Where is the painted stuff, Chris?

Random musings - or - why aren't there any updates, Scream?

Hello my fellow bloggers and followers. Some of you might have asked themselves why the post count on my blog became increasingly fewer and fewer over the recent weeks. That's due to two reasons: new job and my other major hobby: festivals!
Numero Uno - the new job. It's an entirely new field of working, some sort of job like I never did before (I have a craftsman background, now its an office job). Its taking its time to get used to and my painting mojo was not really that high within the last two months either.

And then number two: festivals. Over here in Germany the festival season is in full swing. And if its heavy metal or medieval folk rock/pagan or viking metal then we (that's me and the mates) just can't let it pass without going there to have a good time.

So, instead of painted miniatures something entirely new on this blog: real people :-)

Me and the mates. Btw, I am the guy with the black hat on the far right side.

Rapalje - covering Manowar's "The crown and the ring" !

 Give me a cup of (ice) coffee and no one gets hurt!

"Victor and his demons" are going to town...

Naseweis Met (mead) - what would we have done without you? Probably have gone home with more money still in our pockets... :-)

Thank god - finally some normal people.

Eluveitie. If you don't know them - check out this video

Oh, and before I forget: there are at least a few new painted miniatures. But since they are for Warhammer 40,000 you'll have to check out my other blog, too: www.swordofordon.blogspot.de
Stay tuned, more miniatures to follow soon. :-)

Chris

FoF "Grundausbildung". A little gift to my fellow German gamers.

I've been asked by a couple of users of German wargaming-related forums I frequently browse through, if I could do some example of Force On Force gameplay in German.
After I asked Shawn at AAG for permission (which I received), I spent the whole day with translating examples that Shawn himself had created. He used drawn maps to give gamers a better understanding of what was described in the text. I went for a more appealing approach and set up a gaming table and brought my miniatures to get some exciting pictures taken.

Here are a couple of the pics I used as an example:

The German version can be found here


Die deutsche Version der Beispiele für Force On Force Spielsituationen könnt ihr hier finden.



Ambush Alley Games recently has created a Wiki page that does include those example in their original English version. I do recommend to save that page in your favourites. There is more and more of free stuff for FoF gamers available and you'll always will find it there!

100,000 views. I am speechless

Hi there,
well I just clicked my own blog today and there it is: 100,000 views as of this morning! I can barely describe how that feels. This is nothing but my private little non-profit portal showing around my hobby stuff and talk about releases of friends' little miniature companies. That I would reach more than 100,000 views within one year I wouldn't have thought possible.

Some of you that follow blogger on a regular basis might have noticed that it was a little quiet over the summer months. Obviously there are reasons. For one that I am going through some rough times with a family member being seriously ill and for second, because I have started a second blog (yeah, that's right - another one) that completely will cover my Warhammer 40,000 related hobby endeavours. You can find it at www.swordofordon.blogspot.com
Last but not least I am also still into developement and testing of Force On Force supplements and I have to take care of two forums of which I am a moderator, which means I have to read a lot and take care of "my" communities (of which most are grown up enough to basicly run on their own).

So what's going to happen here in the future? Well, we at Ambush Alley Games have another bunch of books coming up soon. Ambush Valley Vietnam will be released this month (October) as well as Tomorrow's War going to follow right away.

Work continues on another four main supplements for release next year and some additional projects that are supporting Force On Force but aren't exactly Osprey releases (which means they will probably be .pdf download only).

My moderns are on hold at this moment for I am painting 40k stuff en masse (watch the blog!). Nevertheless I have decided to finish off the mid-'90s Bundeswehr that I started years ago, I have artillery support for both, Marines and Army (US) on my painting table and the ever present Chinese PLA will get finished hopefully later this year.

I'd like to thank all of you who visit this blog and comment about my stuff. I also would like to say "thanks" to Brian, Rob, Shaun, Mathew and all other vendors who allow me to bring their latest stuff in my hobby news section. You are supporting our hobby by fulfilling our wishes!

Thanks to all of you, who also are members at the AAG forum, The Guild and the German GW-Fanworld ("moderns" part of the forum) for your support, your criticism and nice comments. You are a great community that I am glad to be member of.

Once again my personal gratitude to Piers (aka Big P from GMG) who brought me into this - its all your fault, mate! :-D

Stylish Blogger Award

Well, first off: thanks, Donogh ( http://donoghmccarthy.blogspot.com/2011/04/stylish-blogger-apparently.html ) for adding me to this.

1. Thank and link back to the person giving you the award.

Done, thanks, Donogh.

2. Share seven things about yourself.

a) The Avatar pic is not me. But I guess you knew that. :-)

b) It shows a TV character that coincidently bears the same first name in that show: Chris.

c) I am not a soldier, yet I am surrounded by many of them (no, I am not in custody) LOL

d) I love Lagavulin. Google it, if you don't know what it is. No, I am not an alcoholic.

e) I am a Metalhead since I was four years old. According to some family members I was dancing to "I wanna be somebody" from W.A.S.P. at that age. \m/

f) Apart from camouflage I don't have anything but black coloured stuff to dress in. No, I am not an Emo. ;-)

g) I cannot stand stupid people and I get annoyed by watching the news easily. :-)

3. Select 10-15 blogs who you think deserve this award.

Phew, that's hard. I mean, I watch many blogs because certain themes in there are of interest to me (while others aren't). Well, I guess I just list 10 of them.

• Gruntz! For being a 15mm epiphany http://www.gruntz.biz/




• Cold War Gone Hot for painting awsome amounts of Russian troops http://coldwarhot.blogspot.com/




• Dropship Horizon for being there (yep, that simple) http://dropshiphorizon.blogspot.com/




• Plastic Warriors for his love to 1/72 http://plasticwarriors.blogspot.com/




• Red Line Painting Service, because he's a good guy all around http://redlineps.blogspot.com/




• The War Depot for his nice set of A-stan terrain http://wardepot.blogspot.com/




• Wargames & Walking because of his love for Force on Force http://wargamesandwalking.blogspot.com/




• Erestor for his painting skills http://warpainter-erestor.blogspot.com/




• Donogh for being an inspiration so many times http://donoghmccarthy.blogspot.com/




• hetairoi for his many interesting articles http://hetairoiwargames.blogspot.com/
  

4.- Contact these bloggers and let them know about the award.

Will do. ^^

Force On Force: new website, new forum design, new Quickstart rules and free stuff

Hi,

just posting to let you guys know about the new website of Ambush Alley Games being online now as well as the forum being re-designed and back up. If you haven't joined yet, now's the perfect time!

Furthermore there are new, free download Quick Start Rules that explain the basic game mechanics, so if you are interested in the game, why don't have a first glimpse at the core rules first? You can find them for free in the right column of this blog or at the new website of AAG.

Shawn and Peggy also have put out a free set of Fog Of War cards, so you can download them and don't have to damage your books. You can find them under "downloads" at the website or you can use my blog (right column).

cheers,
Chris

Modern US Army: Abrams tanks WIP - turrets finished

Thank you, real life - for letting me have off from work for once. Oh happy day, I was able to put finishing touches to the Abrams turrets. Due to a lot of feedback that my vehicles appear to be too "clean" for frontline armour, I had a go on those turrets with Tamiya's superb weathering sets. These sets come with three boxes of pigmet powder in various tones and a dual applicator (one side a brush, the other a pen-type Weathering Stick). Please note that no matt varnish was applied when I took these pics. It is absolutely necessary to apply a coat, otherwise the pigmets will stick to your fingers everytime you grab your toys!!! See the frontside of the armoured turret hull - the vertical weathering was done with the applicator stick.

A close up of the weathering in various tones of pigment.

Another shot of the frontside. I used "Sand", "Light Sand" and "Dust" to apply those faded lines.

See the dust and pigments on the turret top? These were applied with the brush side of the applicator tool.

I mixed all pigments that came in the sets from Tamiya and used the applicator tool's brush to "drybrush" (the technique is the same as with a acryl or enamel paint) dust and sand into all recesses. Note the duffel bags in the lower part of the pic - it shows traces of multiple tones of pigment.

With the pen-side of the applicator I brushed carefully over all weld seams. I also applied dust to where the crew would most likely have went over on the top of the turrets.

The barrel of "Columbia 2", 2nd platoon, Charly Company, Task Force 1-64

The barrel of "Carnitore", 2nd platoon, Charly Company, Task Force 1-64

Multiple pigments were mixed and applied heavily over the complete stowage, just as it would have been in a sand storm.

The strong amounts of powder in-between the items in the stowage bins creates a very realistic look.

Wargaming "Moderns", Resources Vol. 4: in-depth knowledge about historical conflicts

Welcome to Volume #4 of my series of articles about books which will help you getting your historical gaming of "Moderns" right. This time I will introduce to you Osprey Publishing's "Essential History" series. What are these about? Well, they are as the name already says a collection of essential knowledge about a certain era in history. As Osprey's focus is on the human history of warfare, they do of course first and foremost portray conflicts in history. If you want to game a certain era you feel interested in, you normally need to know something about the background of the conflict. Most likely the questions you need to answer before you start collecting forces are

• when was it fought,


• where,


• by whom,


• and most important: why?

The "Essential History" series does help to cover these questions with in-depth detail and knowledge to find all answers you need. Once you found what forces were deployed, it's easy to pick a miniature-producer of your choice, buy your force and use "Warrior", "Vanguard" or "Elite" series of books, to paint and build them accordingly. If you know when in history you are fighting, your resources of books will help you not to field a variant or technology that wasn't available. If you know who did fight, you might find it out of a sudden interesting to field troops, that most never heard of before participating (like fielding French Armor, instead of US in Desert Storm - yes, they were there!). Detailed information about whom you are facing helps determining, what you need to collect as an opposing force. Why the war was fought is by all means most important - it helps to come up with own scenario ideas or mission objectives.

Osprey does produce a lot of books in this series, most of them that are already released will give you an insight into the conflict you are most likely to play. Step by step, they also un-cover what was long hidden from public. Politicians and regimes and their very own agenda of reasons to send troops into a war, the truth behind some of the real goals they wanted to achieve.

Who were the strong men (or women) behind the governments of the era in focus, how did they behave - aggressive or rather diplomatic? Who lead the forces, successfully or pathetic? How did the war unfold, air campaign and ground conflict described in detail.

What was the Chronology of the war? What goals where achieved and when? When and where did the most important operations take place and who won those battles? This series of books will help you to answer all of these questions.

Combined with the other series Osprey has in stock and the forthcoming campaign packs and supplements for Force On Force, gamers will have unprecedented knowledge about the forces and wars they fight with miniatures. I doubt any other game or publisher ever has presented playing history in such a detail as you can cover with those books.

Wargaming "Moderns", Resources Vol. 3: books and guides for vehicles

As I have promised, the third volume of my articles on "wargaming moderns" is all about the armored behemoth of the battlefield: tanks and military vehicles in general. Let's face it: infantry actions are fun and challenging, but if you really want to blow some things up in your tabletop games, you know you want to have a tank or at least an APC or vehicle of some sort in your army. On the market for the military enthusiast there are some great book titles to help you sort out your needs. Same goes for the plastic or resin kit modeller and of course for the tabletop gamer.

Most military vehicles tend to stay in service over decades, although there will be newer technologies implemented at some time during that period of service. Sometimes it's confusing when or where a certain variant of a vehicle was used. In other conflicts different variants (new and old) where used side by side in an army. Some vehicles only got new guns, others better armor or just some more high-tech sights and sensors. Other military vehicles recieved a totally new silhouette because of a re-design of turret or hull. So, how does the avarage gamer find out what he needs for a certain period in military history? Let's first have a look at Osprey Publishing's "New Vanguard" series of books. Osprey offers a huge amount (really! it is huge) of books in this series. Covering most vehicles ever used in an armed conflict. Be it WW2 stuff or the latest inventory like the US Army's Stryker wheeled vehicle. As you can see above there is books about the history, deployment and variants of the US HMMWV and ABRAMS tank for example, but also about Russian-built stuff like T-55 tanks or the British WARRIOR infantry fighting vehicle. Osprey not only offers books about the ground vehicles, they even have "New Vanguard" series books about helicopters - Hind or Cobra to name just two. Check out the huge list on their website!

So, why did I invest in those books? Well, I have started to collect them - because they are some of the finest books on the market if you need to get details about armor, weapons and transport capacities etc. of such vehicles. This is important, as Force On Force (and most other games) represent such technical detail in their rules. Force On Force allows you to create your own stats for vehicles, but also comes with a representative list of most of the common military vehicles used by the most important countries. If you don't find the variant you want to use in your scenario, "New Vanguard" will help you to construct balanced yet realistic stats.

If you want to find high quality pictures for conversions into certain variants of your miniature tanks, the books give you an insight un-challenged on the market. They also cover the full history of developement, a series of articles about their use in conflicts (past and ongoing), their battlefield performances against different opponents and many fully coloured plates to reveal full detail about them. Especially the coloured drawings are of interest for gamers and painters, as they do show a lot of interesting camouflage options, tactical markings and other stuff close-up. The picture above is an example out of the book about the Russian BMP vehicle. (It comes handy for my collection, as the Iraqis I currently build a force for have used them a lot).

Another book I recently got my hands on is from Concord Publishing's "Mini Color Series". It doesn't have any developement history, it doesn't compare the abilities with other opponent vehicles, nor does it have the nice colour plates of the Osprey books. So, what does it have?

What made it interesting for me was the gigantic amount of colour pictures directly from the frontlines of the famous "Thunder Runs" of the armord units of 3rd ID. I was building (actually I still am) lots of US Army vehicles (where Osprey's books came in handy) and was looking for a way to make them look like 3rd ID's tanks during the invasion into Iraq 2003. They were looking a bit like gipsy (please, no offence) waggons. Covered with gear, rucksacks, tents, water tanks, jerry cans etc. I was trying to achieve the same look on my 20mm vehicles. The internet did give me some idea but defenitily not enough. Concords' book was able to show me what I needed to know. So, if you are considering realistic vehicles for a setting in Iraq during the early stages of the conflict 2003-2004, I recommend to look for this book, too.

Wargaming "Moderns", Resources Vol. 2: books and guides for regular infantry

Hi there, welcome to another volume of articles on gaming "moderns". This time I'd like to introduce the very handy series of Osprey Publishing's "WARRIOR" books. Like the last time I am going to concentrate on the conflicts I am personally interested in: the Middle East and Afghanistan. Please note, that Osprey has this series of books also about conflicts like Vietnam or the Arab-Israeli wars etc.!

Compared to the "Elite" series of books, the "Warrior" ones concentrate on line troops. The regular grunt, performing missions and fighting in the conflicts around the world.

When it comes down to paint miniatures for Force On Force, searching pictures for reference in the internet is a good thing. It has however one major drawback: you mostly never know what time and date the pic was taken. Given the gear of the US Marines and the US Army changed during the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, their appearance changed dramatically, if you compare early deployments with later contingents being sent downrange. For example did the old desert 3-colour BDU (battle dress uniform) retire from service in exchange for the all new digital patterns of ACU (army combat uniform) and desert MarPat (Marine pattern).

In the last decade the US forces not only introduced new body armors, they also changed the camouflage pattern of their uniforms in all military branches. New style of helmets and sometimes even weapons were brought into service and field-tested in the ongoing conflicts. The Osprey Warrior series of books offers a large insight into the active military of the United States, with the books shown below focussing on appearance, mission, gear and training of the US Army in Baghdad in the years 2003-2004 and the USMC in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

This example pic below shows only one of many fully coloured plates out of Osprey's Warrior series (this one is out of US Marine In Iraq). Pages like this do help not only to get a better understanding of the army you wish to collect for your games, it also is a irresistible source as painting guide. Did you for example know, that the US Marines ran around in woodland camo in the early days of the Iraq conflict, because they didn't get enough desert camouflage MOPP suits? Now if you want to collect an USMC army for the first battles of the invasion, this is a fact you should know, so you paint up accurate miniatures - these books will help you to do so.

The books also offers those that didn't serve in the US military some detail on how basic training is performed, what ranks (and their correct abbreviations) the soldiers bear or what common infantry weapons were used in these operations.

You also should know that artwork such as this example is used in similar way in all forthcoming books for Ambush Alley Games' Force On Force - as a matter of fact, the very same artists do colour the forthcoming wargaming rules from Osprey.

How to paint modern US desert camo vehicles

Today I am going to share how I do paint modern US armor camouflage for desert areas. I don't claim my way of painting this is right, nor do I say my colour selection works best. However, given the amount of questions in different forums it seems like people like my vehicle's look. So here is a quick tutorial on "How to paint modern US desert camo vehicles"!

What do you need?

-model (obviously *LOL*)
-TheArmyPainters' Desert Yellow coloured primer spray
-Vallejo's Model Color Desert Yellow (70977), Beige (70917), Iraqi Sand (70819) and Pale Sand (70837),
-Goya's oil paint Burnt Umber (32519) (you can also use MIG products, Schmincke etc.)
-thinner (like substitute for terpentine for oil paints)
-matt varnish spray
-empty mixing pots (two)
-brushes (sizes 2-3 down to 0)
-"drybrush" brushes (one with flat tip, one with round tip)
-a well ventilated area to work in (thinner has a strong odour!)


Step #1
I tend to assemble the models completely. Mostly I do not glue MGs or turrets into place - first off because its easier for me to handle them for painting and also I want turrets that can be pivoted. In the picture above I applied TheArmypainters' new colour primer called DESERT YELLOW. It comes in a huge spray can and has good hiding power. I normally use black primer, so why the change? Simply because it is easier to paint black over desert yellow than the other way around. :-) Let dry for at least 3-4 hours!

Step #2

Once the primer has dried completely, I apply the first layer of paint. I have tried a lot of different makes of paint, but none ever has given me a result that would justify to use only one colour instead of a mix. Lesson learned: mix it, baby! For the layer of paint you can see above I do mix one part Vallejo's DESERT YELLOW (70977) with two parts Vallejo's BEIGE (70917) in a mixing pot. Apply to the whole model, try not to cover the details with too much paint. Try to leave out any recesses, this will later help to add natural shadows.

Step #3

This is a tricky part. I assume most wargamers never worked with oil paint washes. This is a step I use because it is done by most professional kit-modellers and gives a lot of opportunities for awesome results. Oil paints can be found in countless colour tones. Each can be used for adding shades and help making panel lines, recesses or surface structures "pop" out better. For US desert camo I use Goya's BURNT UMBER (32519). You need to thin down oil paint for washes heavily. I mean really heavily. To thin it down, I apply into a mixing pot about a tea spoon of thinner (Goya's SUBSTITUTE OF TERPENTINE) and add a knife point of oil paint. Don't use too much oil paint, go with less first. Stir it until you have a dark brown, thin wash. The substitute of terpentine has a strong odour, so you better work somewhere with good air circulation! Apply the wash over the whole model. If the model has good detail, I recommend to use a matt varnish first, let dry and apply the oil paint wash afterwards. I didn't do on these Abrams tanks, but if you have some particular kits, the terpentine might etch the matériel, so be careful! Oil paint needs time to dry out completely, at least 24 hours. I go with even 36h to be on the safe side.

Step #4

The last step before you can start painting details and do the weathering, is drybrushing the models. Again, I have tried many different colours and found that mixing some is a better solution.

For the drybrushing of the US desert camo, I recommend a mix of one part of Vallejo's IRAQI SAND (70819) with one part of Vallejo's PALE SAND (70837). I drybrush the whole model, putting most effort on edges of armour plates, engine grilles or turret hatches. With the darker recesses, thanks to oil paint wash, the model gets a fine textured surface. I use two different paint brushes for drybrushing such models: a large, flat brush (like GW's CITADEL FLAT DRYBRUSH) and a smaller, round brush (like GW's CITADEL LARGE DRYBRUSH). Use the round tip for the details on the turrets and the flat one for the hull and large armour panels. Important hint for this: use the flat brush to drybrush up and down (don't go crazy in all directions), as the effect of applied brighter colour on the darker surface makes it look like stains of water that has run down. It's a simple but effective first step of weathering right there.

Finally, you can paint the details like stowage, lenses or mounted machine guns etc.

I will later add a pic of the finished tanks. They aren't yet. Questions? Just comment underneath this post, I'll answer. :-)

Wargaming "Moderns", Resources Vol. 1: Gathering intel on the subject

Welcome friends to what I hope will be a continuing series of articles about the subject of wargaming "moderns". I got many private messages and emails from people, who dealt with WW2 or historical gaming before (mostly ancients or middle ages) and from those, who obviously have played computer games or know movies about "modern" warfare. Most of them asked where they find a good start for getting into moderns. Well, the answer is rather easy - searching the internet, get in contact with others on forums such as "The Guild". But in this particular article I want to take a look at books on the subject.

The forthcoming new release of "Force On Force" and its supplements is under the flag of Osprey Publishing - the world's biggest publisher on books about military history and the history of warfare through the ages.

Of course Osprey has a series of books on the topics and conflicts, Force On Force is going to cover. Interesting about this is the fact, that some of the authors of these books are also writing the rules and scenarios you'll later find in your gaming resources. Let's take a look at what's out there - in this example I'll pick what I am personally interested in: Iraq and Afghanistan and the conflicts in those countries, as well as NATO involvement over there.

Osprey has many series of books - for wargaming "moderns" the most interesting ones however are "ELITE" series, "WARRIOR" series as well as "NEW VANGUARD" series and "ESSENTIAL HISTORY". I'll try to cover the others in the next volumes. Let's have a look at the "ELITE" series first:

Both books seen above are written by Leigh Neville, an Australian intelligence specialist with excellent contacts with the US, UK and Australian special forces. Leigh is also writing for Force On Force and the forthcoming supplement called "Enduring Freedom" has large parts of his knowledge packed into some awesome scenarios to game! If you are looking for books on the topic of the rather silent and hidden ops that took place (and well continue to do so nowadays), the Osprey ELITE series "Special Operations Forces in Iraq" and "Special Operations Forces in Afghanistan" are top notch resources.

These books give you an insight in what took place and how missions were performed - it has a lot of potential to go deeper into the subject and find inspiration for many gaming sessions. Coloured images, drawings and tablets of gear and weapons should give the modeller and painter enough ideas on how to paint/convert their figures and vehicles accordingly. If you want to know how to set up a group of SOF soldiers for your games, this will give you an idea where and how to start.

In the next volume I'll write about the Osprey WARRIOR series - those cover the regular troops like the modern US Army or the USMC participating in the ongoing conflicts like those in the middle east.

An interview with "Big P from GMG" - Piers Brand (Ambush Valley's author)

Piers, reading one of the first printed copies of the new Osprey Publishing's Force On Force.

Piers Brand (writer of Ambush Valley, painter and photographer for Force On Force) offered me the chance to do a quick interview with him that is also covering parts of his involvement writing the forthcoming Force On Force supplement for Vietnam, called Ambush Valley.

Piers, you are a wargamer for a long time now. How and when did it start?

I always had toy soldiers. My very first toy was a Corgi King Tiger that my uncle bought back from a trip to Bovington tank museum. I progressed to setting up grand battles with hordes of plastic soldiers to actually wanting to do something with them. What happened was at the age of ten, my uncle and his friends started playing role-playing games and I joined in. They used metal figures and soon my step-father was buying them for me. Weekly trips to a local gaming store became more serious when in 1984 we discovered Warhammer. For the next three years my poor step-father built a huge army of Orcs to face my ever growing Dwarf army. Then around 1988, I joined a local wargames club and embarked upon historical wargaming starting with, of all things, the Indian Mutiny! From there its remained pretty much constant through my life as my hobby.

Tell us a little about your general interests – why do you love wargaming?

Well I have always been a rapid devourer of military history, especially WW2, as I spent part of my early years living with my Grandparents and my Great-Aunt who would tell me stories of the war and buy me books on military history. My love of toy soldiers and model kits led me to find something more to do with them, as just sitting them on a shelf always felt a bit pointless to me. I love all military history but I do have my 'favourite' periods... yet I seem to be constantly adding new ones. What do I love about my hobby? All of it I guess. I love the fact I have something that gives me escapism from the real world and helps me relax and unwind. I also love the social side of the hobby and most of my closest friends are also my gaming buddies. I also love the fact my wife has no interest at all in it...

I know you have learned a lot about history just because your historical gaming needs proper research – is this a fundamental part of the hobby for you?

Yes I think its all part of the same hobby for me. History goes hand in hand with gaming. My university degree was War Studies and I love to read as much as I love to game. I try and be 'historically accurate' but I also have an over active imagination so I indulge in fantasy and sci-fi gaming too. All that said, I never let history get in the way of a good game... as an up coming Austro-British versus French Napoleonic game will prove. I love history and so its a big part of my hobby.

Could you actually enjoy gaming when there is no “story” involved?

I guess so, but I find it so much better with a back story. Even my one off games seem to develop a theme as those who read my AARs will know. I guess its my old RPG days showing through... a good story gets you in the right mood for the game.

You must have stumbled over tons of rules in all those years – do you have any favourites?

Apart from Force-on-Force, actually very few favourites... as I hate reading rules. Rapid Fire is a set I adore and play alot. This is closely followed by Blackpowder which is a recent addition to the stable. Other than that, I still play and love Mordheim from GW and the 2nd Edition of Warhammer holds alot of fond memories, as does the original 40k. The original set of Indian Mutiny rules I had back in 1988 were great but sadly I lost them and have no idea what they were called!

Eventually you came across “Ambush Alley” and "Force-On-Force" – how did you learn about those rules?

You know I cant really remember... But I think it was from Shawn Carpenter (AAG Head Honco and all round gimp) on The Guild. I eventually gave in to his constant pleas and bought them. The rest is history as they say...

You probably have taken them down to your gaming group (Green Machine Gamers) – how was their opinion on those rules?

Indeed I did. The group loved them. The AAG rules are a real regular feature at the club and we hosted an Ambush Alley Day a few years back. They really suit my group very well.

Given that you are an author contributing to Ambush Alley Games’ books now, when did you decide that you want to write for them?

Im not sure I ever did... I think I just fell into it. I wrote a small campaign for AA that went into Wargames Illustrated and from there started using the game for Vietnam. Then somehow I volunteered to write a full supplement on Vietnam. I was hooked on the rules from the moment I got them and I saw the wide potential the system had. I was lucky that Shawn at AAG knew the potential in his rules and was willing to let me try and help out. It started with playtesting the original Force-on-Force and led to 'Ambush Valley' my Vietnam supplement, that is currently being revised and expanded for release by Osprey later this year.

How was the relationship regarding your work with the Carpenter family (the original AAG authors) ?

They are ok... But I dont like their music. Oh wait... Not that carpenter family... Seriously, I think I get on very well with them, especially Shawn who seems to have a similar mindset to me - Too many ideas and not enough time! I wouldnt call it work... Its an extension of my hobby with some people who I now regard as good friends, despite them being on the other side of the Atlantic. Great people to work with and its been an honour to be along for the ride through very exciting times for AAG. I hope the relationship will last a long time... or at least until Shawn wears his mankini again.

You seem to find much interest in Vietnam, which after all is the conflict you are now actively writing about for AAG. Why especially Vietnam?

Not sure really. It was a period that I played at my old gaming club and its imagery hooked me right in. It has everything you could want, even cool music! Its a period that lends itself perfectly to the rule system as well as to gaming and every game we have played has been enjoyable and exciting. Vietnam is also so different from most other wars with such a difference between the combatants. I think it also a rather unique war from the way it was fought and the reception it had at the time, and still does today. Im interested in a lot of wars of the post-war period but Vietnam has come to the fore partly due to how it fitted with the AAG game system. I finally found a system that allowed me to game Vietnam the way I wanted to.

How came you thought the Ambush Alley rules are just perfect for your ideas? What was the special “twist” you were looking for on the market?

I immediately felt at home with the rules. They allow you to use real world tactics and it works. They also keep all players involved all the way through, are quick to play and are easily modified to whatever period you are playing.

With the new releases of Osprey Publishing, distribution of the books will reach corners of the world, that before never heard of Force On Force – why should those people get into FoF rather any other set of rules?

To see pictures of my miniatures of course... Kidding! Force-on-Force is a great game. Its fast, furious and alot of fun to play and you dont need massive armies to get started. Its actually a very cheap entry into the hobby. Its also a game that will make you think and no two games will ever be the same.

Do you have any special tips for gamers that never before played “moderns”? Any hints for newbies?

Play whatever you are interested in. Look around various internet forums, see what other people are playing and whats available and then see what it is you want to play.

Which brings us to the community. You are a well known individual around the world wide web when it comes to wargaming WW2 and the post-WW2 era. How much do you enjoy interacting with the crowd in different forums?

Im not sure Im that well known... But I like being on a variety of forums showing what we are up to Ireland. Their aint much of a hobby scene over here so the internet gives us a great way of interacting with other hobbyists and show off our games and miniatures. I have alot of good friends online and have picked up lots of ideas and tips.

The Guild wargamers forum in particular has a special place in your wargamer-heart. Why?

The Guild is my second home. Its the latest incarnation of a chain of forums run by myself and three other guys. We have been running a wargames forum in one guise or another together for the last six or so years. It also hosts our club forum and alot of the members are close friends of mine. We also met up last year for a huge Cold War bash! The forum is also heavily centred towards 20mm gaming, my preferred scale, but we cover everything. Its also just a jolly nice place to hang out on the internet.

Do you give much about the opinons of the people out there? It sure feels good to have “fans” – but how about people that are trying to point out that something doesn’t look right? How much is their feedback changing your work (modelling and writing)?

My work constantly evolves with other peoples ideas and examples of their work. Thats the greatest strength on the internet is that it allows people to share ideas and also show the results. My style has developed for the better thanks to various peoples comments and ideas over the years. I dont mind people pointing out things that are wrong, but Im also pretty much a stubborn git, so I do tend to do things my way most of the time. Im not sure I have 'fans' though!
We sure hope to see AAG’s books having great success – will you continue to write about eras in history that you have a particular love for?

I hope so. There are several periods that I have begun work on for wargaming supplements, the Iran-Iraq War being one. This is a period, that along with the Indo-Pakistan Wars, fascinates me and I would love to write a wargaming supplement to cover it. I have done a great deal of research on the period and begun work on a few bits. My other big interest at present is the colonial period and I think the AAG system is perfect for this. I would love to develop a set of rules for AAG to cover the 1850-1900 period of colonial expansion. Other than that, I guess I would like to work on a WW2 version of Force-on-Force, but that is likely to be a big undertaking. Of course the main problem is getting all this done while having a demanding full time job and a young family. Apparently both of those think they come before my toy soldiers...

Piers, you have established a great amount of connections into the world of kit and miniature makers for the conflicts you write about – could those one day result in a set of miniatures and rules in a box? A “starter” set like other companies sell?

Yes its been thought about for a long time... Never say never.

Where do you draw inspiration from?

Mainly from those on The Guild and other forums. I dont tend to rate my own work very highly, Im my own worst critic, so I strive to be as good as some of the painters out there. There are some amazingly talented people in this hobby with skills that put me to shame!

You also have a daytime job and a little family to take care of – is there always enough time for your hobbies?

No never enough time... With baby No. 2 due to arrive any time now, I will have less and less. But thats all part of the grand scheme... Besides you get alot of painting done in between night feeds. There is never enough time, but I have a great balance at the moment and a superb wife who allows me a 'studio' in the house and lets me go gaming every Friday, so I aint gonna moan too much.

Does your family always fully support your hobbies?

In their own way... Yes. My wife has no interest in it at all, but allows me to do what I like. My daughter on the other hand is already painting soldiers...

What would you suggest if people’s gaming groups have never played a certain style of game before?

Try it... What have you got to lose?

Is it worth to start collections on your own and hope, others will get hooked eventually?

Of course. I do this alot as it allows you to put on games and other people dont have to supply anything to play. Its great to have a group where people all collect to a group project but I also quite like doing my own projects and put together armies for both sides. I do this alot with Force-on-Force as the armies can be quite small.

Thanks for answering my questions, Piers!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to each and everyone visiting this blog.

To all my followers, friends and colleagues - thanks for what you do. This tiny little blog has almost reached 20,000 hits. That's awesome - thank you very much, all of you.

I spent new year's morning at work so I had little time to celebrate. At least I don't have a headache from drinking and can now concentrate on the things to come. I should get my first 1/200 Mechs soon and will post pics once they have finally arrived. I also got the permission to copy the design of Jed's (Jed is a fellow Tomorrow's War playtester) awesome vehicle and unit stats cards. I only need to reinstall my program that allows me to edit such files and will then be able to play around with first stats assignments for my mecha units.

A word of thanks in particular for supporting and inspiring me throughout 2010 goes to

-Piers B. (for what you create and paint and for bringing me into Ambush Alley's playtest group)

-Shawn + Peggy C. (for being what you are - making our community a family)

-Alexander H. (for being one of the best workmates you can have and a Battletech prophet)

-Nadine J. and Thorsten H. (for being my best mates for years)

-The Guild members for a year of eye-candy to satisfy my lead-addiction.