Maintenance of the aim

Steve (Disgruntled Fusileer) on the excellent Sound Officers Call blog, has just posted a thoughtful question that's drawn a lot of responses.

When visiting his blog I've always gained the impression of an enthusiastic, bouncy and productive gamer able to fit games into the busy schedule of normal life. It was a surprise to see he's experienced the same sort of disheartening lethargy that comes from being unable to commit to the painting schedules planned for your time off work. It's so easy to watch that time ebb away without any physical achievement, even though you have thought about wargaming the whole time!

Here was me thinking such things only impact miserable old curmudgeons like me! Just short of a rose-tinted view of retirement.....

Steve asked a question "what do you want from your gaming?" which has struck a chord with many , myself included. Steve also mentioned his enforced introspection threw up that he was "bored" with many of the rulesets he currently plays.

This has lead me to thinking about my own projects. For me wargaming represents escapism; it's playing with toy soldiers. There's very little connection with the sordid realities of real war. As Featherstone (IIRC) said there are no little lead or plastic widows and children at the end of our battles. The little soldiers are dressed in their finest and do not suffer wounds and disease (unless you count breakages and lead rot!). Whether such games inform real war is up for debate, wiser minds than mine imply they do, but contemplating that leads down the rabbit hole of "realism in wargames".

After a lifetime of playing with toy soldiers, I've reached a point where I think I know what I want from gaming. Gone are the rules with pages of complex tables and clauses inserted to prevent exploiting a rule mechanism. Pick who you play with. I'm not that bothered about winning and losing anymore. It's a shared spectacle I'm after. If I cannot share with someone like minded, I'll play solo.

The aesthetics are a personal thing. A plain green table or cloth can look as good, if not better than those sculpted model railway terrains that often feature in one of my bugbears "demonstration games" . Yes very nice to look at, show tremendous artistry and skill, but what are they "demonstrating" ? I got a lot of flak for suggesting on a forum that all they seemed to demonstrate was the skill of the person putting them on and the aim it appeared was to receive praise and win a prize. Wasn't that just an ego trip? I got lots of comments such as "I don't travel around shows at considerable expense just for my ego!" However , no-one ever explained what it is the demonstrate or get out of putting on such games.....It's a similar thing with very well painted figures. Very nice to look at, but there's downsides such as how long it takes to paint a single figure, let alone an army.

But I digress; suffice to say I paint my figures to almost the best of my ability and now try to resist being sucked into painting really well (I'm a fair painter, but slow) just good enough for me and no-one else. I'm experimenting with quicker methods to try and produce more. Terrain is functional. I have model railway grass mat boards but am tending towards cloths, especially where I'm drawn towards rules with grids and hexes.

The rules should have clear simple mechanics, not necessarily simplistic, and be easy to remember and play. Games should aim for a few hours, maximum half a day, no more all day inconclusive table full of figures games. Play should be fitted on a "normal" table either 5' x 3' such as a dining table or extended to say 6' x 4'. The key is the base size of units which should be in proportion to the table. In most cases, there should be 12-14 "manouvre units" per side; this could be 12 large bases or 12 command elements (such as brigades or divisions) as long as these operate and fight as a single entity.

Motivation. What keeps the project going and why you start it in the first place. Recently, this has been something of a nostalgia trip. Things that I always wanted to do but never did, such as Imagi-Nations. This can fuel further projects; I was influenced by Tony Bath's Hyboria when creating the SK background. I have the urge to create Commands & Colors ancients miniatures (single base 28mm) and now I'm contemplating building them and developing a Hyboria campaign. My Arab-Israeli project stems from an article in Military Modelling about converting 1:76 and 1:87 models and an unfulfilled desire to game it (tried and failed in 1:300) in that scale, or rather 1:87 and 20mm (with 1:100 for air). That this means working with very elderly models just increases the nostalgia.

Well that's what keeps me going (occupied?) in the hobby. What about you?

Designing uniforms for Imagi-Nations

The Imagi-Nation gamer by definition, has a wider choice of uniforms in which to bedeck his armies of toy soldiers. There is also no right or wrong. You will not find the critic often found scrutinizing historical games who triumphantly announces that your facing colour is the wrong shade of puce, or that in that year the unit in question wore white, not sky blue and THAT shade of sky blue is far too light.......

Instead it is more a question of choice.....

The two extremes are to simply use whatever you wish or to emulate historical practice. The former can involve colour combinations rarely or never seen in the real world, the latter armies which are little more than copies of real ones (perhaps with more latitude in facing colours or a mix of units from different armies). Each has a pedigree among Imagi-Nations.

The reality is that sadly, there are only so many colours and colour combinations that it's unlikely your choice has not been made before you. I'd urge the neophyte to embrace this and not be afraid to mix and match and steal ideas wherever you find them! When it comes to the colours, your choice is really whether you stick with what was possible with the dyes then available, or simply indulge your imagination and be damned! Colours like a true purple were expensive and difficult to produce, but remember they are just toy soldiers and your toys at that.......if you cannot indulge yourself in an Imagi-Nation, then when can you?

When it came to making choices for my Soldier King armies, I had two defining themes; the first was a dominant colour from the boardgame; the second a desire to avoid historical clones as much as possible. Before I even started I gave this some thought and scribbled down some ideas and drew crude uniform sketches. My earliest such piece of paper has the basic line infantry uniforms for Bravance, Arcadia and Estavia....

Bravance

In the game, blue with a white fleur-de-lis. This conjured a French influenced German state such as Bavaria, with hints of Burgundy and Brabant. I was drawn to Funken's Lace Wars and pictures of Prussian Freikorps, hence the "double blue" uniforms. Artillery were copies of Bavarian uniform. Other units had blue somewhere, with white and red as dominant colours. The flag was an early design with something very like Quebec and white with a light blue cross and large central fleur-de-lis in white for west and east Bravance respectively. At the point of completion, the cross became incised with a "V" at each end to make it more "germanic".

Arcadia

Yellow with a black lion. Dutch and especially Danish influences. Discovering (thanks to Neil Cogswell) that the Wurtemburg army of 1752 was uniformed in yellow clinched the choice of colours, influenced greatly by the Neuchatel Swiss of the Napoleonic period and Danish early C18th to include red and white. Playing the game had resulted in an experimental army of Guard cavalry and veteran line infantry. It was a natural progression to reversing the colours for the guard units. Some Prussian influences ( "black" hussars and jagers) included the flag design. The predominantly black and white was to tone down the otherwise bright colours.

Estavia

Imperial themes naturally suggested Austria coupled with the greater range of facings seen in the Saxon army and it was white uniforms with the "rainbow" approach to facing colours. I ended up with groups: red, crimson, pink and orange; dark, mid and light green and yellow; light, mid and dark blue and purple. Cavalry were Saxon/Prussian cuirassiers in buff and crimson with red and green chevauxleger. Somehow white and light buff faced yellow have crept in there. The guards foot and horse are combinations or red, crimson and purple. Early Spanish wearing purple faced red may have influenced me, as well as references to "The Crimson Throne" of Estavia.

Hrvatska (obviously derived from Croatia) are red with a white eagle and carry hints of Poland (the eagle is very Polish). This meant red uniforms but I wanted something that wasn't British. During the C18th Poland belonged mostly to Saxony ( the elector was also king of Poland). Early Saxon uniforms were red......add in Hanovarians with buff small clothes and multi-coloured facings (there are some colours which work best with red). White and red were other themes or brown and red for militia and pandours. In the game lots of light cavalry are useful due to location, so lancers finishef the army. Artillery, Saxon clones (guns are in the main heraldic colour so red here) in green faced red.

Argozia

Green with black eagle. Gave me more trouble than Hrvatska. I wanted to avoid a Russian clone, so green and red were the obvious combination to avoid. I struggled to find influences. The Kingdom of Italy became one, merged with Russian and Charles Grant's VFS to produce a three regiment guard in light green faced red with white small clothes. An early doodle had produced a guard cavalry in white faced turquoise. The rest were copies of other Imagi-Nation units: double green and dark green faced yellow. The artillery were the first diversion from real uniforms, white faced light green. Flags were influenced by Austro-Hungarian (green, white and yellow).

Hrvatska and Argozia have so far been the ones to present me with the most challenges. Even the smaller states have not been as difficult as it has just been a case of choosing one or two colours. Most are in blue with white, pink, orange or yellow as a secondary colour. There is one in black (based on a Prussian Freikorps), one in pink and another with hints of Saxe's Legion.

Imagi-Nations a series of marathons and not a sprint?

I have been mulling over my Soldier King Imagi-Nations project recently. It's something that has consumed a lot of time and not inconsiderable amounts of the war chest.

Yet sometimes it feels as if it's no closer to completion. Much of the fault for this is my own; I could have limited myself to the four kingdoms of the boardgame, but instead opted to add other states and armies for the "neutral" provinces in the game , which of course involves more work.

However, this goes back to my first scribbling of ideas for uniforms. There was always going to be a white uniformed army. I still have drawings from the late 1990s showing white with multi-coloured facings. I think at first it may have been intended for one of the kingdoms but soon became the Imperial Estavian army.

Again, I could have limited myself to five armies; if I had it would be the final hurdle I was working towards. Alas, I have designs for between five to eight (depending on how you look at it) others after Estavia. Admittedly, two to four of these are of brigade size and the rest not much bigger. With the genie out of the bottle there's no going back without much regret, so I plod on.

This rumination prompted some thoughts about Imagi-Nations; I started back in around 1996 or 1997. Grant was the inspiration coupled with transferring SK to the tabletop. It evolved through a series of happy accidents; the publication of VnB; finding Schreiber card buildings still available; trying my hand at Fimo figures and so on.

Of course there was a popular fad which coined "Imagi-Nation" ; a short-lived creative and nostalgic period of popularity for the concept, firmly rooted in the mythical C18th. It is interesting to look back at something which generated myriad blogs, some of which lie moribund like forgotten Ruritanian states.....

It appears to me that there were three strands to the phenomenon; the overnight creation of a blog for the Grand Duchy of Krackpotia complete with uniforms of purple faced lime green. This was often accompanied by extensive back story, sort of fan fiction. Few figures were ever painted or armies fielded.

Others simply used their existing armies of historical nations and renamed them. A pragmatic solution which has ensured the survival of many Imagi-Nations. A variation is to create an army out of historical units, a pick-and-mix approach if you wish unrestricted by army lists and limitations. These have a pedigree in the armies of the Grants and Peter Young.

The rarest it seems is the fully fledged designed from scratch Imagi-Nation, complete with invented uniforms, flags and characters that actually reaches the point of figures and armies. They do exist. Some like mine created before it became popular. Their rarity due no doubt to the effort required. 

My efforts have taken so long due to enthusiasm alternating between productivity and apathy. The number of moribund blogs testify to the difficulty in maintaining focus where so much depends on your creativity; there are no Ospreys which inspire and tell you what colour to paint another unit. No wonder many opted for easier pragmatic solutions. I have concluded that the creation of an Imagi-Nation (or more than one) is more akin to a series of marathons than a rapid sprint......

Still plodding along....

After last weekend's complete inactivity, I was determined to do something hobby related.

So Friday afternoon saw me sorting and cleaning up some more Egyptian infantry for 1967. Surprisingly, this didn't take me as long as I thought (although I am conscious I seem to have developed a problem in my left thumb; holding small figures produces intense pain in the ball of my thumb, noticed previously when trying to clean up some 15mm).

So buoyed up was I by this that I pressed ahead with trying to prime them white. First setback! An annoying wind on what was an otherwise very hot day resulted in the spray being applied too thickly in some areas, as I wrestled with the improvised spray booth, the wind and spray can.

Somewhat deflated, I considered stripping completely and starting again. However, I ended up just scraping the really thick paint off and retouching with brushed on white acrylic. I then discovered the pose mix I had chosen was different from the first batch, so had to clean another 9 figures..........I opted to prime by brushing on white acrylic.

Painting was thus delayed until today using Contrast paints. Fortunately I had written down the colours used, so didn't have to spend time working out what I'd used.

27 figures in about 4-5 hours and I'd had enough. Will check over and retouch where necessary. Also fettled about with a pair of Roco JS 3; not one of their best models, it's a very early one. It has had a new barrel and some details added. Was not happy with the turret so added a circle to raise it. Still too small, but it will have to do. The rest of the armour is made up of early Roco (T-34 and T-54) or Roskopf (BTR-152) so it's not as if it will stand out......

The Soldier King Estavian army is proceeding slowly, nearing the half way point with 12 infantry regiments and 4 cavalry painted.

Mountains of Madness? (Apologies to HP Lovecraft)

After slowly plodding through another white coated Estavian regiment last weekend, I could not face painting, so finished off some more mountain pieces I had knocked up during the week after work.

After looking at the previous mountains, I realised that for any table layout for those boxes on the Soldier King map where they feature (as a pass through the mountains - naturally fortified), I really needed some corner or edge pieces......

Several blogs including Blunders on the Danube, had a Snappy Nappy campaign featuring more "natural" shaped mountains which provided some inspiration for these:

The rear face is flat designed for a table edge.

I intend covering them all in a mix of wall plaster, PVA and sand before adding a few rocks, grass and painting grey -brown (with snow capped peaks just for David).

It's odd where the hobby leads you; I've spend a few hours looking at the various artificial snow products available for convincing snow topped peaks!

Progress report

 A quick post showing the first of the Estavian Imperial army with their varnish drying.

The first is an overview of three weeks work; second multi -coloured facings of the line infantry and combined grenadiers; lastly the first Guard cavalry and line cuirassiers with another combined grenadier regiment.

As much again still to paint with artillery, staff and light troops in addition.

Making mountains

 But not out of molehills!

As a break from painting, I decided to go with the mojo and attempt to make a mountain.

I had been mulling over creating some mountain pieces as a sort of 3d scenic backdrop. The Soldier King map has some squares / boxes  which feature a natural defence bonus which are situated in a mountain pass. I wanted to suggest something impassable that normal wargames hill methods were unlikely to convey. I could have deemed the board edges impassable, but wanted something tangible and more 3d than a flat backdrop.

There are other uses; I have an unpainted collection for WW2 Yugoslavia and mountain passes feature in many historical battles, such as Thermopolae.

I had contemplated something along the lines of the Tremorden Reddering method, but didn't need the steps for figures to stand on:

https://bobscolonialwargaming.blogspot.com/2009/08/hills-and-mountains.html

So I set to with a vague plan. Like most such projects, it was trial and error with some impractical ideas abandoned almost immediately. I had an idea of the dimensions and initially planned a flat sided series of three mountain pieces joined together. Experimentation revealed I could create something with sloping sides......

Here are the trial efforts having just received a first layer of brown paper. The shapes are just cardboard packaging (folding book wrappers are very useful with a built-in fold) cut to shape and bodged together with masking tape. I have been stockpiling materials and brown packaging paper for just such a purpose. 100% recycled mountains! They have not come out too bad and with a bit more work should be passable (inadvertent pun!)

The Painter's Progress

Some leave has seen the opportunity to do some painting, so a start has been made on the Imperial Estavian army for yet more glacial progress on this long running project.

Estavia or more properly, the Estavian Empire does not appear as a player in the board game, rather as the unwilling victim of the Soldier Kings who have the aim of capturing enough electoral cities to have themselves elected to the vacant Crimson Throne, the last occupant having expired without an heir. Shades of the war of the Austrian Succession and the Holy Roman Empire....

Allowing the provinces to be undefended makes the game one of territorial conquest; while simple, such does not make for a satisfying campaign, as playing in a WAS Sport of Kings campaign revealed. States are conquered too easily.

There are different was to approach this; Martin SC made each province an independent state, merging some of the smaller provinces in his VnB SK campaign, but did not use them in his playtest campaign. His view was their insertion would make for a better campaign.

Despite providing him with the materials, we diverged in our approach. I created the Estavian state from the provinces of the Hereditary Lands, the Midlands and the Bravancian Marches. The rest of the "grey" provinces nominally became the Empire, with a mix of electoral and non-electoral states and thus a potential say in who becomes Emperor.

The Estavian Empire (in my campaign) is the  "Zweikreutz Reich" from the amalgamated heraldic crosses of the Hereditary Lands and the Midlands, to form a Jerusalem style cross. It's enemies and detractors call it the "Doppelkreutz" Reich as a comment on the diplomacy it indulges in....

For inspiration, it draws on the Austrian and Saxon armies, with infantry in white uniforms. There is a nod to the "crimson" of the Crimson Throne as well. I have allowed more latitude in the range of facing colours than the historical models.

Progress has been slow; not only am I out of practice, painting white on Spencer Smiths is not easy! I seem to spend a lot of time correcting and retouching. Much of the detail has to be painted on; which allows for some latitude in "reading" the figures.......

For inspiration, I spent some time looking at Charles Grant's figures and browsing the excellent Duchy of Alzheim blog:

http://mavisming.blogspot.com

How they painted 50+ figures per unit  is beyond me! What struck me was the variety in how to paint the bag and straps, suggest a waistcoat etc.

I will post photos when the army is done.

Sitrep Jordanian front

Well another month disappears without an update.

Truth be told busy working weeks have taken it out of me, so there hasn't been much to post as I have achieved very little in the past few weeks.

I did finish off three personalities for one each of Bravance, Arcadia and Argozia to even them out but these have already been packed away.

A chance discovery on eBay of a model gantry kit propelled me to tackling Jordanian armour.....

the Jordanians used a mix of M48, M47 and Centurions in 1967. The two armoured brigades (40th and 60th) used M48 (the 40th may also have had M47 but that's another story). 

the M48 was the early model with low cupola and unmodified engine deck. A rare beast in most scales, fortunately Roco's early model is just such a version, although with the separate MG turret. Due to shortcomings, an external fuel system was developed which is also seen on Jordanian versions; it was something of a liability with tanks being knocked out when the vulnerable external fuel tanks were set on fire - quite easily it seems with tracer ammunition.

Anyway, I had been contemplating how to model this for a while and had bought some oildrums but stored them away. When sratchbuilding (or scratch bodging) more than one model, it helps enormously to have prefabricated parts. Sadly I know of no such kits, let alone in 1:87 scale.

So to the chance discovery; looking at the sprue suggested various useful parts that could work for the "trailer" or frame which attached to the rear of the tank. I'd contemplated building the complicated structure out of plastic strip and card, but to be honest didn't fancy doing one, never mind four or more!

As a firm believer in striking while the enthusiasm is there, as soon as the kits arrived I started playing around and working out if it was viable.......current state of play below.

AMX-13s

The AMX-13 is one of the more interesting post-war designs. The French attempt to add a large calibre gun to the lightest possible vehicle, utilising German WW2 developments (the 75mm gun was apparently derived from that on the Panther).

The Israelis acquired several hundred and used them in the 1956 and 1967 wars, before selling them off to Singapore and elsewhere once it was realised they were no match for Arab T-54s. Exact numbers vary, but by 1967 there were around 184 in 6 units of varying size, 2-3 of which were territorial reserve (as oppose to general reserve) units (Ga'Shap).

I was initially hampered by the lack of availability in 1:87. Existing models were expensive and this pre-dated the availability offered by 3D printing in recent years. 

I stumbled across a "made in Italy" toy from an Italian eBay seller as well as a crude French toy (the real joy and usefulness of eBay) which were in the right scale. This allowed for a couple of scratch-bodge models using parts from Roco and Eko /Rospak.

My Italian seller then offered me several more. On the principle of "buy it when you see it, not when you need it" I took the plunge and bought his stock as I was not guaranteed to ever see any again (and never have).

They are toys and require wheels removing from under the model (to allow it to roll) which provide some useful parts. The tracks are solid, the turret hatch needs replacing and various details added, but they capture the essence of this quirky tank.

Progress so far on the latest batch.

Troubling times

This has been a difficult post to write, not only due to the conflicting emotions any thoughtful wargamer has when confronted with the unfolding tragedy in Ukraine, but in part due to posts on others blogs.

I have deleted some of my responses, partly due out of a wish to not involve the blog  owner in any acrimonious debate, and partly out of the fear that my response was an emotional one due to not understanding the poster 's position.

The posts in question appear to accept Putin's arguments wholesale and attach any blame to the Ukraine or the west. 

While I accept a counter narrative can be useful in arriving at the "truth" (which sadly will always be relative not absolute) and am well aware of and do not necessarily condone the UK and US (and to a lesser extent NATO) involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, I have found myself very conflicted at these posts, especially as I have a lot of respect for at least one of the posters.

I have studied the various wars in the post-Soviet republics and states, have a reasonable grasp of Russian history and their psyche and am well aware of some of the issues in the Ukraine and elsewhere around what happened in WW2 and the neo-Nazi movements the have sprung up in eastern Europe.

I am also cynical enough to know the media can slant a report to reflect whatever opinion they wish to portray.

Despite this, I find I am unable to accept that the invasion of Ukraine is the responsibility of anyone other than Putin and his clique. It is simply not true that he " had no other choice" or that it is due to NATO aggression. Had he sent peacekeepers into Donbass it's unlikely the west would have reacted as severely, but instead he CHOSE to invade a sovereign nation, that whatever it's faults is more democratic than Russia is at present.

if people are unable to see this, I don't know what to say to you. I doubt anything would convince you in any case. We live in a world where the internet spreads dubious and often dangerous opinions without a shred of truth or supporting evidence.

There is a truism that you should never discuss politics or religion; we should probably add belief to that, as these days there are so many "alternative facts" and it is simply too easy to dismiss uncomfortable truths as " fake news".

Whatever your beliefs it's hard to see recent events as anything other than a tragedy for both the Ukrainian and Russian people. I only hope we don't all suffer (yet again) from the actions of one man with a distorted world view, happy to sacrifice the youth of several nations in the cause of realpolitik.

Enough; this blog is about toy soldiers. Normal service will resume in next post.