Gaul Warband, Robots, and Sci-Fi Terrain

Most of my available wargaming time this past week was spent getting some painting done and scratch-building simple Sci-Fi terrain. I had prepared and undercoated a 48-figure 20mm plastic Gaul Warband at the start of the week, but in an effort to delay tackling them I decided to first painted a couple of Spider Robots for my Star Wars Legion forces. One was the official kit, which came with some spare legs and guns. This gave me the opportunity to build a second robot using a scratch-built body assembled from whatever suitable parts I could find in the spares box (mostly unused bits from old Warhammer 40K kits).

The completed Spider Robots. The closest one uses the spare legs with a scratch-built body.

The Spider Robots from the front. Official kit on the left.

With the Spider Robots finished, there was no avoiding the Gauls. Once I got started painting them, I quickly found my rhythm and completed the unit over a couple of days. My approach to painting Ancient armies is deliberately simple. Basic block colours over a mid-brown base coat, which helps hide any missed areas. A final coat of PVA glue gives the figures a durable and glossy finish which I like.

The complete Gaul Warband made of 4 bases.

A view from the front. The figures are mainly 20mm HAT miniatures with a few Italeri Gauls added in.

Finally, while tidying up the storage in my wargames room, I came across some plumbing items picked up at the hardware store that I must have bought with scenery in mind. These were quickly mounted onto some MDF offcuts left over from last week's container construction to create a set of vents for my Star Wars terrain. I will use them either as scatter terrain, or added to the roofs of block buildings to make them look like a factory (and a suitable scenario objective to be destroyed). 

The vents used as scatter terrain.

The vents on a factory building roof. They add a bit of colour to the buildings.

Making custom containers for Ancient miniatures

In my previous post, I mentioned that I was planning on expanding my Carthaginian Gauls so that I could field a full Gaul army, and that once painted and based I would need to find some additional storage space. My current storage system for my Carthaginian and Roman armies consists of nine stackable containers, each one is capable of holding up to nine bases. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find any more containers of the same type, and even if I could, a stack of four does not fit in the available shelving space.

After a bit of thought, I decided to have a go at making some custom containers using MDF sheets and my  schoolboy-level woodworking skills.

The current storage situation for my Ancient armies.

Each container holds 9 bases. The bases are 3x4 inches.

The plan was to build eight custom containers, each measuring 3 inches high, 16 inches wide, and 15 inches deep. The shelf space dictated the width and depth, while the height was determined by the 20mm miniatures (the elephants being the tallest). Each container would hold 18 bases, all my bases measure 4 x 3 inches. 

The finished containers.

The new containers hold 18 bases.

After thinking through a few ideas, I decided on the design shown below. This allows the containers to stack securely without sliding and toppling while still be easy to slid in and out.

A drawing of the design. Forgive the combination of imperial measurements and metric. With all my bases being in inches (the traditional wargaming measurement) it was easier to use inches for the construction while the purchased MDF sheets come in metric.

All the MDF pieces cut out for one container. The darker pieces are the side 12mm MDF.

The 12mm MDF is used for the sides.

3mm MDF is used for the front and back.

The thin 1 inch strips of MDF are glued to the bottom so the containers do not slide and topple in on each other.

A close up of how the containers are stacked.

A few quick notes on construction. The 3mm MDF sheets were attached to the 12mm MDF sides using PVA glue and 25mm (1”) panel pins. Five pins were used along each side to secure the base, and one pin per side was used when fixing the front and back 3mm MDF pieces. I did not glue or pin the front and back panels to the base. This simplifies construction and the containers are sufficiently strong without being fixed to the base. The thin MDF strips used to prevent the containers from sliding when stacked were simply glued to the base. 

One word of warning, avoid hammering panel pins too close to the ends of the 12mm MDF, as it will likely split.

PVA glue and 1 panel pins is used on each side to attach the front and back.

PVA glue and 5 panel pins secured the base to the sides.

25mm or 1 inch panel pins were used.

The base with the strips attached near the sides.

The end result is that I can now store 144 bases of ancients in the same shelving space that used to hold 81 bases. With each container holding 18 bases, eight containers will provide more than enough room for the planned expansion of the Gaul army. Best of all, this was a cheap solution which I completed over 2 days.

My next project and adding to a past project

I currently have a few Gaul units as part of my Carthaginian army, and I have decided that my next project will be to add to them so that I can field a full Gaul army. I am continuing with the four-base unit style (48 miniatures per unit) as I like how they look on the tabletop. So ordered some more HaT Gauls, which arrived a couple of weeks ago. I also have Gaul cavalry due in this week. The infantry figures have all been washed, and I will soon be giving them their first coat of PVA glue as part of the priming process before painting.

I am continuing to use 4 bases for my heavy infantry and cavalry in my Punic War armies. Skirmishers are 2 bases.

Some of the recent arrivals.

Before finishing the Gauls, I will have to make some MDF storage trays so I can store them properly. I currently use plastic office containers, but there is not enough free space in them and they do not make the best use of the shelf space. 

Current storage approach for my Punic War armies.

With the custom made containers I am planning to make this weekend, I am hoping to get more figures stored in the same area. My collection is beginning to outgrow the room, and I am reluctant to store any of the models elsewhere. They will just end up getting forgotten!

First off the painting table this week, though, were some Star Wars Legion models. An early Christmas present from my son, who is away over the Christmas holidays. They join my steadily growing Star Wars collection. I thought this project was done, but it will soon grow even further. Yesterday I purchased another core set, which will double my Stormtroopers and add a couple much needed speeder bikes, while the Rebels gain another AT-ST walker and more troops.

Not a great photograph of the recently complete Imperial Dark Troopers for my Star Wars Legion collection.

On the tabletop at the moment is a WWII scenario I am trying out. If it works out, I will hopefully post about it.

B&W view of a WW2 game.

Roman Fort Scratch Built

After a few Napoleonic naval games earlier in the week testing out some rules, the Punic Wars armies returned to the tabletop. The scenario I was planning required a Roman marching camp. Rather than build a new one from scratch, I decided to try and repurpose the walls from a French and Indian War fort I had made back in 2017 (see link). To give the fort more of a Roman feel, I decided to add some simple tents and watchtowers. As with most of my terrain, I like to keep things straightforward, MDF and blocks of wood, as everything ends up thrown into storage tubs after games and therefore needs to be sturdy.

The Roman fort in use on the tabletop.

The rest of this post is a quick step by step for the making of the tents and watchtowers.

1. Cutting the shapes

The basic wooden shapes were cut out first. A mitre saw makes this much easier and keeps angles clean.

The wooden shapes are cut out. 

2. Priming

Both the tower blocks and tents received a coat of gesso to seal and prime the surfaces, which can be quite rough even after sanding.

Watchtowers and tents get a primed with Gesso.

3. Base colours

The base colours were added next. Bone colour for the tents and light-brown of the towers.

The base colour is painted on. The wooden towers look a lot darker in the photo than that actually are.

4. Tent details

A few loose lines were painted on the tents to suggest folds and stretch lines. I am not aiming for accurate details, just enough detail to give the impression of material.

Some of the folds and stretch lines are painted on the tents.

5. Softening the highlights

Using the original tent colour lightened with white and watered down, I brushed over the tents to soften the lines and add some colour variation.

The base colour is lightened and watered down, then roughly applied to the tents.

6. Painting the towers

The wall section came from the original French and Indian War fort, so I had used it to match colours. The openings were painted with a slightly watered-down black, helping to give a slight variation of colour, rather than a flat, solid colour.

 The openings are painted with a watered down black so it is not a flat black and has some variations.

7. Timber effect on towers

Using a mid-brown, I brushed on stripes to represent the wooden timbers, not being particularly precise. A darker brown was then added in places to break up the pattern and add variation. Finally, a watered-down light brown (which used as the base colour) was used to tidy up areas where the stripes overlapped too heavily. I also added a thin line around the black openings for definition.

Mid-brown paint strips a roughly painted to represent timber.

Adding a few strips of dark-brown strips over the existing strips. In the photograph this is not that obvious, but the tower on the right has had the darker brown applied.

Using the base light-brown paint again, a few more stripes are added to tidy up areas where the previously painted strips have overlapped too much.

8. Upper tower structure

The upper superstructure of the towers was painted in dark-brown, then a light-brown was brushed onto the tops of crossbeams to give a sense of thickness and highlighting.

The upper tower superstructure is painted using the dark-brown colour.

Light-brown is painted on the top of the cross beams to indicate some depth.

9. Finishing off the openings

A watered down mid-brown wash was applied over some of the black areas to break up the uniform colour.

The watered down mid-brown painted on parts of the black break up its solid appearance.

10. Sealing

Once all the paint had dried, everything received a final coat of PVA glue to seal and protect it.

Once all the paint is dry, a final coat of PVA glue is used to seal it all and give it a glossy look that I like.

All up, the tents and towers took just under two hours of actual work (not including drying time) to make. Everything was finished in a single day and was ready for use on the tabletop that evening. While simple, they meet the wargaming tabletop three-foot rule, giving a clear of tents and towers, providing you do not look too closely. Also, I will be able to mix and match for other periods and I do not have to worry about them getting damaged when they are thrown into storage tubs with the rest of my terrain.

Another setup of the fort.

Remote Napoleonic Naval Wargame

Since returning from holiday a coupe of days ago, my wargaming has been limited to a remote Napoleonic Naval game session with Jon from the Palouse Wargaming Journal blog which I hosted. We were testing a set of home-brew rules that uses a hex grid and playing cards (see here). The system plays quickly and we were able to play three games in about ninety minutes.

The first game involved two patrolling ships crossing paths, a straightforward engagement to familiarise ourselves with the rules. 

A photo of the first game as the patrolling ships exchange broadsides.

The second game was a three-to-one situation, with a lone ship attempting to breakthrough a blockade. This game proved to be rather one-sided, with the blockade runner quickly being contained and forced to strike its colours.

The blockade runner is contained and forced to strike its colours. All the ships are made from MDF and card, and any detail painted on.

The final game saw Jon and I each commanding a squadron of three ships, both seeking battle. This game proved to be quite a tussle with Jon eventually delivering a British victory.

The British squadron in line opens fire.

First blood to the British, but the French are about to even things up.

The British squadron maintains their formation and prepare to reengage.

The British gunnery eventually wins. 

Well done to Jon who was the overall winner with two out of three victories. Afterward, we chatted about the rules, particularly the “in irons” mechanic, which had previously required drawing a red suit to be able to turn, and also the wind-direction rule, where spades or clubs would alter the wind one point counter-clockwise or clockwise respectively. This made the wind far too changeable. 

This has resulted in the revision of both rules:

• Ships “in irons” can now always turn.
• Wind direction: If a spade is drawn, the wind shifts one point. Then draw a second card to determine direction:
• Spades or Clubs: wind shifts one point clockwise
• Hearts or Diamonds: wind shifts one point counter-clockwise

The next day, Jon emailed some suggestions for changes to the initiative that would better reflect the advantage of a player securing the "weather gauge" and positioning their fleet upwind of the enemy. I have not incorporated this change into the rules yet, but I intend to test the initiative mechanism in the coming days. 

The proposed rule change would have a card drawn to determine initiative. If the card's suit matches a player’s chosen colour (red or black), that player becomes Player A, and the other Player B. Movement then proceeds in this order:

1. Player A moves any ships “in irons”
2. Player B moves any ships “in irons”
3. Player A moves any “close-hauled” ships
4. Player B moves any “close-hauled” ships
5. Player A moves ships “running with the wind”
6. Player B moves ships “running with the wind”

Note - with simultaneous shooting the advantage generally favours the player moving second (Player B).

All ships must make one action in their movement phase unless they are “in irons”, where they can choose to remain stationary.

More information on the making of the ships can be found here.