Wells for Modern Africa

I've been wanting to add various bits to my African imagi-nations villages and towns to give them a little more character.  Among the items to add is a market, a couple of stores, a hotel, and a well, where the villagers can get their water.  After a brief search on the net, I settled on two wells, instead of one.  One is a simple stone lined hole in the ground, the other a more modern concrete fixture with a hand pump.  Here is an in progress shot.

And a couple of pix of the completed wells.

Hopefully, I'll have more soon.

Flashback: 20mm Moderns 1983 Style

I've been working a lot lately, and haven't had much oomph to paint or build anything. But, I have been sorting through stuff, trying to reduce my clutter and trying to narrow the number of projects to under a million.

During this adventure, I discovered some old figs that I didn't realize that I still had.  My old 20mm US Vietnam and "Modern" Cold War infantry.  I believe the figures are from the Firefight 20 line from Modelers Mart, and some were probably purchased from the old Breastplate Hobbies in Boardman, Ohio circa 1983-84.

Here are some of the figs:

 

 

 

And yes that is a crude M113 in the background.

 

 

The M113 and M2 Bradley were scratch-built out

of Balsa with wire for the guns

I bought a couple of metal jeeps from the line (which I can't find), but as a starving student in college at the time, couldn't afford the larger vehicles, so built my own.  There also used to be a BMP2 (probably the best of the lot), but I haven't found that either.

The figures stand about 22-23mm tall foot to top of hat/helmet, and look rather stiff and clunky compared to more modern figs, but we loved them.  Here are a few pix comparing them to Britannia's 20mm Vietnam figs,

 

 

Originally, I started buying the figs to do NATO v. WarPac games, but we had an immediate interest in Vietnam after encountering our first Nam game at a convention at about the same time.  Then, a short time later, we saw the movie "Uncommon Valor" and we knew what we had to do.

I got a couple of Huey models, painted the NVA, and Craig of Gaming Models built the prison camp.

The only photo that I have of Craig's original prison camp model circa 1985.

The camp was based on a three foot square of blue foam, with around 40 individual fence sections that plugged into the foam, and could be pulled and place on their side if and when the fence was breached.  Inside were the camp CO's building, a barracks for the guards, two prisoner buildings and the three watch-towers.  Each tower featured a blown up version, should they suffer any adversity during the game. It was built from bamboo, pine, and balsa.

We ran games at the Convention in Canton, OH in the mid 1980s, and may have taken it to Nowscon in Cleveland around that time (and possibly a couple other cons as well). 

In addition to the US and NVA, I had VC, East Germans and Soviets, about 40 of each, but unfortunately, I sold some off and gave some away, when I switched over to 15mm.

In time, I got back into 20mm Vietnam, first with 20mm FAA figs (nice figs, but limited line), and then Britannia.  Anyway, that's my flashback, I'm feeling better now. Time to start a new project.

Revisiting an Old Friend: Star Fleet Battles in Miniature

I received a copy of Star Fleet Battles for Christmas in 1982, played my first game, a fight between a Constitution class heavy cruiser and a Klingon D7, that evening, and a few days later met my now long time friend Craig, who I would battle many hundreds of times in the Star Fleet universe.

SFB became one of the corner stones of the old gaming group, and we would eventually master the game, such that playing 15-30 ships per player with all associated fighters and pseudo-fighters was not a problem.  Only two of us in the old group really went for the Starline 2200 miniatures, and as a result, we only played a few very small battles with miniatures.

SFB was at its peak in our group with the boxed version and the three small expansion sets, it lost some luster with the Captain's edition rulebooks, and went to the back burner as the group members slowly went off in search of education, employment, families, etc.

I've never completely gotten away from SFB, playing the odd game every few years or so, and the occasional game with one of the old group members, usually Craig. 

Over the years, Craig and I had always both intended to pursue SFB in miniature, but it just never came about.  The 120 miles between us, and the interruptions of family and job always pushed SFB back a little longer. A few years ago, I decided to slowly pursue rekindling the SFB miniatures idea on my own.

I went to Origins that year, discovered ADB in the dealers room, and picked up a few packs of ships, I had intended to pick up some Zocchi Starships as well (I had always seen him there in prior years), but could not find him that year.  The rekindling was slowed a little, but didn't die. I  painted a few of the ships, and then they waited in limbo on my paint table for the next step.

The four new ships (Kzinti and Klingon) after

 collecting dust for a couple of years.

I sorted through the rules, and decided to go back to the old boxed version and expansions, chased down the SSDs, and played a couple of games.  In time I found my old miniatures, and started working on a couple of them with expectations of SFB being a Christmas holiday project a couple of years back.  Then we had the basement flood, and SFB went into stasis again.

Well, I waited long enough.  I recently pulled out the old bin of badly abused starships and cried for a little bit.  I don't remember why they ended up in the bin; it was a long time ago. But binned they were.

  
They are now sorted, and on my table awaiting what will be a slow process of refitting for service.

Everything but the Feds.  Bits from three of the FASA ships are located

at the bottom of the second column.  the rest are from Task Force Games

or The Amarillo Design Bureau.

 

...and the Feds.  All TFG/ADB models except for the

Larson class destroyer from FASA, second from the

 bottom in the first column.

 

A few models are from FASA ships, but most are the SFB miniatures. I will probably use the Larson class destroyer for the Feds, and if I find the other parts, the Reliant will be an NCL.  The Bird of prey is just too large a model (should I find the missing bits), and the other Klingon cruiser just doesn't fit in.  I think all of the ships are recoverable, except for one of the Romulan F5s, and the one of the Kzinti cruisers. 

I also just discovered that the local hobby shop deals with the distributor for ADB, so I plan to order the occasional pack of ships from them.  My hope is to build up enough ships to game smaller battles in miniature (maybe up to 25 ships), and do larger battles with counters.  In time, maybe next year, I want to do the (1st) general war again.

QRF Comes Through BigTime!

It has been the worst day of a rough week in a month of rough weeks. A day of sleeplessness, physical pain, ridiculous stress, and getting home with realization that work may have been the easiest part of the day.

And then something strange happened.

Earlier this summer, I mentioned having problems with an order from QRF.  I contacted QRF, and they said that they would fix the problems.  And I waited a bit, and nothing happened.  And I got impatient, as I sometimes do. And a little more time passed.  And then  I got home from work today, and there was an unexpected package in the mail. 

As I opened the package, rays of sunshine burst forth, slicing through the gloom, and I'm sure that I heard angel's sing (either that or my neighbor's stereo was too high again), and inside were all sorts of 15mm modern goodness.  They fixed the problems and much more.

Seriously, QRF went above and beyond, correcting the error and making things well beyond right.  My thanks to QRF, Chas, Geoff, and to anyone there that I am missing.  Absolutely first class. It couldn't have come at a better time.  Again, thank you very, very much.

And, the newly re-molded Saracen is really nice. Crisp, clean, and regal in all its Cold War glory (for those who might be considering them).

I'm Not A Real Wargamer

I recently read a thread on a miniature wargaming site, where several posts were dismissive and insulting of gamers with gaming preferences different from that of the poster.  The posts reminded me of the a moment in 1982, at my first gaming convention, when one of the figureheads from a large gaming club/group told me that I wasn't a real wargamer, because I gamed WWII. He said" Real wargamers don't play games with tanks." I ran into this recurring theme several times in the 1980s.

This lead me to reflecting back over the last 33 years, of all of the things that I've been told that "Real Wargamers" don't do.  In thinking about this, it struck me as curious that the term "Real Wargamer" or "Real Wargames" was used in so many of these instances.  I've never had any particular attachment to the idea of being a "real wargamer" or any other sort of label related to the hobby.  Apparently, over the years I've gotten it plenty wrong.  And just to help make sure all of you don't get it (real wargaming) wrong, I thought that I'd share these with you:

On scales:
Real wargamers don't game with 6mm figs. (as I was running a micro-armor game at a convention)
Real wargamers don't game with 15mm figs.
Real wargamers game with 20mm figs.
Real wargamers game with 25mm figs. (while running a 20mm Cold War game at a convention)
Real wargames use a ground scale that is different from the figure scale.
Real wargames use 54mm figs.

One basing:
Real wargamers always put multiple figures on a base (or stand).
Real wargamers never base figures individually.

On the scope of games:
Skirmish games don't really matter, because they aren't real wargames. (while running a skirmish game at a con.)
Real wargamers always want to command divisions.

On Terrain:
Real wargamers don't need terrain, it just gets in the way of the battle. (during a WRG ancients tournament)
Real wargamers game on a colored sheet. (offered in contrast to my 3D modular foam terrain)
Real wargamers game on a wargaming mat.
Real wargamers use terrain to indicate an area of affect, not as individual terrain features. (while running a skirmish game with wysiwyg terrain at a convention)

On Tournaments:
Real wargamers only play in tournaments.
Real wargamers never play in tournaments.

On Numbers of figures/stand/elements:
Real wargamers never game with more 30-40 stands.
Real wargames never have less than a thousand figures.

On periods and genres:
Real wargamers don't game WWII. (as I was running a micro-armor game at a convention)
Real wargamers don't game Vietnam.
Real wargamers don't game the Cold War.
Real wargamers never play games with tanks.
Real wargamers don't do role playing.
Real wargamers don't game fantasy.
Real wargamers don't game science fiction.
Real wargamers don't game Star Trek. (while playing a SFB tournament with miniatures, at a con.)
Dogfighting is not wargaming.
Middle Earth is not wargaming.
Real wargamers don't play adventure games.
The American Civil War isn't a real wargaming.
Colonials aren't real wargaming.

On painting:
Real Wargamers only game with painted figures.
The most important thing in wargaming is quality of the painting.
Real wargamers only paint their own figures.

On dice:
Real wargames use six sided dice.
Real wargames don't use d10s.

And other things:
Real wargamers paint there own flags.
Real wargamers are only concerned with winning.
Real wargamers don't use points.
Real wargamers always use army lists (in this case, he was referring to lists with points)
A real wargame should only last a few turns.
A real wargame should last all day.
Real wargames are only about history.
Wargaming is serious business, there shouldn't be laughing at the game table. (to which I broke up laughing and walked away).

And at a Baordgame convention, I was set straight:
Miniatures aren't real wargaming, real wargames are boardgames.

I'm sure I missed a few, but there you have it.  So, get it right people. And whatever you do,  have fun.

Cleaning My Shelves, Books for Sale

Partially as a result of my last post, and as a result of an uninsured driver totaling my parked car a couple of weekends back, I am selling a bunch of stuff, including some books. 

The current batch consists of history, military history, archeology, myth and legend, covering  mostly American Civil War, medieval, Arthurian, Roman Britain, Rome, and pre-Roman Britain and Celtic history and legend.  There are a few other things in there as well.

I've created a website listing the books that I have for sale here:

https://sites.google.com/site/irishserbsbooksforsale/

Sorry for this being nothing but an advertisement, but like my car, I'm in a bit of a crunch.

I will update it a couple of times per day, or as needed otherwise, and will be adding more over the next couple of weeks (probably on Saturdays) with any luck.

Thanks for looking.

Books Mr. Rico, Thousands of Them...

As I sit here this morning, pondering which incomplete project I should make little progress on, the thought occurred to me that I should straighten up the book room.  It is the "book room", as "library" is much too elegant a term for it, and it is a mess.

Books everywhere, on the shelves, stacked on the table, the floor, the computer desk. etc.  And all sorts of "gamer" clutter; a stack of un-played board games, old maps, historical photos, post cards, even a few old cigarette cards, and other bits of paper that captured my interest for one reason or another.  There are other things too.  A rack of Mustangs and Messerschmitts airplane models that haven't seen a game in 15 years, a M1 helmet, a Martini-Henry bayonet, a Soviet Panama hat, an assortment of other bits of militaria, Sir Stuart the Silver Knight,  a couple of antique coins from Ceylon, and all sorts of important gamer junk.  But mostly, there are books.

As I look around me, I realize that I still have upwards of 1500 books in this room.  A few hundred of their companions have migrated throughout the house.  There are other books throughout the house also, but they are not like these books, for these are my hobby books.  There were many more, but since 2006, I've managed to reduce their number by at least half.

Many are what one might expect of a miniatures or historical gamer, traditional histories, specialized painting guides and cyclopedias of equipment.  Some are recent publications, others nearly contemporary with the exploits of Napoleon.  But many are seemingly unrelated to the hobby; "The Pioneers: The Early British Tea & Coffee Planters..." a history of the tea and coffee trade in India, or "Cycads of the World" by Jones, or "The Secret Collection of Mankind", a collection of photos of native peoples of earth captioned with an amazing cultural bias, dating from probably the 1890s to the 1920s.

Many of the books were bought as references or inspiration for projects seemingly unrelated to the subject of the text.  Guadalupi's "The Discovery of the Nile" was purchased as inspiration for fantasy terrain, "The Lost Cities of the Mayas" translated to a ruined & unexplored science-fiction world.  The Cycad book helped with the jungles of Vietnam,  south pacific islands and various alien worlds.

Possibly the most important single miniatures gaming book that I ever purchased  was "The People from the Horizon" by Snow & Waine, a history of the relationship between Europeans and South Sea Islanders.  When crossed with the idea initially presented by the movie "Nate & Hayes" and Frank Clune's "Captain Bully Hayes" (which addresses far more than just the exploits of Bully Hayes) provided a huge portion of the background for my Ponape games, 28mm Victorian era piracy and adventure in the South Pacific. 

The traditional hobby related texts are indispensable, even with the rise of the internet, the level of detail about armies, battlefields, equipment, and tactics can't be equaled.  But in my case, I find that many of these non-traditional hobby sources are equally important.  These "non-hobby" books make up roughly a third (easily 600) of my current hobby book collection.  Most of these books come at very little cost, and most are readily available.  A few are harder to get, but none are particularly rare.

Though not my first history or military book, the first of my hobby book collection, Fighting Vehicles, by Ellis & Chamberlain, received in late fall of the 1973 still sets on my shelves (yes, I have always been, and shall always be a treadhead). As I scan the shelves, I see many titles that are now outdated, redundant, or rendered unnecessary by the internet.

As I view this imposing hoard, probably the most surprising consideration is that I have one book for every six miniatures that I own.  I would expect that ratio to be more like 50 to 1 or maybe even 25 to 1. 

Oh well, better quit wasting time and get to work.  Besides, I need to make room on the shelves, may wife wants to stop by Half Price Books later today...