Tag: Scenery

Italian interlude as well!

Post author By lorenzoseventh
Post date 25th Jul 2024
8 Comments on Italian interlude as well!

Corrugated cardboard was the trigger material for my solution

Just like John at just add varnish I have joined the season of scenery community challenge and started with an Italian theme.

This piece is still unfinished but has made it from idea to concept in only about five years – so that’s about four and half years procrastination plus various false starts in materials and a bit of design. And finally some tv viewing and Dave Stone’s scenery season challenge.

Eventually the material choice helped drive the form

Grid gaming by Mike Smith is a great rule set and early on in my Italian independence wars project I thought a couple of hilltop towns would be ideal for the grid.

Then the procrastination started – which materials and what style?

I use a 50mm grid with 40mm based units all square.

The toy soldier abstract had resulted in these block buildings a couple of years ago.

Initially I was absolutely into the idea of wood and it would be modular and come apart. Then when I started to think about details wood felt wrong. The framing of the town was to be the city walls and slim, this was leading to fret saw country and simplicity of the idea was waning.

A long delay ensued.

Style wise I was looking for the abstract and Joe morschauser scenery pictures – more grid games – drew me towards something that could still accommodate units as a garrison.

I came up with the cruciform of two bisecting streets with four quarters to the town – in Mike smiths grid game the towns are 3×3 grids

In the end watching the giro this year suddenly prompted a “just do it moment” and as it happened cardboard kept coming into my head as a possible material and multiple postal deliveries reminded me of this free material.

But it needed to have some structure. What to do?

Then I remembered the flat scenery that are found in paper boys armies booklets. These have interconnecting cutouts that give strength to the arrangement.

These interconnecting card pieces now became walls and the corrugations gave me another idea.

Plus other things on this long journey fell into place.

The whole idea of abstracted block buildings came in part from kids toys like this one – just add imagination….

In another direction this flat pack helped the idea that 3d solids is not the only way to create a 3d effect.

Maybe I could use these simple cut outs approach?

I did and I quickly developed some solutions to get the elevations I wanted to see.

The buildings had been done a few years ago during the wood era.

I added the church in card with a removable front. The tower is a work in progress.

The corrugations prompted cypress trees again in corrugated cardboard and cocktail sticks

In the end even the wall overlaps suggest buttressing

Well that’s it and it remains a work in progress but I think I have found my modular abstract Italian hill town.

Tags 1/72, 20-25mm, grid wargaming, gridded wargames, Mike and Joyce Smith, Mike Smith, Scenery, Table Top Battles, table-top wargaming, wargames, wargaming, wargaming with grids, wars of the italian unification

life Scenery

Giro 2024 part 5 castles and a train

Post author By lorenzoseventh
Post date 5th Jul 2024
No Comments on Giro 2024 part 5 castles and a train

The pirate city shown in my last post also offered up a train – sponsoring the giro of course. They often carry the trophy in these trains and the train matches the riders usually on a coastal stretch for photo opportunities! Obviously don’t catch a train when the giro is near your route…..

Tags castles, cycling, medieval warfare, Scenery

life Scenery

Giro Castles 2024 part 4

The question is what’s round the corner?

Tags castles, medieval warfare, renaissance, Scenery

life Scenery

Giro Castles 2024

Late Spring sees the first of three top pro cycling events – the Giro d’Italia which are helicopter televised from start to finish.

This means you get about 4000 km of Italian countryside.

And with Italy that means castles.

Fortified cities are also favourite visits on two wheels

This year saw a couple of stretches of the white gravel of Tuscany

Everyday the cyclists head out castle hunting!

Tags castles, giro Italia, medieval warfare, normans, normans in the south, Scenery

Scenery wargaming

Scenery season challenge 2023

Post author By lorenzoseventh
Post date 31st Aug 2023
6 Comments on Scenery season challenge 2023

Well David Stones’ challenge finally got this piece of scenery done. Credit really goes to john@justneedsvarnish who alerted me to this challenge plus Frank tank rants who suggested that posting about fabulous pro-cycling scenery ought to translate into building some stuff!

Either way I finally completed this 2021 model. Better late than never as the saying goes.

Final touches were a ochre (rowney acrylic tube) whitened (MP Paints) dry brush to suggest some sun bleaching plus a bit of black (MP Paints) in the mix to dry brush the base area suggesting dirt.

Then some gamers grass (2mm summer green tufts) and an ancient pot of games workshop grit to finish the base.

Of course the unbelievably extravagant archway and door are round the back!

Thanks to John, Frank and Dave, I now have a new piece of terrain to use and enjoy.

out of the archive for john just needs varnish, looks like knife work and maybe not cutting before stripping outer card layers.

For those who made it this far…………….

Leaning tower of Parma! For scale here are some 1/72 miniatures – new kids on the block 1848 German Confederacy no less……….which can also double as Rifleman from Duchy of Parma 1851.

You can guess whats next on the Painting Table.

Finally, the question is, whether this will now lead to some more scenery making on my part?

Tags frank tank rants, italian unification 1820-1871, johnjustneedsvarnish, Pro Cycling, Scenery, scenery modelling, season of scenery challenge, wargames, wargaming, wars of italian unification, wars of the italian unification

Scenery wargaming

The Painting Pedestal 23f – the tower

Post author By lorenzoseventh
Post date 30th Aug 2023
9 Comments on The Painting Pedestal 23f – the tower

A combination of Frank tank rats and john just add varnish have propelled me finally to do some scenery.

A 2021 lockdown tower knocked up in a day and then nothing…….

This subject was started back in April 2021 – I was motivated by john just add varnish and his excellent scratch builds.

It’s all card/plain and corrugated, uhu and some judicious glue gun work finished with some fine silver sand and pva. The ubiquitous laser cut bases came in useful

And just for the hell of it I registered this week to join scenery season challenge……

It’s still a work in progress…….

Just need some more dry brush on walls and maybe roof. Then some groundwork oh and door – it’s endless work in progress 😀

Tags Frank tank rats, john just add varnish, Scenery, season of scenery challenge, the painting pedestal, wargames, wargaming

Mid 19th Century Wargaming wargame rules wargaming

Buildings Blast 2: Joe Morschauser – no grids

Post author By lorenzoseventh
Post date 16th Jul 2023
4 Comments on Buildings Blast 2: Joe Morschauser – no grids

The Second battle using my “Buildings Blast” set up saw a mid 19th century action with Austrians and Piedmontese in play. It was a solo play this time.

I used the rules published by John Curry and the “history of wargaming project” with some adaption for solo play.

Using Neil Thomas grading of troops I adjusted the firing and melee rules.

I also used the Roster system unaltered. Infantry got 4 circles and a cross while Artillery got just 2 circles in this game. Essentially in the basic game a hit meant a unit (= 1 base) was destroyed. Roster rules gave units/bases lives in the form of circles and crosses on the roster which you ticked off as they were lost.

The Scenario was that the Austrians were retreating and the force here was ordered to hold the bridge in the town. The crossing was one of only a few that allowed artillery and logistics easy crossing of the river. The Piedmontese advancing from the north west had orders to seize the bridge as quickly as possible.

Forces were randomly assigned using playing card allocations along with a portion of blank entries

Units deployed in contact and units were recognised as such at about 6 inches – the card only turned on a 2-6 D6. Here the right hand Piedmontese were certain nothing was in front of them – a heart was a dummy card while the left hand unit was not so sure so hesitated (on a d1) with no card turn.

The right hand units poured forward towards the “old millhouse” spotting some real Austrian defenders

The lefthand Piedmontese units were suddenly exposed to Austrian infantry fire from a slightly sunken road

on the east side of the main road two piedmontese artillery batteries dropped into action again to be surprised by enemy troops in a slightly sunken and walled road. These were riflemen and on good form – one battery was quickly silenced

However infantry units (white coated British Legion 1860) quickly drove them away

fierce fire was exchanged between the Bersaglieri and Austrians in the sunken road while Garibaldeans stormed the defended houses at the entrance to the town

On the east side 1859 Piedmontese infantry stormed the defended houses

Elsewhere Piedmontese forces had pushed on meeting little resistance (= dummy cards) to their front. A lone Austrian Artillery battery on the west side of town faces artillery and some more Bersaglieri

Stubborn resistance at the Old Millhouse

Finally the sunken road defenders are driven off

And the west side Austrian defenders give up rather too quickly

exchange of fire results in another Austrian loss

Even as west side Austrian defenders gather but………

The Piedmontese quickly move towards their target – the river crossing. Another Artillery Battery blocks their way

On the west side the Austrian defenders put up a good defence and with support nearby………

The defended houses at the north end of town finally are overrun

The mill house and its defenders are abandoned by the Austrians who can retreat

Austrian artillerists put up a stern defence

Crunch time at the town square as the Austrians are hemmed in

The Bersaglieri try to rush the Artillery

The Bersaglieri inexplicably turned tail on the west side while Lancers arrive to their rear. The British Legion finish off the town centre defenders on the left picture

The Artillery of Piedmont watch as the last Austrian defenders in the town square are defeated

The defended westside town square buildings are assaulted

in a last desparate throw Austrian Hussars ride up the main street to halt the Piedmontese tide.

The Hussars beat off the Lancers but to their rear the Artillerists are finally beaten while the East side is alive with Piedmontese. Everywhere Austrian defenders have melted away into the fields or across the bridge.

The Hussars beat a retreat across the bridge bringing to an end the defence of the bridge

The defended buildings were randomly determined and contained one unit each – no other benefits were given the building defenders. So they simply were a delaying factor assisting the mobile defenders fighting outside.

The scenario I played used a 25 step countdown and 1xd6 reduction per turn. The Austrians had to retire at countdown 16 from the edge of town, 7 – the town square and at 0 abandon the north river bank. Victory to Piedmont required they took the bridge before the countdown reached 0.

The game turns 1 to 3 were spent on the edge of town, then turns 4, 5 and 6 fighting over the town square. Turn 7 forced the Austrians back to the north bank but here ended the action as the Austrians actually ran out of defenders.

So the victorious Piedmontese captured the bridge intact and within the timescale set. There were no Austrian Engineers with a lit fuse to spoil their day! Anyway the Austrians would be back soon enough they thought…. Do I hear a Radetzky March in the distance?

For a very old ruleset Joe Morschauser’s rules played easy as I guess you would expect. With the tweaks to aid solo play they actually played very well.

I had bought the rule book for the Grid rules both the originals and Bob Cordery’s modernised version – Bob co edited the book with John Curry.

So this was a pleasant surprise to find a very playable set of “measurement based” rules into the bargain.

Tags austrians, austrians 1859, bob cordery, grid wargaming, joe morschauser, john curry wargaming project, Neil Thomas, piedmontese, scenario, Scenery, solo wargaming, Vienna Treaty Wars, wargame rules, wargames, wargames rules, wargaming

Mid 19th Century Wargaming Scenery wargaming world war two

Buildings Blast

One scene – two battles – thats efficiency for you.

But our world loves colour – sort of – the unity is lost

With my regular “What a Tanker” opponent I took the allies and a makeshift bunch of tanks – churchill, stuart, grant and a “shy” firefly

Surprise surprise the german mechanics and fuel operators were on top gear – out come a tiger, a panther and a sturdy PzIV – needless to say flashy turrets were also on display. Its a pity there is not a special rule in WAT for complicated tech risk due to supply and logistics problems….. but this is just a table game like monopoly.

We took the long table set up with tank groups arriving in diagonally opposite corners – here the germans creep into the centre

rather brazenly the churchill and firefly just drive up the main street

The weaker allied tanks stayed out of town

The churchill caught a sight of movement – fired and took out some buildings

The stuart caught the PzIV in its sights and fired

Despite hugging the old mill house the the stuart was spotted by the panther but no fire………

The king tiger broke ground and took the Churchill head on……..

The firefly got a line on the King tiger

The stuart was now being targetted by both the Panther and PzIV – no one was getting any hits on anything except a barn door

Finally some allied success – the Grant crept up on the King Tiger – in my last WAT game post the Grant had been the “dark scary dog” for the big german cats.

not this time – those roller bearings and cogs? (Frank Tank Rants has fantastic tank tech data to keep you happy for hours) were well oiled as the Grant failed to fire……Another allied tank gone

Meanwhile the Stuart was holding its own against the “B” team of the Panther and PzIV. The problem was the Stuart was hitting its target without any impact

If that was not enough the big tiger with two kills already turned up

Retreating – the stuart almost escaped before a fatal shot landed.

The Firefly finally put in an appearance but was nochantly disposed of by the king tiger

The Firefly was last allied tank standing – game over. This one was quite quick which was useful as my regular opponent does not get much game time. That is why WAT is an excellent pick up game. Also I had time and the idea to get almost all my model buildings on the table.

The buildings are a right old mix – some date from the 1970’s complete with enamel paint through decades old paper buildings where the damage is due to little insects! when in storage – ok the steeple was down to straight crushing. and some are ceramics from germany

The next battle involved Austrians and Piedmontese/French so I got good use from the temporary set up.

Tags 19th century wargame rules, mechanised warfare, Scenery, tanks, too fat lardies, what a tanker, world war two

Scenery wargaming

Abstract or Impressionism?

A constant theme of my interest in art is the variety of techniques on show.

My Weekend Open Studios visits prompted me to dig out some wooden offcuts I had minded to fashion into buildings.

The idea for “woodtown” was to provide my grid gaming with appropriately sized buildings. And they would be in keeping with the abstract nature of grid boards. In terms of the art they are definitely inclined towards Paul Nash. Ferens Art Gallery can be found in Kingston Upon Hull and an interesting painting by Paul Nash can be seen there.

They make their first contribution in my recent Neil Thomas 1864 Minigame. Ironic that the game did not use grids…………

Tags 1864, abstraction, art and wargames, Ferens Art Gallery, grid wargaming, Hull, Hull City Art Gallery, Kingston Upon Hull, Neil Thomas, Scenery, scenery modelling, Table Top Battles, wargames, wargaming, wargaming with grids

wargame shows wargaming

Partizan at the Double

Earlier this year I attended Partizan at Newark Showground. For the first time in many years I have made a second visit in one year – this time its the “other” Partizan.

Same location, same show – sort of.

The Autumn sun blazed through the south facing windows. I think that bright light helps – its uplifting. Except when your looking into the sun at the grasses selection on the Northumbrian Tin Soldier stand. You simply cannot please some people……

I enjoyed the Other Partizan. I almost feel Partizan in Spring was still all about what might be and was upbeat while the Other Partizan is no less upbeat but just maybe many gamers have now got stuff done and there is also an air of reflection maybe even planning thoughts for 2023…….

Here are some pics of things that caught my eye.