Electricity/Telephone poles

I'm sitting in a rather happy position in that I now only need to sort out a small stream for Map 5 of the 29 Let's Go campaign, and other than that I think I've got everything I need for the remainder of the games. I'm strongly tempted to get some small streams from Fat Franks and close that bit off.

Anyway this has meant that I've finally managed to spend some time on bits of scatter I have had lying around in various stages of completion. I mean I've also started some new scatter but I'll get to that.

First up are electricity poles. I had a few "prototypes" from various bits and piece I had lying around but settled on what I feel is the best option and rather economic to boot. I used some old plastic sprues to create them, it seems the airfix aircraft come in a rather handy round sprue which can be combined either with itself or with rectangular bits of sprue. My favourite for this job are Gripping Beast sprues, partly as they were to hand but also as they had great additional points on them that can act as the insulators on the cross beams. Undoubtedly my terminology is wrong but hopefully you get the idea.

You can see the them rather clearly on the examples above (the three on the left) I now realise that the one on the right is glued on in the wrong way, The box on that one is supposed to be a transformer or some such thing. Not sure if they did it the same way back in 1940s but it adds a bit of variety to it all so I'm overlooking historical accuracy on this!

It is all very simple, especially with plastic cement type glue. Clean up sprue, glue on cross piece (in correct orientation of course), drill hole in mdf base, glue sprue into mdf base. Then the usual, sand glued onto mdf, basecoat, paint, flock.

These were the initial prototypes for the sprue version. I've painted the insulators white as I seem to recall white ceramic ones being used, again not sure on the historical accuracy but it gives me some more scatter to fill up my table.

A poor excuse for an AAR

So I got my first game of 2019 in at the weekend. This was the next installment of the 29 Let's Go Campaign and we had finally moved on to the second table: A delaying action at Arthenay.

From German table edge.

From American table edge.

Well the action started and I go so absorbed I didn't take photos or notes. Oh Dear. So what follows is a rough approximation of what occurred, true in spirit if not exactly accurate.

The Americans, commanded by Mike,  started with a dismally low morale roll starting on an 8 whilst the Germans managed an rather outstanding 10. The patrol phase played out with the Americans securing jump off points back at the hedges one on the right flank (for the US) and the other two on the left. Not surprising as that is where more cover is. The Germans had to place one in the "grey box" to the rear so on went into the house just north of the road (US Right Flank) behind the small orchard. One went into the large house across the road and the final went on the US right flank back behind the hedges near the edge of the table. I suspected that Mike would be bringing in a FOO and I didn't want to have all JOPs cluster in an 18in square ready for him to lock down with a barrage and then stroll in.

Given the FOO threat I decided to take the IG 18 option, I swithered between this and a sniper as a FOO counter, last game I had taken a FOO and it starts to feel gamey always going for that option. I figured the 6 HE dice the infantry gun would throw out would be a decent counter for the FOO, especially if I could get him isolated. In addition I took an MMG to bulk up the firepower along with an adjutant to help with the lack of command.

Apart from the suspected FOO I also knew that Mike had to take a Sherman, given the last outing I suspected it would just be the one so was content relying on the hard hitting panzershrek in the platoon on dealing with it. This was not to be the case.

The Americans started with the Sherman coming on via the road with the commander setting them on overwatch and a squad deploying on the right flank out into the ploughed field, adopting a tactical stance. The germans didn't respond.

The Americans then brought on the FOO and a 60mm mortar, the FOO in the corner of the hedges south of the road and the mortar set up in the orchard and went on overwatch. The FOO called up the battery to start the predictable process.

At this point I thought it was best to act before the barrage could get going - or at least start to act to try give myself the best chance of killing the FOO, He was deployed alone and no squad or team nearby to help him out. I deployed the IG 18 and fired at the pesky FOO. A delightful 4 die hit, and Mike obligingly converted three into kills. Checking on the FOO hits table and rolling again resulted in three kill hits (1s and 2s). By any measure that FOO was gone. I was gleefully rubbing my hands together at this point thinking I'd get his FM tumbling already and I could be in with a shot of winning this, especially with his low starting morale and Mike's predisposition to rolling exactly what he didn't need.

Sadly his men shrugged it off with no effect, apparently no one liked Hank anyway.

The hate came back from the Sherman and the 60mm mortar - accumulating shock on the IG and a kill.

The Americans then brought on another squad in front of the 60mm mortar and lining the hedge, and tried to move the squad in the ploughed field although they didn't get far. Mike was rolling a lot of 5s in his command dice which was limiting his ability to activate units but was thundering up the command dice, turn three and already sitting on 5 points.

Now I had deployed a unit, possibly too early, I felt I needed more on the board to split his attention and stop the IG getting killed/routed too soon. I brought on a squad in the central building and threw out some fire at the Americans. I also removed two shock on the IG.

The Sherman fired into the building causing shock and used the MG to put covering fire onto the house. The squad near the mortar jumped the hedge then threw some smoke to cover their move.

I brought on a panzershrek and attempted to nuke the sherman however despite hitting and getting four strike dice I only manage a single net hit due to some good rolls by Mike. The sherman took one point of shock and the driver couldn't be activated in the next phase. I then tried again with the IG, again I managed to hit it but with only four strike dice the Sherman shrugged off the single hit I managed to roll.

Then things became sticky. The panzershrek got focused on by a US sniper who killed one, then the sherman had a crack and killed the other. I converted that into a one point drop in morale. The IG was also getting a lot of attention, the JL taking a wound and dropping to one command initiative.

I pulled on my SL and the remnants of squad (from campaign casualties so far) which was just the LMG team to help out the IG 18. I was chipping away at the squads but the covering fire, tactical stance and poor rolls meant very little was happening. The IG and LMG team were occupying much of the US fire and largely getting shock and removing it, with I think one or two kills.

The US managed to push the squad in the south on their left flank up to the second line of hedges and prepared to push across. I deployed the MMG just outside the house behind a stone wall and proceed to hammer the squad. The leader took a hit and dropped to one command initiative and the FM dropped one point to 7.

The squad made it across the hedge with a decent move to spare and threw some smoke to impair the vision of the German squad and MMG in the house. This got them to a position to be able to use a CoC dice to move a JOP forward to just behind the last hedge they crossed.

This was starting to look ominous for the Germans. With a squad and a Sl still off table the Americans had a good punch still to throw. With the panzershrek gone I would be waiting for the Sherman to move closer before a panzerfaust would be within a range worth trying a shot.

The Americans pushed the squad forward on the left flank and pulled in SL and final squad just behind from the advanced JOP. The new squad threw smoke and the put down some covering fire. The move brought them just past the 90 arc for the MMG which forced me to move them into the house to get cover and reorient the LMG.

Lots more fives for Mike and any spare dice went to beating up the IG 18, which was eventually forced to break. I brought on my second full squad and final unit into the upstairs of the central house and spent a phase hammering into the overstretched squad with every possible unit. I managed to pin them but that was it. with most of the squad alive I would need another 9 points of shock or similar to get them to break.

The US used the fresh squad to start to flank round the house down the road, towards an unprotected JOP in the "grey box" zone. They also hammered the Lone LMG team on the US right flank  which was beaten down to one man with the JL and SL.

At this point I decided to withdraw. That group of two leaders and a LMG was too fragile and too much of a target to survive much longer. My strong point in the central house would have been able to do some serious damage to the US squads eventually although not without some losses themselves. I was 2 points higher in FM thanks to some injuries on his JLs and had 5 casualties from the platoon. With three more maps to play I think I've already taken too many losses to be hanging around much longer.

So another two men lost permanently and one missing the next game, ends up with 7 men missing the next game, so I'll probably need to consider some reinforcements.

Well played to Mike who is getting to grips with Chain of Command and trying to get his Yanks moving forward despite pitifully low movement rolls! We noted that if we played more frequently the game would flow a lot better with less requirement to refer to the rules.

Haberdash!!

Not sure exactly how I started this particular project, saw a post on the dreaded FB about wargaming mats and a mention of a "plush" fabric. Now I have a grass type mat which is 6x4 and serves me well, however I suspect once I start adding hills underneath it, it won't cover the full 6x4 neatly so I may need an option that is a bit larger to cope with this. It also gives me the opportunity to add more variety to the mat as the one I have is rather monotone.

Well having seen that the company were selling mats for well over £100 I though I'd have a week look at fabric options that may suit, and see if they would turn out cheaper. I don't do a whole lot of wargaming so saving the cash for terrain or miniatures tends to be the order of the day!

I browsed through three different fabric sites and handily enough they all offer samples, some entirely free. I selected a number of potential candidate fabrics from each site and then waited impatiently for them to arrive.

First into the letter box was from Rooftop Fabrics and they charge postage I believe for any samples, I think it was £1.93. I got two samples from them, olive plush and kiwi plush. They have a rather pleasant 3mm or so pile so straight off the bat seem to be the most likely candidates, but we shall see how they cope with some paint, to add the glorious variety I seek.

The next in were five samples from Yorkshire Fabric Shop and they were entirely free (up to six free samples). There are some interesting options here but none have much of a pile to them. Not the end of the world by any stretch as it will be more how they cope with paint that should matter. Some of these samples have lovely texture patterns already so with some colour variation they could prove rather spiffing indeed!

The final two samples were from My Fabrics and they had a £3 charge, I think that would cover more than the two samples I selected though.

Onto the paint test - I used two different greens, a yellow ochre and on some panels a burnt umber, just slapped on and moved around with a brush. This largely seems to have worked well, although for the two fabrics with a much longer pile it didn't get in to the base. Apparently using a comb helps, which I did dabble with, but clearly I need more practise!

First up are the two 3mm pile plush fabric from rooftop fabrics. Olive on the left and kiwi on the right although there is probably more difference due to the paint than the original colour.

And at an angle to try show the pile and texture a little.

Next four of the offerings from Yorkshire Fabrics, yes I know there was five originally but the fifth was flat and after paint just looked like painted cloth. Nothing special so I decided to cut it out of the test at this point.

Two on left are same pattern different colours; two on the right are same pattern (different colours)

And again at an angle, and annoying laid out differently. The top two are the ones from the left; the bottom two are the ones from the right.

Finally the two longer pile samples from My Fabrics.

Angled shot.

Right well what has this achieved then? I've managed to rule out most of them for a variety of reasons. The two plushes from rooftop fabrics are by far my favourite. They were easy to work with and took the paint well, which means I should be able to get a good variation and texture across a full 6x4 or slightly larger of course. At £15.50 for 1m it comes in 34.50 (including shipping) for a 2x1.5m section or 6ft 6in x 4ft 11in approximately. That's only slightly larger than my current 6x4 mat so it may become necessary to go a bit bigger just to make sure. The limit is on the width, it won't go above 1.5m as that is the factory standard for this fabric apparently.

I already mentioned I ruled out one of the Yorkshire Fabrics samples as it lacked texture or interest. The other four were based on two patterns, each of two colours. I preferred the effect of the right hand or bottom variation in the pictures above. The other pattern actually looks like it would make a good option for some fields, maybe in a smaller scale, but the patterning is beautiful and really gives a broken ground appearance in my view. Now of the preferred variant it runs in at £18.99 per metre and comes in a maximum width of 1.35m, so running in at close to £37.98 and not as wide as the option above. The "broken ground" variant is more expensive at £26.99 per metre with a width of 1.37m. If they were utterly stunning they would make it a harder choice but with the limited width and increase in cost they get ruled out.

Finally onto MyFabrics. The shorter pile (left side) comes in at £17.05 per metre while the longer pile (and more useful in my view) comes in at £8.95 per metre both at 1.5m width. Even basic arithmetic will let you know that the latter is by far the cheapest option and if I was looking for a faux fur option for a mat then this would be my choice. In fact I may well get some with the option of creating wheat fields, rough grass areas and thatch roofing. The negative I see is perhaps having to trim it down a little unless you want the whole mat looking the same length, which given the effects you can create wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

So what have I learned? Well samples are a nice option for working stuff out! I'm glad I spent the time and effort running this wee test as it has cleared up in my mind what I am looking to achieve and also how I may go about that. I think I will go with the olive plush but try get it in over 2m length (maybe just go for 3m for ease), perhaps looking to piece some of the extra into adding to the width. We shall see.

A bridge over (un)troubled water

The icy and frosty weather recently has reinforced one of the problems we face at our little cottage. When the girlfriend is putting her horses out in the field in the morning, usually at 6am before she heads off to work, the access to two of the fields is restricted by a stream and so she has to take them down a country road for about 100-150m depending on which field she takes them too.

In good weather and daylight this isn't much of an issue, more an inconvenience, however once it is icy and dark it does become rather dangerous, for her and the horses. As I am such a magnificent bloke and spent a good bit of time fetishizing bridges in the Royal Engineers I came up with a decidedly genius plan to bridge the stream at a suitable location thus allowing access to three different field gates all through one route. Huzzah!

The diagram above shows what the issue was, hopefully! The scale is off, but it gives the general idea of the problem. The road it self bends and goes down hill towards the stream before rising on the other side of it. The 1 and 2 in grey boxes are the current gate entry points to the fields. The brown 1,2 and 3 are where I plan on making the new entry points so that the horses can go out entirely within our own property. It should also mean they come in a lot easier too as they will probably just trot themselves up to the stables (if we leave the gate open) when it gets dark in the evening. I'll probably also set up a gate of some sort (electric wire likely) across the path at the stables to allow for this.

Anyway that is the problem and as mentioned my previous bimbling it means I get to build a bridge, something I must admit I really enjoy doing. The first step was to use some old concrete blocks scavenged from an broken wall to create two piers either side of the stream. The blocks are the type with two holes in them so once laid and offset I drove piles through to hold it all together and filled both piers with concrete.

The clear span is only 1600mm so not a huge gap, and it won't have heavy traffic so these piers will do the job. The bridge will be a timber one using seven 47x150mm beams at 2400mm. The bridge will be 1500mm wide (max).

The first job was to cut the timber to 2400 and profile the ends to allow for a sloped rise onto the bridge proper. These timbers were painted with a cuprinol timber treatment. They are already pressure-treated but as they will be over water and getting damp a lot I want to go a bit further on the protection. I used the offcuts from the main beams to make up some spacers that will keep the beams at the desired spacing while I sort the seating and decking.

So that is the wood beam structure in place with some uprights of 47x50mm which will become the railings. I've cut decking planks to size to fit the width of 1500mm although I'm keeping one back for any adjustments. This leaves me with a number of 1200mm length decking planks, which I may use near the uprights and then also cut about in half and have them butt-up to make 1500mm as required. I'll see how far I get with the full width ones first. The decking needs painted before getting screwed into position, and rather than start on that I decided to watch the rugby!

And now for something completely different

So there has been a number of posts following my hobby of wargaming, however there are other things that occupy my "free" time. About 18 months ago I (well the girlfriend and I) moved to a new house, and the rather important bit for us was that we managed to get a bit of land with it. Rather helpful as she has a horse, however it also means my inner tinkerer can build and make things with a good amount of room for manoeuvre! First up is to get a new coop and enclosure for my hens.

The original coop and enclosure, just after completion. There is much more greenery around now!

A little over a year ago I made a chicken coop out of free wood and some that I got for a very reasonable sum off a furniture maker on gumtree. Well a year on and I have realised that where I sited the coop and the area I enclosed for the hens protections is not ideal. The coop itself is alright but with the experience of the last year I can do better now, and make it a bit more hospitable, functional and easier to clean. That last bit really make a difference!

When it snows the enclosure gets carpeted and needs cleared before the hens will venture out.

I've worked out that there is a more suitable site, with more protection from the elements in particular the wind, but also the snow. When it snows up here the chooks have little inclination to leave the coop, understandable but not ideal when the food and water is all situated outside. I end up having to clear the area of snow and scatter some straw before they make their way out. Not ideal when I have to get to work of a morning! To counter this I've moved them into the stables over winter but ideally I'd like them to be able to stay in their home all year round. Hence the new project!

The view of what will be the new area, prior to the addition of my four-legged superstars!

 Step one was clearing a space - helpfully achieved by my two Tamworth pigs. This unearthed a lot of material that had been dumped from a previous outbuilding nearby. I spent a morning trawling through the area and picking out bits of string, plastic, glass and general rubbish that appeared. There are still a good amount of bricks and stone lying about but for now it will do. These stones and bricks will be used to help secure the new enclosure from any predators trying to dig their way in, and also in helping landscape the area a bit to make it all easily accessible to the hens.

My two tamworths start work on clearing the area.

There was a bit of a wall left from an old outbuilding, it seems to have been an old barn which was torn down before we got the place. This wall needs removed, and some of the blocks will be retained to create a foundation for the new chicken coop. The coop itself will be sited close to the existing stables, seen to the right in the pictures above, to start to provide a wind-sheltered area.

The view post-Tamworths.

 The piggies did a wonderful job, in fact they have unearthed a lot of stuff that was clearly dumped behind there by previous owners, remnants of the barn. The rubble sack is there to collect all the stuff I can find, I keep seeing more whenever I go past it.

In the picture above you can see where some horse bedding has been dumped. This is intentional to act as a compost pile which the chickens love to root through. The increased temperature seems to attract bugs, as well as the horse manure no doubt, this makes it an ideal way to occupy the chooks! It will also slowly fill in the natural dip in the land a little.

Well that is where I have got to so far. Next steps:

1) Keep scouring the area for any bits of rubbish that needs cleared (it's mainly small bits of glass that worry me, the rest is relatively benign)
2) Fix up the fence that borders the road (not really visible but essentially just in front of the big dead looking tree)
3) Put in some hedging by the fence line to act as a wind break and more cover.
4)Start building the actual coop!
5) Measure up enclosure and dig post holes and trenches between them
6) Deconstruct existing enclosure and coop to re-use the parts.

It goes on but those are the next bits that can sort of be worked on concurrently. A busy load of weekends up ahead!

Going to the chapel (2)

So from the last post on the church build I've made some more progress and indeed have reach the stage where I am calling it finished. I had some green tissue paper from a food hamper my brother got me for Christmas. I tore up little pieces of the paper and glued them on the dome, largely to see what it looked like, and I'm actually happy with the result. I was trying to find a finish that was a bit different to just tiles or rough plaster and I think this fits the bill nicely. I can always paint over it in the future if it looks too out of place. Thoughts welcome of course!

The roof is painted up now in shades of grey and flock added to the base. The flock is still wet in these pictures so may look a little strange but it has come up rather decent.

So the church for scenario 3 of the 29 Let's Go Campaign is complete! I'm finishing up on some fences and that should be the board complete for scenario three, although we have yet to have our first crack at scenario 2!

As far as the campaign goes I have a few more feet of road to make up and a small river for the final scenario. I've been trying to find good pictures of Rommel's Asparagus or the anti-air landing poles, but can't see any that really give a good idea of what they were like, other than a pole standing in a field. May just skip building them as they won't have a great impact in the scenario or a wide requirement in any other games/scenarios.

Leftovers - a small scratch build

Whilst making the roof tiles for La grande maison du pays I was not very good at judging quantities of plaster, so I made sure I had other moulds at the ready to accept any overspill. As a result I have a good quantity of random bits and piece of plaster casts. I figured they may as well be put to good use and knock up a small building that could be used in the 29 Let's Go campaign.

To that end I'm making a small stone out-building. On the scenario maps I've noticed a few small square buildings so will aim for something in that wheelhouse. It'll be generic and able to grace future layouts too!

First up, prepping the hardboard, a good coat of paint on both sides to combat the dreaded warp. Bits of plaster-cast are cobbled together and glued together with PVA. They are glued onto some thin cardboard to help hold them together, then once dry the walls assembled and glued onto the hardboard.

I've chipped out a section and glued in a bit of foam board (with paper removed) to act as a door.

The window was left open and some foam board shutters added to either side, and a lintel and a ledge above and below.

The roof gables are plaster cast stones glued to card as previously, and the two ends joined together with a lump of polystyrene. The roof tiles are made out of strips of card.

The base has PVA and sand applied, and once dry the whole lot is given a base-coat in black emulsion then painted up in shades of brown, the walls and roof in greys.

I've scribed a small sliver of foam with cobbles to act as a path and added in a small tree stump with scrap bits of wood coated in acrylic caulk. The bush is just coir / coconut fibre torn up and glued in a lump.

Some of the corners are showing gaps where my poor construction skills haven't kept the piece tight together. I've used a bit of string, striped down and glued into the gaps, to act as weeds or climbers.

And the finished piece with flock added. Nothing special but I've managed to use up some bits and pieces left lying around and add some more options to future layouts! It has been a bit slow to finish but that is more to me finding time to do it, rather than any difficulty with the build.