Tuesday, December 31, 2002

Germ's World

Germ's World is an interesting place to visit, especially for the 10mm dungeon project he is working on.

Monday, December 30, 2002

Task Force Productions

Task Force Productions, makers of Baptism of Fire WW2 skirmish rules, have a number of interesting things on their website including Banana Republic miniature rules in their Free Stuff section.

PFC/C-in-C Online

PFC/C-in-C in online at http://www.pfc-cinc.com/.

Saturday, December 28, 2002

Military Miniatures Magazine

Military Miniatures Magazine is a German website devoted primarily to plastic kits and figures, but contains a number of useful tips and ideas. It can be read in English.

Hirst Arts Tips & Tricks

Hirst Arts has a great Tips & Tricks page. Largely geared toward their excellent molds, it still will inspire your imagination even if you don't use them.

Friday, December 27, 2002

Thursday, December 26, 2002

Kraken Solo Game

Kraken looks like a fun solo or one-sided multiplayer game. I saw it in issue 139 of Lone Warrior on MagWeb.

Terrain Dave

Terrain Dave has some pictures of excellent terrain, including the very nice Balin's Tomb and Warmaster terrain and castle.

Sunday, December 22, 2002

My First Miniature

Well, after several on-again off-again attempts, I took my first miniature from raw sculpt to successfully finished casting.

Saturday, December 21, 2002

Devil Dog Design Airborne Fireteam

I've taken some quick pictures of my Devil Dog Design pack 2007 US Airborne Standard Fireteam.

Friday, December 20, 2002

Dragon Miniatures Painting Service

Mayne Thiele of Dragon Miniatures is a local (Knoxville, TN) fantasy and Sci-Fi painter.

Thursday, December 19, 2002

Wednesday, December 18, 2002

Chiltern 28mm Moderns

I contacted Chiltern Miniatures about their 28mm modern range. They responded that their website would be up in the new year, and for the meantime, provided a product list.

Online Miniatures Magazine

Wargames Journal is an online miniature wargaming magazine which looks interesting.

Tuesday, December 17, 2002

Stargrunt 2 for World War 2

Tabletop Wargames has some very interesting information, including an SG2 WW2 adaptation.

Monday, December 16, 2002

Christmas Village Terrain

Now is the time to start looking for Christmas Village items going on sale at your local stores. Here's some of the items I've purchased.

Slapping Paint

Slapping Paint has a number of interesting painting and modelling tips.

Saturday, December 14, 2002

Thursday, December 12, 2002

US OPFOR Commander's Lessons

This message board post, OPFOR commander's observations on XXIst century warfare, provides some very interesting ideas for modern day asymetrical conflict. The original post is at the bottom of the page, and mirrored below.

Wednesday, December 11, 2002

Manor House Workshop

Manor House Workshop has a number of very nice diorama pictures.

Tuesday, December 10, 2002

Terrainosaur.com

Terrainosaur has a lot of pictures of terrain and miniatures, mostly fantasy and Sci-Fi.

Friday, December 6, 2002

Plastic Soldier Review

Plastic Soldier Review reviews 1/72 scale plastic figures.

Thursday, December 5, 2002

28mm Modern Figure Review

Earthquake's Skirmish Pages has added a 28mm modern figure review page which lists manufacturers and his experience ordering them. Nice.

DBx in 6mm

DBx in 6mm is a good general 6mm site as well as having DBA/DBM info.

Wednesday, December 4, 2002

Colonial Terrain

The Colonial Angle has a Work Bench with some nice Colonial terrain projects, including the impressive Suakin Redoubt.

GHQ Miniature Painter

The guy who paints the GHQ microarmor catalog pictures has his own web site with painting tips.

Tuesday, December 3, 2002

Remote Traincam

Read about how a model railroad enthusiast incorporated a wireless camera into his layout.

Monday, December 2, 2002

Saturday, November 30, 2002

Model Railroad Scales

Model Railway Scales has more information about railroad scales than you ever wanted to know.

Thursday, November 28, 2002

British WW2 Artillery

British Artillery in World War 2 looks to be an execellent resource.

T-64 Pictures

Kampfpanzer T-64 has a number of photographs of T-64 tanks.

Tuesday, November 26, 2002

Professional Wargame Scenarios

The Marine Corps Gazette has a listing of Tactical Decision Games that offer some great scenario ideas. Also, Armor, from the U.S. Army's Armor Branch, contains several Tactical Vignettes and Solutions.

Monday, November 25, 2002

Timeline for the Wars of History

The War Scholar has an interesting timeline for historical conflicts.

The Argument for 6mm

Peter of Baccus 6mm has put up a piece defending the validity of 6mm wargaming and comparing it to 25mm. Very nice. Plus, he has reduced his international shipping costs.

Sunday, November 24, 2002

Hirst Arts Design Derby

The Hirst Arts Design Derby has some very inspirational winners.

Folding Game Table

Jonesy's Website has photos of an interesting fold-away gaming table. Check out his very nice galleries as well.

Wednesday, November 20, 2002

Hordes of the Things

The Stronghold looks like a good site in support of WRG's Hordes of the Things.

Hex Map Tips

You can find a program to print out square and hex graph paper here. The Metro East Gaming Association has a page on an interesting technique for creating hex grids.

Tuesday, November 19, 2002

Plastic Toy Soldiers

The Army Men Homepage has some fun info, including wargames rules, for plastic toy soldiers.

Monday, November 18, 2002

Preprinted Hex Maps

Out-Land(ish) has a number of nicely terrained hex maps available.

Saturday, November 16, 2002

Devil Dog Designs 28mm Moderns Out Soon

From this thread in their Yahoo Group (subscription required), it appears that Devil Dog Design's miniatures will be available in the next week or two.

Wednesday, November 13, 2002

Photos of Russians in Chechnya

Russian Weapon in Chechnya has a ton of photographs of modern Russian armed forces.

Excellent Buildings

IanH's Wargame Pages has an excellent idea for 6mm buildings, using actual photographs to create the exterior.

Old Glory Darkest Africa

Old Glory now has their Darkest Africa packs in their online order system, most with photographs.

Monday, November 11, 2002

Old Glory Darkest Africa

Old Glory has added the "Lost Tribes of the Heart of Africa" Darkest Africa 28mm range to its 2002 catalog.

Friday, November 8, 2002

Cry Havoc! Modern Africa

Cry Havoc! is CBSSecman's site on warfare in modern Africa.

Rogers' "Rules of Ranging"

Rogers' (of the French and Indian Wars' Rogers' Rangers) Rules of Ranging are interesting guidelines in irregular warfare.

Thursday, November 7, 2002

The Basement Updated

Modern wargaming site the Basement has been updated, including a nice Arc of Fire report.

Tuesday, November 5, 2002

Modern and WW2 Micro Armor Rules Reviews

Rules Reviews has brief reviews on a number of micro armor rulesets.

Power & Paradox Modern Rules

GrenadierGuard.com has free Power & Paradox modern rules, which appear to be 1:1 skirmish scale.

Cannon Fodder 15mm Rangers

Cannon Fodder Miniatures in Australia now has Rangers to go with their Delta Force and African and Afghan militia miniatures.

Sunday, November 3, 2002

Voting Systems and Rules

While not directly related to wargaming, this MSNBC article on voting procedures is very interesting in regard to rules theory.

Friday, November 1, 2002

Foundry FFL, WW2 Burma

Wargames Foundry has some interesting new releases, French Foreign Legion and WW2 Burma.

Wednesday, October 30, 2002

Monday, October 28, 2002

Ordering MicroMark TO&E Lists

MicroMark lists can be mail ordered from Helion & Company.

28mm Moderns

TheAssaultGroup.com looks like a promising manufacturer of 28mm modern miniatures.

New Address for Pfc/CinC

The new address for 6mm micro armour manufacturer Pfc/CinC is:

Friday, October 25, 2002

25mm Modern Vehicles

Earthquake's Skirmish Pages has some pictures of a new range of Maisto die cast modern vehicles that seem to fit will with 25/28mm figures.

Wednesday, October 23, 2002

Wargames Journal Online Magazine

The Wargames Journal looks to be a very interesting subscription-based online wargaming magazine.

Friday, October 18, 2002

Thursday, October 17, 2002

New 28mm Moderns

Devil Dog Designs has several packs of modern US and Afghanistan/Al Qaeda figures.

Monday, October 14, 2002

The Land of Counterpane

The Land of Counterpane is a nice new website that includes reviews of several rulesets.

Sunday, October 13, 2002

Dried Caspia Trees

A DIY (owned by my employer) show tonight on model railroads had the tip of using dried caspia for trees. The Major General also has some info on dried caspia.

Saturday, October 12, 2002

6mm Modern Kosovo Pictures

recon110 put up several good modern micro armor pictures in the Yahoo 6mm Miniatures photo album. You may need to be a group member to view them.

Friday, October 11, 2002

Featherstone Response

Donald Featherstone has sent out this response to correspondance regarding his recent heart attack. I received the same letter.

Friday, October 4, 2002

6mm Info

Ian's hobbies page has some 6mm tips and resource info.

Wednesday, October 2, 2002

New Modern 28mm

Glen Brooks is releasing a new range of 28mm modern miniatures, starting with the British and the Taliban soon to follow.

Tuesday, October 1, 2002

Baccus 6mm Now Full Time

Peter Berry, owner of Baccus 6mm, is now devoting himself to running his business full-time. Hopefully this means that his samurai range is just around the corner!

Sunday, September 29, 2002

Thursday, September 26, 2002

"Blackhawk Down" in Russia

A "Blackhawk Down" style scenario occured today in Russia as a Mi-24 Hind was shot down by Chechan rebels who proceded to ambush a Russian armored column. This increases tensions between Russia and Georgia, where the Chechans may have been based, and could result in Russia military action in Georgia.

Wednesday, September 25, 2002

ShamBattle and Little Wars

Frontberichten has information on two classic wargaming rule sets, ShamBattle and H.G. Wells' Little Wars.

Roly's Wargames Cabinet

Roly's Wargames Cabinet includes a lot of really nice photographs of Napoleonic and Seven Years War troops.

Al Qaeda Training Tape Assessment

The Strategy Page is running an interesting Military Assessement of the Al Qaeda Training Tapes.

Tuesday, September 24, 2002

Friday, September 20, 2002

Afghanistan Resources

The History Department of West Point has a great Afghanistan Resource Home Page, including the PDFs of the widely-referenced books The Bear Went over the Mountain and the Other Side of the Mountain at Soviet-Afghan War Primary Sources.

Thursday, September 19, 2002

Afghanistan and Middle East Satellite Imagery

Telemorphic, Inc. has low-resolution topographical data and high-resolution satellite imagery of Middle East and Afghanistan.

Wednesday, September 18, 2002

Modern Chinese Information

You can find interesting information on Chinese equipment and organization at Chinese Defense Today, PLA Information and Analysis Forum, and China Defense.com

Monday, September 16, 2002

Zulu Kraal References

Check out Zulu Culture and Traditions: the Umuzi (Kraal) for photos and details of Zulu kraal layout.

Thursday, September 12, 2002

Wednesday, September 11, 2002

Minature Hobby Guides

The Little Brush Miniatures Gallery has a few interesting guides, not just to painting figures but also taking pictures and selling them on eBay.

Tuesday, September 10, 2002

OEF Gallery Moved

The Operation: Enduring Freedom Gallery had to move to a new location due to the high amount of bandwidth being used. You can find it at its new location, http://www2.aixgaming.com/opend/.

Napoleonic Mass Grave

According to CNN, a mass grave of Napoleon's soldiers has been uncovered in Lithuania.

Sunday, September 8, 2002

Rorke's Drift

If you're interested in Colonials, www.rorkesdriftvc.com looks like a great resource for Rorke's Drift, topic of the great war movie Zulu.

Saturday, September 7, 2002

eBay Auctions

I'm currently running a number of auctions on eBay right now. There are two nicely painted 20 man units of Wargames Foundry Indian Mutiny Highlanders, plus unpainted 25mm Eureka Planet of the Apes figs, 15mm Starship Troopers bugs, and WEG 25mm Star Wars figs. There are also several RPG items, including the rare LUG Dune RPG.

My Miniatures Gallery Updated

I've added photographs to my miniatures gallery, look under Super Heroes for Four Color Figures Superfigs and Modern Middle East for Yom Kippur War micro armor.

Where to Buy and Sell Figures

The figuretrades Yahoo Group is a resource to assist figure sellers and buyers.

Friday, September 6, 2002

Operation Enduring Freedom Photo Gallery

If you're looking for current pictures of the world's soldiers in Afghanistan, visit the Operationn Enduring Freedom Photo Gallery.

New SOTCW Site

The Society of Twentieth Century Wargiaming has a new website and domain, http://www.sotcw.org/.

Thursday, September 5, 2002

Don Featherstone Heart Attack

Don Featherstone apparently suffered a serious heart attack recently. I've included the messages I received.

Wednesday, September 4, 2002

A Toy With Potential

Check out Stikfas, a new lego-like action figure from Singapore.

Tuesday, September 3, 2002

World Military Information

GlobalSecurity.org has a lot of interesting information, including a nice World Military Guide.

Sunday, September 1, 2002

Great Terrain Tips Online

I'm not a big Games Workshop fan, but they do have great terrain tips up at their Warhammer Skirmish Hobby Projects page.

Friday, August 30, 2002

100 miniatures in 10 hours?

Can deanoware paint 100 28mm figures in 10 hours? Watch and find out.

Solo Wargaming Links

There are a great number of Solo Wargaming links available on Baron Vega's Solo Wargaming Page.

Mechwarrior Table

Further updates and lots of detailed pictuces of the Mechwarrior/Battletech table I linked to recently.

20mm WW2, Vietnam and Moderns

The Basement has a great variety of 20mm figures and vehicles painted up and photographed.

Thursday, August 29, 2002

The War Factory

The War Factory has a great number of terrain tips and wonderfully photographed terrain and figures.

Wednesday, August 28, 2002

6mm Modelling and Crossfire

IanH's Wargame Pages has a great number of tips for 6mm modelling as well as playing Crossfire.

Modern Skirmish Wargaming

Earthquake's Skirmish Pages is a great modern resource. It has many pictures of modern ranges such as Brittania's Somalia range, Baker Company Vietnam, and more, as well as other resources such as rules reviews.

Tuesday, August 27, 2002

Checking on Mail Order Companies

In addition to the Consumer Affairs message board at TMP, check out the minidealerdiscussion yahoo group.

Trees and Tree Material

ScaleTree.com has a number of interesting large scale trees and tree material. A little pricey at regular prices, they're currently running a 30% off sale that makes them more appealing.

Saturday, August 24, 2002

Men Under Fire

I played a game tonight of Frank Chadwick's playtest Men Under Fire rules. It was WW2 Western Front, Operation Cobra. I thought the rules played pretty well, although from the title's similarity to "Men On Film," I couldn't get the images of Blaine and Antoine out of my head! ;-) Read on for a quick review.

Friday, August 23, 2002

Painted Gallery

TWFigurines has some really nice pictures of painted Foundry Cowboys and Celtos figures.

Thursday, August 22, 2002

Wednesday, August 21, 2002

Trees and Civilian Vehicles

Howard Models has civilian vehicles in a number of scales, as well as some nice trees, especially the canopy trees.

Tuesday, August 20, 2002

Electric Armor Defeats RPGs

From the Washington Times, British researchers are apparently using electrically charged armor on light vehicles to defeat the shaped charge of the RPG.

Monday, August 19, 2002

Military Icon Composer

If you are looking for tactical symbols for your maps or unit labels, check out the Microdem Military Icon Composer.

Sunday, August 18, 2002

WW2 TO&Es

Spearhead: France 1944 has a number of detailed (not Spearhead-specific) TO&E for the units operating in France 1944.

Maps

The History Department of West Point has placed many maps online relating to military history. Click on Atlases.

Friday, August 16, 2002

Combat Studies Institute

I just found the Combat Studies Institute, a US Military site with a number of very interesting publications. There is a lot of WW2 stuff, and many other topics as well.

Battletech Terrain Board

Here is a terrain board commisioned by WizKids to play Battletech on.

Wednesday, August 14, 2002

Paper Model Buildings

Paper model buildings always seemed like a good idea to me, since (especially on a computer) you can resize them to whatever scale you want. Here are a few links to sites with designs for paper model buildings:

Tuesday, August 13, 2002

Terrain Tips

The Necromundicon has a number of good terrain building tips. While geared towards Sci-Fi terrain, the "How-To" section has a good number of general ideas towards construction techniques. Of course, the mother of all terrain sites is TerraGenesis.

Monday, August 12, 2002

On-Demand Printing for Wargamers

Wargames at Data Source now has wargames rules available to print on demand, including Fistful of TOWs and Battleground WW2.

Modern US Army Docs

The General Dennis J. Reimer Training & Doctrine Digital Library has a lot of recent US Army documents including a number of Field Manuals.

Friday, August 9, 2002

Making Terrain Boards

The guys at Panzer War have an informative overview of how they make terrain boards.

MERDC Camouflage Patterns

If you're looking to paint modern US vehicles, make sure you know your MERDC Camouflage Patterns.

Thursday, August 8, 2002

Chronology of War

If you need a timeline of the wars of the last 200 years, check out OnWar.com.

Wednesday, August 7, 2002

IBIS TEK Security Vehicles

The IBIS TEK Security Vehicle looks like a fun conversion to put on the gaming table. Also check out their Instantaneous Personal Protection System.

Tuesday, August 6, 2002

The Facts on Lead Rot

The Curator of Navy Ship Models at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division has an excellent article about research on lead corrosion, a.k.a. lead rot.

Air University Library Bibliographies

The Australian Air University library has compiled many bibliographies of military topics. This could be a great help if you are looking for references for a particular conflict.

Monday, August 5, 2002

Urban Operations Journal

The Urban Operations Journal contains a wealth of information on modern urban warfare. It includes a variety of information on topics such as specific tactics and regions around the world.

Naval R/C Combat

Check out the Allied R/C Combat web site. These guys take remote controlled 1/144th scale battleships mounted with CO2 powered BB canons and try to sink each other. Sounds like a blast!

Friday, August 2, 2002

Wargame Campaigns

Wargames Campaigns by C.S. Grant is a broad work covering the many aspects of wargaming campaigns of any era. Being so broad, though, it lacks depth in any particular area.

Thursday, August 1, 2002

Terrorism and Political Violence in the World

Political Violence in the World: An International Bibliography looks like an excellent resource for finding books on various world conflicts. It's not complete (for instance, there is no listing for Sierra Leone which has had plenty of well-publicized political violence), but I was able to find several things I was interested in. Note that I was unable to actually read the listings without highlighting them with my mouse, but it's worth the effort.

Wednesday, July 31, 2002

West Wind German Archaeologists

If you can't find a picture of this pack, I just finished painting mine and put up a quick shot below.

Tuesday, July 30, 2002

West Wind Figures

Check out the Gothic Horror figures from West Wind Productions. I hadn't paid much attention to these figures, but I saw them painted at Historicon and was thoroughly impressed. Many of them would fit into non-fantasy play as well. I bought the brand new German Archaelogists pack for Darkest Africa play. The Superfigs super hero miniatures are also quite nice.

6mm ECW at 1:1 Figure Scale

Check out the news for July 17th on Baccus 6mm. A guy in England is building 6mm English Civil War figures at 1:1 figure scale.

Correlates of War Project

The COW: Correlates of War Project homepage is an interesting site which contains data regarding the "conditions associated with the outbreak of war."

Monday, July 29, 2002

Tuesday, July 23, 2002

Great New 15mm Greeks

Xyston is a great new range of historical Greeks and 1/600 Greek ships. They're not available yet, but apparently soon.

New Wargames Foundry Site

Wargames Foundry is working on a new website design, which includes the new Compendium deals.

Friday, July 19, 2002

Updated Photo Gallery

I updated my photo gallery to include new Colonial pictures of HLBS Shutztruppe, Wargames Foundry Masai, and 15mm Zulu War figures, plus some Russian armor in Afghanistan.

Thursday, July 18, 2002

Generic Hex Maps

I sometimes need a nice blank hex map, and Generic Wargame Maps has one, as well as several pre-printed hex maps.

Wednesday, July 17, 2002

The Arab-Israeli Wars

Chaim Herzog has been involved in every major Arab-Israeli conflict since joining the Haganah as a teenager in the '30s. This book is a high-level overview of each stage of conflict starting with the War of Independance in 1948.

Updated Photo Gallery

I've added Lebanon '82 IDF and PLO and some Colonial figures to my miniatures gallery.

Miniature Photography Tips

Great Models has a weekly newsletter which recently has had tips on photographing miniatures and using computer editing tools.

MilitaryGaming.com

MilitaryGaming.com is a site devoted to both board and miniature wargaming.

PBS's Nova "Medieval Siege"

I saw Nova's Medieval Siege show last night. This was very interesting. An American and a Frenchman led in the construction of two different medieval trebuchets and launched them against a replica castle wall. The resulting damage from a single hit was quite impressive, with both designs punching holes through five feet of solid stone and mortar wall with a single blow. Definitely watch this if you get a chance.

Monday, July 15, 2002

Piquet at Historicon

If you're attending Historicon and looking to play some Piquet, there will be a number of pick-up games run by experienced players. Look for a schedule and sign-up sheet at the Piquet vendor booth.

World Camouflage

Looking for different types of camouflage to paint your miniatures? Check out World Camouflage for pictures of many different types.

Sunday, July 14, 2002

The Defense of Hill 781: An Allegory of Modern Mechanized Combat

The Defense of Hill 781 is a 1998 book in the same vein as the 1905 classic The Defense of Duffer's Drift by Swinton. While Duffer's Drift concentrated on small unit tactics, however, Hill 781 uses an '80's US reinforced mechanized infantry battalion. There are six different vignettes given in Hill 781, with a concentration on modern combined arms tactics. The book is on the US Marine Corps Commandant's reading list.