Pendraken Miniatures, New Stone Walls

We've got John from Ironclad Miniatures ploughing ahead with some more products for us and next on the schedule is replacing the old walls and hedges from our scenics ranges. 

 These new walls are a much higher quality than the old ones, John's really done a great job on them.  Each of the straight sections are slightly different as well, to give some nice variation to your walls.

The straights/curves and entrance are all 80mm in length, and the corner is 40mm long.  The wall itself is 7mm high and I've included a shot of some figures next to the walls to give an idea of height.

We're hoping to have the stock of these with us very soon and we'll get them straight onto the website when they arrive.

Pendraken Miniatures 

Miniature Wargames 395, March 2016

The new season is already underway and this issue has plenty to get your wargaming juices flowing:

Charles S Grant celebrates the life and work of his friend, the popular military artist, historian and genial retired policeman Bob Marrion who passed away last autumn, illustrated with some of Bob’s wonderful artwork.

Ever fancied being ruler of your own petty kingdom, turning the downtrodden native rabble into an elite fighting force to overthrow the local tyrants and take their wealth for yourself? In The man who would be king, Jim Webster shows you how to go about it.

Hammerhead 2016 is held at the Newark Showground in Nottinghamshire on 5th March, and this issue includes the official show guide, including a welcome from Sally of Kallistra, who organise the show, lovely photos of some of the games that make the show so special (every game is a participation game), a complete listing of all the games and traders alongside the easy-to-read floorplan, and of course messages from some of the companies that will be trading at the show. See you there! (We’ll be on stand TD36 and I’m running a little game at table GB10.)

In Travel tiles, Paul D Stevenson finds that there is much to recommend a wargaming surface that is both small and flat when portability is an important factor in your gaming life.

Chris Russell opens a two-parter with Eindecker!, an account of the impact of the famous German monoplane on early aerial warfare. Next month, we’ll bring you his complete ruleset for early WWI air war gaming.

Winter is coming! In A game effort, Gary Pready sets about turning the popular book/TV series Game of Thrones into a tabletop wargame, using mechanisms from another well-known ruleset with a vital twist of his own. All together now: “You know nothing, Jon Snow!”

Of course, we have our regular spots too:

The Editor remembers illustrator Bob Marrion in his Briefing; in his World Wide Wargaming, he explains the transition to the new website shared with TableTop Gaming, explores the explosion of Facebook pages for wargamers and presents another ‘Blog of the Month’.

Neil Shuck looks at the advantages of playing miniatures wargames – without the miniatures. He’s also been suffering from varnish woes and goes on to discuss basecoats, weathering and decals.

Diane Sutherland finds more uses for coffee stirrers than Starbucks, and it’s all been getting a bit tacky – or, at least, the glue has. So set out on some secret coffee shop raids, and try to avoid getting accosted at Costa or nicked at Nero as your pockets bulge with wooden splints.

In Fantasy Facts, John Treadaway gets excited about the latest offerings in spy-fi, gives credit where it’s due for Rick Priestley’s latest creation, and appreciates the smaller side of sci-fi.

Boardgame specialist Brad Harmer-Barnes declares “CECI N’EST PAS UNE PIPE”. We think he’s talking about the fact that what we play are games, not war itself, thank goodness.

In his Send three and fourpence column, Conrad Kinch offers some further observations on the always challenging art of scenario writing.

Of course we have our Battlegames Combat Stress Appeal; our regular review slot Recce; places are still available for the third Featherstone Annual Tribute to be held at the Wargames Holiday Centre near Basingstoke, this year featuring the enormous Battle of Leipzig 1813; and finally, our competition this month features three £30 vouchers from Kallistra to spend on anything related to their extensive WWI figure and scenery ranges.

Publication date is Friday 19th February.

The front cover features a photo taken by Jon Sutherland of a huge Indian Mutiny game staged at Wargames Holidays in Crete.

Remember also to check out the new “Downloads” section on the new website

Roll ‘em high!

Miniature Wargames

Van Dyck Models, Preview German Tribes

Kris very kindly emailed me yesterday, and had this to say about his new range of German Barbarians. This is going to be a fantastic new range and can't wait till it's ready.

I can comment a bit more on what is to be expected from this range. It's not conclusive yet but the following items will be included:

-Special figure: Arminius (both on horse and on foot)
-Command pack: 10 different figures: chieftains, standard bearers and hornblowers
-Noblemen/elite warriors: 30 figures with spear, shield and secondary weapon
-Basic warriors: 30 figures with spear and shield, the shields will be different from the other warriors, more just wooden shields and wooden shield bosses.
-Peasants: not sure yet about their appearance
-Hors command pack: 5 different figures: chieftains, standard bearers and hornblowers
-Horsemen: 15 figures

I'm trying to have these ready by the end of March, archers, slingers and baggage wagons will be in a second release.

As you know for a new range I make a lot of the necessary items/equipment separately first. For the ancient Germans I made a completely nude figure as well, my biggest challenge so far I must say. He is meant to be used as a basic figure were I can take parts of when I need them. The head may look a bit weird on the images but he was made this way so I can make figures with different hair or headgear. To have the anatomy right in this scale, well I think I'm the first one to make such a figure.

This is not a figure that will be sold as such but I think it's worth showing.

Van Dyck Models

Van Dyck Models, Preview German Barbarians

Barbarians are closing in!!!

Some preview images of our upcoming ancient German range!!!

Van Dyck Models

Escenografia Epsilon Release Empire Buildings

Escenografia Epsilon release Empire Houses and Empire Inn. As with all Epsilon products these come pre-painted and ready to go straight onto your tables!

Empire Houses 1 10mm REF: EMP10-02

Empire Inn 10mm REF: EMP10-03

Escenografia Epsilon

Wargames Illustrated 340, February 2016

Some of the highlights of this month's issue include:

THEME: WARS THAT NEVER WERE
Gary Mitchell explains the concept behind this month’s theme and provides his top suggestions for ‘Wars that Never Were’.

ICE COLD IN BERLIN
In connection with their latest ruleset Team Yankee, Battlefront provide us with an account of Cold War operations in Germany by ex-British Intelligence Operative and author Harvey Black.

THEME: IMAGI-NATIONS
Charles S. Grant explores this aspect of gaming and adds his thoughts on creating your own 18th Century nation.

“A ROAD WE DO NOT KNOW”
Musings and rules amendments to re-create the small-scale actions of the American West on the tabletop using the Black Powder rules.

THEME: THE BATTLE FOR BRITAIN 1692
Barry Hilton recounts the latest events in his alternate history of the British Isles, this time focusing on a battle for the throne of the nation.

ADDING DEPTH TO YOUR MDF BUILDINGS
Model making maestro Dave Taylor shows us how to add organic detail and dynamism to our MDF buildings.

THEME: THE BATTLE FOR FORT ONTARIO
Don Effinger presents a series of scenarios for the British Intervention in the ACW, which are then played out and ably supported visually by the Perry Twins.

SEEK SANCTAURY
The Gripping Beast team recently ran a competition to design a SAGA scenario based on their new civilian and livestock figure packs. We present the winning entry here for your usage.

THEME: THE ZIMMERMAN TELEGRAM
A look at the potential for fighting World War One on US and Mexican soil.

PIMP YOUR STUG III
Phil Lewis takes a Warlord Games Bolt Action tank and provides detailed instructions on, er, how to detail it for tabletop usage.

THEME: WINTER OF ’79
Forget what you think you know, get to the army surplus store and head back to the late 1970’s in the Disunited Kingdom. It’s anarchy in the UK as Mark Hannam provides an insight into gaming during a more modern civil war.

FIGURE SPOTLIGHT: LIBERTY OR DEATH
You’ve bought the Warlord Games box set but where do you go from here? We take a look at what can be done to expand upon this giant of a boxed set.

THEME: COLD WAR TERRAIN
For those fighting World War Three on the tabletop, Andy Rix outlines the types of terrain needed to make your tabletop battles more ‘real’.

THE ROAD TO ‘LOKHVISTA’
Warwick Kinrade, author of the Battlegroup series of World War Two rules, talks about his recent campaign weekend.

CLUB FOCUS: SHEFFIELD AND ROTHERHAM WARGAMES CLUB
In the first of a new series, Sub-Editor Wayne sets off with notepad and camera to check out what games are being played at clubs up and down the country and spend some time talking to the men rolling the dice

Wargames Illustrated

The Defence of Sevastopol 1941-1942: The Soviet Perspective

In December 1941, while America was reeling from the attack on Pearl Harbor and the offensives of the German Army Groups North and Centre were stalled in the mud and cold of the Russian winter, the German Eleventh Army encircled the vast fortress of Sevastopol in the Crimea, launching massive combined air, land and naval attacks against the heavily defended positions. One of the most remarkable sieges in the history of modern warfare had begun, and this is the subject of Clayton Donnell's graphic and highly readable new study. Drawing on his expert knowledge of the history of modern fortifications, he describes the design and development of the Red Army's formidable base at Sevastopol. But he concentrates on the sequence of attacks mounted by the Wehrmacht on the strong points protecting the city. The forts and bunkers had to be taken one by one after devastating artillery and air attacks, the casualties on both sides were severe, and this brutal struggle went on for over six months. Using documentary records and a range of personal accounts, Clayton Donnell reconstructs the events and experience of the siege in vivid detail.