Tuesday, June 12, 2018

Some minor ACW terrain, some gaming..



Due to busy family life I set about putting some easier-to-complete-but-still vital projects onto the hobby desk.  Some bits of terrain to enhance the ACW games.

Field Works 

Back in the beginning of the year I received my order for 2 packs of field works from Battlefield Terrain Concepts. I think I got the HW2 and HW3 sets shown on the link there.  These hasty works can be used in a variety of ACW scenarios, the big famous ones being Little Round Top and the Cornfield at Antietam.  Actually, these piles of earth and logs were the last bit needed to have all the terrain complete for a Brigade Fire and Fury scenario I'm working on.  SO GO ME for completing them.

I'm a big fan of BTC products.  My fence kits and stone walls also come from BTC.

Primed and ready
Looks like something the dog made...

A Union Battery for scale (18mm)




These painted up pretty easy.  Earth brown, wood brown, some yellow, dry brush, DONE!


Plowed Field 

I also made another set of plowed fields for the ACW battlefields.  The idea being that these two pieces match up, and can be used as 2 smaller fields on different spots on the table or put together to make a larger one; whatever is needed by the scenario.

The process of doing this is outlined HERE.    The only new step I added was to lay out some fences on the corduroy fabric first so that I knew the length and width of the field would correspond with my fences.  Let's call that Wargaming Synergy.



Then the usual process of spray paint brown, add flock in rows and some paint.



That Union Battery again for scale (18mm), It sure gets around.  

close up!  Where are those Rebs?  


Oh, the slight curling at the edges is easily fixed with some duck tape along the bottom.

I dunno: sometimes I think these corduroy fields look pretty decent and other times I think these look like spray painted fabric with grass glued on it....


A Morning for just for Me(eples.)

My buddy Mr. G invited me over for a boardgame day, and the fates aligned as that weekend daughter #1 was at her grandparents, leaving us only with baby Son #2 and a lot less to do.  So I was able to head over in the morning from around 10 AM to 4 or 5 ish.  We were also joined by two other friendly gamers that I've met before so 4 of us total.  

Someone had gone ALL IN on some Kickstarter for game called "Rising Sun", so we played that first:




It's one of those 'Somewhat complicated and takes awhile to play' board games that I  DO like so much.  As everyone else had played once before I watched some videos on youtube on the set up and game play to prep myself while I was exercising at the gym (because I do that now like I used to then; all things old are new again, or so I want to feel that way).  The idea is that as you war over Japan, you get the most victory points.  

Still came in a distant last place; though in my defense I was operating on little sleep (Baby son #2 is still a baby after all and wakes up 2-3 times a night) and it turns out I'm a terrible strategist...
  
Nah, it's a fun game and I would like to play it again.    It just takes awhile to grasp the different synergies.  And the production values of the game are THROUGH the ROOF.  



Then we played a light weight game called "Adventures!  the Temple of something-or-another-I- forget."    Which is a game that provides about a  45 min Indiana Jones temple adventure (like in the first 10 mins of Raiders of the Lost Ark.  Complete with walls that slowly close together to smash you and a giant boulder booby trap.   The idea is to get out of the temple with the most loot.  If your character dies, you get one replacement.


Giant Boulder, and wall that slowly close together...


This game I won, simply by running straight through the temple and only stopping for the easiest loot, and that everyone else DIED.  Turns out I am a brilliant strategist after all....

Till next time.




Comments appreciated.

-Stewart.  : ) 

19 comments:

  1. Very nice. the field works are nice sculpts and the artillery wheel is a nice touch. I'm sure your mixed feelings on the fields is because you know how they are made and I am guessing that the more terrain there is on the table, the more they blend in. The flocking is a good disguise, did you use a static applicator? as the grass is perfectly upright.

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    1. I cannot take credit for the wheel, as it was part of the sculpt.
      Thanks Norm, I hope you are right and the fields will look good on a proper wargame table, sort of ‘in context.’ Oh, and if the static grass looks perfectly upright it’s either trick photography or blind luck. I just laid down a line of glue and then sprinkled large amounts over it, and then tapped off the excess. 😀

      Norm, your comments are appreciated. 😀

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  2. Useful and very nicely done terrain, nice job!

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  3. Useful field works and the field is fine, you've just looking at it too much and overthinking it! Im on a big terrain push, it's fun every now and then!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thanks Iain! Looking forward to seeing your terrain as well! It is fun to make.

      I appreciate your consistency in leaving comments 😀

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  4. Very nice paint job on the hasty fieldworks Stewart, I have some by TimeCast to paint after I finish with their rivers. The fields should look great when paced in context.

    Tony.

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    1. Thanks Tony. You are my ACW brotha. 😀
      Looking forward to seeing the rivers, something else I’ll need eventually.

      Thank you for following the blog and leaving comments. 😀

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  5. Your ACW games are going to look even more spectacular mate. And the fields look fine, stop being a nonce.

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    1. It was just one of those times when what I saw in my mind didn’t match up to the reality: kinda like whenever I look in the mirror. 😀

      Thanks Dai. Hope to see you soon, and of course, I appreciate your comments.

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    2. ^_^

      I hope to see you soon also my friend. Once I get back from the UK, I'll try harder to clear my weekends so we can sort something out.

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  6. Great looking terrain you've made and Rising Sun seems like an interesting looking game. 45mm Indiana Jones game sounds awesome!

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  7. Thanks Simon! It was a pretty good game. I’m lucky that my buddy buys everything so I don’t have to. 😀.
    And thanks for the comment.

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  8. Very nice work Stew and I think think the field you have are very good indeed. The field works have also come up an absolute treat.

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    1. Thanks Carlo. I think that the effort will pay off and I get a kick out doing terrain.

      Thanks for all your comments Carlo!

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  9. You can never have too much terrain. I will have to think about making some of these defences at some time, possibly home made in 28 mm as they will be quite expensive for the number I will need. Good thing is I can probabaly use them on the eastern front as well 🙂

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    1. Tis true, no such thing as too much terrain. I figure the more vaguely ACW type stuff I can place down the better it will look. 😀

      Thank you Matt for following and leaving comments, I appreciate it greatly. 😀

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  10. On a separate note the system stopped sending me notifications as well. I have fixed it though by going into your settings deleting the notification email address , saving the change then putting it back in....might be worth a try 🙂

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    1. U R D Best! I tried it and it worked!
      Super thank you! (More powerful than a regular thank you). 👏

      Delete