Monthly Archives: May 2012

Villiam Bedsforc the Bombardier – ‘Bange Off!’

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Villiam Bedsforc. Ladies and Ale...its his bag baby!

It is now May and since Tony Harwood unintentionally released VLE12 Bombardier Bedsforc on his excellent blog back in early April you could say he caught me napping!  What with me not intending to release the miniature until the middle of May.  You can see a picture of the laddy above as rendered by Edward Jackson, resident Valonian artist.  What with Salute and the much higher than expect level of orders pre and post the event it has taken me about two weeks longer than expected to get around to the insert and scenario for this character but now the time is at hand!  So I am on time, ahead of time and behind of time depending on how you look at it.

The scenario is called ‘Bange Off’ and concerns the Bombardier, his ale and his glory  for Albion and the family brewery.

During the  week beginning 7th May the Alternative Armies website will be updated to include full details for VLE12 and the scenario will appear on Barking Irons Online in due course!

GBS

Making an Advert for Miniature Wargames Issue 350

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Off the back of the huge success that 15mm.co.uk has enjoyed from Gary Mitchell’s Darker Horizons column in Miniature Wargames and my chat with Andrew Hubback at Salute 2012 I decided that once more we would venture into paper advertising!

So I was set the task of designing a half page advert for the next issue…the subject..what else but USE ME!  I think it has come out rather well!

Click on the image below to see the advert that will be in the magazine.  I look forward to getting my contributors copy 🙂

15mm.co.uk's MW350 advert for USE ME series - full size.

GBS

The Science of Decay…fasinating

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Rot damn you!

I caught a programme on BBC4 last night and  just had to put up a little post about it.

You can find the programme here on the BBC IPlayer (note sorry, that if you are not the UK this will not work and the programme will only remain online until 10th May 2012) but it is well worth an hour and a half of your time.

Just what does happen in the process of decay and why is it so important to the natural order of the whole world?  Watch and find out.

GBS

USE ME Starter Packs – Theory Distilled!

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The Controller says 'I command thee, create starter packs!'

Over the last week I instigated a conversation about the possible creation of Starter Packs, complete games, for the USE ME series of titles.  Primarily the grand daddy of the series UM001 USE ME 15mm Science Fiction.  I put forward many possible ideas but all around the core idea that a starter pack would contain a rule book, miniatures, dice, rosters, scenarios and so on.  Essentially you would get all you need in one box to get playing.

There was a good response to this posing of the idea.  More than twenty posts on the Notables Yahoo Group and a dozen emails direct to me from players including Chris K and Craig Andrews.  All of these putting forward their take on what a complete pack should be.  Variations of content and direction were batted back and forth until distilled into a fairly even brew that left me to finish it and put it into cask (can you tell I am itching to drink that bottle of real ale I got at the weekend!).  Well the process of fermentation is now complete and I can put forward what the final starter pack will be and also what packs there will be in the near future.

A USE ME Starter pack for sci-fi will contain the following:

UM001 Rulebook, Approx Thirty Miniatures, Two D6 Dice, Scenario Sheet (3 complete linked scenarios with solo play option), Pre-Filled Rosters (for the supplied miniatures and scenarios), Plastic Bases:  All in a box. There will be an unpainted and a pro-painted option available.   All you need to play right out of the box!

The first packs will be the following and they will appear on 15mm.co.uk over the next couple of months:

UMS01 – Danger on Outpost 32.  Alien Greys are looking for test subjects on the human built Outpost 32, will the diverse population of the outpost give in without a fight?

UMS02 – Ziggurat of Clem IV.  The Zidhe wish to capture the secrets of the Progenitors but will the  Octopods let them have their way?

UMS03 – Rage of the Machines.  Automatons run wild with a virus that requires the attention of the Prydian Army to put right.  Shut them down before they shut you down!

UMS04 – Livestock of the Earth.  The Argo City of New York is suffering from a bombing campaign by the fanatical ‘Livestock of the Earth’ cult.  Can bombs be defused and people kept safe amid attacks by the cult?

So I hope this grabs you.  Each starter pack will be around or under the 20.00GBP mark and offer a small saving over separate purchasing.

GBS

Chris K tutorial on HOF Fire-Team tiles

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Now for tile based action a plenty!

Chris K a fine fellow indeed has posted a tutorial on how to get the most out of your HOF Fire-Team tile sets over on Dropship Horizon.  It is an excellent posting, informative and balanced.  In fact it is so good I intend to link it up to the 15mm.co.uk website so that everyone can read and gain from it.  I also have to thank him for the kind words on the tile sets.  It is appreciated by everyone who worked on the tiles from me to Edward Jackson the artist and also our commercial printer who goes above the call of duty when it comes to our printed products.

So go forth…cut and mount!

GBS

A quick look at Miniature Wargames Issue 349

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This month for various reasons I do not have time to do a full review of the latest Miniature Wargames magazine (partly due to having to create an advert for the next issue but more on that next week!) but it is a great magazine so I want to look at a few bits of it and give my thoughts….. In fact since I typed that first sentence three days have passed and it turns out I had less time than I thought I first had so this will have to be an even shorter look!

Here is an outline of the official contents of the magazine with my own comments inserted into a few key areas of my own special interest.

Cover Story – Scarlet Thunder at Salute. Can Colonel White escort the World President to London Airport before the Mysterons wreak their deadly havoc? John Treadaway presents an homage to Supermarionation in this preview of one of the South London Warlords’ games at Salute 2012.

This is a great article that really shows the potential of a group of wargamers who have talent and time to do something original.  From the scratch built vehicles and terrain to the converted miniatures and the mission idea itself it is pure quality and was a joy to read.  John Treadaway hits gold again…now where is my copy of Full Thrust?

Ancients – Peter Hall continues his series on wargaming the battle of Mons Graupius using Hail Caesar rules.

Napoleonic – John Walsh contributes the concluding part of his series on wargaming Salamanca in the year of the battle’s 200th anniversary.

I had been looking forward to the conclusion of this series of articles and Mr Walsh did not disappoint me.  Now I have the full set I might well give them the Flintloque treatment when time allows! 

ACW – Trevor Halsall looks at wargaming the Hornet’s Nest action at Shiloh, 1862, in a preview of Newbury & Reading Wargames Club’s game at Salute 2012.

I have to be honest again.  ACW leaves me cold as a wargamer but this article had some really nice pictures and the Newbury & Reading guys did a lovely job.

19th Century – Jim Webster concludes his series on wargaming the French intervention in the Mexico of the 1860s with a look at the role of the Egyptian battalion.

The High Ground – Steve Eardley questions our assumptions, reviews the latest products and looks at infantry square tactics on the tabletop.

Insightful and one of the most rewarding pile of pages in every issue of MW.  Form Square and give Mr Eardley a medal!

WWII – Gary Richards presents scenarios for wargaming the Japanese invasion of Burma, 70 years ago this spring.

Modern – Andrew Hubback presents a wargamer’s guide to playing SWAT team actions in a modern urban environment including tactics, terrain, rules and figure options.

Boy have I waited for this one, its been a couple of months but it was well worth the wait.  Andrew Hubback delves into ultra modern hostage rescue and all that entails.  From the background to hostage takers and retrievers to a wargamers guide and miniatures advice but also terrain and tactics advice.  He also tells how to convert standard military vehicles for use by the local PD or SWAT teams (good advice this!) and then on to rules that suit the job.  He openly states that mis-match is the name of the game when playing out scenarios involving hostages and gives good account of what is out there.  He also outlines segmenting play to represent the shock for trained men in entering rooms where hostages are held.  Andrew finishes with a short scenario called ‘Factory Hold Up’ that flows from everything already talked about which I found played out really well in 15mm scale.  I have to say that all this fires me up to do a USE ME title on the subject but for now ‘USE ME Riot’ will have to remain a dream as other things demand life!

Darker Horizons – Gary Mitchell rounds up the latest gossip, news and reviews in his regular Darker Horizons column.

Gary gives his usual zany excellence and it was great to meet him at Salute.  But shucks a whole page on little old me and mine…how kind!  An excellent look at Alternative Armies and 15mm.co.uk, USE ME and Flintloque and more. So impressed by this.   Here is a picture from the free copy Mr Hubback gave me on the day!

Darker Horizons page in MW349

I cannot really talk about this as several interviews and a video post too are enough for my ego in the last two weeks.  As Bob Minadeo said to me today ‘Soon you will need a man to follow you in the style of the ancient Romans and whisper in your ear ” remember you are only a man” ‘.  Perhaps I will…

GBS

Interviewed on ‘Bring your A Game’ blog

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Blog Logo for Bring your A-Game

A couple of weeks before Salute 2012 I was asked if I would like to be interviewed by Bring your A-Game blog.  Mike, the fellow who runs the blog, said it would be fine for me to wait until after Salute to give my responses to his questions which I readily agreed to as it suited me and as it turned out it suited Mike too (he was a bit under the weather during the time of the show).  Now the interview is up and live so why not head on over and have a read!

Questions ranged all over the place including my origins in miniature wargaming, what my favourite set of rules was, what I am currently up to and intend to be up to as well.  Also covered are the origins of 15mm.co.uk and the gaming theory of Flintloque 3rd edition.  In fact once I had finished my evening’s work in writing my answers I realised that it ran to several thousand words but hey…I have a reputation for just going on and on 🙂

Hat’s off to Mike, great work, great blog.

GBS

HOF Fire-Team interview on Dropship Horizon Blog

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HOF Fire-Team book cover

Chris K,  he of Basement Gaming Bunker blog has posted an interview with me on the mighty Dropship Horizon blog.  The interview is a short one all about the idea and development behind the brand new HOF Fire-Team wargame rules written by Bob Minadeo and myself.  Chris asks some good questions and I hope my answers were just as good.  If you are keen on 15mm science fiction gaming then go along and have a read.

Thanks also to all those who have emailed me on this interview already and for chastising for not putting this up already on me blog…well I am busy you know but posts a plenty to come I assure you!

GBS