Sunday 16 January 2022

Battle Stations

Happy New 2020, now entering an unprecedented third year.

I'm really supposed to be working on a regiment of French line chasseurs à cheval at the moment, but I promised my friend DF (aka the dastardly Baron von Driberg) that we would fight a battle, so most of the weekend was spent working on my new system of vinyl tile terrain pieces.

The tiles, which were all a foot square and came in any colour I wanted as long as it was black, were picked up from my local tip for about 5p per tile. I bought a hundred of them. I wasn't at all sure how well they would respond to paint, but as they were pretty solid affairs and a mere 2mm thick I thought it would be worth a try.

Seen below, using some very basic Thomas-the-Tank-Engine/Brio-style geometry, is what I did with a few of them:



The scenario we're to fight is the very first 'Table TopTeaser' by the late Charles Grant, which appeared in Battle for Wargamers magazine in February and March 1978. I was only eleven back then. The battle is to be fought next weekend.

A battle report will appear in due course, but before then I may also have a test chasseur ot two to show off.

Adieu, and wish me luck (on both counts),

WM

13 comments :

  1. Very nice, that table is just begging for a battle!

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    1. It's certainly overdue. The last one was just over two years ago.

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  2. A great retro set-up! I thought your table was a re-purposed / re-painted table-tennis table (or half thereof)? Looking at the surface there must've been some pretty odd bounces; it was clearly calling out for a career change.
    Losing track of how many times I've tried to post this comment - keep getting the 'Whoops there's been an error' message from Blogger... Grrrrh.

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    1. It was indeed, Rob. As you say, it is somewhat battle scarred. If I ever get round to painting the other half it will produce a table which is either 9'x 5' or 10'x 4.5'. Not the most practical choice as it weighs a ton!

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  3. Matt, great minds obviously think alike, I have also recently been working on a bespoke terrain system. Mine utilises some left-over laminate flooring underlay, which is about 5mm thick, is light, easy to cut, and lies very flat. I will post some pictures when I've made a bit more progress. It's amazing how wargamers can look at stuff that most people would throw away and think , "You know what, that old carpet would make a great cornfield, and those plastic bristles on that old brush would make about 200 pikes".

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    1. Wellington Woman would undubtedly prefer the 'throw it away' option. Nevertheless, the vinyl tiles have worked really well, I think, although it took ages to measure, cut and paint them accurately. I can see now why people just go out and buy ready-made things.

      There's also a new hill in preparation, by the way, which will be painted in a new, experimental shade of green. I make these out of 18mm kitchen cupboard doors wgich are also from the local tip!

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  4. WM, I love the clean geometric look you have come up with. It's very old school and will highlight the figures nicely. It is funny what you key on when a post comes out. While I know the post is about the rivers and roads ($5 what a score!), what I really noticed was the bridge. It inspired me to drag out all of my bits and pieces of my HO Scale Linka system to see if I had enough cast to build something similar. In any event love the color choices for your battlefield and look forward to seeing a new battle.

    Best,

    David

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    1. The bridge is great, isn't it. Unfortunately I've no idea who made it.

      I'm beginning to think about making breatworks and whatnot now, and maybe even some home-made buildings. This is all just an excuse to go out and buy some nifty new power tools, of course!

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  5. Let’s see… Airfix cottage, Britain’s hedges… Merit trees and Bellona bridge? It’s crying out for 20mm magic!

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    1. I'm a 20mil-ionnaire, Jeffers, so your wish is my command.

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    2. I should have added - You are correct in all regards except that the bridge is not Bellona but some heavy resin thing, but you can't have everything as they say.

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  6. That’s a lovely looking table Matthew…
    It will look even better with lots of toys on it…

    All the best. Aly

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    1. That is the hope, Aly. As you can see, my Lammings are giving it the once over, but it'll probably be other troops doing the honours.

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