Great Escape Games – 12mm Figures for 1914

When I undertook the rebasing of my Pendraken WW1 figures for GEG’s 1914 rules, I found the one figure type I lacked was German early war cavalry.

So, when the opportunity came to visit Colours, I snapped up one of the new pre-packed battalion/squadron packs produced by GEG.

These packs cost £10 and include sufficient figures for 4 bases of mounted and 4 bases of dismounted cavalrymen + one MG base. They even include the laser cut mdf bases for the figures.

Not bad value at all. As an example, to buy the same through Pendraken would cost £9.65 but would leave you with excess figures and MG teams.

The figures needed very little cleaning up (just filing the bases flat) as you’d expect from brand new moulds. They are slightly bigger than their Pendraken equivalents as true 12mm figures.

Detail is crisp and about right for the size of figure, otherwise the proportions can become lost.

They are also robust little chaps. They will survive repeated handling on the table, unlike my Pendraken British Cavalry whose lances bend and break at an alarming rate!

I primed these with spray cans (brown for cavalry and filed grey for infantry) and then added the detail in stages with fine brushes.

Finally, they were based, varnished and flocked. I’m very pleased with these and may be back for more….

Busy Times....

Well the last month's been a bit of a car crash where my blogging activities have been concerned. What with a UK heat-wave leading to a general lack of get-up-and-go, and travel for work, I don't seem to have had time to take any pictures or write anything up.

I haven't, however, been totally idle.....

Great Escape Games 1914

Firstly I've been experimenting with Great Escape Games 1914 Rules, using my rebased 10/12mm Pendraken WW1 figures and terrain.

One day I will get around to writing a proper review for these, but for now suffice to say these show promise.

Apparently they use a very similar mechanic to the GEG  Iron Cross Rules in that each side gets a number of command tokens each turn to spend on activating their troops. The active player then takes the first turn and the inactive player has the option to spend a token and gamble on (by rolling +3 on a D6) being able to interupt their action before they take it. This leads to a very fast and fluid game, with both players fully involved throughout.

To match this mechanic the actual move/shoot/morale mechanics are very simplistic, but I think adequate.

Initially I've found the book, whilst very nicely produced and illustrated, to be difficult to interpret. Whilst there are examples given, these don't cover everything and as a confirmed dyslexic I have struggled to take the rules on board.

That said the couple of solo games I've tried have been great fun even though I'm not certain I'm following the rules to the letter.

The picture above is of a scenario I've been developing (1914 Scenario) for the Battle of Landrecies 25th August 1914 - part of the retreat from Mons. Its a great introductory action using one British Brigade versus a much larger German force in what is a delaying action, protecting a river crossing.

A Black Tree Wermacht figure armed with a Russian SMG together with a 50mm Mortar team & MG34 SF Team  of unknown origin

Recently I was lucky enough to attend a gaming sale at our local community centre, where there was a late gamer's complete collection being sold off by his family.

Whilst much of what was for sale was either fantasy or sci-fi related, there were a number of things to excite the historical gamer! One was an old style GW Army case containing around 90-100 unpainted 28mm WW2 figures. Most were Black Tree Designs figures (Germans, Russians and a few US Infantry) plus a small number of Foundry Fallschirmjager.

I couln't resist, so I'm now contemplating finally giving Chain of Command a go. Firstly I will have to paint them all up.

I already have a motley mixture of Artisan Designs Miniatures German & British Infantry + a few support elements from unknown origins, so I treated myself to a can or PSC Field Grey and got started.

I've found the ideal number for me is to paint six figures at a time so this will be a long project....

3D Printed Pzkfw IVs

Finally, I was dismayed to find that following the printing of a second run of my home-designed dug-in markers for 1914 (see previous post), the PLA filament had become stuck in the printer.

To make matters worse, rather than do the sensible thing and look on Youtube, I decided I could fix this myself! I proceeded to dismantle the printer head and found the PTFE tubing that feeds the filament had become damaged. Removing this I succeeded in destroying the pneumatic coupling used to hold this in place. Doh!

Now I found the tubing easily enough on ebay (£3 delivered) but the pneumatic couplings less so. They were 4mm diameter with a M10 thread where all I could find were those with M6 thread. Finally the engineers at work came to my rescue and I got things re-assembled after two weeks down.

To prove my repair worked I set the printer producing two 1/150th scale Pzkfw IVs for use with WAT Rules. As you can see things are looking good and all went to plan after nearly 5 hours of printing!

So I'd better get them finished off. You can see from the turret and hull in the foreground that there's quite a bit of support material to be removed before the model looks like the one at the back.....

Great Escape Games 1914 – Dug-in Markers

Trying out my first game of 1914, my British troops were starting from hastily dug in positions.

My first thought was to put alongside a cardboard chit to remind me of this, when I had the idea “Why don’t I make some Dug-In markers with my 3D printer!!”

Once again I entered the wonderful world of TINKERCAD. I quickly drew up a 50mm long marker using a simple wedge shape to form the earth parapet. To give this texture I added a slab of rough terrain from the pre-prepared shapes available. Then finally added an undulating shaped piece to resemble basic revetment to the inner face.

Having created the .stl file, I then printed out 6 of these in PLA. 

Sprayed Leather Brown (Army Painter) and then dry brushed Iraqi Sand (Vallejo), they just needed a coat of varnish, before adding the finishing touch of a little static grass.

You can see from the photos that some warped slightly when printing (failure to adhere properly to the printer bed). However these were easily straightened using hot/cold water so the bases now lie flat. I think that the slightly curved top edge of the parapet rather adds to the overall effect - but I would say that wouldn't I!

Simple but effective I think.

Pimping Kallistra’s Hexon Trenches - Part 1

I bought a pack of Kallistra 10-15mm trench sections a couple of years ago at Colours. These seem to be the best value items currently on the market. They are robust and simple, with lots of available options available.

I bought the plain brown plastic versions intending to finish them myself, but you could always go for the (slightly more expensive) ready flocked versions instead.

With the appearance of Great Escape Game’s 1914 rules, my interest in small scale WW1 gaming has be rekindled. I therefore thought it about time I finally pimped my trenches.…

Firstly I coated the outer faces of the parados and parapet with fine sand held in place with PVA. When dry I applied a second coat of PVA to firm things up.

This then made the surfaces of the trench look a little plain. I didn’t want to go the whole hog with revetments etc. but I did think they were missing duckboards (I see that Kallistra’s 28mm versions have these moulded in).

This made we reach for TINKERCAD! And I very quickly had some 50 & 100mm sections drawn up ready to 3D print.

They took about an hour to print up and then I could cut them to size and attach to the trench bottoms with superglue.

All that remains is to paint them up and add the finishing touches.

1914 - Great Escape Games

I treated myself to these new rules whilst at Firestorm's recent tabletop sale. I have tried a number of rule sets for WW1 and whilst I enjoyed some, others haven't "floated my boat" as we say.

I own a large number of Pendraken 10mm WW1 figures that were very kindly given to me some years ago. I've used these for Peter Pigs Square Bashing in the past, but when I saw the Great Escape Games 1914 demo game at Salute (on You Tube) I thought that this might be the one for me.

I've been reading the rules through (which to be honest I haven't found to be as clear as I would have liked) and in parallel, re-basing figures to suit.

I'm nearly ready to give them a try so will report back when done.

Square Bashing terrain pieces - Fab Foam

Following one of our frequent visits to the Hereford Hobbycraft Store, my wife introduced Me to Fab Foam. This comes in A4 & A3 sheets (50 or 80p respectively) about 1-2mm thick and in an endless variety of colours. Some (not many) can also be had as self-adhesive sheets. It's very light and flexible, and easy to cut with either knife or scissors.

I've been thinking ever since that this material offered an alternative to the old felt shapes to designate woods etc. and finally I got my chance to try it out by knocking together some basic terrain bits for my SB II game board.

The wooded area bases were cut from brown sheets, dry-brushed green and burnt umber and with clump foliage attached.

The roads were 30mm wide base from brown with 20mm wide metalled area from self-adhesive sheet. Dry brushed grey with some left over Jarvis N Gauge hedging added.

The built up area base is grey sheet with self-adhesive metalled area running through the middle.

The canal was from A3 blue sheet with grey tow paths added from grey A3 sheet - glued with Bostick multi-purpose glue.

Next, I'm going to make some modest hills from foam board and some trench lines with no mans land using mdf boards as a base.

Square Bashing Playing Surface

As part of my 10mm SB II plans I needed a playing surface.

The rules state an area of  48 (8 x 6) 150x150mm squares - 1200x900mm for the 15mm game.

I've decided (rightly or wrongly) to reduce the square size to 100x100mm as my figures are on much smaller bases (25x20mm rather than 30x30mm).

This would mean I need an area 800x600mm. I found the answer in Hobbycraft - an 800x600mm ready prepared canvas. 

I started by giving the canvas a coat of cheap acrylic green paint.

Next I gave it an all over wash of diluted antique oak coloured satin varnish.

To take the sheen off I gave it a coat of Army Painter matt coat spray.

 

Then finally I marked out the grid with a Sharpie permanent pen.

Now all I need are some terrain pieces mounted on 2 square big mdf sheets as described in the rule book, hills, shelled areas, woods, built up areas etc...

Pendraken - 10mm WW1 French

WWith everything else on my workbench, I still have my 10mm Great War project going on. I intend to use Square Bashing II but with 4" squares rather than 6" ones.

This will allow me to fight the large (900pt) battles on my limited tabletop.

I have based infantry on rectangular bases (25x20mm) rather than squares so they will fit the Kallistra trenches I plan to buy.

These are some of the mid/late war French Army I've started.  Heavy tank  and a light tank plus 9 x 75mm and 8 x hotchkiss MMGs - mounted on 25 x25mm mdf bases.

More Pendraken WW1 10mm W.I.P.

German minewerfer , MG & flamethrower teams together with some command figures (single figures on round bases) and a couple of stands of British Cavalry.

More Thoughts on Rules for WW1 in 10mm

Ok so it looks like BKC II might be a good starting point for a set of fast play WW1 rules. But what does every good set of WW1 rules cover?

Well here's a summary of the specialist rules covered off in the various sets I own;-

Command & Control - limited comms. / fog of war / lack of initiative etc.

Gas / Chemical weapons

Air Support - very limited ground attack capability / arty. Spotting

Stosstruppen - elite infiltration tactics

Indirect MG barrages - and the use of MGs in defence

Trench Warfare - bunkers / dugouts / pillboxes / barbed wire

Artillery - pre-planned barrages ( Rolling, box, lifting, hurricane etc) / on/off table field guns / counter battery fire

Tactical Advances 1914-18 - just the shear change in warfare during this short period.

Mining

And last but by no means least.........

The early AFVs - armoured cars at first followed by the tanks later!

So there you are. All I need to do is bolt some rules for these onto BKC II and I'm good to go!

No pressure.....

By the way, here's the rest of my research material......

Sent from my iPad

Thoughts on Rules for WW1 in 10mm

I've made a start looking at what I'd need to do to BKC II to turn it into GreatWar Commander. I want to be able to fight Western Front actions, primarily between 1916-18. I will have British and German Armies so will be looking to simulate their weaponry and tactics.

My first exercise was to carry out a review of BKC II itself, just to make it clear in my mind that it was a good starting point. I thought it might be helpful to share my thoughts with others who might be thinking along the same lines.

Phases: includes scheduled fire - this fits in nicely with the preplanned bombardments so much in evidence during WW1.

Initiative: the tactical doctrine concept is ideal to allow for differentiation of troop quality/type.

Command Phase: the Warmaster based command system allows for an element of confusion and unexpected actions. This could be ideal to depict the lack of communication etc during an infantry attack?

Might be worth considering whether to make command bases anymore vulnerable than they would usually be to reflect the high attrition amongst front line officers?

Movement/Terrain: no need to alter. Should be applicable to WW1 as much as WW2 as is weather etc.

Firing: one thing I like about BKC and it's derivatives is the simplicity of the firing mechanisms. All hits being worked out the same - small arms/AFVs/Arty/Air Support - allowing hits to be combined against a target - perfect for simulating mutual support.

There are mechanisms already there for fortifications etc.

I like the way medium mortars (trench mortars?) are treated as direct fre weapons rather than mini artillery pieces. I think it would be good to come up with some special rules for indirect MG fire (beaten zones/corridors) and German antitank weapons.

Artillery Mechanisms: perfectly usable. Need to consider the use of fire plans, different types of barrage (creeping, box etc) and the issues with poor comms. at the time (field telephones with vulnerable cables etc) as well as on and off table artillery.

Air Support: could be modified to suit if I choose.

Close Assault: should be directly transferable. 

Engineering: covers man pack flamethrowers. Wire, obstacles, demolition etc.

Fortifications, BUAs are all there as well.

End Phase: all would work well.

My first thoughts on what needs to be added/altered are;-

HQs - consider preplanning their movement and leaving the troops they command to try to see if they can keep up? Or perhaps, have the HQs on a per planned route, whilst their units have fixed orders (i.e. advance/hold/etc) and would keep on advancing despite whatever attrition they suffer until they either achieve there objective or break?

Storm troopers - elite forces stats. from CWC or FWC?

Chemical Weapons - stats from CWC?

You can see some of my research material here! I've got more sets of WW1 rules than I know what to do with.

Sent from my iPad

More WW1 10mm from Pendraken

Sent from my iPad

I'm starting to pick up the pace now. The batch of figures I won from eBay gave me a Late War German Starter Army of 90+infantry/Stormtroopers, 4 minewerfern, 4 flamethrower teams and 6 MG teams. As well as these there was a random selection of vehicles - 2 A/Cs, a French Schneider & FT17 tanks, a Whippet and two 4 Tonners.

The vehicles are now finished, as are the British 18 pdrs and command figures. I'm basing the infantry in threes on 25x20mm mdf - which is taking most of the time! On with the basing......

Sent from my iPad

Few Painted Pendraken WW1 Figures

Subject: First Few Painted Pendraken WW1 Figures

"Back in the saddle"

Well I've got back into my figure painting after a 2-3 month lay-off.

I've been doing a Life Drawing course which swallowed up most of my creative effort + I'd spent a great deal of time planning our annual battlefield tour (which hopefully you will have recently read about).

Now it's time to get going again, and the first things I've finished are these Pendraken Mark IVs and A7V. These are a hint of my latest project - WW1 in 10mm!

I've long wanted to wargame this period but couldn't make my mind up on scale our rules. Now I've settled on 10mm for battalion/brigade size actions I need to decide on rules.

I've more sets that I care to count; including TTG Trench (from 1980s), Great War Spearhead, Over the Top, Bloody Picnic, Square Bashing, If the Lord Spares Us, etc.. None of which I truly feel comfortable with. Recently I found these on the Pendraken Forum - http://www.pendraken.co.uk/FileBin/FLANDERS%20FIELDS%20V1_2012.pdf - they're thoughtfully written and have separate play sheets covering different stages of the war and their quite different tactics. Maybe these will be the ones?

Or I could always go back to my original plan and try and write my own based on BKC II?

I'll keep you posted......