2 Battlegames

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Copy and advertising closing date for next edition: August 7th 2008

Blame Neil Shuck. It was while I was being interviewed for our first

View from the Veranda podcast that he asked me to explain why issue 17, which had March/April clearly printed on the cover, hadn’t arrived through his letterbox until May.

After squirming a bit and offering all kinds of convoluted explanations, it

dawned on me that the best thing I could do, after vainly resisting for three years now, was to simply give up and start conforming to industry norms. Hence the radical change to the dates on the cover: instead of it reading May/June, which was the period during which the magazine was produced, it now reads July/August, which are what a newsagent would call the ‘on sale’ dates.

So, as I’ve said before when there have been little wobbles in the magazine’s stated dates, don’t panic – just go by the issue number, and you’ll see that you’ve missed nothing at all, not even so much as a comma.

Meanwhile, a lot has happened since the last issue, some of it good, such as a trip to Partizan in May which, for the first time in my experience, was the occasion for an entire long weekend in Nottingham during which the sun shone. I met lots of lovely people and Annie and I had a splendid curry with the Perry boys and more socialising on the Sunday night too.

On the other hand, my ageing Mac G5 finally gave up the ghost in the middle of putting together this edition, which led to a couple of weeks of frantic technological incapacity, not helped by the replacement machine that I ordered being faulty. Cutting what turned into something of a saga short, I was treated to an education in poor customer service by a company that really should know better, and the whole sorry affair was only brought to a conclusion after I threatened to go to the papers with the story and instructed my leasing company not to pay.

I also celebrated a birthday at the end of May (my 48th if you feel like sympathising), on which occasion I was delighted to take my lovely godchildren to a local park, where there is something of an adventure playground area for the bolder youngsters, including one of those splendid commando-type ‘zip lines’ where, with a helpful shove from a handy adult, your offspring can scream at the top of their voices for their suspenseful journey of some twenty metres.

Editorial Contents

Cover: Clarence Harrison’s magnificent work graces our cover this month and inside you’ll discover precisely how to make that magnificent Spanish abbey atop the hill being assaulted by French infantry and defended by elements of the Light Division. The sharpe-eyed will spot Front Rank and Foundry figures.

Editorial 3

Good for sci-fi 4Diane Sutherland, UK

Forward Observer 7Mike Siggins, UK

Plastic? Don’t panic! 9Henry Hyde, UK

Talking wargaming: dicey situations 12Chris Scott, UK

Red alert! Shields up! 15Bob Barnetson, Canada

Table top teaser 21C. S. Grant, UK

To boldly go 26Roger Smith, UK

The Abbey of Santo Diago 28Clarence Harrison, USA

Recce 33New goodies reviewed by our team

Events July/August 2009 43Richard Tyndall, UK

The Battlegames Combat Stress Appeal: update 44Our campaign to help support ex-service personnel continues

The Battlegames shop 45The place to order your subscription and much more Competition 46

Win a copy of Osprey’s Men-at-Arms: a CelebrationBattlegames classified ads 46

Sell or announce your stuff here

As is my wont, I got rather carried away in performing the said propulsion duties, obliging not just my own godchildren, but a queue of other youngsters too, many of whom looked suspiciously older than the stated maximum of 12 years.

Suffice it to say that, after about half an hour of this, and just as I was starting to think that a cold G&T and a lie down might be in order, my right arm emitted a strange ‘pop’, followed by a sickening pain. Yes, I had torn the ligaments in my elbow.

Children being what they are, even as I stood there turning pale, grimacing and trying not to swear, a little Shirley Temple look-alike gazed up at me sweetly and said, “Oh, go on mister, give us another go!”

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Good for sci-fiThe continuing tales of a wargames widow

by Diane Sutherland

You may recall my astonishment (see Battlegames Issue 13) when I see grown men circling lumps of discarded polystyrene. I now know that they

have “bags of potential”, but potential for what pray?“Sci-Fi,” I am reliably informed.“Pardon? Doesn’t look much like a Klingon Bird of

Prey to me,” I assert, flexing my Star Trek credentials. I’m actually quite proud that I can tell the difference between a Romulan and Robbie the Robot.

“Bunker,” came the less than adequate reply.Now correct me if I’m wrong, but I cannot visualise a

hill near Boston, Massachusetts, circa 1770s, with anything sitting on it that looks like that. Maybe it was underground and that’s why it was called Bunker Hill, I muse. You can see how the most innocent remark can instantly mutate historical facts, rather like Wikipedia I suppose.

bEveryone has a “bits box”, don’t they? You know, the abandoned projects, the optional extras for a kit that you couldn’t be bothered to stick on, extra tracks, useful looking accessories that have languished in a box somewhere, the original kit long since thrown out or sold on. There are other sources of materials for a bits box too. Plumbing spares, children’s straws, bottle tops, old containers, broken toys, scraps of plastic, old sprues and, of course, lumps of polystyrene.

The wargamer is a natural hoarder, squirrelling away bits and pieces that no sane individual would ever see the value, the purpose or the sheer effort of thinking about. The bits box is an absolute must for the wargamer with a science fiction predilection. There are no rules about what things look like, no reason why you can’t make what on earth you want with whatever you have to hand. Who is to say that the

Thraag from planet Zog didn’t build their defence bunkers like that? Alright, there are rules and regulations for some of the more overtly controlling game systems like Warhammer 40,000 and it is frowned upon to stick a child’s plastic water pistol onto the chassis of a First World War tank and call it a Rhino. That doesn’t stop you from customising your Games Workshop kit with odd little gems from the bits box.

We all get a bit hung up on what things are supposed to look like. Putting space marine back packs on Perry plastic Napoleonic British and arming them with laser rifles instead of Baker rifles might give you that SF unit you’ve

The raw material for the bunker. It is easy to see the potential already, a large opening for vehicles and blast-proof walls on top for defence.

One of our bits boxes, full of retained goodies, including unused parts from Warhammer buildings.

Thinking laterally here, a shampoo bottle top fitted to a cocktail stick box, a Rhino hatch, straw, decorative bead and a stick of balsa. Hey presto, a

bomb proof entrance to an underground complex.

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always dreamed of creating, so why not? Death to the rules fascists! What do they know (assuming you don’t mind being ridiculed and frog-marched out of an official tournament)?

Back in the 1970s and early 1980s when Laserburn SF rules were the leading set, the options were limited. A handful of weird and wonderful ranges, no terrain, no buildings and no vehicles to speak of, improvisation reigned and it’s something we’ve never quite got out of our systems. We fell out of love with science fiction for some years, the rules became too restrictive and we certainly missed our opportunities to create things from scrap.

What about this bunker then? OK, so it’s half the packaging from a DVD, computer screen, microwave, you know the sort of thing. It sits flat on the table and has interesting lumps and bumps all over it. Hell, it looks like a bunker already! Look at your bunker from every angle – your eyes will quickly tell you where the problems are and where the features need to be added. Flat surfaces could become landing pads or you could use them to mount gun emplacements.

Big gaps, holes and ‘entrances’ can present you with problems. You need to ask yourself whether you want to be able to put figures inside; for us, the answer is usually no. A piece of flat card, plastic or corrugated card can be fitted to fill the gaps; think about detailing the doorways with panel pins or staples for handles and extra card to give the impression of a solid steel door. Plastic kit builders will have a huge advantage here; the bits box will always reveal something of value.

Despair not if you aren’t an inveterate kit builder. The home conceals valuable items to adorn your bunkers. Plastic tops from bottles of hair or fabric conditioner, plastic pots and containers and even children’s plastic straws are all valuable. Be adventurous, we promise that

no one will ever recognise or guess that you’ve used an ear bud lid for that plasma gun mounting.

Old children’s toys are great too. We are not suggesting that you cherry-pick items from your children’s toy boxes, it’s not big or clever. However, do hover when the toy box gets its periodic “you’re too old to play with that anymore” clean-outs or just take a trip to a car boot sale. It might take

a little explaining as to why you are picking through the “anything for 10p” box while an eagle-eyed eight-year-old stallholder makes sure you’re not stealing his stock.

A word of warning on adhesives: superglues and general purpose glues will ‘eat’ your bunker, so always use white wood glue. It takes longer to set, but it will mean that your bunker won’t look

as if it’s been built on the sun. Mind you, careful practice with these glues can ‘melt’ parts of your bunker so you can imply battle damage.

Remember that you’ll not only want the bunker to look great, but you’ll want to put figures on and around it. Leave enough space for firing positions and always check you’ve left enough room to accommodate your average size of base.

There are two ways of tackling the texturing and painting of the bunker. We still use both, but have become more inclined towards the second method after having to patch up dropped or scuffed bunkers in the past. A solid coat of the same colour, (obviously not a Joseph fan then) means that if you knock the bunker then repairs are a lot easier.

Traditionally, a wall filler method was used. To have complete control over the texturing, always mix your own. Buy the cheapest powdered wall

filler, own brands are fine. You’ll want either a ‘brush-on-able’ consistency or a ‘smooth on’ blend. Big brush applications are great and really fast – just slap it on, all the

The front half of a children’s toy stuck on top of a German 88mm gun base.

A finished bunker – note the use of parts of an Airfix girder bridge, table tennis balls, and children’s plastic bendy straws for the pipework.

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imperfections will be covered and you can work the filler into the nooks and crannies. For a more rough finish, add fine play sand to the mix. It’s harder to apply and tough on your brushes, but the effect is great. Practice will always make perfect, just don’t be dainty about it. The alternative is to apply your mix with a palette knife or simply a plastic catering knife, which will give you a smoother finish, but you might prefer that anyway. Using either method means you can sand down afterwards and deal with the runs and rivulets that are inevitable with a job like this.

The next stage is to paint. Again, use a big brush. We can pick up the detailing later and the application of an overall coat of dark grey will give you a good undercoat for the detailing. We use cheap DIY store slate greys. Try to find an acrylic based paint: it’s easier to water down, flows better and is generally more matte. If you fail to find a dark grey, just add some black craft paint to the mix.

We tend to apply two or three shades of colour on the basic bunker structures. First the dark grey, then add some white, then use just the white for a highlight. Remember you’re working on a larger area here than a figure or a smaller building and the paint will take longer to dry.

If you cannot bear the thought of making your bunker in an overtly DIY kind of way with wall filler, then skip this process and go for the paint and sand mix. It’s harder to apply the first coat straight onto the polystyrene, so we’d recommend giving the whole of the structure a coat of grey paint first, otherwise you’ll find yourself patch painting over and over again. DO NOT be tempted to use a spray can to save you time: the propellant will eat the polystyrene. We did it once even after covering the whole model with wall filler and it still rotted the bunker.

The sand and paint mix needs to be fairly runny otherwise it is impossible to apply. Apply the mix thickly and then, if you don’t think the texturing is good enough, sprinkle on extra sand or simply give it another coat.

Once dry, you can chip off or over-paint your mistakes. We tend to go for a deep bronze or a dull steel colour for doors, hatches and other metallic protrusions and protectors. A lighter highlight over the top of dull metallic base coat finishes them off.

Adding rust and dirt to the bunkers gives them that ‘lived in’ look. We add drips of rust from the metal objects, allowing them to run down the sides of the bunkers. Watered down Vallejo Rust is great of course, but any dirty brown-red would do. The same goes for dirt. We just can’t imagine your regular bunker owner calling up a cleaning contractor – these are fighting structures,

not apartments opposite Harrods in Knightsbridge. Use a light earth brown and give it a quick dry brush, add the dirt detail (and this might be difficult for most of you to understand) where dirt would naturally gather. Nooks and crannies and around entrances are best.

Bunkers aren’t the only things you can make with odd bits and pieces. We’ve made entrances with a fabric conditioner bottle top and a cocktail stick box. Automated guns can be made with the turret from a children’s tank or vehicle mounted onto half a Smarties tube. [For overseas readers, Smarties are like M&Ms, but come in a useful little cardboard tube. Ed.] Cheap plastic vehicles, aircraft and spacecraft not only look great with a decent paint job and a bit of customisation, but they give you a chance to create something that is truly unique. Snap them up when you see them because, as is the way with such products, you will be likely never to see them again. It’s worth the small investment.

Be imaginative, it’s SF after all. In next to no time you’ll be a frequent visitor to the local discount store. Their toy sections are full of the most atrocious rubbish, too naff, too dangerous or too garish for little Johnny to play with, but ideal for you. If you are anything like my husband and his wargame buddy Tim, the whole family, neighbours and acquaintances all know about their obsessive hoarding

habits. The net result is an ever-growing collection of pieces of polystyrene, plastic, broken toys and other people’s junk littering both mine and Pat’s homes.

bThank God for recycling bins and our husbands’

goldfish-like memory, otherwise I could open my own scrapyard and earn a fortune from the EU as an innovative environmentally-friendly recycling programme. Now that’s an idea, I wonder if there’s government funding for that.

Grand Designs it ain’t and there’s no way I’d want to live in some weird cross-breeding of the Maginot Line and a Docklands multi-storey car park. For years I’ve lived with oddly-shaped polystyrene, gnarled pieces of plastic that get an outing every now and then (often requiring the eviction of a spider that has taken up residence amongst the children’s straws). I must admit, I’ve seen the least promising lump of foam transformed over the space of a couple of evenings (see what I did there?) into a creditable SF structure that would be prohibitively expensive in resin. Wargames widows beware, just make sure that the next labour-saving device you buy isn’t chosen on the basis of the packaging. Mind you, the mist maker’s packaging would make a great helipad. Now I’m at it!

Bunkers by the score. Note the use of children’s toys and there is even a half section of sewer pipe that has been sprayed silver to make an aircraft hangar.