Wargaming in an erratic style
I remember many years ago going to Fiasco Wargames show and it being held in the museum.
I seem to remember it was packed. So while it’s a great venue if the space available is cramped then it kind of backfires.
That said the usual venue in the dock hall is quite dark with black drapes even with a full lighting set up. The high ceiling height means the light quality at table level is poor compared to say Partizans agricultural shed.
The museum I recall was very well lit.
I might just go…..
Ok so let’s get the loot out of the way – Yep zilch purchases 😱. Well ok not quite…..
Yep no cash on me and of course I saw plenty at the bring and buy………lots of frustration.
It then got to 15:30 (that’s another story for lower down) and I finally spent some money….
The show was “packed to the rafters” – I arrived late (for me) at 11:00. Then took an age to find a parking spot, literally there was no room left and certainly no one to tell you if there was some less obvious spaces.
I got in and immediately found some obvious bring and buy purchases in the new awning area at the main entrance but then realised I had no cash so moved on. I did a full circuit twice before some refreshment.
I would say noise levels were vibrant to say the least.
Here is my selection of pics, clearly not necessarily the best – whatever that means – but things that caught my eye.
As always click to get the bigger picture
So I also got preoccupied with planes again…
Some more table envy
A few more…..
Ok that was a bit tongue in cheek, so now for the highlight – a game. In the afternoon I played Chris’s not quite mechanised Crete 1941. My guide was from Boston but I forgot his name: Sorry. Anyway he explained the game basics and led me through a few rounds which saw my Australian forces drive the Germans back.
The rules are a neat combination of grid but given a wargaming look with 15mm figures densely occupying the hexes. The variable scales used for buildings, tanks, ships and aircraft tell you this is an abstract however the look is really good and the detailed vehicles especially are not regimented in style or painting, so you get a gritty result.
The rules are quick to pick up and give you the headaches of logistics, resources, ammo, positioning, energy for attack and indeed tenacity of defence.
Needless to say I enjoyed playing the game which is why I found myself shopping at 1530. And now I have a copy of Chris’s rules but no forces, I face yet another wargamers dilemma: Do I start another project 😱
Thanks for the chats Chris and a great scenario to play in.
All in all a great day for me at the Other Partizan.
And to think I nearly gave it a miss this year.
Today is another one of those event days – actually I guess there are more than 365 event days celebrated so every day is probably an event day these days. Wow that a lot of days in one sentence!
I am currently reading Desperate Venture by Norman Gelb. It is a book about the WW2 North African Invasion by allied forces in 1942. Invasion is a moot point given the Allies aimed to meet no material resistance from the Vichy French holding this colonial part of the French Empire.
Of course everyone knows what happened – or do they? The Normandy landings 18 months or so later tend to crowd out other WW2 stories: It’s not just the forgotten 14th army and everyone else fighting the Japanese in Asia who get less coverage.
Which is unfortunate because Operation Torch enabled the Normandy landings to be an outstanding success. Well that’s my untutored view. Norman Gelb is in the “Torch delayed the Normandy landings and that the war with Germany ran two years more than necessary” camp.
Yet his book is an excellent read – pacey but full of content – he makes every word count. Although I have yet to finish the book, I can recommend it. If you buy just one book from a war and politics perspective on the North African campaign then this is spot on.
I have written about other Operation Torch books in previous posts as well as books on the high street and other book event days. All grist to the mill as they say.
https://thewargamingerratic.home.blog/2023/02/22/on-the-high-street-23b-2/
https://thewargamingerratic.home.blog/2021/03/04/tfls-sharp-practice-on-world-book-day/
Yes I did buy desperate venture from a bookshop but not my local one and it was a charity shop so I guess they might not really count. But then again if you’re reading printed material that’s good: If you’re reading printed material bought in a bricks and mortar shop then thats great!
franktankrants.wordpress.com/2025/10/03/tank-12-oclock-800-yards/
Frank at Frank tank rants has looked at all sorts of tank gun warfare theories using mathematical models and it’s fascinating stuff.
Now he has had a look down a real tank sight….
Photo taken from franks site post.
Back in 2021 I accidentally picked up a lucky find in a charity bookshop. It was a hard copy book in their vintage section so it was priced up.
The book by Charles Grant Senior had a garish 1970’s cover you could not miss….
Simply to find such a rare beast in a bricks and mortar setting made me buy it. I mean I had no interest in anything beyond my recently set limit of 1870 (up from 1735 due to discovering the wargame delights of 1848).
I bought it, I read it, I was energised! Suddenly I had this idea to start a small side project with limited objectives.
Buy from real shops – bricks and mortar
Use the book idea
Limit the forces to those in the book
Use Fauxterre
Fauxterre has become my catch all imaginations world for gaming ahistorical forces and situations. Although it is really fantasy that term implies dragons and otherworldly ideas. So Fauxterre 1930 was born – one of several realms……
In this case instead of Red v Black I would have Ochre (Vossakia v Azorians) Brown. Ok so the Vossakians look a lot like Russians and the Azorians have more the a passing resemblance to early war US troops.
Charles Grant used readily available models and figures in 1/72 and 1/87 and also used hannomags for both sides.
The theme with ahistorical imaginations gaming is you can mix it up.
Despite deciding to follow the book process I did not want the book period of late WW2. Instead I wanted prewar – biplanes, poor tank development and hardly any blitzkreig etc. ok so monoplanes and tank modernisation would figure alongside motorised units. In other words a bit of everything.
And then I created two projects after rushing to buy the figures in my local shop which I liked. Yes the plastic soldier company Russians were suitable for 1930’s use and so were the US soldiers (1942 m1 helmets though) but for some reason I had a split personality moment and opted for them to be later prewar!! While some other shop bought figures became early prewar: This was solely due to wanting some Adrian helmets in the period. Of course in TORCH 1942 you get Adrian helmets up against M1’s but that’s yet another story.
Confused? Yep the problem with making it up is being consistent with your invention……….no chance!
Back to Fauxterre 1930. I quickly got plain infantry for both sides painted then read about the PSC US support troops scale problems – this typical dip in the project track simply derailed the whole thing!
It’s just one of those things. Since then the project has acquired a lot more equipment (all in the paint queue) and other figures (all in the paint queue) and even some aircraft – yet more distraction.
Finally though, I have managed to heave some figures over the line.
Back to the Russians again, I do like the sculpts (except the flat guy who seems to be reaching between two walls…..)
Anyway first up we get some machine gunners
Then we have some mortars light and medium?
Then we get a couple of anti tank rifles
And finally a couple of 37mm anti tank guns.
Not sure when the next completion might appear though. Either way these chaps will join the infantry who have already had some escapades
Don’t hold your breath when it comes to Fauxterre 1930….
Well this year has seen the warmest summer on record and for that matter an unprecedented period of dry weather.
Sunsets though have been a bit of a miss as have cloudscapes – all that blue sky means you can’t have everything.
The world’s first public railway ran on 27th September 1825. The route from the coalfields around Bishop Auckland ran through Shildon and Darlington to reach Stockton on the river Tees.
Today you can still travel the route.
And at Shildon (north west of Darlington) the Locomotion Museum may not carry the international reputation of the Railway Museum in York but it’s still worth a visit. Its facilities are all modern.
You can arrive via the original railway line or if coming by car there is a large free car park.
Frankly this is a case of less is more – museums wise!
If you just want to get your head round “railways” then Locomotion does it better and quicker.
This is one of the great things about small museums – they often “punch above their weight”: The Wallace collection in the London springs to mind.
Locomotion concentrates on both the beginning of the railways and the modern experiments with speed such as examples of APT and HST.
It is the presentation of these modern trains alongside the diminutive Locomotion and other early steam engines that looks so good.
There is a good selection of other engines and coaches showing developments over time as well as technologies.
Memorabilia and the inevitable shop and cafe round off an excellent site.
September is a busy month for battle anniversaries in Yorkshire not least in 1066.
On the 20th the Vikings of King Harald defeated the Saxons of Earls Edwin and Morcar at Germany Beck in what is now Fulford. There are not many references to this battle – given that two climatic battles followed, its understandable.
Crucially the defeated Saxons made good their escape as a rising tide flooded the beck. This meant they could fight another day.
There is a tapestry of the Fulford battle displayed at various locations over the years since it was made in 2012 after ten years effort!
On the 25th September the Saxons under King Harold of England defeated Harald and the Viking host at Stamford Bridge.
It was the end of the Scandinavian Viking threat after hundreds of years of invasion.
A tapestry of the Stamford Bridge battle can be seen in the old railway station at Stamford Bridge.
It was another Viking Scion – the Norsemen who took land in the Carolingian Empire and called it Normandy – who a few generations later then defeated the English in turn at Hastings.
It can be argued that without Fulford and Stamford Bridge there would have been no Hastings and maybe a different war between Harold and William might have played out.
So maybe instead of waiting for yet another Norman invasion (the bayeaux tapestry is en route to the UK) you could visit these other tapestries when they are on show instead or as well as.
People remember William for what followed yet Harold had marched 500 miles with his household troops and won a great victory putting together two separate regional armies before arriving at Hastings: William fought an outstanding adversary.
Back in 2020 I put together some shield wall armies and had some fun trying out various rules.
https://thewargamingerratic.home.blog/2020/09/06/prelude-to-wargames-rules-tested/
A long while ago I had the desire to make some adobe buildings for cowboy skirmishes. However despite having the figures (admittedly only primed) and then my “what a tanker” playing partner getting “what a cowboy”, it still did not look good. Fortunately the challenge rolled up and provided the impetus I needed to get this project over the line – along with some more conventional items. Amazing where “cardboard packaging” can take you!
So that’s it, 8 weeks of one hot dry summer and I have massively exceeded my expectations. I completed a lot of items and even though I started even more they are at least started and now have real homes rather than their sales boxes (thanks John the Varnish!)
For the analysts….. completions were
First module of my port,
two adobe buildings,
six earthen defences,
one artillery position
one aircraft base
flexible roads recoloured
two hills now also become a green defensible position
repaired damaged cardboard church
new self coloured HO Germanic church
two warbases Wild West buildings
two very old bellona low relief terraced houses
Two straight drainage ditch pieces
Finishing off stuff and even repairs/reworkings proved very satisfying.
The “starters” all happened to be kits and kicked off my challenge.
Blotz models Bronze Age fortress
Italeri French railway station building
Italeri north Italian church
warbases north German church
At least I have the measure of these pieces not least where and how to store them.
I probably have too many churches now……..
Funny that I did not finish the kits that I started the challenge with – given they were my absolute main targets – instead I started raking out cardboard and home building………
wargaming really is hilarious…..
Thanks Dave.
Last year I started painting my Low relief housing. I bought two of these terraces back in the 1970’s and somehow these bellona pieces have not fractured into pieces. They are injection moulded and were the “resin prints” of their time.
So I gave them a go and I must say the sculpture is brilliant. They were fun to paint. You can still buy injection moulded models – amera sell them via eBay in the uk. Alas I haven’t seen any terraced buildings.
In front of them are some early war miniatures road sections (flexible latex) last year I painted them but didn’t like the finish so they were back in the mix for a dry brush.
Finally there is the ditch. Basically more packaging fell into my eye line and I immediately thought – that’s useful. This is new packaging (not from the mountain!) and made the back end of the challenge displacing some other contenders.
They required no preparation.
I gave the packaging a coat of burnt umber then one of yellow ochre and then brandy cream! dry brush before an autumn variety of Javis static grass. The ditch water was done with Paynes grey tube acrylic and then a shade of paynes grey with some ivory white added as a top coat.
Final shot which shows the early morning in colour somewhere in Rugia plus Mr Varnishes armour! (you know who you are 😊)
Last entry for the scenery challenge is next up
The Wargaming Erratic 