Keeping track

Not much happening on the gaming front, since my commission work segued seamlessly into preparations for Archon 37 this weekend. I did get the chance to go to a local railway modeling show last Saturday where I picked up a useful pack of second-hand N-scale track to go with my 10mm VBCW. 

The track at top along with two print-off paper buildings.

The lower sections of track are destined for use in my Colonial gaming. I made them from a length of HO-scale track by cutting a short section out of the middle of the sleepers/ties, gluing the two pieces back together onto thick card stock before adding ballast and track-side terrain. I then made a silicon mold from it so I have a composite of track and terrain immediately adjacent. The pieces are cast from resin. In 25/28mm they are close enough to the 1 meter narrow gauge railway popular in some British and European colonies during that era. Rolling stock will follow, once I figure out a few details.    

Postponement

An unexpected commission means I'll be unable to spare time to game this week, and possibly next. In the meantime here's a photo of the Darkest Africa casualty figures I recently cast from resin. They're glossy with the first coat of varnish at this stage, but the final coat of matt varnish will kill the shine.

 L-R, two askaris, two natives, British army.

Casualties of war

My new casualty figures mold is working - sort of. 

From left to right: Two natives, British, two askaris.

The first batch came out okay - they're the white chaps at the bottom of the photo. Those on top are the next. That strange gelatinous pale yellow is down to a moment's inattention while mixing the resin. It came out with the consistency of toffee. Ho hum. It'll paint up fine once it sets.

With luck and a following wind I'll be able to play the next Darkest Africa game tomorrow or Monday. Watch this space...   
 

A little bit of sculpting

My planned Darkest Africa game is set for sometime in the next few days. Since I've been dissatisfied with the limited poses on my casualty figures I made a few more using Sculpey. I'm certainly not the greatest figure sculptor in the world, but these figures are meant to be more representational than specific.

I added a new British and native figure apiece and two askaris. They'll serve as Belgian Force Publique, but will be used for other askari types. I might add another couple of native poses for the sake of variety. The heads and arms are left over from a Wargames Factory Zulu pack and will be added once the Sculpey has baked.  

Five years on the lead pile...

...but finally painted. Here's a group of armed natives, freshly painted and based, ready for the next foray into Darkest Africa sometime this week. I have an idea for a slightly different take on the usual game pattern for this. I'll see how it pans out. 

The pale cove at the back is a Ral Partha (I think) ghost figurine, bought over thirty years ago and only just painted and based. This poor old thing really has been kicking about the lead pile. I found it when we moved, kind of took pity on it and finished it, and it'll go into the cast of characters for a dungeon bash one of these days.

In other news, I hope to get a solo game of AVBCW sometime soon too, using the Went the Day Well rules set from Solway Crafts and Miniatures. It'll be the first outing for my British Civil War collection, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it plays out. 


 

RIP Donald Featherstone

The hobby was left the poorer yesterday at the passing of Donald Featherstone, 1918 - 2013. 

Donald Feathestone and the late Peter Gilder

I remember as a boy haunting the local library in search of his titles on the shelves. His rules were simple enough for me to grasp, yet gave great games with all the flavour of the periods they represented. In later years I bought a number of his books for my own collection, and they sit, much treasured, on my shelves today. His narrative approach to Colonial games is one I admire and try to emulate in my own gaming. A veteran of the Western Desert campaigns in WW2, he lived to see the golden age our hobby now enjoys. RIP, Don, and thank you. 

Martini-Henry Grenade launcher?

I've had a busy couple of days painting the kitchen, getting rid of the horrible 'neutral' beige color left by the house flippers. It was the same color as dishwater and just about as cheery. I know why realtors insist on such tricks to sell a house, but I don't care for 'em. In between times I'm getting ready for the Archon art show the beginning of next month, so gaming has to take a back seat for a while.

Anyways...

My friend Paul Daly alerted me to an interesting gadget which surfaced in the hoary atmosphere of World War One. It's a grenade launcher based on the venerable Martini-Henry rifle. Designated the Blanch-Chevallier Grenade Discharger, it trialed with the British army around 1916, although it didn't see action. Here's a photo of the beast...

...and find the full article here.

I can certainly picture it in use by the army in a VSF setting. One of these issued to each section would give an attacker pause for thought.

Some Darkest Africa figures

Armed natives are always useful chaps to have on the board, and I was lucky enough to uncover a batch of Foundry Miniatures bought five years ago. High time they were taken off the lead pile and fixed to my painting block. I should have them done in time for a game sometime in the next two weeks, work permitting.

I have eight of these fellows to paint, along with a nice Foundry Intrepid Explorer chappie who somehow wound up in the same batch. That's him on the right, with bristling mustache and rifle. To the rear of the block are two fantasy figures from Reaper Miniatures, who produce very nice sculpts. 

On the far left is a pack of 100 washers bought at the local Restore (Habitat for Humanity) charity outlet for a few bucks. They have all kinds of nice (and cheap) stuff and their stores are well worth a visit. I now have enough washers to provide figure bases for some time to come. 

Below the block are a few posters for AVBCW, run off my color printer now it's decided to work. I'm in the process of constructing paper/card buildings to populate the tabletop for a game, something else I hope to do soon, and the posters will be glued to them for a splash of color.
 
 

Norfolk Special Constabulary

I had a pack of ten Pendraken SCW Republican Guardia de Asaltos kicking around since my previous order and couldn't figure out what to do with them. I'd had a vague idea of making them a kind of BUF unit with a "black and tan" theme to them, but for various reasons discarded it. 

Looking at the figures anew recently I thought they looked more like rifle-armed police with the now-standard modern peaked cap, so that's the way I went. I painted them in the traditional British Bobby's dark blue with a hodge-podge of army webbing garnered from military supplies, as part of the Norfolk Special Constabulary.  

The Special Constabulary are uniformed part-time volunteers who assist the full time police in their duties. The war has led to their being armed, the better to pursue their duties in the current climate. Since I'll get some of Pendraken's (relatively) new British coppers in helmets, the Specials will look the part alongside their full-time colleagues.

Inspector Herbert Lark leads his men on another desperate venture 

in the name of the law.

And so to the fluff.

British constabularies have long been apolitical, keeping away from party politics so they can better serve the public in an unbiased fashion. At least that's the way it's supposed to be...

In the Very British Civil War this apolitical stance comes under severe strain. The extreme-right wing government has its own paramilitary force of Blackshirts, and few constabularies can resist its interference in what are strictly law enforcement matters. Numbers of police officers across the country have resigned in protest at being required to arrest citizens for purely political reasons. The same applies to areas controlled by factions opposing the government.

Fortunately, a solution arose in the form of the  Treaty of Basingstoke, an agreement formed by most of the factions which gives non combatant status to the police, fire brigade, St. John's Ambulance and the car clubs such as the RAC and AA. The treaty effectively outmaneuvered Mosley's government and allows the police to protect civilians as much as possible from the fighting.

The Wave of the Future?

My wife brought an article on the Quartz site to my attention. It's on a subject which I feel will have a major impact on our hobby.

"Here’s what’s holding back 3D printing, the technology that’s supposed to revolutionize manufacturing and countless other industries: patents. In February 2014, key patents that currently prevent competition in the market for the most advanced and functional 3D printers will expire, says Duann Scott, design evangelist at 3D printing company Shapeways."

Read the whole article here. 


In effect this means the costs of producing 3D printing devices and the raw materials used in the process will drop dramatically from next year. It's already happened in one aspect of 3D printing. When the patents on Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) expired, the cost of the basic machine dropped from $14,000 each to just $300.

I think the implications for our own hobby are staggering. An influx of cheap 3D printers from China (where else?) will lead to democratization of the whole model manufacturing industry. Up to now it takes weeks or even months for a figure to go from a concept to production model, and requires specialist skills. With 3D printing it'll take only hours, and, to borrow a phrase from the publishing industry, it'll be Print On Demand (POD). No need for a lot of storage space with shelves groaning under the weight of white metal. Figures could be printed ready-based to any specified rules set, complete with flocking effect. One chore removed with a few strokes of a laser!

Yes, the quality of 3D models isn't quite there in some respects, but technology advances at such a rate it won't be long before there'll be printed models comparable to the best sculpts. And let's face it, hard plastic figurines are already making inroads into the traditional metal figure market.

Will the current figure manufacturers buy into this? Could it mean cheaper figures on the market? Will the means of producing models spread to encompass the hobbyists themselves, perhaps with a club or group subscribing to buy a machine and the relevant design software? Interesting times lie ahead.