Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2025 i Miniature Wargames

Upon the heights of Queenston one darkOctober dayInvading foes were marshalled in battle’sdread arrayBrave Brock looked up the rugged steepand planned a bold attack“No foreign flag shall float”, said he“above the Union Jack.” The Battle of Queenston Heights (song) Alan Mills BACKGROUND These scenarios are based on the bibliography outlined in the first part of this article, drawing mainly on Gregg Adams work, the work of Stuart Asquith and informed by Mike Hobbs scenario in the Sharp Practice supplement as well as a visit to the battlefield itself. I think the terrain is more complex than Mr Hobbs gave it credit for, but his take is certainly worth a look. These scenarios are written for the Rebels & Patriots rules by Micheal Leck and Daniel Mersey, but should be adaptable for…

This should be appearing at the Salute show. Watch out in case it corners you! Ed. BOLD NEW FRONTIER Like everyone else in this hobby I have a list of projects: a long list. A few things on that inventory have progressed to concept or test models, but many are just at the ‘ideas’ stage. The only way I’m going to make any progress on that list is not add to it. But that’s not how this hobby works. It’s full of gamers who should really know better than making outlandish suggestions to me for new miniatures, like the guys from Bunny Badger Games for example. If you’ve been to one of the larger UK gaming shows you may have encountered one of their satirical participation games poking fun at a…

Earlier this year the editor suggested that I build a Pueblo-style structure and that it could be historical or Sci-Fi. I rose to the challenge and knocked together this model over the course of a couple of weeks. In the past I have built similar Adobe hovels but soon found out that Pueblo buildings have a slightly different style with multiple storeys, thinner walls and a very distinctive colour. After researching the Pueblo building style on the internet, I sketched up a number of simple designs and based this model on one of my pen sketches. In addition I tried to use only recycled or scrap material and household staples to both model and detail the structure. I started with some corrugated cardboard (a fruit packing case from a supermarket)…

ATLANTIC PURVEYOR Battle Scale news from across the pond Wargames Atlantic are – as ever – hard at it. They have two new releases in their Battle Scale ranges: The first is a supplement to their Samurai and Ashigaru boxes which are already out they have a box of Samurai Command: £25 buys up to 108 10mm soldiers and accessories with Taiko Drums and Drummers; foot and mounted Messengers; a dozen Jinmaku sections (sort of beach windbreakers!) with two Standing, four Seated, and two Mounted Daimyos (or Generals), plus Signallers (foot and mounted); a dozen banners with Uma-jirushi Standard Bearers plus two dozen various Hata-jirushi Command Stands and Bearers. And – if Japan isn’t your thing – how about an Orc Horde? In the same scale it comes as a…

INTRODUCTION One of the things that often draw us into a new wargame period is an image. A photograph of a Sherman or Tiger tempts us into WWII. A painting of dashing commander in his armour and sporting a terrific wig can drag us into horse and musket wargaming just as easily as a movie still from a fantasy film convinces us that we want to paint some orcs and elves and dig out our Warhammer or Lord of the Rings rules. There are a handful of shocking and disturbing photographs from the Vietnam War, but one that has always stuck in my mind was taken in Saigon at the height of the Tet Offensive in 1968. The snap “Saigon Execution” won photojournalist Eddie Adams the Pulitzer Prize and it…

PROJECTILE DILEMMA An aspect of fighting toy soldier battles, apparently not much considered by H.G. Wells in Little Wars, was the actual damage caused by the metal projectiles shot by the deadly toy 4.7 inch guns to the Britain’s toy soldiers used for his games. Hollow cast (a process invented by William Britain Junior whereby still molten lead was poured out of the toy soldier mould, leaving a thin layer of metal to be removed and painted) soldiers were much more fragile than the solid metal wargame figures in use today and easily damaged when children played with them – one of the reasons why original figures are now both rare and expensive. Their fragility, and the following lines from A Martial Elegy for Some Lead Soldiers by Robert Louis Stevenson,…

I have said on many occasions that Hammerhead is – all round – probably my favourite show of the year, and this year’s event did nothing to change my mind on that front. Post covid (gosh that seems such a long time ago) the show still hasn’t reoccupied the extended “Gamers’ Lounge” area which is, to be frank, a mixed blessing: on a fine day it was a pleasant stroll across the car park with extra catering facilities, but – at a windy, wet event – it was a slog to get to (especially carrying a tripod…). There is still catering at the event, though, with a seating area but it can often be quite ‘rammed’ with hungry wargamers so the organisers (Forest Outlaw Gamers and Kallistra) have arranged for…

INTRODUCTION The Russian army and as many civilians as were able, abandoned Moscow on September 14. The French had just won the Battle of Borodino and little stood between them and the capital. Between September 14 and 18 Count Fyodor Rostopchin, the military governor of Moscow orchestrated the widespread burning of buildings in the capital to deny the French shelter and loot. Thousands of houses and dozens of churches were torched in the controversial move. It worked, as by the middle of October, the French army was ordered to withdraw in the face of punishing winter weather. Straggling columns of French troops, laden with loot, headed west. As the weather worsened and the Russian raids intensified, the morale of the French troops plummeted. 100 MILES WEST OF MOSCOW At Vyazma…