Lightweight terrain

There are two big issues for those of us who have to lug our own stuff: weight and bulk.

The obvious answer to both these issues is to go to the smallest possible scales, but sometimes the appeal of a game lies specifically in using larger figures, i.e. 25/28mm, and then scenery can become a significant challenge.

There are a few ways to get round this, e.g. don't try to do Stalingrad in 28mm, but this post is concerned specifically in paying tribute to a couple of manufacturers whose products are particularly lightweight.

First up are the hollow resin hills from Tiger Terrain which are both very light and very strong. The company originally did a range of these - green, arid and unfinished. They still have some advertised on their website but I think they're being phased out. This is a pity. I'm not aware of anyone else making anything like these.

The other company I'd like to praise is TableScape. As I understand it, their products are also made from resin but they add a foaming agent so that their products emerge from the process as a strong, dense foam which is both light and robust.

I understand this process is unsuited to small items, so their terrain is restricted to 28mm products. I have a lot of their Renaissance buildings and have recently started to accumulate their Islamic-style pieces. The buildings come ready-painted and are extremely high quality.

Irish War of Independence FUBAR game

British Army Lewis team moves up to hedge.
Next time I intend to field the Lewis Guns
within the rifle sections.

Back in September of last year I played my first game of FUBAR using my 28mm Irish War of Independence forces. FUBAR was originally written and is mainly intended for Sci-Fi but it's very extendible.  The figure/model scale is 1:1 but it's not really a skirmish game as some would understand it. It's really a squad level game comparable to Force On Force or even Crossfire.

The rules certainly worked and my gaming companion was positive about them, but they have a very distinctive feature which perplexed some of the onlookers. Subject to troop quality, players can choose whether to take casualties as suppressions or kills. This seems to represent a trade off between allowing yourself to get pinned down or pressing forward at the expense of taking losses. It makes sense to me. However, kills or suppressions are things that are usually imposed, and it's novel, even disconcerting, to put this choice so literally into the hands of the victim.