1/3000 Ship bases

Here is an illustrated guide to how I made and painted bases for my 1/3000 scale pre-dreadnought ships.  The models shown (except for the heading picture which is the Japanese Asama) are all Spanish and American ships from the excellent War Times Journal line, and are based for Phil Barker's Damn Battleships Again (DBSA).

Hexon plans

Hexon bound

I've ordered a box of Kallistra Hexon II  hexagon tiles which I will be picking up at Salute for use with three upcoming projects. I went for the two-tone-green-and brown finish. I've also ordered a few small hills. The projects are:

• Martin Rapier's grand-tactical Rifle and Kepi  rules using, initially, my Mah Jong tablets. I'm indebted to David Crook's A Wargaming Odyssey blog for inspiration on the tablet front. Alternatively, I could use my 10mm ACW armies if/when I finish them. They were always intended to be usable at different levels.
• A high-level (1 base = 1 battalion) 1940 game using 3mm models and Hexblitz  or a similar Megablitz variant. More anon. In the meantime I could use my Crossfire 15mm SCW armies and I have already started planning a representation of the Battle of Jarama Valley which would fit nicely on the area covered by one box of Hexon at a scale of 3cm = 1km.
• My own platoon-level WW2 rules for my 10mm British and German 1944 Normandy armies. These are yet to be written but I've developed some general principles, if not the actual rules.

WW1 fortifications in 10mm

These fortifications were made to represent (1) 'trench and wire', and (2) 'concrete and wire' fortifications as defined in the first edition of the Peter Pig Square Bashing rules. They're somewhat redundant now but I'm posting this item for its modelling interest. Both fortification types are symbolic representations rather than accurate scale models, but they are inspired by real-life photos and diagrams.

Thoughts on grids and hexes

I'm increasingly drawn to grids and hexes as opposed to 'free form' measurement, a split in approach that goes back to Joseph Morschauser and Donald Featherstone. The only grid/hex game I play at the moment is Square Bashing, but I have plans to extend this both for post-WW1 tactical games and pre-WW1 grand-tactical games.

Crossfiregrad facelift Part 1

Invariably providing both armies and the scenery, I tend to think in terms of 'games' rather than armies, and 'Crossfiregrad' is the new title I've given my Crossfire mini-Stalingrad game. As previously mentioned, I've been wanting for a long time now to improve the look of this game by adding pavements and rubble-strewn streets, but was torn between (1) adding pavements to the buildings, (2) adding separate pavements or (3) modelling pavements and roads as part of a modular tile system.

2013 Q1 Books

If I want a particular book I usually go to Amazon, but I also like to scour charity shops for the unexpected. Also, if you buy your clothes and household items second-hand, you then have more money for books and wargaming.

In the first quarter I happened to pick up three interesting second-hand books on the First World War:

• The Confusion of Command: The Memoirs of Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas D'Oyly 'Snowball' Snow 1914 -1918
• Forgotten Voices of the Great War
• Tank Warfare (Frank Mitchell MC)

The first is a very frank memoir, the second belongs to a well-known series of eye-witness accounts, while the third (first published in 1933) combines history and personal experience with predictions of varying accuracy. I read them mainly for the technical detail, but I was particularly struck by the wide range of attitudes to war that these veterans displayed.