Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => The Great War => Topic started by: Sidney Roundwood on March 19, 2012, 10:30:50 AM
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I’ve been working on a few additions to my Great War stuff in the last few weeks. One of the things I was keen to try was a couple of trench raids in which the attackers could try and collect “objectives” in addition to completing their mission determined under the TooFatLardies’ Winter Sports supplement for “Through the Mud and the Blood”.
(http://i920.photobucket.com/albums/ad49/Sidney_Roundwood/DSC06004.jpg)
These objectives would primarily be items of military importance, but as it would dark and soldiers being soldiers, there’d be a good chance of some loot being included in the night’s haul. I doubt there were many troops who’d be able to turn their eye away from an interesting souvenir. Here’s what a young George Coppard was doing in 1917:
“I decided to jettison my souvenirs weighing nearly twenty pounds which I had been lugging around in my pack. German fuse tops, funny shaped bits of shrapnel and a rusty saw-edge bayonet were among the collection of old iron. Why I had been torturing myself with agonizing load I don’t know, just a boyish habit of collecting something out of the ordinary, I suppose.” “Boy Soldiers of the Great War”, Richard van Emden, (p95).
So, with that inspiration, here’s six objectives from a British trench which I came up with for my German trench raiders. Some are militarily valuable, some useful, others ... well, you decide
(http://i920.photobucket.com/albums/ad49/Sidney_Roundwood/DSC06018.jpg)
So we have – a pair of British trench maps, with the German trenches shown in detail in red and the British forward positions simply delineated in a single blue line. (Maps showing both sets of trenches in detail were not permitted to be taken into the front line for security reasons)
(http://i920.photobucket.com/albums/ad49/Sidney_Roundwood/DSC06015.jpg)
A very smart Burberry trench coat and scarf. No military value, but it’ll be a hit with the Belgian ladies in Bruges ...
(http://i920.photobucket.com/albums/ad49/Sidney_Roundwood/DSC06014.jpg)
A couple of wicker baskets of carrier pigeons – clearly valuable military loot
(http://i920.photobucket.com/albums/ad49/Sidney_Roundwood/DSC06016.jpg)
A field telephone – again, something which GHQ won’t be happy has been lifted by the Hun
(http://i920.photobucket.com/albums/ad49/Sidney_Roundwood/DSC06012.jpg)
A collection of Captain Urquhart’s fine Scottish Malts imported from Jenners of Edinburgh. Military value? Of course!!!
(http://i920.photobucket.com/albums/ad49/Sidney_Roundwood/DSC06011.jpg)
A kettle. Well, I guess the German kettles have been turned into an U-boote ...
(http://i920.photobucket.com/albums/ad49/Sidney_Roundwood/DSC06009.jpg)
So the idea was really to add a bit of colour in the tabletop trenches producing some physical items rather than just card counters for German trench raiders to target in the British dugouts. All of these were basically made out of scrap cardboard, wire, tin-foil bottle tops, green-stuff and grey-stuff and some items from the bits-box and it was a lot of fun making them.
(http://i920.photobucket.com/albums/ad49/Sidney_Roundwood/DSC05969.jpg)
The only really tricky thing to make was the pigeon. I won’t tell you how many attempts there were before I settled on the final one
(http://i920.photobucket.com/albums/ad49/Sidney_Roundwood/DSC05962.jpg)
I also finished off a British version of the “Communications Down” figure I’d made for the Germans a while ago. I wanted to add a card into the card deck of “Through the Mud and the Blood” for British communications breakdown, and wanted to field a figure on the tabletop to show this visually. So, here he is, converted from one of the wonderful generic casualty figures from Steve (Silent Invader).
(http://i920.photobucket.com/albums/ad49/Sidney_Roundwood/DSC05967.jpg)
(http://i920.photobucket.com/albums/ad49/Sidney_Roundwood/DSC06017.jpg)
And here’s the German version from 2010 completing the pair!
(http://i920.photobucket.com/albums/ad49/Sidney_Roundwood/4324962604_c8b8f60f02_z.jpg)
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WOW!
Simply wonderful!
Brilliant ideas, simple realization, effective painting. very very beautifull!
Makes me jump into WWI resin sculpting! But i must resist, too many projects right now!
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Fantastic, I can even see you ahve made a speckled Jim :-*
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Very sweet pieces there, the Brits losing either the kettle or the malts would be a dreadful knock to morale. Those generic casualties are great, I had a few off him too.
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This is a wonderful idea. Thanks for sharing and thanks for the "how it is done" too.
Björn
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Tremendous.
General Melchett will launch a major offensive to get his pigeon back.
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Fantastic! Your work is a reference for my future projects.
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I would just like to add a harmony to the chorus of 'brilliant'. Fantastic ideas and execution!
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top notch stuff!!
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Outstanding work they look really good :-* what soldier couldn't resist pinching that scarf!
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Great ideas and wonderfully executed.
I love the blanket.
Where did you get the bottles from?
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Brilliant attention to detail and great execution... Well done, Sir Sidney. Mention in dispatches.
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Thank you all for the kind comments. I loved the comment from 6milPhil that the loss of the kettle and the malt whiskies would be a "dreadful knock to morale" - quite so!
The bottles came from Scotia Grendel and are available in two sets. I think I used bottles "A" :
http://www.scotiagrendel.com/Products/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2_43&products_id=256
Suggestions for a matching set of loot to be taken from the German trenches would be very welcome! I'll try and produce an attractive pickelhaube, but I'm sure you can think of some others … :D
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Great work. I really like the small details. :D
For the Germans, maybe a selection of sausages? ;)
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Favorite souvenirs taken from germans were: Pickelhaubs, pipes, Lugers and especially german folding fork/spoon utensils (a handy gadget favored by the allies). The germans pilfered Bully Beef, real cigarettes and good boots.
Great minis! Love the detail.
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:o
Wow!
Great idea, brilliantly executed.
Love it!
:-* :-* :-*
German ideas, hmmm....Sunloungers!
(Sorry!)
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WOW love the detail :-* :-* :-*
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That is impressive, as others have said what great attention to detail. Makes trenches seem fun ;)
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Very nicely done.
Looks like all the bits will add alot to your gaming.
Very cool.
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Absolutely brilliant stuff :-* :-* :-* :-*
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This imagination, creativity and delivery of this work is exactly what makes the realm of lead adventure so sensational to be party too. o_o
I only wish I had been in the game…it sounds superb :P
This loot is truly inspired and a treasure in itself :-*
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This is awesome. They turned out amazing. Thanks for the WIP shots as well.
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Beautiful work! Richard
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Love this stuff, absolutely love it. great ideas and brilliant execution.
Ideas will be stolen and used and being a generous sort I may even give you credit for it!
Brilliant stuff.
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Really nice idea. A lot of imagination and details went into these.
I love them. :-*
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Realy stunning work. Lots of inspiration for my own battlefield. Thank you for sharing!
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Lovely detailing
8)
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I can assure you that it is absolutely dreadful having to game with Sid and his rubbish terrain. We've told him, unless he gets his act together and improves then we're just not going to come out to play! ;)
It may interest some of you chaps to know that TooFatLardies are teaming up with the Roundwood's World blog to bring some of Sid's wonderful Great War terrain to Bovington this July for the Battlegroup South show there. I hope we'll see some of you there.
Rich
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What a fantastic collection of objectives. well done! :o
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Bizarrely, I missed this thread...
What fabulous, inventive markers. Perfect conception and execution! :-*
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Loved them. A couple of other ideas: Germans also tried to pick up Lewis guns (there was a bounty paid on them), and of course the SRD marked jugs of rum (Seldom Reaches Destination). For the British in addition to pickelhaubes, there is the famous photo of the two souvenir-hunting British soldiers outfitted in German Sappenpanzer - the trench armor used by sentries - which they must have just found after clearing a German trench. The British also tried to obtain German sniper scopes, "donkey ear" range finders and trench telescopes - as the British had been cut off from the supply of high-quality optics like Zeiss lenses. For a humorous touch, you could do up a German Xmas tree!