New Stuff...worth a look!

I have had an odd few days, ticking along, minding my own business, and then I was hit by not just one, not two...not even three but FOUR cool new wargamey things all at once! Each alone is worthy of comment but I think they are all worth sharing with you. Take a look for yourselves and see what I mean.....

A Sheerness based trader - I know...who knew! I have spoken to him...his name is Steven and he actually exists...really! He has a website, although he took pains to say that this was a work in progress, that is very promising...he is even stocking Vallejo paint!! But it gets better...I have invited him along to the club where he will eventually bring along some stock for members to buy...especially the paint... take a look at http://wargamesolutions.com/

 Polly Oliver Castings - Remember them? The produced some very nice 15mm AWI figures back in the 1990's but closed in 1999.

The Polly Oliver 6lb gun and crew....nice

Well, they have been bought out and are soon to return to the wargame world! They have a website that is currently under construction and a new blog that promises to be useful. Plans are afoot it seems to add to the range but also to stock supporting items such as an extensive range of quality flags; their words....well, I say 'their', the company seems to be fronted by an enigmatic character call Polly Oliver...the lady herself perhaps? She writes the blog and answers the emails with a very personal touch. Something worth watching I think as Polly seems to have some definite plans! She has asked me to pass on details of the blog and encourage people to follow....and I never refuse a lady....so go take a look. www.pollyoliver.co.uk & http://meetpollyoliver.blogspot.co.uk/

Cool looking game mats - I actually fell over this company whilst looking on the web for something quite unrelated, but I am so glad that I did! look at this...

Neat eh? As their name, Space Mats & Battle Mats, suggests they produce space mats, several different ones, a sea mat and land mats. They are printed onto PVC it seems so are easy to clean and to store...just roll them up! I have invited the owner, Chris, to Broadside, we can only hope :) Chris also says he can make bespoke mats, oh the possibilities. The mats come in a variety of sizes up to 6 x 4 but he seems very flexible and customer related. Take a look at his site https://www.facebook.com/battlemats

Donnybrook: A new set of rules - Damn it! Like I need another bloody distraction!!!!! The League of Augsburg guys have brought out a new set of ostensibly late 17th C. skirmish rules.

They seem to run to the recent popular rule system of one point buying a fixed number of troops, from larger numbers of poor quality troops to small numbers of great ones; bit like Saga. I am told that they will work with almost any period and are gaining widespread interest very quickly. Now you just know where this is going, don't you? The trouble is that I do not think the current range of figures suits such rules, they tend to be a tad 'regimented' in pose, needing a rather looser, skirmishy look. I need to get a set and read them through to see just what is actually needed. This might be just the way I can deal with my worrying 'need' for something late 17th C. without going nuts.....who is with me? .....I can't hear youuuuuu........hello?

January and beyond......

Ah January......I hate January :(

You can't really avoid it though can you? It sort of loiters there....waiting for you....

Anyway. Last night (28th) saw our last January meeting and I have to say it was a very positive one for the club. There were three games being played, the first a large 20mm WW2 using Rapid Fire run by Simon and Phil....

we ran out of club owned game mats and had to improvise...we need more game mats methinks....

...this was also played by a couple of new recruits to the club so steadily our numbers grow. We even had a flying visit by a potential new member, Mat, who popped by to introduce himself...all very positive! This was another of the well loved Germans and Russians bash that always looks good and causes a lot of in game discussion and fun.


Secondly, Drew and Andrew...neither to be confused with Andy...played Mordheim and actually managed several games over the evening, and a lot of fun they seem to have had too! The pyramid thingy was made by Drew who seems to have a thing for terrain making...useful lad. The idea was that the guys would play the game through to get some familiarity with the rules and then look to run an in club campaign. This sounds like a good idea to me, not too many figures involved and the games were quick allowing a lot of campaign moves in a night; they may be onto something here you know.

Thirdly, my Skaven warhammer army got another outing, this time against Steve's Chaos warriors....bulky dudes in very heavy armour...they have a weird array of god thingies that each unit can be associated with each with odd names...Gurgle, Sniffy and Lgbtg...or something like that anyway. A 2000 point bash was organised and I was somewhat concerned by the rather blocky nature of Steve's units...large numbers of very heavy stuff in a few blocks akin to battering rams that towered over my poor little innocent mousies. I needn't have worried overly, ably assisted by Andy the Skaven were victorious under my command!

Just take a look at Steve's 'stiffy' pile after just the first round! Ah, that heady mix of artillery and Jezzails!

That is a lot of points sitting there...providing a nice post battle picnic for my Skaven! The pile steadily grew but I would never be so crass as to add a pic of that here....mainly because that one didn't come out though...if I'm honest. Thanks Andy...you honourary rat boy you!

So whats next for the MHWC? We aim to run  DBA campaign, starting in March I believe, so plenty of time to play a 'refresh our memory' game and get new armies painted before we start....I have an African Vandal army undercoated that has been sitting in a box for two years now...don't tell the wife though! Then of course there is the Mordheim campaign too, which looks very interesting. So, game wise, there is much to look forward to for the members. Then there are several shows coming up, Cavalier, Sidcup...and one we have just heard about in Dartford or possibly Gravesend in a shopping centre...worth looking into that.

And, who could forget, there is Broadside 2014. I am happy to report that a potential disaster has been avoided following the venue not letting us have the small hall anymore. We have consulted with the clubs that take part and they have agreed to take much smaller game tables than we usually offer, 6x5, so we can bring in the clubs and traders that are usually in that hall and place them in the main hall. It has all been a bit stressful and a there has been a lot of work behind the scenes to sort it out but, we are now very confident that things are back on an even keel. We have even managed to add in the wargamers flea market again! A fuller report later this week...I promise!

Broadside 2014

Even given my annoying habit of irregular posting, I am very miffed at this most recent delay. It has not exactly been my fault this time.

December was stupidly busy and the new year was spent trying to catch up with things that became delayed. I still had time to start as I meant to go on and post soooo many things but, I really needed to look at the Broadside admin first; and it was a damn good job I did!

First things first and, as it was the easier of the main jobs, I contacted the clubs asking who was looking to return and reminding them that we would have a maximum size of table available this year to keep down costs and maintain space, a big issue when running a show believe me. I even managed to email those traders that didn't fit into the regular trader space mould, the trickier ones to fit in at the best of times, or that would be affected by the creation of the new Wargamers Flea Market location at the top of the smaller of our two halls. All was going well. Then that darn email arrived from the venue management.

It transpired that the new management team at the Swallows Leisure Centre and their over lords have decided that the small hall should be redesigned and refitted as a new gym. This means that all bookings for that hall would be cancelled, no matter how long that booking had been in for. I was the first of the hirer's to be told...the day after I had sent everything off to the clubs and tricky traders! This did cause some panic.

The MHWC game of 2012, big but not the biggest...

...can the spectacular be so easily replaced with the small and innovative...even for a cash prize?

A flurry of new emails and phone calls followed in an attempt to gain some control back and, I am pleased to say, that whilst we have not yet solved everything things are looking brighter. We are lucky that so many of those we deal with are genuinely nice people who are prepared to help and understand our problem. Essentially, we now have some 30% less space to play with than previous Broadside shows. We have to try and fit those traders and clubs that usually go into the small hall into the already very busy sports hall. We could have simply cut our losses and set those clubs and traders adrift, that is not the MHWC way; although the Wargamers Flea Market will have to go :(

The solution we are currently working on is to dramatically reduce the size of the tables we allocate to clubs, even though we are aware that most of them build special exhibition games that get taken from show to show throughout the season. Instead, we are asking them to join in with a new competition and provide a game that can fit on a 6x4 table, such as most of us would be able to use at home. Their Will be the usual prize donated by Pen & Sword Books and judged by Henry Hyde (TBC) for best game in show of course, always will be. But now there will also be a cash prize for the club who can be seen to have made the best, most innovate and most imaginative use of that game space as they can. The competition will be very democratic in that the winner will be voted for by the other clubs using a special token system we are also working on. So far, those clubs that have responded have all been very positive and understanding; it all bodes well. But what do you think, dear reader?

The reduced table size means that we can fit in as many clubs as we can whilst leaving room to re arrange things and fit in the other traders. It may be that we have to restrict the space we usually provide traders too and I am sure they too will understand, but that is next weeks problem. We will visit the venue next week  to make exact measurements so we can set out the hall as efficiently as possible. Of course all of this does have a knock on effect for Broadside 2015, can the new systems work well enough that they can be adopted as the new norm or, will they simply tide us over and we have to find a new venue?

It is a series of problems we could well have done without but we are on the case! Who needs sleep anyway?

My Skaven Screaming Bell

Following my recent fall into wargames depravity with the collection of a Skaven Warhammer army, I found myself in an odd position, having birthday money to spend and just happening to be in the same road as the Maidstone Games Workshop. It is all rather a sad blur (as are several large chunks of my life) but when I got home I found my self to be the owner of a Skaven 'Screaming Bell'. This is a large war engine that mounts a demonic bell - when the bell rings, tolled as it is by a Rat Ogre, it discharges magical nastiness upon the enemy; well most of the time. It has a bad habit it seems of exploding or turning on its owner!

The model was quite straight forward to put together although despite being plastic some of the many pointy bits are bloody sharp. Nor was it too bad to paint as the serious level of detail, such as deep wood grain, makes things much easier to highlight. The model was to be painted in block colours and washed in Army Painter dip, my usual technique, but the detail screamed highlights. There are actually two highlight colours over the base wood colour, two over the base stone colour and two for the bell. Other areas, such as the plague filled smoke emminating from the bell and the two censers, are just one highlight.

Strangely, the real problem was adding the dip and then the varnish. The dip took almost two hours to apply as there are just so many areas to cover. Being made of timber baulks each piece has four sides and all is woven together with some very tricky to reach bits indeed. My main concern was the dip drying out in places and forming tide marks on areas as I worked around the detail. I had to mentally break the model down into defined areas starting with the bell as this was fairly central and divided the model. I then worked down one side of the carriage, taking care to get between all of the various struts, and the wheels. I then had to get to the inner areas of that side which was a pain. After completeing the second side of the carriage I could work on the Rat Ogre at the back and then work my way along the decking areas. So many times I came across pooled areas of dip between various struts that were on the point of turning into toffee, that almost dried out stage that can realy mess you up if missed. This is what happens when you have to do inner and outer areas of course, and you have to put on a lot of dip to let it do its thing and then take off the excess. This also meant that the model took a long time to fully dry out.

The varnishing was just as bad as the dip application, you really ned to make sure that every surface had been given a good coat of the varnish otherwise you are left with some really obvious patches! This was another two hour stint but rather than toffee like blobs I had to deal with those irritating varnish air bubbles! Back and forth picking up excess varnish before it dried out to much...sigh. I gave this a full day to dry out and I have to say I am pleased with the result, no major patches, no missed bits, no blobbing....and I think the bell itself has come out really well, has that metal look I have had difficulty with before. Highlights before adding dip really does help give the model extra depth and takes so little time.

This model gets its first game on Tuesday against Phil's Beastmen army. We each have 2000 points and if the bell doesn't blow itself up, and me along with it, it might not be such a one sided affair as I fear....hell, we might even win! I have given myself a little extra edge, just in case. I made it myself because you never know, the Great Horned One may be watching! It might also serve to distract Phil too....I will accept any edge that I can get :)

All For One - and Saucy Boots for me!

Who doesn't love Pirates? I for one am a huge fan of one of the least regarded but probably best Pirate programs on TV, DVD or Blu-Ray, one that almost everyone has missed to their loss. I am talking, of course, of the mighty piece of audio-visual piratical excellence that is 'Yoho-Ahoy'.

Yoho-Ahoy. Obviously, all pirates had to be taught shanties and work songs at some point in their career. Here some recruits are being trained by a music teacher, obvious when you think about it. Notice how few pink pianos you see in other supposed pirate films, makes you cry it really does.

These programs consider the rarely considered aspects of pirate life aboard ship and offer some fascinating insights. My personal favourite was the one where all the washing went missing from the line and it turned out a seagul had used it to make a nest in the high rigging. I had not considered this sort of thing before but it has certainly altered my understanding and cannot but help with game play scenarios; who knew???

Anyway. Last nights club meeting was supposed to have a game where Mark and I tried out the Cutlass rules from Black Scorpion. I spent a few paniced weeks trying to finish of my Royal Navy crew ready to fight Marks Pirates but the time was well spent and I think they came out rather well. Mind you, the figures are very nice and made things easier!

Captain Silas Pugwash (centre) and his two officers. Note the official 'faux leopard print topped PVC thigh length ships boots', standard issue to relieve calf strain apparantly.

Three Marines, the Captains best men.

The seamen, some more able than others!

A close up of Able Seawoman Chelsey...and some other guys.....all of whom are called Bob.

The paint jobs here are my now standard block colours with occasional highlights for larger darker areas, and then a judicious coat of Army Painter Dip; in this case I used the Dark Tone rather than the strong tone. I didn't bother varnishing the saucy boots, just left the dip as it was. The figures come ready for the slit type plastic bases, which I hate. So once the varnish had dried I simply cut off the slot bar from the figures, drilled holes up into the figures feet, added a length if thick wire. I made the decking bases from marine ply topped with lengths of coffee stirer coated with the acrylic version of the Army Painter Strong Tone wash. These were then drilled to accept the pins added to the figures and Bob is your Aunties Live in Lover, sorted.

But then it all went runny. Mark's coach from London didn't get back till late and so by the time he got to the hall nobody fancied trying to pick through a new set of rules. So we used two figures each and played '...And One For All', the Three Musketeers game again, but with pirates! We struggled to remember bits but we got by and had a jolly old time and no mistake...apologies to the rest of the club...

"Two Saucy looking birds walk into a pub....", as the saying goes, and found a couple of geeky looking blokes to push around...who then fought back.

Chelsey and Courtney go for a quiet drink....

...and meet Frodo No-shirt (front) and Fat Alan (back)

You can see where this is going I am sure. An exact game report is impossible given how the games work but, there was the usual stupidity, throwing barrels, twatting each other with benches and a bizaar episode involving a table and trapped toes beneath it. Poor Frodo tried to tip Courtney off the table but each time rolled a disaster (more than two 1s) allowing me to decide upon his fate. Each time I decided that he had dropped the table onto his bare toes and was trapped! This at least meant that I could get Courtney to stroll nonchalantly up the table and kick the stuck Frodo into submission...never quite worked out that way though! There was an alarming number of disaster rolls made...mainly by me, five in as many turns! Each time Cheslsey or Courtney got a boot heel stuck in a floor board or spun like a top into a wall. The fight went on and on with not a single injury, just lots of slapstick and nasty looks. As usual the game caused a lot of laughter but we did decide that it was about time we actually read the rules for ourselves and played it properly.

Chelsey survives being tipped off the table by Fat Alan and prepares a scathing looking before using her nice boots to remind Fat Alan how to treat a Lady....

The meeting also had two other games, a very nice AeroNef game run by Andy and played by Bob C. and a possible new member, Andrew....we seem to be accumulationg a few Andrews in our ranks...Two battles were fought out and considering niether player had used the rules before this was a very good result, testimony to the rules and Andy's umpiring! The last game was a Warhammer bash between Steve and Drew...which Steve won! He was very pleased and not smug in the slightest. Chaos troops seem a tad more effective than the Tomb Kings it seems....although it might just mean Drew was bloody unlucky!

IT LIVES !

Imagine.....

       A roll of thunder..........

              A rain soaked night alive with lightning......

                       A howling wind tormenting the turrets of the obviously evil castle....

                                More crashing thunder and a lightning bolt that splits the very fabric of reality......

A surge of power bordering daemonic in intensity writhes through the incomprehensible workings of the damnable machine, dials spin, screens flash, restraining bolts scream; and then an eerie silence descends. The weary and soulless eyes of the operator, crazed by months of failure despite endless research and new experimentation, look up through the smoke at the now hated but curiously loved focus of his insane devotion. There is a delay, just a second or two, but for the near destroyed mind of the operator age passes age....and it appears! It is there, at last, alive and pulsing with a life born of anguish but so full of hope and potentiality that it towers beyond time and space. Yet all was so nearly lost, but for the change of that solitary line of code.........

It lives! 

IT LIVES!!

The operator checks again, to be sure. There it is. Oh it may look weak and empty now but in time.....in time it will grow! It will need care...and understanding of course...but what is that compared to the future it beckons? Life may be a mere Bagatelle, but this? Oh, sweet child of manic and selfless devotion....Oh, sweet child of your peoples hopes and dreams.....of need and desperation....hear our prayers.....

"...please do not get hacked again..."

Bloody websites! Is it me or are they a total pain in the arse? Yet what would we do without them? The MHWC website was killed off, as you may remember, a few months before Broadside 2013. It caused us no end of grief and the help we received from those being paid to offer such help was negligible. In the end the only option left for us was to start again, not something that any of the membership was remotely experienced with. So, as any good chairman should, I took responsibility. I am good at that, when anything goes wrong at home it seems that the responsibility is mine...or at least that I was responsible which adds up to the same thing....apparently.

The new club website  

www.mhwc.co.uk 

or 

www.miltonhudredwargamesclub.co.uk 

if you prefer a less snappy address to type, is now back. Ok, its not as full as it once was but I am working on that. I have two very basic pages in place and now an events calendar waiting to be filled in. The front page is a basic Welcome-Mat affair with the relevant info about who we are and what we do. The second page is for Broadside and this has several sub-pages being prepared to cover traders and clubs etc. Soon, I hope to have a links page for traders, the ever popular Polls will return (if I can remember how I got them the last time).

What would you like to see on the new website? I would love to hear from you all about what you think a wargame club website should run....what about what it shouldn't run? Come on Guys, get in touch and give us your ideas and thoughts.

Also, please pass it on that the website is back and that if anyone is interested in Broadside 2014 they now have a place to go!

Warhammer - the STD of wargaming....

I started proper wargaming at the age of eleven, having previously spent many a happy hour alone in my room with my toys wargaming in all but name. I am now forty seven and the bug has never died, if anything it grew and became all consuming, having other people to wargame with! I have had many a casual dalliance with various periods over the years, flitting between one thing and another as the interest arose and passion became inflamed...then casting that aside as the new love of my wargaming life appeared on the scene......is it me or is this post getting a tad saucy? Well, can't be helped, I am a man of great passion after all and I make no apology for it.

Anyway, as you know I have recently been involved in that 'Wargame Nasty', Warhammer, something that I have showed no previous interest in at all...good, wholesome, clean living boy that I am. I have sneered derisively at the mere thought of such a game and considered those that did play to be in the foetid pit of wargame debauchery, not a little odd and a tad...well...wargame perverted; there, I have said it. But now..........

I collected a small Skaven army, nothing too involved, I could give it up anytime I wanted of course. I read the army book, did a bit a maths and with my proper wargame mind calculated a point based army that was well rounded and militarily sensible and even plausible...apart from the magic spells options. It all got a bit runny after that.

Then I played my first game...actually, it was a bit worse than that...if I am truly honest dear reader. I actually fielded an unpainted army.......I know, I am sorry! I didn't mean for it to go as far as that, I really didn't you must believe me! ..... I played a warhammer game with an unpainted army that I owned and as if that was not terrible enough.......I enjoyed it. I'm sorry, I need to stop for a moment.........










OK. so I played my first game. I won. But more than that I found myself getting to like that simple way the game worked, the way one could build an army without the restrictions and the oppressive Victorian social values...even the strange magic element where you can blow up an enemy with a weird spell...or make it melt...or change sides....and that a game only lasted  for six simple turns and could have an actual result at the end of it......it wasn't complicated....the armies were fun, my Skaven have a very good chance of blowing themselves up at the drop of a hat and I liked it all the more. I arranged to play a second game at the next club meeting and I found myself looking forward to it.....

I played a second game with the unpainted army and already I had a very good understanding of the rules and could even run sections of it. I made movement trays for my large Clanrat units...I even offered to help touch up and re base a friends 15mm ancient army in return for some old Skaven models and it was then that it hit me; I was lost with little hope of a safe return. The true depth of my condition was brought home to me at this years SELWG, I actively encouraged my good, good friend to buy a warhammer army book and the beginnings of an Ogre Kingdom army.

As the title of this post states, Warhammer is the STD of wargaming.....its all just simple fun until you realise you have become infected, and then you get the urge to pass it on......