Homebrew Rules

Thursday, 25 January 2024

Town planning

Just a quickie this week to show off a little project progress, so get your specs on again (or a quantum tunnelling microscope if you have one to hand) cos it’s 2 mill time…

My ECW campaign kick off is drawing ever closer, and the push is now on to complete the last few units and finish off some items of terrain. 

Here for your general scorn and derision is the small town of « insert made up name here »  containing the famous Abbey of St Mungo’s in the Marsh.


And here is the village of Wyre Piddle (there actually is one in Worcestershire by the way).



Both sets of buildings are from Brigade and are based on standard Hexon hexes (10cm between the flat sides). I’ve even left enough room to put units in the hex this time around!

One of the criticisms of this scale is the suggestion that the units are more like counters than miniatures. Naturally I disagree but it doesn’t help (in my view) when small units are based on large bases (emphasising the counter like appearance) and there is a corresponding trail of actual counters showing status that follows the units around on the board. Like this the units do indeed begin to look just like one more counter amongst many.

My solution has been to make my bases small and plain, and the units bright (real life drab colours are not your friend in 2mm). All the status information has been taken off the board and put on a separate dry wipe dashboard like this one.


Here you can see my Royalist dash board for a trial game. King Charles is the overall commander and he has issued (pre game) orders to his three main subordinates, Rupert, Astley and Wilmot. They in turn command a number of regรฎments / battalia who must attempt to follow the issued orders. King Charles can change the current orders during the game but in his case he can only change three of them. 

I’ve found it useful to keep a reserve brigade behind the man line on a hold order and use this to effect any major changes of strategy - mid game. 

And finally…

This blog post has been brought to you by the makers of Captain Fawcett’s Moustache Wax. The finest moustache wax a man can own. Say goodbye forever to the embarrassment of droopy whiskers. Guaranteed to improve your generalship whatever the weather. 

Now available in « Expedition » strength and « I don’t like it Sergeant it’s quiet…too quiet » strength. 

Huzzah!


Toodleooh.


33 comments:

  1. Your towns are gorgeous little works of art! Now, where is the photo of you all waxed up?

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    1. careful what you ask for....๐Ÿ˜œ๐Ÿ˜

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    2. Thank you Jonathan, that’s nice of you to say. As to the « ahem » photo of me all waxed up, I’m afraid modesty forbids. Lol.

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  2. This is certainly where the small scale comes into its own albeit units may look a little more like counters with bells on . It allows realistic scaled battlefields to fought over and look excellent … ( yes I’m still here a little out of it but I’m here ๐Ÿคช

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    1. I shall forgive the counters with bells on comment because you are not well. Have a word with your medico and see if he’ll prescribe you some Fawcett’s moustache wax infused with antibiotics. I’m told it works wonders. Lol. Seriously though matey I’m sorry to hear about your latest health scare and I hope you get better soon.

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  3. Terrain is the greatest strength of 2mm, nothing comes close to the ‘bird’s eye’ realism that you can get ….. plus you can get terrain AND troops into the same hex at the same time. Even 10mm struggles with that.

    A fine man, that Captain Fawcett.

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  4. One thing going for smaller scales is that towns *actually"* look like towns, not just 3 houses grouped together. Nice thinking leaving room for the troops as well, so they don't just sit on top of it all board game counter like.
    you must have impressive manliness to have grown a long enough mustache to require wax in just one month. ๐Ÿ˜

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    1. Cheers Stew, but as the wife always tells me…size doesn’t count!

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  5. No scorn or derision in these quarters. They look fabuloso! For further village names you could go for Hexham, Hextable, Hexthorpe (all genuine places). If I ever get round to running my ECW Yarkshire campaign (planned in 2021) I will include the hamlet of Hexmondwike.

    PS, re: that Freitag chap - I think you've pulled mate.

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    1. Hi Chris - love the hex related names - but I won’t steal your thunder cos I hope you get that campaign of yours rolling at some point. Incidentally I can’t blame Jonathan for his interest in my whiskers - he’s only flesh and blood. My 85 year old neighbour Marie Therese keeps popping around for odd reasons when the wife goes out and I’m beginning to suspect my hirsute upper lip could be the cause. Lol.

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  6. Absolutely brilliant JBM! I’m really looking forward to seeing more. I was Inspired by your order counters. But your dashboard is an eye opener. I like the way you think. Seriously looking forward to seeing your system in action! Just remember ~ wax on, wax off.
    ~ Tom

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    1. Hello Tom, glad you’re still out there mate. The dashboard is bound to get a bit of tweaking yet since I’m only three test games in and you know how it is with designing something - there’s always something that needs changing. Fingers crossed, any revisions won’t turn out to be too drastic.

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  7. The figures and buildings look great JBM.
    How did you paint the black supports on the buildings? With a pen?
    Old Captain Fawcett. Lovely fellow, he got a VC in the Sudan didn't he? For keeping a stiff upper lip in the face of adversity. ๐Ÿ˜‚

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    1. Hi Ben. Believe it or not I painted the black lines on (badly, but that’s okay with old buildings) with a brush that started out as 00 but now has only about 5 hairs left. Fawcett - sterling chap, but a shame it ended with that scandal in the mess. I’m told the dhobi wallahs never got the stains out of the regiments flag.

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    2. lol. Amazing painting! Not something I would have attempted.

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  8. What a glorious little town! I look forward very much to seeing more…
    Alan Tradgardland

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    1. Thank you Alan. I’ve a lovely vauban fortress and a castle still to do - but I’m having to fight my love of making terrain in order to get my campaign units finished first. Lol.

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  9. Splendid little terrain pieces JBM…
    An excellent choice of facial hair products… I have been a regular user of the captains “Gentleman’s Stiffener “ for many years.
    It works wonders…

    All the best. Aly.

    https://www.captainfawcett.com/products/gentlemans-stiffener-whisky-moustache-wax

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    1. Thank you Aly. I’ll have a look later for that product you’ve mentioned…for a err, ((coughs)) friend, of course.

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  10. Excellent looking town and village, I look forward to the vauban fortification too, one of the strengths of the smaller scale that you can have such impressive terrain!
    Best Iain caveadsum1471

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    1. Thanks Iain, it’s a bit of a rabbit hole I could lose myself down if I’m not careful. lol.

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  11. The villages are outstanding.

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  12. Your BUA's look great JBM - yet another advantage of the tiny 2mm scale! As for the moustache wax - Epic!

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    1. Thanks Keith. I’ve been having a bit of bother posting on your blog for some reason - but I’ll keep on trying. The moustache is a childish affectation but I thought I’d give it a go for a laugh.

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  13. Well 2mm certainly comes into it's own for that massed battle feel and with villages looking like villages etc. Can't wait to see reports from the games and when the World is ready, your Victorian style moustache to scare Johnny Foreigner;)!

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    1. Thanks Steve, I’m really looking forward to the upcoming campaign. The two opposing generals should provide us with a decent spectacle I think.

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  14. That's a wonderful little town and village JBM, really nice models and layout :) Good moustache wax is essential if you are going for the Salvador Dali look, it will suit you :)
    All the best,
    Lee.

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    1. Thanks Lee. The only thing missing for future 2mm upgrades would be train tracks and trains. Any idea if they do anything that small?

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  15. I do love a bit of well crafted geography. Those are outstanding villages and would be a boost to the appearance of any table. I'm beginning to think that I should base my buildings into groups in a similar way perhaps on squares and oblongs with standard entry and exit points so they can be mixed and matched to give different town and village layouts. And so another project is born!!!

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    1. Hey matey thanks for the kind words. The way I’ve based these a few can be placed next to each other to build a bigger town if desired. My road hexes can just butt up to them on any face side so the whole thing is pretty flexible. Sorry about the extra project!

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  16. The villages are brilliant, congrats! And you make a very good point about the troops - bright colours are surely your best friend here ( and liberal use of flags, perhaps?) , none of this dulling down with shades/washes.. I will watch your project with interest and try to resist temptation to 'mission creep' into something similar!

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    1. Thanks David, good lighting is also a major issue and iv3 still to adequately sort that out. Work in progress. If your like every other wargamer you’ve already got a lead pile of shame stashed away somewhere - but feel free to use me as an excuse if mission creep needs justifying to ((ahem)) other parties. lol.

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