Going a little 'off track'

Recently I have been looking at getting suitable railway scenery to supplement the table. EBay has been kind, however I thought 'are there any railway shows nearby?' A quick search on the internet threw a lucky fish line into the water. A large show (50 plus traders), nearby (Doncaster) this weekend!

Both myself and Daz set off, not knowing what to quite expect; was it going to be all old guys with beards (we have our own wargaming stereotypes as you well know) or were we going to get something s little different? Well, we were very pleasantly surprised. Whilst there were many of the older generation attending, there were a fair amount of younger folks...and several, actively interested, ladies.

The show consisted of a broad range of railway suppliers in an open, airy venue (the Doncaster Racecourse). Customers were polite, something some of the wargaming public could take note from - people shared stall viewing space, with very few grazers who chatted in front of the products. Personally, it was a little disappointing on the building front, but there was some interesting supplies purchased instead.

I bought some items from Skytrex that I had never seen on their trade stand at wargames shows - baskets and crates of market produce: these will make very nice market materials for my fantasy town. A gentlemen demonstrated his 'flockbox' for us to see. The best of the day was a little company called 'Petite Properties'; they sold a range of buildings at differing scales which were very detailed when compared to the wargaming equivalent - at very reasonable prices. The gentleman was warm and welcoming without being overly sales conscious and his wife was one of the best representatives of sales at a trade show I have met. She shared freely her experiences of detailing and weathering buildings, and was more than happy to give some tips. The best tip was cheap eyeshadow, rather than expensive weathering powders, which the lady demonstrated on some printed wall patterned paper. What a pleasant experience where I actually came away feeling I had gained more than the pots of paint that I had purchased (which were excellent value too at two pounds a pot).

So now it's time to weather those strange looks as I rifle through the women's make-up stands in the local supermarket...

 

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Cracking 'stacking' for my WWII rules

Last night's game left me with some thinking to do about the interaction of stacking, facing and how both support and full sections could be represented - a lot to consider. I knew that my current basing convention was not going to work - doh!. Then it came to me; half the base sizes of full squads to accommodate support weapons. So, here's the blessed rebasing process with some basic troops first.

I really liked ASL's way of allocating a suitable ratio of support weapons for each nationality to add the appropriate flavour and wanted to reflect this on the table. In ASL each squad/section could use up to two support weapons each. Using a square grid allows a little geometric thinking to accommodate this...

As the next picture shows, the number of configurations and facings that can be made with this basing approach allows the player a lot of tactical options.

In terms of stacking, this basing approach naturally creates a maximum capacity that a grid can accommodate, which leaves the player to think about the tactical situation, rather than 'how do I recognize the density of figures in this space?'

The next problem of representing overcrowding came to me quickly. Previously I was having an attack affecting all units in a square at the same time. This started to unravel when a single section 'interacted' in a firefight with more than one unit in an attacked square. Then the solution came to me...add the potential for additional hits on the targeted unit; for me, this represents my black dice which has only 'hits' on their facings. Now an extra black dice is added to an attack for each extra infantry section, and a black dice for each pair of extra support sections.

Back to playtesting!

 

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Things are never as they seem - or the way you hoped!

Play testing a set of rules often creates more questions than answers, and so it has been tonight. Daz kindly offered to have a go at my WWII rules. I have tried to blend the best aspects of many of the games I have enjoyed in the past...Advanced Squad Leader, Force on Force, Conflict of Heroes. Add to the mix my own dice system and you have a wealth of opportunities with many pitfalls. I tried just to use infantry tonight and leave the armour alone, as the footsloggers have to be the foundation of the action.

After a slow start, the game clearly heated up in the favour of the Germans. Strong initiative and well placed machine guns suppressed the Americans before they had a chance to make an impact upon the defences. So much so, that the Germans were beginning to counterattack when we decided to call it a day. The game seems to have some rugged, engaging and flexible approaches worth pursuing, with a fundamental concern that may require yet some more re-basing.

The Pros

• The initiative system using chits and playing cards worked well in representing the ebbs and flows of combat, with either side having opportunities to take command at the appropriate moment (and also cancelling out each other at crucial moments too). Refinements are required to balance how many chits are available to each side to maintain a fair tempo for specific scenario designs.
• Using a square grid worked just as well, if not better than using hexes. Facings become more important with limiting lines of sight
• Machine guns fulfilled their role well when combined with overwatch. They punished the movement of infantry, particularly if moving at speed. Play balance in terms of the ratio of MGs to infantry requires greater thought; I'll consider the ratios used in scenario design from Advanced Squad Leader.
• Defining support weapons as different and attached to infantry sections give a clarity and definition to their role. When the ratios are clearer, I feel they will have the correct impact on decision making for the players

The Cons

• Stacking limits and the interaction of firefights became unclear, particularly when the attacker had several outcomes available from the results of their dice rolls
• Following on from this, how units sit in the grid became an issue. It seems at the moment the sensible ( and painful) solution is some rebasing onto squares. An advantage is that I can add some dice frames directly to the bases themselves.

Let's hope this playtest will keep me encouraged and motivated to keep going, as I need to get my teeth into something that keeps my attention; we'll see...

 

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Five E-Bay buildings for 'under a tenner'

What a bargain! Was so inspired by the arrival of some railway buildings that I got out the weathering powders straight away. Five buildings for under ten pounds (excluding postage) was an absolute bargain. Whilst the scale is a little large for 15mm (HO/OO scale) if you don't look too closely, they're okay.

For me, a main problem is that they appear too modern for WWII, however after a quick Google search, they aren't too far out. Again, if you don't think too closely the imagination can do the rest for you (sorry for the purists!). They arrived unweathered, so out came the mascara pads (definitely miniature modeling only).

I've had some Vallejo powders and not found them as useful as the MIG powders...until today. They are far more subtle on plain wall surfaces than the other powders, giving a less stark contrast. I'll probably try these constructions with a skirmish game of O.S.C. when I have learnt the rules...

 

 

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Ninja characters for Rise of the Kage

Here they are, complete with their cat like skills...

Just the boss characters left to do, then maybe some of the Dockside expansion.

 

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Rise of the Kage - more finished figures

Another batch of figures finished, including the ninjas themselves. Before showing them in more detail I felt the need to place the figures on the playing board. Here's some action shots; I've edited the piccies to give a moody, dark feeling. Tread lightly, think clearly and strike swiftly!!!

 

 

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More 'Rise of the Kage'

About half way through the figures for the base game. I really like the Samurai, and kept their paint scheme quite simple; dark blue undercoat, Prussian blue drybrush and nut brown wash.

The young guards, whilst quite interesting, took a little more perseverance to finish. The soft plastic lacked a little definition on the faces - don't look too hard!

Typical me, not completing the job - one base of the Samurai not painted black; well, there's always one! Next I might have a go at the main player characters; just hoping the detail is raised enough for my eyes to see...

 

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