A Life (Back) on the Ocean Wave….

S.M.S. Scharnhorst in her colonial colour scheme

It was always my intention to take the systems used in Portable Ironclads Wargame and extend the coverage up to and including the Great War. It was also my intention to build the requisite models that I wanted to use in this undertaking in the style of my ACW collection - complete with lashings of MDF and bamboo barbecue skewers! Whilst the first sentence definitely holds true the second has now been reluctantly discarded. I will not be building models for the later period - mainly because they would require rather more designing than those of the earlier period and, to be honest, they would be rather too large for what I have in mind. 

I shall be using 1:2400th scale models for the project I have in mind and these will be largely from the Tumbling Dice ‘Age of Battleships’ range. Of necessity this will also mean a change of scale in terms of using hexes in that models will occupy a single hex rather than two hexes. This would serve to make ranged combat look more, well, ranged. I am confident that the Ironclads engine would work well enough for the later period although more efficient and numerous artillery may stretch the elastic band rather further than is prudent! We shall see and needless to say a few ideas are ‘bubbling under’.

So what am I doing then? Well, in a nutshell I am revisiting an old idea centred on an expanded Madasahatta style set up. There are a number of assumptions I shall be basing my idea upon.

1. The German East Asia Squadron (Scharnhorst, Gneisenau etc) heads west rather than east and heads for the German part of the island.

2. Goeben and Breslau, along with a couple of Turkish predreadnoughts manage to dash down the Suez Canal and head for Dar Es Salaam before war is declared.

3. The Royal Navy send a brace of battlecruisers, along with Triumph and Swiftsure into the area to keep the Germans and Turks honest.

Aside from the newer units most of what will be used - especially for the Royal Navy - will be a motley selection of armoured and protected cruisers in various stages of decrepitude with some old battleships in use as guard ships or for bombardments. 

Madasahatta suddenly becomes a major threat against traffic from India but the Royal Navy have to make do with what they have. Numbers are on their side though. 

The beauty of this set up is that it does not require an awful lot of kit - no Jutland sized fleet actions here for sure - and should be relatively painless to organise. The challenge will be getting a suitable map designed and of course the all important tabletop rules.

I have to say that this idea has given me a real rush of enthusiasm for a variety of reasons - the main one being because any excuse to get something, anything, Madasahatta related on the table!

Cossacks, Polish Lancers and Zulus

The front of the box….

….and the rear. Note the blocks and the map detail - very useful for the budding Portable Wargamer looking for a readily usable map of the region….

You may recall a while ago I picked up a copy of the above board game which covers the Polish - Soviet War 1919 - 1920. This is a card driven block based game that uses a map that is town to town based rather than using hexes - rather like Columbia Games 1815 game Napoleon. It looks really good fun and is designed for two to four players. Given rather more pressing priorities - ACW ships and the final work for the Portable Ironclads Wargame - the game has sat on the shelf awaiting some attention. At this stage the two card decks - one for the Poles and one for the Soviets - are still in their shrink wrap, the counters are unpunched and the blocks have yet to be labelled. I had also made a mental note to read up on the war in order to add some historical context. There are a couple of Osprey titles covering the war - both of which are on the Christmas list - but I seemed to recall seeing the book below in a branch of Waterstones some years ago and so after a little digging was able to track down a copy via eBay for the princely sum of £4.21 including postage. 

A small A5 sized hardback edition by Adam Zamoyski - I reckon with the brace of Osprey titles currently on my Christmas list and the useful notes on the war contained in the game above I will have pretty much everything I need for a Portable Wargame experience.

Projects

One of the ‘long way down the road’ projects I am planning is a late 19th century Colonial style set up using the figures included in the board game War in the Age of Imperialism by Eagle Games. The basic European style infantry figure (of which there are a couple of hundred in the box!) is pretty close to a Zulu War British infantryman in a standing firing pose. I added a box of Hat Industry Zulu War British Infantry Command, together with their very nice Colonial artillery and the inevitable Gatling gun set. Ideally I wanted to get the Hat Industry Unmarried Zulu boxed set containing 60 figures but this is as rare as hen’s teeth at present. The ESCI and also Call to Arms Zulus are nice albeit a little fiddly in terms of assembly. To be honest I kind of parked the idea for the time being as I figured that hopefully when I am ready to pull the trigger they will be more readily available.

The contents of a most welcome Jiffy bag! Bob mentioned that the shields and spears were missing but that is not too much of a problem and is easily rectified. I was particularly pleased with the number of riflemen included for reasons that will soon become apparent….

Anyways, a chance exchange of emails with the painting machine that is Bob the Old Painter ended up with a small Jiffy bag arriving of some ESCI Zulu War figures to get me started with. I mentioned to him that I had a cunning plan with these and so now can unveil the beginnings of an idea.

The tribal figure included in War in the Age of Imperialism is a splendid looking fellow but there are only 16 of them - hardly enough for a Impi! Well, the plan I am thinking about is to use the above in conjunction with the aforementioned tribal figure to set up an African tribal imagi-nation called tentatively the Mazuti. This is a fusion of the Masai, Zulu and Ashanti types. The army will have fierce warband style warriors backed by skirmishing firearms equipped warriors and some as yet to be organised mounted types. The Mazuti empire will be based in central Africa but will have an outlet to the sea but again, I have not gotten as far as planning it out yet.

That is the kernel of the plan though but it will be a while before anything tangible happens with it. Or maybe not….

My thanks to Bob for the figures and rest assured they will be used in one way or another!

A Wargaming Smorgasbord of Sorts

A period of global impact - not one I am hugely familiar with but needless to say there is cunning plan of sorts….

….and it may be something like this! Available from the Wargames Vault, David Manley’s supplement covering the Russian Civil war to go with his excellent Steamer Wars rules. 

Saturday morning saw the arrival of the second part of my Father’s Day haul - the latest book from the renowned military historian, Antony Beevor (see the first picture). I must confess to having a very limited knowledge of this particular period but hope that this book will fill that gap or at the very least give me a nudge along yet another project….

I know of several good rule sets that cover this period as well as figure ranges so who knows? I may have a Portable Wargame sized dabble at some point.

Laurel and I had an impromptu day out to the Promenade Park in Maldon for the Armed Forces Day. I took a few pictures and picked up a dash of sunburn as well fed some very enthusiastic ducks! The picnic with friends was great fun and it was nice to get out for the day. A selection of the items on display are below:

A wise wargamer once said “you can never have too many trucks!”

Lovely looking and with a Bren mounted

I always remember the Matador from the Airfix kit with a 5.5” gun

I was rather taken by this heavily armed jeep - just the thing for securing a parking space!

The first in a selection of display pieces

Paratrooper attire - note the Bangalore Torpedoes bottom left

The unmistakeable Bren LMG

Typing up orders, requisition forms or leave requests!

There were rather a lot of jeeps in evidence but the armed version caught my eye for sure - sporting weapons galore!

Sadly time was against me in respect of any progress with the Portable Charge! Wargame but I was able to spend some time earlier this evening messing about with turrets in advance of the great pre dreadnought model build. The first examples are based on a circular design typical of early turrets - for example on the U.S.S. Monitor. The model for this style of turret was originally designed to use standard bamboo skewers for the gun barrels - for smaller calibres, say 6” or smaller, I will use cocktail sticks. Ironically the turret you see in the picture below is actually the first I have built that features gun barrels - all the ACW and Russo Turkish types merely have the gun ports. Given that the weapons were muzzle loaded I merely assumed that the guns were inboard being loaded!

Examples of large calibre main gun turrets - these are 20mm across with the bottom ‘slice’ 3mm thick as is the middle ‘notched slice’ whilst the turret roof is 2mm thick. The gun barrels are a little on the thick side but not overly so and besides, they fit in well with the overall simplistic building style I will be using.

I have looked at many turret styles and it would be easy enough to reflect national differences but that kind of flies in the face of what I want to do. I have a design for a more ‘modern’ looking turret in hand and have decided that I will stick with the above circular type and the new version for simplicity. 

I built the above just to see how it would work out and more importantly, how it would look on one of my standard large hull templates. The answer is fine!

All in all then, it was a rewarding weekend although not quite in the way I had planned it and so hopefully next weekend I will be able to catch up!

Operation Postponed

Hot off the press (rather, hot off the phone!) - Laurel’s surgery scheduled for the 6th January has been postponed until 20th January due to the neurosurgeon being unwell.

Yes it will mean a further Covid swab and 3 day isolation….

Three steps forward and two back! 

Last Post for 2021

“Let’s hope its a good one, without any fear…”

 I realise it is probably a little on the early side but as I have rather a lot on over the next couple of weeks I thought I would sign off until next year - probably late in January given Laurel’s scheduled surgery on the 6th of January.

I will not be sorry to see the back of this year for a variety of reasons - most of which I have mentioned via the blog but with a few others in reserve. I have found it to be hugely helpful (to me in any event) using the blog as a vehicle to convey the various trial and tribulations that my family and I have experienced (and continue to do so) this year. The positive comments and words of support and encouragement - both on and off the blog - have been really appreciated as they have helped me over any number of rough spots over the last six months or so.

These are debts, large and small that I will never be able to repay other than to say that I will reciprocate the sentiment in equal measure when and where needed.

The new job is intense in ways I had not considered but very much in a positive way. Going from a small agency into a global spanning organisation was always going to be a cultural shock but with the support of the team I have joined I am confident that in time I will have a positive impact. 

We are mentally preparing ourselves for when Laurel is in hospital and also for her recovery afterwards. For the Nth time I am hugely grateful for the fact that my new role is remote rather than office based! We shall be visiting the hospital for Laurel’s Pre Op on 30th December - I am off work for the three days ‘twixt Christmas and the New Year - which should be a pretty quick process and then it is dropping her off  at 7am on the 6th. 

Oddly enough I ave been able to spend a little more time on gaming related bits and pieces and so work on the remaining ACW ships has resumed once again. I have also been looking at ideas around Operation Market Garden as well as something Colonial/VSF based. 

Mention of VSF reminds me that Steve Blease is rumoured to be working on an updated version of Aeronef - the game of Victorian aerial combat - and his page of Facebook showed a couple of recent games he has played. The models in use were scratch built dirigibles modelled by yours truly and sold to him years ago. It was great seeing these again and needless to say my thoughts have once again turned towards repeating the project. The funny thing is that I was also looking at using up a whole load of MDF hull templates to build some Cloudships and Sky Galleons based on Frank Chadwick’s Space 1889 series.

There is a project in there waiting to get out methinks….

I am still harbouring ideas for some skirmish style games using figures but as yet I have not really done much with the idea. There is also the block army refurbishment to think about and also getting back into some good old hex and counter board games.

Plenty to be going on with so no change there then!

Daniel Craig’s final Bond

I also finally got to see the final Daniel Craig Bond film: No Time to Die. I enjoyed it hugely although ca understand why some may have been underwhelmed by it. Bond came across as rather more mellow than in his previous appearances although still with the ‘grit’ element when needed. I have a theory as to how he will be ‘resurrected’ (he did say it was his hobby in Skyfall after all!) with a new actor taking up the mantle. Suffice it to say (and I will probably be completely wrong) that one should read the book of You Only Live Twice followed by The Man With the Golden Gun to see where my thoughts are on this one.

In the meantime though I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very merry Christmas and all the best for a peaceful, prosperous and above all, healthy 2022 as well as, once again, offering my sincerest thanks.

See you all in the new year,

More Projects? Moi?…..I Couldn’t Possibly Comment….

Two new additions to the library 

 I have just finished my first week back in the office and my back continues to fluctuate from bad to worse to actually not that bad - with the latter condition being firmly in the minority at present!

After a very restless and uncomfortable night in bed - I will not dignify it by saying that I slept - I was greatly cheered by the arrival this morning of the the two booklets you see above.

Arriba Espana is a very workmanlike production by Bob Cordery featuring not one but two sets of rules. There is an updated version of his Arriba Espana Spanish Civil War set and then a Portable Wargame set for the period. This is a very clever production in that the Portable Wargame version incorporates some ideas from the original set so one has the best of both worlds in terms of flexibility - a relatively detailed set of rules for the period as well as a Portable Wargame version.

In addition to the two sets of rules there are a number of very well thought out scenarios - including a mini campaign based on Jarama - that are usable with either set as well as a useful bibliography.

I have to say that I really like the idea behind this latest adaptation of the Portable Wargame - having an updated version of a popular and more formal rules set with a degree of crossover into the PW ‘engine’ demonstrates once again that the core system can be happily ‘sliced and diced’ to suit one’s specific gaming requirements. A worthy addition to the stable and no mistake.

I have a modest amount of gaming history with the Spanish Civil War - primarily the naval side if truth be told - and whilst revisiting it as a going concern is not immediately on the horizon having this book would certainly give me a good choice of rules to use - along of course along with Trebian’s latest rule set: “For Whom the Dice Rolls” (which are currently on my ‘to get’ list). From a Portable Wargame perspective raising a couple of small forces to my usual size certainly appeals but it wold certainly be some way off.

Arriba Espana is available from Amazon and a big thank you to Bob Cordery for my copy.

Wargaming in the Sugar Islands Campaign is altogether a completely different kettle of fish. To begin with  it is not a set of rules but a guide to the Seven Years War campaigns involving the British and French on the islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique. The sugar islands were valuable but unhealthy places and the campaigns fought over the them (including the later French revolutionary and Napoleonic wars)  have suffered far more from various ailments - yellow fever amongst others - than from enemy action. There is a lot of potential for the type of small scale actions I enjoy - coastal raids and similar - so it is certainly something I could look at at some point. 

Again, I have some history with the Seven Years War although my interest these days is far more likely to cover the far flung reaches of empire rather than mainland Europe. The French and Indian War, Clive in India and the operations in the Caribbean are of more interest to me although I have never considered raising armies for them. The booklet is available from the Crann Tara range now produced by Dave Ryan and Caliver Books. 

The Crann Tara range of 28mm figures for the 18th century is absolutely lovely and was originally the brainchild of that all round decent fellow, Bon vivant, wit and raconteur, Graham Cummings, to whom I indebted for my copy of the booklet. 

So have I signed up for yet more projects? The short answer is no, at least not in the immediate future to be honest. I will not rule either period out long term though - the idea of Portable Wargaming them is definitely appealing and indeed, I tend to look at pretty much any potential project through the lens of the Portable Wargame.

Many thanks to both Bob and Graham - these two booklets have been far more effective in raising my mood than copious amounts of Bio Freeze, Deep Heat and assorted drugs!

The French in Vietnam

A great doorstop of a tome, in hardback and at a very good price. Martin Windrow's classic account of the French in Vietnam.

You may recall me mentioning in a previous post that I am going to get a copy of Max Hastings new book: Vietnam,  as part of my Christmas present from SWMBO. Almost as an afterthought I started to read again my copy of We Were Soldiers Once....and Young by Col. Hal Moore and Joe Galloway about the fighting in the Ia Drang Valley in 1965. I even watched the film again starring Mel Gibson.

One for the 'to get' list methinks. Col. Hal Moore used this to help with his research before the Ia Drang Valley campaign

In the book Col. Moore mentions that he read as part of his research the book by Bernard Falls: The Street Without Joy which covered the preceding French involvement culminating in their defeat at Dien Bien Phu in 1954.

The French positions at Dien Bien Phu

The First Indochina war is something I know very little about and the more I read about the subsequent American involvement the more I felt it would be advantageous to learn about the events leading up to it.

I vaguely remember seeing a critically acclaimed book on the subject by Martin Windrow - The Last Valley so I after a gentle stroll through EBay I came across a cheap copy which I duly snapped up. As an aside I am great fan of Martin Windrow's writings and for me his book 'Our Friends Beneath the Sands' about the Foreign Legion from 1870 to 1935 is one of the finest I have ever read, so I am looking forward to reading this.

Does what it says on the cover! Quite simply, superb.

What does this all mean in the realms of table top gaming? Well, I have no plans to rush in to a Vietnam based project - for either conflict - for the foreseeable future but I would not discount it. I would certainly be able to do something using the blocks - I like to think of them as being around 1:300/1:200th in scale - so using the method I described in my earlier post for depicting modern vehicles and weaponry alongside a block would be a viable option.

Something else to think about.

Vietnam, Aden and Radfan

One of things about our hobby that never ceases to amaze me is how looking at a particular something can lead onto something else that is quite different on the face of it but with a touch of commonality.

Advance notice of what will be my Christmas reading courtesy of SWMBO and rather a lot of doubled up Nectar points! I am looking forward to reading about the French involvement leading up to Dien Bien Phu

The book is excellent and also covers the fighting at LZ Albany which followed on from the events depicted in the film at LZ X-ray

I mentioned previously that last weekend SWMBO and I spent rather a long time in our local Sainsbury taking advantage of the ‘double up’ on Nectar Points. To cut a long story short we acquired good to the value of £200 by surrendering £100 of Nectar Points. For the most part it was used to finish off the Christmas shopping (SWMBO is incredibly organised about this sort of thing – in fact she has not only purchased everything she needs to but it is also wrapped and tagged and waiting to go under the Christmas tree in two weeks’ time) for the family which for me came in the shape of the new book by Max Hastings about the wars in Vietnam.

Vietnam and I have enjoyed a rather long distance relationship from the gaming perspective in that it is a period I am interested in but aside from a few aerial games using SPIs Air War and the odd skirmish I never really invested in it very much. I have seen a number of the main cinematic stalwarts – Apocalypse Now, Platoon, The Deer Hunter, The Green Berets, Hamburger Hill and my personal favourite, The Odd Angry Shot – although for some inexplicable reason Full Metal Jacket is missing but soon to be rectified. Another film that I have seen is of course We Were Soldiers starring Mel Gibson. The film is about the vicious fighting that took place in the IaDrang Valley in November 1965 and is based on the book of (more of less) the same name written by (then) Colonel Hal Moore and Joe Galloway.

I use the word ‘vicious’ to describe the fighting in Ia Drang because it was just that. It was up close and very personal and with huge quantities of automatic weapons fire. The film captures the claustrophobic nature of the fighting very well and although it takes a few historical liberties it was generally well received and even Colonel Moore approved (he was quite scathing about other films covering the war and as he was actually in the firing line during the events depicted his opinion is important). As well as the film I also own a copy of the book which is very good indeed and for me really captures the intensity of the battle.

A number of years ago I acquired a number of boxes of 20mm plastics from Revell of US special forces and the VC but sadly these went awhile back. I even drafted a Memoir 44 based adaptation for the conflict based on using elements from the Pacific and Eastern front expansions. It is a conflict I would like to game but I am not sure how or even when.

Leading up to Vietnam (bear with me as this will illustrate how my brain works. Or not, as the case may be!) in my recent research was Aden, initially for the World War 1 angle. As you are aware Aden is going to feature in support of my Arab Revolt project – there was fighting against the Turks and with Arab allies present on both sides – when lo and behold  I came across mention of Radfan. I have familial interest in the Radfan campaign as my brother in law served with the Parachute Regiment there.

One on the 'to get' list for sure as it covers the WW1 period as well as the campaigns during the 1960s. My brother in law took part in this as a member of the Parachute regiment.

I had promised myself that I would familiarise myself with the British operations in Aden and Radfan for two reasons. Firstly because of the ‘colonial’ nature of the British involvement and secondly due to the family connection. If I am honest it is one of those periods I would like to game but am probably unlikely to do so although I will have the appropriate terrain to hand for the earlier WW2 operations. Mind you, having said that the idea of any games that involve ground attack Hawker Hunters would definitely weaken my resolve!

The Revell kit of the ground attack variant of the Hawker Hunter - the FGA 9

So, two modern conflicts fought in very different terrains by two major powers and each with their own particular merits as well a degree of commonality in certain areas. Something else to ponder methinks….

A Heatwave that is Too Hot to Handle....

 

Relentless and remorseless - readers of a certain vintage will recall the similar weather during 1976

 

This is the other Heatwave with their album Too Hot to Handle - coincidentally it was released in 1976....

 

 

 

I am probably not alone in suffering from what can best be described as heat-induced lethargy. The man cave is currently doing a passable impersonation of a blast furnace and so painting is proving very challenging. Even with the Velux windows open it gets very uncomfortable very quickly and so I have decided that discretion is the better part of valour and I am leaving the brushes well alone for now, at least until the weather eases off slightly. I should also throw in the mix the effects of the heat during the dubious delight of my daily commute on a crowded train....

So no painting and, to be frank, not a great deal of anything meaningful  but what I have managed to do though, is to sort ‘stuff’ out. 

Sorting ‘stuff’ out can mean different things to different people and in my experience can range from putting some backs in the correct space on the shelf to a major overhaul of one’s den. Usually though it tends fall between the two. In my case books certainly featured but I also moved some games around and well, found a few things that had slipped under the radar for a variety of reasons. 

I always find doing this kind of thing to be very therapeutic because after all, you are doing something.

For me, this time around meant rediscovering my box of 1/600^th scale figures and vehicles (mainly Tumbling Dice and Peter Pig but with a few packs of Magister Militum vehicles for the Great War included), together with a few items of terrain. 

The 1/600^th scale figures originally came about as an accompaniment to the Peter Pig ACW ship range with Tumbling Dice featuring on the back of having seen some painted example at a couple of shows. Whilst the Peter Pig troops are blocks the Tumbling Dice are individual figures (cast on strips), even infantry in close order. 

I have a number of plans for this collection with the Tumbling Dice models being primarily for 20^th century (at this stage I am thinking about Sam Mustafa’s Rommel for WW2) although the cavalry and close order infantry may well turn up for something 19^th century related. The Peter Pig blocks however will be for something more mainstream horse and musket – as a long distance project they may well see the light of day for something Napoleonic.

 

I suppose the point of this post is that even whilst the sun is playing havoc with people's attention spans and energy levels (it certainly is mine!) there is always something that can be done that is not too draining.

Hammerin' Iron Revisited....Part 2

 

One to look out for methinks



It is funny how a throw away comment can spark a whole sequence of events. In this case we are not talking about something new - rather it is more a case of taking one's thoughts into different areas. You may recall from last post I was talking about ACW river operations and my plans around these since I had recently (re)acquired my Peter Pig Hammerin' Iron hexed cloth.

So lets see - ACW ships - check, ACW naval rules - check and ACW naval cloth - hang on, the cloth is not only ACW surely?

At this point along came that well known bon vivant, wit and raconteur - Geordie who commented on my last post and casually mentioned the Dardanelles.

Dardanelles? Now my interest in matters Ottoman Turkish is well known and after a quick look at the possibilities of using the cloth for this I was struck by a thought - which in turn led to several others.

I was thinking about gunboats and where they have fought. There are quite a few large rivers that have seen actions using gunboats - the Tigris, Yangtze, Nile and Danube spring to mind with the 'Great father of waters' the Mississippi naturally featuring for the ACW. It would be churlish to limit myself solely to the ACW when there are so many other opportunities to explore and with the added attraction of not needing very much in the way of material.

David Manley has produced a set of rules for fighting on the rivers of Europe during the Great War called River Wars which would be a good source of information for ship types etc as well as being a pretty good set of rules as well although sadly are not hexed. There is also a supplement that covers the Russian Civil War and the base set called Steamer Wars that tackles the Lake Tanganyika expedition.

I was browsing the net for further inspiration when I came across the following website that provided me with yet further inspiration although I doubt I would game gunboat action in 1/1200th as the ships would be a little on the small side but 1/600th would be perfect.

From the Peter Pig range there are a few ships that could be readily converted into other types and there is also the possibility of scratch building - a route that Bob Cordery has followed very successfully.

So what does all this mean for me in real terms? Well, the provision of naval support via gunboats and actions involving the same is something I will be tackling for the ACW for sure but I am very tempted to expand this into the Balkan project in some way if I can. Should this not work out I could easily look to tackle something on a standalone basis - the Tigris during WW1 would be an obvious choice (I have a couple of very good books on the subject) but for sheer variety of nationalities the Yangtze during the interwar period has much to commend it.

I suddenly have this compelling urge to watch Khartoum and the Sand Pebbles again....

Plastic Army Men or the Garden Revisited

A small selection of the figures from the set (and this is a picture from Google images) - in addition there is a kneeling bazooka firer, a 'Rambo-esque' machine gunner and an NCO armed with a Sten - a copy of the Airfix 54mm WW2 paratrooper

Originally I was not going to write this post until after a couple of conditions had been met. The conditions (actually only one I can think of) were that the figures for this latest piece of insanity should be painted. However, as the idea that has resulted from this has really got my creative juices flowing I thought that perhaps getting this out in the open would be a good thing.

During our visit to Basildon yesterday SWMBO and I happened to swing past Wilkinsons - the general store. I always make a point of checking out the 'toy section' in this particular store simply because you never know what might turn up that could be useful. As an aside I also make sure that whenever we visit Pound Shops or similar I also have a good look around for the same reason.

Whilst on this search I happened to find something that is certainly of profound value to me and, I suspect, many other gamers predisposed to battles involving larger scale figures.

Meanwhile, back in the early 1970's....

In the early days of the Airfix 1/32nd plastic figures a very good gaming friend and i used to fight battles using these figures in the garden. We also used to be able to buy individual figures as the toy shop we used  routinely opened boxes to sell the figures as needed. I had a Russian army and my friend had the jackbooted Germans. We excavated real trenches and used the overgrown lawn for jungle actions (very useful on the Eastern front....). The figures initially were unpainted but we did slap some paint on some of the for the later battles. We actually used Charles Grant's Battle for the rules but with the ranges and move distances doubled. The games were enormous fun  but we never got around to taking it indoors.

....and then back to the future....

Wilkinson's are selling bags of 50 'Army Men' scaled at around 42 to 45 mm tall and cast in typical tan and green plastic (I should mention that the plastic is hard - not the usual soft polythene) for 25p. That means for £1 you can get 200 figures. That's right - 200 FIGURES!!!!

OK, Foundry they ain't but for that money and quantity I am really not bothered! The figures can best be described as generic 20th century types but significantly there are two bolt action rifle figures and a 'normal' smg type. They are also harder than the usual plastic used and, at the size mentioned, can readily make use of the 42mm range of equipment available from Irregular Miniatures.

What are the implications of this then? Well for one thing, the prospect of some generic 20th century armies looms large - especially of an 'imagi-nation' variety. My immediate thought was for those two old adversaries - Fezia and Rusland. Suddenly the Middle East project has taken on a whole new shape - rather the Caucasus end has.

Vehicles to go with these figures could be a challenge simply due to the scale. Irregular have a small number available but being in metal would work out rather expensive when needed in quantity. My feeling would be use something akin to the concept of the cartoon warship - vehicles with a modest table footprint but with an exaggerated vertical profile. Generic vehicles would be the order of the day - I am thinking of what I call the Hollywood effect - you know the sort of thing, M48s disguised as Panzers - so I am expecting that some carefully modified and painted 'toys' might be the answer or even some basic scratch builds.

As far as rules are concerned I am spoiled for choice and at this stage am not really them much in the way of serious thought - the only thing that should be taken as read is that hexes will feature in one shape or form.

For the record, I went back to the ship and purchased another 12 packets and so now have a plastic mountain of some 800 figures requiring attention. For £4 that must rate as one of the bargains of the century!