Jim's Wargames Workbench

I based up a set of these Copplestone SWAT team special forces figures a few months ago and began to paint them up for Black Ops only to completely screw up them up. I ditched the figures and went on to other things. However, North Star currently have a 25% discount on the Future Wars range, so I have ordered a replacement pack and a pack of the Biochem Squad figures as well, which I will paint up as an special forces SAS type unit alongside the other figures. It's a nice little project to tuck away for a rainy weekend at some point, as the rules only need half a dozen figures or so to be workable.

My minimalist approach to this project is paying off, albeit in a very minimalist way, with the Blotz pillbox now finished in a spare half an hour this evening. I went for what I think is a non-descript concrete shade, using an undercoat of Halfords Ultra Matt Khaki, followed by a two stage dry brush in Foundry Cadaverous Green and a wash in GW Agrax Earthshade. I think it looks OK but could possibly do with a bit of signage or some weeds to brighten up the boring gravel effect base?

I've now undercoated the Black Ops tactical team ready for painting so, while they were drying, I assembled the first bit of military - industrial terrain in the shape of a WW2 British pillbox from Blotz. This will be used as a checkpoint at the entrance to the complex, so I based it on a laser cut terrain template from ERM and added a central floor slab to keep the building from sliding around all over the place. I also added a square of fine grade sandpaper on the roof to add a bit of texture and to hide the joints. It's a really nice little kit, easy to assemble and only three quid, so well worth getting hold of if you need a small bunker or control post for your WW2 games.

I finished basing the eight figures for my first Black Ops team yesterday, using a combination of 25mm laser cut mdf bases and Miliput to blend in the metal tabs on the feet with the ground surface. The single slotta base figure, an EM4 commander with assault rifle and UGL, was first glued to a washer after the slotta tab was removed, so that he matched in height with the other figures. The idea will be to paint the bases in a fairly neutral urban shade to represent wasteland, gravel or similar. The team itself will be used as a G.I.G.N. or R.A.I.D. French police counter-terrorism unit or as a generic SWAT team. I reckon I've got about 100 points of good guys here, give or take, so more than enough for a standard or stealth scenario.

I've started basing up a first team for Black Ops, using figures from the Copplestone Future Wars hostage rescue squad pack with a Foundry Miniatures SWAT sniper as a 'heavy'. The bases are a bit different from my usual 25mm mdf circles, as the rules specify square bases in order to determine lines of sight. As a result, I'm using 25mm lasercut squares instead, although they'll need some sort of texturing in order to blend in the figure's bases.

I've also started to gather together some lasercut kits for a military / industrial compound, which features in the scenario options. These include a barracks hut, 'cooler' and square pillbox from the excellent Blotz WW2 range, which should be ideal. I've also bought a Sarissa Precision factory building, which is a kit I've wanted to find a use for for ages, having seen one in the collection of a fellow club gamer. I'm really looking forward to gluing all of these together and scratch building some more stuff too.

One of the things that makes Black Ops a good option for a Summer project is that there are a minimal number of figures required, perhaps a dozen a side maximum, with lots of scope for re-using the same figures for different scenarios or even different factions. There's no reason why, for example, a half a dozen sized SWAT team hostage rescue  squad couldn't also be an anti-terrorist special forces unit or a intelligence agency assassination team.

The other advantage of Black Ops is that I can go to town on some laser cut terrain but not break the bank, making use of what I've already got and adding some new bits of scenery as required. I can already set the action in the steamy jungles of South America, the baking deserts of North Africa or the icy wastes of Antarctica, for example, using some of the terrain that I have assembled for the a Fistful of Lead, the Back of Beyond, Bolt Action and Saurian Safari.

It also gives me the opportunity to assemble some new terrain, specifically some new jungle pieces, an arctic base and an industrial compound, all of which will fit in very nicely with other projects that I can recycle the scenery for. I'm particularly looking forward to the latter and have been planning a military-industrial base for a while, originally for use with the Achtung Commando project. This may also end up as a Black Ops project, as the rules have been adapted for WW2 raiding games too.

This will use a combination of laser cut buildings from Blotz and Sarissa Precision, together with some scratch built scatter terrain. I've been collecting all sorts of useful tins, boxes, packaging and bits of things to turn into various bits of industrial structure and storage, so that I can populate the table with essential cover. If I can do this on the cheap, it will free up some funds for a few 'top end' bits of terrain that would otherwise be beyond the meagre budget that I have for gaming these days.

I've decided to clear the decks and just do one simple skirmish project for the Summer. As this will be a project for games at the kitchen table in the first instance, I decided to ask the boys what they would like me to do, giving them a couple of possible options. The unanimous decision was for a 28mm Black Ops near future skirmish project, using Copplestone Castings Future Wars figures. I originally collected these together for use with Future Wars and may very well use those rules as well, although Black Ops is the more 'up to date' system. I'll set out exactly what the project involves tomorrow but, needless to say, it will probably have a French connection.

I'm being very cautious with my plans for the coming year, so I'm keeping down to a skirmish level and focussing on small projects that I can complete in the space of weeks rather than months. These will include both Dragon Rampant, which is already underway, and Lion Rampant War of the Roses which I've decided to do in 28mm rather than 15mm, at least at the moment. I'll may also have a crack at Black Ops, Ronin, Frostgrave and En Garde, all of which require a small number of figures and are published by Osprey. The Achtung Commando! project and Saga will be in there somewhere too.

One thing I will use to tie this all together is an ice and snow theme, using my lovely new(ish) tundra gaming cloth from Cigar Box Battlemats. This means that I can maximise the use of the relatively expensive cloth and combine any other terrain that I build or buy to cover several projects. I like the idea of War of the Roses in the snow for a start, all very redolent of Towton, and there are obvious connections with Frostgrave, the Heroes of Telemark and the Ice Elves on the workbench. I may even do something sci-fi or pulp set in the snow, either in 15mm or 28mm, who knows...

...and there will definitely be some more mdf !

We were on the way back to the ferry yesterday so stopped off at a supermarket in St Malo for some last minute essentials. Taking a quick look at the toy section, I spotted a display of 1/43rd scale diecast toy cars for only 2.95 euros each. I had a quick rummage and found a Mercedes saloon that is perfect for my Besson - Bond - Bourne inspired Black Ops project, even though 1/43rd is supposedly way too big next to 28mm figures.

The range is by a firm called Mondo Motors and also includes a selection of security and police vehicles in various national markings, so next time I'm in France I'll see if I can pick up something for the Gendarmie or Police Nationale. I've matched up the car model with some Copplestone Future Wars figures and it is spot on, even without any bases on the figures, so this looks like a good way to go. 

I've been really pleased with my output over the last couple of months, especially as the first half of the year was a bit of a slow burner and didn't really get anywhere. The Fistful of Lead Reloaded inspiration appeared as if by magic and gave me a real drive to get some decent terrain completed for a change, rather than another 'ooh shiny' attempt to paint some little lead people. The end result is a stack of Old West buildings, together with trees, hills and railway tracks that will also double up for games in the Back of Beyond. On top of that, I've enjoyed several games of FFOLR both at the club and at home, with the Warfare participation game to look forward to as the big finale to the project.

Now that the Old West stuff is nearly complete, for the moment at least, my thoughts have been turning to what to do in the next six weeks or so in the run up to Christmas. This isn't a lot of time and I'll have a lot of work to do, so it will have to be a very limited project with a minimum of figure painting involved. I also really enjoyed making the mdf laser cut buildings for the Old West project, so the opportunity to make some more for a different genre would be a big plus. Ideally, I'd also like to be able to re-use whatever terrain I make for more than one period or set of rules. This narrows things down a bit and has given me a clear direction in which to head.

The big idea is to double up my existing but stalled project for Ronin with the latest new set of rules Black Ops, combining the terrain but painting separate parallel forces of figures, the former from the Perry Miniatures Samurai range and the latter from the Copplestone and EM4 Future Wars range. I have all of the figures I need for Black Ops but have decided to use the Perry figures for Ronin, as the Northstar and Foundry figures that I originally collected don't really have the all important inspirational oomph. The terrain will utilise the Sarrissa Precision Japanese building kits that I gathered together for Ronin last year, together with some other more modern stuff from Timeline Miniatures and elsewhere.

This is all a bit nebulous at the moment but I have put in an order for some sohei warrior monks, Ikko Ikki, ninja and samurai in everyday clothing from Perry Miniatures today. This will be enough for two decent sized buntai already, one a Koryu martial arts school and another a community of sohei warrior monks, with the ninja as Swords for Hire or a stand alone assassination unit. There's plenty of scope to build on this basic framework, so some bandits or samurai may well be added to the set up later on, along with some peasants and civilians. In the meantime, I'll start on the figures for Black Ops, with two rival teams of intelligence agents or criminal gangs and a SWAT team of special force operatives as the first units to get cleaned up and based...

...it's also a good excuse to watch lots of Luc Besson and Akira Kurasawa films!

My copy of the new Osprey espionage skirmish rules, Black Ops, arrived from Amazon yesterday and I've been skimming through it this evening. It looks pretty good and I like the core elements of the rules including the card based initiative system, which is very Toofatlardies meets Fistful of Lead in style. So far, so good.

The scenarios and campaign system also look really interesting. I'm already thinking of the mdf kit bashing potential offered by the Compound, Air Terminal and Factory for a start. The best bit is that you can get away with only half a dozen figures a side, with the Copplestone Future Wars range pretty much covering all the angles. 

These modern / near future stealthy skirmish rules are out next month and I've been planning ahead for a small mini-project to cover the figures needed for a game. At Colours last weekend I tracked down two packs from the Copplestone Future Wars range that I had on my shopping list, one of gun toting corporate bodyguards in suits and the other of a hostage rescue SWAT team.

I also thought about getting a pack of the Foundry SWAT figures but decided not to as there was only one sniper figure that I really wanted. I will, however, add some more men in suits from the EM4 / Moonraker Miniatures range that was also sculpted by Mr Copplestone. It's only a small project but it should be fun, if the rules turn out to be any good that is!?

The plan is to use some modular bunker terrain boards that I built for a club participation game at Warfare back in 2008. They are stashed in the club storage cupboard gathering dust at the moment but would be ideal as a secret base or high security corporate installation of some sort, once I detail them up with some resin furniture and accessories from the Copplestone Kiss Kiss Bang Bang range.

http://www.winchester-wargamers.hampshire.org.uk/2008.html

I was having a look for details about the forthcoming Osprey Fighting Sail rules for Napoleonic fleet actions, which are out next month, when I spotted the next set of wargames rules in the pipeline. These look like a small scale, tactical level stealthy skirmish with a cyberpunk style theme, which sounds like it might be fun. I'll have to dig out my old Copplestone Future Wars figures and paint some up in advance of publication, which is scheduled for September this year.