poniedziałek, 4 listopada 2013

Lazy terrain - Sandbags

Earlier this year Ive been visiting my friend Umpapa home and I managed to see many interesting ideas and he uses in his painting and terrain (amount of his terrain is insane !) But one thing struck me as elegant and simple method of action i could easily replicate in my 15 mm gaming. The ubiquitous sandbags.
We wrześniu udało mi się odwiedzić szczeciński loch Umpapy na końcu świata. Jestem pod wrażeniem ilości i jakości modelarskiego dobra które zgromadził i zbudował. Zawsze w poszukiwaniu patentów zainteresowałem się jego prosta w jednocześnie wierną metodą produkcji tanich i szybkich worków z piaskiem. Produkował je w 1:72 ale metoda łatwo daje się przeszczepić na grunt moich 15 stek.


As it happens there is a way to make them simple an yet good looking. So here is my take on Umpapa - Stetin style Sandbags: The Tutorial.
Sandbags ingridients: You need modeling clay (not to sticky), hobby knife and clay sculpting tool (quite soft) piece of nice linen fabric.
Oto więc prosta i szybka metoda na produkcję realistycznych worków z piaskiem szkoły szczecińskiej Umpapa Style.
Składniki: Termoutwardzalna glinka modelarska z empiku, nożyk modelarski, narzędzie do rzeźbienia gliny i GSu oraz kawałek lnianej tkaniny - w moim przypadku była to koszula.
Cheap modeling clay (for heating) - any kind should be Ok. 

 Step 1
You have to form your clay in round strips of needed size. I was using size that i considered good looking than really measure. Single sandbag measure 7 by 4 mm this looks OK for 15mm.
Then you have to press them in a controlled fashion for a nice baggy shape.
Next step requires stamping shaped clay with a pattern from linen. You should gently press linen fabric onto clay from the top and sides. Its important for clay to be not very sticky and stay on the table and not on the fabric. The bigger you want your sandbags the more visible pattern is preferred. In 15 mm it should be probably smooth byt fabric pattern make them look more cool and real.


W pierwszym kroku musisz wykonać zestaw podłużnych rolek glinki. Które musisz ugnieść kształt workowaty (albo spłaszczony grzbieto-brzusznie :)  Dobrałem rozmiar na oko by wyglądał dobrze z 15 mm modelami (worki mają mniej około 7 na 4 mm).Następnie musisz odcisnąć dokłądnie fakturę z materiału  z góry i z boków rolek. Glinka powinna być niezbyt lepka by pozostała na stole a nie na koszuli.. Im większe skalowo worki tym faktura powinna być lepiej widoczna. W zasadzie w 1:100 worki powinny być gładkie ale delikatnie tkana koszula sprawia, że wyglądają naturalnie.







Step 2
You just have to make bags in stamped  stripe of clay. We don't want to cut it (unless you want to make your sandbags from scratch or you need finishing singles so we use blunt part of the hobby knife. Its sharp enough to do the job but should not cut through. You might make knife wet first but that depends on your clay - on some kinds it  reduces sticking to the blade but with my clay it make this worse so I did not do it.



Następnie należy ponacinać zafakturowane paski w kształt worków. To czym tniemy powinno być dość cienkie ale niezbyt ostre. idealna jest niezaostrzona krawędź nożyka modelarskiego. (W zależności od glinki możecie zwilżyć nożyk jeśli to sprawi, że nie będzie ona przylegać, ale w przypadku niektórych glinek nawilżenie wzmacnia lepkość !)



Step 3
You put layers of produced sandbaggy stripes onto one another and stick them together with clay shaping tool (mine are made from silicone) and try to make them natural Its good to have few single bags or cut some stripes in random places to make them feel hastily laid.
Na koniec układamy paski jeden na drugim, dobrze dodać kilka luźnych worków zwłaszcza na górze bu nie były idealnie równe.





Step 4 - bake the clay (or wait it cures - depend on material used). And then paint them. I used base from ice cream stick. Potem pieczemy glinkę lub czekamy aż zaschnie i malujemy - ja zastosowałem jeszcze podstawkę z patyczka po lodzie


Step 5 : Profit ! Voila: Gotowy szybki teren 



Tip: If one 5 layered set takes you more than 15 minutes to be ready for baking  you are doing something wrong :)

środa, 30 października 2013

WIelki Konkurs Modelarski forum Strategie !!!




Wszystkich wargamerów malujących figurki zapraszamy do wzięcia udziału w konkursie modelarskim organizowanym już po raz piąty przez Forum Strategie. Nieważne w jaki system bitewny gracie i jaki okres historyczny preferujecie. Również jeśli chodzi o skale modelarskie, możliwości wystawiania prac są szerokie (poruszamy się jednak w ramach skal standardowo stosowanych w wargamingu historycznym). Opracowując formułę tego konkursu staraliśmy się zorganizować go w ten sposób, by mogła w nim wziąć udział jak największa liczba uczestników.

Malowanie prac potrwa do 7 stycznia 2014 r. (czyli kończymy zaraz po święcie Trzech Króli). Potem nastąpi wyłonienie zwycięzców i wręczenie nagród. Czasu na malowanie jest więc sporo i można spróbować sił w każdej z trzech kategorii konkursowych.

Informacja o kategoriach konkursowych, nagrodach i terminach:
http://strategie.net.pl/viewtopic.php?f=231&t=12431

Regulamin konkursu:
http://strategie.net.pl/viewtopic.php?f=231&t=12429

Dział konkursu na Forum Strategie, gdzie prezentowane są prace konkursowe:
http://strategie.net.pl/viewforum.php?f=231

Z nagrodami to organizatorów poniosło !!
To chyba najlepiej  nagradzany konkurs modeli historycznych w Polsce
I kategoria (oddział w skali do 15 mm)

1 miejsce - podręcznik do jednego z systemów wargamingowych wyd. Osprey (sponsor: księgarnia internetowa WOJENNA)
2 miejsce - bon na zakupy w sklepie Wargamer o wartości 40 zł (sponsor: WARGAMER)
3 miejsce - bon na zakupy w sklepie Wargamer o wartości 40 zł (sponsor: WARGAMER)

Nagroda dodatkowa (do rozlosowania wśród wszystkich, którzy wystawią ukończone prace w tej kategorii): jeden numer serii "Wrzesień 1939", wybrany przez uczestnika spośród numerów wydanych w chwili zakończenia etapu malowania prac (sponsor: firma "First to Fight")

II kategoria (modele w skali od 20 mm do 28 mm)

1 miejsce - podręcznik do jednego z systemów wargamingowych wyd. Osprey (sponsor: księgarnia internetowa WOJENNA)
2 miejsce - książka od wydawnictwa Napoleon V (do wyboru spośród następujących tytułów: A du Picq "Studium nad bitwą", M. Wagner "Bitwa pod Kliszowem 19 lipca 1702 roku", T. Strzeżek "Bój o redutę Ordona. Epizod z bitwy warszawskiej 6-7 września 1831 roku", M. Maciejowski "Rzymski podbój Hiszpanii (218-178 przed Chr.)", K. Rudnicki "Operacyjna użyteczność kawalerii w świetle historii", H.P. Judson "Armia Cezara. Studia nad sztuką wojenną Rzymian w ostatnich dniach republiki", G.L. Cheesman "Auxilia. Oddziały pomocnicze armii rzymskiej", B. Szubelak "Legionista Cezara. Studium uzbrojenia", P. Korzeniowski "Wojna o Falklandy", S. Sołowjow "Rosja za panowania Aleksego Michajłowicza 1648-1657", L. von Emainnsberger "Wojna pancerna", G.W. Redway "Fredericksburg 1862", J. Nicolay "Kampanie wojny secesyjnej t. I" (sponsor: wyd. Napoleon V)
3 miejsce - książka z serii "Warbook" (sponsor: Stowarzyszenie Miłośników Historii Wojskowości "Pola Chwały")

Nagroda dodatkowa (do rozlosowania wśród wszystkich, którzy wystawią ukończone prace w tej kategorii): jeden numer serii "Wrzesień 1939", wybrany przez uczestnika spośród numerów wydanych w chwili zakończenia etapu malowania prac (sponsor: firma "First to Fight")

III kategoria (pojazdy i sprzęt wojskowy)

1 miejsce - podręcznik do jednego z systemów wargamingowych wyd. Osprey (sponsor: księgarnia internetowa WOJENNA) oraz makieta od firmy Tereny do Gier (sponsor: firma "Tereny do Gier")
2 miejsce - książka od wydawnictwa Erica (do wyboru spośród następujących tytułów: H. Guderian "Achtung Panzer", M. Reynolds "Stalowe piekło", M. Reynolds "Adiutant diabła", A. Szrejter "Wielka wyprawa księcia Racibora", P. Jaźwiński "Oficerowie i konie", P. Jaźwiński "Oficerowie i dżentelmeni", R. Starzyński "Cztery lata w służbie Komendanta", R. Citino "Niemcy bronią się przed Polską. Ewolucja taktyki Blitzkriegu 1919-1933", T. Nowakowski, M. Skotnicki "Legion Condor", F. Kurowski "Pancerne asy", E. Malak "Prototypy samolotów bojowych i zakłady lotnicze", którakolwiek z książek Bernarda Cornwella albo Tomasza Stężały (sponsor: wyd. Erica) oraz makieta od firmy Tereny do Gier (sponsor: firma "Tereny do Gier")
3 miejsce - książka z serii "Warbook" (sponsor: Stowarzyszenie Miłośników Historii Wojskowości "Pola Chwały")

Nagroda dodatkowa (do rozlosowania wśród wszystkich, którzy wystawią ukończone prace w tej kategorii): jeden numer serii "Wrzesień 1939", wybrany przez uczestnika spośród numerów wydanych w chwili zakończenia etapu malowania prac (sponsor: firma "First to Fight")

Nagrody dodatkowe dla wszystkich kategorii (do rozlosowania wśród wszystkich uczestników konkursu, którzy wystawią ukończone prace):
1) książka od wydawnictwa Erica (sponsor: wyd. Erica)
2) czołg od firmy "Tereny do Gier" (sponsor: firma "Tereny do Gier")
3) czołg od firmy "Tereny do Gier" (sponsor: firma "Tereny do Gier")

Sponsorami nagród w konkursie są:


Na pewno zgłoszę prace w co najmniej 2 kategoriach.. (A jak wynajdę coś fajnego w 28mm to nawet w trzech) Pytanie jakie !


piątek, 18 października 2013

Soylent green IS dachshunds!

Space is vast.. Space is infinite..
In the far corners of space there are dachshunds !!
Dachshunds are herd like cattle and mutilated by Evil space Corporation MKG Agricultural and Pestcontrol (MKG AP)
But not everyone is happy that his hot dogs are made from actual dogs !!

This is a story of a group of brave youth called Dachshunds and their pet giant space dachshund that challenged rule of evil corporation !!



 Telamon brave space Dachshund whose due to diabolical experiments grown to immense size, strength and intelligence  but very short attention span. 



Master of hide and seek Telamon the Dachshund can hide in plain field fortification instantly


Telamon and his cute small dachshunds brother and sister !


Oh now, where evil space corporate nazi Dr Hindgele took those poor little doggies !!

Those grew from a silly project idea. Dachshund revolution...
Stay in touch for more Space Dachshunds..



wtorek, 15 października 2013

Tiger farm Chain of Command



Ok, so with my Big Demo game of Chain of Command (Last Saturday of hauptmann Telamonius) coming I decided I need to actually use vehicle rules on the field  So I decided to play my third game with a number of them. Outcome was decided this time with bad deployment and tactic on the soviet part but vehicle rules were thoroughly tested. And i have to say – I like them. Think I like least in Chain of Command is resolution by rolling a lot of dice. I rationalize it that it gives much closer to truth statistical outcome and I can live with it. Similarly with vehicle rules. If you are not put out by the dice pool it gives very good historical outcome. I have to say I was surprised how well. I was thinking that CoC is a game of Infantry where vehicle are add on that play a minor role only, but now I think that its very good tank game too...


So to the battle.
I played Attack on an objective – Scenario 6. Classic action of the war. Lacking any sensible terrain feature to poses strategic value except the barn/train depot i fought for in my last two games I remembered a photo of abandoned tank repair park somewhere in the eastern front and decided to arrange  me one of these :>
My demo game will took place on the northern front so repair park of 502 Schwerepanzerabtailung was an obvious choice with my PSC Tigers lying around !

So there is an objective worth of capture!
As this was to be vehicle game I upped support points slightly for my scenario. From the Die roll it should be 4 for Elite German to whooping 19 for my soviets. On that i added ten for each side to buy some actual vehicle for the Germans :>
And Ended with Stug III F and Pak 40 versus 3 T 34/76, BA 64, Scout squad and opening barrage for the Russians.
4 vehicles for 1 platoon found out to be too many. Its just impossible to use them efficiently and BA 64 (proxied by my BA 10) was uncommitted for most of the game and unused in last phases.. It would be wiser to upgrade tanks to IS for his cost in this situation as I just lacked ability to command such number of vehicles. Not surprisingly in such circumstances Germans fared better :
View from soviet side
Force morale was 9 for the Germans and 10 for Russians.
Games went on for 3 turns (both Turn ends were provoked by CoC die – I  am starting to believe its their most powerful ability – when I was starting to read the rules i decided that ambush and shooting out of sequence will be best use of them.. but in practice Turn Ending is a winner strategy here. CoC is a game where you want the turn to end precisely when you want it to end  :> ) with a total of 46 phases with equal number for each side.


Crossroads
Start of patrol phase
Final Russian partol markers and jump points
Final German patrol markers and jump points

Turn 1
Soviet attack started conservatively with a Pre game barrage that made German life difficult ( Its hard to deploy units on the table in the first turn after the barrage, extra difficult if barrage was coming from Russian guns).[66532] Scout team deployed and sized the initiative and captured the barn unopposed (which happened to be a mistake, if it deployed from different jump off point it would be possible to contest one and possibly two German jump off points in the first turn and capture the objective early – a mistake which cost soviets dearly – war is a harsh mistress).[64331] Regular squad followed near the road supported by dre


German countered and managed to put Grenadier squad and Stug on the table with [31222]. First shot from the infernal contraption penetrated turret killing Mishka the gunner.. That put cannon out of the fray for whole 2 full activations. But Russian spirit is not easy to broke and more infantry and T 34 rolled on to the table and engaged in heavy exchange with the Stug disheartening the commander at first and then destroying the canon rendering it almost useless. Shotout between tanks and the Stug showed that T 34 is heavier armed than his stats would suggest, especially for older canons it could be hard to penetrate decisively. 

There are Three simple rules of using T 34 tanks in combat..

Gunner Mishka just got gunned

  In Parallel firefight Scout squad was broken but with a price of shocking second Grenadier squad that deployed in the woods protecting the Repair depot. With Scouts routing and regular squad pinned Germans ended the turn just after they amassed enough of 5s to get CoC die. Scouts rout from the table and effect of pre game barrage faded.
Panzer battle

Turn 2
Russian start of Turn 2 draw gunfight to a conclusion as now canonless Stug was hit again near the mantlet damaging his sights and convincing the crew its time to say good bye and bail out. But as T 34 started to slowly pour forward Pak 40 deployed [66221] in the tank trap and shot into leading T 34 that eliminated the Stug last phase shaking it fiercely but not making much harm apart from some internal armor flaking probably. In return T 34 cannon targeted gun but killed only one crewman. To add insult to that Panzer Shreck deployed in a position close to the cross road and shot at the leading tank but luckily missed. Taking initiative Pak shot T 34 again but failed to penetrate but second round from Shreck forced crew to bail out!! 1:1
With a small lul in armored combat third soviet squad and Commander deployed on the field. Lieutenant started to rally some shock from exhausted squad near the field that got pinned by long range machinegun fire from the hill. Meanwhile squad from the Russian hill engaged in long range shotout with Grenadier squad in the trees breaking it with some help from tank machineguns. Germans run behind tanks in the repair yard.

Scouts duel with Grenadiersquad
Bailing Stug and broken squad :Brightest moment for the Russians


But tank battle was far from over Pak put a big hole in maneuvering first T 34 killing another gunner (replacement one !!). The Shreck hit with the last round to the engine deck damaging the motor. Crew was heavily shocked by then. 3rd Russian squad rushed through the field and pinned panzershreck and then moved again on CoC die and in the kept initiative phase killed 2 of the Pak gunners (2 + leader left). In return Pak rallied and put a hole in the T 34 smoking from the engine killing the driver and forcing bail out! 2:1.
Unpainted Pak 40 sadly falsify hypothesis that painted stuff always fight better..

Rule 1: Riding wall to wall is bad for business...

Because sooner than later you will have to dance..


It was time to took initiative for the Germans. German lieutenant rallied both panzershreck and first squad and managed to break second Soviet squad from the hill !! So they ended the turn again rallying two own units and routing Russian squad (Who now dropped to 3 Force morale).


Rule 2: Fear Pak on overwatch.. Well just always fear them..

Sneaky Shreck: The evill ogre !


Rule 3 : T 34 are not made for ballet !!
Outflanking Germans

Turn 3
Panzer shreck retreated to the supply point for new ammunition (each team carry only 3 rounds). And First grenadier squad from the hill now without any good targets (fresh soviet squad was invisible, and first one in the field pinned and hidden behind T 34) split and started to outflank!  
ult to that second team from the hill managed to kill leader from the squad in the field downing Russian morale to 1.
With One fresh squad, BA 64, lieutenant and fresh tank soviets managed to do one last surge (with only 2 command die its really hard to activate units). First it went well with squad retaking the barn and tank rushing forward and placing machinegun fire on the repair depot. But then bar rolls went, and Germans managed to roll Pak from the road to the depot. 


Two abandoned and one shot through T 34: Sad but very historically accurate sight..
 First shot put remaining T 34 to the death breaking Russians..

Sad day for Lieutenant Woroblov !
German Victory
Final morale 5 to 0..
Tanks killed 3 to 1 !!
Dead :
22 Russians – including 3 tankers.
11 Germans (including 3 AT gun crewman)

Despite the numbers it was close match.. Soviets were really close from breaking or/and killing Pzshreck team and eliminating the Pak, which would make a mirror scenario with Germans unable to command  freely.
So this easily could go other way and become Tiger cementary..

Tanks play very nice in Chain of Command. Few lessons learned :
Tanks are providing  great narratives.  Even better than infantry squads (In my situation.  Straight kills: one hit on kill scenarios are quite possible, especially with weaker tanks, but here anti tank guys had to ear their Iron crosses..)
 T 34s get damaged, crew killed, accumulate shock and then bail out – nice historical effect !
So tanks are telling good stories :)
Paks are deadly. I though that not easily moved unarmored AT gun will be toast.. But well protected and placed in good position it is hard to eliminate and quite deadly.

niedziela, 6 października 2013

Storm in the Telamon strait

Yesterday i participated in cool if somewhat tedious game of general quarters 3. Naval warfare simulator from ODGW.
Game was very nice but would be unbearable in less friendly environment.  It has some interesting mechanics, but it has just too many mechanics and tables to be fun without right opponents and a game umpire.
As my first naval wargame ewer i liked the flavor if not the rules.
Game played mostly well due to Xardas who was hosting it and was controlling the game flow. But without his prior experience we wouldn't be able to play it correctly.


Scenario was simple: Americans had to destroy coastal batteries and airstrip on remote island base in the pacific. Japanese had to stop them. American fleet was more powerful but Japanese players had support of coastal batteries and very powerful airplanes from the island base.
Maryland getting wasted
Revenge on Kongo despite its ramming burning Japanese destroyer

Taking survivors and the flag from maryland

4 ships sunk that day, sadly two of them were mine. I blame bad orders* (and blindness) in instance of Maryland (in the ongoing chaos i failed to spot torpedoes that were fired and they got poor old Mal.. In revenge I send unavoidable salvo into Japanese flagship Kongo (whose captain in his attempt to dodge run into one of his own destroyers ! (albeit sinking - but meant to sunk for 7 more turns - so not so sunken :) So I relocated my banner from sinking USS Maryland to the victorious USS Clark. Although after serious beating by planes and coastal batteries Americans withdrew without achieving their objectives (Alaska got almost sunk , Japanese base was put out because of lack of the planes and Japanese squadron teeth broken, we won the day by VPs !
My yet proud fleet and Japanese appearing from the mist


I liked Naval wargaming and I think i will get some ships, although GQ3 wont be my choice  (but than I hope I will join  Xardas's games in the future)

I will link full AAR when it surfaces.


* Ive got order for braking formation and closing the distance in worst possible moment and that cost us 2 ships !

Most hated but highly ineffective Telamon battery 




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