rules. KoW is a ruleset that I've always been interested in, having wet my toes with Warhammer Fantasy Battles 8th Edition when it first came out and found it not to my liking. 

However, I don't think I'll be collecting a fantasy army anytime soon, with the necessary investment in time and money to buy, put together and paint the miniatures. However, during the podcast, there was a suggestion that one could use cardboard or paper cutouts. Since KoW is an element based game - with no single-figure removal like in Warhammer Fantasy - all one needs is a square or rectangle large enough to be an accurate representation of a unit's size. 

So I thought, why do I need miniatures? (Apart from the whole philosophical questions regarding miniatures and miniature wargaming. We're trying to be cheap here.)

So I ran out to a local craft and hobby shop and looked for some supplies. And I happened to find the above - foam sheets that were 99 cents apiece. They're perfect - thick enough to have some weight to them, but pliable and able to be written on with a sharpie marker. They came in a variety of colors, so I grabbed green and blue. 

I've got a double-sided sharpie that has both a thick marker and a small, pen-like nib that I used to outline the units. An orc force of nearly 1,200 points took up about two-thirds of the sheet. 

I cut everything out (easy enough with a standard pair of scissors) and labelled them with the thick marker. This took about a half hour, with a little time to trim a few strange measurements that somehow sneaked through. The best part is, I still have 2 and 1/3 sheets left - plenty of material to work with if I ever want larger games. 

I did the same with the dwarven force using the blue sheets. I also added small dots to both the dwarven and orc units to mark both the unit's front and center (for use with line-of-sight and other features of the rules).

So for about $2 I now have starter armies for a game I'd like to try without having to devote money and time into a demo game. 

This also works for plenty of other games that use large, element-based units. I'm considering using this for Black Powder, with red and blue units representing the British and Colonial forces in the American War of Independence. 

Miniature Musings - Balance and Variety in All Quiet

After my All Quiet AAR was posted last week, SinSynn (of House of Paincakes fame) commented and asked about a few aspects of the game:

SinSynn wrote:
"I've been curious about this game for a hot minute now....but it was pretty obvious right from deployment who was gonna win that one!
Do the Martians not have troops? Can they only run the Tripods?

This looked like a bunch of 40k Imperial Knights going up against some random Guardsmens with a single Leman Russ and a few chimeras. Really lopsided. Also had a bit of 'gunline versus assault army' feel, since the poor humans could only win by gunning down the Tripods before they hit their lines.

There's certainly a bunch of potential for coolness with War of the Worlds kinda stuff happening here, but that Martian army looks like the most optimized thing available, while the more interesting, balanced force just got stomped the heck out. The outcome was never in doubt...

Game balance is definitely one of my top priorities when I'm interested in a new system. Too many years of playing 40k just broke me. I'm always on the lookout for a cool new thing. One batrep obviously won't tell me everything, so I'd certainly like to hear more 'bout this game...It does look cool, but I hope there's more variety on the Martian side of things...
Thanks fer the batrep!"

When I realized how long my reply had gotten, I thought, 'Why not just turn this into a blog post? I'm lazy enough to do that.' Lo and behold, this week's update:

My reply:

"Actually, according to the guys I was playing with (who've played the game 2-3 times already) this was the first Martian victory they've seen!

Martians can field 'Lobototons,' basically human zombies controlled by Slaver tripods, but for the most part tripods are the mainstay of the alien invaders. As for Martian variety, you have your Assault tripods (and the rarer Veteran Assault), which are the core of a Martian force. Scout tripods have lighter weapons, but can move faster. Grenadier tripods act a long range artillery. Slavers can control Lobototons (which can either be ranged or close combat) or Drones (of which there are four varieties. Regular Drones, close combat Drones, artillery Drones, and anti-tank drones). There are also three types of Tripod yet to be released, which are the Slaver, Dominator, and Overseer.

However, for all the shininess of the tripods, they have some major weaknesses. While they have very strong armor, they're easy to hit, and once they're hit they become easier to deal damage to thanks to the following damage chart (available and essentially unchanged from the Kickstarter draft rules):

-1-5. The Tripod is damaged. The Tripod’s Amour stat is reduced by 1.
- 6. The Tripod is damaged and crippled. The Tripod’s Armor stat is reduced by 1. In addition, every time the Tripod wishes to move, both players roll a die, and the highest scoring player can move the Tripod up to the score rolled number of inches. If both players roll the same the Tripod does not move.
- 7. The Tripod is damaged and its weapons disabled. The Tripod’s Armor stat is reduced by 1. In addition, every time the Tripod attempts to shoot both players roll a die, and the highest scoring player selects the target up to a maximum range of double the score rolled number of inches. The target must lie within range and line of sight of the Tripod, but otherwise any unit from either side can be selected as the target. If both players roll the same the Tripod does not shoot.
- 8. The Tripod is badly damaged. The Tripod’s armor stat is reduced by the score of a D10. If the Tripod’s armor stat is reduced to zero or less as a result it is destroyed as 9 below.
- 9. The Tripod is destroyed and crumples to the ground in a heap of tangled metal!
- 10+ The Tripod is destroyed and explodes in a spectacular fashion! If there are any other units within 6” of the destroyed Tripod, whether Human or Martian, then these are all caught in the explosion. Each unit suffers 3 attacks with a Power level of +2.

Since the turn sequence for the game is move-shoot/assault-move, human tanks can easily scurry out of cover, fire, and retreat. And human infantry starts the game hidden and dug in, which means not only do the Martians need to get close to 'see' them, but they're also harder to hit. And while rifles might not do much, they do have grenades that can hurt tripods in close combat, and massed machine gun fire can chink off enough armor to make a Martian commander worry. In fact, I probably would have lost more than a single tripod in the woods if the Scout hadn't exploded. They're aren't that great in close combat, preferring to fire they're weapons where the humans can get too close. 

Also, this scenario encouraged - demanded, really - that the Martians get in close. In others, the Martians are actually the defenders, which I kind of want to see. 

As for the humans, they can get some pretty cool stuff - different varieties of infantry (thanks to some free PDFs that are coming out) and tanks, including the Land Ironclad - a monster miniature that looks to be about the same size of a Baneblade, but in a 18mm scale game! The British are also being released, and they have different vehicles, like the oddly shaped Monotank, and Tesla Cannons. The Germans and French are also slated to release in the future, and as this is still WW1 period Earth, I'd expect to see some human tensions escalating into full-on war. Also, we should be seeing Venusians in the neat future, and Underdwellers (basically Morlocks) later on. So the variety in game-play should be increased exponentially."

So those are my thoughts. But, if you've played All Quiet at all, feel free to leave your own impressions and thoughts on the game in the comments. The game has definitely gotten its hooks into me, and I'm interested to play more. 

Miniature Musings - G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T.

While Alex and I played SAGA last week, Gary and a few others had themselves a game of G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. I was unfortunately unable to join the game due to other chores that needed taking care of (Alex managed to join, however), so I snapped a few pictures before I left.

The game featured a Bulgarian force (taking shelter in the fort) under attack from a combined force of Austrians and Turks.

A Bulgarian tank. 

The Prussian heavy walker. 

The Bulgarian infantry take cover in the fort as the walker advances.

Prussian infantry follow heavy infantry. 

More heavy infantry, accompanied by armored dragoons - probably my favorite models that Gary had.

Though not a part of the game, Gary showd me this French walker. I loved it - completely home-made from PVC pipe. A great example of Gary's excellent conversion and modelling skills.

Miniature Musings - The Start to a Summer of Hobby

With my return from Ireland imminent, I'm looking ahead to see what I want to accomplish over the summer before schoolwork once again overtakes my hobby time.

(And, yes, I admit that I'm padding for time here. I want to stay in the habit of updating my blog, 'lest I stop and never get the momentum to start again.)

WWII:
Let's see. With most of my British finished, I'm looking to polishing them off with just a few more tanks. Then it's on to my Germans, which I have plenty of - a dozen or so tanks, a couple infantry platoons, and a few support platoons. Maybe even get cases for everything

I'll also want to work on my terrain - more buildings that I can actually place infantry into, some fields, and re-working my hedgerows with some stronger glue.

SAGA: 
Obviously, I want to get the starter warband I picked up (and the Anglo-Danish warband I'm planning on getting). From there, it's either increase those to 6 points each, or pick up either the Welsh or Norman (probably Norman) starters to expand what I can demo/play with.

ACW:
I still have those miniatures from my 150th Anniversary edition of Battle Cry to finish up. The Union has its cavalry and Generals finished (or close to finish) and has its infantry and artillery primed. I want to finish those, and then move onto the Confederates. A fully painted boardgame would be pretty cool to have.

FIW:
Ah. Now here's the rub. While I have a number of 15mm figures to use with This Very Ground, I've actually found out that others would wish to play 28mm with the Muskets and Tomahawks ruleset (by Tomahawk Studios, the same group that produced Saga). I'm partially thinking about putting my TVG project on the backburner (and the minis into storage) and just splurging to get the ruleset/cards and the British/French starters (I've been told that there are Indian players to spare). That means painting

In other news, I picked up a couple new items before I leave Dublin:

Unfortunately, the guys at Gamers World couldn't get an Anglo-Danish starter warband in before I had to leave, so I'll have to grab that when I get back to the States. However, I did pick up a box of PSC's M5 Halftracks, so this'll add to my British FoW collection (something else to paint!) and allow me to field some mechanized infantry in support of my tanks. 

Also, if you're ever in the Dublin area, definitely stop by. It's a fantastic shop with friendly staff and a plethora of gaming goodness.

So that's that! It'll be interesting to see what I can accomplish by the end of August.

Miniature Musings - Vikings on the Brain

I have a confession to make.

I tend to... obsess a bit over new things.

It was a couple days ago that I realized I was doing it again. The facts add up, when you think about it. Purchasing the first season of Vikings in HD from iTunes, and then getting Wardruna's Yggdrasil album the next day (fantastic music, by the way. Perfect ambient tunes to hike around Ireland with).

That culminated today when I went 'round to Gamers World on my walk by from the center where I'm taking classes in Dublin. I had forgotten my charger cord for my netbook, and the weather was nice enough (i.e., not raining too much) that I decided the 40-minute walk back to the apartment wasn't out of the question.

I took a look at what they had for Saga, and in a moment of clarity/weakness, I picked up a Vikings 4 point warband and Anglo-Danish dice.

Now, for those of you who already play Saga, or at least are familiar with the rules, yes, I know I got the wrong dice for the Vikings battleboard. Which is why I also took the liberty of asking to have the Anglo-Danish warband and a set of Viking dice be special ordered (provided they can arrive within the two weeks before I return to the States).

So, when I get back, I'll have two relatively equal warbands to put together and paint, and them play some games!

Miniature Musings - The Death of Hobby Store

Today (I'm writing this on Sunday) began like any other day. After staying up far too late painting miniatures, I awoke and stumbled downstairs for a cup of coffee. While it was brewing, my eyes came upon an article that struck me cold.

Herb's Hobbies and Crafts, a store that has been a local fixture for some 40 years, was finally going out of business.

To tell you the truth, I can't really feel all that surprised. Whenever I went in, there would only be a couple of other people shopping. The displays (Herb's is - was - primarily a store for train modelling) would stay static, and damages that occur never seemed to be fixed. Some of their paints (Vallejo Panzer series, for example) seem to have been sitting there forever, it seems.

And yet I can't speak too badly of the place. If I needed modelling supplies, Herb's was the place to go. Trees, bushes, hedgerows, grass, primer, varnish, paints, brushes, these guys had it all. They had a plethora of books (one of which I bought today) and plastic models of tanks, cars, planes, ships and more. They had kids toys like Knex, dollhouses and other crafts. 

I remember coming to Herb's when I first moved into the area, over a decade ago now. It's going to be strange passing through town and not seeing the store sign lit up at night.

I guess this is my own little plea to anyone who may read this - don't forget about the hobby stores in your area. Frequent them, buy from them, even if you could get a better deal from an online source that isn't in your area.

My hat's off to you, Herb. Thanks for keeping the store running for as long as you did. And good luck to you in future endeavors.