I had to visit a branch of George at ASDA yesterday ... and saw that they had a laser measuring device on sale for £18.00. Having seen how useful they were in the recent Fletcher Pratt Naval Wargame, I bought one.
I might well have been able to buy a similar piece of kit for less, but it was on sale and the price seemed reasonable, so it made sense to buy one rather than trawl through the internet when I got home.
I am not sure when I will use it, but with luck I will be taking part in another naval wargame in the not too distant future ... and then I will find out if my investment has paid off.
Now that you mention it I have a laser line. It projects a straight line with the same purpose as a chall line, to give you a reference for keeping things all lined up. Think hanging pictures, hanging hooks, anything where you need something to be very straight.
ReplyDeleteI'll dig it out of my toolbox and do a little experiment to see if it's good for checking LOS.
That'll be fun.
I tried it out and it's great! It projects a vertical line so it requires precise aim.
DeleteI just read my previius comment. Either I need to stop commenting 30 minutes after I get out of bed or I need to turn the autocorrect on.
Mr. Pavone,
DeleteI own several plumb lines and spirit levels, but not a laser line ... but now I have one I'm finding all sorts of uses for it!
All the best,
Bob
Mr. Pavone,
DeleteI usually start my day answering comments made on my blog or writing blog entries ... and I am always having to go back to correct mistakes!
One use I've found for the laser line is determining line-of-sight in my tabletop. No more need to crouch down to see if I can see that enemy unit behind those buildings ... the laser line does all that for me in the flick of a button!
All the best,
Bob
My first reaction was to wonder why the device needed to be so strongly made, then I realised that "Hyper TOUGH" is just another tool brand I've never heard of. Though for the Fletcher Pratt rules I guess that it would be an advantage to have something that can survive being stood on. Less of a problem for tabletop battles, of course, though in those cases using a grid already banishes rulers. It looks like you got a good price and you may find it useful for non wargaming jobs.
ReplyDeleteChanging the subject, the latest issue of Miniature Wargames arrived toady and it includes a nice review of "Arriba Espana" (well it is by Arthur Harman so it was unlikely to be a bad review). The whole Recce section is once again very good and remains one of the reasons I continue to subscribe, though this issue also seems to be more heavily weighted to historical wargaming than usual, which is a good thing.
Mike Hall,
DeleteJudging by the other tools on display in George at ASDA, Hyper Rough is the in-house brand. I have also seen the same device on sale online under a different brand name, so it must be one that is made form different retailers.
I have not yet seen Arthur's review of ARRIBA ESPANA, so I might well buy a copy of that issue of MINIATURE WARGAMES. I have looked through recent copies online, and there didn't seem much to interest me, but this one sounds as if it might.
All the best,
Bob
As to MINIATURE WARGAMES, I’ve just had another look through the January 2002 issues and realised that there is really only one fantasy related article (on painting Oathmark figures). There are some generic ones, scratch building a model chapel, an interesting article by Conrad Kinch on refereeing and umpiring games and a couple on shows: Salute and SELWG, though the latter two look “historical” due to the preponderance of historical games in the photos. We get game related articles on the RCW, the 7YW, Normandy 1944 and the Punic Wars which together cover a lot of areas of historical interest. The 7YW game is not really my cup of tea as it’s more like one of those railway models that only come out for shows and are never played with at home. However, the pictures and modelling are gorgeous.
DeleteEven the reviews (Rule Books, Figures and the books in the Recce section) are all historical. The Recce section is particularly good this month, save for the fact that I already own the three titles that I would have bought on the basis of the reviews. I can strongly recommend Tullahoma to any ACW aficionados, especially as the campaign is normally passed over in a few lines in the general ACW histories (not enough people died).
Bob, I sent you a copy of my review on 6th July, so you have seen it - albeit not on the pages of MW. If the contents of MW didn't appeal to you, don't bother buying it because of the review!
DeleteBest wishes, Arthur
Mike Hall,
DeleteAs I was near a branch of WHSmith earlier today, and on your recommendation, I bought a copy of MINIATURE WARGAMES. I have yet to read it, but a quick flip through indicates that it has far more historical articles than other recent issues.
All the best,
Bob
Arthur1815 (Arthur),
DeleteOn Mike Hall’s recommendation, I bought a copy of the January issue of MINIATURE WARGAMES and it will mean that I have a published copy of your review to add to my collection of magazine clippings.
All the best,
Bob
This reminds me that every now and then I wonder about the practicalities of using a parallax rangefinder in games that require an estimate of range - especially naval games on a large surface.
ReplyDeleteYou probably couldn't use it to find the actual ship-to-ship range, but perhaps from a designated stand point to the target vessel, overs and unders taken along the line of the firer and target. Just a thought. I've never actually made a parallax range-finder but I don't imagine one would be all that difficult.
Cheers,
Ion
Archduke Piccolo (Ion),
DeleteI understand that David Manley - the doyen of naval wargamers and a professor of naval architecture - did build a rangefinder for such games, but that it turned out to be a metre long ... which sounds a bit too cumbersome, even for a game played in a very large room.
One interesting phenomena that I have noticed is that people seem better at estimating longer distances in Fletcher Pratt games than they are shorter ranges. I suspect that it is to do with the speed and distance the models are moving, relative to each other. In the recent battle HMS Barham hit a German ship with her first salvo, which was fired at maximum range, but as soon as the ships moved at the beginning of the next turn, they completely 'lost' the range and it took them some time to get their gunfire landing close to a target again.
All the best,
Bob