Building a 28mm WW2 Era French Garage

When my group decided to get into Chain of Command I starting putting together terrain for a Normandy table and building a French garage was always high on my to do list. There were already so many great examples out there and I had a lot inspiration to work with. One of the problems I faced with building a garage was the lots of little bits I considered essential to bring it to life. The acquisition of a 3D printer gave me the ability to print everything I would need. What follows is a brief step-by-step of the build. There are quite a few images of the finished garage at the end, along with the sheet of sign and posters which I have made available to download should anyone wish to use them.

The finished garage.

Gathering all the integral components. Walls are 5mm foamcore.

Assembling the basic building and mounting on some plasticard.

Removing the outer layer of card and some foam to accommodate the exposed brickwork.

The exposed brickwork is simply DAS clay rolled out to 2-3mm and textured with a Greenstuff worlds texture roller to imprint the brick design.

Fixing the brickwork, 3D printed windows and rolling door channels.

The walls and brickwork, textured, painted and weathered, and the light fixed in placed.

Dry fitting the 3D printed doors and a Citroen for scale.

The removable roof was made out of foamcore and card.

Cutting strips of tried and tested card shingles...

...old school, but effective.

Giving the doors a lick of paint and weathering.

All the bits and pieces laid out.

My sheet of signs and posters.

Test positioning the tank and the other bits. All the greebles were glued to a piece
of blister plastic to make it easier to paint and then fix them in.

Almost done - everything fixed in placed.

A Sherman for scale.

Some Warlord plastic Airborne for scale.

My sheet of signs and posters.
To download, right-click the image and select open in new window,
then Right-click Save As.

"The Petite Race for Africa" Colonial Flags

I thought some people may find this sheet of flags I made for "The Petite Race for Africa" useful for their own colonial games as well. They were designed for 28mm miniatures but could be re-sized for use with other scales.
I'm unsure how authentic the French Foreign Legion flag is, so understand it may well not pass a button counter's scrutiny. Enjoy!

Big Men for "Cpt Makepeace's Daring Rescue"

For any one interested I have made the Big Men cards available from our recent "Captain Makepeace's Daring Rescue" game. There are a few "extra" Big Men thrown in to fill the sheet.

The Big Men cards are available here

A Game Three Years in the Making...

A little over dramatic I know, but it has been a LONG time coming. We have been promising to start our Indostan campaign proper for about three years now, since around the time I created The Jewel in the Crown blog. In our defense we have had our set backs, namely a death and a birth, events that rocked 2011 and sent tremors throughout 2012. But with a new year fast approaching we have made a pact to have a bloody good go at starting this thing once and for all. 

This Friday we intend to kick off the campaign with our first game using the Sharp Practice rules, the after action report of which should be posted shortly after. The Jewel in the Crown blog will serve as a more detailed account of the campaign and hopefully be updated regularly.

So without further ado I present to you our new hero, Lt. Archibald Keen! Young Mr. Keen will finally take the spotlight from Captain Charles Chase, whose own adventures were nothing to snub a nose at. Chase served us admirably for many years as our stand-in stunt hero, but alas Indostan's sun has finally addled his poor brain and the honorable Captain Chase has been put out to pasture. Keen on the other hand has his whole career ahead of him...

Archibald Keen, our hero!!

And how can there be a hero without a villain...

Captain "Indigo", boo hiss!!

For anyone interested you can download all the Sharp Practice Big Men cards for this game here.

Hope you will all be along for the ride. Huzzah!!

The Legacy of Arrius Lurco - RPG Session 6

Another long over due actual play audio from our "The Legacy of Arrius Lurco" Cthulhu Invictus campaign. The investigators are left to their own devices as they begin to plan a sunny holiday to Crete. Can they really be serious, what with the horrible exchange rate at the moment? Regardless, it will have to wait until all their meetings, lunches and hobnobbing with aristocrats is over. But wait - is there just a little room left for a gift of fruit and tears...

WARNING: This actual play audio contains a case of violent diarrhea - the first ever recorded attempt I believe of role-playing dysentery. Listen at your own peril (especially if during lunch). This is no laughing matter - the horrifying ancient forces have stooped to a new gastronomic low.

If you do download and listen we would love you to leave your comments below. Thanks and enjoy.

The Legacy of Arrius Lurco - Episode 8 - Various Meetings

BONUS CONTENT (read omitted babble) Recap of Episode 7

Previous session can be found here.

The Legacy of Arrius Lurco - RPG Session 5

The great man Arrius Lurco is dead and his body is finally laid to rest, but the adventure is just beginning. Things are starting to hot up for the investigators and the omens are bad, what with Pluto at the gates and propositions in graveyards - things are about to turn weird. Can the investigators press on against the forces of Eihort without a patron, can they survive another night in Fabius Albinus' tenement apartment? Can there be a game lurking somewhere amongst all the giggling. Unlikely.

No list of slighted parties this time around (we were on our best behavior), but if we have still somehow managed to offend someone please accept our humble apologies, no offense was intended.

Please note you can click on the link to stream the audio or right click to save it locally.

If you do download and listen we would love you to leave your comments below. Thanks and enjoy.

The Legacy of Arrius Lurco - Episode 7 - The Funeral

Previous session can be found here.

The Legacy of Arrius Lurco - RPG Session 4

Finally our stalwart investigators get a glimpse of what has actually been going on over the last three sessions of play and realise they are not playing D&D. The truth surrounding the grizzly death of Arrius Lurco is clearly spelled out for them, but how will they proceed, now knowing what fate lies ahead for them. Can they continue their quest without managing to piss more people off? Can they avoid catching worms? Highly unlikely.

Please allow me to apologise, in no particular order, in advance to the following slighted parties:- train perverts, Rupert Holmes, Darth Vader, accountants, sufferers of exma and/or peanut allergies, Mexicans, opiate users, Bonnie Tyler, nursing home residents, people with speech impediments, Michael Jackson, recreational anal probers and Hannibal Lecter.

Please accept our humble apologies, no offense was intended.

Please note you can click on the link to stream the audio or right click to save it locally.

If you do download and listen we would love you to leave your comments below. Enjoy.

The Legacy of Arrius Lurco - Episode 6 - The Legacy of Arrius Lurco

Previous session can be found here.

The Legacy of Arrius Lurco - RPG Session 3

A long over due post of the 3rd session in our "The Legacy of Arrius Lurco" Cthulhu campaign, with all players present. Ray has a new baby girl (congrats mate!), so we've had to hold off a little but are due to play the 4th session this Friday and hopefully will have that audio up quicker than this one.

Unfortunately we don't have our normal voice over lady available so the intro's a little short, but this is Episode 5 - The Death of Arrius Lurco. The brave investigators return to Roma and rejoin Varus in the search for clues. They encounter their first brush with the supernatural and it is a rude and horrifying shock, but the truth is finally within their grasp. Will they be able to continue in their task?
Please allow me to apologise, in no particular order, in advance to the following slighted parties:- small boys, bastards, Tom Jones, residents of Roselands, The Phantom, whores, wife beaters, snuggie wearers, the people of Greece, the people of France, the people of Germany, Al Gore, followers of the Jewish faith, followers of the Muslim faith and cobblers.
Please accept our humble apologies, no offense was intended.

Please note you can click on the link to stream the audio or right click to save it locally. Enjoy.

The Legacy of Arrius Lurco - Episode 5 - The Death of Arrius Lurco

Previous session can be found here

The Legacy of Arrius Lurco - RPG Session 2

We have finally had a chance to play our second session of "The Legacy of Arrius Lurco", unfortunately minus a player. The brave investigators find themselves scouring the streets of Roma and Ostia in an attempt to track down the leads they have acquired. Can they possibly bully, slap, seduce and knuckle their way to the truth?

Please allow me to apologise, in no particular order, in advance to the following slighted parties:- women, small boys, the people of Greece, the people of France, students of Roman history, people with rough hands, Seal, Techno Vikings, Somalian pirates, Barry White and The Standard Indian Restaurant. Please accept our humble apologies, no offense was intended.

The recording is in a single downloadable file in MP3 format.
Please note you can click on the link to stream the audio or right click to save it locally. Enjoy.

The Legacy of Arrius Lurco - Episode 4 - Discovering the Plan

Previous session can be found here

The Legacy of Arrius Lurco - RPG Session 1

Well, it has been quite some time since I posted here, but with good reason. Just before Christmas I welcomed a new addition to the family and along with her joyous arrival was heralded a distinct lack of painting/wargaming time.

This intermission has had it's benefits though, namely allowing me to get back into something I haven't done for quite some time - roleplaying.

Since I first heard about the "Cthulhu Invictus" source-book I have been itching to try out a Cthulhu game set in ancient Rome. The kicker was the release of "The Legacy of Arrius Lurco" by Miskatonic River Press, a brilliantly written campaign set in Rome, Greece and Crete.

Inspired by some of the "actual play" audio games found on the web, we decided to record our session. A big thanks goes out to Christian of Intergalactic Games for providing the recordings and to Romina, his wife, for doing the intros for us.

And while not strictly speaking "adventures in lead", what follows are certainly adventures of a different type. For the lead purists out there, please excuse the brief deviation from the usual subject matter, which will proceed in good time.

Follow the links to download the audio in MP3 format.

The Legacy of Arrius Lurco - Episode 1 - Prologue

The Legacy of Arrius Lurco - Episode 2 - A Day at the Circus

The Legacy of Arrius Lurco - Episode 3 - A Night of Chaos

Next session can be found here

Genuine Indostani Rug Sale!!

I have compiled a small sample, for your viewing pleasure, of my genuine 28mm scaled Indostani rugs, that will be on sale for a very short time. This over stocked, half priced, closing down, clearance, end of financial year, camel soiled, sale will not be repeated and at these prices my stocks can not last! Hurry, hurry, the finest rugs in all of Indostan.

This sheet of rugs can be downloaded, printed on bright inkjet paper, cut out and used to add a more exotic feel to your gaming terrain. Enjoy!! (Click the images to enlarge)

Click the image once to enlarge it, then right click it and select Save Image As... to download.

Chowdri Poomba, the esteemed Indostani war-chieftain, tests each of our rugs personally.

Amended MTS Contra-Retiarius Cards

It's been brought to my attention that a set of cards I made for Morituri Te Salutant (download them HERE), in particular the set for the gladiator type Contra-Retiarius, are incorrect - how that happened is anyone's guess. I've fixed the error and the correct cards can now be downloaded from HERE.

I'm glad that people are finding them useful and I've had quite a few comments about how they vastly improve the game play. Have fun.

Morituri Te Salutant - Gladiator Rules

Morituri Te Salutant is a set of gladiatorial combat rules available from Black Hat Miniatures, sold in both book or PDF form. I bought the PDF a while back and only had a chance to try the rules out last Sunday at Dave's new place. 

We quickly launched into a combat between a Samnite and a Thracian, two of the more common of the twelve gladiator types available. The rules were easily grasped by the players and some game tactics were quickly developed. MTS promotes some jockeying for position, which is  really good in a game with only two figures on the whole board. Other rules can result in the gladiators simply walking up to each other and exchanging blows.

The rules IMHO really achieve recreating a gladiatorial combat between two combatants well. Lose the initiative and your opponent controls the flow of the combat. Choose the wrong move and the other guy may  just skewer you. Suffer a heavy hit and the fight is as good as over. Fall down and good luck getting up with your pancreas in place. All pretty realistic results. So all in all a pretty good ruleset.

I have a few gripes. Firstly the rules are a little scattered throughout the book and you need to flip back and forward in search of the more obscure ones - which is admittedly common to many other rule books. The use of tables and matrix's are a little dated, and although they did work, I would have liked to see something a little more elegant. Although the maneuvering of the combatants was good it could lead to some pointless dancing around which resulted in some pretty boring breaks in the action. We were reluctant to just close with the enemy when we knew he could be waiting to cut us down. Again pretty realistic but did it make for a fun game? We also had a go at a multiplayer (3 gladiator)  match as well and had to abandon it because of time, but it was looking like being a long drawn out battle of maneuvering with little real action.
I have created some cards for MTS (something the game was sadly missing) that greatly improves the speed and playability of the game. I am handing them over to Black Hat Miniatures and they should appear in their downloads section in the near future. (They are available now - get them HERE)
So to sum up, I recommend MTS for one on one gladiatorial combats, but anything larger could be a problem.

Custom Sharp Practice Deck

I have uploaded a pdf of my custom Sharp Practice deck for the Indostan campaign. They have a SYW feel with an Indian twist.

I print the Nationality cards on red (British) or orange (Indostan) paper, as well as using colored paper for the card backs.

I hope someone can find some use for them, or at least inspire them to do their own custom cards. I always find this is a really good way to study the cards and put a personal touch in.

 

Download them HERE.

Barbary Corsair Flag

This is a fictitious Barbary Corsair flag I use on "The Dervish". I found images on the Net that showed that they did use Saracen heads on their flags, so whipped this one up in Photoshop. Feel free to use it if you wish. (Right click on the image and select Save image as)