[PatG]

Note: I should be on cold meds but I am not – what effect this has on my logic is undetermined and I take full responsibility for any incoherence.

I think that because fantasy and SF use created rather than received realities, it is simpler to pin down good and bad into two well defined camps. For historicals, it is harder to make such a clean distinction. Even where the distinction is blindingly clear, at least to me – let’s go there and bring in the Germans in WWII – political expediency has partially rehabilitated them as defenders against Stalinist aggression. They are “fallen men” (wildings?) rather than the non-human animals (Orcs) the Japanese are still viewed as. For other conflicts like the Arab-Israeli and Indo-Pakistani wars where a player may have no personal connection to the conflict, the line becomes very blurred.

However, in my experience fantasy and especially SF literature* as opposed to gaming, can take a much wider view. Hammer’s Slammers are mercenaries with an internal moral system but who will fight for whomever has the money. The Dorsai are the same. In fact the Childe Cycle series dedicates an entire book to show the anti-Dorsai Friendlies as human beings. Bolos are Bolos and even the earliest Marks tend to be more human than their masters.   I would even go so far as to say that Saberhagen’s Berserkers are described as “aggressively anti-life” rather than evil – malice doesn’t enter into it – they are just carrying out their designed purpose.  I am less well read in fantasy, but Fafhrd and Gray Mouser come to mind along with Conan (who to me is a bit of a dick). I know there was at least one fantasy novel that looked at its world from the Orc side.

To come back to games, there is a built in need for an adversarial setup. To win you must defeat your opponent and so a good/evil split is almost inevitable. Even for co-op games like Pandemic, you have the good players vs the evil epidemic.  This dichotomy is however a function of the “win” condition.  Change that and the good/evil split disappears.   Again, an alternative win condition is more likely to come up in simulation games reflecting real world questions like: “How do I best defend against a Soviet armoured attack?” or “What are the best ways for an opponent to take advantage of our current doctrine and ROEs in asymmetric warfare?”  The victory lies in answering the question rather than driving the enemy from the field. In fact a clear cut win by either side may in fact mean that the effort was a failure.

Any way those are my thoughts for now. 🙂

*Yes I am old and I am probably missing many good examples from SF written less than 30 years ago. Get off my lawn. 😉

[PatG]

I like this idea.  We did something similar for dark ages using 6mm figures for Saga. You can play on a bathmat and I think the spend was about $20.

 

[PatG]

I have everything turned to 11 in terms of seeing my wife’s FB posts and still about 25% never show up and I have to go hunt for them.  FB’s range may be massive but it’s coverage of it is less than ideal.

[PatG]

Cuties und Panzers – Most excellent!

[PatG]

willz wrote:

What about the Vikings. or the Celts didn’t they wear fur?

Or the modern Inuit and other northern First Nations.

[PatG]

Rhoderic wrote:

If I do enter something, it’ll probably be modelled along the lines of the creatures from Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. I know bug/worm type critters are something of a cop-out, but at least I’d have a hope of sculpting them without having to deal with the finesses of vertebrate anatomy. And Nausicaä is a great anime and even better manga. But we’ll see. I’m not exactly a high-intensity hobbyist.

 

Omu are pretty frigging awesome!

[PatG]

I have a bunch of styrene(?) wedding birds that I was going to use for HotT. I have an idea now to re-purpose them.

 

 

[PatG]

Well there go my plans for a rhinobou 🙁

[PatG]

My fingers sometimes decide to let go of whatever they are holding. Usually after a fresh layer of paint has just been applied. Naturally the mini will bounce into the nearest dust bunny. I am a bit better with sprues since it is usually only one of a pair of items that goes pinging off into the void. So for example if symmetrical head lights are a prominent feature of a vehicle, one will inevitably get lost…

[PatG]

All publicity is good publicity. … I guess….

[PatG]

More in the line of a how-to, the good old Major General: http://web.archive.org/web/20051217173749/http://zeitcom.com/majgen/30str.html

[PatG]

Sick as a dog and can’t type let alone think….
Very nice setup Greg!

No competing with you Victoria 🙂

[PatG]

The Jump Wars. A leap in drive technology shatters millennia of slow diaspora. Mankind once crawled to the stars each voyage taking generations. Now it floods the galaxy, reclaiming lost tribes and encountering new beings. But not all tribes wish to be found, not all beings wish to be disturbed.

 

https://goo.gl/photos/abYtLggtmcccuJiv7

 

[PatG]

Not that grim. An RCAF Sunderland sunk a U-boat. Prohibited from landing to pick up survivors (too many to be able to fly, likelihood of being outnumbered and taken over), the Sunderland took a photo of the crew in their lifeboats.  The U-boat crew later died to a man of exposure before they could be picked up. So the same scenario the U-boat crew likely participated in when sinking merchantmen. War is cruel.

[PatG]

Good point Russell

[PatG]

Try this one: http://collectioncalculator.com/

[PatG]

That is a massive chunk of terrain and very well done.  Excellent work!

[PatG]

I use 1/4″ ID, 3/4″ OD washers for single based 28, 25, 20 and 15mm foot figures. Support weapons and teams go on whatever will fit, usually the 1 1/2″ OD fender washers* I use for my cavalry. My reasons are fairly simple, the washer sizes are those recommended for the VSF/Colonials rules which I use with my largest figure collection. When placed edge to edge, they give the right unit frontage for the figure ratio for colonial close order formations. For Chain of Command, the 3/4″ are equivalent to about the height of a man which is about right for minimal spacing for modern combat. While my 28s (and 20s) figures are over size for the ground scale, they still have a reasonably accurate foot print on the table. Since the ground scale for CoC is 1/100, they are also spot on for 15mm.

My 6mm Saga figures are all on tiny washers sized proportionally to the suggested base sizes for 28s in the rules/forums. Which brings us to two more considerations: washers are cheap, especially since we got rid of the penny, and they are ferrous. I have lined my figure cabinets with magnetic tape and I use rare earth magnets on my movement stands. Everything stays in place fairly well during transport.

I have other miniatures mounted on MDF to fit the requirements of specific rules sets.

*fender washers have a smaller central hole for the same outside diameter so are easier fill or cover with the figure base.

[PatG]

You said VSF  consider yourself followed!

[PatG]

Peripherally. I find the overall information stream is too much to keep up with.  I would say though that I pay attention to and interact the most with wargaming related posts.

Edit I just went and looked at who I am following – it’s mostly war gaming related.

[PatG]

I am very interested in people’s thoughts about African Bush Wars. I have heard good things about FOF and AA and I am certainly leaning that way for Rhodesia and Jadotville. Note that I already play 19th century Colonials so I have a pretty good grasp of the realities of Imperialism and its post-colonial legacy.

[PatG]

I use gesso as well.  Great stuff for all the reasons Rhoderic has laid out.  While you can’t just glop it on, you also don’t have to be overly concerned about getting thin coats to avoid covering up the detail. It really does shrink right down as shown in the video. I like the evenness of the colour and the tooth it gives for painting. For me at least it is also economical. A small pot that has done hundreds of 6,15,20,25 and 28mm figures in metal and plastic as well as terrain bits and whatever else needed to be primed costs about the same as two spray cans of good primer.  If your figures are not completely clean you can get pinholes in the finish as the gesso dries but these are easily fixed with a little dab.

I have used spray primers specifically designed for metal. Most of these include an etchant to really bond the primer to the metal but these are usually formulated for specific ranges of metals and I have yet to find one for tin or pewter. The more general automotive primers are ok, I just find it easier to use gesso at the painting desk rather than take everything to the shed or outside. Frankly for four months of the year here you don’t want to go outside anyway.  😉

[PatG]

Nice to see this unit. The Glens are one of the larger reenacting units in my area.  There is a cadet corp in the same area carrying on their traditions.

[PatG]

Hell Yes! That’s who I trained to support – you’ll need extended cab pickups for the mortars though.

[PatG]

Very Nice!

[PatG]

Based on what I have dealt with ranging from a light bow to an 81mm mortar.
Strength to lift the damn thing and hold it steady – a Carl Gustav will wobble like crazy and no-one can hold a drawn bow of any weight for very long. Dexterity for the fine motor control for loading and aiming – It’s easy to screw up the loading sequence of a flintlock if you have fat fingers or slash your finger open on the flint. Multi-tasking ability so Int and Dex I guess – I once “fired” a Blowpipe trainer. You have to keep the target in the sight picture which means following it roughly with the launcher assembly perched on your shoulder while guiding the missile with a bitty little joystick under one thumb. Mortars are easy and are mostly Int and Wis – they are a bitch to carry of course but once you do the brain work to get them set up, dropping bombs is easy and is more Con than Str. Now I did most of my “modern” weapons training back in the ’80s there’s a lot more fire and forget now.

Really though, a lot of it is training and experience. I am an average sized guy but I liked the Carl Gustav because it was fun to fire and if you knew how to carry it right it wasn’t that heavy. Same for shooting – you need strength to hold the weapon of course but most of it is learning how to breath, get a proper sight picture etc. Maybe not a hundred years ago but certainly 200 I wouldn’t be able to afford the books or spend the time reading which trashed my eyesight.

[PatG]

MDF but seal and paint both sides before scenificating to minimize warping.

[PatG]

But my world is 15mm…..
(Though win or not, when my pay problems get sorted out I will be ordering some of your very nice 6mm figures and vehicles)

[PatG]

Might I suggest:
https://hordesofthethings.blogspot.ca/2016/12/six-by-six-challenge.html

[PatG]

Several boxes of 1/72 plastic WWII figures and a couple of vehicles for my Chain of Command on the cheap project. Looking back over 2016, I really didn’t buy much at all. However Santa gave me a 1/56 English pub which will be the base of operations for my home guard force. 🙂

[PatG]

Victoria Dickson wrote:

Breach loader, has to be because there aren’t any hatches big enough for a cutie to fit through (they enter by having the turret lifted off and then bolted back in place once they are inside).

[PatG]

I bought CinC Cold War Canadian armour from a now long defunct FLGS. Beautiful casts not available from anywhere else. Can’t speak to service but the product was good.

[PatG]

Cool idea but I don’t see anywhere on your site where you describe how this information will be used.  While you are no doubt as respectable company, I wouldn’t want someone knocking on my widow’s door offering pennies to the dollar for my lead after I snuffed it. 😉

 

[PatG]

That’s no bomber that’s a Beaufighter. 😉

[PatG]

Great choice Any chance of a Sarah Jane or K9?

[PatG]

Thanks Tim – a much better explanation.

Edit: And thank you John!

[PatG]

There’s been a lot of ink spilled in the Chain of Command WWII forums arguing the reverse case. New players want to rock up in their half-tracks guns a-blazing then unload their troops right on the objective while the carrier gives support  and wonder why the platoon and support lists aren’t set up to let you do that by default. The answer of course is doctrine.  The rules will let you do exactly that but try it and you will catch a panzerfaust or bazooka cooking your section.  The troop carriers of the time were barely MG proof and their armament was often drawn from the section they carried. Doctrine was to use the troop carriers to move the troops to the battle area and then withdraw (i.e. act as battle taxis) When used for support, it was from the back edge of the battle area  well out of range of any infantry AT.  (Yes I have seen the Panzer Grenadier training film where they do assault on to the object in their 251s, I am speaking more generally here)

Now fast forward to modern times and the same infantry carriers are more light tanks with dedicated armament and crew that can also carry a few infantry (6 in the Bradley vs 12 in the M3). They are more survivable, operate in a much more integrated combined operations environment and are simply more capable than their 1940’s predecessors.

Now for SF battle taxis, I believe they appear in the Co-Dominium stories and the Dorsai books. Like their WWII equivalents they exist solely to provide mobility out of the line of fire.  For KR16, I would want a couple of trucks for the junkers both for infiltration operations by”civilian agricultural workers” fully expecting the truck to die and to rapidly shift troops from one side of the board to the other out of LOS of the enemy.

I think the real problem for most games is that they don’t take into account what happens in between battles. The strength of the Commonwealth Motor Battalion and the US Mechanized Infantry was not that it could ride into the assault in an armoured box but that it could move from one sector of the front to another with great rapidity and allow infantry to keep pace with armour after it punched through the enemy’s lines.

[PatG]

On the computer:
Screaming Demons Over Europe – it had Mosquitoes and massive fan support which produced viable torpedo bombers and tons of goodies like the HE-162
Falcon on Atari and the later PC version – I played so much I could see the HUD when walking down the street.
Harpoon Ok so it’s primarily a naval sim but landing a coordinated Bear and SSGN strike on a US carrier group was very satisfying as was coordinating your AEW and air wing to defeat such a strike.

Board Game
Airforce and Dauntless
B-17 – yes for all its faults

Special mention
Ace of Aces – After giving both my powerhouse and rotary copies away many years ago, I finally scored a copy of rotary this spring.

[PatG]

‘Tis a not so silly place.  Thanks Mike!

[PatG]

Gaz045 wrote:

Storm in a teacup……not met a transgender wargamer yet ( knowingly) and not bothered either way……much more important things to get concerned with in the world……….and on the playing table!

I know (at least) one transgender and one gender fluid. They are good people and calling them what they want to be called is a simple sign of respect for them as people.

[Author]

Posts