Warmaster: 10mm Wagons

" Gotta dream boy - Gotta song - Paint your wagon - and come along."  ~Lee Marvin

Dogs-of-War pike step aside to allow the baggage train through.

Early prototypes. Still playing around with side boards or not.

10mm Wagons

So, I play Warmaster more often than any other table top system. It has a certain elegance to it, and I enjoy the command and control- plus the fact that at any moment your flank can be sucking wind - which means you have to come up with a new plan to deal with it. It supports and rewards both daring and conservative gameplay styles, but only to a point.

A general inspects his "IKEA" baggage train set.

  For those who've never played Warmaster, here's a blurb from Wikipedia:

Warmaster is a ruleset for tabletop wargames written by Rick Priestley, published by Specialist Games (a division of Games Workshop), and set in the Warhammer Fantasy setting. It is different from Warhammer Fantasy Battles in both appearance and gameplay. It is intended for 10 –12 mm miniatures.^[1] Basic troops are based on stands, of which typically three make a unit. Generals, Heroes and Wizards are mounted individually or with their retinue.
Gameplay focuses on command and control. While magic is used in the game, its effects on the game are limited. The game is designed to focus on the general's ability to command rather than just the armies ability to fight."

 This is a totally gratuitous shot of one of my Warmaster pike blocks.

Some folks don't like the randomness of its game style, but I think that is what makes it the most challenging - the most "real", if you will. How many histories have we read where a division or even a corps didn't show up ("Where is Grouchy!")  Or an impetuous and glorious charge that, after hacking down a couple of crossbow units, leaves you kinda stranded next to your esteemed opponents organ guns...

Aside from the "classic" fantasy Warmaster, I also play a variant of Napoleonics that I've cobbled together. If I ever get my armies painted, I'm ready to do Romans and Britons.

Unpainted and painted sprues.

What's This Got To Do With Wagons?

Back to the point of this blog: while playing with my friend Simon this last month, we were getting too used to each others' tactics to go head-to-head, so started playing the scenarios found in the back of the rule book. One of those scenarios is to protect the wagon train.

Well, neither of us had any wagons, so I made some. After work that night I sat down and did some quick mock-ups, ran them on the laser cutter, painted them and had them back on the table (replacing the dice markers) for Simon to find when we resumed our battle at lunch. As it was my orcs raiding the wagons, it was especially sweet capturing them. **

As a big convention was coming up (Dundercon), I cleaned up the model, sprued it and then passed them out to my pals.

Unpainted and painted wagons.

Just an exacto and a bit of wood glue and you are ready to go!

Wagon Design

The design is a simple cart, where you can leave the front and back off it you want. The base is a standard 20 x 40mm Warmaster base, and the horse is scaled to suit 10mm. I did the first drafts on some old mat board I had and really liked the thickness and how it all came together - plus super easy to paint. No reason to make these out of wood, so I'm now sticking with the quality mat board.

It still needs a bit of finalizing, like the horse's base sticks out too much, making him crowd the wagon a bit, and I might put tabs in wagon bed for the side boards, but otherwise it's ready to go.

Okay, I just wanted to show off my crossbowmen in this shot...

How can you get some? I'm glad you asked!

 UPDATE- ALL WAGON'S HAVE BEEN CLAIMED- 

Thanks so very much for the great feedback and emails.
For those of you who didn't make it this time, I'll be doing more of these giveaways. Why? Because I love seeing folks play with my toys. Simple as that!

Eventually I'll put these and a few other 10mm bits and bobs up on my webstore, but for now
I've got 20 wagons sitting here waiting for good homes. I'll post out 2 wagons to 10 of my beloved bloggy-readers; I only need your address. Yes, even you in Tasmania! You can either add your address to the comments, or email me at woodenwars1815@gmail.com, just put "10mm wagons" in the subject.

Great Swords look to plunder Wagons. Models are Warmonger miniatures.

Pike and great swords form a tercio. All Warmonger miniatures.

** Side note. Most all of my gaming buddies are one-uppers. That is to say, you bring an orc biplane with crossbows on the wings to a game and the next time they bring an elephant with a ballista and call it a PAK gun. I love that rivalry - it brings out the best in us all.

54mm Imaginations: Gabions WIP

"I tell you it's the latest in siege work - everyone is going earth tones this year!"

~  Marshal Vauban

A British officer waves from behind painted and unpainted gabions.

Gabions WIP

As my 54mm Imaginations model line progresses, I've been thinking about terrain and other accessories that I'll want for the tabletop.  Having yet to figure out how to make a starfort with my laser-inator, gabions seemed like a great place to start. 

Side-ish view. Oh, I've made barrels, too!

Believe it or not, these were a lot trickier to design than they look.  The weaving needed to look organic and not "digital", so I referred to period Renaissance and 17th century block prints, which helped greatly.

WIP pike defend the WIP redoubt. This battle will go quickly!

The Gabions are two sided flats with mirror images. Currently I've made single and double set pieces, but may go for a larger version of  three or four combined, with a lower piece or logs to create a proper gun emplacement.

More WIP guns showing off gabions.

A troop of cavalry inspect the defenses. Cav painted by Stanley Stinnett.

Painting Sticks and Dirt

I've only painted one gabion so far, and took the approach of a tinted print - a period look. This was more or less achieved  by staining the shadows with Citadel gryphonne sepia wash for the shadowing, leaving the mid-tone wood the actual wood, and then adding a bit of white for highlights. Dirt is painted with Vallejo flat earth (my go-to "ground" - see what I did there!) with a bit of tan earth and white mixed.

One Last Bit - For the Heart
It is February and I totally enjoy the challenge of Valentines. I used to do a unit of 14 figures incorporating a heart motif back in the day, but now that I'm happily married I focus my artistic endeavors of the holiday towards the Mrs. This being the year of Richard III, I kinda went with that theme and made this.

Nothing says love like attempting gilding with 22k gold leaf (at 2am).

Finished and framed.

Pro tip - even if your India Ink says "Waterproof" on the side, test it first. As soon as I started laying color on this piece the black ink mixed in. I countered by spraying it with varnish, then painting in. That meant I needed to hit the gold with a gloss varnish to make it shiny again....The things we do for love!

Wooden Wars Task Force: Flat Tops

" Midway thrust the warlords back on their heels, caused their ambitious plans... to be cancelled, and force them on an unexpected, defensive role. 

~ S.E. Morison, U.S. Navy's official historian

 

This flat top is "based"  off the hornet class

Flat Top

Look at that grain! 

I've finally gotten around to a commission a pal of mine has wanted for a while- his own carrier to play Wooden Wars Task Force. 

The ship is made mostly of a lovely piece of poplar that I got at my local lumber yard, simply because it was such a nice piece of wood. Bit of a shame to paint it, so I made sure I got pics of it raw. 

She measures in at 22 inches, and with a compliment of planes, has been hand delivered by the finest shop girl  my Mrs.) to my pal in  Montreal. 

 Guest Shipwrights 

Heres a few shots of fellow bloggers who are playing WoodenWars Task Force and have built up some cool ships!  

"Croc" is a Joey Scout leader in Australia- He's working with his troop in building ships. He tells me that his fine battleship actually floats! 

So cool- and look at all those guns!

Chris is a local teacher and a member of my local, the South Bay Game Club, who has taken on an entire couple of navies and kids to match as an after school program. He has the kids making ships using foam and straws. Very cool- I love the dreadnought designs

This kind of thing inspires me to do more! Thanks Chris!

Thanks guys for sending the pics, and the Enthusiasm to spread making and gaming to our younger arm chair generals!  If you out there in bloggerland have made any ships, or painted up wooden troops, I'd love to see pics!

Rules and Blue prints 

I've been getting  quite a few emails and requests for blue prints and rules. As to blue prints I don't have anythign official, but have sent tracings of my ships. The rules however are in a good working state and I'd be glad to send you a free copy.

That being said, I'm working towards putting the rules and some blue prints (as well as how to's) up in one of the major gaming mags.  Stay tuned and we'll see if anything pans out!

Coolness in one picture!

Video Games and Table Top Wargaming: A Romeo and Juliet thing?

“Insert Coi-nnn”

~Gorf video game

She looked at me and went- Boop! Bop…. Boop…

Hello all and a very good year to you. It’s been gang busters busy with things like replacing broken laser cutters, and you know, all the stuff life and holidays toss at you. I’m happy to report I’m back in the saddle for another year of Bloggery!

I’m going to start this year talking about one of my first loves. You know that one that moves in on the block and they just puts all the others to shame? The one that when she’s at your house- all the other boys come over- not to play with you, but to play with her. Or just watch her. Yes, I’m talking about that Christmas when my grandmother bought my brother and yours truly, a Colico pong game.

Pong at First Sight

My brother, cousins, friends and I loved that pong game. It really became more of the neighborhood arcade than just a console for the house in today’s standards. We burned the game’s pong court lines into the old RCA two channel black and white TV we had. 

The only thing in the barrio where I grew up that came close to an arcade was the two old pin ball machines in the Laundromat- but everyone knew they were just bait to get mugged.   I loved how everyone would talk afterwards about the close call of a game or how they “angled” the ball just right to get it past their opponent. The dialogue and emotion is what really hooked me into the game. The Video game.

Look at the periscope on that thing!

Skipping Forward

In the early 80’s an arcade called the Time Zone opened in Old Sacramento, about a 10 minute bicycle ride from where I lived.  This became my new utopia- the cacophonous sounds- the lights and not in the barrio.  I ended up working in “Old Sac” at various stores.  Lots of cool games like Joust, Berserk “ Get the Humanoid” and of course Space Invaders- but my  golden go to over and over was Battlezone. Battlezone had something no other game at the time (except maybe the sub torpedo game) had- and that was you put your head into a small window periscope thing and played. This created for all intents and purposes a “virtual” world.  I was in the game (this of course was B.T. – before Tron). The immersion of the game, no matter that it was just vector lines in green was so awesome to me- the emotional hook that I was part of the game.  That feeling is still the pudding proof that I strive for when I make games today.  Not that I had any clue at the time that I’d make a living making games, much less live past 21. 

There was another part of that emotion of playing Battlezone. You were vulnerable. You had no peripherals, your sound was blocked by the game, and your hands were on the controls. Any ganger  could take you out before you had the chance to react. I remember one close call. I was lucky- the manager of the arcade and I had become friends, good friends. He used to patrol the arcade with the largest screw driver you’ve ever seen (I think it was for working on tanks or battleships!) and on one occasion literally had my back in an altercation.   That taught me another thing. Video games create community just like sports or other games. 

 Dragon’s Lair

I still remember the day I came down the stairs into the din of the arcade, and there front and center was Dragon’s lair.  It was new; it was a cartoon, a Don Bluth creation, on a new fangled laser disc. Players, at a stage in the story had split second decision to go right or left; which way you went changed the story and outcome.  Honestly I was crap at it. I couldn’t get past the first few stages consistently, and dropped at least $20 trying. But, and this is where it got interesting to me- there were kids that WERE good at it. So good at it that we the collective Time Zoners would pony up tokens to keep them going to the next level- this was social gaming!  It wasn’t just because we wanted to see the ending, although that was totally part of it, we all wanted to win, and had found a champion that could help us do that.

Today- and One Step Beyond

For the past 12 years I’ve had the great honor of working at Cryptic Studios, where we make Massive Multiplayer Online games. Over and over one of the special things I see happening in our games is community. Our community gets married, buries heroes, and supports each other against invasions, evil villains and dragons on a daily basis. Partly for fun (geeze I hope) and partly because of bragging rights (The Colico was in my house after all) but mostly because of the community.   

Actually there are two communities. There is also the one that I work with. A super bunch of uber talented witty folks. Folks that have your back when your nose is pressed to the screen. 

This is a huge mimic cake that my wife Maria made for our NeverWinter Launch!

Now, I’ve also been playing and making war games for almost as long as this story goes back. Yes I love the toys, and making terrain to tell a story, and a bit of the bragging rights, but what I enjoy the most is the community. You- you reading this. You who had my flank. You all who willingly play tested my games and suffered through my bad grammar! You who trounced my starship with Mecha!  You, who entrusted your children to me and letting them play in my games- And for joining in as well!  You who without pause lent me super glue to fix a dismounted gun. My community. 

 Thank you.