Battlegames  3

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Copy and advertising closing date for next edition: July 22nd 2011.

Many thanks to all of you who voted for the very first Terry Wise

Award, and let me put you out of your misery immediately by telling you that the first ever recipient of this honour is none other than Battlegames stalwart Mike Siggins. After a long career penning opinion pieces in Wargames Illustrated before he joined the ranks

here, I think it is most fitting that the award should go to a man to whose opinions many thousands of readers have turned first, whether they agreed with him or not. He has also gained a reputation as a bibliophile and a keen brushman, and it has been delightful to see some of his own work appearing in these very pages recently.

How sad, then, for me to have to report that this issue also sees the last of Mike’s ‘Forward Observer’ columns for the time being. The flipside of being the man whose ear is constantly to the ground, listening out for the hoofbeats of progress, is that what arrives can be a stampede of products and trends that can, quite simply, overwhelm a fellow and leave him feeling trampled on the battlefield of what should be a hobby. And so, the time has come for him to take a break, rest and recharge his batteries. What’s certain is that you cannot keep a good man down, and I predict that the much-loved Mr Siggins will be back in one form or another before long.

In the meantime, however, an Editor cannot sit still and, like a general replacing troops in the front line, reinforcements have been called up. Neil Shuck, who many of you will know from my adventures with him on the airwaves, introduces himself this issue with an overview of boardgaming, and next issue will sit himself in Mike’s very warm seat at Forward Observer. The best of luck to him as he dares to match Mike’s eagle eye for the hobby.

Now, those of you who have been keeping an eye on me will know that I spent an extended Royal Wedding weekend in Yorkshire not, in fact, paying homage to Their Highnesses, but instead in the marvellous company of a band of wargamers who, with a great deal of help, I managed to corral into a village hall in East Ayton for the climax of my imaginary 18th century mini-campaign, the Grenouissian Intermezzo, an extension, indeed, of my Wars of the Faltenian Succession. I know that some people hold that if you catch an Editor contributing

Editorial Contents

Cover: Tim Hall’s 1st Braunschweig Kürassiere (converted Perry Miniatures) crash into Mark Phillips’ West Ayton Musketeers as the 1st Braunschweig Musketeers, sculpted by the amazing John Ray, look on. A shot taken by the Editor at the East Ayton weekend climax of The Grenouissian Intermezzo.

Editorial  3

Meet the flockers  4Diane Sutherland, UK

Forward Observer  7Mike Siggins, UK

Rules and the eclipse of generalship  9Dave Brown, UK

DBA at 21  13Dan Mersey, UK

Command challenge  17Bill Protz, USA

Treading the boards  22Neil Shuck, UK

The Grenouissian Intermezzo part 1  26Henry Hyde with Andy McMaster et al, UK

Hidden Deployment for Warmaster  33Peter Andrew Jones, UK

Recce  36New goodies reviewed by our team

The Battlegames Combat Stress Appeal: update  41Our campaign to help support ex-service personnel continues

Competition and classified ads  42Another great competition

Events June-August  43Richard Tyndall, UK

to their own magazine, then it must mean he’s short of articles. Well, as those poor souls waiting their turn will testify, this is far from the case – but as umpire and overseer, it simply had to be me who provided the report that begins in this issue, which I hope you will enjoy.

Finally, Bob Barnetson’s piece about Napoleonic grand tactical rulesets caused some feathers to be ruffled, and apologies to Alex Testo & Bob Carter, authors of De Bellis Napoleonicis (DBN), because the version featured in the article was apparently out of date. Alex explains: “DBN is a stand-alone set of rules and is designed for grand tactical Napoleonic wargaming, with a one-base unit representing a brigade sized formation; however, the rules can easily represent battalion sized units. The rules follow the principles of the DBx system with one significant difference: there is a three-step unit attrition system.” Visit the website at http://www.dbnwargaming.co.uk/ for more details.

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Meet the flockersThe continuing tales of a wargames widow

by Diane Sutherland

No, this article does not star Robert de Niro, Dustin Hoffman or Ben Stiller. Neither is there any connection with sheep, although the wargamer’s

paternal grandmother was Welsh. I googled ‘flock’ after hearing the wargamer utter it several times. Bizarrely, there is an entire industry related to all things flock-related. I came away with the notion it involved micro-particles, so there would be more work for Mr Dyson.

bOne of the wargamer’s favourite shops sells model

railway related bits and pieces. He’s always sneaking in bags of static grass, ballast (aka cat litter), clump foliage, whatever that is, and flock. For flock, read ‘dyed sawdust’. I just wish I hadn’t asked him why he was paying £2 for a small bag of discoloured wood shavings.

bHobbycraft had just opened in Norwich and the

wargamer had a voucher to spend. Amongst the paints, brushes, balsa and adhesives we found Dylon cold wash dyes. It was a great blessing; I had had visions of the wargamer wanting to fill my washing machine with sawdust! Dylon has an interesting range of greens and browns, but if you want a specific and bespoke flock colour, simply mix blue and yellow until you have the ideal shade.

We actually began with what was left of a large bucket of fence panel stain. It was marked up as ‘forest green’, it was cheap and cheerful and from a DIY store. Next came a visit to Pets World, although any pet shop will probably stock rodent bedding. Go for the sawdust rather than the coarser variety. From experience, the bulk of the sawdust is ‘blonde wood’, probably pine. The bigger particles not only seem to repel the stains and dyes, but look too unsightly for most wargaming uses. The hamster bedding sawdust is less than £2 a bag; believe me, you can make a lot of flock with one bag, as it is compacted into a tight little bale.

For our test dyeing we simply poured three quarters of a bale into the fence panel stain bucket. We then gave

it a vigorous stir; it is recommended that you leave it for a couple of days. You can churn the mixture, but after two days the majority of the stain will have been soaked up by the sawdust. Tip out the damp sawdust and leave to dry for a few days. You will need to turn it over to expose the damper patches at the bottom. The net result was very good – a nice, even colouring of dark green.

Now the wargamer wanted to try out the Dylon dyes. After a restock of hamster bedding, we were ready to go into mass production. Remember to get the cold water dye; it is designed to give a fast colour without having to boil the sawdust mix. You will need:• A large bucket, preferably at least 15 litres, with a lid• One sachet of Dylon cold water dye• A measuring jug• One bale of hamster bedding• A large seed tray, or similar, for the drying process• A stirring stick (the wargamer used one

of my wooden spoons for this!)

All you need to do is to boil a kettle and measure out half a litre (500ml) then pour the sachet into the bucket and add the boiling water. Mix thoroughly until all the powder has dissolved. Now top up the bucket to around a third or The key ingredients and tools to make your own flock.

Adding the cold water dye to the boiling water in the bucket.

Adding cold water to the dye mix determines the final shade of your flock.

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half with cold water. The amount of water that you add at this stage will determine the depth of colour. You can add more water later if you feel that the mixture is too dry.

Pour the contents of the hamster bedding bale, bit by bit, into the bucket. Break up any big lumps and stir the mixture as you add it. You are looking to create a consistency rather like porridge. If the mixture is too wet, it will take days to dry, so just keep adding the sawdust and continue stirring.

We left the mixture in the bucket for two days, checking it from time to time to make sure there weren’t any lumps of sawdust that had failed to colour. We turned a mixture with a spoon so that the drier sawdust at the top was switched around with the wetter sawdust from the bottom of the bucket.

Adding the hamster bedding to the dyed water mixture.

Adding the last of the sawdust gives a moist but not overly wet final mixture.

Stirring is essential and you will begin to see the final colour that will be achieved, although be aware that it will lighten slightly as it dries.

The final result of the Dylon dyed hamster bedding is an ideal mid-green. If there are any clumps, these will break up between your fingers.

The results of the fence panel stain test; a far darker green, which can be achieved by mixing the correct proportions of Dylon dyes.

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Assuming that you do not want your hands to look as if they belong to the Hulk, use a pair of latex gloves to begin the process of transferring the mixture onto a seed tray. You may want to gently squeeze each handful to reduce the liquid content. Previously, we have tried it with newspaper instead of a seed tray, but the newspaper gets too wet and breaks up. To speed things up, we left the seed tray in front of a dehumidifier; again, you will have to periodically turn the drying mixture. By the second day, the sawdust was dry and ready to use.

You can use the homemade flock for a host of wargame-related tasks. It is the vital ingredient for making trees, hedges and bocage and it sticks well to horsehair or clumps of sisal. I could see why the wargamer was so keen to get in a big stock of flock. He has been working on more bocage for Normandy and he had decided to make some camouflaged machinegun nests.

About two years ago, I bought something that looked like the most useless umbrella you had ever seen. It was made of white netting and actually designed to place over food or cakes to keep insects at bay. It had seen better days, but the wargamer clearly had a use for it. With my best dressmaking scissors in hand, he set about cutting it up into little oblongs and squares. I rolled my eyes in despair; a natural reaction, I am sure you will agree? He then squeezed

out paint onto his glass palette and then slightly watered it down and proceeded to dunk the netting into the paint. Once dry, I have to admit it did look like camouflage netting. Small twigs were then used to make basic frameworks over the machinegun teams, secured with Superglue.

Our old friend Mr Wood Glue was then deployed and brushed onto the camouflage netting. Whilst it was still wet, the wargamer sprinkled his new flock onto the netting. He left it to dry; the poor German soldiers were left buried up to their necks in sawdust. As the wood glue dried, a solid bond fixed the sawdust, and the excess was then tapped off and back into the container.

bA perusal of the photographs of the machine gun nests

below will reveal some rather splendid sandbags. I confess to having made them, a fact I am quite proud of. They were made by rolling out an extremely long, thin sausage of air drying clay and then, using a Stanley knife blade, cut into sandbag-sized chunks. I squidged each end of the sandbag to make it look like a pillow and then let it harden off. A word of warning if you intend to make these sandbags: do not rely on their inherent stickiness and assume that they will bond together to make a permanent structure. We tried this once but our gun emplacement collapsed overnight – and it wasn’t even under fire from the enemy!

Left – Two of the German machine gun nests, using twigs, dyed netting and the homemade flock.

Above – The two other camouflage machine gun nests, with the dyed netting clearly visible. Note the

handmade sandbags made from air-drying clay.

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Channeling John SandarsNot a new Hollywood art movie, but Siggins reliving his earliest days in the hobby. Back then there was only Airfix Magazine before I discovered Military Modelling. Each issue had untold joys, but my strongest memories are of George Gush’s renaissance articles, and the superb “8th Army in the Desert” series by John Sandars. I later saw John’s amazing collection at Hatfield House (where is it nowadays?) and was inspired to do… something. My weakness has always been Libya 1940, but I also like Grants...

In that bold, decisive way I have, years pass. I occasionally buy a cheap tank kit, or lay in some 20mm plastic figures. They pile up, like everything else. A couple of years ago my friend Charles needs space, and decides to take his extensive 20mm multi-national tank collection to the charity shop. I suggested he deliver it to me, and I would make the charity donation. Deal done. Then another mate, John, starts working on 15mm Western Desert while he is a mature student. Western Desert. Yes. 15mm? No. WWII is 20mm. It just is. My persuasive personality (and a brief tank painting lesson) wins the day and John swaps to 20mm. We’re off.

Being mental, I start painting Italians, British and Germans. As research progresses, I realise I am happy up to the Grant and Honey, but don’t really want any Shermans. Later still, I determine an overriding interest in early war kit and so re-resolve to do 1940 Libya (Brits and Italians) and a selection of later war stuff to engage John’s forces. Can you see why I never get anything finished? But even for me, progress has been impressive. I have mainly accessed models from storage (!), MMS, Milicast, Frontline, Airfix, ICM, Matchbox, Roden, Hasegawa and Revell, with a smattering of others to fill in the gaps. Painting has gone well (see below) and I love to weather desert kit with pigments. It is looking almost like a

game… soon. Rules to be decided next. And finally, a slightly worrying

by-product. By far the most appealing element of the Sandars articles, the modelling, and indeed the war itself, are the softskins and early armoured cars. Inevitably there is some cross over with VBCW, civvy street and model railways of the same period. I find myself thinking more and more about civilian lorries, carrying loads that do not go ‘bang’. I have even bought some literature: The Golden Age of Trucking and Klapper’s seminal British Lorries 1900-1945. A future hobby perhaps?

Irrational fearsI am scared of three things in this hobby: matt varnish, Henry during deadline week* and basing tanks. I think the latter is daft, and looks awful. Probably because I am a modeller at heart. Unusually, I made a fairly strong point of this to John, who of course ignored me and is basing his anyway. As I have been painting and weathering the tanks, and more importantly the fragile armoured cars, I am erring towards basing after all. This is a major volte face for me, and as with the last time I used matt varnish (it went white and ruined 24 Celts), I am advancing cautiously. I think what I really want to achieve is removable bases. Perhaps a hole in the base, with a bolt into a nut on the hull of the tank? This will at least preserve the possibility of removing the base, even though I never will. Any tips?

* Only joking. He’s a teddy bear.

LifecolorIt seems a long, long time ago that I discovered Vallejo paints in France

Forward observerA fond farewell

by Mike Siggins

and introduced them to the UK hobby via Wargames Illustrated and Dave Thomas. I suspect a fair few thousand bottles have been sold by now, but as usual in life, I failed to request a finder’s fee! I won’t claim anything similar about the Italian Lifecolor paints, as they have been around the hobby for a while now and I find myself using them more and more. I also see them popping up at figure shows, so they should be easy to obtain.

Lifecolor score by providing accurate military colours for a wide range of tank, aircraft and uniform applications. You can buy them in sets of six pots, or individually. So far I have made extensive use of (predictably) the Italian, German and Desert British WWII tank sets. The latter includes an excellent Light Stone (UA225), which I have used for my early vehicles – some overlaid with black – as well as all three colours you will need for the famous but elusive Caunter scheme (UA227/8/9). You may be aware that recent research has moved the Caunter scheme from the light blue stripes of the Airfix Matilda artwork to a stone and grey scheme. I like both approaches, and some of my Valentines will have a blue tint!

Sitting next to these boxes is the Soviet AFV set, as yet largely untested. This offers a selection of subtle colours where most consider ‘Russian green’ as the only option (albeit one with infinite variety!). It also provides ready mixed pots of the elusive ‘4BO’ green (UA237/8/9) that has recently become all the rage in armour circles. It certainly looks the part, and I have used it on The Plastic Soldier Company’s T34 reviewed next issue. Another must

On Radar CommentsCaesar’s 20mm tanks Hard plastic, unusual subjects.Early War Miniatures Tom’s Tins return!Eureka (Mahratta) Indians. Wow.Fenris Games’ chimneys More superb terrain resins.First Legion 40mm Saracens.Milicast Vickers Mediums in 1/76thOxford Diecast Military trucks in 1/76thPlastic Soldier Company Late War Germans in 20mmRealistic Modelling Services Multi-sized grass tufts.Zvezda 1/100 Easy Build Tanks

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have is the Dust and Rust weathering set. This provides some spot on colours that will make your exhaust pipes look the part and are used by no less than Mig Jimenez himself.

While brushing out perfectly well, Lifecolor paints are also ideally suited to airbrushing. As such they are a natural fit for The Airbrush Company in Lancing who sell them alongside the Iwata range of airbrushes and compressors. As an existing user of Iwata kit – the superb TR1 trigger airbrush – I was very pleased to have a trial of Iwata’s newest compressor, the Smart Jet Plus. The ‘plus’ equates to more power and the addition of a handle which also acts as a reservoir tank, evening out the airflow and removing virtually all the pulsing. The compressor itself is very quiet, and has a useful auto cut off feature once the reservoir has filled. It excels at low pressures, which most Iwata brushes require, and I have to say it was a pleasure to use. Very highly recommended.

Bench updateI have lost the skill of drybrushing. Annoying. I used to be really good! I blame washes. And acrylics.

BooksMy book reviews normally go into Recce, but I must briefly mention two new books that have impressed me greatly. Firstly, as flagged On Radar last time, is Les Tercios Espagnols 1600-1660 (Pierre Picouet, LRT Editions). This is a paperback book, 144 pages, with a high price (try Amazon.fr), but is now one of the gems of my collection. The text is French, which I am slowly working through, but the pictures, flags and diagrams are outstanding. The highlight is a decent selection of Wilke’s beautiful colour illustrations of Thirty Years War troops. A lovely book.

I suspect a lot of work went into

compiling the Tercios book, but that time and effort would pale considerably compared to the two volumes of 1940: Le Soldat Francais (Olivier Bellec, H&C). This is an impressive piece of research, even if it is to be expected given the previous books in the series – this one is about the home team! 1940 is

the long awaited photographic guide that covers uniforms, headgear and insignia in one volume, and equipment and weapons in the second. That this takes two 140 page books indicates the level of detail on offer. Suffice to say, when I reached the six page section on snow shoes, mountain boots and galoshes, all lovingly photographed, I knew this was redefining ‘comprehensive’. Really, there is far, far more information than you will ever need here, which probably says it all. An incredible publication. You’ll know if you need it or not!

BoardgamesI am very fortunate in having a group of friends who still regularly buy boardgames. As they can now be over £50 each, I probably buy around two or three per year after extensive deliberation, and none without at least a couple of plays. For that reason, I feel wary about recommending them to you lot!

Anyway, there is a lot of good stuff about at the moment. I have recently taken delivery of Commands & Colors: Napoleonics, largely based on my enjoyment of the earlier Ancients title. I will be honest, I didn’t think the Napoleonic version would fit my interests too well, but having played I can say that it definitely scratches an itch. This is not a game for the purist, the detail freak (if you want regimental names, forget it), nor will it satisfy the command and control/simulation buff. Instead, it offers a broad brush depiction of a battle with some neat ideas and decent narrative. We found it worked better at the small battle level rather than fighting Waterloo, and there are some oddities which you might wish to fix with house rules – the lack of defensive first fire is chief amongst these. But like C&C:A, it gives a rattling good game in a couple of hours – ideal for when you can’t be bothered to get

the figures out. I would say C&C:N is what Sharpe is to History.

In a quick flurry I can also highly recommend Julius Caesar, a hard fought, balanced and entertaining block game; Wars of the Roses, ditto; and Bulge 20, easily the best Ardennes game I have played in the hobby in the last thirty years (you do get to play a lot of them), and by far the best of this month’s selection.

Closing the hatchesI am going to put Forward Observer on the shelf for a while. I suppose finishing at 25 would have been neater, but them’s the breaks. The reason? I simply can’t keep up any more. There is so much product in my remit, spanning several hobbies and topics, that it has become near impossible.

Equally draining are the not inconsiderable financial, and space, aspects. I attempt to chase, try out and review new products with predictable impact on my wallet and house. There are some very generous and helpful companies who send me review samples, but most don’t do a discount – which is fine. And you know what has happened to all prices, postage and customs charges. Don’t get me wrong, it is great fun to follow the cult of the new, but I have to admit I can no longer afford it, and certainly not to the detriment of everything else.

So, perhaps by coincidence, I recently got to the point where I knew, definitively, that I didn’t need or even want anything else in the house. Not a single figure, book or tank, another tuft or tube of oil, not even a pack of bases, until I have cleared out and used at least some of what I have.

I also want to step back from the hobby a little. I know from past experience that if I get too close, and too involved, then my enjoyment suffers, sometimes with disastrous effect. My inner demons (mean little baskets) are certainly doing their worst at the moment. In time, I want to sit and make some trees, paint some horses and progress my ‘shiny’ technique which has reinvigorated my Napoleonic project (thanks Doug). Slowly. Savoured. Stress free.

I have really enjoyed my quarter century manning the observation post, hopefully have alerted you to some new ideas or products, and many thanks for all your support and encouragement.

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