All at Sea - The Perennial Challenge of Storage and Terrain

My Tiny Wargames sea mat in action as the Combined Fleet gets set up to visually test the arrangement of the fleet and the size of table needed to accommodate the whole Battle of Trafalgar (more anon).

Editor's Note: This is a post that was originally written for the blog earlier this year, as you will see from comments when originally published, and is just as pertinent then as now with the likely additions to figure collections in the next few weeks, thoughts will inevitably turn to storage and terrain challenges to go with those new figure additions, in my case it was all about model ships and how to carry a large collection around for games plus the look of the table to run my planned games on. If you missed it then, I hope it provides food for thought.

JJ

Whilst working on the Trafalgar collection I have had several inquiries about the mat I have been depicting in some of the games run as the collection has grown and the challenge that will be posed by moving such a large collection of models around and so I thought I would devote a bit of coverage to those two aspects of the hobby.

Working to the principle of 'Begin with the End in Mind', as a very wise man once said, I've always embarked on creating any of my figure and model collections by taking into account terrain and storage planning which are forefront in the process of bringing a collection together, so much so that my move from 18mm into 28mm ranges of figures has necessitated a move into terrain items and storage capability to compliment the larger models.

Another example of one of my Tiny Wargames mats in action as Ben, Tom and Will joined me for a Xmas 2019 Romano-Dacian set to.
http://jjwargames.blogspot.com/2019/12/augustus-to-aurelian-river-crossing.html

Those ideas have featured alongside the builds of my Romano-Dacian and AWI collections which incorporated the ideas of being able to use most of my terrain items to enable a Dacian forested, mountainous terrain to marry quite happily with the type of terrain encountered around the Great Lakes in 18th-19th century North America.

The print quality of the sea effect on the mat really enhances the models when seen close up

Thus storage and functional usage was maximised around two new collections, with a minimal space given over to additional terrain.

As discussed way-way back at the beginning of the blog, as focus developed on the Talavera project, I was keen to emphasise the importance I place on great looking terrain items as a way we can make our games more immersive and that I have never taken the view as some do that the figures and models are simply 'tokens' designed to be pushed around the table as you would with counters on a giant boardgame. 

If that was so we might just as well do that, and not bother with the artistic side of the hobby that sees fantastic tables, terrain and models create a game no boardgame despite great graphics and artwork could ever hope to compete with as a 'total' gaming experience, and I would go so far to say that also applies to computer gaming that often comes close, but again cannot compete with the three dimensional effect of a beautiful table complete with figures, models and terrain that seem to appeal to all five senses with a good game even seemingly able to evoke the smell of black powder and cordite.

The use of purpose designed mats has revolutionised the hobby and the look of games able to be produced, be they home made or specially made wargaming products, and my preferred option has been to use mats supplied by Tiny Wargames, and it is an example of their 'Bright Sea' cloth mat that my model ships have been pictured on.

Tiny Wargames - Sea-mats

I have been using this and other mats, like the grass one in the Romano Dacia game shown above for four years now as have members in the DWG and I like them for several reasons. First the patterns and artwork used are great and really compliment my figures and other terrain items, an aspect I was keen to take advantage of with this collection by maintaining a clear base to the ships to allow the mat to show through and make the bases as discreet as possible. 

The use of cloth mats makes transporting them too and from club so easy and I pick up old cardboard tubes from a local carpet retailer to allow me to roll my mats thus avoiding unsightly creases which if they occur are easily ironed out should the need arise.

Finally the mats are hardwearing and washable making them a very durable item that they need to be but ensuring a nicely turned out game every time we want to play. So none of the chipped pieces missing from game boards or from textured mats, which initially look great but can become tired looking after only a few games. 

The second point about transporting the cloths has been really emphasised to me in my planning to play Trafalgar and other large naval actions of the period in 1:700th in that in the case of Trafalgar I will be using just under 250 square feet of table space, with five cloths, similar to the one seen on my table, to allow the two fleets to deploy and leave enough sea room for manoeuvre and thus being able to carry rolled up cloths that are easily draped over tables makes them an obvious choice for the naval wargamer.

The other major consideration for anyone putting together a collection, and especially a large collection, of models and figures is how to safely store that collection between games and a simple but effective system to be able transport them between venues.

If you intend to invest your time and hard earned cash on building a collection it will be well worth your time and money in investing in suitable storage for that collection to be able to display it if you care to in your home and also to be able to transport it safely to a gaming venue.

I am very fortunate in having my own permanent gaming room with space for display cabinets and storage boxes, and this storage/gaming space will also be a key determinant on the size and scope of any collection built.

Glass fronted cabinets are a popular option if you have the space and permanent room in which to play. However if space is an issue then other safe storage that can be used to move a collection around in is the next best choice.

So as my collection has been added to, the models have been placed in glass fronted display cabinet in my room, but as the collection neared completion I had to consider how I would be able to move them safely and securely.

When I first got into the hobby, other more seasoned wargamers recommended to me getting my first metal tool chest to carry around my small collection of Phoenix 20mm Napoleonic soldiers, with the metal container serving as a useful magnetic container once magnetic tape for bases became available.

MDF Really Useful Box Insert Trays from Sally 4th with added extra bracing strips along the bottoms, with each tray capable of holding up to eight ship of the line models, slightly more frigate and brigs.

However the old cantilever metal tool chests, of which I still have a few, are heavy and very capable of taking a large chunk of plaster out of your walls or leaving unsightly dents in metal objects should they be carried carelessly from the house to the car, and in recent times have given way to the new wargaming storage item of choice, the Really Useful Box (RUB), with its sturdy lockdown lid and robust stackable construction with rounded corners in light durable plastic offering protection without threatening house demolition every time they are moved.

These boxes are useful for storing just about anything we use in the hobby from figures, models, terrain, and even rule books, dice and measuring tapes.

The Sally 4th trays fit neatly and securely into these 19ltr RUB's and are easily grasped hold of with the purpose designed strips on the top inside ends. Note the brace strips along the top of each long edge which were duplicated to make the rows to secure the bases along the bottom of each tray. A simple but very effective modification

Not only that, but with the advent of MDF and laser cutting, the modern wargamer can now not only purchase terrain items, game accessories and bases but also storage trays in this versatile material designed to fit into these boxes, and allow more stuff to be be held securely in bigger boxes, some examples of which now grace my collection of model ships.

I already use the nine litre RUB's for transporting my 28mm figure collections, which hold two MDF trays in each, and with the extra large lids give ample clearance room for items such as long spears and flag poles.

However extra clearance was required through the whole box with the model ships sporting masts on the First and Third Rates requiring a depth of at least 10cm to allow another tray to be stacked above and ideally a box that could carry multiple trays to allow the seventy-three models for Trafalgar to be carried as a collection in as few boxes as possible.

The solution was provided by Sally 4th who make a 100m deep RUB insert tray for the European 19 Litre and 25 Litre RUB, and for which I acquired three 19ltr options with the same extra large lids that are used on my 9ltr Rubs so adding a little extra flexibility.

Sally 4th - 100mm Type B Solid RUB Tray

I contacted Chris Abbey at Sally 4th and he was able to make me some extra copies of the long brace strips that go along the top long sides of each tray to support the stacked tray above. Thus by gluing five of these along the bottom of each tray I was able to create four lengthways rows to accommodate securely the Fluid 3D bases my models are fixed to, as seen in the pictures of my newly constructed trays in their boxes.

Each box holds three trays of eight models in each, thus twenty-four models per box - Perfect!

The Trafalgar Collection all packed and ready to go

So I hope this post is useful in highlighting two very important aspects of our hobby that we are all likely to encounter as we get deeper into it, with ever growing collections of models and terrain to create the games we want to but also the need to be able to safely secure those items in between games.

Terrain Build Update - Modular Sloped Hills, Finished

Carrying off from my last post I had a very pleasant weekend bringing this next stage of my 28mm terrain collection to a conclusion with the finishing off of my set of modular sloped hills.

Terrain Build Update - Modular Sloped Hills Part One

For those interested in how I put these together I have picked up from the first post and show the stages with a brief description of what each stage entails.

So once having everything sealed down with plaster and masking tape, the next stage was to add the first coat of scatter using a 50:50 mix of PVA and water painted on and then applying different grades of grit, ranging from the very fine 'Chinchilla Dust' a a very fine sand available in pet shops to a slightly more granular ballast available in most builders merchants.

Because these slopes will in the main have stuff put on them I kept the more gritty scatter located in the indentations I made to the polystyrene and then covered the bulk of the surface in the fine sand.

This first scatter cover is important as it not only provides the first layer of sealing and protection but also provides a layer of groundwork which provides texture for the paint.

Next stage is, once the scatter has had a good amount of time to thoroughly dry, to seal the whole thing with a mixture of equal parts chocolate brown house paint (the acrylic stuff that washes out with water), water and PVA.

When applying the watered down paint/PVA mix be careful not to go over areas already covered in the mixture, as water reactivates the original PVA causing your ground texture to be liable to move and form a sludge, hence giving the original layer a good amount of time to dry out and not re-touching areas already painted.

Next morning it was on with the highlight colour of golden brown acrylic craft paint simply wet-brushed over all that lovely texture to complete the look of the ground work.

This stage will really make those strategically placed areas of extra larger pieces of ballast really pop and contrast the areas of broken ground showing through the turf.

Soon after the wet-brush we can then paint on another 50:50 PVA wash to allow us to get on with applying the scatter, which in this case is Javis turf colours; which come in three shades consisting of dark green for putting around my broken ground, light green, generously randomly scattered over the exposed slopes, followed with a top scatter over the whole slope of medium green to finish.

Again this stage needs to be given ample time for drying and properly fixing the scatter before finishing the work with a final spray of  1:8 PVA/water which will lock down the scatter and cause the colours to leech into one another and give a more nuanced overall colour to the slopes.

The slopes now show of their gentle curves that will allow my figures to traverse them easily and the scatter right down to the edges soften their look on table whilst the areas of broken ground add a bit more realism to the look.

The final proof of the pudding is to get them on table with other terrain items to see how they look.

This initial work has now created a good base for my terrain collection and now means I can easily create games here in my room with my permanent table and now with a new slightly smaller cloth from Tiny Wargames take part of my collection to club to put on games there as well.

Obviously this is very much the first basic stages that creates a start point and over the next eighteen months or so I can add to this with other important terrain items that will gradually give a better look which alongside a growing figure collection will enable the creation of more interesting games.

So there we are, the first modular hills completed and now its on to the next piece of terrain, but I will keep that up my sleeve for the time being and focus next on getting the next unit of Sarmatian cataphracts put together, plus a post looking at historic Taunton.

Table, Terrain, Figures and Books

Laying out terrain pieces with figures helps me start to visualise the look of a game

Carrying on where I left off looking at some of the much needed changes to my wargaming room to help accommodate the new collections building or to be built, I thought it might be interesting to share my process of setting the 'infrastructure' up around my collections.

I tend to approach building collections as an all in one in which I am looking to put together enough figures from both participating factions to enable me to create games that capture that particular theatre, era etc.

Alongside the collection building for me automatically adds further considerations about building a terrain collection that allows for the creation of as many different stage sets to be created for my metal/plastic actors to perform on.

I am happy with the groundwork on the figure bases and terrain pieces matching in with the cloth

Once I have the basic plan in mind and more importantly on paper which will list the units to be built, the commanders needed and some scenario ideas which naturally generates the terrain requirements it is then all about the look I want the game/s to create.

I am very much a visual person in terms of my acquiring and understanding information, so give me a picture of what it is I am supposed to get my head around and I am well on the learning curve, so I tend to work with mock ups and pictures of other collections to work out in my own mind what I like and don't like.

My 28mm collection has forced some major considerations versus all my recent previous collections in that the larger scale up from 15/18mm demands a different approach to constructing my tables and the terrain needed to do that.

Gilder/Perry style terrain boards can look very nice but I tend towards the cloth approach to gaming because it works from a storage and transport perspective, being less bulky and easy to store and move, so the cloth as used in my 18mm games remains but I decided that the larger scale might benefit from a newer more defined look, hence the newly ironed Tiny Wargames 9 x 5 ft mat you see in the pictures.

The open spaces are mentally filled in with scatter terrain items and the occasional eye-catching terrain piece, such as a Roman marching fort, wooden bridge on stilts over a marshy river crossing or a limes watch tower looming over the table and of course lots of trees.

Putting some of my terrain pieces out on the mat together with some figures helps me visualise the table made up ready to play and for my 28mm games the decision to use more scatter terrain and on table small hill features rather than using the under mat hills as in the 18mm games, although I have that as an option if required.

This decision reflects that the table space in the larger scale recreates a much smaller ground space than otherwise and thus the terrain needs to reflect that as well.

My flexi roads will also need to be pinned to reduce that annoying curling at the edges and hopefully with more use and a bit of judicious ironing will reduce in time.

So with my new mat in place on the table it was time to cover the table back up and look at my other mat options which are the Battle of Britain mat to compliment that collection of models built around the Lardies 'Bag the Hun' WWII air rules.

With the air mat I can see my bomber squadrons of eighteen aircraft moving in towards the coast line and will use my stylised airfield and radar ground models to produce ground targets and perhaps the occasional group of ships modelling a coastal convoy.

I ordered this cloth up earlier in the year with an aerial view of the Dorset coast at Lulworth Cove and the tank training grounds at Bovington which sees this coastal area the least affected by modern road layouts that really don't look right when trying to recreate the British landscape of 1940.

I have left this mat off the table so I can take it to club at some time and will probably just lay it on the table over the cloths when playing at home.

As well as this I also have my new sea cloth which I didn't picture rolled out but is ready for when I feel the urge to roll out some naval games to satisfy a craving to get back to sea occasionally.

So the next stage is to release the creative impulse and to start adding to the terrain that will start to populate my tables with the first important job of building trees and lots of them.

I have decided to add to what I have in larger trees with armatures from Woodland Scenics over which I will be using rubberised horsehair as a substructure.

Some I intend to leave as free standing and others will be added in groups to scatter terrain bases to help create the ancient woodland common to the Rhine/Danube frontier.

If you like messing about with terrain and want to brush up on your skills then I would recommend checking out The Terrain Tutor where you can get lots of guidance and inspiration for these kind of projects.

The Terrain Tutor

So the next month or so will now see efforts and time shifted into my terrain collection before returning to bring the armies up to strength.

On the way up to Warfare last weekend the chaps and I had a very interesting conversation about terrain and for some of us it is more of a chore than a pleasure, with many preferring to buy ready made 'off the peg' options which I can entirely understand.

For myself, I have always viewed terrain building as another facet of the hobby to be mastered and preferably enjoyed, which I find I do.

I guess for me, I see the figure collection and the terrain to go with it as one collection and an opportunity to express myself in both, so it was rather nice for me to put the paint brush down for a while to enjoy the delights of ripping of clumps of horsehair and setting up my tree substructure.

So far half my trees have a new substructure of horsehair and about a third of them have had their new foliage put on which was a very satisfying job but I ran out out of leaf scatter so will need a another trip into town and my local model shop to resupply.

I was trying out some different colour combinations which look to give a nice green tone to my summer trees.

Finally, isn't serendipity a wonderful experience, because whilst setting up the room to accommodate my terrain building kit I came across a few books which I got for my birthday back in August and put in a box and completely forgot I had them only to rediscover them today.

Not only that but my new book covering the Cuidad Rodrigo sieges by Tim Saunders turned up today from Pen and Sword and whilst down in town picking up modelling supplies I noticed a bargain book '1 Group Bomber Command' on sale for just £6.99 so that got added to the library and my supply of reading for the next few months.

Other stuff to come on JJ's:
Us 7th Cavalry are done in preparation for the Gus Murchie Memorial game at DWG. More reports on recent travels and excursions including the Three Castles trip with Mr Steve, a visit to the home of the Somerset Light Infantry and Somerset Yeomanry in the historical county town of Taunton and a report on a very interesting talk I attended looking at the role of Churchill's 'stay behind' forces in East Devon in preparation for a possible German invasion.

Maurice - AWI Scenario adapted from Hold the Line

A few weeks ago Steve M and I got together again for an evening of 'Maurice' fun continuing where we left off in our first game in January, playing with the AWI collection and messing about with brigade commanders.

This time we allocated 'Notable' cards to a couple of them, one on each side to see how the command attributes that notables bring could be used with our new level of command.

A US brigade holds the defences as the rest of the army defends forward on the ridge line

The scenario Steve chose to set up with was based on a game I ran at the DWG back in 2015 based on a scenario from the board game 'Hold the Line' recreating the Battle of Long Island.

You can find the details of the orders of battle and set up on the link below to the club blog.

https://devonwargames.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/hold-line-maurice.html

General Howe's mighty British army of 1776 looks formidable as it approaches the American held ridge

As you will see the forward American line is pushed forward onto a commanding ridge in front of the American embarkation point and they are tasked with delaying the formidable British force long enough to allow that embarkation to be successful.

American confusion as the line falls back too early

Sad to say, I, commanding the Americans, made the cardinal error of order/counter-order and the inevitable confusion that created by neither defending forward on the ridge and gaining the benefits of it in the subsequent combat and leaving my pull out too late that I was locked into a rolling fight going backwards with little opportunity to break off.

The British don't need to be asked twice and come rolling forward over the ridge

Steve to his credit never let me recover from the error and although burning through his cards often leaving him with just two or three in his hand at a time continued to apply the pressure as the American line fell back.

All the defenders can do is watch the carnage

At the completion of the first deck the Americans had lost three of their conscript battalions and managed to destroy one British unit in return but the Rebel morale card was in a desperate state as my line recoiled back in front of the defences.

American commanders work hard to stem the British advance

Eventually the US troops found themselves trying to get units into the defences whilst forced to leave a rearguard which succumbed to the pressure of the British assaults and broke the army morale.

With three American battalions out of the fight the pressure grows on the left flank

This scenario demands a robust stand by the Americans if they are to make a game of it and even then it is a tough one for the Americans to win, but the challenge of trying to bleed the British force makes it a compelling set up.

That said Steve played a great hand and never let the pressure up once in the driving seat.

It's all over and I can go home and reflect - note the heap of American casualties to the left of picture

Despite getting my rear end handed to me I really enjoyed the fun of managing a desperate situation that had me 'fire-fighting' all through the evening.

The notable card effects didn't really come into play although the brigade command system played its part when we had brigades split apart when units were destroyed which interfered with the Americans pulling out formations in one group which I think replicated the difficulty of retreat in the face of the enemy quite well.

Thanks to Steve for hosting our game and nice to give his new Tiny Wargames mat its first blooding.

Dacian Warband

With all the Xmas Game AWI, Dark Ages and Dad's Army stuff done and out of the way I can now focus on the Dacian Wars and putting the collection together to stage my first game using Augustus to Aurelian.

This is the second Dacian Warband completed to go with my Cap-Wearer boys finished way back in October last year together with my fist cohort of Victrix Legionaries.

http://jjwargames.blogspot.co.uk/2017/09/dacian-cap-wearer-warband.html

http://jjwargames.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/roman-imperial-legionary-cohort.html

Peter Dennis' artwork on the box cover of these Warlord Dacians really captures the ferocity of the Dacian charge and I really think the miniatures achieve a similar portrayal with swords raised and the warriors in full charge ready to slam into that wall of Roman shields.

As I am constructing these units I am constantly thinking about what I want them to represent, and by that I mean what I define as a cap wearer or noble warband or falx armed or medium infantry type.

I am not totally convinced that the Dacians would have organised themselves in that way and however they did organise themselves I am pretty sure the Roman cohort commanders wouldn't have noticed or cared much, with one large bunch of hairy aggressive barbarians looking pretty much like another

However as wargamers we love to differentiate our units and add that variety that is as they say "the spice of life" and so I will have cap wearers, falx and 'vanilla' warbands as options. However only the Dacian commander will know which units are which by the cunning use of numbered bases similar to my approach with my Napoleonics to keep all my historical units from getting mixed one with another.

So where is this project going and how can you expect to see it proceed? That was a slightly rhetorical question by the way, because you will have seen my thoughts on planning this project over the life of the blog.

However plans change on first contact with the enemy and this plan is now in full contact and I am getting my head around lots of new experiences, such as a new palette of colours which I am busy constructing my own set of triad colours and noting them in the JJ master painting notebook.

Not only that but plastics offer the wargamer loads of opportunity to build unique looking units that metals don't offer. I know some wargamers don't like that choice, but as a plastic modeller in my youth I love the flexibility and chance to scratch build and adapt, adopt and improve on the original figures.

However learning what you can and can't do with figures takes time that works its way into the project as a whole and I like to know how long it will take to bring a Roman Cohort or Dacian Warband to the table which at the moment is taking a week and just over two weeks respectively.

Knowing the time-line for unit construction then leads to the next part of the plan which is to play games as the collection grows.

I now have a scenario and selection of units in mind that is aimed at getting these chaps on the table in September which will see another four warbands added to the two already completed plus some Roman cohorts and a selection of smaller light infantry and cavalry units.

Not only that but I also need to put together my collection of 28mm terrain items ready to create the stage for the actors to play upon.

So that's where things are at in March 2018 and the third warband is on the desk primed and ready to go but I had great fun putting these cameo shots together depicting this second warband going up against my Victrix Romans.

Just multiply each side in this lot by about ten with other assorted stuff running around the table and it should give you an idea of the look of these future games.

So for those about to ask what figures and other stuff am I looking at here, The Dacians are from Warlord Games box set, the Romans are from Victrix and my new mat is from Tiny Wargames

Next up Roman Villas and English Civil War battles in the Cotswolds and me getting another drubbing at Maurice.