Grand Opening & Game On

Now we have our first ever game under our belt, which we played over the Easter weekend from the Thursday evening until the Monday afternoon. After months of planning and anxious thoughts about how things would look and play, it was a relief to get started. We were also helped by phenomenally hot weather for this time of year, not surprisingly alcohol consumption seemed to match!
The first piccy shows the actual cutting of the ribbon, yellow in our case from the bunch of flowers that Adam (you'll see him later) brought for Anne. It was only poignant that the opening honour fell to Anne, literally without her whole support and enthusiasm this project would never have happened!

There are no games without intrepid commanders and this game was no different. We had 3 a side for the first few days, Brendan would be an extra player on the Saturday. The next two piccies show the gamers and a "special guest".

Left to right is Bryan Anderson, a medic from Lincolnshire. His forte is falling over head first into the bath when he is drunk! (and I'm not kidding!). Next is John, my special guest. John is my neighbour and a through and through Yorkshireman. He is responsible for all the table build in the situation room and more. He started with the bare steel, welded the support brackets on, cut all the timber to length..........MDF........gluing............grinding.............lots of  grinding.... ..fixing..........levelling............redoing things to perfection............etc. He claims not to be a joiner, he may not be but he is certainly a genius!!!!!! Anyone who plays on these tables will be doing so only because of John's expertise and hard work!!! I did help a little, like stand there and carry bits and bobs, but the construction is really his.
Next is Anne who I constantly mention. Must be love or something! but we will have been married thirty years this August so maybe my infatuation is understandable (yes would be the answer). Then there is me with the booze in my hand (typical I hear people say). Then Pete Hogarth from Leamington Spa, trying to hide in the background, but being 6' 83" makes it difficult for him to blend in (and the ceiling inside is only just high enough!). Next is Gordon Hamilton, a Scotsman who teaches me bad drinking habits, now living in Derby working as a material testing manager (I think) in the local council. He's the only man I know who drinks in his sleep! (saw him do this on Easter Sunday). He'll claim he was only deep in thought, but I remain unconvinced. Lastly is Graham, another Scotsman from Edinburgh in the Nuclear power industry. We often associate him with a reputation of being able to point in a given direction and say "kill", a bit like a guided missile. You then sit back and watch Graham grind his way forward relentlessly, but in a gentlemanly manner!!!!
Lastly, again on the left, in the next piccy is Adam. He is one of our bankers from Cheltenham. We could only persuade him to drink half a lager in the pub (some suspicion that he was trying to stay more sober than us as a tactical move!).

No doubt they can all think of anecdotes to describe me, but they are all great guys! I should also mention who also did what in supplying figures, painting etc.
The WWII kit is all from Pendraken miniatures. It was all painted by Neil Sheardown who unfortunately couldn't make the game. The trees and hedges were supplied by S & A Scenics and all the rivers, roads & bridges (scratch built) were supplied by Andrew Saunders from Terrafirma Studios.

Now to get to the game. As a recap, the game is based on a German Panzer Corps (2 Panzer divs & 1 Mot div) trying to force a major river crossing on the road to Smolensk in August 1941. The river line is defended by 3 Russian infantry divisions and 2 tank divisions. The first terrain piccy shows the main river line as the Germans approach from the right hand side, making the nearer edge the German left flank.

The river is unfordable and there are only 2 bridges. The first bridge is at the far end of the table, just visible. The second bridge is to the left of this piccy on the other main table.

Unknown to the Russians, both German Panzer divisions had bridging columns so it was going to be a race between the Germans crossing at suitable points and the Russians trying to cut off the bridgeheads. All German troops started off table and had to arrive by roads. The Germans also had a restriction in that the Motorised Div wasn't allowed to cross the river.
The Russians could start anywhere on the table or keep troops off table in reserve. Reserves could pick their arrival road as they pleased, with some delay between electing to commit reserves and then arriving. Troops starting on table had chances of being dug in, more so if they were on their side of the river. The Russians only found out if they were dug in after a die roll and after they had deployed on a map.

Rather than try and give a blow by blow account, I have compiled some piccies that show action that was typical of the game.

This shows the German 5thPanzer trying to cross the river. You'll notice there is no bridge, this Div was using its engineers to try and force a crossing. In the middle ground you can see German infantry that has already crossed by dinghy and its engineering bridge column blown up on the river line. The Russians had elected a defence based on the actual main ridge line, the German infantry had to move quickly to minimise the artillery and mortar fire that they became subjected to.

This is on the far left flank and shows the German 5th Motorcycle Btn, with a Reconnaissance squadron, engaging Russians forward of the river. The German idea was to persuade the Russian to tie down troops against this feint, rather than recognise the main river crossing attempt.

Here we are all engaged and Brendan has made an appearance. The Russian left is secure, but the German bridging actions in the centre/left centre are making inroads.

A view of the intense fighting in the centre and left centre, near the main ridge line. German armour is now getting deployed to support infantry that has already crossed.

German Stukas attacking Russian tanks on the Russian right flank. Gordon became convinced that there was a conspiracy, because the first 3 times the Luftwaffe turned up, they always attacked Gordon (where they arrived was randomised).

This shows the last Russian tank counter-attack from the main ridge. It comprised a mix of T28s and T26s with some BT7s. The attack was halted by German Pak 35s supported by the odd Pak 38.

Adam senses victory, having secured the bridgehead and now also broken the Russian centre. The Russians are also contemplating the next battle to be held where they hope to reek revenge.

The commanders have broken for lunch to reflect on their tactics and plan their next moves. The next game will be in June, it will still be on the Eastern front and either later in 1941 or earlyish 1942. Depends on the arrival of T34s from the factories.

I thought I'd finish on the silly face and pretty face. Doesn't take much guessing to work out which is which!

The next item might be WWII Naval, we played 4 games as well over the weekend and I 'll report this in a separate post.

The Prelude

We are now very close to the first game in the Situation room. In the past three weeks, all the soldiers have arrived and terrain pieces as well. At this point, inspiration is required and this has been provided by Anne. Really just an excuse to put her piccy in again!

The soldiers were painted by Neil Sheardown and just required basing and dry brushing. Whilst doing this we also discovered Matt enamel varnish (as opposed to acrylic) which seems to work as ink in some respects. We discovered this because some tanks that arrived suffered the dreaded "milk" affect where the varnish has moisture in it and "goes off".
Recovery is simple, you paint more varnish on and as you watch the milkiness disappears. As we were using Matt varnishes, I automatically went for an enamel type. The affect is striking. The next two piccies show all the kit on the table, being worked on methodically.

After all the basing was completed, the rest of the terrain arrived at the weekend, lots of rivers, lots of road in addition to over 500 trees that arrived mid-week. As always, help is appreciated and at the weekend Anne's Mum was drafted into work to carefully position some of the trees.

To give an idea of what the terrain looks like, I've selected a close up shot of a small area and then two long shots that include both the tables. For this game, the small back tables aren't being used, one reason being that I've run out of terrain and it isn't actually needed as the table is huge!

Finally, there are two pictures with me in them, the first is a full length shot again to help show perspective. The terrain includes over a dozen hills, 60 feet of road, 60 feet of river and over 500 trees in 20+ woods.

Lastly, I couldn't resist some champagne. Technically, I should have waited but the excitement won through. Its odd having spent a year to get to this position and then to actually play a game. There still remains work to do. One technical issue remains, condensation, but this seems limited to one area and we have a fix if needed. It still surprises me how much water is still evaporating from the timber and the concrete. Then there is the carpeting of the floor and exactly how to do it.

But hopefully by Thursday we will be putting kit on the table. And I nearly forgot, the game!!!!!!

Its a WWII Eastern front 1941 game, based on the crossing of the Dnepr and driving on towards Smolensk. German forces are based on a Panzer Corps of 2 Panzer divisions and a Motorised division. The Russians are based on an ad hoc reserve army comprising 3 infantry divisions and a 2 tank divisions. We'll see how it goes.

An Epiphany! Well I think it was one!

I've got an unusual title for this entry, more of that later. I thought I'd update progress on the terrain. The hills are now all done and I have enough material to do about another 40 of the things! Anyone short of good quality high density urethane?
The first piccy shows the main ridge that will be used for games like Waterloo, Austerlitz etc. It is 4.5 metres long, 14 1/2 feet for old imperial guys like me. It is in 4 parts, the centre sections being somewhat heavy and all the joins within a section have been biscuited and glued. When the whole ridge is put together, biscuits are used to help keep the centre sections aligned.

The main ridge is really a specialist piece and the typical large hills of which I have 2 are a more conservative 2.5 metres in length, about 7 1/2 feet.

These hills would be good for a Bautzen type game. In addition, I have about 15 other hills that can be used individually or some can be used to make a third tier for either of the above. That's how the sunken road at Waterloo would be represented.

All the hills and boards are simply painted. I then started to look at the texturing and dry brushing. I started with a small hill to see what it was like using masonry paint and fine sand (stuff used for goldfish bowls). The hills looked fine and I even tried a part of a large hill. Then I tried the main board on one side and it proved inordinately difficult. I couldn't get an even spread of the sand/paint mix and it looked really odd, even when dry brushed. So I needed to think on it and that same night I got out the first real Wargames book I ever read, The War Game by Charles Grant, 1971. And then the Epiphany (or madness as its a fine line between the two).
The Charles Grant book is an 18c battle and the terrain is very simple and simply painted, much to where I am now. The figures he used looked fine against such a background, clear bright colours and the fact that there was no texturing doesn't detract, if anything the opposite. Then I realised I hadn't taken all om painted figures and put them on a clear painted board with the hills. I know from my earlier days that 20mm WWII figures and kit "gets lost" in good textured terrain. Moreover, 28mm Napoleonics work with textured terrain because of the size of the figures.
So I tried the experiment of having the figures on textured bases, but on a plain coloured board. Its astonishing to me. I never realised that if I put the 10mm next to textured terrain, you begin to "lose" the figures "in the terrain". Put them on a plain board and the obvious change in contrast makes a humongous difference.
A friend of mine, Neil, was coming with supplies of tanks and then I thought I'd ask him.



The coffee is to recuperate Neil. Gobsmacked doesn't describe his initial thoughts! I'm just getting over his shock! He thinks its absolutely fantastic and I agree with him. The strategy is to now have the terrain a blank green, including hills and woods and keep the contrast to the figures, figure bases and some terrain like roads themselves and villages.

What do the figures look like? Well, we are still learning with the camera, but this gives you a flavour.



The Dutch Lancers of the Guard, 178 figures, easily picking out all the colours and detail, like grey horses for the trumpeters, the standard bearer, Colonel, plumes and even the cross on top of the Czapska.

Next is more terrain and WWII tanks.

Ridges & Hills

Well,
the tables were all painted with a first coat of green base paint. At the same time we realised we had quite a few off cuts of 18mm MDF. The initial plan was to do the the hills in mainly high density urethane but we thought we'd use up the MDF.

The result was a complete surprise. 18mm MDF is difficult to grind/saw/cut an angle on it to give a decent looking slope. We managed to get 45 degrees and were then left with a solution that involved a drill with a carborundum tip to grind the slope shallower. This would take an age as the bit is only about 40mm across and the chuck limits the angle.

Then John saw a device on the internet, a new grinding wheel that fits a normal hand grinder. It comes from Croatia and looks like a cheese grater.

Would it work? The results are astonishing! Look at the first piccy. The ridge you are looking at is about 8 feet long and 1 foot wide. The slopes are roughly 3" long as you can see the virgin MDF after the cut. The angle is about 14 degrees!!!! Looks brilliant for 10mm scale. On top you can see the shaped urethane for the next contour. The grinder also does this and as it is 6mm thick, the slope area is dropped to 2".

Now the biggy!
The large ridge, you are viewing the back of this, is about 15 feet long and made the same way. It will be in 4 sections, joined side by side. It will do for any major Napoleonic/ACW/Marlburian battle and probably others. There is also space for a 3rd contour, which will be removable, and even a fourth. The possibilities of design are many.
Does any of this slide about. No, it grips quite tightly. If anything moving things has to be done with great care.

Lastly for today, a little piccy of little hills, mainly for WWII.  The colour looks different because of the angle/light but it shows how easily the hill should blend into the table when all receives final coats, texture and dry brushing. The plateau part of the hill is finished and I need a wide angle lens, again, to show better detail. Just believe me that in real life, it works.
Next will hopefully be finished ridges!

One Milestone done!

It feels slightly strange, but the base tables are complete. All that is left is for edge beading on the MDF, both for the table and the shelving.
The piccy, with me in the corner shows part of about 400 square feet of gaming area and 600 square feet of under table storage area.
The next job is to do the hills, big hills (about 16' long) and woods and and.................
But there is light at the end of the tunnel!!

In the meantime, I've switched a light fitting from reflector type to diffuser type to see what difference it makes to the light nearer the walls and outer tables. I will also experiment with no covers at all.
Off to the York show on Sunday, lots of people to see and talk roads, villages, tanks, cavalry and more megalomania!

I still hope to have the first game at Easter.

If anyone is interested in any detail of how to do this stuff, from building to table to terrain, let me know and I'll explain what I can.

Reinforcements Deploy

Its been a few weeks since my last update. We last saw the Situation room with table material arriving and a snapshot of the steel supports.

Well, there has been a change! The first piccy is out of focus but shows a technical me checking the alignment of the steel. Actually, it isn't Anne wanted me to look as if I knew what I was doing. Alas, all the technical expertise is being furnished by my neighbour John, an artisan extraordinaire to say the least! He's most happy surrounded by dirt and thinking of how to solve the next technical puzzle. Some of his solutions are brilliant!

The next shot shows a full size table with all the main supports. The legs are 4" x 4" timber and there are 5 sets on 6' centres (2 metres to metric guys). The strength is enormous and it also means that using the steel results in only using 40% of the timber had I used an all timber construction.

The little white patch under each leg is white concrete paint to seal the floor. The next stage was to mount the MDF, only 2 sheets per 24' length. It takes 5 guys to lift the stuff!!!

So now you have a large table with a single join if you can spot it? At this point the areas of floor under the tables was also painted with sealant paint leaving only the walkways unpainted. These will remain unpainted for another 6 months to allow the water in the concrete to continue evaporating. The dehumidifier sucks out about 2 litres of water a day. Added to this is that as we use the timber, it has all been tannelised and so is "wet2 and this of course needs time to dry out.
Now the tables actually look like tables. The MDF has also been painted underneath to ensure it is sealed as MDF will always produce dust if not sealed. All the MDF we use has been sealed on all surfaces with emulsion paint except the shelving on the main tables. This is laminated MDF and the edging will be with capped plastic.
The last piccy this time shows the tables with their base coat of paint.

All the base coats are green done with BS standard 12 D 45 which is Sherwood Forest Green Vinyl Matt emulsion. Always use a BS standard as you then can always replicate the colour everywhere. All troop basing uses a base colour which is the same. The thing in the middle is a saw, it saw a lot of work cutting the shelving parts. I'll explain more in the next installment.
In addition, the figure front develops. All the initial WWII is with the painter and should be ready for Easter. I might also have purchased all the ACW by Easter, to be painted later in the year. The Napoleonics is ongoing, I now have 4 full French infantry regiments. I hope to game something Napoleonic late in the year.
And at long last I have got the WWII rules to the printer and they shall be ready next week.
All in all I'm knackered!, I've used muscles in the last 3 weeks that I forgot I had (and aren't they telling me now!!). But all of this is really exciting, seeing something start from a bare patch of grass and grow to fulfill a dream.
Like all things good there are some hiccups and the ever present financial pressures, but I can really see what it might be like now and any doubts I may have had are going.
I'll do another later this week when hopefully the build is nearly finished and I'll even put some figures on the table to give an impression of the overall scale.
Watch this space!!!!!!

Reinforcements Arrive!

Well, following suggestions from both my wife and son, I've started to include pictures of the inside of the building to show progress.

All of the pictures are taken from the front left hand corner as you look at the building from previous posts. The room is 30' 3" long and 24' 6" wide. As you look at the far end you can see 3 double glazed windows, the centre window being able to full open its whole size.
Immediately to the left in the picture are MDF sheets leaning against the wall. These are 8' x 4' and will be used for the narrow side tables that will be 24' long and about 2' wide. The white sheets further down against the wall are melamine coated 10' x 4' MDF sheets. These will be used as shelving under the main tables. They are ready to go and require no additional work except to cut and then pin/glue edge tapes to finish the job.
In the centre of the piccy are more MDF sheets. The top 2 are melamine coated but underneath are the main MDF sheets for the centre tables which will be 24' x 6'.  They are 25mm and weigh a ton, took 5 guys to get them in! You can also see the lighting, just. There are a total of 8 x 5' twin natural light fittings with reflectors. They are positioned to be over the centre of the main centre tables so that there is no shadowing.
The whole room is painted brilliant white and is insulated. The concrete floor will the last job finished. I will leave it until Easter before finally completely painting it and carpeting it.

The above piccy is by panning to the right from the first piccy. What you see is a trestle with the main steel (yes steel) support beams. There are 8 of them, 2 for each table section and each is roughly 24' 6" long and 60mm x 40mm x 3mm thick. Just underneath you can see a MIG welding machine. We are welding lugs onto the steel to take the main timbers. I've used steel to cut down on timber leg supports. All the tables will have leg supports on 6' centres. It also means that as the main table is only in 2 pieces, alignment should be easier.

Panning further to the right gives a feel for the lengths of steel. A de-humidifier sits in the background. Believe it or not, the concrete should be given 200 days to let it dry out. This is based on the fact that it is lined underneath and allowing a day per mm of concrete for drying. The de-humidifier helps speed this process.

And lastly, but not least and what this is all for, the first troops are based. Apart from awaiting their eagles, you are looking at 2 regts of infantry, 6 btns, the 3rd Ligne in the foreground and the 18th Ligne in the background. Each base has a computer generated identification label as does their position in the storage tray. There are 684 figures in the piccy, 114 per btn (nearly squeezed them all into the frame!). This time next year I hope to have nearer 160 btns!