Residential Street in East Bergholt

I've taken two of my paper mache buildings (see previous post) that are clad in the same type of brick and used them to create a small residential street in my VBCW town of East Bergholt.  They will be mounted on a piece of 5mm foamcore that will front on one of the cobblestone streets of the town.

This shows the front of the lot with the cobblestone sidewalk and short brick paths leading to the front doors.  There will be an iron fence made from plastic sewing mesh along the front and a narrow yard between it and the buildings.  I'll lay a brick alleyway down between the buildings.

Here is the rear view showing the beginning of the brick wall enclosed back yards.  These yards will have brick wall across the rear with a gate.  Inside each yard will be a small brick patio and either a small garden or a landscaped tree, depending on how much room I have inside the walls.

The brick walls and pillars are downloads from Dave Graffam Models paper building web site:  http://www.davesgames.net/catalog-low-walls.htm .  The wall printouts are wrapped around 5mm foamcore and the pillars around balsa wood to provide some stiffening to the paper.  I've used his paper buildings and walls on other VBCW projects and have been satisfied by the relative ease of assembly and the value, especially when you can print as many copies as you need and change the "skin" of the model.  These walls can be printed in red or gray brick or in gray or brown stone and in lengths from 1" up to 6" in 1/2" increments.

More later.

Progress on Paper Mache Houses from Michaels

Back in January 2014, I was lucky to find four large paper mache houses on sale at one of our local Michael's craft stores.  Michaels Houses   Some time after that I discovered a web site with a wealth of building and scenery photographs.  CGTextures   You have to sign up to use the site but it doesn't cost anything.  Check it out and I'm sure you will find many useful images.  Even with the most basic imaging software (paint.net), I was able to add various windows and doors and maneuver bits and pieces around to make the appropriately sized skins.

From that site I was able to construct "skins" for the houses.  A month or so ago I finally started applying the "skins."  This is a report of the progress as of about a week ago.

Here is the roof section of one of the houses with the brick wall skin around the base and the roofing shingle skin being applied.  It was a challenge to work the shingling around the dormer but I had printed enough sections so I could piece it together.  Although I used glue sticks (background) for the main building wall sections, I used white glue for the shingling and the chimney skin.  It seemed to work just as well as the glue sticks.

Here is one of the houses almost completely clad in its "skin."  At the time I took this picture I still had to print some more corner moulding for the upper section.  That has been done and it looks much better.  This building will eventually be my town hall for East Bergholt.  The figure is a 28mm Battle Honours early WW1 British officer who is being used as the lieutenant colonel commanding the Anglican coalition forces in south-west Suffolk in my Very British Civil War universe.

And here is a second building (on left) being clad in its skin.  I cut and moved the wall pieces higher towards the divide between the lower building part and the roof part which, I think, makes the buildings look better.  The piece I trimmed off the top was then glued along the bottom.  This second building and a third similarly clad are being mounted on a piece of foam-core to serve as a small set of apartment buildings for my town.  They will have walled back yards with a brick patio and some flower beds.

The second and third buildings now have their complete "skins" applied.  I still have a fourth one to do which will hopefully happen later this week.  Another progress report will be forthcoming.

Cheers!

Very British Civil War at the Bayou

The game I ran on Saturday morning (June 14) at our regional convention, Bayou Wars, was a scenario from my Very British Civil War "universe."  In that "universe" the Royalist and their British Union of Fascist allies based around Colchester, Essex, are in a constant state of raids and skirmishes against the loose coalition of Anglican forces from Bury St. Edmonds, local defense groups from East Bergholt, and "red" Royal Navy sailors from the Harwich Maritime Defence Force, all in Suffolk.

This particular scenario involved the gathering of supplies from an area of the River Stour valley, including a derailed goods wagon (box car to us Americans) from the London North Eastern Railway.  There was also a farm and a petrol station in the vicinity which must be searched for supplies.

The Royalist/BUF forces consisted of a company of the 2nd Battalion, Essex Regiment; a company of the BUF Colchester Fencibles, a troop of the Essex Yeomanry (light tankette and two armored scout cars); and  BUF Special Assault Section with an armored truck.

The Anglican Coalition consisted of a company of the Cambridge Fencibles, a company of the American volunteer Liberty Bell Legion, a company of local defense forces, and an Anglican Special Combat Section.  Also aiding the Anglicans was a company of the Harwich Maritime Defence Force with a truck mounted naval cannon.

I used a slight modification of The Sword to Adventure variant of Larry Brom's The Sword and the Flame.

So let the action begin!

The scene of the action with the farm house in the foreground, the derailed goods wagon in the middle ground, and the petrol station in the background.  The Anglican Coalition entered from the left while the Royalists/BUF entered from the right.

The Anglican Coalition commanders - Dave, Chris, Mick, Richard, and Josh.

The Royalists/BUF commanders - Bill, Phil, Mark, and Ken.

Anglican Fencibles and Liberty Bell Legion troops advance towards the farmhouse and goods wagon.

Bill, commanding the regular Royalist infantry, watches as his "red" sailor opponent moves against him.  Bill provided the hedges in the foreground through which the BUF Fencibles are moving.

The Anglican Fencibles and Liberty Bell Legion encounter the BUF Fencibles along the stream.

The regular Royalists move towards the petrol station and the house across the road from it.  A ubiquitous call box sits prominently along the roadside.

And at the same time the "red" sailors (center and right) and part of the LDF (left) advance into the petrol station/house complex.  A cache of petrol barrels can be seen in the right corner of the station lot.

On the right, the Royalist trucks and the BUF Special Assault Section with their armored truck advance to contest the goods wagon and its cargo with the Anglican Special Combat Section and the LDF chaps.

But the BUF didn't do too well as a well aimed Boys anti-tank rifle from the Anglican Special Combat Section set it ablaze.

The final scene of action as the "red" sailors and LDF secure the petrol station and house supplies in the background and the Anglicans and LDF overpower the BUF at the goods wagon, securing those supplies as well.  Only at the farmstead were the Royalists and BUF successful, primarily thanks to Ken's tankette and armored scout cars which were too much for the Cambridge Fencibles one heavy machine gun and rifles.

The game, from my perspective as game master, went well.  All of the participants seemed to be having a good time.

Bayou Wars 2014

Last weekend (June 13-15) I attended our regional convention, Bayou Wars.  This year it was held at the Magnusson motel in St. Francisville, Louisiana.  The motel has four different rooms that we used and there appeared to be plenty of room for all the games and the tournament.

I ran one game, a Very British Civil War scenario, about which I will shortly post a report.  This post covers the other three games I played:  Racin' and Rubbin' by Bill Majure on Friday night, a WW2 Bolt Action game by Doug Whittenberg on Saturday afternoon, and a Seven Years War Black Powder game by Dwaine Balius on Saturday night.

Racin' and Rubbin'  Bill Majure's NASCAR racing game ("If you ain't rubbin' you ain't racin'!") is an amalgam of three different auto racing games.  It was a blast to play, especially since Jerome and I are NASCAR fans.  He and I each had three cars and we did five "laps" around the Pocono race track.  The rules are still in development so we were play testing as we raced but had fun nevertheless.  Once he gets the game more perfected, Bill has volunteered to come up to Jackson and run it for us.  On Saturday Bill ran another game, this time using a generic super-speedway track (like at Daytona and Talledega).

Bill getting the game set up.



One of my cars, Mark Martin's Number 8 US Army car.



The 17, 88, and 8 cars complete the first lap.  The lead car is already on the back stretch.



The 11 car (leader) spins out in turn 3 bringing on a caution as three of the other cars slow after passing him.  The +1 marker denotes the difficulty of turn 3 at Pocono.



The remaining five cars approach the start line after the caution.  I didn't pit the 17 car, gambling that my tires would last - they didn't.  But I still had the 29 and 8 cars in contention.

After nudging my 29 car aside in turn 3 of the final lap, Dale Earnhart Junior's 88 car beats my Kevin Harvick 29 car to the green flag.  The "Junior Nation" was ecstatic.





With the winner's "garland" around his neck. Jerome (right) and Bill celebrate his victory.



Bolt Action WW2  Doug ran a three-cornered game pitting the Americans, Russians, and Germans against each other, calling it "Patton's Dream and Hitler's Nightmare."  My friend Jay and I and a third player whose name also started with "J" played the Germans and even though only two command guard soldiers and two medics survived we were the winners with four or five victory points against the Americans and Russians three each.   EDIT:  Two pictures added on 06/23/2014.

The little town over which we fought, dominated by the resin church.  Almost all of the rest of the buildings are from 4Ground, with removable roofs and floors.  [Apologies for the "white out" but I was trying to get rid of some joker's very visible big, flabby gut.]

Jay's PzIV slowly moves forward, sniffing out its prey.

Addison (left) and Richard, two of the three American players, contemplate their action as the game starts.

Jay's PzIV uses a Russian squad to grease his treads.  The hotel to the right held the Russian command element and a sniper which belonged to Doug's daughter who had painted all of her Russians.



My command element (officer and two guards) move up to encourage one of my squads to attack the Americans.

Moving up against the church wall, my commander directs what's left of the squad to rally so they can continue to engage the Americans.



Unfortunately the American Sherman picks this time to rumble out and attack my squad.  They take further losses.

But the Sherman exposed its side to Doug's daughter's T-35/85 which again proved the Sherman is a Ronson, lighting the first time it is struck - by an 85mm high velocity armor piercing shell.  You can get a much better look at the magnificent resin church that dominated the town over which we contested.

And as we started to withdraw our paltry remaining figures after loosing two infantry squads and a mortar team, the T-35/85 also showed that the PzIV can be a Ronson also.

The sniper had been trying all game to put a round in my commander's head.  She finally succeeded, leaving us with just the two headquarters guards and the two medics to escape the carnage.

Black Powder Seven Years War  This game was run by my friend Dwaine Balius, pitting Prussians (commanded by another gamer and me) against Austrians and Russians (commanded by Jay, Bill Majure, and a third gamer).  Jay and I have played Black Powder before with Doc Ord, another friend, but none of us really understood the rules.  Dwaine, and Bill, provided a better explanation so we had a more delightful experience this time.  So here are a few pictures of the action.

The opening of the battle with the Prussian right wing (my command) and center facing the Austrians and Russians, respectively.  The cavalry wings are at the top of the picture, with the Prussian cavalry just out of view.

My Prussians advance against the Austrians.

The big cavalry fight on the Prussian left pitted one regiment of Prussian cuirassiers and three of dragoons against Russians and Austrians, a mix of two regiments of cuirassiers, one of horse grenadiers, and one of dragoons.  The Prussian cavalry finally defeated their opponents and were poised to roll up the Russian center (at right in photo) by the end of the game.

Back to my right-wing Prussians as they closed on the Austrians.  Unfortunately my grenadiers (center left) came unglued and scampered away.  But the line infantry held on doggedly and finally defeated the white coats.



So in the three games in which I played, I was on the winning side in two of them as WW2 Germans and SYW Prussians while I came in second in the NASCAR race.  Hmmm, maybe I should stick to playing Germans.

My VBCW game posting will come soon but I spent part of the day playing Germans (and winning again - is this an omen?) in German East Africa in our club game and then visiting my new granddaughter, Serenity (AKA Firefly).  If you are a sci-fi fan you'll get the reference.





New Recruit at Col Campbell's Barracks

My younger daughter presented our newest recruit this afternoon - Serenity Campbell Ruth.

 

Proud grand dad and granddaughter

 

We are all smitten with her!



Paint for Victory - Part 6

Last night I completed my final troops and vehicles for my convention game on Saturday.  Whew!  Now all I need to do is complete some more hedge sections, but I have this evening and all day tomorrow, since I'm taking off from work, to accomplish as much as I can.

The Harwich Maritime Defence Force ("Red" sailors) added a heavy machinegun team (Brigade Games WW1 in East Africa figures) and a cargo truck (metal die cast job):

Harwich Maritime Defence Force machinegun team of three men, plus an already painted rifleman from one of the rifle sections in an overwatch position.

A small cargo truck.  Originally blue but sprayed black while the canvas was sprayed tan.  I added the red star side banner to designate its allegiance.  Rifleman is to give scale.

The Royalists added a command reconnaissance car for their tank officer and final details on their tank and armored scout cars, all of a detachment of the Essex Yeomanry:

Command reconnaissance car on left (was a Ford) that got sprayed drab green then painted in the "apple-ish" green I use for my British military vehicles with leather seats, a "rag top," and side decals.  The tank on the left got a commander in the hatch and side decals.  The officer in the center commands this little detachment of the Essex Yeomanry.

The two armored scout cars with decals on their fronts.  Eventually they'll get vehicle commanders and forward firing machineguns.

And finally, the British Union of Fascists Special Assault Section's armored truck was completed.  Here it is as it was being constructed.  The design was based on a police truck from 1920 Belfast. 
EDIT:  Here is a better description of the Crossley modification upon which I based my vehicle.
The figure, the SAS leftenant, gives some scale to the vehicle.

Hood covered with "metal" plate and "metal" sidewalls with supports added.  It is based on a Crossley carrier.

The cab has now been armored.

After a spray of flat black, roof supports were added.  They are plastic tubing and bent straight pins.

The anti-grenade mesh is a black plastic mesh I rescued from the trash (dust bin) and super-glued over the supports and around the sides.  The decal finishes it off.  To the left is a Crossley carrier as to comes straight from the "factory."

Final view with the "Falcons" banner of the BUF SAS flying proudly.  It is really top heavy so may not be able to go on slopes but it should do OK on roads and across fairly level countryside.

Well, that's it for now.  I hopefully will get some pictures of my additional hedges posted by tomorrow night.  But if not, then definitely on next Monday after I get back from the convention.  I'll also have the convention pictures posted then as well.

More Painting and Hedges

Last night I completed some additional command figures for my Very British Civil War forces.  Please click on the pictures for a bigger image, but be forewarned that the faces are rather plain as I have a very hard time with faces, especially eyes, so normally do not attempt them.

Battalion headquarters, 2nd Battalion, Essex Regiment (Royalist), with (left to right): battalion major, headquarters guard, battalion commander (bought already painted and based), battalion radioman, and battalion sergeant major.  Except for the colonel who is a Renegade figure, these are Artisan Designs WW2 British.

The company medic for Essex Regiment and an already painted company runner.  The medic is from Artisan Designs and the runner is from Brigade Games.

Squadron commander (on foot) and tank commander from the Essex Yeomanry (Royalist).

For right now, these will complete my Royalist forces for my convention game next Saturday.

I also thought I should show what I used for my "civilized" hedges (see Hedges - Part 1 ).  Each pack has three scrubbers.  If you click on the picture you'll see the dimensions.  Folded in half long ways and glued, each will fit on a wide craft stick.  The referenced post explains more about making them.

That's all for now.  Tomorrow we're doing a D+1 scenario where the British landing from the beaches are trying to link up with the paras holding a bridge near Caen.  We'll be using Don Featherstone's rules so it should be an "old school" thrill.