A Vauban Style Star Fort

 This is a terrain project that I completed last July when I was able to work in my garage and set up a work table for sawing and painting. It is a star fort that my father made in 1966 as a Christmas present. The walls had been constructed primarily from the wooden ends salvaged from apple boxes. This became the focus of my initial dive into wargaming, although at the time my brother and I used spring loaded metal tubes my father had made to launch wooden projectiles at each other's troops. 

 

The base measured 1.2m by 0.8m. Originally the fort and base were all grey, but I had painted the base green at some point in the 1970's so it would look better on the wargames table. The large size of the base meant it was still a bit unwieldy, so it was time to trim things smaller as well as repair and improve the overall appearance. The impetus for the project came from watching a video by the Terrain Tutor on flocking gaming boards. I used a number of techniques presented in that video to do the upgrade.

The black lines are the cutting guide for my Skilsaw to trim the base as close to the bastion corners as I could. You can see a lot of the cracks where the wood had split over the years, and the grooves on the outside of the some of the bastions. That was supposed to be where the interior platforms were to slot in, but these were accidentally cut on the wrong side.

 The base was trimmed, and the sharp edges sanded to give a more rounded profile. All the cracks and the unnecessary grooves on the outside of the bastions were filled with plastic wood, and everything was sanded smooth. The 'stone work' (rectangles of heavy paper and cardboard of varying thicknesses) was glued on using PVA. I also used pieces of self-adhesive address labels sent to me over the years by various charitable organizations. I cut them to the desired size and stick them on to give a hint of stone or brickwork.

The entire fort was repainted in a dark grey with highlighting and drybrushing of the stone work in lighter shades. Then sand was glued to the base using PVA and painted brown after the glue had dried. The paints used for all the colours were latex paints from Home Depot. They often have smaller containers for sale in the 'Oops' section of the paint department. Anytime I pass through there, I have a quick look for shades of brown, green, and grey that might be useful for wargames terrain projects.

I constructed three ravelins from polystyrene foam and mounted them on cutoffs from the original base that were trimmed to give an equilateral triangle. To get a consistent size and shape for the pieces of polystyrene, I first cut a pattern out of cardboard that was used as a guide for my handheld hot wire cutter. The simulated stone work was done in the same manner as the main fort.

 After the brown paint on the bases was dry, I flocked them as outlined in Mel's tutorial video, mostly using a medium green blend, with patches of darker green near the bottom of the walls, and lighter green where 'high traffic' or drier areas might be. A few clumps of lichen were added here and there,  just to give some variety. The gates were constructed using balsa wood and match sticks, and then given a coat of dark brown paint followed by drybrushing on lighter shades. The bridge that spans the moat was originally something my father had made for a sand table he had constructed for training soldiers. It was originally just a 1 by 2 cut with a curve and some square arches. It has been augmented with popsicle sticks on the sides, and coffee stir sticks for the planks. It was painted in the same manner as the gates. 

 With the ravelins being separate pieces, it is possible to use the fort without a moat, or without the ravelins completely, depending on the scenario.

The fort was originally designed to be used with Airfix American Civil War Union and Confederate Infanty and Artillery, so the the barrack doors and windows are HO scale. Here's a view of the fort interior.

When I repainted the base many years ago, I thought I might use it for 15mm Napoleonics or Seven Years War, which would have made the barracks too large. I made some 'quick and dirty' facades using cardboard and felt pens to cover the fronts of the barrack blocks and look like buildings that butted up against the fort walls. The buildings in the center are 1/160 scale resin models. I may do some more elaborate facades at some point in the future, as well as some 'battle damage' pieces to place against a wall section or bastion to show where a breach has been established.

This was a project that has been in the back of my mind for quite some time, so it gave me considerable satisfaction to finally get it done. Now all I need to do is find a good set of wargame rules for sieges in the 17th to 19th centuries. I know Conscript Dave is already thinking about doing the 1565 Great Siege of Malta. The possibilities abound.

 

I hope you have enjoyed my little journey down memory lane. Until we can meet across gaming table, stay safe and healthy.

 

 

Ludus Gladiatorius - Back to the Arena!

A couple of Thursdays ago I brought out Ludus Gladiatorius (Eng. trans. "Gladiatorial School") for another evening simulating hand to hand combat in front of the Roman crowds. Dallas, on a recent rip to Imperial Hobbies in Vancouver, had kindly picked up for me a felt arena map from Hotz Mats, which we used to good effect.

I have both of the sets that were originally available from EM-4.  This is a quick-play gladiator combat game with pre-painted metal 28mm gladiators and special combat dice. Lots of cool play aids are available for download on the Yahoo Group.

They key feature of the game is that each character has a certain number of special actions that. once used, are no longer available. So, the tactics are based upon movement, and using your special actions wisely. Each gladiator has a rated movement, in hexes, but may get an extra hex of movement, determined randomly;y. So, you never quite know if  someone else can reach you or not!

The players chose their gladiators by die roll:

• Bill = Vescen (hits pretty hard, and good at Feinting)
• Dallas = Thrax (a real tank; hits hard and has lots of hit points, but slow)
• Dave (me) = Leonius (good at Feinting, and with a decent amount of hit points)
• Frederick = Marcus Attilus (very fast, and decent attack value)
• Keegan = Caladus (slow, but good at Defense, and lots of hit points)

We had a battle royale with everyone starting just outside movement range of one another. Bill's Vescen was playing it cagey, so I ran Leonius across the arena at him.



Our gladiators tarted dueling, as Calladus watched.



In retrospect, that was not the greatest of ideas, since Leonius was the first to fall. However, the crowd must have liked what they saw, because he was spared! (There is a special purple die, with both "thumbs up" and "thumbs down" faces.)



[Note: Historically, a gladiator who acknowledged defeat could request the munerarius ("editor", or giver of the games) to stop the fight and send him alive (missus) from the arena. The editor took the crowd's response into consideration in deciding whether to let the loser live or order the victor to kill him.]

The fight devolved into a couple of paired combats:  Vescen vs. Marcus Attilius, and Caladus vs. the mighty Thrax.



Calladus was the next to fall, but also was granted missus.



By this point, Marcus Attilus had only one hit point left, so he was trying basically to stay alive, moving back out of reach when he could. However, seeing Thrax standing alone, he and Vescens ganged up on the heavily equipped gladiator. below, Dallas swings for the bleachers...



...to no avail, as Thrax went down. Yet again, he had performed well, as Thrax was granted missus. The time was called, and Marcus Attilus and Vescens shared accolades as co-winners of the contest.

Below, Frederick looks on in relief. Both Marcus and Vescens had only a couple of hit points left between them.



Ludus Gladiatorius is a fast-playing, beer & pretzels kind of game, well suited to our Thursday night style of play. For more detailed combat rules, there are other games like Avalon Hill's Gladiator, which better simulate the cut and thrust of personal combat, and attacking or defending different parts of the body.

I look forward to trying out the mat with Brian's model of The Collosseum.

Necromunda Project

Lately, I've found that the way for me to actually complete a project is to ensure that it is small in scope, and then to stick with it until it's done!

Back in January, after some idle chit-chat amongst the Conscripts, several of us thought it would be great to start up a campaign for Necromunda, that long out-of-print sci-fi skirmish game from Games Workshop (set in the dystopic Warhammer 40K universe). As it turned out, several Conscripts still owned either painted gangs, or owned the parts to make them. I did not, so I went onto eBay and found a gang of 5 pristine (i.e., never cleaned up or painted) 28mm scale, pewter Spyre Hunters.



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SPYRER HUNTER BACKGROUND

The fluff behind the Spyrers is interesting. Within the industrial underhives of a far-future hive city, where the gangs of the ruling houses compete for resources, the upper nobility also commit their own groups of "gangs" to the conflicts for a different purpose. Spyrer hunting parties are composed of the unproven youths of the noble houses, born in the upper levels of the hive. These groups descend into the lower levels to undertake a vow that has been impressed upon them by a sponsor, either to survive unaided in the depths of the undercity for a designated length of time, or to obtain a designated number of kills. They are not permitted to return until their task is complete. In this way the nobles will prove themselves as both ruthless and resourceful, and thus suited for political leadership roles.

Each Spyrer is granted a unique Hunting Rig which has been crafted off-world, using nearly forgotten technologies. A Hunting Rig acts as a suit of armour with built-in weaponry and cybernetic enhancements. It is self-sustaining, providing sustenance to the wearer so that they are not burdened by the requirement of food. It is also self-repairing, so that they do not require regular maintenance.
However the most important feature of the hunting rig is their power boosting system. As the wearer fights and gains experience in combat, the hunting rig will adapt and evolve to suit the wearer by increasing power to certain systems, unlocking previously unavailable abilities and new potential as the hunt continues. The Hunting Rig classes:

• Orrus are characterized by oversize, piston-powered arms containing Bolt Launchers built into the fists. They are also protected from shooting attacks by a force field. 
• Jakara are the lightest and most agile of the Spyrer hunters, equipped with a Mono-molecular edged sword, and a Mirror Shield which can absorb energy-based attacks and fire it back at their enemies. 
• Malcadon are armed with Web Spinnerets designed to immobilize the enemy so they can be torn apart by their vicious claws. They are also equipped with climbing hooks and hydraulic pistons to allow the wearer to reach ambush points. 
• Yeld are equipped with Chameleon armour and razor-edged wings. They are armed with multiple laser tubes built into their gauntlets. Though their wings do allow them to fly, they make for better gliders. 

***

MODELING AND PAINTING

I cleaned up the figures with files, including sharpening the Jakara's sword, in the middle below. Most sword blades on 28mm models look like chunks of wooden 2x4. I pinned the figures with brass wire to neat-looking cast resin bases from Dragon Forge.



I started with my usual zenithal highlighting, priming black and airbrushing white downward at  about a 60-degree angle (thanks go to the late Shep Paine for that trick). The faces were initially laid in with Vallejo acrylics, using their great Face Painting Set. The paints provided allow you to do highlights, shadows, and to bring out the colour in the cheeks and lips, for various types of skin tones.





Afterwards, I went back in with artists' oils, to smooth out colour transitions, to punch up highlights and shadows, and to add detail in and around the eyes.



I wanted to keep the paint schemes simple, with only one or two colours noticeable from a distance. Using Citadel washes, I laid in the base colours of the Hunting Rig body armour and weapons, and the hair on the Jakara and Orrus. Details were picked out in various acrylics, followed again by using oils to smooth out transitions and emphasize hot spots or shadows.

I used Vallejo's Non Metallic Metal paint set for the Orrus wrist- and ankle-mounted bolt launchers, on the left below.





I was inspired to paint the pair of Malcadon similar to the Predators from the Aliens v. Predators franchise. Their Hunting Rigs are markedly different from the other Spyrer types. I mounted one on a tilted base to allow the viewer to see its face. I painted  their wrist mounted weapons as claws rather than blades; it goes with the feel of the living amour they wear. Their helmets' green lenses were painted in Conscript Brian's style.



The Malcadon with the closed-face helmet has a couple of trophies hanging from his rig. From the Spyrer rules, I think that I will choose the "Kill X number of opponents" vow for the campaign.



The Yeld is striking. The characterful head has the best sculpting of the five models. Shading the facial implants was a bit tricky. The challenge with the wings was to differentiate them without drawing attention away from the face. The "grey" wings use colours from black, through various greys, to white, The wrist mounted laser tubes also got the Non Metallic Metal treatment. The bases for all figures were glazed with Citadel Devlan Mud. The figures were sealed with Tamiya semi-gloss spray.





***

LEGIOCON

This is the table of terrain that I brought to the LegioCon 2016 miniature war games convention, where I ran some Necromunda participation games. As described elsewhere, the buildings all either take apart or are hollow, to allow play inside them. Thanks to Conscript MikeA, Barry, Jeff, Dave, and Cole for playing!





A photo from Friday night at the convention, at the St. James Legion No. 4 (a great, friendly venue!).



Coinciding with LegioCon was the Manitoba Model Soldier Society annual Show and Competition. I entered my Spyrer hunting party in the Wargames category, and managed to win a gold medal and the Best War Game Unit award. I was rather pleased, since the other MMSS members had several beautiful armies and units on display, including some very nice horse and musket era infantry regiments and cavalry squadrons.



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MORE TERRAIN

I have found for both modern and sci-fi skirmish games that you need a fairly high density of terrain for your table. Otherwise, automatic weapons or snipers will dominate play. Many of these new pieces came from Conscript Byron's company, SG2 Creations, who make a variety of MDF terrain, available from his web store, or as custom pieces.

New additions to my urban table include the clip-on helicopter landing pad, a Middle Eastern styled garage, an overhead walkway, some planters (with small trees sourced from a model railroad supplier), and some dumpsters. For the most part, the MDF terrain is assembled with white glue, painted quickly with spray can colours from RONA hardware, and weathered with various acrylics and Vallejo powdered pigments.

When mounted on a 3-story building, the landing pad is almost 5 stories above the ground. The Yeld on the landing below is an alternate pose, painted by Conscript Kevin almost 20 years ago.



The eight new items in the photo below (except for the trees and dirt) all come from SG2.



The garage door opens, and the roof comes off to allow you to place models inside.



I have another unbuilt walkway; I need to build another 3-story building.



The planters provide a lot of cover. I mounted the trees onto two layers of cut out foam core, then added and painted model railroad dirt.



***

NEXT STEPS

Necromunda

Some of us still have our original Necromunda rule books. The game is basically 2nd ed. Warhammer 40K, with a more skirmish feel. Overwatch, being pinned by gunfire, various levels of wounding effects, and draconian morale rules allow a quick, fun, game with a surprisingly current feel. Although the game is no longer supported by GW (though that may change in future), there are some third party online resources available. For example, the YakTribe Gaming site has PDFs of various rule books and supplements.

I am looking forward to the start of the Necromunda campaign in April!


Skirmish Wargaming in Mythical Japan

Also, I am finally getting around to painting a war-band to play samurai skirmish games using rules like Ronin (published by Osprey) and Daishō (from The Ministry of Gentlemanly Warfare).

Next in the painting queue are some Japanese samurai, the Koryu Buntai boxed set from North Star Military Figures, with some Shogunate-era terrain pieces from 4Ground.  The figures are very distinctive. Seven of them are clearly modeled after the titular characters in the movie Seven Samurai (Shichinin no samurai).

Nine figures, a couple of buildings, some fences, and an ox cart. No problem!

LVDVS GLADIATORIVS - REDVX

Last Thursday I brought out Ludus Gladiatorius (Eng. trans. "Gladiatorial School") for a second evening simulating hand to hand combat in front of ancient Roman citizenry. Conscript BrianH also brought along his magnificent Roman Colosseum model within which we staged the proceedings.



The game was re-scheduled since I was away in Las Vegas for the Throne of Skulls tournament and a long-awaited vacation with my loving wife, Conscript-widow Jen. I shall shortly post batreps of my 40K games at the ToS (really!).

Before we started playing, we had an interesting discussion about gladiatorial combat in the Colosseum (or, the Flavian Amphitheatre). Due the the high cost of training and maintaining elite gladiators, combats did not inevitably result in death. In the later period, sparing of a defeated gladiator's life was common. The construction of the Colosseum itself was also discussed. When Jen and I visited the Colosseum in Rome last year, we learned that the building was originally faced with limestone, which would have provided a gleaming appearance.

As a change from the regular mechanics of Ludus Gladiatorius, I used cards to determine initiative when there were more than two gladiators active on the arena floor. I obtained card templates from the Boardgame Geek site. I used the files named "Ludus_CARTE_iniziativa.pdf" and "Ludus_CARTE_retro.pdf". I just printed out the initiative side and one of the backing sides on the two sides of a single sheet of paper on my home printer, cut out the cards, and placed them in clear plastic card sleeves.

Also, we used fan-made character sheets from the Ludus Gladiatorius Yahoo Group page. The new sheets allow one to write what Special Action (if any) their gladiator uses every turn, and they simply illustrate all the rest of the required stats. I used the file named "Ludus_Schede.pdf".

We started with a two-on-two battle, involving (respectively), Conscripts Brian and Frederick teaming up, vs. Dallas and Indo. The game characters used were as follows:

• Brian = Marcus Attilius
  


• Frederick = Vescen


• Dallas = Thrax


• Indo = Criminal

Brian and Frederick had the best swordsmen. Dallas had a tank - Thrax is very tough and hits fairly hard. Indo ran a character from the second set, Ludus Gladiatorius 2. The Criminal is interesting; he hits very, very hard, but his basic defense is very bad (no armour!). After the initial fight, the winners and losers would square off in a pair of one-on-one fights, then the winners of the A and B side would face off to determine the event champion.

In the photo below, Brian and Dallas can be seen contemplating their tactics.



Initially, the fight devolved into a pair of single combats.



The teams regrouped for mutual support.



Then, Thrax and the Criminal ganged up on Vescen.



After Vescen fell, it was only a matter of time until Marcus was defeated, too.

The single combat portion of the evening started, resulting eventually in a win for Thrax, who defeated Marcus in the finals.



The evening was still young, so we decided to play a Battle Royale - five gladiators in the arena, no allies. For this last game I ran the Amazon - lots of tricks up her sleeve (e.g. she can Feint and Dodge in the same turn), but low on hit points and raw combat power.

We started the models more than 5 hexes apart. Below, Indo places the Criminal's figure on the sands.



Dallas' Thrax had a reputation for toughness - if memory serves that character cleaned up the previous time we played. Below, Dallas rolls the dice for his man.



Thrax' reputation was well-deserved. Eventually, it took three of the gladiators teaming up together to knock Thrax out of the fight.



Putting down Thrax had left the Amazon with only one hit point. However, she spied the Criminal leaving himself open as he performed a Savage Attack upon Marcus. She sneakily stepped up to the momentarily defenseless Criminal, and cold cocked him.



As a gesture of thanks for the assist, Marcus then dueled the Amazon. Her luck held out for longer than I would have thought, but she finally succumbed to a combination of Marcus' dazzling swordplay and the heat of action.



This left Vescen and Marcus to vie for the coveted Rudis (a special wooden sword given as an achievement). Vescen had wisely stayed aloof from the scrum around Thrax, and remained relatively fresh, whereas Marcus was already badly wounded. Dicing each turn for initiative, the two gladiators engaged in a long passage of arms. Finally, Marcus' wounds and fatigue told and Vescen forced him to submit.

Below, Frederick looks down upon his victorious gladiator.



A fun evening was had by all. Everyone agreed that the cards worked well; better than the chits provided in the original game.

Now that Brian has taken up 40K (yay for the Dark Kin), we also discussed using Brian's Colosseum model in a Dark Eldar themed Warhammer 40K scenario.

Thanks to everyone who came out, and, as always, thanks to Pam and Dallas for hosting.