Harlech Castle is located high above the seashore overlooking Cardigan Bay or Bae Ceredigion.
With a square footprint and large round corner towers it is just how a child might imagine a castle. The simplicity of its lines ring true.
Lucky for us the post English Civil War orders that saw many a fine castle “slighted”, to prevent their use by Royalists, failed at Harlech. So it is a complete castle with only parts of the interior buildings robbed out or demolished.
Even in the midst of winter some plants are already preparing for spring and summer.
And yet it is still a time of its own like admiring the bare branches of trees.
And some trees and shrubs are already in flower – of the winter kind.
Amazing Nature!
John at “just add varnish” blog was having a clear out and thought I might like some between the wars armour. That is ww1 to ww2 so 1920/30’s era.
Thank you John. These were most welcome and have allowed me to dabble in some tank or tankette gaming while I paint up my infantry.
So here they are. A wopping 15 items! Generous John or what.
The John@justaddvarnish inventory
First Column
Second Column
Third Column
Here are some of them in close up. They show the excellent artwork by John@justaddvarnish
Thanks John these will definitely be appearing again in my “between the wars” games I have entitled Fauxterre 1930 and Fauxterre 1930+.
My current preoccupation with a sideline project about the inter war years (between ww1 and ww2) has led to the acquisition of “armour”. To be specific, armoured vehicles and not some renaissance suit!
As it happened I was a bit slow on this aspect of 20th century warfare having focused on the infantry who appeared in my scenario Observer.
The idea was also that infantry heavy weapons would follow. And then finally the armour. The heavy weapons are still in the painting queue. The armour is on the factory production line………or maybe in the repair shop.
And of course the next problem is how do you fight armoured vehicles using infantry with no heavy weapons or anti tank kit either?
Use “What a Tanker” of course!
What a Tanker (WAT) by Too Fat Lardies is a game that only uses tanks and in my case some armoured cars – or rather thats all you need and actually you only need a 4-6 to play a game.
I have suddenly thought you could probably play 1 tank a side if the scenario was sufficiently rigged to stop one tank simply moving off table to end the game prematurely.
Maybe you could play a really powerful tank which is unable to move versus a much less powerful/armoured tank which has to try and manoeuvre to get in its killer shot before it is picked off.
In my next post I will explain the armour on show which is a story in itself. Suffice to say it is not what WAT is aimed at. WAT lovers I suspect lean towards the back end of the war with greater variety and dare I say it the more impressive bigger tanks.
I have got into WW2 only because of my interest in inter war era mechanisation and some various blogs that promote the Spanish and Russian Civil Wars plus 1941 Vichy middle east etc. In other words, variously considered marginal theatres in the journey from the WW1 tank invention to the great tank battles of WW2.
First up I am using armoured cars which don’t even feature in the ruleset.
I simply took a look at the values and had a punt. So this game was in a way a test of the rules to cope with weak kit. Would the game even work. Actually the secret is in the Japan tank table where some really weak options can be chosen. And I think TFL(Too Fat Lardies) really test their rules hard.
The Reds had three Renaults
The Blues had
As WAT abstracts heavily WYSIWYG does not have to apply and I was the only one looking so that was fine. Apologies to the purists.
I put the two big tanks in the centre opposite each other.
No scenery was provided so it was a straight knock out.
I belatedly got the camera into action so what follows is a truncated record of the action.
I have only played WAT a few times properly and spaced out over time – end result was I could not remember the rules. I played the “long ball” set up – with three vehicles per side – set up opposite each other. Points were not the priority so absolute balance did not matter..
The Renault NC27 succumbed but so did the Marmon which seeking to support the M3 left the FT17 behind only for the dice to roll very kindly for the FT17. The FT 17 simply took the Marmon in the rear.
Meanwhile the other FT17 eventually destroyed the Crossley and returned to the remaining action just in time.
Luck was running out for the M3 Stuart and so it did. It failed to quickly destroy the FT17 by the Marmon and so the two FT17’s were able to slowly kill it with some good dice throwing.
So the M3 Stuart was first deprived of its weak armoured car supports and then finished off by the FT17’s. Thats Fauxterre 1930+ for you – what a tanker style.
I will post about the vehicles separately.
For wargamers a table top, some scenery and a few models and figures is sufficient to create another world.
Enjoy your wargaming in 2022.
I started this post in early 2021 and simply abandoned it – binned the lot.
Here goes again.
In summary it is this………
Thats it except of course that is not “it”.
Wargaming can involve any or all the following
plus anything else you can think of (apologies if you find a duplication in the list)
I might have set this out as per a certain 1970’s drinks add and finished with “ever fizzin…..” but I might have stumbled into copyright and licensing problems. Oh, so you can add
Take your pick – my abiding fascination for wargaming is its sheer variety.
So the next time your accused of causing aggression or violence point out that many sports are well ahead in that queue and quite a few other apparently “peaceful” activities as well!
Enjoy your wargaming peacefully.
Well I have had a quick canter back through my postings of 2021. I managed to publish over 100 which was a surprise.
I have tried to intermix one off posts with some that are serials.
“Intermission” was my idea of simply taking a break – 11 of them so about one a month. Most are nothing to do with wargames although a few touched on history.
The “Painting Pedestal” was my way of recording the fact that I was actually completing figures and basing them up. They included:
King Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia 1859
French Infantry 1848
Garibaldi Red and Blue Shirts 1848
Bologna Volunteers 1859
2020 ended with Dark Ages, Vikings and Saxons in my mind, but already the seeds of a new project had rooted. So 2021 was all about the Wars of Italian Unification 1848 and 1859.
And it stayed that way till a chance purchase of an old small A5 rulebook on WW2 took me off to a side project.
At the same time I was sorely tempted to pursue another side project – scifi based.
Fortunately that has stalled and I can feel my side project on WW2 is probably reaching its natural conclusion.
So what does 2022 offer?
I think I will return to 1848/1859 Italian Unification Wars.
We shall see.
Whatever 2022 brings you – merry christmas and may all your wargame wishes come true!
Thank you for visiting the Wargaming Erratic Blog.
Lorenzo VII
My wargaming has continued to evolve. In 2021 I played more games than in previous years and created more fictitious eras for my mythical worlds. Fauxterre expanded in surprising ways. And that of course is the point about imagination – its very chaos is the atrraction. Unless of course your livelihood depends on producing it for others.
My imaginative wargaming is simply for pleasure – a distraction, an escape from the real world.
Wargaming on the other hand seeks rules and restrictions. So rulesets for many wargamers are a pleasure (!) in themselves rather than simply a necessity. The exception is I believe competition gaming where the rulesets are a necessity simply to allow the “fight” to be resolved at all and a winner declared.
In the wargaming arena “rules lawyers” are the pantomime baddy except ruining the event rather than adding to it. Perhaps the solution has always been there – make competitions more fun than theory. Less historical particulars and more game means that the lawyers have less to exploit. That said, even such family games as cards, scrabble or monopoly betray the rules manipulators!
From my perspective there seem to be far more rules published for game enjoyment even in a competitive situation. And despite a drive for simplicity the abstractions are often well thought out so the feel of the game historically is still there – a key part of the wargame enjoyment.
This is another blog post that has deviated already. On the subject of threads and themes I have been musing on the subjects of rulesets, games and imaginations.
I do like a set of wargaming rules and as rules writers have tended towards explaining their ideas ,these publications have become more readable. Even if you never play a ruleset, they give you someone elses opinion about a conflict or technology – what was signficiant when it came to the conduct of a campaign or battle.
In 2021 I indulged myself.
Donald Featherstone rules don’t appear but had regular run outs. The reason is simply that none of his books were in my view a complete set of rules. They were always full of rules ideas. And that means you get to tinker big time. He gets his own list!
Surprisingly Neil Thomas One Hour Wargames had little look in this year. That suggests I have had more time to play each game.
The most satisfying ruleset for 2021 has been Neil Thomas Wargaming 19th Century European Wars. It gave me everything I needed for a new era with his excellent balance of simple play and historical feel. Add to that, excellent scenario generators for both historic battles and those of your imagination, This ruleset has sustained my new interest for most of the year without distraction.
My hobby has again been sustained by a supply chain. In my case 2021 has seen my ebay activity trail off while I have increased my buying with a few hobby companies.
Thank you to everyone (in no particular order!)
On the high street I bought figures and kits from Antics in Plymouth and Monk Bar models in York while Wonderland of Edinburgh supplied many sets of 1/72 figures including Crimean era
I managed just two shows where the following traders provided some excellent material.
Operation Hight Street
For some extra fun I have tried where possible to run my sideshow WW2 wargame project by buying in person at shops/traders. It has not been easy. Yet I have bought quite a bit of material from those few trips I did manage.
So I hope our hobby suppliers continue to prosper and provide us with figures, scenery, rules and other materials to enable us all to enjoy a hobby that lets you escape into your imagination.
Thank you
I am not a snow scenery person so you will have to forgive this small quirky offering.
Merry Christmas One and All!
The Wargaming Erratic 