NEW FROSTGRAVE SCENARIO

THE MAGAZINE FOR ALL WARGAMERS MAY 2018 – ISSUE 421

SHOWS
CAVALIER
More reports
and photos of
inspiring games!

RULES
HELL BY DAYLIGHT
The final instalment of a
modern Skirmish rule-set

MODELLING
ROCK THE SWAMP!
From realistic swampy rivers
to indestructible rocks, we show
you how to make them all!

PUTTY TO
>
05

PIXELS
9 772513 838005

Figure sculpting in
the modern age Display until 10/5/18

£4.50

01_FrontCover JT2.indd 1 27/03/2018 09:52

p002.indd 1 20/03/2018 09:42
 IN THIS ISSUE
04 FORWARD OBSERVER

WELCOME
What’s in effective range in (mostly) historical
wargaming with reports on Warcolours
paint; Offensive Miniatures; On Target;
Osprey; Pigeon Guard, and much more.

HAMMER TO FALL 09 SEND THREE AND FOURPENCE

A
What motivates wargamers?
s I write this in late March 2018, I’ve just taken stock of my last four weeks. I’ve Mr Kinch thinks he might just know...
had some anticipatory joy – I’m looking forward to the show season – but some
of that has been curtailed by the weather. The “Beast from the East” arrived over 15 HELL BY DAYLIGHT
much of the UK and its smaller brother followed quite swiftly in its wake so I’ve had two The last part of a set of rules for 20th Century
periods of snow and it cancelled one of my favourite shows of the year: Hammerhead. Skirmish: build your own insurgency!
For those who get this issue in time, that event has been rescheduled to Saturday 28th
April so that’s something to look forward to in the next few weeks, along with Salute, of 22 ONE OF THESE THINGS...
course. And I do like shows… But – on a rather more bitter note – I’ve lost a few friends in ...Is not like the other. The historical
versus non-historical debate continues.
the gaming world in the last month and it’s going to be all the more poignant attending
Salute in particular as I know that all of them had been involved with the show to a
25 COMMAND DECISION
lesser or greater extent in the past. Having got to the point in my life, I guess, where I’ve Villiers Bocage: June 13th 1944 - another
known a lot of people for a long time, I guess this is all too predictable. Three issues ago, wargames poser by Jon Sutherland.
contributor Martin Gane mentioned the position he found
himself in with figures he’d purchased from the estate of 31 A CAVALIER APPROACH
a gaming friend who had passed on and how he built a The editor takes a trip to the Tonbridge show.
fine display game out of that sadness. I shall attempt to
do the same with some figures from one of my gaming 35 FANTASY FACTS
comrades. When Queen sang that you “Don’t hear the The usual sensor sweep of the latest news in
F&SF gaming with releases from Deep Cut;
bell but you answer the call… it comes to you as to us all:
Fantasy Flight; Osprey; Modiphius and Brigade.
we’re just waiting for the hammer to fall” I’m sure they
weren’t talking about snow and Hammerhead 40 THE PATH TO FROSTGRAVE
being cancelled, but it’s was a lyric that will do Rules author Joe McCullough takes
double duty. Roll In Peace. us through the rules design process
and provides a new scenario!
John Treadaway
COVER 45 PUTTY TO PIXELS
Editor FEATURE The editor interviews
veteran Mithril sculptor Chris Tubb

CONTACT US on his change in work approach.

@
MiniatureWargames@warnersgroup.co.uk
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@MiniatureWG
MINIATURE WARGAMES INCORPORATING BATTLEGAMES
EDITORIAL
EDITOR John Treadaway
MiniatureWargames@warnersgroup.co.uk
HEAD OF DESIGN & PRODUCTION Lynn Wright
DESIGNER Richard Hallam
Main cover image: Twisting the Dragon’s Tail: the
Maidstone WS at Cavalier 2017 .
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48 THE FUTURE IS FOAM!
Making indestructible scenery
from yoga blocks!
51 VICTORIO CAMPAIGN
The last part of the guide to
PUBLISHED BY
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76 CLUB DIRECTORY
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03_welcomeContents JT2.indd 3 27/03/2018 09:59

 FORWARD OBSERVER | NEWS AND DIARY DATES
OFFENSIVE OR WHAT?
28mm Volkssturm and Hitler Youth for that ‘last roll of the dice’ scenario
I’ve been sent some recent releases by
Offensive Miniatures. As a manufacturer
they make some quite niche miniatures
including (browsing their website) some
great looking Napoleonic infantry with
lots of command and drummers and
good character pieces; some near future
stuff with things like rioters and including
everything from thugs with attack dogs
to hostages; plus some WW2 items.
The latter ranges – which include
standard fare like Africa Korps, US
paratroopers and a great Fallschirmjaeger
set with almost 50 figures including a
Skorzeny and a Mussolini – also features
a set called Defenders of the Reich. This
has packs of both Volkssturm and Hitler
4 Miniature Wargames May 2018
04_07_forwardObserver JT.indd 4
Youth doing their best, as indeed the
name implies, to defend their homeland.
There are three different Volkssturm
packs, each of ten figures, and they vary in
equipment levels: Set 1 has party officials,
an officer with a revolver (in the classic
‘Airfix’, one handed firing pose), policemen,
some Hitler Youth, professional soldiers
and old men, including a very nice pair
firing a Lewis gun (an MG 137 I think they
called it). Set 2 has figures armed with a
range of panzerfausts and panzerschrecks,
mines, jerry cans and captured small
arms; whilst Set 3 has a mixture of factory
guards and rear echelon troops and
reservists with a greater use of uniforms
and lead by a professional officer.
The Hitler Youth have an Ambush
Crew Set with eleven figures armed
with various weapons, mines and heavy
machine gun set which is also £15 and –
for a tenner – there’s a smaller set of six,
all different but armed with Panzerfausts.
These figures should appeal to anyone
who likes accurate, well sculpted, very
well produced (I can’t believe the one
piece castings of some of these figures),
character rich miniatures. There are lots
of individual sculpts in each pack with
no repeats and I think are a good price
at around the £1.50 a figure mark. I dare
say the subject matter won’t appeal to
everyone but... there we are. Highly
recommended. offensiveminiatures.com
ABOVE The MG on the left has two separate
castings but the figure on the right with the
panzerschreck is a once piece casting.
BELOW Officer in the classic ‘Airfix’ pose,
policemen and a Hitler Youth.
23/03/2018 14:09
 SEND US
YOUR NEWS
If you are launching a new
product or have an upcoming
event, let us know at:
@
MiniatureWargames@warnersgroup.co.uk
facebook.com/MiniatureWargames
@MiniatureWG
WIN TICKETS TO
Tickets are now on sale for this year’s
Tabletop Gaming Live convention at
Alexandra Palace this September 29th
and 30th. Alexandra Palace (London N22
7AY) the venue for the event will be the
biggest of it’s kind ever seen in London with
wargaming and board games a plenty. Along
with the wargames traders I mentioned
last month – Mantic with Kings of War,
Warcradle Studios with Wild West Exodus
and Dystopian Wars, Warbanner, Rubicon
Models and storage specialist Battlefoam
– there’ll be Anvil Industry, GCT Studios,
the people behind samurai skirmish title
Bushido along with Osprey Publishing.
Tickets for Tabletop Gaming Live 2018
start from just £10 (kids under 10 attend
for free), with early bird savings, single day
or weekend passes, and discounted family
bundles all available at a special price ahead
of September 29th and 30th.
Visit tabletopgaming.co.uk/
competitions for a chance to win a
pair of tickets. Full terms and conditions
online.
ADVANCE TICKE
NOW ON SALTES
Book and save today: theticketfactory
.com
04_07_forwardObserver JT.indd 5
My assembled organiser with
some bottles of Warcolours paint.
BENCHMARK
Get your painting table organised properly
I’ve produced the odd article in this
magazine where I make and paint things
and – you may have noticed from some
of the photographs I have provided
– that I am not by nature a neat and
tidy person. There are those who have
their paint collection neatly arranged in
triads on shelves and, although I hanker
after that aesthetic, I never seem to
get even close: my painting bench is
usually a disaster zone of pots, paints
and half finished miniatures so anything
that helps me put my house in order is
generally ‘a good thing’.
On that note, Always hobbies sent
me a flat packed Workshop Benchtop
Organiser (by Hobbyzone) and – as I
have just alluded – I rather think I need
some sort of help in this area so that
was very convenient. The reality is that,
along with the paint pots, I just have so
many, pliers, tweezers and brushes that
I’m trying to organise and store on my
desk at any one time (without any real
success) and so I thought this might
help. I’ll confess from the start that
I generally hate putting together flat
packed anything (a medical condition
called Ikeaphobia) and – as someone
who struggles to put together even
MDF kits – I was not looking forward
to the construction process. However,
my fears were misplaced: despite the
daunting collection of what looked like
three dozen bits of CNC cut plywood,
I followed the very clear, pictographic
instructions, used some Gorilla PVA
woodglue (which is both very strong
and a fast grab) and – an hour later –
the finished product was sitting in my
conservatory drying and I was washing
the glue off of my hands (and clothes and
the table…).
For a penny under forty quid, you
wind up with a 60cm x 22cm structure
›
that has a lot of precisely fitted joints
and featuring five different sized draws
(though all were a little too shallow to
take dropper bottles of paint). It also has
some open storage areas and holes for
brushes or files and a couple of other
‘cubbies’ with different sizes of wooden
dowels that could be used for pliers
or – in one case – either sandpaper or
even the end of kitchen (or toilet) rolls:
they are a little small to take full sized
(thick) rolls so I’d recommend that you
wait until they are half used in-doors and
then swap out the ones in the kitchen/
ablutions for a nice new one and put the
half-used one in the dispenser in your
organiser to clean your brushes with.
As an option to the ‘roll of paper’
solution, that lower dowel area can be
optionally swapped out for an additional
draw for a further £7.99. I’m going to get
a lot of use out of this – I may even paint
mine (and not just inadvertently with
‘over-spray!). Go to the Always Hobbies
website and check out what they carry
(they also make paint-pot, brush stands
and kitchen roll dispensers in addition to
this Organiser, all for ten or eleven pounds
each). alwayshobbies.com
May 2018 Miniature Wargames 5
27/03/2018 10:22
 FORWARD OBSERVER | NEWS AND DIARY DATES
SOLID PERFORMER
Warcolours and their pigment rich environment
Warcolours sent me a set of their One Coat
Acrylic Paints. I’d not come across this Cyprus
based company before but I was intrigued to
see what sort of a range of paint and paint
products they make, and – the short answer
to that – is that their range is vast! There are
a myriad of different ways of buying their
products: they make full sets of paints (the
largest having over 200 dropper bottles for
€399.90), plus sub categories of that with
things like powdered pigments and transparent
‘Gem’ colours. Then there are brushes; spare
bottles (and glass ball agitators) and all sorts
of accessories. Their basic paint types come
in several styles with sets of layer paints to
build up a colour (in fives rather than the ‘usual’
triads); along with transparent and glaze paints,
plus inks. Like I said: a very large range indeed.
Finally, there’s the stuff they sent: a set of One
Coat Base (OCB) – twenty bottles for €47.90.
Before I get into the specifics of the
samples, it’s worth mentioning that their
colours can all be purchased as individual 15ml
bottles as well, costing €1.80 a (or €2.50 for
the OCB) but there are very many other sub-
sets to choose from. For example, there are
the ‘speciality’ sets (Flesh, Greens, Browns
etc) which have eight bottles each for €13.90,
or you can buy those sets of one shade, dark-
to-light ‘colour layers’ I mentioned earlier at
€8.90 for the five bottle colour set... so: a lot of
choice that should suit different painting styles.
But – never mind the buying options (I hear
you shout): what are they actually like? Well
I tried out some as a comparison with some
other manufacturer’s products to give you all
a good appraisal. As anyone who has tried it,
I think it fair to say that Army Painter Yellow
is (for want of a better term) a tricky paint to
use, giving – it has to be said – less than ideal
6 Miniature Wargames May 2018
04_07_forwardObserver JT.indd 6
coverage unless it is laid over a suitable colour
undercoat (an ochre, for example, works
well). But over grey or black primer? Ahhh…
Unfortunately, despite the Army Painter range
being my go-to paints, I no longer have my
bottle of yellow from my set (it might have
been used up... ) but I have tried many others
in the quest for the perfect yellow paint, and
I lined up a range of the ‘usual suspects’:
i.e. various pots of yellows from other paint
makers. Included in this ‘back-to-back’ test
are yellows from Revell; Humbrol; Vallejo;
and Yriel Yellow from Citadel. My aim way
to pick yellow as my primary test colour, as
it is notoriously problematic, and to give the
Warcolours products a proper work out I
also tried some other colours from the set,
specifically a red, white, and an orange,
amongst a few others.
The results of the test were quite simple:
I was immensely pleased. The Warcolours
paints cover as well as the best of the rest
(the Vallejo and the Citadel) but that’s not
the only criteria. Whilst being very much
thinner and, therefore, much easier to use, the
Warcolours paint was just a really ‘hassle free’
joy to paint with: they required no thinning
or other adjustment straight from the bottle
and scarcely any mixing beyond a quick
shake, whereas – with all of the others – I
was stirring furiously to get some mixture of
pigment and medium and – in the case of the
Revell and the Humbrol – I had to resort to
fishing out pigment with a stick. For choice
of shades, the Warcolours set came with
a fair number of quite pale colours – lots of
Baby Blues and Baby Pinks, Pale Greens
and so forth, (along with some solid blue and
red as well) – and it occurred to me that this
was an unusual choice. Then I concluded that
the manufacturer had made a good choice,
having picked colours that – under normal
circumstances – would be really hard to
get good coverage with. Let’s face it: most
chocolate browns, khaki greens and dark greys
cover like a champ, whoever makes them...
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying other
manufacturer’s paints aren’t any good: not at
all. I use an eclectic mix of (almost exclusively)
acrylic paints and – for the most part – when
I use what forms the majority of my available
colours (Army Painter with some Vallejo and
Tamiya for good measure and airbrusing) I find
that they are usually highly satisfactory. But
these Warcolours are just very good paints:
the bottle is a nice design, the paint is very
thin and usable, the colours are exceedingly
opaque and the price is good. What’s not to
like! warcolours.com
ABOVE Less than half of the
twenty colour set of Warcolours
One Coat paints, all in very nice
dropper bottles.
LEFT (TOP) The paint test on a
set of highly detailed wheels
from Darkest Star Games. The
colours in the top row are
straight from the Warcolours
bottles - a selection at random
with just the plain grey primer at
the right hand end. The yellows
in the bottom row follow the
same order as the choice of
manufacturers in the picture
below...
(BOTTOM) ...the Usual
Suspects! I spend a lot of
time and effort trying to find
a good yellow that will cover,
so I do have quite a choice of
yellow paint!
23/03/2018 14:09
 OUTREMER DIARY
Crusading in the holy land DATES
In last month’s issue 420 we published a scenario for this Sat 28th April
new rule system written by its author Jamie Gordon. I had a HAMMERHEAD
RESHEDULED
quick flick through the ‘standard Osprey’: 64 pages with plain,
The Showground,
easily-readable layout and nice photographs (by the author) Lincoln Road,
and inspirational illustrations (especially the Mark Stacey cover) Winthorpe,
Newark,
largely culled, I assume, from the publishers extensive back
Notts, NG24 2NY
catalogue (and no worse for that, of course). As it’s skirmish hammerheadshow.co.uk
orientated, you’ll need a few figures; a full set of polyhedral dice;
Sat 12th May
a deck of regular playing cards; a ruler (in inches); and a good 4ft
by 4ft playing area with lots of scenery. The cards are used for CARRONADE
Graeme High School,
activation of the figures and the core of the game is an almost role-playing component as your characters Callendar Rd,
progress through a multi-level career path based on accumulating experience points. Falkirk, FK1 1SY
falkirkwargamesclub.org.uk
You generate Warriors or Leaders by purchasing characteristics and equipment using Livres, the in
game ‘currency’. These are then assembled into a Warband (either Christian of Islamic) which generally Sun 20th May
allows the player to field between five and ten figures each for a game with a maximum of 13 based on PARTIZAN
the number of cards available (a quarter of the pack). Much detail and space is given over to covering George Stephenson Pavilion,
Newark Showground,
weapons and armour use, leadership, melee ability, ranged weaponry, mounted troops, nobility and
Newark,
religion, for both the Crusaders and Saracens. The book ends with six scenarios, a couple of which suit Notts NG24 2NY
multi-player games with up to four warbands. I think this will appeal to historical wargamers who – if partizan.org.uk
they’ve not played something like D&D or even Frostgrave – may feel that they have missed out with
Fri 1st to Sun 3rd June
the personal role-playing component of gaming and, character development wise, I’d put this somewhere
UK GAMES EXPO
between the two but, obviously, with a solid historical slant. £11.99 from ospreypublishing.com. The NEC: North Ave, Marston
Green, Birmingham B40 1NT
The Hilton: Pendigo Way,

VILLAGE LIFE I am not a number! 28mm period scenery. Marston Green, Birmingham
B40 1PP
ukgamesexpo.co.uk
Pigeon Guard’s Sun 10th June

28mm retro chic BROADSIDE

Swallows Leisure Centre
Central Avenue
Just before going to press, I’ve been sent some Sittingbourne
MDF and resin scenery from Pigeon Guard Kent ME10 4NT
Games which fits right in with their whole ‘Patrick facebook.com/
BroadsideShow
McGoohan tribute’ set dressing range. Suitable
for any 7TV style, ‘60s spy type game (Bond Also in the box was a Spy-Fy Control Centre: this Sun 24th June
supervillains etc) but especially ones where the piece is a superb collection of three sixties chairs PHOENIX SHOW
players are held prisoner... Thankfully – as time in resin; a control desk with printed control panels Rheged Centre
Redhills
was short – they had already assembled the and resin phones and a (mostly) pre-painted silver Penrith CA11 0DQ
components, so what I have is a beautiful Phone desk, all set on a 90mm or so MDF plinth with a phoenix-show.co.uk
Kiosk (in MDF) with printed paper components riser for the big globe style chair in the middle: so
Sun 8th July
(the back board and stripy canopy), with a tiny very, very evocative! These are superb models
BARRAGE
resin ‘period’ phone and engraved translucent and are £5.99 and £11.99 (post free) respectively Blessed William Howard
plastic side panels, so a real ‘mixed media’ kit. from pigeonguardgames.com School,
Rowley Ave,
Stafford ST17 9AB
staffordwargames.wixsite.
ON TARGET A blast of flame, ready to hit the table-top. com/barrage

Flame thrower marker

You can promote
On Target have been making a selection of your event for
pre-painted markers for use on the wargaming free on our website
table (lots of explosions and so forth) and I’ve been and here in Miniature
detailing them as they appear in this column. The latest Wargames
Wargames. Enter your
is a Large Flamethrower Marker. £5.50 plus post gets you event details online at
a six-inch long spurt of ‘flame-looking’ stuff ready to hit the table- tabletopgaming.
top which will certainly do the job and make for a pretty looking game. co.uk/historical-
Get this stuff via lancerminiatures.com or – for more info or to buy direct games/events
– contact blackwolf1354@outlook.com

May 2018 Miniature Wargames 7

04_07_forwardObserver JT.indd 7 26/03/2018 16:55

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please visit our website to view
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Keep up to date with all news from North Star, Crusader Miniatures, Artizan Design, Copplestone
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page, following us on Twitter and signing up to our regular Newsletter.

p008.indd 1 15/03/2018 10:14

 SEND THREE
AND FOURPENCE
WHY WE FIGHT
Conrad Kinch ponders the motivations of wargamers
Words by Conrad Kinch, photographs by Conrad Kinch and John Treadaway
I
was talking with a chum recently who
lost almost his entire collection of toy
soldiers in a house fire. I had to repress
a shudder at the thought of my boys being
lost to the flames. How much they cost is
one thing, but how long they take to paint
prompted even more horror. He has rebuilt
of course: it’s not as if one can live without
toy soldiers and I suspect rather more of the
house insurance money than was strictly
necessary went on recreating the collection.
But if my friend’s story had me reaching
for a medicinal brandy, it also convinced
me that something would have to be done.
I was reaching around for a solution when
I came across collectioncalculator.com by
Peter Riley and David Pead. Collection
Calculator is a tool designed to allow
wargamers to catalogue their collection
09_13sendThreeAndFourpence JT.indd 9
›
ABOVE Fun
and games:
The Socialite
wargamer enjoys
the company as
much as the game.
and form a reasonable idea of how much it
would cost to replace. I haven’t even begun BELOW The title of this
column, “Why we fight”,
to make a proper account of my collection,
is taken from a series of
but the value is beginning to stack up. Mrs. propaganda films by Frank
Kinch wasn’t surprised in the slightest as Capra made during the
she quite rightly points out I’ve Second World War.
been collecting figures for over
twenty years and never throw any
of them away...
But as the cash value of the
collection keeps rising to an
alarming level and the prospect of a
somewhat complicated conversation
with our insurer grows ever more
likely, another question reared up in
my gin sodden brain; why do I have
all these things at all? On the face of
it the answer is very simple, because
I enjoy them immensely. But why?
May 2018 Miniature Wargames 9
26/03/2018 16:57
 SEND THREE AND FOURPENCE | CONRAD KINCH

I’ve been thinking about that question

and talking to other wargamers about it for
the last year or so. I don’t think there’s really
any prospect of coming to a really satisfying
or definitive answer, but I’ve drawn some
broad conclusions which I think stand up
to scrutiny. This may seem like a bizarre
exercise: trying to dissect someone’s
motivations for pursuing a hobby. But
as Socrates put it, the unexamined life is
not worth living. Thinking about this has
certainly helped me understand why I enjoy
wargaming, but also get more out of the
time that I invest in this hobby.
It should be clear at the outset that these
are not rigid categories and it would be a
very rare individual that could be pigeon
holed in only one of them. But what they
represent is an attempt to understand why
we do what we do, and why we enjoy it.
ABOVE Of course, the
tournament players don’t
TYPE ONE: SOCIALITE have a complete monopoly
Wargaming has led some pretty peculiar on unseemly crowing. Here
people to my door. Mrs. Kinch calls them General Picton celebrates an
allied victory at Quatre Bras.
“the Internet Axe Murderers”. This somewhat
pejorative nickname came about when LEFT Sharing a joke while
we were having tea with my mother in- wargaming the battle of
law. Mrs Kinch mentioned that we were Quatre Bras.
expecting a visitor at the weekend and her
BELOW The vast array of
mother asked who the visitor was and how
competition games at Derby
we knew him. When she discovered that I Worlds 2017.
only knew him via the internet – and that
we had only really discussed wargaming –
she asked the question, “How do you know
he isn’t an axe murderer?” Which, under interesting about it is that he isn’t alone pastime and it is quite likely that he doesn’t
the circumstances, probably isn’t the most in not being an axe murderer. Mrs. Kinch have a collection of toy soldiers of his own.
unreasonable question in the world... and I have played host to wargamers from He enjoys the camaraderie of the games
As it happens, John is now a long- Britain, Germany and the United States and table, but probably doesn’t want to sink
standing family friend who has travelled to been hosted in our turn. The extraordinary the time and money required to replicate it,
Ireland on multiple occasions to stay with thing about the whole process is how lovely and that’s no bad thing. I have friends who
us and I’ve gone to Wales to visit him. We’ve everyone has been. (I find it tricky to carry my don’t own a single toy soldier, but whose
played dozens of wargames together. He axe in the hand luggage on flights... Ed.) company at the wargaming table has given
and his wife were invited to the Kinchlet’s The Socialite, or the social wargamer, is me hours of pleasure, and there’s a lot to
christening and, frankly, if anyone is likely someone who enjoys the hobby, but mainly be said for having a wide circle of people to
to consider himself “well in” at the Kinch sees it as a way of spending time with play with. If you make the price of getting a
household, it’s John. I suppose what is really friends. Wargaming probably isn’t his only place at your wargames table a substantial

10 Miniature Wargames May 2018

09_13sendThreeAndFourpence JT.indd 10 23/03/2018 14:17


commitment, all you are doing is reducing
the pool of potential players who can share
the hobby with.
Of course, Socialite players can be a real
pain in the neck at times. The chap who
starts a conversation about the episode
of Dr Who he saw last night before every
turn, or who simply will not knuckle down
and learn the rules, can be a bit of a pest.
Computer gamers have a characteristically
blunt name for that sort of player, “a filthy
casual”, but for all the hardcore players
scorn, “filthy casuals” have made games
like Angry Birds and Candy Crush
incredibly successful. That alone should
be an argument for including social
wargamers.
But if having to remind Bill to take his
saving throws for the ninth time is getting
on your wick, you can ameliorate that
problem by sticking to simpler rule sets
with your less committed pals. It should
also be said that most wargamers are men
and – as Mrs Kinch once observed – men
are awful at keeping in touch with each
other unless there is a shared activity.
I’ve found an invitation to a game is an
excellent way to keep in touch with friends
I would otherwise lose touch with. Paddy
Griffith once wrote that a good evening’s
wargaming was a bit like planning a dinner
party: the bill of fare should be adjusted to
suit the tastes of the guests.
TYPE TWO: THE SYSTEM MASTER
“Don’t fight a battle if you don’t gain anything
by winning.” Erwin Rommel
The system master is the type of player
that most people think of when they think
about people who play games. They enjoy
games, they enjoy playing them well and
they play to win. They focus on learning the
rules of the game, mastering the resources
that they have at their disposal and making
the best use of those resources to win.
That’s not unreasonable when you think
09_13sendThreeAndFourpence JT.indd 11
about it: most soccer teams, even amateur
ones, play to win and work hard to achieve
that aim. Tournament players are a classic
example of this sort of play. I’ve often
noticed (and I am as guilty as anyone else) a
certain sniffiness about tournament players
in the pages of this magazine, but I am of
the opinion that this is actually inacurate. I
think that we mistake the System Master –
the player who glories in playing the game
well – with the man who is focused on
winning above all else, including adhering
to the rules – both written and unwritten – of
the game.
Games that allow System Masters to
thrive are games that allow total knowledge,
where nothing is concealed from the player,
that strive for balance, usually by using
army lists, set scenarios or other means,
and that allow each player the same
amount resources, often by means of a
points system. Blood bowl and X-Wing
are excellent examples of that sort of game:
the players will not (as in chess) be using
identical forces, but there is an expectation
that the forces that they do use will give
a balanced game and there is often a
handicapping mechanic to allow players to
achieve that, if one is more experienced than
the other. If you want to see an examples
of the very best of this sort of play, watch
some of the X-Wing tournament games on
YouTube.
It takes a truly dedicated
fellow to handle a pint and a
cat and play a wargame all
at the same time, Capability
Savage surveying the
wreckage of an temporary
NATO airfield after a WARPAC
bombing run while restraining
Sir Harry Flashman VC (on
right in black and white).
X-Wing – that those that don’t know
– is effectively a Second World War dog
fighting game with Star Wars space
ships. It uses pre-painted miniatures
and bespoke rulers to play quick space
battles. Matches typically take an hour
and are played with forces of equal points
value made up of between three and
ten ships each. What is really interesting
about watching X-Wing being played
in tournaments is that you get to see
the game played at a very high level,
the online commentary is often quite
interesting and the level of sportsmanship
is truly top notch.
And that, I think, is why the System
›
Master style of player often gets a bad
name in these pages. The very best
tournament players take the tools that they
have been given and extract every ounce
of advantage they can within the rules. The
best illustration that I’ve come across of
the best – and the worst – of this type of
player was nearly twenty years ago. I was
a member of a club at the time and a new
player arrived, a youngish teenager with
a 40K rule-book and a box of Ork figures
stuck together with more enthusiasm than
skill. He was engaged in conversation by
one of the club members, a man in his late
thirties, who had a look at his army and
offered him a game the following week.
The older man – who had much more
May 2018 Miniature Wargames 11
23/03/2018 14:17
 experience and a far broader range of
models to draw on – went home, and built
an army specifically designed to dismember
his young opponent’s motley force. The
following week rolled around and the
young lad was trounced on turn three,
whereupon the weasel that had beaten
him decided to do a victory lap of the
club, so that he could tell everyone what a
whipping he’d given the youngster. It was
only then that the rest of us realised what
had happened.
To the club’s credit, the tournament
players got together and one of them
approached the boy’’s father and pressed
him to bring the kid back next week. The
lads had a whip round their spares boxes
and put together a box of additional
orks for him to make his army a bit
more competitive. I’m glad to say that
the youngster did come back, was very
surprised at their generosity and is playing
40K to this day.
That incident crystallised in my mind
what I think is best and worst about
competitive players: the worst wanted
victory at all costs, even if it involved
picking on a very new and naïve player to
the extent that it was likely that he would
never play again. The best were very, very
competitive, but they were also generous,
kind and were willing to take the time
to encourage a newcomer so they would
have someone new to compete with. They
didn’t go easy on the new player and
he was beaten a lot, but there was never
the sort of ungentlemanly crowing that
occurred in his first game, and when he
lost he was taught how to play better.
There are limitations to competitive
play: it doesn’t lend itself easily to the
kind of historically based scenario style
wargaming that is popular with many
readers of Miniature Wargames. Historical
scenarios are very hard to balance and
almost never involve equal forces. Flames
of War has very successfully managed
to make a historically based, competitive
game, but those very strengths as a
tournament game make it harder to play
historical scenarios with those rules. I
have played D-Day scenarios where the
German players got very irritated that
they couldn’t “win”, but I think that sort of
disappointment can be avoided by being
upfront about the kind of game you’re
playing. It’s no reason to look down on
competitive players.
12 Miniature Wargames May 2018
09_13sendThreeAndFourpence JT.indd 12
TYPE THREE: DAYTRIPPER
There is some part of my heart where it
is always half-seven in a muddy Belgian
field and the freedom of Europe is being
staked on whether brave men can endure
just that little bit longer. The light draws in,
the drums crackle with the pas de charge and
Napoleon is still to be beat. I know in my
heart of hearts that I will never wear a red
coat, carry a musket or look down on the
Imperial Guard as they march towards our
too fragile line with flags flying and drums
beating. I will never feel the earth tremble at
the approach of a rushing Zulu impi or hear
the rattle of shafts whizzing through the air
at Agincourt. Nor will I drop out of the sky
in Normandy or Arnhem or hold the line
at Gettysburg. I am too old and too well
upholstered to be a convincing re-enactor,
so outside of a good book, wargaming is my
only way to experience – albeit vicariously –
that sort thing.
Pushing toy soldiers around a board
may seem like a poor way to experience
the dramatic moments of history, but it
does the job for me. There is an element
of roleplaying in playing wargames and I
inevitably find myself telling stories about
the tiny tin heroes at my command, trying
to imagine what things must have been
like through their eyes. I have never – nor
I suspect, will I ever – tire of it and that
alone is sufficient to keep me coming back.
A quick flick through a few back issues of
this magazine will reveal dozens of fellow
sufferers; how many times have you read
an article which begins, “I saw Spartacus/
Zulu/Glory as a youngster and was
completely swept away and that’s why I
wargame the Roman republic/Zulu war/
American Civil War, etc because they were
such extraordinary characters, etc”. The
great commanders of the past capture our
imagination and demand to have their
doing recreated on the tabletop.
The result of this is that I often collect
“useless” figures. Almost all of my French
regiments have vivandieres for example and
I have figures drinking tea, fighting duels,
urinating (Orion’s Modern Russian Federals
set has a lot to answer for), shoeing horses
and so on. Are they useful in a game? Of
course not, but they somehow make the
whole experience more real, which is –
when you think about it – a rather curious
thing to say about a piece of plastic or metal
20mm tall. Curious, but nonetheless true.
While I would be sceptical of any claim
that a wargame can really put you in
Napoleon’s shoes, a well crafted game can
give you some sense of the decisions our
ancestors had to make. I remember playing
a Great War game with a friend of mine
who had not wargamed the period before
and he became increasingly frustrated.
“You’re in bloody trenches,” he said, “no matter
what I do, I’m going to lose a lot of men.” I
found it interesting that, during the course
of the game, he realised that there were no
quick or easy options and that he could
only choose between losing a lot of men and
winning and losing a lot of men and losing,
but that there was no bloodless alternative.
I think he emerged from the game with a
slightly less condemnatory understanding
of Great War era generalship, but strangely
enough neither of us have played the period
since. It seems that all those little lead and
plastic widows weighed on our consciences
more than we liked to admit.
Are their drawbacks to facing the
“Daytripper” across the table? Probably. You
will likely be subjected to endless historical
anecdotes about the period and to be honest,
some of the tribe can be a bit peculiar. A self
described “Waffen SS” enthusiast that I dealt
with some years ago springs to mind, but of
him, the less said the better.
23/03/2018 14:17

TYPE FOUR: CRAFTSMAN
The craftsman is someone who enjoys
the wargaming hobby because it gives
him an arena in which he can excel. The
craftsman is someone who enjoys playing,
but whose primary focus is painting or
writing scenarios or creating scenery. They
find an aspect of the hobby and concentrate
their talents on it. That aspect may be
collecting a particular type of toy soldier
and scratching that completist itch that
exists in us all.
My pal “Capability” Savage is someone
who exemplifies this approach to the
hobby. Savage plays roleplaying games
more than wargames, but he’ll happily play
a wargame if you provide one. What really
gets his juices flowing though is building
terrain. He doesn’t really have a collection
of his own, but he’s built multiple pieces of
kit for fortunate souls like me, including a
motorised Spanish windmill, Normandy
bunkers and a fantastic Waterloo
farmhouse. I asked him about it once and
he said that he enjoyed playing games,
but – though he had never really enjoyed
painting figures – he had been making
wargames terrain since before he became a
wargamer. As a youngster, a well-meaning
adult had bought him a comic while he
was on holiday. The comic in question was
OPPOSITE Beautiful
work like this staff group
painted by Krisztian
Takacs can transport the
Daytripper wargamer to
another time and place.
RIGHT The Craftsman
wargamer focuses on
producing excellent work,
like this delightful staff
group from the collection
of Mr. Julian Spilsbury.
09_13sendThreeAndFourpence JT.indd 13
SEND THREE AND FOURPENCE | CONRAD KINCH
a copy of White Dwarf which included a
tutorial article on making terrain.
Savage – with no real understanding of
what he was looking at and with no toy
soldiers to speak of – was somewhat at a
loss at what to do with this strange new
thing. He realised that he didn’t have any
figures, but he did have card and glue
and lollipop sticks, so he could make the
terrain. So he did, and continues to do so to
this day.
A very dear friend of mine, a fellow
wargamer, lost his mother recently. She
had suffered greatly with illness and he
had devoted his time to caring for her.
They had both borne their own particular
crosses with fortitude and grace, but it was
obviously a difficult time for him. We were
corresponding at the time and the thing
that struck me about the situation was how
much solace he took from wargaming. He
said that after a long day at the hospital,
there were times when he just pulled out
a box of toy soldiers and set them up on
a table and looked at them. Or he might
paint something or read. During one of
our late night Facebook chats, he wrote “It
[wargaming] is a well that I can always return
to and one that never runs dry.” So speaks the
Craftsman, who finds satisfaction in doing
something well.
I read a book called Twelve Rules for
Life by a Canadian clinical psychologist
called Jordan Peterson recently and I
was very impressed by it. One thing
that distinguishes Peterson from most
academic psychologists is that he has
kept up a clinical practice, so many of his
observations are tempered by practical
experience of trying to help people
with real problems. One piece of advice
he gave was for people to shrink their
horizon so that they only focused on
those problems that they meaningfully
affect right now. Last year, Mrs Kinch
suffered a severe health set back and it
looked like we might lose her. It was a
frightening experience particularly as we
had just become parents. One of the things
that helped me remain calm and able to
focus on keeping the family afloat was
the distraction offered by painting a few
figures. They were 20mm Hinton Hunt
Egyptian infantry and while they aren’t
the best figures I’ve ever painted, I did a
good enough job to feel more confident
afterwards. That put me in a better place
to tackle the bigger problems. Even little
victories are worthwhile when things
are looking bleak and if that isn’t reason
enough to pursue this hobby of ours I
don’t know what is.
CONCLUSION
I hope that I’ve been able to help you think a
little bit more clearly about why you pursue
this strange, fascinating and sometimes
all consuming pastime. I’m not entirely
sure I have any answers, but I’ve certainly
ended up with a more interesting class of
question. There have been plenty articles
in this magazine and others about how we
play wargames. What I have tried to do in
this piece is examine why we play them.
This may seem like a redundant question,
but I’ve found that trying to think clearly
about something is the first step to doing
it better. The four types of wargamer I’ve
described here is not an exhaustive list, nor
are they mutually exclusive. Each wargamer
will probably contain some characteristics
of each, but is probably weighted more
towards one than another. For myself, I
would say that I am a daytripper with
aspects of the craftsman. One of the finest
painters I know is a mean tournament
player, while some of my best friends are
social wargamers: in the broad church that
is the hobby, there is space for everyone. ■
May 2018 Miniature Wargames 13
23/03/2018 14:17
 䠀伀䴀䔀 伀䘀 䜀䄀䴀䔀 䴀䄀吀匀
䄀一䐀 䐀䤀䌀䔀 吀刀䄀夀匀

嘀䄀刀䤀伀唀匀 䐀䤀䘀䘀䔀刀䔀一吀 䰀伀吀匀 伀䘀 䘀䰀䄀吀 刀䄀吀䔀

匀䤀娀䔀匀 䴀䄀吀䔀刀䤀䄀䰀匀 䐀䔀匀䤀䜀一匀 䔀唀 匀䠀䤀倀倀䤀一䜀

倀刀䤀一吀ⴀ伀ⴀ䴀䄀吀 ⴀ   夀伀唀刀 䤀䴀䄀䜀䔀 伀一 䴀伀唀匀䔀倀䄀䐀 䴀䄀吀

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p014.indd 1 19/03/2018 09:40

 HELL BY
DAYLIGHT
The final part of skirmish rules for 20th century combat by Jim Webster.
Words by Jim Webster, photography by the editor
I
wanted a ‘modern’ rule set and there weren’t
any that I felt caught the true feel of Twentieth
century warfare so I wrote my own. In the
first two issues I dealt with the basics of Fire,
Movement and Combat, AFVs and Artillery.
Now it’s fine having a set of rules, but what
about scenarios? I pondered this and felt that
rather than just produce a couple of stand-
alone scenarios (which I have written and have
supplied to the editor for inclusion at a later date)
it would make more sense to give you a broader
campaign to get your teeth into, so that scenarios
were generated naturally by the game play. So:
with that in mind…
15_21hellByDaylight4 JT.indd 15
PART
FOUR
BACKGROUND TO AN INSURGENCY
Insurgencies are complex, with many factors
underlying them and this can make them difficult
to get the real feel for on the table top. The problem
is that you can lack the link between table-top
action and socio-economic-political causes and
results. This is a simple set of rules and campaign
background to try and give the feel of certain sorts
of insurgency. It is mainly modelled on corrupt
states of the South and Central American type
where you have a potentially wealthy country.
Unfortunately the state is run for the rich at the XXX Corps getting hit in a 28mm
expense of the poor, the latter being mainly peasant game from Crisis by the Old
farmers and day labourers living in squatter Pikeys team.
May 2018 Miniature Wargames 15
23/03/2018 14:26
 ABOVE: Actions by trained
civilian police or pro-
government death squads...
they are sometimes hard to
tell apart. A shot of a 28mm (or
so) insurgency type game by
Spectre at Colours 2017,
RIGHT: Of course air support isn’t
a panacea for all ills: the planes
can be shot down... A 1/48th
scale game with a crashed
Hercules from Vapnartak 2018
16 Miniature Wargames May 2018
15_21hellByDaylight4 JT.indd 16
suburbs. Each player represents on family/clan/
political grouping. Each player aims to gain and
seize power and wealth. The assets are represented
by playing cards. The suits represent the following
· Spades: Good arable land. Income 3MP per
annum, or 6MP per annum, Votes: 2 per card
· Diamonds: Workable Mineral deposits, mines,
quarries, oil wells. Income 6MP per annum, or
12MP per annum. Votes: 2 per card
· Clubs: Extensive ranches. Income 2MP per
annum, Votes: 3 per card
· Hearts: Industrial plants in the cities,
manufacturing industry. Income 6MP per
annum, or 18MP per annum Votes: 4 per card.
The face value of the card doesn’t actually matter.
The income, in MPs or Myriads of Pesos (a sadly
devalued currency…) is what counts. Where two
possible incomes are available the lower represents
old fashioned production techniques, the higher
figure modern techniques involving efficiency,
lean working, just in time deliveries, management
directives and in certain cases slave labour and bull
hide whips.
The number of votes per card is just that, the
number of dutiful voters that go along to polling
booths to vote for you from your area. You might
notice ranches seem to have rather a lot, but this is
because in such remote areas who knows who lives
there and anyway it would be ungentlemanly to
count…
The system is simple. Each player starts with
three cards (the family inheritance) and each turn
another three cards are available for purchase. This
is by auction, the highest bidder gets the card, and
players can buy as many of the cards as they want.
Each move (which is a year) there is an Election:
players tot up the votes they can wield and the
group of players who can muster a majority of votes
form a coalition government. The government has
the following powers and duties:
1. The Leading Individual in the government can
buy the first of the three new asset cards each
move for their own valuation, without anyone
else getting a chance to bid. Just who this leading
individual is will obviously be up for discussion
amongst the members of the coalition.
2. Raise tax for various purposes. This involves
setting a tax rate per asset card for how much
money the players pay in tax. The rest of the
population also pay tax, the government decides
exactly what tax the rest of the population pay.
The sum collected is calculated as a proportion of
what the players pay.
· The population pays half as much as the players.
This is probably fair.
· The population pays enough to match what the
players pay. This is undoubtedly burdensome.
· The population pays double what the players pay.
This is very much making the pips squeak.
Hence, if the players are to pay a total of 15MP
between them, the government can take 7.5, 15, or
30MP off the rest of the population.
3. Spend Tax. The ways government can spend the
money are:
· Defence spending. The government just sets
aside a total in MP.
· Investment in the economy. Again the
government just sets aside a total in MP.
· Rigging elections. Each MP spent is one more
vote for the government party
· Miscellaneous out of pocket expenses.
Money is divided up amongst members of the
government.
PLAYERS PERSONAL SPENDING (AFTER TAX!)
· Firstly, a sum needs to be set aside for a personal
standard of living. The winner is the one who, at
the end of the game, has totted up the highest total
and is still in control of their assets. At the end
27/03/2018 09:00

of the game players will present a record of their
personal spending per year. Ignore the highest
and lowest years, then total up the money spent
and divide it between the number of years over
which is was spent. The player with the highest
average who is still in control of at least their
family inheritance is the winner. And remember
that the Family Inheritance is that each player
starts with three cards!
· Secondly, a sum needs to be set aside for buying
more assets etc.
· Thirdly, there is of course the point that you
might need some money for emergencies etc.
INSURGENCY
Tot up the number of cards under modern
management techniques. If the tax rate is
‘Burdensome’, double it. If the tax rate is ‘Making
the pips squeak’, double it again. If the money spent
on investment in the economy is larger than the
amount of tax paid by the players in total, half the
insurgency rate.
So as an example if there are 10 asset cards in
play using modern management techniques and
the population are paying the highest tax rate the
Insurgency number is 10, doubled, 20, and doubled
again 40.
Each year you roll percentage dice and if you
roll less than or equal to the Insurgency rate, you
have an insurgency. At this point one of the
players who isn’t in the government can volunteer
to lead the insurgency. Note that – from this point
onwards – the player has to give up using modern
management practices.
15_21hellByDaylight4 JT.indd 17
RULES | MODERN WARFARE
The ratio between government forces and
insurgents is the ratio between the annual defence
spending and the Insurgency rate. So, if the
insurgency rate is 40% and defence spending was
15 MP, then the 40% becomes a notional 40 MP and
this is used by the Insurgency Player.
WHAT FORCES ARE AVAILABLE?
THE GOVERNMENT
Lightly armed police
These chaps carry only handguns or occasionally
shotguns. They are very cheap: you could really
have as many figures as you care to paint and base
for free. But you cannot have more than five of them
on the table at any one time. In Hell by Daylight
terms, count them as Green
Properly Trained Civilian Armed Police
These are a rare commodity: they cost 3 points
for a team of 10 figures. They will be experts with
their weapons, competent marksmen, will not
shoot up bystanders and don’t roar about in APCs
scaring elderly ladies and horses. They can also
wear plain clothes and be used as bodyguards
for senior figures in Politics or the Judiciary. You
cannot have more than ten figures. In Hell by
Daylight terms they tend to be Veterans but are
limited to handguns and occasional sniper rifles.
›
There can only be one unit.
Paramilitary Gendarmes
The hard men of the policing world, the Gendarmes
habitually carry firearms, at least submachineguns
May 2018 Miniature Wargames 17
27/03/2018 09:00
 RULES | MODERN WARFARE
and normally assault weapons. They will have
access to at least vehicle mounted machine-guns.
Their idea of low intensity policing is to turn up
in a marked van rather than an APC. They have
some police training but tend to be happiest when
intimidating people. 1 point per squad of ten in a
wheeled APC. In Hell by Daylight terms they tend
to be Green.
Regular Infantry
These cost 2 points per squad of ten in a lorry, three
points if they turn up in an APC. They will have the
appropriate rifles, light machineguns, grenades etc
and are predominantly Normal.
It is possible that you may have access to elite
infantry, Rangers or their like. These cost four points
and have about 50% veterans in their ranks. They
don’t have integral APCs, but can acquire lorries.
They rather expect to arrive by helicopter…
Tanks
First we need a definition of a “Tank”. Wargamers
know what tanks are but journalists and political
commentators seem to look for tracks, armour, a
big gun and a turret to mount the big gun in. If the
vehicle under consideration manages 3 out of these
four, it counts as a tank. A tank costs 5 points and is
normally light or medium.
18 Miniature Wargames May 2018
15_21hellByDaylight4 JT.indd 18
Artillery
Since Napoleon tried his “whiff of grape shot”
and the city planners of Paris laid out their new
city with cannon and cavalry in mind, artillery
has had its place in community policing: just not
a very honourable place. In Artillery we include
mortars, rockets (other than RPGs and similar
shoulder launched weapons), Recoilless rifles and
conventional howitzers and guns. Artillery costs 3
points.
Air support
Unarmed Casevac helicopters are free. Transport
Helicopters with door gunners cost 2 points
Attack Helicopters cost 5points Fixed wing
aircraft cost three points.
Pro-government death squads
These aren’t something you admit to organising.
Each player can have some. You get one squad for
every two voters on a card. The death squads can
only operate in that card’s terrain type. They start
off as squads of ten, armed with a mixture of light
weapons, pistols, submachine guns, bolt action
rifles and shotguns (and chainsaws? Ed.) and are
Untrained. If the owning player is willing to spend
some money, then 1MP will raise them to still being
Untrained but with Infantry weapons.
23/03/2018 14:26

THE INSURGENTS
Small numbers of covert revolutionaries
These are apparently unarmed having only
concealed weapons which can include hand guns,
grenades and the occasional submachinegun. They
cost 2 points for ten and they count as Normal.
There can be any number of these units but only
one can be deployed in a given battle.
Urban insurgents
For one point you get 30 figures of Untrained, stone
throwing youths who will cause a disturbance.
For 2 points you can give them petrol bombs
and infiltrate 1d6 Untrained assault rifle armed
insurgents into their midst.
Numbers of ostentatious bodyguards
These can accompany any politician, be they
insurgent or not. All players can have one unit,
paid for from private income. They cost 1 point
and tend to hussle about excitedly waving their
M16s, talking into hand held radios or mobile
phones, wear cheap suits and wrap round sun
glasses. In Hell by Daylight terms they’re Green.
They only appear on the table when the player’s
personal figure appears on the table. So their
presence means the player can die.
Militia
These tend to wear military style fatigues and/
or pirated designer label clothing. They all carry
military style firearms, M16s or AK47s. They will
have light machine-guns and RPGs. Some with
social pretensions may still wear wrap round
sunglasses. They can have access to vehicles for
transport even if these are just overloaded private
cars. They cost 2 points each and roll 1d6 for each
ten-man squad when you deploy them.
· 1,2,3 squad is Untrained,
· 4,5 squad is Green.
· 6 Squad has 2 Normal and one Veteran to stiffen
the remaining Greens.
15_21hellByDaylight4 JT.indd 19
LEFT: Elite infantry cost four
points and have about 50%
veterans in their ranks. They
don’t have integral APCs, but can
acquire lorries. A 20mm game
from Derby Worlds 2017
BELOW: Hardly a ‘technical’ but,
when pushed, any transport is
better than walking... the Deal
Wargamers’ Behind enemy Lines
game from Cavalier 2018.
Technicals
These are the imaginatively designed vehicles
which often combine a battered Japanese pickup
and anything from a 50 cal to a twin barrelled
antiaircraft cannon. Each technical costs you
2 points and when each of them appears on a
battlefield, roll a d6 as you would with militia to see
how well trained it is.
Artillery
This is restricted to mortars (of any calibre) and
recoilless rifles. Medium mortars and recoilless
rifles are the same price as a Technical. (And can
›
have a vehicle to carry them.). Heavy mortars cost
4 points and need either a vehicle or a lot of men to
carry them and their ammunition.
ORGANISING BATTLES
First the Government decides what forces they
want. Individual players may also pay for their own
Ostentatious Bodyguards and Pro-Government
Death Squads. The government then splits their
forces between the five following deployment Areas
· Rural arable (Spades)
· Rural Ranching (Clubs)
· Defending economic assets (Diamonds)
· Urban policing (Hearts)
· Reserve (These can be troops deployed by
helicopter, attack helicopters, fixed wing aircraft.
They’re the only ones capable of moving fast
enough.)
The insurgent player starts with the initiative.
He looks at his budget and plans a number of
operations. Suggestions are:
· The assassination of another player
· The ambush of a government unit
· An attack on a district police HQ
· The seizure of important mine or oil well.
· Any of the above combined with an ambush set
to catch the relief force.
With the assassination of another player the
insurgent will attack the player on one of the
May 2018 Miniature Wargames 19
27/03/2018 09:02

cards that makes up their family inheritance. So
if attacking the player in a city they assassination
force would be made up of a unit of Covert
Revolutionaries, and any number of Urban
insurgents. They might even use Ostentatious
bodyguards of their own (but that involves the
player with the bodyguards also being present,)
Militia or technicals.
THE TABLE
Arrange a wargames table and set the figures
up. Already involved can be up to five police,
the attacked player’s bodyguard (if any) and
his Pro-Government death squads (if any.) The
Government can then decide what troops to send
to join in the fight. If the attack is taking place in an
urban setting, only Government units allocated to
Urban Policing can be sent as reserves. Similarly,
if the Insurgent attacks a mine, for example, only
units allocated to defending economic assets may
take part.
Note that the Insurgent will target the mine on
the card of a particular player. That defending
player always has the option to deploy the pro-
government death squads that are tied to that card.
Other players who also have death squads tied to
that sort of card (in this case mines) may send their
squads as reinforcements, but these squads cannot
then fight again this move.)
Once the Government player has decided upon
the reinforcements to be sent they also say how fast
20 Miniature Wargames May 2018
15_21hellByDaylight4 JT.indd 20
ABOVE: A deal being made with
a briefcase full of pay-off for the
insurgents: the Spectre game
from Colours 2017.
they are going. Hell for leather and they’ll get there BELOW: Man-portable anti-tank
equipment is a handy thing to
in three moves; Quickly and they’ll get there in six have: U.N.I.T in 1/35th from the
moves; Cautiously they’ll get there in ten moves. If South London Warlord’s Invasion
there are infantry who don’t have vehicles as part Earth game at SELWG 2017.
of the reinforcements the reinforcements can only
move Cautiously. If there is an ambush waiting for
them, set up that wargames table.
· Troops moving at Hell for leather are travelling at
18 inches a move.
· Troops moving Quickly are travelling at 12 inches
a move.
· Troops moving Cautiously are travelling at 6
inches a move.
Once the first battle has been fought (or the
first pair of battles if an ambush was planned)
then the Insurgent player moves to the next target
they have pre-planned. Troops who were sent
as reinforcements in one battle, cannot be sent as
reinforcements in the next. Hence it’s possible for
the Government to run out of units to send.
The Government can formally ask players to
send Pro-Government death squads to assist at a
battle: they count as reinforcements travelling to the
scene of fighting.
Redeployment
After a battle, the Government can relocate troops
which are already deployed from one of the five
deployment areas to another. Troops in Reserve can
come as reinforcements but cannot be ambushed
on the way to the battle if they travel by air. Troops
27/03/2018 09:03

that have been used as reinforcements once cannot
be used again. However the Helicopters that
transported them can be.
Artillery
Government Off table artillery, and Insurgent
Heavy Mortars that are in the same deployment
area as a battle can provide fire support for any
battles that take place in that deployment area
without having to be part of the reserve.
Artillery can also be used in multiple battles
in the same deployment area, but in the second
and subsequent battles in the same deployment
area, each time you make successful contact with
artillery there is a 50% change of them being busy
supporting somebody else.
Completion and Counter Insurgency
At some point the Insurgent player will
announce that they have completed all their
planned operations. At this point, if the
Government player has any units that haven’t
been used, they can announce an operation of
their own. This is a counter-insurgency sweep in
a specific area. Any unused units in that area can
take part.
If there are no insurgent units in that area, this
is a glorious Government victory. If there are
insurgent units in the area which have already
fought, the insurgent player has the option of
‘fading away.’ This has to be done before the
insurgent knows what is in the government forces.
Again if the Insurgents fade away this is a glorious
Government victory. Alternatively the insurgent
player can use what’s left of the forces in that area
to fight in defence of a base area. Both sides with
Pro-Government death squads in that deployment
area can add them to the battle. Obviously players
who are not in the government can add theirs to
either side. If Government has any reinforcements
left, it can send them in as well. Eventually both
sides will have run out of troops to deploy and that
means that the turn is over.
Tot up victory points for the turn:
· 5 points for a win
· Minus 1d6 points for each occasion when you
used tanks or artillery in an urban area
· Minus 1d6 points for each occasion when you
used any aircraft other than transport and
Casevac helicopters in an urban area.
· Minus 1d6 points for each occasion when
you used Pro-Government Death squads, or
Anti-Government Death squads if they fought
alongside the insurgents.
· Both sides should come out with a figure,
which might be negative. We now move on to
the next year…
15_21hellByDaylight4 JT.indd 21
RULES | MODERN WARFARE
ELECTIONS!
We start with elections (Viva El Presidente!
etc etc. Ed.). If in a battle in the previous
year, a player is defeated on a card, they
cannot draw income from that card this year,
and they don’t get the votes. Any player
assassinated or otherwise killed is replaced
by their heir who just gets the three Family
Inheritance cards.
After the elections there may be a new
Government, or – then again – perhaps not;
it’s even possible that the Insurgency player
enters government, at which point some other
player must take over the Insurgency. The
government can then do a new budget. This
gives them the chance to defeat the insurgency
politically. Hence, if they cut taxes then they
will obviously cut the number of insurgents,
as would taking assets back to old fashioned
working practices or for investing in the
economy, but would that leave enough for
defence spending and bribes?
Calculate the current years Insurgency Rate,
allowing for any reforms. Then add the
difference between the Insurgent’s victory points
and the Government’s victory points to the rate.
If the Insurgents got 5 victory points and the
Government 10, then this involves adding -5 to
the Insurgency Rate.
The Government then deploy their units and
the Insurgent plans his operations. Another
year commences.
SEQUENCE OF PLAY
· Election
· Auction of new assets
· Budgets: both government and players.
· Roll for insurgency (if there isn’t an
insurgency)
· Government deploys forces, Insurgent plans
operations.
· Fight any battles
· Next move
WINNING
An insurgency ends when the Insurgency Rate,
plus difference between the Insurgent’s and the
Government’s victory points is zero.
When this happens (or alternatively when
you’ve had enough of the campaign!) look at
each player’s personal spending (see above.)
The player with the highest average personal
spending is the winner.
CONCLUSIONS
Well, that’s it. As I mentioned earlier, I have
some actual scenarios in hand with the editor to
add to all of this! ■
May 2018 Miniature Wargames 21
23/03/2018 14:27
 ONE OF THESE
THINGS IS NOT
LIKE THE OTHERS
A view on Fantasy and Historical wargaming by Robert Piepenbrink
Words Robert Piepenbrink, photographs by John Treadaway
Note from the Editor: I want the magazine
to act as a place for all well thought through
viewpoints. I will keep my interventions to a
very minimum: go for it Robert!
For those who did not raise a child in
the United States during certain years,
that phrase and the jingle of which it is a
part, were once inescapable: as pre-school
children were beseeched to discover what
thing did not belong in a certain group.
Maybe it’s time the grown-ups tried...
There’s been a lot of talk in recent years
about historical vs non-historical miniature
wargaming: what is the appropriate mix,
and were not historical miniatures gamers
getting a bit snobbish about the whole
thing? I’d like to make the case that they
may not be snobbish enough. Not because
historical miniatures gaming is better in an
objective sense, but because it is not the
same, and the difference is worth preserving.
First, let me make it clear that this is not
an objection to fantasy and science fiction
miniature wargaming as such. On my own
shelves, I have Hobbits, Dwarves, Orcs and
22 Miniature Wargames May 2018
22-23thisThingIsNot JT.indd 22
Goblins in 28mm (individually mounted)
and 15mm (for HOTT). I also own an
excessive force of Barsoomian figures, many
of them dating to the old Heritage line, and
my Squat army continues to grow over the
dead body of GW. But I’m also the man
sniping at HMGS-East as the percentage
of fantasy and science fiction games at
Historicon continues to rise. Here’s why…
Basically, majorities favor assimilation:
we’re all – or we should all be – one big
happy family from their point of view.
They don’t expect to change much in the
assimilation process, though, which consists
of other people becoming more like the
majority. The more broad-minded think
they might pick up a few things. Minorities
worry that the majority is right. What
makes them a community – the unique
and valuable things about them – will be
gone, and nothing left of their culture and
traditions. If we were discussing religion
or language, most of us would see the
point quickly enough, but is it valid here?
Is historical miniatures gaming different?
Is it a minority taste? And it is worth
preserving? One point at a time.
HISTORICALS ARE… DIFFERENT
Is historical miniatures gaming different?
, I think so. For example – despite playing
on the same board with the same number
of pieces – Checkers is not Chess. Historical
miniatures gaming should be, and often is,
a deeper game “across the board,” if you
will. Period feel? Yes, of course: everyone
wants “period feel”: if they can agree about
what it is. But specifically, the author of a
set of fantasy rules wants an exciting game
in which different armies have different
capabilities but each has an equal chance to
win. The author of a set of medieval rules
wants an exciting game in which different
armies have different capabilities but each
has an equal chance to win and which
reflects the historical realities. Which author
has the harder task?
The sculptor and painter of an elite science
fiction unit wants to make it clear that these
men are part of an elite: fit confident, well-
trained men. The sculptor and painter of
an elite historical unit wants to make it clear
that these men are part of an elite – still fit
confident and well-trained – but must stay
within the bounds of history. He can’t just
23/03/2018 14:37
 make them all a head taller and add two
more skulls to the uniform. Again, who has
the more difficult – and I would argue the
more rewarding – task? (not all SF – or fantasy
– is the same… research is research, I think. Ed.)
And the same thing is true in game design.
At every level, historical miniatures gaming
attempts to do everything fantasy and
science fiction gaming does, but under more
exacting conditions.
MINORITIES
Are historical miniatures players a minority?
At the very least, all the momentum is
strongly against them, and they’re thinking
and acting as though they are – or are soon
to be – heavily outnumbered. I am by no
means one of the founding generation. I’m
not by a long shot the oldest wargamer
I know, yet I can remember when there
simply were no fantasy or SF castings. And
as a percentage of the hobby, they were
insignificant for some years afterward, until
the emergence of GW. But that was over
twenty years ago (I will say now that I bought
my first metal fantasy figures from Miniature
Figurines 44 years ago. Ed.). Not only have
non-historical miniatures games grown in
popularity, they are most popular among
the youngest wargamers, meaning we can
expect the percentage of tabletops with
dragons, gyrocopters and steam-driven
tanks and Warp gates to continue to rise as
far into the future as we can see.
Even many of those playing in historical
games are not historical gamers as I
described above. To them, historical gaming
is not an alternative to fantasy or science-
fiction gaming, but simply another setting,
and medieval warfare is fantasy gaming
with a really restricted army list: “And why
can’t my Viking army field werewolves and
dragons? They’re part of their culture, after all!”.
22-23thisThingIsNot JT.indd 23
ABOVE 1/100th Hammer’s Slammers SF: notoriously “Vietnam in space”.
OPPOSITE Large scale Lord of the Rings: medieval warfare with a less restricted army list?
BELOW 6mm Team Yankee: a ‘Cold War that never went hot’ game based on a novel (and Flames of War).
I know an intelligent, well-educated player
who simply could not grasp why I felt Baba
Yaga’s appearance in a scenario moved a
Russia 1812 game out of the “historical”
category.
FEAR & LOATHING?
Are historical miniatures players right
to fear being swallowed by the F&SF
majority? Probably not when in clubs, as
long as a club is just a meeting place and
time. “Club projects” might be a different
matter and probably not at Salute which
is largely a trade show of whatever size
it needs to be: if buyers show up for
historical miniatures, vendors will as
well. But regional shows, and the big
HMGS conventions in the U.S. are another
matter… As more of the army-buying
attendees are building science fiction or
fantasy armies, you can expect vendors
and their merchandise to match this. And
then guest speakers and courses will follow
the majority until, after a while, there’s no
reason for the historical minority to make
the trip. I have myself seen conventions
go from being largely historical to having
virtually no historical content. But, as the
organizers explained “it’s all minies, innit?”
No, it’s not, which is my point.
IN CONCLUSION
But are ‘we’ – and I’m speaking now as
a historical gamer – doing something
worth preserving? After all, even among
historical gamers, no one much cares
that you can’t find a Tractics game at a
convention these days. Again, I think the
answer to my question is yes. In addition
to the satisfaction of doing something more
difficult for its own sake – like a faster run
or a higher pole-vault – there is the historical
insight which can result. There is the feeling
that “yes, they must have looked like this on
their way to Waterloo or Gettysburg. Therefore,
these options available to me are the ones Custer
or Bazaine must have had to choose among on
the day.” This is like sight or hearing: if you
can’t understand it, I can’t explain it to you.
So the next time someone proposes
a historical miniatures only convention,
or feels there should be an upper limit
on fantasy and science fiction games
at conventions run by the Historical
Miniatures Gaming Society, before you
denounce the snob, ask yourself what you’d
call a Civil War reenactor who didn’t care
to have Space Marines in his tent line? Or
the folk musicians who don’t want electric
guitars at their gatherings? Or how you’d
feel about having your local convention
given over to video games? Minority tastes
are sometimes worth preserving.
And I’d better get back to my Prussian
musketeers. ■
May 2018 Miniature Wargames 23
23/03/2018 14:37
 6 ISSUES
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MWGSubs_A4_May18.indd 1 27/03/2018 09:34


COMMAND DECISION
VILLIERS BOCAGE:
Command Decision Four: a conundrum for Normandy
1944
on June 13th by Jon Sutherland
Words by Jon Sutherland, photography by The Wargames Widow
C
ommand Decision is designed so you
can read the situation and figure out
your own command decision if you
were leading the troops on the ground. You
can either work through the various options
or use the mechanics provided to create
the precise circumstances of the tabletop
engagement. The scenarios and mechanics
can easily be adapted to suit your own
preferences and collections.
SITUATION REPORT
The Americans captured Caumont-
l’Eventé on June 13, which threatened
the German western flank on the
Normandy front. The British launched
Operation Perch on the same day. The
idea was to strike at the junction of the
British XXX Corps and the American
25-29commandDecision JT.indd 25
V Corps. They would have to work
around the German Panzer Lehr
Division. This would fall to the 7th
British Armoured Division. Up ahead
was the 22nd Armoured Brigade. It
entered Villiers Bocage at 0800. The
units are spread out along the road
towards Caen.
ROLE & COMMAND
You are Obersturmfuhrer Wittmann
commanding the second company of SS
Panzer Abteilung 101. You have fought
extensively on the eastern front in 1941.
You were wounded, but you returned
to Russia in late 1942. On October 13
1943 your own Tiger destroyed 20 T34s
and 23 infantry and anti-tank guns.
By February 1944 you had clocked
This is a British tank sensibly taking cover
beside a ruin near Villiers Bocage. Vehicle,
terrain and building from the collection of Dale
Rowson, photo by the author.
›
up 88 kills. Your unit was posted to
Normandy and started making your
way on June 6. You arrived in the area in
the second week of June. You and your
Tigers have been ordered to Hill 213,
near Villiers Bocage, to stop the 22nd
Armoured Brigade from advancing.
COMMAND DECISIONS
It is approaching 0830 and from the dust
clouds and noise emanating from the
enemy lines you can tell that they are on
the move. Now you need to determine
your response. Your objective must be to
deny a crossing of Suelles and to inflict
maximum losses to the British, thus
deterring them from taking offensive
action for some days. Take a good look at
the map and then consider your options:
May 2018 Miniature Wargames 25
23/03/2018 14:43
 COMMAND DECISION | PYRENEES: JULY 1813
Option One: Move immediately to
crossroads and order reinforcements to
join you there.
Option Two: Move 2nd company to
crossroads and order reinforcements to
dig in around Villiers Bocage.
Option Three: Move 2nd company
26 Miniature Wargames May 2018
25-29commandDecision JT.indd 26
to cover north crossing and order
reinforcements to move up to Villiers
Bocage and cover second crossing.
Option Four: Dig in around Hill 213 and
wait for opportunity to counterattack
Consider your options before continuing
to read the narrative.
HOW THE OPTIONS CAN BE WORKED OUT
· Option One: Move immediately to
crossroads and order reinforcements to
join you there.
Effectively this is the historical outcome,
an overly aggressive German approach
to dealing with the British offensive.
Holding the crossroads and striking out
north and west will deny the British a
route to the river crossings.
In order to simulate the relative inaction
of the British, use the following table:
D6 ROLL OUTCOME
1 British troops and vehicles on
road from British Arrival A to
Objective X can move from Turn 2
and must head directly for Villiers
Bocage.
2 British troops and vehicles on
road from British Arrival A to
Objective X can move from Turn 3
and must head directly for Villiers
Bocage.
3 British troops and vehicles on
road from British Arrival A to
Objective X can move from Turn 4
and must head directly for Villiers
Bocage.
4 British troops and vehicles on
road from British Arrival A to
Objective X can move from Turn 2
and must attempt to cross river.
5 British troops and vehicles on
road from British Arrival A to
Objective X can move from Turn 4.
British units entering from Arrival
B must stop at table edge for one
turn then move normally next
turn.
6 British troops and vehicles on
road from British Arrival A to
Objective X can move from Turn 3.
Yeomanry HQ cannot move more
than 6” into table unit Turn 3. All
other British units delayed by one
turn.
TOP LEFT: Map of the area.
LEFT: Here are some Shermans gently feeling
their way into Villiers Bocage. From the author’s
collection, photo by Diane Sutherland.
RIGHT: Not a Tiger, but a Panther making its way
along a bocage road in Normandy. From the
author’s collection, photo by Diane Sutherland.
23/03/2018 14:43
 · Option Two: Move 2nd company to
crossroads and order reinforcements to dig
in around Villiers Bocage.
This is a variant of the historical chain
of events with the British slightly less
inactive. The problem of the more
northern crossing is unresolved with
this action. British troops could by-pass
Villiers Bocage to take the high ground
beyond it. Amend the events by using
the following table:
D6 ROLL OUTCOME
1 British troops are unaffected and
may move as required.
2 British troops and vehicles on
road from British Arrival A to
Objective X can move from Turn
2 or Germans can choose to have
two turns of movement before
British move.
3 British troops and vehicles on
road from British Arrival A to
Objective X can move from Turn
2 and British units entering from
Arrival B must stop at table edge
for one turn then move normally
next turn or Germans can choose
· Option Three: Move 2nd company
to cover north crossing of the Seulles
and order reinforcements to move up to
Villiers Bocage and cover second crossing.
This is a more considered defensive
approach to the battle. It attempts to
cover the two crossings and to prevent
the German line from being outflanked.
This is a prudent and conservative
approach to the problem. Two Tigers
on each of the crossings should be
sufficient to hold off the enemy until
reinforcements can arrive. Amend the
events by using the following table:
D6 ROLL OUTCOME
1 British troops are unaffected and
may move as required.
2 British troops and vehicles on road
from British Arrival A to Objective X
can move from Turn 2 or Germans
can choose to have two turns of
movement before British move.
3 British troops and vehicles on
road from British Arrival A to
Objective X can move from Turn
2 and British units entering from
· Option Four: Dig in around Hill 213 and
wait for opportunity to counterattack.
This is the highly defensive option
of the four choices. It does mean that
the initiative is with the British until
such a time as there are sufficient
German forces on the table to mount a
counterattack. This is a risky strategy
and relies on the enemy overstretching
themselves to allow you to take the
initiative. Amend the events by using
the following table:
D6 ROLL OUTCOME
1 No German unit may enter Villiers
Bocage until Turn 5.
2 No German unit may enter Villiers
Bocage until Turn 4.
3 No German unit may enter Villiers
Bocage until Turn 3.
4 No German unit may approach to
within 6” of the Seulles until Turn 4.
5 No German unit may cross the
Seulles until Turn 5.
6 No German unit may cross the
Seulles until Turn 4.

to have three turns of movement
before the British move.
4 British troops and vehicles on
road from British Arrival A to
Objective X can move from Turn 2.
5 British troops and vehicles on
road from British Arrival A to
Objective X can move from Turn
3. British units entering from
Arrival B must stop at table edge
for one turn then move normally
next turn.
6 British troops and vehicles on
road from British Arrival A to
Objective X can move from Turn
4. British units entering from
Arrival B must stop at table edge
for one turn then move normally
next turn.
›
Arrival B must stop at table edge
for one turn then move normally
next turn or Germans can choose
to have three turns of movement
before the British move.
4 British troops and vehicles on road
from British Arrival A to Objective
X can move from Turn 2 and then
must head for Villiers Bocage.
5 British troops and vehicles on road
from British Arrival A to Objective
X can move from Turn 3 and then
must head for Villiers Bocage.
6 British troops and vehicles on
road from British Arrival A to
Objective X can move from Turn
4 and then must head for the
northern crossing of the Seulles.

May 2018 Miniature Wargames 27

25-29commandDecision JT.indd 27 23/03/2018 14:43

 COMMAND DECISION | PYRENEES: JULY 1813

VILLIERS BOCAGE: objectives. In most cases these will be

THE WARGAME
This game has considerable
complications, as it requires an
enormous amount of hedging for terrain
and also careful management of the
arrival of reinforcements for both sides.
There are three key objectives: X is the
crossroads, Y is Villiers Bocage itself
and Z is Hill 213. In order to win the
game the players need to control at least
two of the three objectives. Each of the
four options produces a variant based
around the real events.
The British player needs to push
forward and capture two of the three
X and Y. If the German player is overly
aggressive, then there is a chance to
capture Hill 213 and try to take Y
from the rear. The game table should
comfortably fit onto an 8 x 5 foot for 20-
28mm figures. A 6 x 4 or slightly smaller RIGHT: SS Panzer
would suit a 10-15mm game. Grenadiers deploying
from halftracks. From
Ideally this type of scenario would the author’s collection,
work well with battalion orientated rule photo by Diane
sets such as Rapid Fire or Flames of Sutherland.
War. Given the relatively small numbers
of figures and vehicles needed, Bolt BELOW: Germans
readying an 88mm from
Action, Chain of Command or other the collection of Dale
large skirmish orientated rule sets Rowson, photo by the
would also work. author.

FORCES
GERMAN ORDER OF BATTLE
Turn Arrival Unit Notes
Arrival Point
1 1 2nd Company, 101st Heavy SS Battalion, under Wittmann, 2 Tiger I Wittmann’s tanks are classed as
tanks elite, hardened.
Infantry Company, with 8 figures, including Panzerfaust, in a SDKFZ Infantry counts as veteran,
251/1. hardened.
2 4 1st Company, 101st Heavy SS Panzer Battalion, 2 Tiger 1s. Tanks classed as elite,
hardened.
4 4 Elements of 2nd Battalion, 130th Panzer Lehr Regiment with 3 Units classed as veteran,
Panzer IVs and forward observer in Kubelwagen. hardened.
5 3 8 man infantry company, 2nd SS Panzer Division, in SDKFZ 250/1. Both units are professional,
Unit has Panzerfaust. hardened.
Element of armoured car company, 2 Puma SDKFZ 234/2s.
7 2 2nd Company of infantry in SDKFZ 250/1 (as above) Units are professional,
HQ 2nd SS Panzer Division recon, 6 figures in SDKFZ 251/10 with hardened.
a heavy weapons company in an SDKFZ 250/8 and a 75mm PAK
towed by a SDKFZ 250/1.
The Germans have off-table artillery support from a pair of 105mm Howitzers.

BRITISH ORDER OF BATTLE

Turn Arrival Unit Notes
Arrival Point
1 B 4th County of London Yeomanry, HQ with Humber scout car, Classed as professional,
Cromwell, Sherman OP and Crusader AA. confident.
1 A A Squadron, 4th County of London Yeomanry, 3 Cromwells and 1 These units should be placed
Firefly plus A Company, Rifle Brigade, 12 figures in halftrack and PIAT in a column between objective
in universal carrier, also anti-tank section with 1 6pdr towed by a Point X and British entry Point
universal carrier and a pair of Stuarts of the Reconnaissance Troop. A, facing towards Villiers
Bocage. They are all classed as
professional, confident. None
of these units can move in
Turn 1.
2 A B Squadron, 3 Cromwells and 1 Firefly Unit is professional,
confident.
4 B C Squadron (as above). Unit is professional,
confident.
5 B Queen’s Royal Regiment, 2 companies, each with 8 figures in truck Units are professional,
plus a universal carrier with a PIAT. confident.
6 B Queen’s Royal Regiment HQ. HQ of 8 figures, including PIAT and 2” Units are professional,
mortar in truck plus support company with 6pdr anti-tank gun towed confident.
by a universal carrier and a 3” mortar in a universal carrier.
7 C Elements of the 260th Anti-Tank Battery, 2 Achilles tank destroyers 260th is professional, confident.
and C and D Companies of the Queen’s Royal Regiment (as above). Infantry are professional,
confident.

28 Miniature Wargames May 2018

25-29commandDecision JT.indd 28 23/03/2018 14:43

 VILLIERS BOCAGE JUNE
‘44: FACT CHECK
At 0900, under Wittmann’s command
the Germans attacked and destroyed the
British column. His company had lain
hidden behind a hedgerow and watched
the British pass him at a distance of 200
yards. Wittmann suddenly launched his
attack: he knocked out a Firefly and a
Cromwell and then 8 halftracks, 4 universal
carriers and a pair of 6pdrs. He reached the
crossroads leading to Till-Sur-Seulles and
here he destroyed 3 Stuart tanks.
He turned about and made for the
outskirts of Villiers Bocage. Here he
knocked out another 4 Cromwells and a
halftrack and then roared up the street,
knocking out another Cromwell and a
Sherman forward observer tank. At the
end of Rue Pasteur, Wittmann’s Tiger
was hit by a Firefly from B Squadron: he
decided to pull back. He was then set
upton by a Cromwell, but he knocked
this one out.
Back at the Tilly crossroads, Wittmann’s
tank was immobilised by a 6pdr anti-tank
gun, but he and his crew managed to
escape. Meanwhile, the rest of his company
had wiped out A Squadron of the 4th
County of London Yeomanry, including 5
25-29commandDecision JT.indd 29
Cromwells and a Firefly. In all, Wittmann’s
company had destroyed 20 Cromwells, 4
Fireflys, 3 Shermans, 3 Sherman observer
tanks, 14 halftracks, 16 universal carriers
and a pair of anti-tank guns.
An attack following up Wittmann’s
ambush by the 1st Company in Tigers,
supported by some Panzer IVs was
beaten back by British anti-tank guns.
This brought an end to Operation Perch.
The British would not attack again in the
same region until July 30, in Operation
Bluecoat. By August 3 the Germans
were in retreat and Villiers Bocage was
finally liberated the following day.
POSTSCRIPT: WHAT HAPPENED
TO WITTMANN?
We know that Wittmann and his crew
were killed in action on August 8 at
Gaumesnil near Cintheaux. It is believed
that his Tiger was destroyed by a Firefly
of A Squadron, 1st Northamptonshire
Yeomanry. They claimed that three Tigers
were knocked out at 12:40, 12:47 and 12:52
at a range of around 800m. Other claimants
to Wittmann’s demise are the Canadian
regiment, the Sherbrooke Fusiliers
Regiment and an RAF Typhoon, both of
whom were operating in the area that day. ■
May 2018 Miniature Wargames 29
23/03/2018 14:43
p030.indd 1 20/03/2018 11:40

SHOW REPORT
A CAVALIER
APPROACH
The Editor attends Cavalier 2018
Words and photography John Treadaway
I
n February, I took a trip to the
Cavalier show, hosted, as usual, by
(let me make sure I get this right...)
the Tunbridge Wells Wargames Society
at the Angel Centre, Tonbridge. It
was, a busy and bustling show when
I arrived their at 10.30 and there was
a fair number of folk doing brisk
businessat the trade stands. After lunch
the amount of space to move around
increased quite alarmingly, which was
good from a buying public point of
view and positively splendid from a
“can I manoeuvre this tripod though the
hall?” perspective, but I do worry about
RIGHT: Close up of the airfield from The Deal Wargamers’ Behind enemy Lines:
The Dragon’s Rampage at Yangmingbao 1937 game.
BELOW: A column of Japanese vehicles moving forward from the 20mm Behind
enemy Lines game by The Deal Wargamers.
31_33cavalier JT.indd 31
traders. Having said that, those I spoke
to were very happy with the day so no
problems there, I guess.
For those that didn’t go, that trade
turnout was of a decent size and
commensurate with previous years with
around 30 stands, plus a bring and buy
and there were just over a dozen games
in evidence. Some nice club displays
were amongst them: the
Crawley Wargames Club
had their 15mm Siege
of Girona 1796 with a
nice town wall section,
though I’ve seen it
a few times before. The Friday Night
Firefight Club put on a fairly splendid
Ring the Bell! game in 28mm. This used
Blood and Plunder pirate rules, and
they had a series of well-modelled, tall
islands connected by rope bridges and
all of this was, essentially, overlooking
a lake-warfare game set in 10th century
China. S.E.E.M.S’ “Big Tanks” game was
it’s usual 28mm tank-smashing fun and
there were a tidy couple of other games
from Tonbridge’s The Battle of Segesvar
1849 (in 10mm) and the North London
Wargame Group’s Crug Mawr 1136 (in
15mm), but some others caught my eye
for their innovation.
For example, the Little Wars Revisited
Forum put on a 19th Century Portable
Wargame adaptation with lots of shiny,
squared off scenery (all looking like
it was custom made from MDF or
similar) in 54mm which was immensely
nostalgic and – bearing in mind the
rule set it was using – very up-to-date
at the same time. Hailsham Wargames
›
May 2018 Miniature Wargames 31
23/03/2018 14:46
 SHOW REPORT | CAVALIER 2018

‘table covering’ (custom made by Tiny

Wargames tinywargames.co.uk) which
was a photographic aerial mat of Malta
at 1/2400th scale (so they could use
ships that matched) and looked, as they
pointed out, like the ground would do
when viewed from about 15,000 feet.
The photograph to make the mat was
apparently sourced from Google Earth
and then worked up to remove modern
features and landmarks.
Probably the game I liked least –
and not because of the presentation
(which was nice enough) but for the
topic – was Gravesend Gamers Guild’s
Panzer Vor: I do find the juxtaposition
of teenage Japanese schoolgirls and
tanks quite hard to rationalise (however
popular it may be in some quarters)
but – moving on – in the main hall
was a wonderful creation that made
me very happy I went to the show (it
1 would have been worth the admission

1 Hailsham Wargames
Club’s Outbreak Z game
in 28mm.

2 Southend Wargames
Club’s Air War over
Malta in 1/300th and
1/2400th.

3 & 4 Ring the Bell! A

game in 28mm by The
Friday Night Firefight
2 Club.
Club’s Outbreak Z (the inevitable 28mm
5, 6 & 7 The superb
Zombie game) was very nicely put Maidstone Wargames
together using home-brewed rules for a Society’s Twisting the
‘kill zombies/rescue survivors’ outing, Dragon’s Tail: a WW1
with pretty scenery (MDF buildings naval landing game in
28mm.
finished to a high standard and some
3
excellent street boards from Multiverse 8 The main hall, one of
Gaming at multiversegamingterrain.com). two at the show.
There were a couple of excellent
WW2 outings at the show, both very
different, but equally impressive: Deal
Wargames Society had a very well turned
out game called The Dragon’s Rampage
at Yangmingbao 1937 with a Japanese
airfield behind Chinese lines in 20mm
(with a useful leaflet including the
history of the action and explaining
their choice of Rapid Fire rules). Taking
another view of the period, Southend
Wargames Club’s Air War over Malta
was an interesting outing using (as far
as I could see) Check your Six rules
for 1/300th aircraft over a splendid 4

32 Miniature Wargames May 2018

31_33cavalier JT.indd 32 23/03/2018 14:46

 6

price alone, although the kind chaps

at the host club did let me in for free).
Maidstone Wargames Society’s Twisting
the Dragon’s Tail was a WW1 naval
landing game in 28mm but that
simple description is such a vast
understatement. A scratch built model
(maybe four or five feet long) of the
HMS Vindictive was almost entirely
constructed from tomato puree tubes
(with the rivet work all done with a
ball point pen!) and coffee stirrers for
5
the deck would have been enough
on it’s own to mark the game out as
noteworthy. However, it was pulled
along side the (again scratch built)
‘mole’ at Zeebrugge and the whole
area was sprinkled with well painted
figures and other dock yard items. The
game used home brewed rules enabling
members of the public to have a go and
get stuck in, utilising a ‘rolling’ format
that players could drop in and out of
(though – when I was there – no one
seemed keen on leaving!). It was a great
looking game and I’ll try and get the
club to reveal their building secrets in an
article in a future issue (with a detailed
account of precisely how much tomato
puree they had to eat...).
All in all, it was a good way to spend
8 a Sunday. ■

May 2018 Miniature Wargames 33

31_33cavalier JT.indd 33 27/03/2018 10:26

 Celebra2ng  our  
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More  army  character  than  ever  
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off   Historicon2018  launch  in  USA  (July  2018)   off  

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need  for  £40  (£45)  
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Wargames Fantasy and

Sci-Fi figures always
sought for cash, part
exchange or swaps.

Website updated

p034.indd 1 16/03/2018 11:59


FALLOUT Nuke ‘em till they glow...
As ever, Modiphius Entertainment have
got a lot going on: along with Star Trek,
Conan and John Carter of Mars (amongst
others) they have their Fallout range that
I first previewed sculpts for last year in
issue 409. It’s taken a while but – in front of
me – I have some resin miniatures for the
new game system. My first impressions
are good: they are all cast in fine, flawless
resin (the same light grey material as the
Trek figures from this manufacturer) and
are described in the blurb as “32mm scale
miniatures”. Well, I’ve measured them
and – leaving huge mutants aside – they
are all 37mm or so to the top of the head
from the soles of their feet so... 1/48th then!
And I want to stress again, for me that’s not
an issue: I like scales as opposed to figure
‘sizes’. They have lots of detail and that sort
of height gets the figures closer to the 1/50th
scale dice cast vehicles (of which the world
is not short) and – when you are looking to
replicate a gaming environment centred on
a shattered 1950’s future – that’s gotta be
a good thing. But back to the minis… They
are what I would describe as ‘fine’ in terms
of detail and anatomy: slightly less chunky
than the Star Wars Legion figures (see
elsewhere in this review) but are equally
well detailed and – with their individually
textured and decorated scenic bases – they
Survivors boxed set.
35_38_fantasyFacts JT.indd 35
DARKER HORIZONS | FANTASY FACTS
will reward a good painter with some superb
finished pieces.
The only ones I have assembled are
samples from the Brotherhood of Steel Core
Box. Beyond cutting from the sprue, these
models require no clean up whatsoever
although, again like Modiphius’ Trek models
(with which they scale perfectly), they need
some superglue work to assemble. The
level of dynamic animation is such that they
all have to have their arms stuck on but the
fit is – in my opinion – even better than the
Trek range and the poses are excellent with
the running and shooting stances being very
evocative. The feet have small pegs on them
which locate very well into holes in the resin
bases. The Brotherhood of Steel box has two
each of Lancers, Field Scribes, and Knight
Patrol, plus a T60 Paladin with a gatling laser
(he’s 43mm to the top of his armoured suit)
and it is £40 (so we are into the four or five
quid per figure realm, here) but – then again –
you won’t need many to play the game (from
what I can determine).
Bear in mind that – although I think that
the background I mentioned earlier of SF,
post apocalypse, ‘50s cool – is brilliant, I’ve
never actually played the computer game
that Fallout the table top-game is based on
and have only tried out the actual system in
‘beta’ at Modiphius HQ twelve months ago,
The Brotherhood of Steel boxed set.
so I can’t say much about the game itself, but
what I can say is that the figures are lovely.
Build wise, many would fit in very well with
the likes of the Prodos Aliens marines as
armed non-military types (should one wish
to mix ‘milk and meat’) and the other figures
in the range – the Super Mutants box with
huge ‘Brutes’ (mine are 45mm tall!) and
mutant hounds; plus a box of eight ‘survivors’
(which I haven’t seen) – will be great
additions to this range, especially for fans
of the background, but that set are almost
universally useful figures for anyone else
needing ‘Zombie Apocalypse’ style survivor
figures in this scale: they sport a selection
›
of mix and match clothing, equipment and
weaponry from guns to big spanners...
Modiphius have produced a starter box
which is listed as having rules, dice and
eleven different miniatures for £70 which
would be a good place to begin with the
system, I guess, and they have all sorts of
scenery items listed on their website (from
a superb, be-finned, ‘50s car to Nuka-Cola
machines). I’m looking forward to having
another crack at the game and – to help with
that – you can download a pdf of the Rules
of Play and Getting Acclimated books for free
and can add the Fallout Wasteland Warfare
Campaign Book which £7. Check it out at
modiphius.com
May 2018 Miniature Wargames 35
23/03/2018 14:47
 DARKER HORIZONS | FANTASY FACTS
The line up is Stormtroopers, Vader, a rebel and the rebel leader.
WE ARE LEGION
Fantasy Flight release Star Wars Legion
When I was a young ‘un, like many an
impressionable adolescent, I went to the
cinema to see what was then the first outing
in George Lucas’ (always meant to be an
ennead, honest...) film series Star Wars. I
remember thinking how cool it would be
to have gaming figures of the characters
in the film – the chaps in the space armour
particularly – and was disappointed to find
that no one could (ahem, legally...) produce
any to allow us fans to wargame with.
Cranking the clock forward four decades or
so and – luxuriating in the hours of celluloid
and pixels that have been produced since –
interest in the ‘franchise’ seems no less than
it was and there really couldn’t be a better
time to cheer the heart of a eighteen-year-old
who sat and gawped at the opening credits
The 74-Z: what a
great pose!
36 Miniature Wargames May 2018
35_38_fantasyFacts JT.indd 36
all those years ago. Fantasy Flight have
released a big box game called Star Wars
Legion and they’ve sent me one, along with
some extra packs containing upgrade sets.
The Legion Core Set (around £75,
depending where you get it) comes stuffed
with a wealth of components which you have
to put together and/or read. There’s a nicely
produced 32 page rule book which isn’t all
rules: it also includes guides to assembling
the figures (more of which in a minute); a
section on setting up a basic (what I would
call) ‘tournament’ game which is essentially
an arena style, six round battle in an open
playing area utilising just the figures and the
barrier pieces provided in the set. There’s
also an informative section on painting the
miniatures taking the novice though five
stages of finishing – and even basing – to
a very nice standard indeed; but the ‘meat’
of it – obviously – is a dozen pages of basic
rules and another eight pages of optional
advanced ones. Finally, there’s a bit on
using ‘proper’ scenery and collecting the
miniatures. The game comes with some nice
measuring widgets: I’ve not
really liked other
examples of similar
gadgets that I have
seen from this manufacturer but these are
both well made and clever. They comprise a
self-assembly range stick (even if it breaks
it’s easily replaced with a metal expanding
tape measure but it’s nice to have it) and a
set of three hinged movement ‘rods’ that link
in well with the models bases to regularise
the individual figure’s movements and
even lock into a special notch on the
vehicle bases which further limits their
manoeuvrability, which is really very neat and
well thought out.
Orders for the game are achieved via
placing a token next to a unit, which then
gives the player some activation choices
adjusted via the abilities on a ‘command
card’, which itself gives flexibility to the
actions that can then be taken. Finally it
uses – essentially – a dice pool system
with sets of custom made D6 and D8 to
simplify ranged fire and melee which bears
some resemblance to other systems by this
manufacturer (Rune Wars, for example).
The game looks fine, especially of you
like competitive play, but – you know – I’d be
pretty happy if the system involved rolling
marbles at your opponent’s troops or flicking
rubber bands... Why would I say that? I’m not
being disparaging whatsoever: I’m simply
saying that – leaving the rules aside – the
figures are absolutely gorgeous. And – as
you know – I rarely say something like that.
As a young man, they are absolutely what
I wanted to play games with and they are,
I think, what everyone who’s a fan will still
want. Scale wise they are (let’s make no
bones about it) 1/48th at about 36mm or so
tall for the average guy with armour – and the
imposing height of Lord Vader – is allowed for
(Dave Prowse was, after all, a big chap back
in the day at 6ft 7 inches).
Detail is everything you could want with
it picking, I think, a sweet spot between
proportion and paintability. The figures are all
made from ABS plastic (though the vehicles
are styrene for some reason) which makes
them tough and only to be assembled with
either a decent ABS glue (I suggest Plastic
Magic by Deluxe Materials) or super glue (as
the booklet recommends). And there is a little
bit of sticking together to do – most figures
come with either one (or a linked pair) of
23/03/2018 14:47
 arms to stick on but they all fit well. Vader and
the rebel leader have more bits (cloaks and
whatnot) as, for obvious reasons, do the two
small vehicles in the set. Head-count wise,
what do you get for your money? You get
thirty-three unpainted figures including a chap
on a 74-Z speeder bike and a bi-pedal, AT-RT
rebel walker with eight plastic barriers plus
dice, movement widgets, cards and chits.
All the poses are good but the chaps on the
vehicles are in particularly ‘cinematic’ poses,
as is Mr Vader. These are just great models
as a set, but you can supplement them!
You can expand your forces with more add
on boxes: packs of extra models like groups
of seven figure Stormtroopers or Rebel sets
or an additional pair 74-Z Speeder Bikes and
another AT-RT (which aren’t just replications
of the one’s you already have in the core set,
they are different models). A T-47 Airspeeder
and an AT-ST are also offered and the sets
are all between £22 to £26 or so except for
that last ‘chicken walker’ which is almost
double that (but – in all fairness – it is about
200mm tall when it’s assembled, and terribly
impressive!). So the basic figures are about
£3 each (with play cards and so forth), I
guess and – while I’m sure some folks on the
web will whine about that (as they always
do) – you’ll not find any complaints from me
for a terrifically produced, licensed product. If
the ‘galaxy far, far away’ is your bag, this is it.
fantasyflightgames.com
The Rebel AT-RT
in the boxed core set.
Note the notch on the base
for the movement stick to
engage with.
35_38_fantasyFacts JT.indd 37
ANTHROPOMORPHIC
APOCALYPSE
28mm Skirmishing in the hedgerows
I have to say – from the very
get-go – that anthropomorphism
isn’t really my cup of tea. I’m
not sure why but – for probably
the same reason that Flintloque
has never really appealed to
me – creatures that look like one
thing but are actually something
else just turns me off a bit. As
a kid, I guess I just had one too
many birthday cards of kittens
dressed in comedy outfits or
saw more posters of dogs
wearing hats, smoking stogies
and playing cards than I was
comfortable with… So the new
rule set Burrows & Badgers,
released by the time you read
this and written by Michael
Lovejoy and illustrated by Gary
Chalk, is always going to be a
hard sell with me: I’m just not
it’s audience. But enough of
the negative waves, Moriarty…
Osprey have produced a very
nicely laid out, splendidly
illustrated hardback (I’ve not seen
Mr Chalk do better work than he
has crafted here: it might be – to
my eyes – ‘twee’, but, for all that,
it’s still very well done). It is 120
pages or so long and is a set of
skirmish rules set in the ancient
realm of ‘Northymbra’ (located,
astonishingly enough, in a place
looking a lot like Northumbria).
Using polyhedral dice, a ruler and
a playing area of between 2ft
May 2018 Miniature Wargames
to 4ft square, various woodland
creatures do battle, wear armour,
swing swords, and perform
magic. Players use the in-game
currency (pennies) to recruit
warbands of between three and
ten models and there are some
examples given to make starting
up easier. There are six different
›
styles of magic (Natural, Light,
Dark, Wild, Unbound and Noble)
and weaponry slides from stabby
things to missile weapons from
bows into blunderbusses. Finally,
there are eight scenarios at the
end of the book plus some play
sheets to photocopy.
I’m not sure where you
would buy figures for this
system but the book is replete
with splendidly painted
examples, as is the web site
burrowsandbadgers.com. This
is a set of rules that will – my
own predilections aside – appeal
to many, especially those who,
frankly, aren’t really into more
(dare I say it) ‘realistic’ gaming
with all of the unpleasantness,
death and mayhem that it tends
to evoke. If the “mouse police
(that never sleeps)” is more than
just a splendid Jethro Tull track
to you, then this is the rules
set for your game nights. Go to
ospreypublishing.com and – if
you are equipped with £19.99 and
an open mind – you’re all set!
37
23/03/2018 14:48
 DARKER HORIZONS | FANTASY FACTS

KEEP ON ‘TRUCKIN
Spaceships, Nef’s and 15mm articulation
Brigade Models sent me a whole bunch of stuff this month, all of
which are planned to be released at Salute. There are some new
EuroFed space ships in their 1/3000th range: most are metal but the
largest – the Revanche Strikeboat Carrier – is mostly resin.
Prices start with that at £5 and the smaller ships are the Vaban
Patrol Carrier (£1.75); Montcalm System Monitor (£1.50); the
Surveillante AWACS or a pair of Cormoran Shuttles for 75p. The Centurion 4F6 with twin turret
They are mostly of a wedge-shaped form factor with the largest arrangement (gatling and twin mortar) in
– the Strikeboat – at around 65mm long. Along with those are a 1/100th at around six inches long!
selection of five small merchant ships with a very ‘Millenium Falcon’
or ‘Firefly’ vibe about them (though not copies of them at all) at £1 each. 65mm long (but high and bulky with a two window front cab) right up
Also in the box are two new British Nefs in their 1/1200th Imperial to a huge, articulated, model which is the size of a ten wheeled lorry (in
Skies range: a Furious class carrier (a long thin one with a metal flight 1/100th) at 155mm. All have double-wheeled axles (so – technically – the
deck replacing an older model) and the Ark Royal – an airship tender, 10 wheeler is actually a 20 wheeler, I guess) and that latter truck has a
with a big hangar amidships to house blimps. Both are, as usual, mixed selection of turret options (including a huge artillery turret) and reminds
media kits with the hulls in resin and the fittings in white metal and me of some of the current Soviet penchant for big, missile-carrying,
prices are £9 and £8 respectively. multi-wheeled transporters. These are chunky models and the biggest
Finally there is a selection of the new vehicles I’ve recently previewed of them – the howitzer – might cost around £15 but the others will be
as digital renders for the Hammer’s Slammers range. The Centurion is nearer the price of the rest of the Brigade range in the £7 to £9 area.
a flexible, modular vehicle, which starts with a smaller 4x4 APC type at brigademodels.co.uk

IN SPACE
No one can hear you game…
Deep Cut Studios make a load of mats for space battles. They
already make a lovely ‘Deep Space’ mat with a nebular on it, and
another with Asteroids but they have added a new Nebular mat to
A selection of stowage: not glamorous but necessary!
the range. With a predominantly red tinge to it, this– as the name
would imply – is a mat featuring a nebular shape, spread into
three areas across the surface, with a star (or collection of them)

CRATE EXPECTATIONS as a light source, buried into the main section, and very dramatic
it looks too. On Mouse-mat material (which is what they sent

15mm stowage from GZG… to me for review in the 6ft by 4ft size) it comes out at around 65
euros but they start at 3’x3’ in size and – on cloth – a mat of that
‘footprint’ (and on the less expensive material) will be under half
Let’s be honest, stowage isn’t a thing many of us get very that, so the budget conscious gamer has options. As I’ve already
exited about. On a personal basis, I think it adds immeasurably got another, very nicely printed, space mat by Deep Cut on their
to vehicles and scenery and I am forever scouring ebay for cloth material, which I’m very happy with (the blacks are solid
items to use with this end in mind. I spend a lot of time and the colours are very rich and rugged) I think cloth’s a great
employing all sorts of material from both SF and historical alternative which – whilst it doesn’t have the ‘lay-flatness’ of the
ranges to adorn my vehicles, which I do like to look as if mouse mat – is actually easier to store and carry. Either way, it’s a
they’ve seen some action. But, my personal needs aside, I good product. Go to deepcutstudio.com
will admit that few of us peruse figure ranges and mutter to
ourselves “cor; look at all those new crates!…”. All that having My heart will be a Fireball: that
been said, GZG have just added a literal lorry load (in 1/100th model is about 1/400th or so
scale, anyway) of new assorted ‘clutter’ and other what-not (maybe 10 inches long), to give
an idea of scale.
to their 15mm range. These new items are not going to get
a full description from me – I stopped counting at two-dozen
different types – so I’ll just do an overview. In short, there’s
lots of new stowage: crates, boxes, hexagonal ‘things’,
cylinders… just everything except tarpaulins (or anything ‘soft’)
that you’d want to load onto the back of a metal hover truck or
similar. And – as they are all made of white metal – they would
add a considerable mass to your toys as well! They should all
be available by the time you read this and in £3 packs. gzg.com

38 Miniature Wargames May 2018

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p039.indd 1 23/03/2018 15:51

 DARKER HORIZONS | FROSTGRAVE
THE PATH TO
FROSTGRAVE
The writing process – plus a new scenario – for Frostgrave
By Joseph A. McCullough – photographs and paint by Kevin Dallimore
W
hen Frostgrave: The Maze of
Malcor is released in June, it
will be the ninth Frostgrave
rulebook or supplement I have written for
Osprey Games (counting the two Ghost
Archipelago spin-off titles). Needless to
say, it has been a busy three years or so.
By now, the authorial process of creating a
Frostgrave book – or any Osprey wargame
book – has become pretty old hat to me,
but when I talk to most people about the
process, even other wargamers, I soon
realize they have almost no idea what I’m
talking about. To most wargamers, what
an author goes through to create a new
book is about as mysterious as priming,
painting, and basing a miniature is to
the general public. So, I thought it might
be of interest to readers of Miniature
Wargames to hear about this process, and
maybe offer a few tips to anyone who is
thinking about writing or submitting their
own set of rules!
40 Miniature Wargames May 2018
40_44frostgrave JT.indd 40
Frostgrave cultist soldiers attacked by
giant rats and an angry boar
WHERE TO BEGIN?
Now, anyone who knows me, knows I had
an ‘in’ with Osprey. In fact, I have worked
for them for over a decade, serving time in
Production, Marketing, and Editorial. So my
original pitch for Frostgrave came in the form
of a conversation with Phil Smith, now Head
of Osprey Games. While this made the initial
step a bit easier, it really isn’t that different
from what anyone pitching an idea to Osprey
would go through. It really all starts with a
simple email to Osprey Games outlining
your basic idea. Obviously the more detail
you can include at this stage the better, but
mostly Osprey is initially interested in the
period or setting for the game, along with
the scale, and any specific hooks the game
might have, like unique mechanics or play-
styles. It doesn’t really matter how interesting
your system is, if you are proposing a large
World War II skirmish game to the company
that publishes Bolt Action, you are unlikely
to get anywhere… Whatever the idea, it will
A stand in bone-bat (painted by Adam Jenkins)
with a wraithknight and skeletons attack a
group Frostgrave plastic soldiers
eventually make its way to Phil Smith, and
he’ll email you back, likely asking for more
details if your idea has piqued his curiosity!
From there, it becomes a conversation of
what is possible.
Things are a little different now that
Frostgrave is an established product line. I,
thankfully, don’t have to convince Phil about
its viability as a rule-system or its potential
place in the market. Instead, when I send
in the pitch for a new book, I include a short
blurb, of maybe 300 words or so, and a list
of key points about what makes this book
unique or special. Amazingly, that initial blurb
often survives in a recognizable form all of the
way to the back of the book or sometimes
to the introduction. Despite Frostgrave’s
success, my pitches aren’t always accepted:
27/03/2018 09:05

at least not initially. Phil has never wanted to
publish a wargame or supplement just for the
sake of publishing something. He wants to
make sure that each product is truly offering
something new to players. When I first pitched
The Maze of Malcor, I knew that I would
need to give him more than just ‘another’
Frostgave campaign. So, not only did I propose
a campaign that is longer and more complex
than any that has gone before, but also a book
that would delve into several ‘Lost Schools’ of
magic. Admittedly, at the time, I didn’t know
what those lost schools would be, but that
was a problem for later!
DOES IT HAVE LEGS?
Once Phil is satisfied that an idea can work,
he takes it to a Publishing Meeting. This is a
40_44frostgrave JT.indd 41
nerve-wracking time for any author. Basically,
Phil takes the idea to a gathering of the
Osprey brain-trust, where the various merits
of the book are debated from different angles,
including potential marketing, sales channels,
editorial costs, etc. Often books are rejected
for various reasons. Sometimes, Phil is asked
to take the idea away and work on it, perhaps
presenting it in a different format. If a writer
is very lucky, the idea is accepted, and the
next email you get from Phil is a document
laying out the terms of a contract, including
expected word counts, delivery dates, the
assignment of rights, and, of course, payment!
CONTRACT!
Once a contract is in hand, it is time to get
to work. But the work doesn’t begin where
›
most people suspect. The first thing I have to
do with any Frostgrave book is write an “Artist
Brief”, outlining what artwork should appear
in the book, and providing the artist with all
the notes he will need. Most people assume
this is one of the most fun, enjoyable parts
of writing the book – actually, I find it one of
the most challenging. Firstly, at this point in
the process, I only have a vague idea of what
the finished product is going to look like.
When The Maze of Malcor was accepted, I
had a vague idea of the overall shape of the
book, but very few specifics. So, instead of
drawing on my ideas to create artwork, I use
the process of briefing the artwork to generate
ideas for the rest of the book. For example,
I briefed one scene where a pair of wizards
are fighting around a set of docked, floating
May 2018 Miniature Wargames 41
23/03/2018 14:53

gondolas. Originally, I just thought this would
look cool. Later, I would use this artwork idea
to fuel both a specific scenario in the campaign
and rules for floating gondolas!
ARS GRATIA ARTIS
Still, it is a hard process. Since I make my
life as a writer, it should come as no surprise
that I tend to think in words. In the rare
instances I’m forced to think in images, such
as briefing artwork, I find it difficult. Thankfully,
I receive a lot of help on this step: first-off,
Phil is very good about filling in details that
I might have missed. Also, Dmitry Burmak
(and sometimes his wife, Kate) who has
done all of the artwork for the entire series, is
extremely talented at taking my – sometimes
vague – briefs and turning them into things
of stunning beauty (there is a guy who must
think in images!). And, from time-to-time,
mistakes are made. For example, in Thaw of
the Lich Lord there is a cool painting depicting
an Illusionist casting Monstrous Form and
scaring away a group of ghouls. Unfortunately,
as the rulebook clearly states, Monstrous
Form has no effect on the undead… Rules
writers forget their own rules more often than
you might expect!
42 Miniature Wargames May 2018
40_44frostgrave JT.indd 42
Bone-bats circle over Frostgrave plastic cultists attacking
soldiers (backed up by a wizard) while the lichelord looks
I’VE STARTED SO I’LL FINISH
Once the artwork briefs are out of the way,
I can get down to what I consider the ‘real’
work. That is, writing the actual words that
will make up the book. When I wrote the
original Frostgrave rulebook, I literally started
at the beginning and wrote the book straight
through until I reached the end. Although this
worked well, none of the rest of the books
were written that way. Instead, now when
I begin work on a new Frostgrave book, I
map out the chapters I think will make up
the book. I then create a separate Word file
for each on the computer. Over the next few
months, as I wrote the book, I literally jump
from chapter to chapter, writing bits and
pieces as the ideas strike me. This may seem
a chaotic approach, but there is some sense to
it. Often when writing a scenario, it will feed
ideas for new magic items or new monsters
(or vice versa), and I can immediately jump
to the other chapter. Also, some chapters are
harder to write than others, and work better if
broken into pieces. Trust me, sitting down and
attempting to write 20 to 40 new magic items
is a likely to make a writer sick. By spacing this
out over the several months of writing, I give
the creativity more time to operate, and am
on. All Scenery and mat by Adrian’s Walls.
less likely to include any old rubbish just to fill
up the chapter.
The one supplement I couldn’t use this
system for was Ulterior Motives, which
is essentially a deck of forty cards, each
containing a mini scenario. Despite the actual
word count being only half of that of most of
the books, it took at least as much time – if not
more – to write, simply because of the huge
demand on my imagination!
LIGHT BULB MOMENTS!
Now, a lot of people as me, ‘where do you get
the ideas?’, and the truth is, I don’t really know.
I suspect the bigger ideas originate from the
things I loved as a child, while the smaller ones
come from day-to-day observations. The key, I
believe, is giving yourself the time to let your
imagination function. This is why so much of
my ‘work’ consists of staring out of a window
or going for walks. Actually, over the last
couple of years, as I have become the father
of two poorly-sleeping children, a huge amount
of my creative work gets done sitting in a
rocking chair in the dark, trying to get a child to
sleep. While this can be wearying, the fact that
I’m stuck in chair – with nothing but my own
thoughts – is actually wonderful for mulling
23/03/2018 14:53

over ideas and shaping them into something
useable. This is how I’ve developed many of
the scenarios I have written.
THE PLOT IS THE THING…
The scenarios are the heart of most
Frostgrave books, and they are the part I enjoy
writing the most. Each one is like writing a
short story, except that I don’t have to worry
about hard things like characters or the exact
plot, as both of those are provided by the
players. Instead, I just concentrate on a bit of
background, a cool setting, and a good degree
of weirdness! Once I’ve mulled through an
idea in my head, I can usually get a scenario
down on paper in about an hour of writing.
I like to playtest scenarios as I go along, so
after writing it, I will generally break out some
figures and run through it a few times myself.
Then I will send it off to a few trusted play-
testers to get their feedback.
Once I have written each of the chapters,
I usually finish the book by writing the
introduction. Again, this may seem backwards,
but only once I am finished can I confidently
say what is included in the book, as I often
make significant changes during the writing
process. For example, halfway through The
Maze of Malcor, I realized that the Wizard
Frostgrave plastic cultists and skeletons do battle
40_44frostgrave JT.indd 43
DARKER HORIZONS | FROSTGRAVE
Shades – the ghostly forms of specific wizards
from long ago – would play a significant part
in the campaign. This made me completely
restructure the campaign, and caused one
scenario to get bumped because it no longer
fit into the format. Happily, that scenario now
appears here!
Having laboured for two or three months to
create all of the words, I spend the next week
or so editing and proof-reading. I hate this part.
I am not a detail person, and have struggled
my whole life with spelling, mixing up
homophones, and consistency. I do my best,
but I know it’s one of my weaker areas. That is
where having a company like Osprey back you
up is really wonderful. Once I am done, I get
to hand the manuscript over to professional
editors and let them search for all my typos!
(Having fun yet, John?). Before that though,
Phil will read over the whole manuscript, and
then send back a list of questions. Sometimes
a depressingly long list, that – for a moment
– makes you feel like a complete failure.
Generally these are regarding the specific
wording of rules to ensure clarity; though often
he makes little suggestions on ways in which
specific rules or concepts could be improved.
Never, ever, under-estimate the power of a
good editor!
LAYOUT & PRODUCTION
Once Phil is satisfied, he takes the manuscript
off to ‘style’ it. Basically, he prepares the
manuscript for design, by putting in notations
for what each little piece of text should
look like in the finished product and where
photographs and artwork should be placed.
This is then given to the design department
who do their best to make it look pretty. There
is often a lot of back-and-forth during this
process between editor and design in order to
get everything to fit correctly. As an author, I
have no role in this, for which I’m grateful.
It is not until weeks, or sometimes even
months, later that I will see the book again.
At this point I will be sent ‘layouts’, which
shows exactly what each page of the book will
look like. This is also my very last chanced to
change anything. So, I give the layouts a very
thorough going over. I would love to say, that
I almost never request any changes at this
point, but invariably, I always catch a few things
that I have gotten wrong – usually very nitty-
gritty mechanical stuff. At the same time, the
editor will be giving the layouts his final read
through. Once all of his and my corrections are
made, the layouts are sent to production who
prepare the files to be printed. ›
PRINT & BE DAMNED!
At that point, I am essentially done writing
the book. It will now usually be between 3
– 6 months before I see it again, and when I
do, it will be as a bound and beautiful book! I
usually get an advance copy about a month-
and-a-half before they go on sale. I tend to give
the book a quick flip through and then stick
it on my shelf. This is not nonchalance; it’s a
defence mechanism. If I read the book at this
point, I am sure to discover some little typo
or mistake that will bring me down. Better to
just appreciate the work I have done, and have
a moment of pride! Of course, by the time I
have received a given book, I am already hard
at work on the next one…
THE BELFREY
A Scenario for Frostgrave: The Maze
of Malcor
As I mentioned, while writing The Maze of
Malcor, I ended up rearranging the entire book
in a way that meant one scenario had to be
dropped. In the end, I dropped ‘The Belfry’
because it didn’t fit as well into the narrative I
was building. Ironically, this scenario was going
to see the little monsters known as ‘bone
bats’ making their first official appearance
in a Frostgrave product. They had originally
May 2018 Miniature Wargames 43
23/03/2018 14:53
 DARKER HORIZONS | FROSTGRAVE
The Hand of Glory treasure item about to be snatched
up by cultist knight and templar as skeletons look on
appeared several years before in a scenario
called ‘The Bridges of the Mal Dreath’ which
appeared in this magazine’s sister publication
Tabletop Gaming.
INTRODUCTION
High up in the tallest tower of the Collegium,
great silver bells hung from giant rafters and
rang out the hours, warning students to get to
class and the porters to their posts. It is said,
that on a clear day, the bells of the Collegium
could be heard in almost every corner of
Felstad. Those bells have been silent for nearly
a thousand years, until today…
SET-UP
The entire table represents the belfry at the
top of the highest tower in the Collegium.
It should be littered with rubbish, including
broken furniture, constructs, half-finished art
projects, and even a fallen bell or two. Place
four trap doors on the table, each one 4” in
from a different corner of the table. Instead
of selecting starting table edges, warbands
should select a starting trap door and place
all of the figures of their warband within 4”
of that trap door. Treasure tokens should be
placed in the normal fashion.
SPECIAL RULES
The trap doors represent the only way in or out
of the belfry (other than falling). A figure may
exit the table simply by moving onto any of the
trap doors. The table edges represent the walls
of the belfry, with huge open windows. In
this scenario, it is possible to be forced off of
44 Miniature Wargames May 2018
40_44frostgrave JT.indd 44
the table edge. In a situation in which a figure
would be forced off the table edge, it may
make a Move Roll with a Target Number of 14.
If it succeeds, it remains on the table at the
edge. If it fails, it tumbles out of the window,
and is immediately reduced to 0 Health. If the
figure possesses an item that allows them to
fall without taking damage, such as a Ring of
Slow Fall, then they are out of the game, but
otherwise unharmed.
Each turn, if any player rolls a 15 or above
on their Initiative Roll, one of the great bells
starts ringing. The noise is deafening. Every
figure that is activated during the turn, except
undead and constructs, must first make a
A Bone-bat dives at a cultist barbarian as he attacks a frostwraith
Will Roll with a Target Number of 12. If they
fail, they receive only 1 action during that
activation. If they succeed, they receive their
full allotment of actions. If any player rolls a
5 or less on their Initiative Roll, then a bone
bat glides down from the rafters above. Place
the bone bat in the centre of the table, roll
for a random direction, then roll one die and
move the bone bat that number of inches
in the random direction. This is where the
bone bat lands. From that point onward, the
bone bat follows all of the normal rules for an
uncontrolled creature.
TREASURE & EXPERIENCE
Treasure is rolled for as normal after this
scenario. Experience is gained as normal with
the following additions:
+5 experience points for each bone bat killed
by a wizard or his warband.
+10 experience points if the wizard is on the
table on any turn in which the bells ring.
BONE BATS
Bone bats are an uncommon form of
undead. They appear to be the skeletal
remains of hunched, gargoyle-like creatures
with leathery skin that stretches between
their arms and torsos which grants them a
limited ability to glide. Apart from the glide
move mentioned in the scenario rules, these
wings also mean that bone bats never suffer
any damage from falling. ■
BONE BAT
M F S A W H Notes
6 +0 +0 10 +0 1 Undead, Glide
27/03/2018 09:08
 PUTTY TO PIXELS
THE TRANSFERENCE OF SKILLS IN A DIGITAL AGE
The editor talks with Chris Tubb of Mithril Miniatures and Prince August
I
first met Chris thirty years ago when,
as sculptor for the Prince August – a
company based in Ireland making,
amongst other things, casting kits for
traditional toy soldiers. They were
launching their new licensed Lord of the
Rings range called Mithril Miniatures,
and – as a massive Tolkien fan – I was dead
keen to see their new line. I met them at the
trade show called the Toy and Hobby Fair
in Lndon and they were showing off their a
new ideas: the models were – and still are –
fully endorsed by Tolkien Enterprises, and
all this while Peter Jackson was still writing
the script to his landmark ‘sub-Muppets’
film Meet the Feebles... Their new foray
into the world of 25mm wargaming models
was…. different. They were to be a range
in the then unheard of ‘scale’ of 32mm tall:
pre-primed miniatures and designed to be
as faithful to Tolkien’s descriptions as was
possible. I remember thinking at the time:
45-47mithrilInterview JT.indd 45
“expensive character figures in 32mm – that’ll
never catch on...”.
Subsequently, I did an interview with
their sculptor Mr Tubb and I detailed the
modelling process he used in Practical
Wargamer, the magazine I was writing
for at the time. But – since then – lots has
happened: the world has moved on. Not
only has the Mithril range – still only really
bought by collectors, diorama builders or
people looking for character pieces for an
army – expanded to be huge (I’ve lost count
of the hundreds of different figures they’ve
made, not helped by their very-hard-to-
navigate website at mithril.ie) but Chris’
sculpting technique has changed.
As I reported almost three decades ago
(as I’m sure you’ll remember...), even in a
world that – at that point – regularly used
the ‘latest’ two-part, blue and yellow, ribbon
epoxy to sculpt miniatures (and why the
sculpts are still generally referred to as
The digital sculpt and the actual
figure: Azog with the head of the
dwarven King Thrór.
‘greens’ in the industry), Chris sculpted
using his own particular mediums, utilising
peach coloured plasticine to get the basics
of the animation and then making a mould
from that basic figure in rubber. He would
then pack that mould with a proprietary
mixture of ‘green’ ribbon epoxy putty and
Milliput epoxy putty, and – lastly – sculpt
the fine details over the top of all of that.
But we live in a digital age. Techniques
have changed. Digital sculpting is at the
cutting edge and Chris has moved on...
JT So Chris, what’s the process now? How
has it developed?
CT Well, most importantly I sculpt on a
computer using a piece of software called
ZBrush: it’s a made by Pixologic. I run it on
a fast PC using a Wacom tablet with a stylus.
JT When did you make the change and was
it hard one to make?
May 2018 Miniature Wargames 45
27/03/2018 09:09
 INTERVIEW | CHRIS TUBB
CT I’ve been using this set-up for around
three years or so. Initially it was immensely
frustrating: in fact I often say to people
that your enthusiasm must outlast your
frustration! But, fortunately, I trained myself
using books and – for the most part – the
‘university’ of YouTube and I’ve now got to
the stage that I do all of my sculpting using
this software.
JT Other than the obvious one of cutting down
on your plasticine bills, what changes has this
made to your work? Is it faster? Slower? Easier?
CT Well, I’ve now got to the stage where
my productivity has increased around
four-fold and yet it’s also such an incredibly
flexible system: it’s not just detail that can
be added – or subtracted (a basic flaw for
novice sculptors is adding way too much
detail that will be lost in a 32mm print) –
but I can move fundamental elements of a
sculpt even quite late-on in the process. I
can bend a joint a little more, tweak a limb
angle, maybe, and all at a stage further on in
a sculpt where – in putty – I’d be destroying
hours of detail work.
JT So... you’re using the software. But
how do you start. Is there still a physical
component or is it straight onto the
computer with a blank screen?
CT Well, one of the first things I did was
buy a laser scanner set up: essentially, it’s
a turntable with a laser beam trained on
it which set me back around three grand.
On to that, I then placed the test figure I
always used to use even when sculpting
in putty: it’s a sculpt I did early on in the
Mithril range of Elrond and it’s the figure I
always used as my guide for the rest of the
Chris sculpting Bombur the Dwarf on screen and - right - the finished digital sculpt and - far right - the basic scan of a figure.
46 Miniature Wargames May 2018
45-47mithrilInterview JT.indd 46
The laser scanning turntable at work.
range and I’m still using it as a guide, even
though I’m not using actual putty. Having
scanned him and loaded him into ZBrush,
I started off the digital sculpting by making
the same basic sculpts as I would have
done in plasticine and then scanning those
and adding details over them in ZBrush.
As time has moved on, however, I have –
as you might imagine – built up a library
of ‘tools’ as they are called: essentially
separate components like heads and arms
and hands and so forth. Having assembled
many of these into libraries, I now will
often compose a figure from individual
component parts as a starting position and
then work on them from there. But the laser
scanned reference figure of Elrond is very
important for consistency.
JT The assembly of components sounds a
bit like like Doctor Frankenstein: “Give my
creature life!”
CT Well obviously there is a lot of work
after that, but one of the advantages that
helps with production times is the ability
to mirror items that would benefit from it,
symmetry wise. For example I only ever
have to create one hand or one ‘rerebrace’
or shoulder guard: I can then mirror a right
hand to make a left, or a left-hand piece of
armour to make a right-hand one, and so on,
rather than have to do the same job twice.
The ability to repeat tasks – like sculpting
the links in a piece of chain mail – is what
has really led to my increase in productivity.
JT OK so you’ve sculpted the miniature on
screen. What then?
CT Well, when I’m happy with the figure,
I add a scaffolding of ‘runners’ – a support
structure to help retain the model as it’s
built in the 3d printer, one a layer at a
time. As you can imagine, I tried several
professional print companies until I found
one I can trust to do the job I need to the
quality I want.
JT Do you have to draw that support
structure yourself? How?
CT I do make it myself and it’s constructed
just by using my judgement and experience,
really: there are automatic systems for doing
27/03/2018 09:12
 the runners but I’ve found that they tend
to make poor choices leading to failures in
the print – and that’s something you really
don’t want. To print to this quality [Chris
hands me a flawless print with no layers or grain
visible to the naked eye] is not cheap so failure
is something to be avoided. You can ask the
printer to add the structure as well but I’m
not satisfied with that either, to be honest.
So I just add it myself.
[Chris shows me a printed figure of elven
queen Galadriel and – on screen – the same
sculpt, absolutely covered in what appears to
be fine ‘pipework’.]
JT How do you remove them? Do you just
cut them off?
CT Not really – if you just use snippers or
sprue cutters, the ‘scaffolding’ is as thick as
many of the fine components on the models
themselves and you are as likely to break an
element of the detail as you are the support
structure. No, I generally drill them off with
a mini-drill and then clean up the results
with needle-nose files.
JT So – that figure on screen covered in digital
scaffolding: is that a figure ready to print now?
CT Not quite. After the support runners
are added, I need to go through another
process in ZBrush to create a pre-print, “.stl”
file for the printers. Effectively, the software
stretches imaginary ‘clingfilm’ over the
entire model to make it ‘all one thing’. I then
use another piece of software which ensures
that the model is ‘water tight’ and has no
troublesome geometry: it allows me to
remove ‘shells’ (voids caused by, say, a piece
of armour being laid over a torso. That can
leave thin areas between the armour and
the body which you have to remove, and
this system does it very well. That’s vital.
JT Okay, so that’s Mithril and their Lord of
the Rings range: what else are you sculpting?
CT Many things. Figures wise, I’m
sculpting a couple of wargames ranges
including some Dark Ages ones in a slightly
more exaggerated proportion – so less
Mithril and more ‘mainstream’ wargaming
figures – plus some bronze age Irish. I’m
also sculpting some more Daleks: I used to
have the licence for 1/35th scale Daleks and
Cybermen and...
JT I know. I might have done the odd game
using them!
45-47mithrilInterview JT.indd 47
Fangorn, both the digital sculpt and the actual finished model.
CT ... well I’m sculpting some more for my
own amusement as much as anything else.
Also, I’m doing a few space ships from
various... let’s say ‘50s and ‘60s themes
that interest me.
[Chris then shows me several designs on screen,
the nature of which I’m not at liberty to reveal,
but it does show that ZBrush is obviously as
useful for hard-edged technical construction as it
is for ‘soft’ putty sculpting emulation.]
JT Is the ability to sculpt in – for want of a better
term – ‘real’ putty important to the digital process?
CT I think that if because I can sculpt – and
have done for forty years or so – it makes
all the difference. ZBrush is just a tool
like any other: just because you pick up
Michelangelo’s paint brush it doesn’t make
you Michelangelo. Sure, you can download
An Orc Wargrider.
all sorts of material from the web – digital
maquettes and so forth – but you still have
to know how to sculpt to get the best results:
you have to know the basics of sculpting to
even get past the initial frustrations, I think.
JT Have you tried other computerised systems?
CT Yes but ZBrush is the closest I’ve
come, with all of the software I’ve tried, to
getting a sculpting ‘feel’ on screen. In many
respects, it replicates sculpting with putty
perfectly, if not better.
JT So, to summarise, what do you get from
sculpting?
CT Rather than what I ‘get’ from it, I think
that it’s more about a ‘state of mind’. It’s
a mind-set where the intuitive elements
of the process mean that, on screen, the
model almost seems like it is “sculpting
itself”: I often feel that I’m almost looking
at myself when I’m working. Sometimes –
without wanting to sound pretentious – I
become so absorbed that I can just sculpt
at a different ‘level’ and – when it’s going
just ‘right’ – it’s also immensely therapeutic.
I get terrific pleasure from sculpting and
getting a likeness, especially if I’m copying
a known individual or illustration and
producing a sculpt from it… it is just very
rewarding. I guess what delights me the
most in designing – whether traditionally or
digitally – is taking that image or sketch and
turning it into a three dimensional object: I
love working from pictures, and seeing
the image turn into a physical sculpt.
Thank you Chris. ■
May 2018 Miniature Wargames 47
23/03/2018 14:57
 HOW TO | MODELLING GUIDE
THE FUTURE IS
Indestructible scenery by Jeremey Claridge
FOAM!
Words and photography Jeremey Claridge
M
any moons ago I was offered a foam
yoga block and asked if I had any use
for it, so I did what any gamer would
do when presented with a piece of exercise
equipment, I made an Earth Elemental out of
it (but that’s a whole other story...) For those
not familiar with yoga blocks, they are brick like
in shape and usually made from cork or foam,
designed to help yoga practitioners from over
extending themselves. But I’m mentioning it
now because, during a recent project, I wanted
to create a large, rocky landscape and while
looking at various materials to build the rocks
out of, I remembered the yoga block and the
rock miniature I’d made before. The block I’d
previously used was made out of EVA Foam
(Ethylene-vinyl acetate, for those in the know):
that’s the same stuff that’s used for garage floor
mats, inserts for tool cases, children’s toys and
what your local cosplayer has been making
weapons and armour out of for years. It’s a
dense, yet spongy foam, easy to cut but hard
wearing, very lightweight and cheap if you shop
around a bit. It also takes paint well and you can
glue it together. So I bought myself a couple
Sheet and block
48 Miniature Wargames May 2018
48-49foamBlocks JT.indd 48
and – using a slightly different method to my
previous efforts – I discovered how easy it was
to make realistic looking rocks from the foam.
Shortly after I started the project I did a search
to see how other gamers had been using foam
to see if I could pick up any good tips. To my
surprise I found almost nothing: there were a
few websites and you tube videos showing
EVA foam modular wargame mats and one or
two terrain pieces, but that was it. It appears
the wargaming world hasn’t embraced EVA
foam yet which I find strange as it’s now my ‘go
to’ building material, so I thought it was about
time to give it a bit of publicity.
THIS FOAM ROCKS
You can get EVA foam as mats almost
anywhere but the foam yoga block is better
for making rocks because it has more bulk to
it and a standard yoga block size (9”x6”x4”)
gives enough material to make several rocks
(plus detritus). Yoga blocks come in various
colours, the one I’d previously been gifted
was bright green. Although you can paint the
foam, I’d chose a more suitable base colour
Start with a cut
to compliment what your final terrain will look
like. For my rocks I went for black but brown
would have worked. When you have your
yoga block, start by simply cutting the block
with a craft knife (as always be careful using
the knife), you do not need to cut through the
entire block, just make a cut deep enough to
be able to get your fingers in to tear the block
apart. Tearing the block in this way produces
a fantastic rocky texture (better than anything
I could have created by whittling away at it).
You can still cut right through the block if you
prefer a cleaner more precise edge, but for
this I wanted the texture that tearing produces.
Once you’ve made a few cuts and torn off a
few chunks, you’ll soon get the hang of how
you can cut the block up to create big or small
rocks to suit your needs. You can also stick the
rocks together to make other terrain features:
I prefer to use a hot glue gun but you can
also use standard contact glue (I’ve not done
extensive glue tests on EVA Foam so if you do
want to use other glues I would recommend
looking for tutorials from Cosplay experts on
the glues they use).
Torn texture
23/03/2018 15:02
 ROCK PAINTING
You can paint the rocks by hand or you can use
regular spray paints. I’ve cut out some more
rocks from the yoga block to demonstrate one
method of painting them. For these rocks I’m
going to paint them with standard car spray
paints (unlike other foams, EVA foam does
not melt if sprayed). Keeping away from the
stereotypical grey most often used for rocks,
I like to go for a sandstone colour. I start with
a sporadic covering of Halfords Red Primer,
effectively just making a few passes with
the spray can: if you have chosen a suitable
base colour for your rocks you do not need to
completely cover the foam, and for these I’m
happy to let the black show through. I follow
the red with a similar application of Halfords
Yellow Primer. Again I’m not looking to
completely cover either the black foam or the
red. Halfords also do a range of camouflage
paints so for a finishing touch I use their Khaki
spray, applying it like a highlight to help blend
the colours together. The end result picks up
the rocky texture really well. When painting
Red primer
the foam in this way I have never bothered
to varnish them. I don’t think it is required:
the first set of rocks I created were used in
a club game and spent a year being taken to
shows, being dumped in a bag (or used as
packing for other more fragile parts of the
game!) and were handled by many gamers
interested in how they were made. The only
signs of wear and tear amounting to a bit of
paint rubbing off from a few edges, and that
further demonstrated the advantage of picking
a suitable base colour for the foam.
Using the same painting technique, I’ve
also made some rock formations, this time
adding a little sprinkle of flock for effect, and if
you really want to show off you can even use
resin water effects to make some nice looking
rock pools. There’s nothing to stop you making
towering monoliths, ancient tors, mysterious
cave entrances or even everyday scenery like
dry-stone walls for your battlefields.
Finished rocks
entrance carved out of the rock. By not gluing
the entrance piece to the rock I was able to
make an alternative entrance, this time a Mech
hanger for my 3mm Sci-fi forces.
ROCKTASTIC
And there you have it, I’m sure there are many
more wargaming uses for EVA foam and I
personally think it can be a cheaper and more
hardwearing alternative to the likes of blue
Styrofoam. If you need more convincing take
your finished foam rocks or buildings and give
them a squeeze, drop them on the floor, throw
them across the room in a fit of rage after your
best unit gets routed off the table. It’s at this
point you will really appreciate using EVA foam
for gaming terrain, and wonder why everyone
else isn’t already using it. Roll on EVA foam I say,
no – literally – you can roll on it: go buy a yoga
mat and make a tower block or something! ■

GETTING CREATIVE
Another advantage of EVA foam is that you
can also have nice smooth edges by either
cutting cleanly through it, or buying it in mat
form. Here we have another rock from the
Cut blocks
same yoga block, but this time I’ve cut out
a section in order to add a building/bunker
entrance to it. Taking a foam garage floor mat
I’ve cut it into strips and then into blocks to
make the building with. The look I want for
Yellow primer
this, is a makeshift block structure. For sticking
these blocks together I’ve gone back to the
glue gun, and I’m going to overdo it because
Assembled...
the excess glue will look like mortar oozing
out between the blocks. Once the walls are
complete I’ve used another piece of the floor
mat for the roof. This time I’ve just scored
lines onto the foam rather than cut through
it. A quick check to make sure it fits and it’s
time to paint this as well. For the buildings
I’ve sprayed it with grey primer and then the
same Khaki colour I used before as a highlight
Khaki spray ...into a structure
making for a very simple but effective bunker

May 2018 Miniature Wargames 49

48-49foamBlocks JT.indd 49 23/03/2018 15:02

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p050.indd 1 20/03/2018 09:45

 THE VICTORIO
CAMPAIGN:
1870-1886
THE CONCLUSION: ENTREPRENEURS, OUTLAWS, LAWMEN,
RATTLERS, WARGAMING AND HOLLYWOOD

A Wargamers Guide to Southwestern USA

& Northern Mexico by Robert Watt
Words by Robert Watt,, photography by Kevin Dallimore

INTRODUCTION
For wargamers and role-players interested in
the Apache Wars, or conflicts in the Old West in
general, the somewhat obscure Victorio Campaign
of 1879-1881 provides a backdrop to the U.S.
border with Mexico in the 1870s and 1880s. I think
this would also provide useful background to role-
playing games set in the same period. This is the
›
third part of this trio of articles.

PROSPECTORS & MINERS

The smaller mining concerns and the lone and
small group of prospectors common in New
Mexico and Arizona etc. were very vulnerable
to attack by Apache and outlaws. However, the
risks were outweighed by the profit from a big
gold or silver strike and several individuals made
a fortune during this period. One could run a
campaign where a small group of individuals
brave the elements to search for silver and gold
‘in them thar hills’.. If successful they could band
together and/or hire men to protect their mine
or their gold and silver shipments etc. Treasure
stories abound in this area and even today there
are still active legends concerning such stories
as ‘the Lost Adams’, ‘the Lost Dutchman’ mines.
The Superstition Mountains in Arizona and the
Caballo and San Andres Mountains in New
Mexico are subject to lost mine stories which,
though dating back to the activities
of the Spanish Conquistadors, still
capture the imagination of treasure
hunters even in the 21st Century.
Conveniently, these mines are
usually situated deep within
Apache country. Plains War Indian
by Foundry

May 2018 Miniature Wargames 51

51_57victorioPt3 JT version 2.indd 51 27/03/2018 09:20

 GUIDE TO | THE VICTORIO CAMPAIGN 1870 -1886
Characters:
Jim Cooney, George W. Daly and Harry Pie. Note
that Cooney and Daly were killed by Apaches in
1880 and 1881 respectively. Harry Pie returned
from a trip into the Black Range (deep in Chihenne
Apache territory) in 1879 reporting a rich deposit of
precious metal. He returned to the Black Range and
was never seen again though a skeleton thought to
be that of Pie’s was discovered the following year
close to his supposed strike. It was assumed that he
had been killed by Apaches…
RANCHERS
Large ranching concerns in both northern
Chihuahua and New Mexico were tempting
targets for rival business concerns (range wars)
and Apaches and outlaws hoping to trade their
loot for guns and ammunition and money etc.
Ranchers were not above allying with some of the
very characters engaged in rustling their stock to
act as enforcers during these range wars. At the
other end of the scale, there was much smaller
scale ranching concerns who – if they chose a
region not targeted by the large ranches – could
survive though would be more vulnerable to
attack from Apaches and outlaws.
Sample Posse:
· Terrazas’ Vaqueros
· Chisum’s Cowpunchers
Characters:
· John Chisum, Luis Terrazas
(sometime Governor of
Chihuahua but a member of one
of the largest landowning families
in that state.)
STAGE/FREIGHT COMPANIES
Stagecoaches and Freight trains were also
periodically attacked by both Apaches and Anglo/
Hispanic desperadoes. For those players whose
posses’ do not necessarily have a secure source of
supplies and ammunition, freight trains would
be a very tempting target. Equally, a player
wishing to run such a business venture would be
well advised to recruit some capable characters to
discourage desperados and Apaches.
BANDITS, RUSTLERS &
HORSE THIEVES
These are the characters
on both sides of the
border who were a
law unto themselves
and who occasionally
banded together and
caused much trouble
52 Miniature Wargames May 2018
51_57victorioPt3 JT version 2.indd 52
“The term and strife by their activities. Horse and cattle
stealing plus highway and bank robbery were the
‘poacher turned most common activity of such characters. Train
gamekeeper’ robbery might also be an option, but the railways
can certainly be were only being completed in the Southwest by
the end of 1881.
applied to many The popular image of these people as ‘free spirits’
of the lawmen may have had an element of truth to it but often
associated with these men (with the occasional woman) were thugs
and psychopaths who could never comfortably
the Southwestern fit into a ‘civilized’ society of any description.
U.S.A.” They could include the opponents of the Earps in
Tombstone known as ‘The Cowboys’ and included
such characters as ‘Curly’ Bill Brocious, Johnny
Ringo and the Clantons etc. Concern about the
rustling and larcenous activities of these men
in both Mexico and the U.S. reached as high as
Washington D.C. where, as noted earlier, the use of
the Army supported by Apache scouts to back up
representatives of the law was considered. William
Bonney/McCarthy a.k.a. ‘Billy the Kid’ and his
associates were infamous rustlers etc. as part of
their activities in the Lincoln County War. This
category could also cover a tiny number of men
who could be said to have been true renegades. For
instance, it is widely believed that the wonderfully
named Zebina Nathaniel Streeter, also known as
‘Casimero’, rode with Nehdni Apaches led by Juh
during this period.
There were also Mexicans involved in this sort
of activity. Such free enterprise was sometimes
couched in political counter-revolutionary terms.
This was usually aimed at the individual state
governments of Sonora and Chihuahua but was
occasionally directed at the Mexican Federal
government. In reality, these ventures were little
more than banditry where robbery was expressed
in terms of ‘collecting taxes’ or ‘loans’ from the local
citizens. Such raids were often launched from the
USA into Mexico. In 1880, one Brigido Reyes, in
the guise of opposing the Diaz regime in Mexico,
invaded Sonora with a relatively small band of
followers (22 men). He and his following were
quickly chased out of Sonora back into the USA but
not before they had extorted a significant sum of
money from the local citizens.
Sometimes these activities were more politically
motivated. Again in 1880, Leonardo Marquez, who
had probably held general’s rank in the Emperor
Maximillian’s army in the 1860s, was known to
have been operating with between 60 and 130 men
in Sonora. This provoked the Mexican
Federal government to send 400
troops and a gunboat to Sonora.
The local US commander in
southern Arizona, Colonel
Eugene A. Carr, informed
Marquez that if he crossed the
27/03/2018 09:21
 border into the USA he would be disarmed under
the US Neutrality Laws. Such activities caused quite
a bit of friction between the federal governments of
both countries and the US army, if such activities
were detected in the USA, would send out patrols,
if available, in an attempt to interdict such activities.
Finally, both Anglo-American and Mexican ‘free
spirits’ could operate in alliance. Such coalitions
could turn sour very suddenly.
Sample Posse:
· The ‘Cowboys’
· The Lincoln County Regulators.
· Brigido Reyes’ ‘Tax-Collectors’.
· General Marquez’s Counter-Revolutionaries
Characters:
‘Curly’ Bill Brocious, Johnny Ringo, The Clantons,
Billy the Kid etc. Zebina Nathaniel Streeter, Brigido
Reyes, ‘General’ Marquez.
FEDERAL MEXICAN ARMY
Federal Mexican Infantry and Cavalry units also
fought a series of engagements with Victorio in
1880. Troops led by Geronimo Trevino were sent to
the border area to deal with the general lawlessness
in the area. They did sometimes intervene on behalf
of state factions who were supported by the Federal
regime. Federal Mexican Troops seem to have been
armed with rifled muskets though there is some
indication that some troops may have been armed
with Remington breech-loading rifles etc.
Mexican Federal troops were involved in two
campaigns against the Apaches in 1879 and 1880.
51_57victorioPt3 JT version 2.indd 53
Victorio’s warriors fought two engagements with ABOVE: Three Amigos!
the federales in the Pine Mountains of northern Conversions of Old West Figures
by Foundry. The ‘non-human
Chihuahua in July 1880. The Apaches appear
to have got the better of both engagements and
even managed to capture the Mexican Army’s
danger’ is a 10mm scale giant
Warg by Copplestone Castings. ›
All paint by Kevin Dallimore.
supply train.
After this campaign, prior to being recalled to the LEFT: A dapper gunman: an Old
West Figure by Foundry. Paint by
south of Chihuahua, some of these federal troops
Kevin Dallimore.
were deployed in small detachments to various
settlements and ranches along the El Paso del Norte
– Chihuahua City. At least one of these detachments
was involved in a skirmish with Apaches when the
latter attempted to steal horses from one of these
settlements in September 1880.
Sample Posse:
· Col. Valle’s Federales.
Characters:
· General Geronimo Trevino, Col. Adolfo P. Valle,
Col. Ponciano Cisneros.
LAWMEN
The term ‘poacher turned gamekeeper’ can
certainly be applied to many of the lawmen
associated with the Southwestern U.S.A. Equally,
they were often men who were of the same calling
as ‘the Cowboys’ and ‘Billy the Kid’. However,
unlike these personalities, men such as the Earp
Brothers and Pat Garrett had the political acumen to
see, with the imminent arrival of the railroads in the
Southwest, that the times were changing to a more
civilized society. The choice to become the lawmen
was one way in which those men who had lived by
May 2018 Miniature Wargames 53
27/03/2018 09:21
 GUIDE TO | THE VICTORIO CAMPAIGN 1870 -1886
their wits and their six-shooters could still prosper
as the frontier society withered away.
It should also be noted that while there is an
apparently clear division between the Lawmen and
Outlaws, this distinction could be very hazy. In this
period, the lawmen could simply be the long arm
of the most powerful local faction and it is argued
that this was the case during the Lincoln County
War. Even today, if you visit Tombstone, opinion is
quite evenly split over the legitimacy of the Earps
as ‘lawmen’.
Sample Posse:
· The Earp Clan.
· Pat Garret’s Posse.
Characters:
· Wyatt, Morgan, & Virgil Earp, Doc Holiday, Pat
Garrett etc..
BOUNTY HUNTERS OR HIRED GUNS
This category of entrepreneur could be slipped
into that of ‘Lawmen’, but their often quite dark
reputation suggests a separate entry. This does
allow the deployment of a couple of rather deadly
characters wearing either a poncho or black frock-
coat and respectively smoking cigarillos or sporting
a long-barreled colt revolver with detachable
stock. Groups of ‘hard-cases’ wearing dust
coats are almost obligatory but should also
include an inscrutable loner who can wield
the harmonica or a Colt revolver with equal
dexterity. I suspect the inclusion of a character
dragging a coffin around behind him might be
pushing the boundaries of reality a tad too far.
The inclusion of an insane Austro-Hungarian
Baron commanding a gunboat on the Rio
Grande is definitely beyond the pale.
HYBRID POSSES
While all the categories outlined in Parts One
to Three are distinct in themselves there are
several potential collaborations amongst these
diverse groups. I’ve already noted the potential
collaboration between Mexican and American
bandits and the mixed nature of Apache scout
companies but there are other combinations.
For example, during September-October 1879,
Major Albert P. Morrow led a mixed battalion
of African-American troops from the Ninth
Cavalry, White troops from the Sixth Cavalry,
Apache scouts and at least one Anglo-
American guide in a long-drawn
pursuit of Victorio which ended in
a dramatic moonlit firefight in
northern Mexico. The following
year, Colonel George Buell, led
a large force of Ninth Cavalry,
54 Miniature Wargames May 2018
51_57victorioPt3 JT version 2.indd 54
“Lakota and Fourth Cavalry, Sixteenth Infantry and Apache
scouts into Mexico in pursuit of Victorio’s Apaches.
Cheyenne warriors Incidentally, neither commander had permission to
killed about a third operate in the Republic of Mexico.
of the Seventh In 1880, there were at least two occasions
where Mexican Federal soldiers and Chihuahua
Cavalry at the State troops cooperated in mixed columns when
Little Bighorn pursuing Victorio. Juh and Victorio, who were
in one day, known to dislike each other, managed to set aside
their differences and combined their forces to halt
Victorio’s Apaches Major Morrow’s pursuit in 1879.
effectively did At the opposite end of the scale, there could be
the same to the fatal disputes within relatively coherent groups.
There was the occasional fatality in fights between
Ninth Cavalry US troops in their barracks. In 1876, when faced
between January with the closure of their Fort Bowie reservation,
and June 1880.” the Chokonen Apaches split into a ‘peace faction’
willing to accept the move and a ‘war faction’
implacably opposed to departure. The deadlock
between the two groups was, to some extent,
‘resolved’ when the peace faction gunned down the
war faction.
NON-HUMAN DANGERS
The southwest has a plethora of plant-life of which
the common denominator is thorns or spines.
Even minimal contact with these barbs can cause
enormous irritation to the recipient. The upside for
the wargamer is that the Southwest encompasses
the Chihuahuan and Sonoran Desert so the range
of thorny desert flora to be modelled is surprisingly
wide. For those who aspire to conquering the dizzy
heights of extreme accuracy, the Saguaro Cactus
of ubiquitous Hollywood
western fame belongs
to the Sonora Desert. If
one is trying to recreate
La Mesilla, Silver City or
Lincoln, Saguaro cacti are
strictly verborten. They
are fine for Tucson and Tombstone. The broad rule
of thumb being that New Mexico is Chihuahuan
Desert whereas Arizona is Sonoran Desert.
There are a range of quite dangerous insects,
arachnids and reptiles which can be encountered.
Tarantula bites are allegedly painful but harmless
but at least one US army officer became
dangerously ill when a tarantula bite became
infected. Black Widow and Brown Recluse
spiders can also be encountered alongside
Scorpions. There are venomous Centipedes
which can give a nasty bite. Wild bees are also to
be encountered and the local ants are not to be
trifled with.
The southwest is home to the Gila
Monster which is one of only two lizards to
possess a venomous bite, though the most
common venomous reptile is the Rattlesnake.
27/03/2018 09:21

In the Southwest, the most common species is the
Western Diamondback, and these can have a very
dangerous and painful bite. A bite to the head and
chest region is usually fatal so this is a particular
hazard when climbing steep rocky hillsides or
taking cover during an ambush. However, the
most venomous snake in the Southwest is the rarer
Mojave Rattlesnake whose venom is ten times more
venomous than other rattlesnakes. Rattlesnakes
are ambush predators and will stay very still even
when humans come quite close. They usually, but
do not always, rattle if a human comes too close.
They are active at night which, alongside preserving
the Apaches’ ammunition stocks, explains why
warriors were reluctant to fight at night. An
alarmed rattlesnake can sound very ominous on
film, but this is nothing compared to hearing one
for real. Your rules should reflect the ‘sudden shock’
of encountering such creatures. It’s very difficult to
ignore the furious rattling near your feet to carry on
taking aim and firing at an opponent.
You may also encounter Pumas, Wolves, Bobcat,
the very occasional Jaguar and Bears. These
creatures will try to avoid humans but can be very
dangerous if accidentally cornered. A female bear
with cubs can be extremely dangerous and will
not worry about being faced with a dozen heavily
armed men when defending her young.
Where such creatures are concerned, I have
included some of them on tokens placed face down
around the wargames table. Some are beneficial:
51_57victorioPt3 JT version 2.indd 55
ABOVE: Genuine Frontier
gibberish! An Old West Figure
by Foundry. Paint by Kevin
Dallimore.
LEFT: Ferocious preaching! An
Old West Figure by Foundry.
Paint by Kevin Dallimore.
‘Sticks of Dynamite’; ‘Gold’ or ‘Silver’; ‘Coins’ etc.
But some have ‘Mojave Rattlesnake’; ‘Diamondback
Rattlesnake’; ‘Tarantula’; ‘Scorpion’; ‘Ants’ etc. hidden
in some of the better areas of cover. One should
also include a large number of blank tokens just
to keep players guessing. A Rattler can certainly
deliver a fatal bite but the rest are more of a
distraction as they are dealt with; this should cause
the character to miss a round of firing. Where ants
and bees are concerned I would recommend that
the character must vacate that location as taking
cover in that spot will quickly become untenable.
If one encounters a dangerous mammal, they will
rarely attack so the chances of an attack determined
by a dice roll should be very low. If one is running
a campaign a wild beast encounter table can be
randomly used to generate encounters. Again, this
table should be largely blank to reflect the point that
these creatures would usually see human beings
first and would take immediate steps to evade such
dangerous creatures.
The weather should not be underestimated.
While often very hot and dry, the Southwest
can have violent storms which sometimes
only last minutes but can leave one soaked
through. Visibility can drop severely during
such downpours. One must not assume that the
winters in the southwest are more benign. A Ninth
Cavalryman was reported to have been severely
›
frostbitten on patrol in the Florida Mountains which
are very close to the US Mexico border and the
trail of at least one Apache raiding party was lost
during a blizzard. Flash floods are a periodic hazard
in rivers which often run dry at other times. Lt.
Rucker, an officer in the Sixth Cavalry, was building
himself quite a reputation as an effective opponent
of the independent Chiricahua Apaches, before he
was drowned trying to save a fellow officer caught
in a flash flood in 1878.
IN CONCLUSION
The scope for skirmish and role-playing scenarios
are myriad. Brigido Reyes leading twenty-two
men into Sonora is not as mad as it might seem;
sometimes the local communities could, and often
did, muster the numbers to resist. Nevertheless,
sometimes the better option was to pay brigands
and Apaches protection money. Victorio paralyzed
the Southwest for over a year with as little as 45
and a maximum of 200 warriors. These rarely
acted in concert as one body. The size of a Ninth
Cavalry company, in theory about eighty officers
and men could be as small as 20-30 men and
they might be led by a senior NCO rather than
an officer. The pressure on the wargamers wallet
should be minimal.
Where terrain is concerned, those of you with
pine or deciduous forest style terrain should
May 2018 Miniature Wargames 55
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 GUIDE TO | THE VICTORIO CAMPAIGN 1870 -1886
ABOVE: Fill your hand! Foundry
Old West range figure displaying
a little True Grit Paint by Kevin
Dallimore.
RIGHT: A Foundry Plains Indian.
56 Miniature Wargames May 2018
51_57victorioPt3 JT version 2.indd 56
not despair; I sometimes refer to Apacheria as
the ‘Apache Archipelago’ where the desert ‘sea’
surrounds many individual mountain range
‘islands’. The latter sometimes have thick forest
terrain which cover these mountains. The Apaches
knew how to survive for prolonged periods in the
desert, but they chose to live in the mountain ranges
when at all possible.
There are several figure and buildings
manufacturers who provide all the scope you need
for recreating this period on the tabletop. Personally,
I love converting figures to create as individual an
appearance as possible. I have heavily converted
Wargames Foundry Apaches by swapping heads,
torsos and weapons. But their designer, Mark
Copplestone, also designed their ‘Darkest Africa’
range where some of the heavily armed Askaris and
Zanzibaris are armed with Winchester repeating
rifles and Remington rolling block rifles. The
Askaris are also armed with what looks like a
Snider rifle which, at this scale, looks very similar
to a Springfield rifle. Careful work with a small
flat file can be used to work these into a passable
Springfield carbine. (Examples of he authors work
with greenstuff and surgery can be seen throughout
these articles. Ed.). Even better, from the point of
view of what you put on the wargames table, is
that there is enough vagueness in the sources,
particularly where non-military and Mexican
military units are concerned, that you
can get away with fielding what you
are reasonably sure that they wore
and what equipment they carried.
Where ‘realism’ or ‘historic accuracy’
is concerned I have three comments
concerning the deployment of Apaches:
Firstly, the Apaches loathed taking unnecessary
casualties. If one is using points score to determine
the outcome of a game, Apaches, if they are
awarded five points for killing an enemy, should
lose fifty points for every warrior killed. This
should encourage the extremely careful approach
that allowed very small numbers of Apaches to
inflict physical and psychological damage far out of
proportion to the numbers involved.
Secondly, while Lakota and Cheyenne warriors
killed about a third of the Seventh Cavalry at
the Little Bighorn in one day, Victorio’s Apaches
effectively did the same to the Ninth
Cavalry between January and June
1880. However, instead of targeting
humans they targeted their horses
and mules. They did this
either directly by shooting
them in ambushes or by
killing or crippling horses and
mules by leading their pursuers
over rough terrain for extended periods.
As noted earlier, the Ninth Cavalry were already
short of horses before the campaign started but it
was the specific targeting of horses by the Apaches
which had a decisive effect. By the end of May
1880, the regiment was ‘not fit for purpose’ and
it took several months of rest, recuperation and
replacement before the regiment took the field
again in September 1880. The reason for this was
the primary goal of an Apache ambush of pursuers
which was to cripple that pursuit. The simplest way
to do this was to shoot their mounts. If the opening
volleys threw their opponents into disarray the
Apaches might stay and inflict further human
casualties. There are several accounts where US
army participants note the poor marksmanship
of the Apaches. These same accounts also note
that, while they often lost minimal or no human
casualties, they also sustained significant equine
casualties. However, there is one account left by an
American citizen who recorded his experience of
going on hunting trips with Apaches. He noted that
the Apaches would try to get to close range of their
target undetected and that they took very careful
aim with their first shot. He thought that, given
these practices, their first shots were fairly accurate.
The key point is that when waging war their first
shots were usually aimed at the horse and not the
rider. Thus, your rules should reflect these practices.
27/03/2018 09:21
 Thirdly, Chiricahua Apaches usually fought
on foot. It was not unknown for them to fight
on horseback, but this was very rare. However,
Robert Grierson, the teenager who found himself
surrounded by Apaches at Tinaja de Las Palmas,
noted in his diary that the Apache warriors used
their horses to change position but then attacked
on foot. As such, they were also adept at using the
most minimal of terrain to conceal themselves. I
have visited numerous Apache ambush sites and
it never ceases to amaze me how little cover they
needed to conceal themselves completely. I had
the experience of discovering a map drawn by a
US army officer in the National Archives. This was
a diagram of a pursuit of Apaches after they had
ambushed and wiped out a stagecoach. A pursuing
Fourth Cavalry company was ambushed and, after
regrouping and advancing three times against
their opponents, were forced into a hasty retreat
when the Apaches started to work round both his
flanks. The map clearly marked the spot and I and
a few friends from New Mexico set out to locate
the site. We got to the broadly correct location, but
it was only after a couple of hours walking the
area that I realized that we had driven through the
ambush site and parked up just beyond the Apache
positions. We had missed the spot simply because,
at first glance, the cover was so minimal. The fact
that we had driven into the area from the same
direction as the Fourth Cavalry company
shows what an effective ambush site this
was; the ground did not look dangerous
and that’s what the Apaches were relying upon
to lull their quarry into a false sense of security.
Your rules should reflect the ability of Apache
warriors to remain concealed until their enemy
is at close quarters and that they will get, at the
very least, the first volley against even experienced
foes. Be careful though: Apaches also selected sites
from which they could make a quick, easy and
unhindered getaway should the ambush misfire.
You need to be very careful in selection of good
ambush positions to minimize casualties if the
ambush fails.
Of course, if you wish to go down the
‘Hollywood’ Wild West game I would completely
ignore the above. It takes a very patient wargamer to
recreate Apache tactics and the temptation to speed
things up with a mass frontal attack on that Mexican
Hacienda can be far too tempting. I would not have
lasted very long as a successful Apache leader: my
inability to spot Apache ambush positions also
suggests that I would not have made a
very good US army officer.
AT THE FLICKS
Speaking of Hollywood brings me
to my final comment. Hidden away
51_57victorioPt3 JT version 2.indd 57
“It is worth among the ‘Western’ Film and TV genre are a few
rather good efforts which can serve as inspiration
mentioning for recreating this period.
the advice of · Ulzana’s Raid, while not 100% accurate, comes
civilian guide very close to capturing the Apache wars of the
1870s and 1880s. The best DVD edit can be found
Joe Felmer who on Amazon under the German title of ‘Keine
stated in 1864: Gnade Fur Ulzana’. I have managed to get the
When you see same cut on an Italian Blu-ray.
· The TV series ‘The High Chaparral’ does a
Apache Sign very good job of capturing the old Southwest
– Be Careful and its many characters. It was this series which
When you don’t inspired my interest in this period of history
as a child. Again, Germany has come to the
see any Apache rescue and has released all four series on DVD.
Sign – Be even Just switch to the English Language option and
more Careful!” you’re set to go.
Finally, if you want some inspiration for
the appearance of your Anglo and Mexican
desperadoes then you cannot do better than watch
‘For a Few Dollars More’ and use Indio and his
bandits. Director Sam Pekinpah had a very good
eye for the old Southwest and the passing of the
frontier to more ‘civilised’ times. I thoroughly
recommend ‘Major Dundee’, ‘Pat Garret and
Billy the Kid’ and, though set at a later date, ‘The
Wild Bunch’ for inspiration. I’d also give the
films ‘Hondo’, ‘Once Upon a Time in the West’,West’
‘Young Guns’, ‘Tombstone’ and ‘The Missing’
very honourable mentions on this front. Eyebrows
might be raised if I include the film ‘Cowboys and
Aliens’…. All I will say is that an obscure town
called Roswell is located at the eastern end of our
geographic
area and was
occasionally
targeted by Mescalero
Apache raiders during this period. What
else might lurk out in the wilderness of the Old
Southwest? Quién Sabe!
One other source of information is the comic book
genre. It is mostly ‘pulp fiction’ however, there is
one very notable, but hard to find exception. The
‘Blueberry’ series produced in France by Charlier
and Giraud for Dargaud is fiction, yet the artwork
really captures the Southwest of the period. Some of
these stories have not been translated so you’ll need
to have a French dictionary to hand if, like me, you
don’t speak/read French. Nevertheless, if you can
track these down they have a plethora of ideas for
characters, terrain and scenarios for the wargamer.
As such, I hope that I
have given a flavour of
both the fiction and fact
for those wargamers
interested in recreating
the Southwest on the
gaming table. ■
May 2018 Miniature Wargames 57
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p058.indd 1 20/03/2018 09:53
 WHAT’S NEW | BOOKS FOR WARGAMERS

RECCE A quick scan of the latest wargaming reading material with

a guide to what you need and what not to read...

THE BLUE AND GRAY ALMANAC

By Albert Nofi | Casemate | 2017 | £25 | hardback | 304 pages |
ISBN 9781 6120 05522 | casematepublishing.co.uk

The subtitle of this book is ‘The Civil War in Facts and Figures, Recipes and
Slang’, which is a very fair summary. The author has been writing on the
Civil War for many years and his ‘Gettysburg Campaign’ has been my ‘go to’
book for more than two decades. Nofi was also a prolific and very readable
contributor to the sadly defunct North and South Magazine.
So this is a serious historian offering a wealth of anecdotes on the Civil
War; the book is well written and interesting. It is more of a fireside chat than a pure history
or reference book, but its contents are an entertaining parade of hard-to-find snippets. The
wide-ranging subject matter whets the appetite for further research. ›
So what’s in it for the Wargamer? Certainly plenty of detail on characters, and the Civil
War produced a bumper crop of them. Its special value, though, is for the newcomer who is
contemplating a new period and is agonising between ACW and anything else. A couple of
hours with this text will be enough to convince a newcomer that this is a hugely rich theme to
pursue, and it is recommended.
John Drewienkiewicz

THE BATTLE OF THE SELLE

Peter Hodgkinson | Helion | 2017 | £29.95 | hardback | 328 pages |
ISBN:9781911512639 | helion.co.uk

By the closing months of WWI, the British Army
was at something near a peak of battlefield
efficiency, with good staffwork, experienced
commanders, optimal mixing and use of weapons –
and a knowledge that the enemy was facing defeat.
This book describes a major set of operations
in the final weeks, where warfare became semi-
mobile across rolling fields and (in this sector)
railway cuttings and embankments. The weather
hindered the use of aircraft – and hence artillery
accuracy – as well as armour. However, British
infantry and weapons were now being used in
a truly modern sense, with platoon weapons,
medium machine guns and even direct fire
artillery overcoming German rearguards by fire
and movement.
The author writes well, with a mix of descriptive
and analytical chapters, with plenty of tactical detail
supported by useful colour maps, albeit without
contours. One irritating habit is the constant quoting
and naming of other people’s dissertations in a
sort of ‘running fight’ between academics, which
detracts from the enjoyment. Academic research
has contributed greatly to our knowledge of this
period, but one is often left with the uncomfortable
feeling that many writers are trying to outdo each
other in revisionist history and with an excessive
degree of criticism or cronyism.
Bearing in mind that the German army knew
it had lost the war (Germany was seeking an
armistice prior to these operations), I felt that
some of the author’s accolades to British prowess
were exaggerated, but it is nevertheless a mine of
useful information on a brief but interesting tactical
and operational episode of WWI land warfare.
Chris Jarvis

May 2018 Miniature Wargames 59

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 WHAT’S NEW | BOOKS FOR WARGAMERS
‘A RABBLE OF GENTILITY’: THE ROYALIST NORTHERN HORSE, 1644-1645
John Barratt | Helion & Company | 2017 | £19.95 | softback |112 pages | ISBN: 978-1-911512-98-1| helion.co.uk
A short Chronology of the Civil War
precedes a brief Introduction, in which
author John Barratt explains that this book
is an expanded and enlarged edition of
a self-published book of 1998. The much
shorter text of a similarly titled talk by the
author has also appeared in A New Way
of Fighting: Professionalism in the English
Civil War, a collection of papers presented
at the 2016 Helion and Company ‘Century
of the Soldier’ Conference, which has
also been published recently.
The first chapter explains the origins of
the Northern Horse in the commissions
granted by the Earl of Newcastle, the
General of all Royalist forces north of the
River Trent, and examines the religious
and social backgrounds of its officers,
providing concise biographies of its
commanders, before offering a brief
description of the battle of Marston Moor.
The rest of the book is devoted to a
detailed narrative of the exploits of the
Northern Horse, divided into the following
chapters: The March South; Recovery;
Triumph at Pontefract; Defeat Without
Disgrace: Naseby 1645; Lost Opportunity:
A NEW WAY OF FIGHTING:
PROFESSIONALISM IN THE
ENGLISH CIVIL WAR
Edited by Serena Jones | Helion &
Company Limited | 2017 | £25.00 |
hardback | 119 pages | ISBN: 978-
1-911512-61-5| helion.co.uk
60 Miniature Wargames May 2018
59_64_recce JT.indd 60
Rowton Heath, September 1645, and The
Last Ride: Sherburn and Carlisle Sands,
October 1645. A short final chapter,
Afterwards, describes the roles played by
former members of the Northern Horse in
the Second Civil War and their fates after
the Restoration.
The author concludes that, from 1642
to 1644, the Northern Horse had ‘a highly
creditable record, with victories at Seacroft
Moor, Adwalton Moor, the 1644 campaign
against the Scots and their role at Marston
Moor. They also suffered reverses,
among them Wakefield (May 1643), the
unsuccessful campaigns in Lincolnshire
in the same year and Selby in 1644. But
overall, their performance compares
favourably with the rest of the cavalry
engaged in the war during this period.’
But, after Marston Moor, ‘the combat
record of the Northern Horse is more
chequered…they reached a pinnacle of
success with the Pontefract March in
February/March 1645. But even then it was
becoming increasingly clear that to some
extent the Northern Horse were working
to their own agenda, in which the wider
This rather slim volume contains the papers
presented at the 2016 Helion and Company
‘Century of the Soldier’ Conference. A three
page introduction by the editor is followed by
three sections, each comprised of two papers.
Part I: From Drill Field to Battlefield – the
Militia at War contains The Leicestershire
Trained Bands Before the Great Rebellion by
Peter Leadbetter which offers an informative
examination of the organisation and training
of the county militias, and Cavaliers on
the Field of Mars: The Honourable Artillery
Company and London Trained Bands as
the training ground for the officers of the
‘London Regiment’ by Andrew Robertshaw.
In Part II: Expectations in the Field –
‘Professional’ Repute readers will find ‘A
Rabble of Gentility?’ The Northern Horse,
1644-45 by John Barratt, the subject of his
new book with a very similar title in Helion’s
Century of the Soldier 1618-21 series, and
A ‘Professional Officer’? Colonel George
Lisle, 1642-48 by Serena Jones, the author
of No Armour But Courage: Colonel Sir
George Lisle, 1615-1648, also published by
priorities of the Royalist cause were at
times subordinate to their own desire to
renew the war in the North of England…
they remained doughty fighters in the right
circumstances, and indeed by the autumn
of 1645, were the only effective cavalry left
to the King.’
There are twenty-one black and white
illustrations, distributed throughout the
book, mainly reproductions of portraits
of commanders mentioned in the text.
Five full page, but not very detailed,
maps show the Northern Horse’s march
south to join the King after Marston
Moor; the march to relieve Pontefract; the
deployments at the battle of Naseby; the
battle of Rowton Heath, and the end of the
Northern Horse.
Three full page colour plates by Bruno
Mugnai depict three cavalrymen, a
dragoon and a musketeer; explanatory
notes are given at the back of the book..
Another five colour plates by Dr. Lesley
Prince, who also wrote the notes at the
back of the book, illustrate ten Royalist
cavalry cornets.
An Appendix details the officers of the
Helion. (I love the short, punchy titles… Ed.)
Part III: A New Way of Fighting –
Innovations contains A Case of Drakes –
James Wemyss and Artillery Innovation in
the Civil War by Simon March, which may
be of particular interest to those wargamers
who possess – or are thinking of buying
– Warlord Games’ Scots Multi-barrelled
Frame Gun and others keen to add unusual
artillery pieces to their ECW armies. The
New Model Army and the End of the English
Republic by Professor Malcolm Wanklyn,
on the other hand, describing the failure of
the Army to resist or influence the move
towards the restoration of the monarchy,
does not obviously correspond to the
section’s stated theme.
Each paper has footnotes referencing its
sources, and a three-page index concludes
the book. There are twelve ‘Figures’, ranging
from black and white reproductions of
familiar contemporary portraits of Langdale,
Massey and Digby, via a very small part of
Sprigge’s well-known engraving of Naseby
showing the Northern Horse, to a computer-
23/03/2018 16:10

Northern Horse, listed
under the regiment with which they
were originally connected, and the book
concludes with a two page Bibliography.
Readers who have a particular
interest in the Northern Horse, or wish
to refight the campaigns and battles in
which it took part after Marston Moor
as wargames, will find this book both
informative and useful. Personally, I
regard it as a better investment than A
New Way of Fighting (see below!).
Arthur Harman
generated (I think) modern impression
of a case drake by Graham Brooks,
some of which add little to the papers
they accompany. On the back cover is a
modern colour illustration of a grey-coated
musketeer; sadly, the artist is not credited,
but I believe him to be Bruno Mugnai, who
created the images of the Northern Horse
for John Barratt’s book.
Not all these papers have much direct
application to wargaming the English
Civil War, but then wargamers were
almost certainly not the publishers’ target
audience. It is, as such collections of
papers or essays usually are, a ‘curate’s
egg’. Readers with an interest in the period
that goes deeper than uniforms (or the lack
of them!), weapons and battle tactics may
enjoy this book, but may wonder why it
was not produced as a cheaper softback.
They may well conclude that it would
be better to purchase John Barratt’s and
Serena Jones’s full length books on their
chosen subjects.
Arthur Harman
59_64_recce JT.indd 61
THE FRENCH ARMY OF THE ORIENT 1798-1801:
NAPOLEON’S BELOVED ‘EGYPTIANS’
by Yves Martin | Helion | 2017 | £25 | softback |
128 pages | ISBN: 9781911512714 | helion.co.uk
There aren’t many good, comprehensive
resources covering the French excursion into
Egypt between 1798 and 1801. Charles Grant’s
two volumes have perhaps been the best
wargamers’ source for uniform information,
though their text could be criticised and they
were published eleven years ago. So this, the
first of three books on the subject planned
by Helion, is very welcome. A second, on the
British in Egypt, is currently in preparation,
with a projected third to cover the Turks.
Martin’s book is not written explicitly for
wargamers, but it very definitely has us in mind.
It’s pretty much a standalone volume for any
gamer wishing to create a French army of the
period from scratch, with substantial chapters
on organisation, OOBs and, in particular,
uniforms. This is a colourful but volatile
campaign, having three
relevant uniform issues in
a short period, with several
exotic units, including the
fantastic dromedaries.
Some of the detail is
necessarily speculative,
but Martin’s guesswork
is very well supported by
well-considered scholarly
judgements. Most
importantly, much of his
information is derived
from primary research,
particularly from sources
only available as original
documents in French war
archives, or from narrative
French accounts not generally available in English
translation. Most exciting – at least, for those
of us who get a thrill from newly discovered
uniform esoterica – are the descriptions and
plates of the Kleber uniforms, derived from
direct examination of archival cloth samples.
For illustration, 49 colour plates on 32 pages
back up the text, mainly of uniform detail or
reproductions of nineteenth century plates not
easily found elsewhere. The 32 black and white
plates are perhaps a little less useful, as over half
of them are simply head and shoulders portraits
of major personalities in the army: interesting
sidebars, certainly, but of little relevance to a
wargamer who is not also a figure sculptor.
There’s a wealth of detail crammed into
these 128 pages (not 160 as claimed on the
Helion website). That statement perhaps
implies a criticism – I’d have liked a longer
book, a possibility which the author himself
clearly seems to have desired. That’s not to
suggest that there’s anything missing, as such,
but it’s tantalising to read of archives packed
with information for which these pages have
no room. Presumably commercial reality
has to constrain authorial enthusiasm here.
This is an excellent book, well worth its price.
No other resource is needed. However, it does
not aim to tell you anything about the battles as
such, and the campaign as a whole is sketched
out in a timeline overview of eight pages which,
whilst a first class summary, is really only an
introductory context for those new to the
theatre rather an account which could readily
transfer to the tabletop. It also makes me
wonder how the other two
planned volumes will fit
into this contextualisation.
Stylistically, Martin
manages a very readable ›
style, midway between
scholarly exactitude and
friendly familiarity, a skill
that has to be admired
when executed so ably, as
here, in a second language.
True, there are very
occasional stylistic oddities
and, indeed, the occasional
typo one would hope had
been caught by an editor
(It’s a tough gig! Ed.) but
these do not interfere with
reading. In fact, this is a really enjoyable read,
and several writers whose first language is
English could learn a thing or two from this book.
It is let down a little by the complete lack of
an index, an omission in a work of this price
and kind which really can’t be excused, and
by the lack of a proper bibliography. There
is a useful chapter of annotated ‘Further
Reading’ but following up the references
made in the main text will be difficult to
do without full bibliographical information.
Nevertheless, I think this is a wonderful
book, both as an introduction to, and an in-
depth account of, this army. I can’t wait for
the British volume, and the prospect of a
similar volume on the Turks fills me with joy.
Noel Williams
May 2018 Miniature Wargames 61
23/03/2018 16:10
 WHAT’S NEW | BOOKS FOR WARGAMERS

NARVIK AND THE ALLIES; THE POLISH BRIGADE AT NARVIK 1940

By Evan McGilvray | Helion & Company Limited | 2018 | £21.95 |
paperback | 216 pages | ISBN 978-1-911512-28-8 | helion.co.uk
This is Evan McGilvray’s fifth book about the
campaigns of the Polish Army in the Second
World War, and here he describes the exploits
of the Podhalian (Mountain) Rifle Brigade in
the 1940 Norway Campaign. He correctly
assumes little foreknowledge of the subject or
the background, so takes half of the book to
bring us to the arrival of the Brigade in Norway.
He starts with his version of the diplomatic
events leading to the invasion of Poland,
including the overlooked Polish-German Pact
of 1934, and his pithy description of Britain’s
Guarantee to Poland as a ‘noble gesture, but
not a practical solution to dealing with tyranny
on the European mainland’. He then describes
in detail the evolution of the Allied decision to
launch an expeditionary force to Norway.
The Force consisted of a British Brigade
and a French Division, with the Polish Brigade
subordinated to the French. Pre-training was
nonexistent and the command structure ill-
defined and ramshackle, as was the norm in
1940. While the French troops were mountain
troops and Foreign Legion, the British were
solid regulars and the Polish Brigade was
‘mountain’ in name only; only the officers
were veterans of the Polish Campaign, the
rest being volunteers from Polish émigré
communities in France. It was hoped that the
contribution of a brigade would ‘keep Poland
relevant to Allied war aims’. At the time of the
offer the Polish Government in Exile in France
aspired to raise up to eight divisions, so a
brigade was a modest stake to wager.
Norway and in particular Narvik were
significant because nine million tons of iron
ore transited the port bound for Germany.
Allied planning to block the flow was under
way when the Germans typically moved first
and invaded Norway on 7th April 1940. The
Polish Brigade was embarked from France on
23rd April and left Greenock on 3rd May. The
war at sea, initially a triumph of successful
risk-taking by the Germans but which quickly
went downhill for them, is covered in outline.
The main action is the struggle between the
German Mountain Division, defending Narvik,
and the Allies attacking.
The four battalions of the Polish Brigade
disembarked on 7th May and spent the rest
of the month dislodging about two German
battalions. The actions of the Poles are
described in considerable detail and offer
a set of excellent scenarios. There is very
little from the German side, which is a pity.
The action is made more piquant by the
challenges of logistics, weather, and terrain,
with four feet of snow and blizzards. In the
course of the three weeks in action the
Poles lost about 15% of their combatants,
a high proportion for novice troops on their
first outing, which speaks volumes to the
professionalism of the leadership.
The sting in the tail was that the whole
operation was overshadowed by Germany’s
attack in the West on 19th May 1940, leading
to the recall of the Allied Force as it retook
Narvik. Even more sad is the fact that the
Polish Brigade arrived back in Brittany with
hardly any equipment in the closing moments
of the Campaign in France, and the Brigade
was largely overrun and dispersed. Only
a fraction of them managed to escape to
England to carry on the fight.
So this is stirring stuff. However, there are
two areas of weakness in the book. The first
is that the author tends to transcribe reports
rather than to analyse them. This is repetitive
and ponderous. At the top level there are
daily reports back to London, mainly long
shopping lists of equipment needed, which
could have easily been summarised. At the
lower level the reports of patrol and platoon
actions are excellent, but would have been
made outstanding with the addition of
relevant maps.
What is it about maps that so offends
authors I wonder? As an example, the
deployment of the Polish Brigade on 19th May
is described in detail, but of the six locations
mentioned, only two can be found on the map
supplied. Later, the fights for spot heights on
ridges are described, but the book is devoid of
an identified elevation, not ideal for those who
do not have the 1:50,000 map of Narvik.
However good the writing is, the lack of
mapping is a real draw-back. Good maps
would have transformed this worthy coverage
of a forgotten campaign. Without maps it is
recommended, but no more, for the wargamer
keen on actions in 1940.
John Drewienkiewicz

FIELD MARSHAL
Daniel Butler | Casemate | 2017 | £15.99 | softback | 599 pages | ISBN:9781612005669 |
casematepublishers.co.uk

As the author notes, ask anyone to give the name of a field marshal, and they’ll probably pick ‘Rommel’….
This appears to be a fairly balanced biography, covering his weaknesses as well as his strengths, in
a very readable style, and with strong research across a good range of sources. Around half the book
recounts his experiences in North Africa, in terms that will be familiar to many MW readers – conflicts with
his superiors and allies, a daring attitude that focused on his opponents’ difficulties rather than his own, and
a highly effective leadership style compared to dismal British performances. There are some interesting
photographs, but no maps.
I am not sure how much this book adds significantly to our knowledge of Rommel, but it is an engaging
human story, with medium-level descriptions of the fighting and the key factors that influenced defeat or victory.
Chris Jarvis

62 Miniature Wargames May 2018

59_64_recce JT.indd 62 23/03/2018 16:10

 THE CRIMEAN WAR THEN & NOW
By David R. Jones | Frontline books | 2017 | £35.00 | hardback |
394 pages | ISBN: 978-1-84832-491-6 | frontline-books.com

The Crimean War was one of the first from Google Earth, with troop positions
to be recorded via the new medium of and fortifications superimposed upon them,
photography. Many of the images taken which – perhaps because of their small size
by Roger Fenton, James Robertson and – offer little that one could not see on a more
his brother in law, Felice Beato, have conventional map or diagram.
become familiar to modern readers from A list of Sources of Information and
being frequently reproduced in books on Additional Reading occupies two pages,
the war or individual battles, as have the followed by an eleven page index to the text
sketches, watercolours and engravings of and two useful, separate indices of the 1854-
William Simpson. 56 image titles, arranged by photographer,
In this lavishly illustrated book, David R. and the images by Vladislav Klembovsky, in
Jones contrasts these contemporary images an album published by the Museum of the
of the Crimea, together with photographs Defence of Sevastopol in 1904. GERMANY IN THE GREAT
of the battlefields taken by Colonel Vladislav A veritable feast for the eye and an WAR : WESTERN FRONT
Klembovsky of the Russian Army in the early unusual, original approach to the subject that FIRST YEAR
years of the twentieth century, with his own will be most appreciated by those planning By Joshua Bilton | Pen & Sword |
colour photographs, taken between 2010 a visit to the Crimea, who will find it a most 2017 | £14.99 | softback |
and 2012. helpful guide to Balaklava and the battlefields. 134 pages | ISBN:1473827418 |
In his three page introduction the author Arthur Harman pen-and-sword.co.uk
states that his purpose is to reveal “where
important military actions within battles Despite the title this book – the
occurred and where these places can be second one in a series of five – it
found on the modern landscape. In addition,
this book identifies where the artist stood
covers quite a bit more than just
Germany on the Western Front: there’s ›
to record the scene and the significance of also the Eastern Front, the Middle
the location. Each contrasting pair of ‘then’ East and Africa and, apart from the
and ‘now’ images is also accompanied by expected Germans, it also shows
an account of the historical significance of Austro-Hungarian forces, Turkish
the site. The illustrations are supported by troops, Boer, Askaris, civilians and
an account of the invasion of the Crimea even ships. Most of the photographs
and the subsequent events up until the final are of soldiers at rest or posing with
departure of allied troops.” their equipment but there’s more than
Appendix 1 gives informative profiles of a few showing civilian life as well as a
the principal photographers and artists whose few disturbing photos of hangings.
work appears in the book. Appendix 2 has Captions provide useful background
four colour maps based upon aerial images information but unfortunately most of
the translations are wrong (in one case
completely ruining a joke on a German
postcard). These, and a few eyebrow-
FIGHTING WITH THE FILTHY THIRTEEN raising mix-ups in the introduction to
Womer and Devito | Casemate | 2018 | £14.99
each chapter, would be reason enough
| softback | 312 pages | ISBN:9781612005638 |
to hand it a blindfold and a cigarette but
casematepublishers.co.uk
it gets away with a pardon for being a
splendid pictorial reference and not a
The author was a member of the US 101st Airborne
history text. The cover mentions Neuve
Division, after initial training as a Ranger under the
Chapelle, First Ypres and Loos and this
auspices of the British commando school. His squad’s
is sure to disappoint some buyers as
infamously robust attitude to army life was apparently the
they barely feature in the book. Other
inspiration for the film ‘The Dirty Dozen’ (hence this title).
than that, the wide scope of the book
This is a very personal account of some tough men
and the fact that it contains over 400
facing tough combat, giving a good feel for infantry
photos means it offers something for
action at squad level. But probably a disciplinary
everyone interested in the Great War.
nightmare for his platoon commander….
William De Prêtre
Chris Jarvis

May 2018 Miniature Wargames 63

59_64_recce JT.indd 63 23/03/2018 16:10

 WHAT’S NEW | BOOKS FOR WARGAMERS

EXPERIENCES OF A YOUNG BRITISH OFFICER IN INDIA, 1845-1849

Charles Nedham; edited by Peter Harrington | Helion and Company| 2017 |
£16.95 | softback |102 pages | ISBN: 978-1-910294-38-3 | helion.co.uk

Charles Nedham, born in 1825, the pencil drawings – over twenty are reproduced
youngest son of Major General William in the book – are quite skilfully executed
Nedham by his second wife, was and his three annotated battle diagrams
gazetted to the 84th Regiment of Foot complement his accounts of those actions.
in February 1845, transferred to the 10th The editor, Peter Harrington, the Curator of
Foot in March of the same year and was the Anne S.K. Brown Military Library at Brown
promoted lieutenant in August 1848. University, Providence, Rhode Island, provides
This volume is an edited edition of his a five and a half page introduction, with full
manuscript journal, based on an earlier diary, biographical information about Nedham’s family
which he completed in 1849. It covers his and his subsequent military career, a very useful
voyage to India in 1845 and alphabetic Index of Persons,
describes his service with with their biographical details
the 10th Foot in that country, as of 1845-1849, and a two
ending with his experiences page Glossary of Indian
in the Second Sikh War of words and abbreviations
PETER THE GREAT HUMBLED
1848-1849, illustrated by used in the text. A two page
Nicholas Dorrell | Helion | 2018
the author’s battle diagrams Index concludes the book.
| £19.95 | softback | 104 pages |
and drawings of buildings, This book is an entertaining
ISBN:9781911512318 | helion.co.uk
tombs, boats and views. account of Nedham’s
Nedham participated in siege personal experiences of army
Flushed with his success against Charles
operations before Multan, life in India, on campaign and
XII of Sweden at Poltava in 1709, Peter the
the action at Surajkund in battle. Some readers may
Great of Russia sought further triumphs
on 7th November 1848, recoil from his casual use of
against the Ottoman Empire, hence the
the capture of the Dowlat racist language to describe
Russo-Ottoman war of 1711, described
Gate and the surrender both the sepoys and the
herein.
of the city, and later saw enemy that is completely
The author combines well the military
action at the Battle of unacceptable today, and his
aspects – armies, commanders, systems,
Gujerat on 21st February 1849. unthinking sense of superiority and entitlement,
and the main battle of Pruth – with good
The journal is typical of many such accounts but his attitudes were quite typical of young
background on the political and strategic
by subalterns: Nedham wrote vivid descriptions men of his class and upbringing at the time.
issues at stake. Writing style is good, with
of his own experiences and sometimes It will primarily appeal to those interested in
three fair but unscaled maps showing the
criticised his superiors and the conduct of early Victorian colonial campaigns in general,
key elements of the actions around the
the campaign, but his perspective on events and the Second Sikh War in particular.
Pruth river. There are sixteen full-colour
was obviously limited by his junior rank. His Arthur Harman
illustrations of troop types, including some
of re-enactment groups.
These actions offer a riot of colour and THE IRAN-IRAQ WAR VOLUME 3: IRAQ’S TRIUMPH
eclectic troop nationalities. The Russian Hooton, Cooper and Nadimi | Helion | 2018 | £19.95 | softback | 80 pages |
infantry alone had at least six different ISBN:9781911512448 | helion.co.uk
colours of coats, plus Moldavian allies.
On the Ottoman side, there were Turkish As per my previous reviews of Volumes 1 and 2, this is an excellent series, describing primarily
janissaries, regular and irregular infantry at operational level the actions in this severely attritional conflict. Full-colour maps, and superb
and cavalry, Tatars, Cossacks, Poles colour and black and white photographs, combine with a
(including a small number of those glorious good writing style and a balanced profile of military and
winged hussars), and – for campaign political activities.
purposes – a contingent of the Swedish This war saw the use of a vast range of Western and
army ‘refugees’ who had escaped the other equipment, as both sides sought frantically to replace
disaster in the North. The action on the equipment losses from anyone willing to sell (and there were
Pruth would make an excellent multi-part plenty willing to do so). Operationally, you have the unusual
series of actions, with each side in turn aspect of large-scale flooding to create anti-armour defences,
taking the initiative and culminating in the plus extensive berms and anti-tank ditches. Strictly speaking
siege of the entrenched Russian army, I suppose you would need to repaint your Central European
incorporating wild Janissary charges Soviet and NATO forces, but the temptation to go straight
against partial field defences followed by to the actions is very strong, with a mixture of assault river
more cautious attacks spaced around the crossings, break-ins through fixed defences, counter-attacks
Russian perimeter... from mobile reserves, and typically on a 20-30 km front.
Chris Jarvis Chris Jarvis

64 Miniature Wargames May 2018

59_64_recce JT.indd 64 23/03/2018 16:12

 C

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p065.indd 1 21/03/2018 11:32

 HOW TO | MODELLING GUIDE

SWAMPY RIVER
THE CONTINUING TALES OF A WARGAMES WIDOW
Diane Sutherland is up the creek…
Words and photography Diane Sutherland

The curved section in action on the table

for the Poltava 1709 recreation at Crisis
in Antwerp in 2017. All figures by Warfare
Miniatures and painted by the wargamer.

66 Miniature Wargames May 2018

66-69wargamesWidow JT.indd 66 27/03/2018 09:23

 T
here’s nothing quite so dispiriting
than being asked to make
something that doesn’t really
matter and will feature on the edge of the
table… somewhere. A somewhere so far
away from the action that no one is even
likely to notice it’s there at all. There’s also
nothing more dismal than being asked to
make a swampy river. Granted, I live in
East Anglia and have been on the Norfolk
Broads, which is about as close to a
swampy river as I’m ever likely to venture
(mind you my cousin does live near the
Great Dismal Swamp in Virginia).
On the upside of all this was that not
only did it see off the very last of the
roofing felt roll I’ve been desperate to
jettison for months, but it also witnessed
the departure of the last few off-cuts
of Astro-turf that the wargamer had
squirreled away.
The wargamer had drawn out a rather
good, scaled sketch of the battlefield of
Poltava (to be some 20 x 6 foot in size
when finished). At one end were my
redoubts, my roads snaked majestically
across the table past my charred villages
and into a large tented fortified camp
I had made him (see several previous
issues! Ed.). Stuck away on the end of the
table, running three-quarters of the way
across a six foot expanse was The Great
Ouvrage. From what I could see from the
maps and illustrations there was nothing
‘great’ about it: it looked more of a scrubby
Cossack-infested nightmare to me! By
the way, the term ‘ouvrage’ is apparently
French and is more associated with
defensive forts on the Maginot Line than a
swampy river in the Ukraine.
Taking the sketch map of the battlefield
into account I worked out that I needed
to make five straight sections and one
curve. This project was for a single specific
purpose rather than a terrain piece that
could be used for various things and the
idea was to run the five straights across
the table, then the curve at the end so the
swampy river exits the table’s edge. When
you are using inaccessible areas like this
you don’t really want them taking up too
much fighting room (unless they had a
significant impact on the flow of the battle,
of course). The wargamer had orientated
the battlefield around so that the main
Russian fieldworks were square to the
table edge and the bulk of the table-top
was open ground. The pesky swampy river
66-69wargamesWidow JT.indd 67
only served as a piece of blocking terrain
(in the real battle) to prevent the Swedes
from flanking the Russian camp.
All in all I wanted about six foot of
swampy river. The great thing about
roofing felt (or shingles in the US) is that
it is heavy and it will flatten out, even
though it usually comes supplied in a roll.
Just bringing it into the house or leaving it
out in the sun will deal with any creases
or wrinkles (I wish it worked the same on 1. A broad and wavy section of roofing felt. This
the wargamer…). was around 6” wide and about 12” long. Note
I opted for 12” long sections of that I have marked the “watery” area out as well,
around 6-8” in width and I cut them so about 3” wide.
that they could be put together in any
configuration. I also marked the river
section in the middle and made sure that
the 3” or so width of this matched on
each swamp section. I would recommend
rough cutting your swamp river sections
and then trimming them and marking
the river widths by placing the sections
against one another to check the exact
width needed. Within the individual
sections you can vary the width of the
river without any problems.
2. Place the roughly cut clumps of Astro-turf at
My wargamer is a bit of a magpie irregular intervals along the banks of the river and
(actually a gross understatement there): he
gets a bee in his bonnet and impetuously
fix with a hot glue gun. ›
acquires way too much of what he has
decreed that he needs. For example, he
has – untouched and still in the box – a
54mm scale Wild West train with track
and carriages. I know he has had this
for at least a dozen years but… recently,
he bought a 25mm version. No, I don’t
know why either. So it was with Astro-
turf: whether the wargamer actually
ever seriously considered digging up my
lawn and replacing it with rubber backed
plastic fake grass I don’t know. What I do
know is that virtually every manufacturer 3. Use a medium sized flat brush to apply a mix of
or supplier of Astro-turf in Europe (and paint and filler to the banks of the river sections.
Work the paint into the gaps around the Astro-turf.
possibly beyond) sent samples of their
wares and now regularly emails me with
Astro-turf based solutions for my garden!
Needless to say, we have a natural grass
lawn but I do have draws full of samples…
or I should have said I did! Most of it was
converted into rice paddies and they now
live in Western Australia: I’m not sure I’ve
done my bit for global warming with that
one… Anyway, I grabbed half a dozen
from the supply, leaving him three or four
samples, and proceeded to chop them up
into manageable tufts. I used something
like six to eight per river section: you need 4. Carefully create the bank edge by running the
to cut them to fit your muddy swampy brush along the length of the river section.
May 2018 Miniature Wargames 67
27/03/2018 10:18
 HOW TO | MODELLING GUIDE
area, so mine were no bigger than a couple
of inches square. Mostly, they were short
strips about 2 x 1” or thereabouts. It’s
really down to you and depends on how
thick you want the tall reedy grasses.
Having seen real marshy areas the tall
reeds are much bigger than a human being
and almost impossible to penetrate. Before
you stick them down, try and snip off any
excess rubber matting if you can: you will
find that the better Astro-turf is woven into
the matting (which is black). I stuck these
down with dollops of hot glue and pressed
down on them to get a secure hold.
Now it’s time to get messy, I mixed
some tile adhesive, paint and PVA together
to create a grainy paste. The trick is to
make sure that it is runny enough to paint
on, but not too runny as to leave a smooth
surface. You want some texture and the
gloop needs to be capable of adhering to
the surface without rolling up and covering
up some of the black matting of the Astro-
turf (although this isn’t critical) . This is the
messiest part of the project, but – on the
plus side – you have the river part of the
sections to hold on to, not that I managed
to avoid dipping my nails into the gloop
now and again.
You might need to give the banks
one thorough pass with the brushed on
gloop and then go back and check you
have textured all of the area. You might
also need to add some gloop around the
clumps of Astro-turf if you have gaping
voids. As you are layering on a fairly thick
coat of the gloop it will take some time
to dry. You need to be patient with it, but
you can get on with the next stage if you
are careful.
It may appear to be a pointless exercise,
but I decided to paint the black roofing
felt that would represent the river… black.
Don’t worry it’s only an undercoat and it
serves to clearly differentiate the watery
part from the muddy bit. It’s a tidying up
exercise really and gives you a chance to
create some nice smooth edges for the
riverbank. I used cheap black craft paint as
nothing fancy is needed for this.
I pondered long and hard (well about five
minutes, actually) about the colour of the
water. I had toyed with the idea of making
it muddy looking with brown tones, but –
in some cases – you need to exaggerate
the difference to make it look right. I
found a tester pot of blue-green paint
and plastered it onto the river surface.
68 Miniature Wargames May 2018
66-69wargamesWidow JT.indd 68
Brush in the direction of water flow and
be generous with the coat. I gave each
section three or four coats to make sure.
You can easily create your own blue-green
by mixing a little black, blue and green
together. Don’t mix it too thoroughly and
leave it a little “streaky”. This will give you a
nice effect for the water.
The next thing to do (assuming that your
muddy banks are dry) is to break open the
Army Painter Quick Shade or wood stain
paint. Give all of the mud a good coat of
5. The river sections looking temptingly like they
the stuff. It doesn’t matter too much if you
have been coated with chocolate ganache.
get some of it on the river. I think a little
brownish colouration around the banks is a
good thing and looks like the mud is being
churned up by the water flow. I found that
the Army Painter sank into the gloop and
dried matte but that really depends on
your gloop ‘mix’. Perhaps I was fortunate
that the main binding agent for the gloop
was tile adhesive and – like a lot of these
products – they are quite absorbent and
take pigments well. They also do not seem
to dry as hard or crumbly as wall filler.
Nonetheless, you might need to go around
the mud parts more than once to get into 7. Paint the river with a blue-black paint to make
all of the texturing. the water look murky and thick with mud.
Impatient as ever and knowing the
inordinate length of time it takes for the
Army Painter Quick Shade to dry off and
harden, I broke open the tin of yacht
varnish. I’ve tried lots of brands, some of
them European brands in Greece designed
to be used on the quaint little fishing
boats, but none of them are as good as
Wilkinson’s Gloss. Let me say two things
first: no smell and no turps. Enough said
really! After the pungent aroma of the
Army Painter Quick Shade – and the fact it
9. Apply a generous coat (or two) of yacht varnish
ruins brushes even if you immerse them
to the river sections.
in white spirit, turps or eco-friendly brush
cleaners – this stuff is a joy to use. Shake
the tin, pop it open and… no smell (well is like a varnish but has the properties
hardy any). Then apply it in nice thick coats of a boiled sweet when it is dry, brittle
and wash your brush in soapy water. For and prone to cracking, much like a sugar
those of you facing divorce or worse on shard on Bakeoff!
account of your use of Army Painter I’d I gave the muddy areas a very light
love to see you experiment with the matte dry brush with a fawn colour: not too
or satin version of this yacht varnish. I much, but just enough to pick up the very
reckon a few drops of brown or black ink tops of the texturing. The last job was to
would do the same job. hide any trace of the rubber backing on
The Wilkinson’s yacht varnish dries the Astro-turf. I opted for the unsubtle
overnight and hardens off leaving a approach of plastering the edges with
real sheen and sense of movement in PVA and dumping copious amounts of
the water. Not only that, but it is still static grass onto it. If your swamp base
flexible. I have used Woodland Scenics was made from MDF or some other more
Water Effects in the past; essentially it rigid material then it would have been
23/03/2018 16:14
 6. Undercoat the watery part of the sections with
black to clearly define your river and provide a
base coat for the other stages.
8. Apply a coat of Army Painter Quick Shade to the
muddy river banks.
10. Apply PVA and static grass around the Astro-
turf clumps to hide the rubberised mat.
possible to build up a really thick layer of
filler or gloop around these rubber mat
edges but I was concerned that – with
the flexible nature of the roofing felt – that
a hard and thick lump of filler would just
crack or break off.
In the end, the static grass gave the
sections another colour lift and looked
pretty good. Never able to set something
aside, I found some round static grass tufts
with coloured flowers and decided that I
would place some of these here and there
as marsh plants. In my haste to find some
adhesive I grabbed one of the wargamers
most recent purchases – Gorilla Glue.
66-69wargamesWidow JT.indd 69
11. The river is finished off with a Warfare Miniatures Russian infantry regiment posed for scaling
purposes.
Never used the stuff before and had no
idea of the horrors that lay ahead!
When you squeeze this stuff out it looks
and smells a bit like UHU or Evostick. It is
slightly brownish in colour and looks like
normal contact adhesive. In all innocence
I fixed the little flower tufts in place and
stepped back to admire my work. No one
had warned me about what was now going
to happen. The Gorilla Glue began to
expand and turn into foam. Not excessively
so, but it took on the appearance of gap
filling expanding foam rather than contact
adhesive. Apparently it is meant to do this!!
So be warned and learn from my mistakes! ■
Note from the Editor: Gorilla Glue
is fantastic for sticking big things –
especially foam – as it sets without
worry between even large sheets
of the stuff. But make sure it’s used
on materials that you can clamp
together, or stuff that’s so heavy
that it can’t or won’t move: I have
stuck some large blocks of insulation
foam together with it and it has been
highly sucessful. I have also glued
several bricks back into a garden wall
on exactly that basis. But – as the
Wargames Widow had pointed out
– for small things like this it is very
tricky stuff indeed!
May 2018 Miniature Wargames 69
27/03/2018 09:24
 Peter Pig Peter Pig Peter Pig

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p070.indd 1 20/03/2018 09:57

 WWW WARGAMING WEB WORLD
How to set up and
manage an online
wargaming community
by Simon Parsons
Words, and photographs by Simon Parsons
Note from the Editor: As someone
who seems to fare badly with on-line
forums (as I mentioned in a previous
editorial, I have managed to get myself
kicked off of more than one of them
and avoid many others – and even
Facebook – whenever I can) this seemed
a good time to publish this piece with
some helpful tips and guidance!
ABOVE World War One Russian Cossacks break
through assaulting German infantry at the inaugural
“Square Bashing” Day, held at Battlefield Hobbies
in Daventry (a wonderful and conveniently-located
venue that boasts a hobby shop to tempt the stoutest
resolve!). Peter Pig figures, painted by “Lurkio”.
RIGHT The front page of the RFCM forum.
71-74RFCM JT.indd 71
INTRODUCTION WHAT IS RFCM?
›
We live in an age of real-time digital Peter Pig is a UK-based company focusing
communication, which has many mainly on 15mm figures and 1/100th scale
applications even for such a traditional vehicles. RFCM – a contraction of Rules For
“analogue” hobby as ours. Internet chat the Common Man – are a system which is
rooms allow gamers from across the world also produced by Peter Pig, but with “user
to share their thoughts, experiences and community” input through a willing band
tips in a way unimaginable for those of us of volunteer play-testers. A new or refreshed
brought up on Airfix guides and the odd ruleset is published roughly each year, often
monthly magazine. accompanied by a new range of figures,
This article discusses some of the key additions to an existing range or re-sculpts
points to consider when setting up and of current figures.
maintaining such a community,
using one that I have been involved
with – the Peter Pig-dedicated
RFCM Forum rulesforcommonman.
uk/smf – as a practical case study. I
hope that this will offer sufficiently
detailed guidance for readers to
set up, populate and moderate
one for themselves. Such an online
community may be appropriate
for physical clubs; show
organisers; rules producers; figures
and scenery makers and other
hobby interest groups. So, to use
my example…
May 2018 Miniature Wargames 71
23/03/2018 16:20
 GUIDE TO | ONLINE GAMES COMMUNITIES
SETTING UP A FORUM
The “platform” for our on-line community
uses free, open source software from the
Simple Machines Forum (simplemachines.
org) for it’s basic structure. Support for
this includes both an online manual
and an active SMF community, with the
software itself being the object of ongoing
development and improvement whilst
adhering to its original, stated goals of
being “simple, elegant, powerful, and
free”. However, SMF is just one of many
open source forum options: others include
phpBB, MyBB, bbPress and Phorum.
Although the software itself is free, it
does need to be “hosted”: it needs to reside
on a computer somewhere. Fortunately, it
is now both easy and relatively cheap to
use an Internet Service Provider (ISP) to
host your site, where one can install both
the software and then store user content.
Having at least someone in the group with
IT skills is very handy in creating such
an online forum! If you don’t have the
skills to set up your own hosted solution
as described above, you can use Tapatalk
which provides rather more guidance.
However, functionality is more limited, and
users will have to put up with adverts.
Tapatalk is an application to allow access
to Internet forums on mobile devices
(tapatalk.com). The application was
originally designed for Android but now
also supports iOS and Windows Phone.
Tapatalk allows the user to have a unified
interface to access multiple forums at the
same time.
SMF offers a bulletin board system whose
look and feel, as well as structure and
content, are configurable by one or more
72 Miniature Wargames May 2018
71-74RFCM JT.indd 72
administrators. Users can browse without
registering (but then cannot post or track
messages they have read) or, ideally, create
a user name and password to become a
signed-up member of the community.
As well as managing the visible content,
administrators have access to some simple
statistics: things like user details, last access,
number of posts, etc. At the time of writing,
we have 196 members on the RFCM Forum,
who have collectively made 7,809 posts
across 1,012 topics! Members can also send
each other private emails via the Forum.
While many of the more prolific posters
know each other, most users choose an
online pseudonym for a degree of privacy
on what is, after all, an online message board
accessible to anyone in the world with a web
browser. (Ah… ‘usernames’ and ‘pseudonyms’
and ‘web anonymity’: don’t get me started! Ed.)
PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS
There are some sensible ground rules that
probably need to be outlined to help thing
run smoothly:
FOCUS OF FORUM & RULES FOR USERS
Any kind of online community needs
a clearly-stated focus, as well as some
guidance on use. Having looked at how
other such groups manage these issues, at
the RFCM Forum we created:
· a general Forum Overview (rulesforcommon
man.uk/smf/index.php?topic=396.0), stating
the overall context and aiming to set the
general tone of discussion
· a Code of Conduct (rulesforcommonman.
uk/smf/index.php?topic=397.0), providing
both practical guidance on how to best to
use the Forum, as well as some rules by
which we ask all users to abide.
“Patrols in the Sudan” game at the 2017 “Piggy
Weekender” in Weymouth. A British column just
setting out on its mission is ambushed on both
flanks by Dervishes. Figures by Peter Pig; painting
and scratch-built scenery by Leslie Beilby-Tipping.
RIGHT Wild West action in a playtest by Forum
members of the forthcoming “Western” rules. A
force of cowboys prepares to make a stand and
protect the stagecoach. Figures and scenery
by Peter Pig, all painted by Stewart Meecham;
playing mat by www.tinywargames.co.uk
BELOW Wild West action in a playtest by Forum
members of the forthcoming “Western” rules.
Figures and scenery by Peter Pig, all painted
by Stewart Meecham; playing mat by www.
tinywargames.co.uk
To date, everyone has behaved
themselves and we host a very polite and
good-natured community of wargamers!
FORUM STRUCTURE
The basic structure of the RFCM message
board is relatively simple and has stood the
test of time since it went live in June 2016.
Most types of forum follow a similar pattern
but it’s worth laying it out here, I think.
With a banner and drop-down menu at the
top of the web page, the content is divided
into foursections, as follows:
1. News: this has rolling banner headlines,
each with an image and a hyperlink
to click on for more information.
Newsworthy items include shows and
games days; new rules and Forum
competitions
2. RFCM Discussion: this includes a
range of fixed headings, under which
a large number of themed threads has
developed.
3. Rules: in this area, there is a section
for each of the eighteen current
RFCM period-specific rule sets to be
discussed, including areas for rules
queries, scenarios and user-suggested
amendments. Similar forums might well
have different rule sets but we all play
games with rules, right?
4. Information Centre: This area
summarises recent posts, it includes
23/03/2018 16:20
 the number of users currently online
and alerts the user to any pending
personal messages.
There is also a “secret” sandbox
area, for private discussions within the
administrator team.
To encourage user involvement, many
forums use encouragement icons (stars,
thumbs etc). On the RFCM users may be
assigned different statuses and receive
accompanying “piggy” themed icons (e.g.
Piglet, Domestic Pig, etc.) and these are
awarded as one clocks up more posts!
FORUM USE
Any registered Forum member can create
or contribute to theme-based threads within
the predefined topic groups. In addition,
unread posts are marked at both the landing
page view and at the thread level within
each topic for logged-on members. This
feature further encourages involvement
from users, making it easy to see what they
have or have not read yet.
Each post allows users to enter text (with
a number of formatting options) as well
as ‘emoticons’ (I’ll give that a big thumbs up.
Ed). Images (which must already be hosted
elsewhere) can be readily included using the
following standard message board format:
the web-address of the image required is
‘topped and tailed’ by the letters in square
71-74RFCM JT.indd 73
brackets, so – for example – one types:
[img] www.myblog.war/image35.jpg [/img]
ROLE OF ADMINISTRATORS & MODERATORS
The RFCM administrators – like all
those who run these sort of on-line
communities – are there to help users with
logistical questions about the forum and
its functionality; identify those technical
issues that do arise from time to time;
moderate discussions where appropriate
and help encourage conversations. We
found it helpful to formally define our
administrator role as follows:
· To encourage and stimulate
conversations and debate.
· To ‘police’ any bad behaviour (i.e.
behaviour which is not in line with
the stated rules or spirit of the
Forum).
· To help out with technical issues
that may arise: a very common one
involves posting pictures.
›
· To lead by example (producing our
own posts; responding to requests for
advice; welcoming new joiners, etc.).
So far, I have found my role as an
administrator of the RFCM forum to be
more of a pleasure than a chore, and it’s
particularly gratifying when we’ve been
able to give people guidance on how to
address painting or modelling techniques,
answer rules queries or point to useful
reference material.
PAYING FOR IT ALL
As outlined above, although the Forum
software itself is free, the third-party servers
to run it on do need paying for. While text
takes up little storage, photographs and
videos can rapidly gobble up server space.
As a policy, users are therefore asked to
store their photographs elsewhere online
and enter links to them to “pull” the
images through to the Forum. This practical
May 2018 Miniature Wargames 73
23/03/2018 16:20
 GUIDE TO | ONLINE GAMES COMMUNITIES
approach has not, however, been without its
own problems (on which more below).
As with other such online communities,
we ask users to become a “supporter”, and
donate a sum of money (one-off or regular)
that they feel appropriate. Those that have
done so have a “Supporter” icon (with the
year of support included) noted next to their
identity icon.
PROBLEMS & RESOLUTION
The first problem we had was a bunch of
people (or more likely “bots”: automatic
posting computers designed to flood
systems such as ours) who were posting
texts that had nothing to do with the
subject matter and inviting us to click on
suspicious-looking links. These attacks were
quickly shut down by tweaking some filters
and, at the risk of tempting fate, we have
been free of hacking attempts since then.
We have very occasionally had
instances where a thread looks to be
upsetting someone: this never seems to
be intentional, but is a by-product of short-
hand communications in this digital age
(that’s certainly the excuse I’ve used in the
past… Ed.). When this has happened, the
community has always waded in and
dampened things down.
Our biggest issue to date has probably
been storage of images hosted elsewhere,
via the online site Photobucket. It has
recently-introduced charges for hosting
74 Miniature Wargames May 2018
71-74RFCM JT.indd 74
content and – in consequence – several of
our more prolific posters have thus found
their previously-inserted artwork replaced
by a rather unsightly image warning users
to “please update your account to enable 3rd
party hosting”.
Members are thus gradually moving
off of Photobucket and are using other
hosting sites such as Flickr.com, Imgur.
com, ImageShack.com or TinyPic.com as
image hosting sites. The last one is my
personal favourite: you simply upload the
photo and get a down-sized image ready
for linking to, without any need to create
an account or log in.
BENEFITS
The RFCM Forum has provided the means to
operate an online global “club” with nearly
200 members to whom it provides inspiration
and feedback. This virtual community comes
together physically a number of times each
year for RFCM-themed games days around
the UK, open to all.
Additionally, Peter Pig is provided with
customer feedback in real time, while the
Forum allows members to lobby for figures
and models they would like produced.
Obviously, we all think this is all a ‘good
thing’ and could be reproduced for any
hobby orientated group or rule system.
CONCLUSION
To conclude, the RFCM Forum has
reinvigorated and grown a global
community of enthusiasts, helping them
exchange news, tips and banter with
postings that have provided inspiration and
pleasure to many. I hope that it will inspire
readers both to visit our Forum, and to try
something similar for themselves. ■
ABOVE A Spanish Civil War game being played by
members of the Forum. Figures, armoured car and
chimneys by Peter Pig. Buildings by SHQ. Painting by
Martin Goddard and “Dave the painter”.
LEFT “Patrols in the Sudan” game at the 2017 “Piggy
Weekender” in Weymouth. The British column nears
its objective only to be met by another horde of
Dervishes. Figures by Peter Pig; painting and scratch-
built scenery by Leslie Beilby-Tipping.
23/03/2018 16:21
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THE HUNGRY DRAGON BATTLEUX OXFORD ON BOARD Grangemouth, FK3 8QR York, YO24 1AQ
GAMES NIGHT WARGAMES CLUB Oxford, OX4 1EA SCIMITAR WARGAMES
Manchester, M21 0AE Uxbridge, UB10 0RY SUFFOLK GROUP HEADINGLEY GAMES CLUB
OXFORD OUTRIDERS BURY ST EDMUNDS Coventry, CV3 5GT Leeds, LS6 3HN
THE LIVERPOOL DICE CLUB Oxford, OX1 4AG BOARD GAMING GROUP
WARGAMES Uxbridge, UB10 0RY Bury St. Edmunds, PLAY MORE GAMES! HOLMFIRTH GAMING
ASSOCIATION (LWA) SHROPSHIRE IP30 9LH Solihull, B90 3GG CENTRE
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BOARD GAMERS Haverhill, CB9 8AU ASSOCIATION Hull, HU1 3HG
Liverpool, L3 8HE TABLETOP TUESDAYS E-COLLECTICA GAMES Bognor Regis, PO21 5EU
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PLAYERS GAMING CLUB London, NW1 2JU Shrewsbury, SY1 2DT WARGAMING SOCIETY LEEDS NIGHT OWLS
Loughborough, LE12 8DT IPSWICH BOARD GAMERS Bognor Regis, PO21 5SB Leeds, LS6 1LJ
MIDLOTHIAN STAGS TELFORD Ipswich, IP3 0FS
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Leicester, LE1 3JR OF GAMERS Telford, TF1 1LU IPSWICH COUNTY LIBRARY GAMING CLUB ROTHERHAM
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DE MONTFORT Norwich, NR3 4HX WARGAMES CLUB Sheffield, S8 0PS
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KINGS LYNN RPG & WARGAMES CLUB SIEGEBREAKERS
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Leicester, LE3 0QU NORWICH BOARD GAMERS CLUB BOARD IN THE LIST YOUR CLU
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London, SW18 2PT
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BOSTON TABLETOP TAS GAMING CLUB THE FROME BOARD SEE FULL CLU
GAMERS King’s Lynn, PE34 4SJ GAMES CLUB HAMPTON COURT GAMING CLUB DETAILS ONLINB
Boston, PE21 6QQ
NORTH YORKSHIRE
Frome, BA11 1PU GAMES CLUB
East Molesey, KT8 0BT
BRADFORD
Bradford, BD1 2DX AT tabletopgaming.co.ukE
GRANTHAM FRIENDLY YORK GARRISON TRINITY WARGAMING
GAMERS WARGAMING CLUB CLUB REIGATE WARGAMES GROUP HALIFAX BOARD GAMERS
Grantham, NG31 6LJ York, YO32 4AQ Taunton, TA1 3JG Reigate, RH2 0NA Halifax, HX1 1SJ

May 2018 Miniature Wargames 77

76_77clubDirectory.indd 77 23/03/2018 16:21

 s
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Th la el sh

MINIATURES
d
mo

www.fromemodelcentre.com – 28mm Wargame Figures –

E: sales@frome-model-centre.com Malta 1565

Last stand of the Knights of St John

Independent, family run

model shop. Years of
experience and the most
diverse model collection all
under one roof!
Next day mail
service available SIDE BY SIDE THEY STOOD IN THE BREACH
on all in stock
products! FIRST RELEASES
BROTHERS IN ARMOUR
THE KNIGHTS OF ST JOHN

www.twoprinces miniatures .co.uk

• T: 01373 465295 • F: 01373 451468 Email: janval@twoprinces miniatures.co.uk
1-2 Catherine Street, Frome, Somerset, BA11 1DA

Turn your Lead to Gold!

Triton 1/1250 accessories Is the loft threatening to collapse? Are you ever going to paint those
figures? Would you like the cash to start another period or scale?

I buy collections of painted or unpainted figures, any make or scale

including Games Workshop and historical figures. Also Board Games,
RPGs, model kits, books and terrain.

I will buy your entire collection (not just the good bits), pay in cash, and
collect the items from your door. No distance is too far!
These are just two of our interesting range of painted harbour buildings
and our land transport pack. Also available are harbour modules, barges,
Contact me on 07914 609709, email: bigbadwolf@btconnect.com
tugs and accessories. Some of our models are available unpainted.
or write to Rob Palmier, 23 Clanfield Avenue, Wolverhampton,
Why not take a look West Midlands WV11 2QU
www.navymodelsandbooks.co.uk
info@navymodelsandbooks.co.uk Tel: 07413403154

3D printed plastic wargame models - All scales

Tanks – APCs – Terrain – Camps

www.butlersprintedmodels.co.uk

p078.indd 1 22/03/2018 10:28

 PAINTING SERVICES
Figurepainting.co.uk Established, friendly and professional
figure painting service and scenery building service.
• Email: ross@figurepainting.co.uk
• Tel: 07583138834
The Studio, 10 Lansdale Drive, CF38 1PG
Shakespeare Studios Friendly and reliable professional painting
services. All periods/scales painted to showcase standard at
affordable prices. Quick turnaround on all orders. For further
information
• Email: s.studios@btinternet.com
• Tel: 0775 1648053
• Website: shakespearestudios.wordpress.com
MT Models Painting Service. All scales from 10mm to 28mm.
All periods. The service for the wargamer. Free Sample available.
• Email: mtmodels@yahoo.co.uk
• Website: www.mtmodels.co.uk
Lincombe Barn Wargames Society presents the original
Wargamers Table Top Sale
Sunday, 20th May 2018; 10.00 am – 12.30 pm
At the Downend Folk House, Lincombe Barn,
Overndale Road, Downend, Bristol, BS16 2RW
Table Hire from £10 (must be pre-booked)
Public Entry £2; or
“Early Bird” (allows entry at 9.30 am) £4
Hot Refreshments & Free Car Parking
See our web site for more details:
www.bristolwargaming.co.uk
Or contact Carole on 07798 895867;
e-mail: carole.lbws@gmx.com
Please join us for a free gaming session following the Sale

B & B Miniatures CP Models

We manufacture a range of 20
and 25mm historical metal All your modelling
wargames figures, for the
wargamer and collector.
and wargaming needs
FREE
under one roof
parking
Find us
on

• 20mm German East Africa Scotland’s leading online retailer Shop Opening Hours:
• Russian Cival war of speciality games. We offer a Mon-Sat 10am-6pm, Sun 10am- 4pm.
• Allanby wars range of board games, collectable Late night opening Tuesdays and
• Franco-Prussian card games, miniature games & Thursdays
• A.W.I other gaming products. 21 Corporation Street, Rochester,
• Samuria and Fench Foriegn Legion Quality miniatures
FIND US AT: Kent ME1 1NN
• 28mm A.C.W and Jacobite Rebellion for gamers, Red Dice Games Tel: 01634 815699
painters @RedDiceGames Email: rochester-games-models@gmx.co.uk
www.rochestergamesmodelsandrailway.co.uk
www.bandbminiatures.co.uk & collectors reddicegames

Tel 01482 503460 www.cpmodelsminiatures.co.uk reddicegames.com

TO ADVERTISE HERE
in the next issue
please call Ben Jackson
on
01778 391129

p079.indd 1 27/03/2018 10:04

 Burrows & Badgers is a tabletop skirmish
game set in the ancient realm of Northymbra,
a kingdom where mice, badgers, toads, and
other animals wear armour, wield swords,
and cast magic spells.
Your tabletop becomes part of the Kingdom
of Northymbra, whose ruined villages,
haunted forests, and misty marshes play host
to brutal ambushes and desperate skirmishes.
Lead your warband from battle to battle, and
uphold the name of your faction, whether
you stand with Reinert’s Royalists, the
Freebeasts of the Fox Families, or simply for
your own glory or survival.

O R D E R T O D AY AT W W W. O S P R E Y G A M E S . C O . U K

Bring classic fantasy armies to your tabletop with

the Oathmark miniatures range. Each plastic boxed
set includes enough parts to build 30 warriors
armed with bows, spears, or hand weapons. Blister
packs containing metal heroes and champions to
lead your forces are also available.

AVAILABLE FROM WWW.NORTHSTARFIGURES.COM

p080.indd 1 21/03/2018 10:28