Last Wednesday I was asked if I could stage a Portable Ancients Wargame at the Dice on the Hill club on the following Wednesday (i.e. today). The request was from the member of staff who is usually on duty on Wednesday evenings and who is - it turns out - both a railway modeller and a wargamer. He has an extensive collection of mainly 28mm Napoleonics and Ancients and as he has read DEVELOPING THE PORTABLE WARGAME, he would like to tryout the Ancients rules from the book.
After I had agreed, I suddenly realised on Sunday that all my terrain was in storage in Dartford and that I would have to visit the storage unit to collect everything that I need. Unfortunately, the virus I have been suffering from made that rather difficult, and rather than disappoint my opponent, I had to come up with an alternative fairly quickly.
My first thought was to get hold of a felt cloth that I could make up with the necessary grid of 10cm x 10cm squares, but none of the suppliers I looked at could fulfill an order in less than a week. Instead, I ordered a pack of 30cm x 30cm 6mm-thick cork tiles from Amazon ...
... and they were delivered on Monday. I have now marked the corners of the grid squares with a small crosses drawn using a red Sharpey pen, and have enough cork tiles to set up a 9 x 9 grid of 10cm x 10cm squares ... and still have a spare cork tile!
I also needed some hills, and I made these by trimming some IKEA cork pot stands to shape.
I now have a set of portable terrain that I can take to the club this evening, and assuming that I am well enough to go, I hope to be able to take some photographs and share them on my blog later this week.
Necessity is the mother of invention. I hope you feel well enough to go to the game.
ReplyDeleteMark Cordone,
DeleteThe advantage of the cork tiles is that they don't need to be painted etc., as they look like arid soil. Each tile is also a 3 x 3 grid and so has lots of potential uses for FP3x3PW games!
I've been taking things easy all day to conserve my energy so that I will be fit enough to fight a wargame this evening.
All the best,
Bob
Simple and neat!
ReplyDeletePlease show us some photos of your game.
Railway modelling and wargaming?! -The best of two worlds!!
Roger,
DeleteCheers! I hope to take some photos this evening so that I can share them with my regular blog readers later this week.
You are right about railway modelling and wargaming be complimentary hobbies. I know lots of people who do both.
All the best,
Bob
The cork tiles are a nice idea Bob. I hope you feel well enough to go and demonstrate the Ancients PW.
ReplyDeleteMaudlin Jack Tar,
DeleteThe cork tiles are light enough to be easy to transport and are - of course - environmentally friendly!
I've been conserving my energy today so that I am fit enough to wargame this evening, especially as I hope that it will help to revitalise my somewhat flagging morale!
All the best,
Bob
Hi Bob
ReplyDeleteSimple ideas are often the best.
Hope that you feel well enough to enjoy the game, you deserve it after all that trouble.
How unusual to have a model railway enthuasist also interested in wargaming. I remember back in the late 60s and early 70s when wargamers gazed with envy at the beautiful model railway set ups. But everyone seemed to accept that it was much too much trouble for just one game.
Given that his wargame interests are Napoleonic and Ancient I assume that he has a separate wargame table or set up?
regards
Paul
Paul Leniston (Paul),
DeleteThe cork tiles proved to be better than I expected and |I will certainly be using them again. As to the game ... well, I'll be writing a blog post about it that I will upload tomorrow ... I hope!
I belong to an online wargames club, and about a third of the members take part in both hobbies ... and use the modelling techniques from railway modelling to enhance their wargame terrain.
My opponent has extensive Napoleonic, Dark Ages, and Ancient collections, but until last night the latter had never been used to fight a wargame. From what I can gather, he has to do a lot of solo wargaming because of a lack of opponents ... until now.
All the best,
Bob
BOB,
ReplyDeleteIt is a good idea that you decided to use Cork for your terrain. Hope you are well enough to have your game at the Dice Of The Hill club. Cheers. KEV.
Kev Robertson (Kev),
DeleteI carefully conserved my energy on Wednesday so that I could actually fight the wargame ... and the terrain was both simple and practical.
All the best,
Bob
So it went well Bob? I still remember the kindness of those at the Wargames Association of Reading to me as a teenager in the 70's. So wonderful that you have found this club near you!
ReplyDeleteSteve
Steve,
DeleteIt went very well indeed, and I will be uploading a blog post about the game as soon as I can.
Making potential new members welcome is something that clubs should really prioritise if they want to be successful. The Dice on the Hill gaming group does that. Potential new members don’t pay an attendance fee for their first meeting and they also get introduced to the various games that are taking place on that evening. Long-term members also get rewards (e.g. specially-made wooden dice boxes) once they have attended 100 meetings.
All the best,
Bob