A quiet town in Fauxterre land awaiting dawn…..
Welcome to my fuzzy logic mapping !
The small scale map is 1:500,000 and typically I am using these for corps/division actions
While the other map at 1:125,000 is for division/brigade/regiment actions
Of course the scale is extremely nominal under my fuzzy rules.
The white arrow shows the town in the main image.
Fauxterre 1930 remains a work in progress, no gaming for eons and painting units seems endless. This could be because I get distracted!
In this case distraction of the aviation sort occurred at a couple of wargame shows.
The Other Partizan in 2024 fielded a luscious blue biplane. A suitably inter war affair still includes cavalry and tech like biplanes although I think this demo game was Russian Civil War era.
https://thewargamingerratic.home.blog/2024/10/15/the-other-partizan-2024/
Then there was Recon 2023 where Height 518 demo game saw the Italians losing again to the Greeks in a 1941 Balkans encounter.
https://thewargamingerratic.home.blog/2023/12/11/recon-2023-at-pudsey/
I was gifted an old second hand biplane and eventually it ate my brain and had to be made. And thus triggered me digging out a bricks and mortar store purchase – another biplane.
Of course these models offer little to an empty wargaming battlefield!
This has been my Fauxterre experience – lots of distractions.
Anyway first up lots of make photos
And then came the painting which took a lot longer than I expected. Then the Matt varnish would not Matt. At least both transfers went on a treat.
Did I tell you I had two S16’s……
So my Fauxterre forces have some bombers and fighters to go with a floatplane spotter. Progress of sorts!
I was gifted this seaplane in a poor state. It was found in a clearance box at a car boot sale.
Some minor repairs to the floats struts plus my first ever plane support – magnet and all, then my current favourite background thrown in for good measure.
Fauxterre 1930 is my “nearly mechanised” campaign – long in the planning with little progress on the armies.
Essentially Rugia is under attack and their coastal command have had to draw in naval resources to cover potential invasion activity by their arch enemy Gombardia.
No idea about the kit or the plane modelled. I thought about a repaint but for now it’s fine for my solo campaigning – only my eye is offended if at all.
Who knows I might even actually build another plane after last year’s (2023/24) inaugural camomint 1939 reconnaissance spitfire in AHPC14.
https://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com/2024/01/from-lorenzo-reach-for-sky-camomint.html
Onwards and in this case upwards!
During AHPC14 I got into modelling instead of painting and specifically building models from household recycling – cardboard and plastic. The net is repleat with simply magnificent models done this way. I thought why not have a go.
Skinflint Games was an early discovery….
https://skinflintgames.wordpress.com/2023/08/08/hau-nau-haunebau-diy-flying-saucer/
https://skinflintgames.wordpress.com/2024/10/
Anyway back in October 2023 I started off my SciFi adventures on Fauxterre….
https://thewargamingerratic.home.blog/2023/10/18/painting-pedestal-23x-tacfos-the-game-episode-3/
I started to collect bits together for some spacecraft only to see the idea fade during AHPC14 as WW2 models took centre stage including a white reconnaissance spitfire – my first aeroplane kitbash in years.
https://thewargamingerratic.home.blog/tag/fantasy/
Well AHPC15 rejuvenated my modelling again. And so the scrapheap challenge spacecraft arrived – in fact two!
First up was my take on the Red Dwarf TV series red spaceship – now mine is a “klim” class space freighter often used by rogues.
https://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com/2025/02/from-johnb-filthy-lucre-or-wheres.html
Second was my Policing vehicle – a space customs machine in blue. Again its basis is a “klim” class frame!
https://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com/2025/03/from-john-b-abyss-violence-oi-their.html
Into the bargain I managed to paint up some magazine “freebie” dwarves and hobbits. AHPC15 as with AHPC14 drew me away from my projects and regular painting. While that meant less progress with my chosen periods the change was as good as a rest – as they say.
Indeed I have tended to use these APHC challenges to experiment with painting and modelling methods. Also the AHPC participation has certainly speeded up some of my painting habits. And that must be a good thing for a slowcoach like me.
AHPC15 not only saw me make progress with my mid C19th century armies. Much delayed Fauxterre 1930 or my Lockdown Bricks and Mortar Shop project actually got in on the act.
Back in Covid times I decided on a whim to try and build some WW2 armies by walking into shops and physically buying stuff! Yes I know this is a bit of an old technique nowadays. At the time the logic was “get out and about”.
As it happened I had found a book in a shop window and snapped it up by………walking in and buying it. At the time shopping was a weird but satisfying escape. Sold as a vintage item it was Charles Grant Snr’s Battle! Practical Wargaming (B!PW)
Now this book gave me a way into WW2 on the limited basis I was looking for. Also Grant was quite happy to use german and US kit for his Russian forces – in other words country kit for that country only was not that important (of course the Russians used any kit they could lay their hands as did the germans) and indeed his forces were RED v BLACK – pure fantasy. Ok so that meant Russians versus Germans in reality.
Now this fed my need for a “fantasy historical” WW2 set up. I would use the technical aspects of the period but mess up the actual forces involved and of course the countries would be make believe. Thats Fauxterre. Sorry no zombies or rayguns.
In keeping with a theme I had developed, Fauxterre 1930 started to take shape. Why 1930? Well I had on this particular journey become more and more interested in the early war set up and less and less the final years. This escalated into pre war when I started to look at aircraft. I was quite taken with the transition from biplane to monoplane. And before you know it I was looking at AFV technology.
Did you know – the fairy swordfish biplane flown by the British Royal Navy fleet air arm in the 1930’s was still in combat duty in summer 1945 armed with rockets! so much digression….
The net result is I am trying and failing to get Fauxterre 1930 off the ground. My Plastic Soldier Company US and Russian troops were my first choice for figures when it was Fauxterre 1940 and are fine for the early war period but somehow I don’t like the figures if I roll back a decade. I do like them but not for Fauxterre 1930! They work for Fauxterre 1940 so would be ok but that is parked for now.
On a trip to a toy show I picked up some bin end corgi trucks.
And before you know it I had added to my Fauxterre 1930 logistics kit.
This is a link to my AHPC15 entry.
https://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com/2025/01/from-johnb-sinews-of-war-143-corgi.html
One of my latest side projects is World War Two, like most projects I soon reach for the online supply chain. Lockdown has driven this approach even more.
And to start me off my first purchases were from Hannants and Models Hobbies. These companies have given me great value especially for projects where I buy all I need in one go.
But hang on I was/would be buying mainstream stuff, not obscure or discontinued lines. And this was to be a side track slow burn project. So bulk buys would not be the order of the day.
Then it occurred to me that I could go out of my way, with lockdown easing, to visit real hobby shops.
I also decided my interest would be more early war, ideally more inter war era. Just to make life difficult again, this is not the popular end of WW2. Yet this was a fantasy ww2 happening on Fauxterre so anything goes and flexibility is the watchword.
Ok so far, but hobby shops tend to stock the popular, as in, that’s loads of late war armour with a preponderance of German kit.
And then I had another brainwave. After going through online availability I realised I had a massive choice. I would just buy the cheapest stock available in dribs and drabs.
This random approach really started to appeal. It would also make this project different again.
Such an approach interestingly is increasingly not online (and certainly not ebay) + white van man, despite Amazons best endeavours. Don’t get me wrong, online has been fantastic for choice and it still offers great value and even ebay can give you amazing bargains (the effort required though has changed).
So I decided – cut out the postal costs. I would buy piecemeal and when other activities had paid for my journey.
Then if a shop turned up I would go in and see what was available.
This actually fed my Fauxterre ideas. The opponents are both struggling to resource their forces. The parallel for WW2 is the Russians. They took various kit from the USA, France and Britain before getting their own plants working to meet demand. And the Germans reused thousands of captured kit. Probably the most useful panzer they had early on was actually the Czech built 38T? The Russians also benefited from the US inventions of Christie that ultimately led them to the T34 as I understand it.
So a bit of history bashing and Fauxterre sees two protaganists poorly armed going to war with essentially inter war/early war kit and with inter war mentalities.
Next up was – which forces to use – given I had decided no german kit.
I chose the Russians simply because this whole sidetrack project was started by Charles Grant and his Battle Gaming book from 1977 – a charity shop surprise discovery.
Airfix came up often as the low cost option online and seeing as they had made Russians, the very ones in Charles Grant’s book, so that was it. Only they don’t make them any more and old sets are now online and vintage and with a price to match!
In the shops its allied west or german it seems.
After some wrangling I decided I would stick with the Russians and that led me to The Plastic Soldier Company and their good value sets. The Russians kit would be opposed by American kit with splashes of any other kit I liked, while playing that “buy cheap in a real shop” game.
I have made some progress and here are my first kit builds.
Lets see how I get on with this slow burn side track project.
Fauxterre 1930 looks a possibility.
Can you guess the manufacturers and vehicles modelled?
They are a work in progress but I don’t intend to be kind to them – they should look grubby and rough. And I am not happy about all this post Baroque malarkey………but thats the essence of erratic wargaming I guess.
A 1970’s 4VEP British Rail commuter train of slam door stock – what is going on?
A tenuous link I admit but I could not wrench it from my mind. I don’t think I have any older figures unpainted so this is my sort of painting record.
These figures are by Warrior Miniatures and are sold as french dragoons in their 25 mm napoleonic range. They are a slim 25mm and contrast with their then contemporary overfed minifigs from the 1970’s. I guess they were more like early hinchliffe before those got taller and bulked out somewhat.
I still love them after all these years so I am pleased they finally got a coat of paint!
I painted them as kleber dragoon’s and my inspiration is from the Funcken 18th century to modern times volume.
My intention is to use them in early campaigns of my Fauxterre Mythical Realm which covers 1815 to 1870 at present. It is all because of Fauxterre and Faux Napoleonics that they got painted anyway!
Thats another thank you to Renaissance Troll and his fantasy napoleonics post.
image license info – the train pic is used under
In the previous two posts I have set out the campaign and mechanics that brought the two forces to action at Baumdorf.
The forces were
Zarland Eastern Army commanded by General Kratzen
The Nuringian Army commanded by General Paskievich comprised
Both armies had a similar mix of forces and both had pioneer units which often fight in these small actions in the realms of Fauxterre…….. and are feared in the same way as Grenadiers.
Each unit shows its campaign condition or “CF factor” – a value that is training, experience, morale and fighting ability all in one. This was converted to the relevant Table Top Battles unit class – again an “all in one” fighting factor.
The battle was fought over three objectives – possession of the village and the hill and also driving off the enemy from the area of Baumdorf.
In TTB you dice for initiative, important when using alternating movement rules – Zarland won the first two rounds as the forces closed on the village of Baumdorf and its hill.
Both entered the village and commenced a firefight involving infantry and artillery (these were only allowed in the village on the road).
Meanwhile the Zarlander 8th Adelburg IR and 8th Filstad skirmishers took the hill.
On Move 3 Paskievich (Nuringians) took the initiative and attacked all along the battle line. Around the village the Zarlander 2nd Eyachdorf Pioneers and 4th Beckendorf IR broke.
On the Nuringian right flank the Zarland 2nd Tuttlingen skirmishers retired before the measured advance of the Prinz Clement Dragoons.
On Move 4 the Nuringians again pushed on, with the artillery duel in Baumdorf reaching a crescendo. The hill is taken by the Von Rechten IR and the Prinz Clement Dragoons, despite the Zarland Gellenstein Cavalry trying to draw off the Dragoons.
Finally the Zarland Artillery (12th Pinkenfels) withdraw from the village. Elsewhere the 8th Adelburg IR are driven fully off the hill while the 6th Nurtberg are broken by the gallant charge of the Nuringian Polenz Lancers.
Paskievich had taken both objectives and very soon would achieve the third objective of driving the enemy from the field. This meant earning maximum “Control Points” for this action which would add weight to any campaign negotiations.
After this action the campaign then ended with a final skirmish to complete the 32 segments.
Zarland won that last skirmish but overall lost the campaign – winning just 2 skirmishes to Nuringia’s 6 who also won the Baumdorf action. Nuringia took all the control points available in the campaign while Zarland had 4 units break in action to none for Nuringia.
For each skirmish or action experience points acrue to each unit taking part, 4 experience points = 1 condition point. Those broken units lose 5 condition points reflecting the wider consequences of a units collapse on the field with soldiers missing, deserting and having been in close fighting – more wounded not to mention those killed. It also counts as a measure of morale of those still in the unit.
So each units takes time to build its condition yet can lose it a lot more easily.
This meant the following units dropped to the lowest condition factor (CF) of “green” as replacements diluted the remaining expertise of the unit.
This will dent Zarland forces capability in the 1818 campaigns.
My Abstraction of conflicts with the use of segments of the years campaign, being both in parallel and in sequence, means a unit could be propelled into another campaign activity in the same year. So those Zarland losses could yet affect other 1817 campaign outcomes.
I am tempted to apply a similar condition factor in my approach for Generals experience/rating. I typically use -1,0,1 or 2 range as in poor, average, good and great. Currently I am thinking of converting these to ranges and applying positive and negative moves to a Generals condition – all experience is growth so it is the reaction to the experience that matters and of course I am moving away from simply an inherent – your either a good or bad general for all time.
For each General the following could apply
General Kratzen (rated +1 = good) now means veteran so has a CF of 16 prior to the campaign and after it is up 3 experience – not enough for +1 CF. He is -5 CF for the defeat. A bit brutal – he ends up seasoned on a CF of 11.
General Paskievich (rated 0 = average) now means seasoned so has a CF of 10 prior to the campaign and earns 2 CF’s for all his victories giving a CF of 12 and still seasoned.
A long serving general declining back to green means while the ranges work the name tags need adjusting.
This approach could prove a bit onerous though – we shall see.
Roll on the next campaign………..
The Narrative
Although war with VinAlba was inevitable, the Duke Constantius Regent of Zarland knew that Maximilian of Nuringia was likely to act in 1817. The Elector had marched to war in 1816 yet then suddenly withdrew his troops.
The Duke’s concerns about Nuringia were well founded. In spring 1817 the Elector of Nuringia, Grand Duke Maximilian resumed his attack on Greater Zarland.
In a series of skirmishes he engaged with Eastern Zarland forces now commanded by General Kratzen – who had been praised for his success at Kloster Arens the previous year while fighting the combined VinAlban/Davarian army.
Almost at every turn the Zarland forces found themselves outfought in these skirmishes. Eventually Maximilian’s General Paskievich manoeuvred the Zarlanders to battle.
In a small action General Kratzen attempted to hold the village of Baumdorf. The Nuringians needed something to show for their efforts beyond successful skirmishing. General Paskievich ordered his forces to take Baumdorf once he realised the Zarlanders were not retiring.
The resulting encounter saw the two forces fight for Baumdorf with its nearby hill also the focus of attention.
The Wargaming Erratic 