More Dr Who

Monday 21st November 2016 - no WDW

No country dancing either - high winds and driving rain meant cancellations all over the place.



Thursday 24th November 2016

Decided to photograph my UNIT soldiers:

12 (not so brilliant) toy soldiers.  The bases need to be finished off.  The DWMG rules only allow firing within the frontal arc (180 degrees) so I am planning on painting the 'front' edge in stone green and the 'back' edge in an earth colour. 

Also noticed that I haven't painted the MG tripod legs.

Here's another pic to show the height comparison.  I would have liked the figures to be a little taller but they are adequate to the job.

What next?  Well...here's the list:

1)  Finish off some more of the 30+ Daleks that are in varying stages of painting.
2)  Read through the rules.
3)  Find a suitable scenario.
4)  Do a solo play test.

As I don't have a Brigadier or other UNIT commander something will have to be substituted.   This may warrant another trip to the cheap shops - but after the xmas tat has gone.

Dr Who Dissapointment

 [It's 01.28 GMT on Thursday]


Monday 14th November 2016 - WDW

Square Bashing - Austro-Hungarians v French in Salonika 1915
Force on Force - Modern Gang Warfare
HotT - Fantasy Egyptians v Warband army (2 games that were decided by the terrain and the capriciousness of the Egyptian god.
DBM - Late Crusader v Ayyubid Egyptian - I was supporting Al but throwing awful fighting and shooting dice.  We lost half the army.


Wednesday 16th November 2016 - Dr Who

 Taken from more recent times this picture shows the black uniforms I am trying to emulate.  Don't think that I will bother with the 'sun glasses' (weird or what!).

After starting to paint my UNIT soldiers I went looking for the Dr Who Miniatures Game site only to find that it had closed down on the 13th.  After much searching I found my downloaded copy of the rules, cards and scenarios. 

Now I have three sets of rules to look at  - DWMG, Dr Who Invasion Earth and Time Wars Core Ruleset (10mm).
 DWIE is only available from the Yahoo group (and it has no fancy cover).  Here's a link for the 10mm rules:
http://www.10mm-wargaming.com/2016/09/doctor-who-rules.html


Internet Items (seen this week):

English Civil War Flags:
http://this28mmlife.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/english-civil-war-flags.html

CUADRO GOLPEANDO! - A Spanish Civil War Variant of Square Bashing devised by Martin Rapier
http://web.archive.org/web/20050312003143/http://www.warden.dircon.co.uk/sbscw.htm

The 'Post' With No Name

 (It's Thursday - 00.59 GMT)


Saturday 5th November 2016 - WDW - Fubar Modern (didn't go).


Sunday 6th November 2016 - finished another book - "Return of Dr Fu-Manchu" by Sax Rohmer

The second of the series (of 14).  I have already read number one - "Mystery of Fu-Manchu" and am currently on book four - "Daughter of Fu-Manchu".  Will have to request book three from Royston library.

You have to make allowances for the language and attitudes of the time.  I can remember Christopher Lee playing Fu-Manchu in an old film.  His 'daughter' was a well-known oriental-looking actress of the time (and one that a teenage boy really fancied).

A good source of material for a pulp era skirmish or another dimension to gangster encounters.


Monday 7th November 2016 - WDW

ACW ("Grand Skedaddle") - I was playing on the Confederate side (and we won).
WW1 - "Flames of War" - Brits v Germans (practice game - Andrew & Chris)
DBM - 100 Years War English v Siamese - Al v Andy

Yes I am taking a rest from 'ancients'.  Rather enjoyed being a 'reb' for a change.  Another game in 2 weeks time so maybe DBM next week?

Real Toy Soldiers

Sunday 30th October 2016

Sunday morning I was moving trays of figures.  The Daleks, and other Dr Who figures, glared at me.  Some are fully painted, some partially.  The project had stalled lacking opposition of a suitable size. 

Finding myself in Pontefract I went to Poundland and found:

Green Hornet DVD - managed to find the tv series on Youtube - the one with Bruce Lee as Cato - great fun.  The film is utter rubbish - don't waste your money on it - even £1 was far too much.

"Bag of Soldiers - Fight with the best - Combat - 385-92-8473"
Made in Birmingham by Funtastic

Height (base bottom to top of helmet) = 34-36 mm (kneeling figures are around 25mm)
My Daleks are approx 32mm high.

 

(8)         (12)         (11)         (6)

(6)           (6)           (6)            (5)

(6)          (11)          (13)          (5)

Total = 95 figs plus 1 flagpole (and base)

Having treated the figures to a wash and pva I decided to photograph them.

The poses are not brilliant, the plastic doesn't bend very well (I almost broke one at the ankles when trying to straighten it and the weaponry is ridiculously small.

On the plus side they are dirt cheap and of the right scale.  Although the uniform is incorrect it could be painted to represent UNIT groups as featured in the last Torchwood series (awful though it was).  Still haven't found anything that looks like the earlier British uniforms - suppose that I will keep looking.


Monday 31st October 2016

Ace of Aces (WW1 'book' game)
Square Bashing - 1914 Fr v Ger
Race to the Rhine 1944 (boardgame)
Hell by Daylight (Modern skirmish)

DBM - Later Judaen v Ancient British.  My plan was to demonstrate on the left flank, hold in the centre and attack on the right.  Al was my sub-general with the attacking wing.  He had a mass of Reg Ax(S) plus supporting Ps on a steep hill.  Our Romans were closer to the centre.  Given that there were 14 Roman elements opposing us I concluded that there was nothing in the wood - little did I know!  Al threw in some Ps(O) only to find 5 more Roman Ax(S).  It was at this point that I checked the army lists - Ancient Brits are only allowed 12 elements of Roman allies.  So facing an illegal army my plan went to pot.

As it played out our Roman command broke with my central command within 2 elements of falling apart.  The massed Wb of 40 elements (plus supports) were within 7 of going.

It didn't help that Andy was on a dice spree throwing a large number of 5s & 6s.  In spite of front and flanking the enemy my dice were dismal.  An ignominous defeat with only the moral high ground in our favour.


Thursday 3rd November 2016 - doing some research for the Marian Roman (DBMM 2.49) army list. 

Started to break down the list (Asia Minor v European) only to find sections featuring generals - Lucius Cornellius Sulla, Crassus, Brutus & Julius Caesar - for which I needed more information.  Hopefully that will be the subject for next weeks posting!

This Week's Items of Interest from the Internet:

Battle of Tarvis May 1809; a Shako scenario
http://wargameamateur.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/battle-of-tarvis-may-1809-shako-scenario.html

The French in Indochina 1883-85
http://historyin172.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/the-french-in-indochina-1883-85.html
Tonkin Campaign
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonkin_Campaign

Maps From The First Afghan War
http://miniaturewargaming.com/  [October 28, 2016]