Friday 25 May 2012

THANK YOU

This post is basically a thank you to all the bloggers who have started to advertise the Broadside show.

http://www.mhwc.co.uk/broadside-2012

 

Please check the webb site for more details of the show.



 I am humbled by the number of Bloggers who have posted info about our show on thier blogs, or who have promised that they will. It is really touching. It speaks very highly of the wargaming community thier kindness and willingness to help those in need. I'm not going to say anything else remotely embarassing but just to let you all know you are all valued and appreciated.  Many Thanks.

This Thanks also extends to Jasper and Guy at WSS. Jasper contacted me within 6 hours of the Rejects blogs being published and others taking up the call. WSS are doing what they can to help the show. If you norrmally recieve a newsletter from them, expect the next newsletter to carry the show infomation. Not only that, but they have asked when the release of thier newsletter best suits us. I cannot tell you how much this means. It's really fantastic! We hope that Guy from WSS will be able to atend the show as well, but no garantees on that.

This action by WSS clearly shows they are involved in the hobby, and not just about selling papers. We all know the quality of thier publications both from production values and (most importantly) content. It is also important to note that they must be at least browsing blogs to keep up with the grass roots of our hobby. A 6 hour response time from Reject bloggers is staggering for a publisher. I am really impressed, I only hope the other magazine can take note and follow (in some way) thier lead.

All the best, Thanks for reading this. Big thanks for the show support, and Happy Blogging. Cheers Clint.

Wednesday 23 May 2012

British Squad


Fire Team A
Fire Team A (back)
As you can see I have managed to paint some British Infantry. Actually I have finished all the figures now. (Until I buy more of course and we all know I will even if I say I wont). The figures are all Elhiem 20mm painted in acrylics. I have taken 2 pics of each fire team.The weapons are as follows (left to right).
  • Grenadier with Sa80 UGL (Under slung grenade Launcher)
  • Gunner with L108A1 SAW
  • Squad leader with Sa80
  • Gunner with Minimi
Fire Team B
Fire Team B

Fire Team B (again left to right).

  • Gunner with L108A1 SAW
  • Gunner 7.62mm GPMG
  • Fire Team Leader with Sa80
  • Gunner with Minimi.
I feel sure that this is not the correct TO&E for a British Squad, however it is the one presented in some of the scenarios for Force on Force in the "Enduring Freedom" supplement. I could have put a designated marksman rifleman in the mix for example and taken out a Minimi. But at the end of the day I am happy with them as a force and for this purpose it is for a game.

Thanks for looking, more on Friday.All the best Clint





Monday 21 May 2012

Bad News

It's very disappointing. As a Show Broadside is still young, very young. As such we need all the help and support we can get. So when two of the three wargames magazines that you have bought advertising space in fail to deliver the advert for the show it's very disappointing. The main problem is that shows ARE time critical. With a wargames product, for example, if you advertise a month later you can still sell your products. If on the other hand you are running a show and the adverts get missed out you can't run the advert again. The show is over, the traders disappointed with the numbers and the public uninformed. So while we should have adds in Wargames Illustrated and WSS this month, just weeks before the show we only got an apology from those in charge. Disappointing! I know some of you have put show details on your blogs and that is very much appreciated I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. Especially now that 2 wargames Magazines have failed to promote the show. In addition to the adverts, or more rather the lack off adverts in magazines we have had to cancel the DBA tournament. Personally I was never convinced by the tournament at the show, but a number of people have pulled out so we have had to cancel that part of the show. We have contacted our first reserve club though and offered then the tables we would have used. Which may work in our favour. Time will tell. We will also get to see just how powerful advertising is and maybe look at which magazines should get our advertising budget next year.

With all that bad show news I thought I should put some British Casualty markers on here as well. These are all Britannia one piece castings. I realise that casualty markers are a controversial subject, more so as they are a current conflict and our own forces which is why I have not "over done" the blood and gore. Obviously the man being treated had to have some indication of injury, but I have left the red paint from the other two.

That's today's post. (I sneaked an extra one in). I hope to post again on Wednesday. Thanks for looking all the best Clint

Club Game- It all went horribly wrong

The club had three games going on Sunday, 4 of us playing "Infinity". A game we had tried before, but  had never fully got to grips with. So Ian and Relfie on one side and me and Kev on the other. I can't tell you what forces we used but only 5 figures each. I had 3 with "Combi rifles" one HMG and a shotgun. The top pic is my starting position. We started playing the game after a couple of turns realised we were playing it wrong and re set the game and started again. We all had a quick "shuffle" of figures in our deployment zone which allowed me to move the guy with a shot gun and the HMG in to better positions. I don't really want to talk about how badly me and Kev got beaten.... but we did. BADLY. All our figures wiped out with Ian and Relfie retaining the majority of their troops intact. We were out played, no excuses they made better use of the terrain and punished us if we tried to close with them. The second pic is Ians troops. Relfie played a blinder he kept me pinned and merged with every bit of cover to stay out of my lines of fire, Then when he got the chance popped out into the open and picked my guys off. I had harassing fire from Ian, but generally Ian was enjoying picking of poor Kev. The third Pic shows my growing casualties, 3 dead and only 2 remaining. I tried to move the shot gun up as it only has a range of 16 inches, well out ranged by everything else that could fire 48 inches or more. He nearly made it to cover but Ian managed enfilade fire as he tried to dodge across a very narrow strip of open ground. With just 2 men left Relfie brought one man forward in a John Wayne type heroic action. I am not blaming the dice (for a change) It was a bold move and it paid off and my last two guy soon perished .
The Fourth pic shows Kevs plight. his HMG was taken out quite early in the game, and as he tried to recover the momentum his chaps were butchered by Ian.

I'll not dwell on the gory details any longer. It was fun and I did enjoy it. But how did I find the rules? Well the game was fluid and easy to understand (having not read the rules) I knew what to do with the mechanics from about 1/2 way through the game. We did have to stop and look a lot of things up, hence the restart. I think if we'd set up a proper scenario we might have gotten a better game. Generally speaking as a science fiction set of rules I would put them somewhere between Stargrunt and 40k. Definitely a step up from 40k but to me not as good as Stargrunt. Stargrunt are an old set of rules now, but they work and work well.



 I managed to get a couple of shots at one of the other games, Tims "Good dusting" Sudan game in 15 mm. I won't say anything about it other than I was told the British lost. This is a work in progress I believe as Tim alters the "good dusting" rules to better suit our club.

Our club meeting on 3rd June is now cancelled, so we won't get another chance to tweak the Afghanistan game before Broadside. A Blow, but I remain confident the we shall overcome this setback without too much difficulty as I don't expect games at shows to be that competitive if played as a demonstration.

I estimate that I have less than 30 hours work to finish the Afghanistan game, and three weeks to do it. Which has taken the pressure off as I feel confident I shall complete it. This in my mind was the cut off date to abandon it and do WW1 Zombies if it was not going well. I am at the stage where I think pushing on is easier than hastily re-vamping an old game.

That's todays Post. I'll Blog again on Wednesday. All the Best Clint.