Wild West weekend

I was scheduled to run this Month's game for one of my wargaming groups session and figured it was time for me to breakout a Wild West game. It's been at least 7 years since I ran one, I just couldn't find a set of rules I liked and also thought would be fun for the players and eventually I kind of forgot I had Wild West stuff.

Late last year I picked up Shoot n Skedaddle (from Turnstyle games), and thought they looked like they would fit my stringent requirements (fun to play and easy to run). I haven't ordered the cards yet as they are (with shipping) somewhat expensive, so I bought the PDF cards, printed them out and stuck'em in card sleeves and made my own versions of the character cards to match my figure collection.

In preparation on Saturday (December 9th) I took the rules and stuff to the Hamilton Road Gaming Group for a trial run and ran two games. Just one picture of the games. First game had 2 players and I learned 6 characters is too many for one player to run. Second game, both players ran 4 characters and things went more quickly. Might have made some sales for Turnstyle Games.

Shinbone shoot out at the Crouch aka the HRGG

Experience gained, I then ran two games Sunday (10th December), again in my Wild West town, Shinbone.

The first game was scenario one, with each of 4 player drawing 3 characters, one player drew a cowboy and both Soiled Doves (I suggested he swap one out for a redraw but he declined). No pictures of that game. It was mainly to get everyone acquainted with the rules.

We broke for lunch and afterwards played scenario one again with new characters.

Outlaws hanging around near the Saloon,

Some of the forces of Law and Order, The Judge (inside) and Mountain Man in the street,

Bodies piling up at the corner of the Dry Goods Store

Mountain man's body atop Herman's Feed and seed.

Mid way through the game, the Lawmen turned one of the outlaws (via special card), but then the outlaws almost immediately had a townsman join them (via another special card) he popped up near the corner of the dry goods store, very near the end of a turn, and so got both actions quickly. Oh and he had a Mare's Leg

3 men remain, a pair of outlaws vs. the Bounty Hunter (atop the Sheriff's office). One outlaw has taken a hostage, but all doors are locked and he can't climb over a fence with the hostage (and refused to turn her loose).

The game was called at that point, Bounty Hunter had a carbine but the only target he had was the hostage taker who was rooted in cover with his hostage and the other outlaw was wounded (and not coming out).

Players had a great time, but now expect more games of this, I guess I'll have to level up my terrain, Thanks! Turnstyle games. Might have made some more sales for Turnstyle Games.

One thing players didn't like was the amount of one shot weapons, (by one shot I mean you get 1 shot then have to reload before you could shoot again), but that could just have been the luck of the draw.

Tutorial - Making Sabots

I was asked how I made the Sabot I was using, and thought if there is one person interested there will be others.

So here we go. This tutorial will be for the infantry sabots.

Materials:
Craft Sticks, also known as Popsicle sticks
7mm Bass Wood Strips (coffee stir sticks will work but they are 6mm wide)
Bristol board A.K.A. Art board (card stock will work, but is more pricey)
Scissors
Craft Knife the sharper the better
Clear Packing tape (Optional, but recommended)
Glue, I use both a Glue Stick and PVA A.K.A White glue
Sandpaper or emery boards
Template of the size base you are making the sabot for (I am using one 60 mm x 30mm)

Very Very Important! 

 Make sure your Popsicle and coffee stir sticks are both the same thickness. Mine are 2mm.

Cut your Bristol board in rectangles 75mm x 50mm. your size may vary

Make sure your Bristol board is the exact correct width, it makes construction much quicker and easier, depth does not need to be too exact.

 Glue a Popsicle stick to the front edge of the card. I use the glue stick for this and the next step.

Place your template snugly against the Popsicle stick you just glued in place.

Glue your second Popsicle stick into place, use your template to make sure your base will fit, be careful not to glue your template to the Bristol board, that is why the glue stick works best, apply it to the Popsicle stick and then affix it to the Bristol board.

The template is 6cm x 3cm the area taken by 6 infantry bases.

If your Bristol board is a too deep you can trim it flush the second Popsicle stick.

 This is my 7mm wide strip of bass wood, a 5 pack each strip 3' 9" long for $3

 

Take your 7mm wide strip and cut it to fit each side.

This shows how I measure the side pieces, I butt the strip against one Popsicle stick and sscore it at the other then snap it off.

Use the white glue so you can get a more solid join where the strip joins the Popsicle stick.

Flip the sabot over, using a metal ruler and the craft knife cut away the excess Popsicle stick, flush with Bristol board. I score the Popsicle stick 6-7 times and snap it off, then use the emery board to tidy up any rough edges.

 Bam! You're done.

After using them in a game, I found they need a little more reinforcement, so here is what I did to reinforce the construction,

I cut through the Bristol board where the base will go.

Using the white glue, attach another piece of Bristol board on the other side of the sabot,

 The final product

Ready for painting and flocking

I use removable labels sticking out the back of the sabot, that I attached with tape. I was removing them after a game, the tape I used starting tearing away the outside of the paper, so now I cover the bottom of the sabot with 2 " wide packing tape.

You don't have to use this expensive packing tape though, It is what I had to hand when making this tutorial

Game at Game Chamber

Game at the Game Chamber

I offered to run a game at my FLGS (the Game Chamber) March 24th starting at 12.30 PM.

The gamers at The game chamber mainly play Science Fiction and or Fantasy (in 28mm) the only "historical" rules being played are Flames of War (in 15mm).

I thought I would offer them something different, so I chose to run a game of Battlegroup Kursk A World War 2 East Front set of rules, and a different scale, 1/72nd A.K.A. 20mm

Since most of the clientele play some version of War Hammer, I chose a rules set that uses similar processes i.e. mainly D6 rolling, cover saves, IgoUgo turn sequence.

The OoBs (Order of Battle)

Soviet Union

Total Soviet Force

A Platoon of Soviet Infantry, platoon HQ section , 4 squads, a Medium Machine gun team, a 45mm Light Mortar, and an Anti Tank Rifle team,

Two extra rifles squads and a rifle scout squad

A platoon of T34/43

Company HQ and a NKVD unit

Standing in for a BA-10 armored I'll use a BA-6 Armored car

The Germans

Total German force

Company HQ

A platoon of Infantry, the Platoon HQ with a truck, three squads, a MG34 on a tripod, a 82mm mortar, and a combat medic.

A scout rifle squad

A Mark III M Panzer

A Mark IV H Panzer

A supply truck

I still need to paint a few more Germans i.e. the mortar crew and the Company C.O. and make a supply pallet for the supply truck.

Then I'll turn my attention to terrain layout.

What I've been doing

What I've been doing

When in previous posts I said I hadn't done any war gaming related things I was exaggerating slightly.

Since August, I was doing stuff, but I would sit down, do a little bit and lose interest after a few minutes.

Recently I finished off a bunch of things that had been sitting around.

The rest of my Plastic Soldier Company Late war German Infantry, the SMG ers

The rest of my Plastic Soldier Company Late war German Infantry, the Rifle armed troops

A Pair of Armourfast Pnathers

Trumpeter Sturmgeshutze III A

Italeri Opel Blitz Ambulance

A pair of Armoufast Sd.Kfz 251/1, technically not finished I need to add the MGs

A pair of Pegasus Hobbies Soviet BA-6 Armored cars

More 15mm Buildings

More 15mm Buildings

My friend got another shipment of 4Ground buildings, from the Game Chamber, London's Ontario's newest and best gaming store, and asked me to build them for him.

His order consisted of 4x15mm and 4x28mm buildings, all from the the Europe at war range.

The 4ground buildings are very easy to build, these kits took somewhere between 60- 90 minutes each. The instructions are better ordered than the previous kits I built, but I didn't follow them, I mainly used them to determine what pieces went with each floor.

I built three of the 15mm buildings and these are the results (The penny is for scale, I don't have any 15mm figures to use)

First up: North West European shops

Front

Back

Side

 I had a problem with this kit, the roof end gables were just a hair to short which resulted in a bit of a gap, I discovered it after I had constructed the roof and let it dry :(

This picture shows how incredibly small the sizing error of the end gable is and how big the gap is.

I had to cut apart the roof and reattach the shingles with a bit of a gap

Here it is in floors

 Next: North West European Semi-detached house, type 1

Front

Side

Rear

By floor

Next: Terrace 2

Front

Rear

By floor

   I was preparing to do the last kit and noticed the bag had a hole in one corner. I laid out all the sheets and discovered one of the pieces had fallen out and was nowhere to be found. Desperate I trudged, uphill into the sleet, to the Game Chamber in the vain hope they had found it in a box somewhere. No such luck, fortunately, the store is, at most, a five minute walk for me.

   Cecil offered a piece of Balsa wood  for me to make a replacement piece, the missing piece is an internal roof support, and no one would see it. I declined as I had big enough scrap pieces for me to construct one, but I really didn't want to scratch build if I didn't have to.

  Before heading to bed I e-mailed 4Ground in the vain hope I could get a replacement piece.

   I was mentally preparing a blistering indictment on the modern practice of not supporting a product after it has reached its end user.

   This morning, I checked my E-mail and the 4Ground Public Relations machine had completely blindsided me by replying the missing piece will be dispatched ASAP.