Innehållsförteckning för July 2024 från Miniature Wargames

IF YOU WANT BLOOD The ‘real world’ seems to offer little respite in regards of arguments and conflict so best we concentrate our minds on rolling some dice. What have we got this month? Well, aside from a trip to Partizan, we have a fine Boxer Rebellion game from Salute; Dinosaur fighting; Guidance for good open day games from Mr Kinch; the Peninsular War with Talavera in Command Decision; Island Hopping, WWII style; plus the completion of The Armoury as a scratch build and I construct a little something myself for a big Lord of the Rings game (Ram-Speed!). So, as the inimitable Ronald Belford Scott of AC/DC sang: “Blood on the streets, blood on the rocks, blood in the gutter, every last drop, you want blood: you got it”.…

Following on from Mr Kinch’s take on Salute in the last issue, this is his take on running show games. Ed One of the joys of wargaming, particularly as I get older, is the sharing of it. There is something wonderful about the pleasure of introducing someone to the hobby and saying “Here it is, isn’t it splendid?” It’s really something to watch a chap who has been dimly aware of the hobby of toy soldiers, who has teetered around the edges a bit, suddenly fall in love with it. It does my heart good. While I was on the plane home from Salute last month, I was thinking about the games that I saw, the games people offered for play and the one game that I did play. The games on offer…

CHIVALRY PERSONIFIED ◗ wargamesatlantic.com ◗ £25 “Death to the Enemy!” it says on the box of Wargames Atlantic’s latest releases: in league with the Barons War rules (and – of course – useable for any 28mm medieval games) the Foot Knights (1150 – 1320) set is a 24 model box which builds into a huge variety of chainmail wearing, largely helmeted foot soldiers and is the first in their Age of Chivalry range. But what’s in that box? This set has four identical sprues each with half a dozen lower bodies in chain leggings and surcoats; six upper torsos, a couple with no arms but the rest with one arm attached (which is a good compromise, I think). These all have the top half of their surcoats sculpted plus applicable…

HOT DAMN! New Post Apocalypse Plastics Wargames Atlantic (in partnership with MiniWargaming) have some new additions to their Death Fields range: The Damned. Rather than being a punk band they wear their mutations and scars as a mark of pride and have utilised alien technology to create “Brutes”: massive, ogre-types with incredible strength and resilience to pain who act as the line breakers on the battlefield soaking up punishment to provide openings for the rest of the team to control the field. Now available in plastics, there will be eight sets: Infantry; Command; Brutes; Outriders; Heavy Support Teams; Hounds; Artillery and – finally – a Tank! Tooling is finished for the first two boxes so they should be out in August but the rest are all planned for some time…

Each Command Decision usually aims to offer a series of playable options in timeless military scenarios. Command Decision is designed so you can read the situation and figure out your own command decisions if you were leading the troops on the ground. You can either work through the various options or use the mechanics to create the precise circumstances of the table top engagement. The scenarios may have particular historical themes and settings, but you can easily adapt the mechanics to suit your own preferences and collections. MISSING MAPS Last month we didn’t publish one of the two scenario maps in Command Decision. Both are still available from the website. Ed. INTRODUCTION The Battle of Talavera is one of those battles that can be quite daunting in terms of organisation,…

“Great engines crawled across the field; and in the midst was a huge ram, great as a foresttree a hundred feet in length, eat swinging on mighty chains. Long had it been forging in the dark smithies of Mordor, and its hideous head, founded of black steel, was shaped in the likeness of a ravening wolf; on it spells of ruin lay. Grond they named it, in memory of the Hammer of the Underworld of old. Great beasts drew it, orcs surrounded it, and behind walked mountaintrolls to wield it.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings BACKGROUND Grond is – in the Third Age of the world – a huge battering ram that strikes fear into the hearts of the enemies of the dark lord, but where did it…

I took a trip to the first of the two Partizans of the year – and chronologically speaking – the second event at the venue this year (after Hammerhead). On a warm day in May I drove to the Newark Showground – right in the ‘lead belt’ – which pretty much guarantees a great selection of traders and has a reputation for attracting pretty games. Spoiler alert, this year it lived up to the promise: it was a good show, very well attended and with lots of trade, nice games and a whole lot of gamers. The free car park (granted being shared with another event on site) was pretty much rammed for most of the day and the onsite ice cream van had queues, as did the internal cafe…

INTRODUCTION At this year’s Salute 51 show Skirmish Wargames staged a Boxer Uprising game entitled An Unexpected Encounter - China 1900 using over 200 54mm figures (and splendid looking it was too! Ed.). Although the game was a fictional battle it reflected the mix of forces which engaged in this unique conflict and the different tactics and weapons used by both sides. To understand these it is necessary to look a little deeper into the conflict and the forces involved. THE BOXER UPRISING: BIGGER THAN BEIJING! In this article I cannot go into the whole history of the Uprising but I would be remiss if I did not mention ‘Righteous Harmonious Fists – a Wargamers Guide to the Boxer Uprising’ written by Mike Blake and myself (and reviewed in issue…

Last month I showed how I scratch built a model Armoury based on the Games Workshop Townscape card building set and incorporating features from some Snapdragon Studios resin buildings. In this update I will give details of how I painted and finished this structure. After base-coating my first couple of layers of paint gave me a rough outline of what I was looking for, but it all looked a little to pastel and ‘chalky’ – not what I was looking for. I then remember seeing a YouTube tutorial where the resin buildings were washed in watercolours I added slight mottling to the walls using both Linen and pale brown acrylic paints and this gave a better and warmer effect on the walls so I proceeded to build up the colours…