It's All A Question Of Bridges

Having finished off the French buildings and in a bit of a terrain groove, I decided to finish off a bridge I'd had basecoated for ages. All told it only took about an hour to finish, but longer given the time taken for the glue to dry for each stage of flocking. A nice and easy win for once. 

For years I didn't bother with bridges, just using my roads and having the river sections run either side of it, which worked OK, but lacked that visual punch that an actual bridge brings. So I bought one from Leven Miniatures, then scratch built one, as for many scenarios from Grant & Asquith et al, you need more than one. Last year I added to the collection with one from Battlescale. These can all be seen below:

All of my current bridges.

The latest one from Battlescale and 6mm (I think). I had to raise this up by about 2mm so that it could sit astride the Pendraken river sections, as otherwise it just sat on the banks floating in space.

This bridge is wider than the Leven Miniatures one, so tanks can generally sit quite comfortably on it. They do a cobbled version which in hindsight I wish that I'd bought, as blending the colours into my road sections was tricky, but sort of works.

My 'old' Leven Miniatures bridge, that I cut into my existing river sections as this was pretty much the only way to get it to work. Not as flexible as the freestanding ones, but visually much nicer.

The bridge is much narrower and so any tanks, or even 1" wide infantry bases sit on the bridge sides rather than the bridge itself. Still, it's a lovely piece and probably looks better for earlier periods.

A really simple scratch build to give me a wooden style bridge, with foam ramps covered in grit, with an MDF central section covered with matchsticks. Quick and very effective.

Perfect for the Eastern Front or hastily assembled bridges by engineers in say the 18thC & 19thC.

The one thing I would takeway from all of these would be to buy the bridges you like first, so that you can check what size river sections would fit underneath, without it being a tight squeeze. It saves a lot of hassle later as I know from experience!

What Next?

Possibly some more simple terrain tweaks or upgrades whilst I'm in the mood. It would be nice to get a game in of something or the other, but nothing floats my boat at present. Of course painting more AFV's is an option that is staring at me from across the painting desk.

As always, thanks for reading and any comments are very welcome.

TTFN.

Some New French Buildings

For the next part in my French-Canadians in Normandy campaign, I wanted to add some more buildings, specifically that ones that has a more 'French' feel to them. These have been a WIP for some time now, so after finishing a batch of PzIV's, I decided to plough on with these and at least get a decent number finished. All of the following are from the Battlescale 6mm range and are based upon 3" x 3" bases.

A cottage with some Pendraken 6mm MDF fencing for some detailing.

A bit of a vegetable garden at the back, that I might add some colour to to represent tomatoes, strawberries etc. Also the red will make the green look more intense.

A farm or stable yard, with a cobbled forecourt. The walls are MDF offcuts coated with a mix of PVA glue and Fine Surface Polyfilla.

The walls have some lovely raised details of stones or bricks sticking out that I chose to pick out to and some visual detail.

One of my newly painted 10mm PzIV's to give an idea of scale.

A house with some additional wings added.

The walls are made from cork and again coated with PVA glue and Fine Surface Polyfilla.

I have a few more in the queue and a church too, that I'd like to get finished before the next campaign game, but let's see if the Muse stays with me or moves back to painting some AFV's. I also need to add some figures to a mix of AFV's for command vehicles etc, for use in my BKCII games. This might be a priority as we have some decent weather forecast these next few days, so I can get some priming done.

Thanks for reading and as always, any comments greatly appreciated!

TTFN.

What A Difference A Desk Makes.

As mentioned in my last post, I decided to try and set up a painting station in the games room, to give me essentially a dedicated painting area, rather than relying upon the kitchen table. I did this a few days ago and so far, it has really made a difference! 

The painting desk, which is essentially my 4' x 2' gaming boards on the trestles I use, but dropped to a normal desk height. This is still in a work in progress, but having so much space is great and being able to leave everything out is a real luxury. It does remind me of my youth and the desk I had in my bedroom that was for homework and painting etc.

The first finished items, 5 x Pz IV's that took 3 days to finish, painting as and when I felt in the mood. This now gives me 9 of them that will expand the sort of BKCII games and scenarios I can put on. 2 x Panthers wait in the wings for their turn to have a camo scheme applied.

Some Battlescale 6mm buildings that I add to in the odd moment here and there.

In the past painting has honestly felt a real chore, but now I'm actually enjoying it for the first time in years:)! No longer do I have to try and fit it in around 'real life' and free time in the kitchen. So I've been doing 15 minutes here, 30 minutes there and it hasn't felt a bind at all. I'm hoping that this will increase my output right across the board. I also aim to use it for figure and AFV prep etc, but any gluing will be done in the kitchen to ensure as much ventilation as possible.

Looking at the set up for the painting and the games room in general, I'm looking to add some more storage to help get things off the floor and looking neat and tidy. A trip to IKEA is likely in the next week or so.

Thanks for reading and any comments greatly appreciated!

TTFN.

If You Want To Make God Laugh, Tell Him Your Wargaming Plans for 2026!

Somewhat of a paraphrase in the title of the post and a bit different to my usual 'Of Mice And Men', one I'd not come across before to be honest, but rather apt I thought! With plenty of time to think things over during the Xmas break, which is always good, and with the house clear and SWMBO back to work, my vague thoughts and aims that could be said to be plans, can be found below, in no particular order.

The Lead Mountain Reduction

I did manage to have the first stab at seeing what I wanted to keep and what would in all likelihood never see the light of day and so could be put into the to be disposed of pile, which was very cathartic and certainly freed up quite a bit of space within the games room. Roughly speaking I'm keeping the following:

• WWII British, Germans, Italians, US Paras, British Paras, Russians, USMC & Japanese.
• Mid-19thC European ImagiNations Forces.
• 18thC ImagiNations Forces.
• Commission Figurines Red & Blue Forces.
• Generic Early-Mid Medieval Forces.

These pretty much cover my main gaming periods and ones that I really enjoy playing, so naturally I want to focus on these first and foremost. This is not to say it was easy to 'discard' other planned forces and projects, such as WWII Poles and French, but even though I love their AFVs and camo schemes and was tempted to keep a small force, they just needed to go. A hard but necessary decision I think, famous last words!

Aside from freeing up space, it also has allowed me to have greater focus on these core periods, starting with trying to tie up all those lose ends for my WWII British, Germans and Italians. Being able to have everything in one place and a drawer for each, has made it so much easier to see what I have and to figure out a painting schedule. Being able to see the positive effects of this sort out has been great.

Books

Having to have to have a bit of a tidy up before the family descended for Xmas, meant I really had to take a long and hard look at all the books I have, especially the ones in the 'to read' pile, which has grown somewhat in the past year. The aim for this year therefore is to be much more selective in what I buy and so far it has worked, with myself even resisting some incredible bargains in the Naval & Military Press sale, trying to focus on books I need rather than those I might want. Time will tell on this of course, but having made the conscious decision, it does feel somewhat liberating if I'm honest.

Rules

Having had some core rules for many years now (BKCII, BPII, HoW, HCII, The Rampant series), I can't see myself being tempted by anything new and flashy, given that 'Midgard' that I bought around Xmas 2024 has not even been read! Some rules will be offloaded to friends, some sold and anything that cannot be shifted will go to the charity shops or for recycling. Long over due for sure and as mentioned many times this past year or so, it makes it so much easier when planning and playing games. Less is more.

Campaigns and Games

This will be very much a continuation of recent years, with the focus being on some narrative campaigns, around 3-5 games long, alongside those off one-off ones and scenarios from the OHW book. Ideas currently are too:

• Finish the French-Canadian Normandy campaign.
• Greece 1940-1941 is calling me in some shape or form.
• An island invasion a la Leros has been on the cards for years, so it would be nice to get this played. Malta is also an idea, once I've read the book I bought last year.
• Sicily & Italy is very much a focus for me at present, with some ideas floating in the background, with a narrative campaign and a fictional 'D-Day Dodgers' force fighting from 1943 onwards.
• Another 'Winerschnitzel Kreig' campaign would be good, once I'm tired of WWII and need a break, plus it will push me towards finishing som emore units, which would of course be a good thing.

Terrain

I have nothing major planned on this front, other than trying to finish of the many BUAs I have in progress, as well as adding and upgrading some of my fields and woods. These will fit in as and when time and motivation allow.

Painting Studio

Currently all of my painting and terrain making etc is mainly done on the kitchen table, which is naturally not always available. This stop-start approach is obviously not ideal, so it occured to me during the pre-Xmas tidy up in the games room, to simply set up my painting station there for most of the year, only moving it out during the Summer when it simply gets too hot in there. this will hopefully increase my painting output, as I can simply walk in, sit down and paint, whenever the Muse is upon me, without all the hassle that is currently involved. I'm looking forward to seeing how this works and if it makes any difference or not. Fingers crossed!

Social Media & Blogs

As touched upon in my previous post, I'm trying to cut down on the former and keep on with the latter, but without the pressure I was putting myself under to produce something on a fairly regular basis. So far this has worked and I've seen an increase in my reading, rather than sitting in front of a screen, which is exactly what I wanted! Alongside this I'm hoping to see a positive impact upon my painting and gaming too. So far, so good.

Well, I think that pretty much covers most things. As always, thanks for reading and any comments greatly appreciated!

All the remains is to wish you all a very Happy New Year!

TTFN.