Legion 2012 Photos

Sunday past saw the fifth year of our local games show Legion and although small it’s both perfectly formed and growing every year. Originally it was just three or four tables squeezed into a tiny room. This year saw the second year at the old Pfizers social club down on the Sandwich Road, with around a dozen games and about half a dozen traders. Sadly it lacked Fenris Games because Ian isn’t very well so collectively we all proclaim “Get Well Soon!”.  I did take quite a few more photos than those here, but have only posted the least blurry.

Bamboo Radley

I made the above jungle scenic having seen a post about Burmese Infantry over at GWP. I followed the link to Michael Awdry’s blog which has a handy tutorial on making such a handy scenic.  I’ve slightly adapted his idea for the bamboo, a brilliant way to get the look of the world’s maddest grass with paint rather than sculpting it. The leaves are all cut from plastic plants for aquariums, and added to the satay sticks with drilled holes and superglue. It’s a lot quicker to realise than might be apparent, and quite an impressive feel to it. A big thanks to Mike for the idea.

Military Mayhem

The Military Mayhem show at Farming World in Kent is a new one to us as it’s only a couple of years old, and takes place just a week before Military Odyssey at the County Ground.  Compared to that, or War and Peace barely a month earlier it is a small show but it’s perfectly formed and as such is a good day out. One advantage Mayhem enjoys is how it’s lack of scale allows much more communication with both stall holders and displayers, while at busier shows you’d be pushed to get a couple of minutes of their time. The chap in the photo is a good example, the moment he spotted my camera he was happy to pose, producing the near cover image from an issue of Signal above in a few seconds. The Slug and I also met Stuart of the newly launched WWII reenactors magazine, who was not only happy to sell us a copy, but also had time to chat with the boy Slug about finding a suitable group to match his taste for wandering around in US Airborne gear.

Imagine Glastonbury but with tanks

The title is  the only way I can describe the annual War & Peace Show at the Hop Farm, Beltinge in Kent without bending your ear, or when writing your eyes, for about half an hour and with me becoming slowly more enthusiastic until you’d either think I was mad, or the insanity would spread and you be grinning and mumbling “Hmmmm, kettenkrad, ahhhhh universal carrier, ohhhhh sherman…“.

Let it be enough for me to say this is a premier event for all those with an interest in history, especially that of the second world war. Aside from several hundred traders, there’s a few hundred reenactors who do a stunning job of keeping history alive, not only will they happy discuss the finer points of their kit and tactics with adults, they’re also incredibly friendly to children, who leave not only impressed but also informed in a style which can only lead to further interest. In addition there’s over a thousand vehicles parked up for the enthusiast to enjoy.

To avoid our collective insanity bringing the internet to a grinding halt, I’ve put a selection of photographs up for you to look at as you choose fit. Known as a gallery these images are in no special order, nor do they have anything to say bar what they show. John Sweeney is still an arse though.

Charlie don’t scratchbuild

It’s been over a decade since I last played a Vietnam game but I thought I’d share these old photos, with a few new ones, all the same. At the time I didn’t base miniatures so they’re typically smaller, most of the above is scratchbuilt, some purchased with a few found goodies too. Rather disturbingly this means the bulk of the sandbags you can see have been made from miliput and hand laid individually. One thing I have noticed, and will illustrate later on, is how my palette has brightened over the years. It was common for all gamers of all scales to use the same standard colours and tones, now we tend to brighten those the smaller we go, a positive development I think.

I can’t remember who made the miniatures, but the bought features like the mortar pit to the right of the tower were from Irregular. I added the tin roof for utility. The trees are those railway trees and don’t really fit, but palm trees were as rare as pacifists in foxholes. Yet again this is a single box collection, that is all the buildings pack away into a single shoebox sized, er… box. The trees I store seperately, another single box, but suitable for lots of periods bar perhaps jungle based scenarios.

Some of the pieces in detail, a couple of which I’ve rarely seen anyone else bother with especially not in 6mm. A latrine, a shower (very “It ain’t half hot mum”) and a supply office or QMs, the latter was a railway piece I think with added crates and miliput sandbags.

A couple of adaptations of “tent” pieces from an old boardgame, the one on the left generic, the one on the right being an officers mess or the C.O.s. If the extra protection and sandbags weren’t enough of a clue there’s also an air conditioning unit on the rear. Showing more wear and tear than the rest of them for a very good reason which I’ve learnt from. The original pieces were just smooth forms with no texture so to get a canvas look with creases and folds I glued some strips from a plastic bag to them, about the worse way of doing it. Now I’d either use very damp paper with a wealth of PVA or thin metal from a cut open and cleaned empty tube of tomato puree. The latter is a bit risky to fingertips as it can cut so well it makes a papercut look like a joy.

From the same old boardgame come the barrels and boxes, with the fuel tank in the middle being a model railway piece. The barrels are a single piece including the base and just needed painting and flocking, the boxes had a tarpaulin made from a slice of puree tube added too. The fuel tank was based, had a pitifully useless number of sandbags added plus a fuse wire hose. Both the fuel tank and the barrels were very popular pieces in games involving a U.S. base, the NVA and VC used to nearly always mortar them first.

A couple of manufactured pieces, a wholly enclosed bunker and a mortar pit, both from Irregular I believe.Out of focus GHQ jeep to show scale.

Scratchbuilt mess hall and kitchen, made from corrugated plasticard and a stovepipe from I don’t know where. Another one of those pieces which would fit a variety of periods. This also show the brightening of palette I mentioned early on. The building is quite dark, the mud dirty and a monochromatic flock for the glass. Compare it with the much brighter finish of the blurred tank (hey it’s moving really quickly ok?) and it’s base. That’s natural evolution over about 20 years, and no sign of that pesky Darwin.