My Son's New Blog

My son started a new blog called Ben's Botcreations he's really enjoying taking things apart and reassembling them. I promised him I would give him a little "press" here on Lead Gardens so if any of my followers have youngsters he'd love it if they check in on his blog.
I think he is a scratchbuilder in the making...Thanks everyone!

Return of "The Green Mile"!

It was bellwether day here at the Lead Gardens as I was granted an official letter of tolerance from the Grand Duchess to use our rarely used but much cluttered guest room as a place to set up a more permanent (...ok, "semi" permanent...) gaming table so I don't have to disrupt dining and homework operations on our family table any longer (and not have to travel to her store across town to use the back storage room). And to make it even sweeter, I now have a room with a door!...an all important feature now that we have a new and remarkably destructive rascal of a Siamese kitten in the household.

I have, in the past, been known to make a merry joke at my lovely wife's expense but this gift of space has made me a true believer in her ongoing benevolence.

So after a day of cleaning, I was able to set up the entire expanse of my "Green Mile" in all it's 8' x 5' of classic wargaming glory! This very hour I am setting up another scenario from C. Grant's "Raid on St. Michel (I do have the re-fight of the Battle of St. Michel promised last post already finished up too, but it will take a day or so to get it written up.)

A Nice Find

Today I devoted most of the day for an all day excursion with my wife to Charlottesville, Virginia to do some critical holiday errands, and though I was not expecting the day to be anything but a pleasant outing without the kids in tow, I did not expect anything in the way of my hobby to incite the bells and whistles this day...but I was mistaken! Thanks to Charlottesville's proximity to the University of Virginia, the downtown boasts a goodly number of used bookstores of truly high quality. I was just going to kill a few minutes while my wife was over in a yarn shop visiting a friend by stepping in to the wonderful "Blue Whale Books" next door.

I was not expecting to buy anything,
just a quick to look see... 


When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a clean new copy of Knotel's "Uniforms of the World", 
and for only eight tiny dollars.

Away to the checkout I flew like a flash,
Tore open my wallet and drew out the cash.


The owner was skinny not chubby, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself!
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work, And ran my debit card, then turned with a jerk. And laying his finger aside of his nose, And giving a nod, this card should work! He sprang to his chair, to himself gave a whistle, And away I flew like the down of a thistle. But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere I walked out of sight, "Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"  ...for me I'll be tucked with this new treasure in my bed,  while visions of new uniforms dance in my head... Happy Holiday Hunting Everyone! (...my sincere apologies to Clement Clarke Moore and my readers as I am no poet, it's true!)

  

NOoooooooooo!!!

Gamer QUIZ
This picture is either:

A)  ... the remains of a quaint Dutch village circa 1944 after a particularly severe bombardment
B)  ... the unfortunate downside of paper buildings

I think I'll coin a new adage... Never, ever, turn your back on a two year old...!

What To Do With All That Old Micro Armor

OK since my son is clearly addicted to my iPad primarily because of the very popular "Plants vs Zombies" game...and much as I try to limit his time on it... I have decided to launch a counterstroke on behalf of tabletop gaming by breaking out a pile of old microarmour and 10mm scale armor and cooking up a set of rules that essentially turn "Plants vs Zombies" into a basic wargame that my 5 year old can understand. essentially the American M1s and Bradleys are the Plants and the Russians T-72s and BMPs (with a few exceptions and mixing on both sides) are the Zombies (no offense to my Russian friends!!) ...and it's no surprise that he got it immediately!
We used a gridded sheet of green foamboard that I was using to work on some 6mm Naps rules and a few buildings and we were off and running.

...the little guy decided mid-game that PT 76s had amphibious capabilities!

We didn't worry about the scales of the various vehicles (10mm and 1/285 and even a few 1/300!)...and really it was a pretty good time.

Basically the "Zombies" moved relentlessly across the table moving 2 grid squares per turn and the "Plants" shot them to pieces with a simple d6 5-6 hits rule that gave the little guy just enough suspense...and dad could push the Zombies and enjoy his martini in the process...much like the iPad game he loves so much, except dad got to be there for it...a huge difference between that and a checked-out kid wired into a video game!

And, since I don't do much in the way of small armor stuff anymore it gave the stuff I had a much needed outing before I sell it on ebay!

T72s lurk in a plowed field waiting for a target...

A Good Game for the Beginning Gamer

My 5 year old son and I have been collecting the new games from the LEGO company and playing them to see which ones are good...and we have come to the conclusion that the "Minotarus" game is the best of the lot...

The game is built around a very simple mechanic, but delivers some fairly complex tactical choices for each player. I have found it fun to play and it seems to offer each player tactical options with each die roll....great for developing the little guy's strategic mind....and not so boring that dad can't get in to it as well!

Basically each player has three warriors that they have to move through the labyrinth, avoiding the Big Black Minotaur and get all three of the warriors to the center of the board  before their opponent to win. The game is based on a D6 with 1-4 being moves and 5 being the option to move a blocking (grey) piece to thwart either the opponents warriors or the Minotaur. On a 6 the player can move the Minotaur 8 spaces. If the Minotaur contacts a players man, he has to return it to the home corner and start again...the first player to get three warriors to the center square wins the game.  Super clean and simple but with a degree of tactical possibilities make it a "real" game IHMO.




 

...and of course my son seems to get the best of me nearly every time...a true gamer in the making! We use the Minotaurus game as the break from TV cartoons and computer games which seem generally to have little tactical or strategic subtlety. ...(and lack of course the dimension of having actual figures to move!)

Pinned Down!

It's been almost a month since any posts here at the Lead Gardens and I think I'm having to admit to being "pinned down" by real life. It seems I've also hit the painting wall and have not picked up a brush in earnest for a good while now. I think we all get to this place at some point in our hobby, and it's not much fun, but hopefully the barrage will end and the troops can get moving again.

Or maybe I should just call in the big guns...

A Summer Saturday of Gaming

It's too hot to really go outside, I've got two kids to take care of, and the CinC Lead Gardens is away until the end of the month....so being left in "independent command", I find I'm on my own for the next couple of weeks with two kids to entertain! So....I pulled out my copy of Richard Borg's "Battle Cry" boardgame and laid it on the dining table and decided to let "nature take it's course"....

Predictably, my 5 year old noticed the game box immediately after waking up and wanted to set it up... So we set up his first "real" wargame! We used an interesting Battle Cry variant that was designed for kids that worked great for his first rule driven game. Basically the variant dispensed with the command cards and instead used a roll of the attack dice to determine the units you could move (1 die per general).

We had a great time with the game and I'm now really excited about my new opponent. I gave him two generals and I had one, (so he had a good chance of winning his first game) --which he did in fine style by capturing the high ground with his cav who proceeded to shoot up my counterattack with effective and rapid carbine fire.... and then following up with an infantry unit to seal my fate.

Later in the day, on the Battle Cry note, I decided to haul out a large batch of old 25mm ACW figures I had acquired on ebay a long while ago. I never could quite get up the enthusiasm to paint them up...but after this morning's game I thought they might make a good miniature version of the Battle Cry system. I used some pre-cut bases I already had to make units that had 4 stands for the infantry to match the boardgame's system of 4 infantry, 3 cav, and 2 artillery organization.  I had already based these guys according to Richard Borg's miniature version of the game so I painted up the first unit shown here in the pics. The unit is designed to fit well in a 4" hex on my table and still be designed to have 4 removable "steps" that correspond with the boardgame.

An infantry unit is mounted on 4 bases: one is a 60x40mm with 4 figures as the front rank, backed up by three 20x20mm bases with a single figure each, giving 4 total bases. This means that even with 3 casualties, the last base will always still look like a unit on the table even when it is nearly destroyed.

Here is a pic of the whole Confederate force: 10 units of infantry, 3 artillery, 2 cavalry plus a general. This is a bit shy of the original game (by one cav unit), but if this works I'll  have to acquire the cavalry to fill things out.

And here is a painted up unit... 4 men up front with three individually based in the second rank.

Though I'm a died in the wool miniatures man, the boardgaming world (particularly the Command and Colors system)  still offers some interesting gaming possibilities that are ripe for exploration.

The Guards Assault!

This evening saw a floor battle pitting a unit of the "Clothespin Guards" in an assault on a town complete with dragon's lair, several 90mm knights and a pair of huge "Transformers" locked in a battle royal with my son who defended a fort armed only with a "Nerf" gun. Despite three charges in assault column, the Guards took heavy casualties (and the dragon didn't fare so well either....). But given the heavy fire of my opponent, and the fact that the Transformers seemed to remain neutral, the outcome was never in doubt!

The "Nerf" gun worked well as a substitute for the more traditional 4.7 inch Naval Gun of "Little Wars" fame, though it's "laser" aiming device I think made the game a bit lopsided! The wooden clothespin soldiers did ok under fire only loosing a few rifles to Nerf hits...

A Note of Thanks

I was thinking today about how much all of you guys out there have really improved and enhanced my experience of wargaming, and this evening I'd like to send out a word of Thanks to everyone whose blogs I follow (I think now around a hundred! ...?) It is truly a renaissance here at the Lead Gardens and I'm looking forward to a great summer of gaming, painting and general good stuff from all..this is, I think, is one of the world's Great and Noble hobbies...truly a sport of... (if not kings), ...then at least gentlemen!! I raise my Martini high!...HUZZA!!

Mini Grand Tour- The Return

Back from my trip to Italy... and still trying to grasp the enormity of the experience. Got to see plenty of old city fortifications like this 4 pointed fort near Siena. The fort is called the Citadel of Santa Barbera.

overview of the fort

The fort is in great condition and dates from 1560. It was designed by a fellow named Baldasarre Lanci and as I have since found out, the Italians were the inventors of the bastioned fort...a bit of fact that I had never had occasion to ponder. I suppose all those struggles between cities in the Italian Wars, and the invasion of Charles VIII of France, (who came equipped with a powerful mobile siege train), combined with a density of architectural and engineering genius present in the days of the early renaissance made it a hotbed of advanced military ideas as well.

Here is a desperate 'forlorn hope' huddled against the base of the rampart wall...actually our group of architecture students waiting for the bus.

In the distance you can just make out the shoulder of one of the bastions and the flanking gun positions that were designed to keep the base of the wall swept with enfilading fire.

a shoulder of the bastion

the double flank of the bastion...this doubling of the flank was typical of the old Italian manner of fortifications

looking straight in to the center of the rampart wall...

I'm not sure about the gate, I'm guessing it was a later addition or perhaps it was a sally port. There were a couple of these small gates built also in to the bottom of the bastion flanks.

rounded point of a bastion...this rounding was typical of early Italian fortifications and is capped at the base of the wall with an angled point making the base of the point more difficult to breach with cannons

The bus driver we awaited turned out to be a pretty gruff fellow and I couldn't resist taking a pic of his "warning" to unruly passengers hung on his rear view mirror...you can see him in the reflection... beware all yee who enter! ;)

In Rome I saw a nice toy soldier shop with this cool display of plastic Romans in testudo formation in its window. These guys were (I think) 90mm figures. The stuff inside was definitely for collectors and very expensive given my US dollars not spreading very far in Euros...but fun to see!

Bound For The Continent!

I remember my history of art professor pointing out the "foreshortened perspective" of the dead guy in the lower left front of Ucello's painting The Battle of San Romano as being the beginning of the European development of perspective drawing ....and I remember thinking I needed to try painting my lances a lighter color!

My allegedly tough academic job just got "tougher" by virtue of having been chosen to travel to Europe with an enthusiastic batch of architecture students! I am a lucky guy to be teaching at one of the best architecture schools in the US and I get to join their Europe travel group on occasion and this year I get the great opportunity in November to go to Italy for a couple of weeks to see the wonders of Florence and Rome. Of course my hidden agenda is always wargaming and I'm going to be on the hunt for all manner of things military and so I'm open to any and all suggestions of things to see in Rome and Florence with a nod towards my all consuming madness.

H.G. Wells' Birthday

'Ere's to a brilliant idea! ....

"I say, might we apply some rules and have ourselves a splendid little game?"

Happy Birthday Mr. Wells!

Milestone

I'm guessing a first blogging milestone is when you have enough posts to require sorting into categories. So:

Today and Henceforth:

The Posts on Lead Gardens are Hereby and Officially "Labeled" to make it a bit easier for readers to feel the madness!
see the list- top right

...So it is Written, So it Shall Be Done!

now...
Let's Dance!

The Best Things in Life

Time for a bit of reflection on how truly beautiful the season is here in Virginia. My little guy and his lovely mom enjoying the Fall colors at an amazing farm of a friend near our town. The place really sends you back in time...