Yesterday I quickly made up a weather barometer as described in "With Pike and Musket" and "Practical Wargaming" both by C.F Wesencraft. I plan to introduce the effects of weather into the English Civil War games I am currently playing. A piece of wood was drilled so a matchstick can be held to show the current weather situation. A lick of paint was applied to show from the top: fog, light rain, fine, light rain, heavy rain, and stormy.
At the start or a game two D6 are rolled to decide the starting weather. Then each turn one D6 is rolled to decide if the weather stay as is or moves up of down. A change in weather may impact both movement and combat.
 |
| The wargaming weather barometer, starting at the top with fog, light rain, fair, light rain again, heavy rain, and finally stormy weather. |
I have in the past created a few fields for the tabletop, but I will need a few more so the ECW dragoons have some more areas which provide cover. I use a combination of material for creating fields, either a sandy yellow felt or a brown corduroy. This time I went with corduroy for the ploughed field look.
 |
| Corduroy material cut to shape. |
 |
| The material is lightly brushed with a light sand colour. |
 |
| Green dots are added to represent a crop (possibly cabbages) and also green is brushed on around the edges of the field. |
 |
| I don't place hedges all around the field as this becomes awkward when fitting units into the space. If a unit is positioned on the field I consider it in cover. In the example above the dragoons would be considered to be using the fields for cover. |
Love the barometer idea, hugely functional, but with that old school charm.
ReplyDeleteA fun piece to make and easy to use and apply to rules.
DeleteI really like the look of your weather gauge, excellent.
ReplyDeleteThanks, I could not resist adding a few lines to the sections to indicate the weather.
DeleteI reckon the barometer is a must for games set in England, we certainly have a lot of weather!. The cabbage patch is spot on too as I for one eat plenty of cabbage (there's that smell again!).
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see how the weather barometer and rules work out with the games.
DeleteI’m a sucker for old wargaming books, even if I don’t use the rules. This one looks worth having… I notice you’ve ‘brigaded’ your ECW units too. Looks great!
ReplyDeleteFor crops, peas were very common at this time because they could be stored over winter. How you make 25mm peas is up to you. 😁
I too enjoy reading those classic books, especially how they provide the reasoning behind their rules. Good spotting the "brigaded" units, I am attempting to reduce the number of units in my games back to 6-8 units as I find I get better games.
DeleteI always come here for good ideas. You never dissapoint!
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteI made that very weather gauge from the book, and still have it somewhere. The corduroy fields look good.
ReplyDeleteThe corduroy fields have already been put to use.
DeleteExcellent work on the Weather Barometer. Your creativity is always inspiring.
ReplyDeleteThank you, I could not resist adding to the weather bands.
DeleteGood job on both the barometer and the fields!
ReplyDeleteThanks, both were nice quick and easy weekend projects.
DeleteA more modern version of the weather gauge (up and down) for wargames is the "Hex Flower Mechanism", see e.g. https://goblinshenchman.wordpress.com/2019/06/03/hex-power-flower-weather/
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for the link, lots of different options there, and an generally interesting site as well.
DeleteI’m tempted by the weather gauge but rules for weather will have to wait until the fair weather version is play-tested and running well.
ReplyDeleteA bit of glue can help with the fair weather need ;-)
DeleteI like the way you think! ;o)
ReplyDeleteMarvellous stuff Peter. Excellent, simple home-made terrain is just the thing, I reckon. That last photo shows just how good it can look too.
ReplyDeleteRegards, James
Thanks James. There is always something pleasing about making your own terrain. I suspect it goes back to my younger days when not spending money on terrain meant more money for models. Regards, Peter
Delete