MINI MECH v1.3 By Rothgar

 Odd Monday

 Begin Transmission: Proserpina

Mechwarrior action detected in Amerigo Prefecture.  Fly over images coming in now on the viewfinder.  Click images for IFF threat identification.
Image 1

This prefecture was considered long inactive but through an agent code named as ROTHGAR certain mechs and vehicles went active all of a sudden.  Intel is blaming this active post on TMP.  Agent ROTHGAR leaked public documents that led to the complete garage turmoil and unearthing of Mechwarrior units long thought to be moth-balled in storage.  It looks like Proserpina is quite active again.

 Image 2

IFF identified Kuritan Mechs of the 9th Benjamin Regulars in open contact with Highlander rebel units.  Again most confirmed sources attribute this renewed hostility to this document  Mini-Mech.  Click on the hotlinks to access all of the files....

 Image 3

Total Chaos in the prefecture.  Highlander units have taken over a major city on Amerigo.

ACTION II

Kuritan Counter attack.  Fought with a M.A.C.T.  of mechwarrior clix.  Big action.  Fast combat.  

Mechy feel. That's Mini-Mech v1.3.  I bragged these rules up to a gaming friend Mr. C.  On Odd Monday he and I would have another test drive of the game.  Once more the streets of Proserpina are awash in the glow of PPC fire and the staccato rhytm of the auto-cannon.

Take the high ground.

The fight at the MILK refinery.

After action pixel.

Endgame foolhardiness.  An assault mech goes for broke.

The printed evidence of agent ROTHGAR's work.

In the two games both lasted close to two hours.  The games featured combined arms of Infantry, Aircraft, Tanks, and Mechs.  48 units total divided into a mech company with supporting infantry platoons and tank lance.  I like a lot of Mini-Mech v.1.3.  The first game had a lot of maneuver that caused gambles with heat.  The second didn't get to portray that as much.  I will be tinkering with this set and will maybe align it with my old WWII rules called D-6.  I like the D6 die mechanism and have used it before.  Thanks for looking in on the blog and check back for more mechtacula action. 

Mini-Mech v1.3 is written by Sean Conlon and is available through the links in the text.

Thanks Sean for a pretty cool set of rules.

Hordes in the Trenches

Secondhand Lions Go "Over the Top" in 

Hordes in the Trenches

Welcome fellow wargamer to the table-side chat of the Secondhand Lion's Thursday night game of World War One.  We used 1/72 scale WW1 minis and the great rules variant for Hordes of the Things set in the time of the Great War.  Listen to the skies overhead and hear the drum of aerial engines as the brave soldiers eye deep in hell look to the front and the mist to see if there is an attack.  The above image shows Field Marshal Van Pelt's quadrant of the front.  The German command had anchored in this trench awaiting a push by the Canadians across no man's land.  

In the distance feint shapes emerge as the Canadians advance.

The command bunker calls in coordinates for a barrage.  The right flank is held by field marshal Haworth.  His artillery is exploding in fury as the mechanical clank of a tank can be heard approaching our trench.

A roar of men shouting and machine gun fire announces the advance of general Wilkowski's force.

General Carr takes the high ground.  A wary commander that wanted to see the effect of the newfangled tank contraption would watch this fight from the heights of hill number 1.  The wires were abuzz with none too complimentary comments back to headquarters about the unreliability of the beast to lumber forward and cause all the claimed destruction.

A view from the cockpit of the Fokker.  Poor bastards are getting gassed down there in the trenches.  You could always tell by that color of smoke...

The assault washes against the trench line like a bloody tide.  This would not be the day that the Germans gave up one foot of ground.

A fly by near the command bunker...

Hold the line boys.  Here we have a rifle company and a sturmtruppe with air support stopping the Canadian advance.

A view from the other side.

The trench seemed a tough nut to crack.  Even with only 1/6 of the wire emplacements.

The Canadian general sounds the retreat call.  Victory for the Germans.

The figures in today's blog are part of the collection of Ken Van Pelt.  The rules were Hordes in the Trenches variant for Hordes of the Things.  We had a  fun evening of sorting out how this game works and what we want it to look and play like.

Cheers.  Clicking images will make them viewable

Bob Wire Entanglements in Hordes in the Trenches

My friend Bob showed me how to make this wire entanglement for 1/72 scale WWI wargaming.  So how do you make Bob wire?  Well the photo slide show below is how I made 6 feet of the stuff for my upcoming Hordes in the Trenches game.

Here we have some barbed wire.

 Looks pretty real.  Each of the sections is based on a 20mm x 60mm cardstock base.

The wire sections are made by rolling a single thread of screen wire around a dowel and then slide it off and glue into place on the barbed wire fence posts section.

You need to mass produce these because it is easier to work in great bulk when creating this stuff.

Here is a section with the wire added.

The wire is a single strand of mesh aluminum screen that you will need to cut from a screen with a pair of scissors.

That's the stuff there.

Cut from this stuff here.

I originally thought that cutting all I would need first would be to my benefit.  Not so.  I got a lot of strands out of this hairball but the stuff works just like the real thing and becomes entangling very quickly.

You will have better success if you flock your stands of wire first so that the final assembly is just gluing the wire in on top of the fence post and the terrain flocking.

This is my WWI flocking recipe for gravelly dirt and stone.  Also you can see my fence post sections taped together to make a mass assembly.

That's how you do it.  These have all been primed grey with flat grey metal primer from Waldonia.

Here is my recipe for flocking cement.  I use white glue and an acrylic paint.  Mix it and apply with a large acrylic brush.

This is how I made my fence posts.  Some are deliberately askew to give a more realistic presentation.

Here is a close up.  I made the fence posts by cutting up bamboo skewers and some wooden dowels.

Hot glue these onto your base cardstock and then prime, flock and add wire.

That's how I made Bob's wire.