2mm basing for WW2 North African wargaming

I began my interest in the North African campaign as a callow youth creating plaster dioramas with those classic Airfix HO/OO 8th Army and Afrika Korps sets. This coupled with my week-by-week collection of Purnell’s History of the Second World War was enough to build a passion of a lifetime! 

To supplement my toy soldiers, I moved on to board gaming playing The African Campaign (Jedko Games, 1973), PanzerArmee Afrika (SPI, 1973), Tobruk: Tank Battles in North Africa 1942 (Avalon Hill, 1975) ... need I go on! 

Tobruk in action - every cartridge case was accounted for (the land gaming equivalent of rivet counting!). Image courtesy of BGG

It's not surprising really, I was brought up on many, many yarns by my 'uncle' Stuart Marriner (was my mother's second cousin actually - but felt like an uncle!) who was a rat of Tobruk. You can hear a little more about this awesome bloke here: Meet the ANZAC who nearly ran over Charles de Gaulle

Anyway, back to tabletop gaming! My wargaming of the North African campaign was previously focussed on the Too Fat Ladies I Ain't Been Shot Mum (IABSM) rules using 6mm Irregular Miniatures. Their Operation Compass campaign supplement providing some great scenarios from the 'Italian invasion of Egypt  and the British response ... the five-day raid that turned into a campaign.' These rules support company sized actions with the infantry squad as the basic unit and a model representing individual vehicles/AFVs. Playing in 6mm, you can come pretty close to playing 1:1 figure scale.

11th Hussars Armoured Cars charge Turkish entrenchments on the 'Road to Fort Capuzzo', 14th June 1940

More recently I have been interested in TFL 'O' Group rules with supports battalion-sized actions. the basic unit is a section/squad and one vehicle model/base represents three vehicles. While 15mm or 6mm figures seem the most commonly used, I was greatly inspired by some AARs by The Crusty Colonel who was playing 'O' Group in 2mm - allowing for close to a 1:1 figure/model scale as well. The Irregular Miniatures 2mm 20th century WW2 range was perfect for this.

I'm in the early stages of building the forces but have some early results and wanted to take this opportunity to record/share the basing technique I have developed over a number of years.

Irregular Miniatures Matildas (left, code IKB1) and Universal Carrier Platoon (right, code IKB6)

Matilda section (IKB1)

Infantry section (IK1) - bit of a challenge to paint!

You can see the terrain texture I build up with sand and superglue on top of the sand base layer
in this picture. Irregular Miniatures BG141 18th Century Stone Fort in bottom left. Using this for an old colonial fort in North Africa.

So, to the basing technique:

1. First I lay a fine sand base with PVA. 
2. Then use sand and superglue to create dune effects. I lay out the sand in wind-blown arcs like dunes then drop superglue on top (make sure you have good ventilation)!
3. Apply a grey undercoat; 
4. Base coat with Naples yellow
5. Apply a dilute wash of Army painter dark rust
6. Give a light spray with a fairly dilute black wash (I use a pump pack bottle)
7. Dry brush Vallejo Iraqi Sand; 
8. Dry brush white. 

The flock I use is a muted olive green and the tufts are cut up 2mm desert tufts - anything that look the part for desert. I highly recommend Lead Bear's Tufts!

 

I’m sure you could vary the colours to suit what you have. It's basically a sand colour base with a red/brown wash, a light black wash and then light sandy grey and white dry brush.

It seems a lot of steps but basing is worth it to give 2mm a feel for a theatre of war. 

ZRV - Zombie Splatting

I was excited to see that Dave Bezio - creator of Shootin Iron - has released ZRV, a simple yet fun set of rules that positions you as a group of survivors in an RV driving from place to place to splatter zombies, looking for useful stuff and maybe even coming back alive! Your four suvivors can be played either solo or co-op and are pitted against a simple yet very effective AI system for the ravenous zombie hoards. Each turn, survivors activate taking 1-3 actions (moving, melee, shooting, searching) and most of these create noise which attracts zombies during their turn (which occurs after the Survivor turn).

The survivors are randomly allocated simple profiles that add some special skills and die roll modifiers. These are pretty simple as written but could easily be added to. Some Zombies are classified as fast (increased movement) or nasty (toughter in a fight). More Zs spawn each turn so you have to keep splatting them while you search for supplies or meet scenario goals.

Overall, a great game with very clearly written rules that work - and no grey areas despite the company name! And that's rare in this price range. Downloadable from Wargames Vault, the pdf includes a QRG, weapon effect templates and printable game tokens. Dave has just recently released a campaing suppliment with four linked scenarios - A Place to Chillax. So, with loads of Z splatting fun to be had, it's encouraged me to expand on my miniatures - I've got ten more Eureka Zombies (making 30 in total - which I think is enough for most circumstances in ZRV) and a bunch of Shadowforge Blow Up Doll Zombies (BUDZ) on the painting table. It's useful to have some Z's that stand out from the usual grizzly mob so you can differentiate the 'fast' and 'nasty' Z types that can spawn on certain die rolls - also the BUDZ can be used as the 'nasty' Zs that replace my Shadowforge survivors collection when they are killed.

I'm a few games in now and starting to get a feel for these rules. At first I felt the rates that new zombies spawn, in comparrison with my survivor's 'splatting' capacity, made the game almost unwinnable for the survivors. In an early game (searching a zombie infested compound) the last two survivors had to climb the compound fence (Z's can't climb) and make a run for it back to the RV with little more than their lives!

More recently, I've learned to take advantage of terrain more and have a stealthy group of survivors searching while those with the ranged weapons keep the numbers of shambling horrors down. A benefit of this approach is the noise of gunfire also attracts them - drawing them into kill zones.

Overall, I find ZRV delivers a fast moving, fun and challenging game all from 6 pages of tightly written rules! Inbuilt are all the mechanics needed for campaigns with the possibilty of filling empty seats of your RV when you lose crew members. NPCs you pick up (called liabilities) can eventually upgrage to full blown survivors with special abilities. You can even find your own loyal Z-munching dog! I think there is great potential to expand on player special abilities and pre-scenario events. I'd have to say this is the first set of rules in a long time that inspire me to game - an absolute success!

Backs (or flank) against the wall, Heavenfield, 633 CE

The Battle of Heavenfield (ca. 633-634) was fought between a Northumbrian army under Oswald of Bernicia and a British/Welsh army under Cadwallon of Gwynedd. Bede, who refers to it as the 'Battle of Deniseburna' notes the proximity of the battle to a section of Hadrian's Wall - which it is thought that Cadwallon secured one flank of his army on.

'The place, on its noth side, is close to the wall with which the Romans once girded the whole of Britain from sea to sea to keep off the attacks of the barbarians...' Bede, Baedae Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, iii.2 My 2mm DBA (v.2.2) forces being complete for Oswald's Northumbrians (II/73 Old Saxon) and Cadwallon's Britons/Welsh (III/19a Welsh), it is time for some terrain! The most iconic item of terrain is surely the (then ruinous) Roman wall! Here is a prototype section scratch built from pvc sheet. Paint job is a WIP with Vallejo grey undercoat and Army Painter Speed Paint first coat (Runic Grey for the wall and Sand Golem for the ground and to highlight the 'fill' in broken areas of the wall. More pictures to follow once I get a few sections done.

Miniatures by Irregular Miniatures, of course!

Great War terrain in 6mm

I’m a dyed in the wool lead miniatures guy. 3-D and plastics just don’t feel right to me but each to their own. So, when I’m not scratch building, my default range of scenics for 6mm and 2mm is Irregular Miniatures. 

I’ve had a bunch of their shelled buildings awaiting attention for some time. I’m itching to get into some Great War gaming so time to upgrade the terrain. Here’s a few work in progress shots of a couple of shelled villages. 

After mounting a number of pieces from the 6mm scenics range on MDF, I based with ground up cork (for additional fallen masonry surrounding the buildings), gravel, find sand then grout. These were sprayed black then the masonry painted with Vallejo French Mirage Blue followed by Army Painter Runic Grey Speed Paint. I picked out some additional features in various colours (more to do on this). Following this was a drybrush with Army Painter Drakes Tooth then finally a Nuln Oil wash.

The Poilus are Irregular Miniatures 1914 French Infantry (GWF01-06). 

Still a WIP as I’ll do more dry brushing and details then flock when all the washes are dry.

Green, Blue and white stuff - adventures in casting

I’ve been fascinated by casting ever since I was taught to pour plaster into animal tracks as a Cub Scout. In later years watching experiments in archaeometallurgy fired my imagination and is something I hope to experience first hand one day.

More recently I had an opportunity of a lifetime to be taught a little of the art of miniature casting by a friend in the business. In this case I was casting with  pewter using a centrifugal air pressure spin casting machine. 

Alas, metal casting at home is a bit beyond my capabilities at present so I have to be satisfied by simpler techniques. Enter stage left, Blue Stuff by Green Stuff World! This magnificent thermo plastic allows simple one- and two-piece moulds to be made just by heating the plastic in hot water. These moulds are often used with epoxy putty - such as Green Stuff or Milliput. 

When casting with Blue Stuff I favour having the mould supported with a small box to reduce warping during the casting process. It also allows for a nice flat finish to the back of the piece when using one-piece moulds.

The Blue Stuff mould was pressed into the supporting box made of coffee stirrers and MDF before the impression was made. While the master was in the Blue Stuff, I flattened the upper surface by inverting it and pressing it down onto baking parchment on a work surface. You have to have to experiment a bit to get the exact amount of Blue Stuff required but this really improves the end result. 

While I’m happy with the mould, I’ve had varied success with Green Stuff putty and Milliput in these moulds. The success of the final casting depends on carefully pressing the material into the mould to pick up all the surface detail. Incomplete edges and corners are common.

In a rare trip into the city today (over two years now happily working from home!) I stumbled across Green Stuff World Acrylic Resin (350g) in Mind Games’ CBD Melbourne store which claims to offer a non toxic ‘ceramic’ when mixed 3:1 resin powder and water. Setting in under an hour and mixing to a pourable consistency, I felt it presented a solution to the problems I was having with epoxy putty (and a significantly faster drying time).

Careful measuring always pays off. I will get small plastic ‘shot glasses’ for mixing in the future.

28mm windows poured with acrylic resin with Green Stuff and Milliput examples beside the mould

Green Stuff and Milliput bell tent castings showing loss of detail and incomplete casting. This Blue Stuff mould was also formed using tye surrounding box - it is just pictured here removed from it.

It’s early days but the first set of castings (windows for 28mm buildings and 6mm Bell Tents) suggest the acrylic resin to be a viable alternative. The edges of the window broke off in the mould possibly due to my handling and the need to allow further curing time. But the crisp detail is definitely encouraging. Is it too brittle for fine work? Time will tell!

Green Stuff Acrylic Resin castings demoulded after less than one hour!

I’ll keep experimenting and will certainly branch out into using proper silicone moulds and resin in the future, but Blue Stuff and acrylic resin are very useful tools to add to my modelling arsenal!

Wolseley versus Arabi Pasha, 1882: HotE in 6mm

Exploring how I might use the Wargames Research Group fantasy rules, Hoards of the Things, has been on my to-do list for years, nay, decades! There is an active Facebook group and WRG released a second edition in 2002. There is talk of 2.1 being out there but I have yet to track a set down. 

While the fantasy setting has some interest to me as an another option for gaming in the style of Osprey’s Of Gods and Mortals, the adaptations of HOTT:

1. Hordes of the Empire (HotE): the Victorian colonial Mr wars adaptation of HOTT by Paul Potter, Blake Radetzky and Terry Webb.

HotE and related resources can be obtained through the DBA & HOTT Wargaming Facebook group. If I find a reliable web link I will update this post.

2. Hoards in the Trenches: the Great War version by Matt Kirkhart.

There are some (somewhat questionable) downloadable versions of HitT for those Google savvy types among you, the only link I feel comfortable advertising is the v.5 http://ianjgow.blogspot.com/p/hordes-in-trenches.html?m=1

To that end, my first project for HotE will be the Anglo-Egyptian war of 1882. I came separately, rather surprisingly, to the same view as Featherstone that Lieutenant-General Wolseley’s 1882 expedition to overthrow the dictator Said Ahmed Arabi foreshadows the British expedition to the Falkland Islands to eject the Argentinian junta one hundred years later (Featherstone, Tel El Kabir 1882, Osprey Campaign 27). 

Both campaigns lasted four and a half weeks and, due to logistical constraints, required the British to deploy their crack regular regiments not normally used for these purposes. While in wargaming terms the engagements are a little unbalanced, the variety of units on both sides make for a fun miniatures project - household cavalry, armoured trains, the Naval Brigade, Egyptian veterans redrafted into service, Sudanese conscripts, Bedouins, Krupp ordinance! 

There are no doubt some great new lines in 6mm Colonial  miniatures out there - more-so with the growth of 3-D printed options - but I am an avowed metal figure gamer and rusted-on (or the non-ferrous equivalent) user of Irregular Miniatures. https://www.irregularminiatures.co.uk/6mmRanges/6mmColonial.htm

In typical fashion, I rushed into the first set of elements, probably sacrificed the paint job a bit and went with what I had for basing - I may add some detail later - but here they are (With HotE/HOTT descriptors):

Egyptian/ Sudanese lancers would be classified as ‘Riders’ in the HotE Egyptian 1882 army list.

A Bashi ‘Hoard’ (back left), two Sudanese ‘shooters’ (centre) and Bashi-Bazook ‘riders’ (right).

Egyptian infantry in foreground (Shooters) 

3 bases of Krupp artillery (foreground) and the ‘General’ in the centre. The army list only calls for 1 artillery base but given there were 75 Egyptian guns at Tel El-Kabir, I upped the numbers!

Another shot of the ordinance - I’m a gunner at heart!

Another shot of the irregular infantry 

‘Lurkers’ Bashi-Bazook skirmishers 

The Egyptian army of the Arabi Pasha mustered

Split rail fences for 2mm ACW

Felling the timber, splitting it into rails and stacking it along your farm boundaries must have been a punishing task in the 19th century.

Punishing, in a very different way, is an apt description for scratch building split rail (snake) fencing for my 1:800 (eg. 2mm) ACW terrain!

I have to admit these little guys spent more time stuck to my fingers than to their bases. Nevertheless, the struggle yielded the equivalent of 14 chains (chain = 22 yards) of fencing for Wilmer McLean’s farm.

The method, while fiddly, is fairly strait forward.

I cut a series of 50mm x 1mm strips (sorry, back to metric for this) of 0.5mm Evergreen Styrene sheet which was scored every 5mm on opposite sides.

I then bent each scored point to form a zigzag long enough for my bases. This was attached to the base (via being glued to various fingertips) using Superglue. Then 5mm lengths were scored in the centre and bent into a right angle piece using tweezers. These were glued to the outward facing points of the fence to represent the crossed over rails.

The roughed up 45mm x 10mm base of styrene was coated carefully with fine sand (using PVA) and then undercoated with Vallejo grey primer (73.601). I washed the dry undercoat with Liquitex raw umber acrylic ink. Then, I painted the fence rails dark brown. These were dry-brushed with Army Painter Drake Tooth. My flower meadow mix of flocking was glued in place then a light coat of Vallejo Mecha Dark Rust wash (a staple in my paint collection) was applied on the rails. Done!

These simple 2mm terrain pieces add, I feel, some period flair to ACW battlefields at this scale. Maybe cornfields and a peach orchard next!