In The Beginning - Part 1: Knights & Vikings

If you ever listen to wargames podcasts where the host interviews a guest or luminary from the hobby, you'll be familiar with the obligatory opening question along the lines of "so tell me, how did you get into the hobby?" Queue that 'Bingo Card' moment while the guest reels off an often predictable list of influences, depending on their 'era' - Airfix, Featherstone, 40K, Warhammer, D&D, Commando Comics, Avalon Hill, etc.

As I listen along, oftentimes the answers resonate with my own wargaming origins. Probably one or more will resonate with you too. We wargamers of a certain vintage have a lot of shared heritage when it comes to beginnings and early influences. This got me thinking about my own wargaming journey, particularly those early years before I left childhood behind (though it could be argued I never really left it). Hence this, the first of what will inevitably be an irregular series of blog posts entitled 'In The Beginning', in which I touch upon some of my early influences. Unapologetically self-indulgent nostalgia for sure, so I can only hope that some of my shared memories may chime with you and trigger some of your own.

And so, In The Beginning...

Every wargamer's journey has to start somewhere. Mine started Christmas 1967.

That was when my parents gave me my very first toy soldiers - and not just soldiers, but a whole play set with figures, scenery, siege engines and equipment, and a castle too; Knights & Vikings, by Marx Toys.  

Here's what the box art looked like. Image credited to Collectors Weekly

Well, I was hooked. I've always had quite an active imagination and to this day, wargames with a strong narrative story-telling element are what attract me most. It is tempting to suppose that, at that tender age,  this play set fired that imagination and kindled a life-long love for our little world of toy soldiers.

Of course, I knew nothing of history then so the odd anachronism of Vikings vs Late Medieval knights in plate armour didn't register at all. Anyway, I've seen plenty of unhistorical match-ups (DBM and ADLG tournament players, I'm looking at you), so perhaps Marx were on to something after all. 

Best of all, it was a complete package; not so different from today's trend for 'everything you need to play is in the box', albeit without a set of rules - which is where that most important quality of play, imagination comes in. So, there were pre-painted figures (more on them later) multi-part plastic trees, rocks, a siege tower, ladders, barricades, and of course the castle. There was a paper play mat too, which my father had carefully taped to a large sheet of plywood for durability. He must also have spent time late in the evenings after work and after I had gone to bed, constructing the castle which came in several parts, plus the siege equipment and trees. My late father, bless him, was never a wargamer. Steam engines and Model Engineering was his thing, but he had a love of making things and I'm sure he would have gained a lot of enjoyment from putting the play set together. Some of that creative streak surely rubbed off on me, though little could he have guessed the hobby journey I was to later embark on. Thinking about my father now, I'm sure he will feature more than once in future posts in this series as there are a good few moments along the journey where his influence is felt.

A mock-up of the paper game mat with the castle. Game mat image credited to Collectors Weekly

The most wonderful thing for me is that, over five and a half decades later, I still have at least part of that play set; a direct and tangible connection to my childhood. The castle is mostly intact. The winch and chains that once raised the drawbridge are missing and there are a few places where parts have broken off, but having survived many toy sieges and the passage of time it is in pretty good shape. I have just a few of the figures too, all rather battle-worn but still special to me. As for the rest, well the plastic rocks were first to go. Launched by overpowered elastic band catapults they would either fly over the castle or ricochet off it, well beyond the range of the play mat, where they were soon all swallowed by the carpet monster. As time passed, other components must have wandered off to the land of lost toys and the paper mat succumbed to wear and tear. Some of the knights and their mounts were no doubt accidentally crushed under foot while tilting at giants (everything was usually set out on the carpet in close proximity to my clumsy childhood feet) and some of the Vikings surely went to toy Valhalla under similar circumstances.  I think the plastic trees were most long-lived as I do remember that I used them, much later on, in other games. 

Given the passage of time, multiple changes of location and a succession of all the usual life events that go along with both childhood and adulthood, it is remarkable to me that any of this has survived at all and remained in my possession.

So, here is what is left.

First of all the castle, moulded in hard grey plastic. I always liked the design of the towers. As a child it always looked 'right' to me. I know it isn't historically perfect, but I still like the look of it.

Battle damage clearly visible here.

And now the figures. Just four remain from the original 30-odd figures that came with the set; two 'knights' and two 'vikings'.

They are roughly 28mm, foot to eye and moulded in a single-colour hard plastic (silver for the knights, flesh for the vikings) over which the clothing colours and other details have been, (as the box art proudly proclaims), "hand decorated by artists". Due to the brittle nature of the plastic, thin parts such as weapons were very easily broken and lost long ago. So not particularly child-proof, but then Marx Toys probably didn't intend them to have much longevity given the fickle and short attention span of the average child when something newer and shinier comes along. Er, as a butterfly wargamer does this sound too familiar?

Lets have a closer look. First the Knights:

The chap on the left is an odd character. I remember that, even as a child, something struck me as a bit 'off' about his 'fencing' pose and fluted armour. I liked the archer on the right better. Perhaps it was the combination of silver and pale blue that I found attractive. That and the fact that the painter has managed to get his face right, so he has a bit more character. Something terrible has happened to his right elbow and his ankle is cracked, but he still manages to look the part. 

Now, the Vikings:

Our man on the left. Heck of a black eye you've got there Olaf! As a child I always thought this figure was wearing some sort of bright orange hood. It was only much later that I realised it was supposed to be his hair and beard. At least it matches the tunic of his friend on the right. Best we ignore the strange golden cone-shaped shield, and don't ask about the silver nipple protectors!

Jesting aside, I have a soft spot for these figures in all their quirkiness. Any oddness was invisible to my childhood eyes and my adult eyes are more than willing to overlook it, accepting them for what they are; toys. Here are some more pictures of them in their element, posing around the castle...

"Viking! What Viking?"

"Hey Olaf, 'ave you seen my hand?"

"Have at you, knave!"

If you have got this far, thank you for indulging my reminiscences. I hope that maybe they have triggered some of your own, perhaps even sending you off to search some dusty corner of your attic or garage for some long-neglected childhood toys. If I have succeeded in conjuring up the Ghost of Christmas past, I hope it smiles upon you benevolently.

Till next time...

Wayside Cross

This little project kept me happily occupied and out of mischief on a Sunday afternoon. The capped orthodox cross was made out styrene strips, scored with a sharp point to add some 'wood grain'. Constructing and painting the cross took up the majority of the work. The base was already textured, painted and ready to use. It had originally been intended as a test piece for some snow effects, but I had abandoned the idea and it was just waiting to be repurposed. Drilling a few holes for the foliage and cross, gluing everything in place and adding some ground cover was all that was needed to complete the piece.

I think it should look right at home as a terrain piece for my Russian Civil War project.

Bank Holiday Bits and Bobs

I've been stuck indoors today due to the typically sh*t Early May Bank Holiday weather - high winds and heavy rain. The upside is I've had a bit of a hobby day, in between drinking copious amounts of tea. Yes, there was toast too.

I don't often post uncompleted stuff on the blog, but it's been a while - and, well why not.

Currently on the painting desk are a bunch of Star Wars: Legion Imperial Stormtroopers. I love painting endless shades of pale grey and white. Not. They are great figures, just not very inspiring to paint, which is my way of excusing myself for my usually glacial painting progress. Don't tell their boss, or he'll find some "new ways to motivate" me! Still, I'm happy to have done some more work on them. One step nearer to completion.

"and over here we have... more unpainted miniatures!"

While I painted away, the 3D printer has been humming quietly in the background. Fresh off the build plate today; another terrain piece for Mythic Battles:Pantheon board game. It now joins the painting queue behind the Stormtroopers.

The ruination that is Mythic Battles.

I like some background listening while I'm painting - a chance to catch up on a backlog of podcasts. Queued up today and in no particular order were:

WSS Podcast - The Wargames Soldiers and Strategy crew. Always worth a listen.

The Grognard Files - The inimitable and eminently listenable Dirk the Dice. This one scratches my RPG itch, though it's a good few years since I last role played anything. (TSR's 1980's vintage 'Top Secret' revisited briefly in a fit of old school nostalgia in 2018). Sadly, it didn't last.

Lead Pursuit Podcast - Blood Red Skies (and other aviation wargaming topics). Usually something interesting, though I tend to 'tune out' when they get too much into 'the meta'. Great website too.

The Mad Axeman Podcast - I tend to skip through the chatter about about ADLG (Art De La Guerre) rules and competition games (not my thing at all), but there are usually some gems in amongst the general chatter, not least the now regular 'I'm sorry but I think you're an arse' feature. Check out Episode 77 if  (like me) you have never seen the attraction of wargaming the American Civil War.

I've also been busy making cards - specifically a Fortune deck for Pulp Alley. I've had a PDF copy of the 1st edition rules for a long time, but never had the opportunity to try them out. Cue an email from my cross-channel gaming buddy Ian, hatching another game idea and asking whether I had the rules. Well, we are going to need a Fortune deck, so I got busy with the printer, card and hobby knife. 

Pulp is on the cards

Over the past few weeks, Ian and I have been battling it out with Bolt Action via Skype using Ian's DAK and 8th Army forces. We have another game lined up this week, so I spent a bit of time re-reading the rules, the next scenario and pondering whether I'd made a good choice with my force selection. 

Speaking of Bolt Action, Warlord Games recently had a Spring Sale, so I took advantage and a couple of books came winging my way; Close Quarters for Cruel Seas and Air Strike! for Blood Red Skies. I've not done much with either game recently, but I like the simple pleasure of flicking through rule books - so I was able to indulge myself a bit today.

Light reading for a rainy day.

All-in-all, a pretty good day hobby-wise. 'Every cloud...' as they say.

Mythic Battles: Pantheon - Scenery

These are the terrain pieces from Mythic Battles: Pantheon - a selection of 'Broken Columns', 'Crow Trees' and 'Lugubrious Trees'. Lugubrious, huh? That's the first (and probably the last) time I've ever heard any gaming piece described as lugubrious. Anyway, they are suitably twisted and gnarled as befits Mythic Battles rather dystopian vibe. 

The trees were modified a bit. Some of the 'Crow Trees' had their avian occupants clipped off so they don't look quite so identical. The 'Lugubrious Trees' all had an animal skull and a Spartan shield moulded on, most of which I carved off. A couple of the trees had replacement shields added, scrounged from the bits box. I think they were from Foundry miniatures originally. As the shields had identical patterns cast on, I filed one smooth for variety and painted a Classical Greek style dolphin on it freehand. This took a bit of trial and error, not made any easier by the fact that I had already glued the shield in place before I decided to paint the design, meaning the overhanging branches kept getting in the way of my paintbrush. Hopeless planning on my part, but the final result was worth the effort

The trees all come with integral bases, but the columns don't. As they are plastic and very light, they are rather prone to being accidentally displaced when in play, especially the taller ones. To give them a bit more stability I decided to base them.  They are intended to be individual pieces on the game board, so that heroes and monsters can pick them up and hurl them about, but I decided the taller columns would be based in pairs as they are most at risk of being toppled inadvertently. There are still enough single column pieces to replace a 'double' piece when one gets thrown and removed. The bases were built up using thin plasticard and textured with a mix of PVA glue, filler and fine grit. Small stones were used to represent rocks and rubble. After painting, the addition of  some grass tufts completed the bases.

As a bonus, the trees and the broken columns will do double-duty in other games, but it did make me realise just how little usable table-top terrain I have. I suspect that the focus of my efforts in the New Year will be to rectify that.

"Oh the devil in me said, go down to the shed..."

Sundays - usually the time when I'm at my most productive, hobby-wise. This was a nice little Sunday project - well several Sundays to be honest, because even at my most productive I am still rather slow!

I admit that I have been rather sniffy about MDF scenery. There are a lot of really cleverly designed MDF buildings available now, but once built many still look a bit too - well, MDF. I've seen some great examples that overcome this with clever use of paint, washes and coloured pencils, but to my eyes they still have that uniformity I dislike.

So, this was an experiment to tackle some of the issues that have put me off MDF buildings. My chosen 'test bed' for this was the free kit I received for completing last year's Great Wargaming Survey. As it was free, I wasn't too concerned if I screwed up. The idea was to try out a few techniques to see what worked best. My modest aims were to add some wood grain texture and to disguise the rather slab-like roof and the unsightly tabs where the various roof parts slotted together.

I started by scribing wood grain into the panels using a hobby knife and a fresh blade. I have used this technique successfully to represent wood grain on scratch-built buildings made from plasticard styrene sheet, but MDF has very different properties and I wasn't sure how well this would work. 

Being fibrous, the surface where I scored the MDF was quite 'feathered'. My first thought was to sand it down a bit, but I was worried this would only produce more stray fibres. In the end I found that lightly rubbing the surface with the tip of my finger was enough to remove most of the stray fibres. I was quite happy with the result.

After scribing all the panels I added a few extra details. The inner door latch was fashioned from a staple and a round-headed pin was used to make the door knob. Door hinges and brackets were cut from thin plasticard and glued in place before painting. 

I was quite unsure how to go about painting the model. I knew the effect I was after, but this required a bit of trial and error. The whole model received a base coat of pale grey (Humbrol Matt 64 - Light Grey). MDF is insatiably thirsty stuff and with hindsight I would have been better opting for a cheaper option, either an aerosol car primer or some cheap craft paint. 

Once the base coat was dry, I started adding thin washes of Citadel Agrax Earthshade to bring out the wood grain and achieve the grey-brown look of aged wooden boards. I overdid it in a few paces and had to knock the colour back with a thinned down wash of grey. Once I was happy with the overall tone, all areas were lightly drybrushed with more Humbrol Light Grey. Weathering and dirt patches were applied with a mix of Citadel Agrax Earthshade and Nuln Oil. Finally, Foundry Phlegm Green was applied in thin washes and then drybrushed to simulate patches of damp on areas at the base of the shed and the lower part of the door. I could probably have added more weathering, but I was afraid of overdoing it. Learning when to stop is always a tricky one.

Painting progress - the first wash of colour over the base grey.

So far, so good - but the bare MDF shed roof was in need of attention. I opted for fine grit sandpaper to represent roofing felt. This was easy to trim to shape and apply with PVA glue, thus concealing the tabs holding the roof components together and providing some much needed texture. Once dry, a layer of PVA was spread over the surface of the sandpaper to soften the texture a bit. Strips of styrene were glued down to represent wooden battens and the roof was then ready for painting.

I thought that painting the roof would be far easier than the woodwork, but it took at least three attempts to get it right. My first two attempts were way too dark and looked completely at odds with the paler wood effects. Several coats of paint did have the unintended advantage of further toning down the texture of the sandpaper which was still a bit too rough despite the PVA treatment. In the end, I got it right using a mix of mid-grey with a hint of green. Light weathering with Nuln Oil washes and Phlegm Green completed the process. I think it does a pretty good job of representing roofing felt.

To complete the shed I added 'glazing' by attaching a strip of clear plastic to the inside of the window frames.

The final task was to make a scenic base cut from 2mm styrene sheet, with individual paving stones cut from thin styrene sheet.  The base was textured and painted with my usual basing technique. Static grass, tufts and foliage added the finishing touches.

I must say I'm rather pleased with the finished model. There are still some details that give away its heritage, but overall they are not too obvious and I don't think it screams 'MDF'. It has turned out better than I expected and has helped to raise my opinion of MDF scenery quite a bit.

Here's where the story ends. 

Well actually - no. Now I need to find a use for the shed. I already have a couple of scenario ideas, but that will be for another time. Watch this space - but don't hold your breath!

A New Bike for Christmas

Work and 'Real Life' have conspired to keep me away from hobby activities for the past couple months. No games, no painting, no purchases. So it was a surprise to come home on Christmas Eve to find an unexpected package waiting for me.

Opening it I discovered it was a Sarissa motorbike and shed kit. My 'free' (plus P&P) reward for completing The Great Wargaming Survey 2019. Over three months later, I had forgotten about this. A nice little stocking-filler to break my wargaming fast. Just in time for Christmas. Thanks Sarissa and Karwansaray!