Captain Blood's Western Desert: P.125 - SdKfz10 half-track with 2cm Flak 30

[Bugsda]

Massive!   

[NurgleHH]

And Richard, what do you think of Salute? I think you have great chance to win aprize with this board.

[Captain Blood]

Far too much trouble Dirk. And putting on a game all day would interfere with my shopping and socialising 

Massive!   

Thanks Chris 

[.:Gunslinger:.]

Incredibly beautiful pictures once again! The terrain, vehicles and miniatures fit so well together it almost looks like a movie! This is really inspiring!

On another note (and I don't want to start a scale discussion here): in some pictures it looks like opposing vehicles only stand a few inches apart from each other...this is the only downside I see to gaming in 28mm and especially on relatively 'empty' desert boards.
How is range handled by the rules you use? What do you think about this, does it bother you from a visual point of view to have vehicles facing each other that close?

Thank you for sharing this project here, it's great to look back at the end of the year and see all the things painted and build!

[Hammers]

I am rather curious about the composition and purpose of this now famous ‘GLALC’. Is it used as primer or sealer?I get talcum powder as it provide grip to paint but why both ‘wood glue’ and PVA? To me they are the same.

[Captain Blood]

Incredibly beautiful pictures once again! The terrain, vehicles and miniatures fit so well together it almost looks like a movie! This is really inspiring!
On another note (and I don't want to start a scale discussion here): in some pictures it looks like opposing vehicles only stand a few inches apart from each other...this is the only downside I see to gaming in 28mm and especially on relatively 'empty' desert boards.
How is range handled by the rules you use? What do you think about this, does it bother you from a visual point of view to have vehicles facing each other that close?

Merci beaucoup

The rules I have been using for these games are 'Iron Cross' by Great Escape Games. They are not really designed to provide an accurate representation of warfare in WW2. As mentioned, they are rather abstract in nature, with an emphasis on where you place your bets with your limited amount of command tokens, and managing your forces morale to maintain effectiveness. The rules themselves are very stripped back - no aircraft, off-field artillery, weather conditions, intelligence or any of that more detailed jazz. They're meant to provide a fast and furious cinematic game of men and tanks in fairly close quarters fighting. In the rules, everything is in firing range for all weapons (except for things like PIATs which have a very short range). For everything else, at short range (<12 inches) there are firing bonuses. So it pays to get into close range - although it's actually very difficult to do so, without one or other AFV being hit, destroyed or disabled first. It doesn't bother me at all to have two tanks blasting away at each other within a few inches of each other, because for me, a wargame is about visual splendour, enjoyable storytelling, and fun with friends - with a strong flavour of the period you are playing too. But for me, this flavour always comes from the setting, the figures, the models and the story. Not from lots of complicated 'historically accurate' technical details baked into the rules.
So - although there are some things n the rules that don't make sense to me, and a few things that are not clear - overall they suit my approach to wargaming very well 


Peder - the 'glalc' just provides a thick PVA paste that dries hard and plasticised, and lets you add depth and texture or conceal joins. It's essentially the same as 'gloop' except using talc as an aggregate provides a smooth paste rather than the rough texture paste you get with sand and / or grit...

Because it's essentially thickened PVA, yes you can use it as a primer and sealer on pretty much any surface. But it's real purpose it to provide texture.

[.:Gunslinger:.]

The rules I have been using for these games are 'Iron Cross' by Great Escape Games. They are not really designed to provide an accurate representation of warfare in WW2. As mentioned, they are rather abstract in nature, with an emphasis on where you place your bets with your limited amount of command tokens, and managing your forces morale to maintain effectiveness. The rules themselves are very stripped back - no aircraft, off-field artillery, weather conditions, intelligence or any of that more detailed jazz. They're meant to provide a fast and furious cinematic game of men and tanks in fairly close quarters fighting.
So - although there are some things n the rules that don't make sense to me, and a few things that are not clear - overall they suit my approach to wargaming very well  

Thank you for the detailled reply! I'm also more for stripped down, dynamic and cinematic games than perfect historic accuracy. What you said about these rules makes me want to try them as well, until now I mainly played using the Victory Decision rules which are also very nice. My WW2 miniatures are in 28mm, but I played some games in 20mm which allows to represent a bigger part of terrain.
I'm really torn between the two but I have so many 28mm miniatures that I will most likely continue in that direction - maybe with these rules as well

I really like that you have a lot of support vehicles and not too many tanks.

[Silent Invader]

Excellent mountains and game Richard.  

The use of the theatre mouldings was inspired.  

Peder - the 'glalc' just provides a thick PVA paste that dries hard and plasticised, and lets you add depth and texture or conceal joins. It's essentially the same as 'gloop' except using talc as an aggregate provides a smooth paste rather than the rough texture paste you get with sand and / or grit...

Because it's essentially thickened PVA, yes you can use it as a primer and sealer on pretty much any surface. But it's real purpose it to provide texture.

@Peder:

That’s about it  

Elk101 called it Glalc because that’s what it is: glue and talc. I don’t actually use PVA (I never use PVA but Evo-Stik Extreme Wood Glue) though it’s like PVA and I often call it PVA.  To most people who have asked me ‘why use Glalc?’ I simply say ‘just try it’ (it’s a cheap experiment ). For me, it adds an interesting irregularity to surfaces that might otherwise be flat (such as adobe walls from foam board). It also provides a hard skin that can help toughen up what might be fragile terrain pieces..

Btw I sometimes use talc with superglue as a filler/binder though that’s a far less pleasant experience (a glalc but not Glalc as named by Elk!)

[Captain Blood]

Thanks Steve 

Did you already show the German Halftracks here in the Forum? i don't remember seeing them! (Maybe I'll jsut browse the whole thread as there is so much to see anyways)
I really like that you have a lot of support vehicles and not too many tanks.

Yes, they are all in the thread somewhere higher up!

Or my WW2 gallery is here: http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?action=gallery;su=user;u=577;cat=470

[Dr. The Viking]

That game looks like gorgeous Richard.  Somehow you always seem to know what you're doing.

I bet the game had a lot of cliffhangers!

[Captain Blood]

That game looks like gorgeous Richard.  Somehow you always seem to know what you're doing.

I bet the game had a lot of cliffhangers!

Thanks TN - yes, it did 
We will get to play it one day I'm sure. IIRC I think you like these Iron Cross rules too... (Maybe I will ask you to explain some things to me, because I've played about 12 games with the rules now, and I'm still not 100% sure on some points!)

[Lowtardog]

Stunning Richard as is now expected and resented 

[gamer Mac]

Lovely stuff

[Andym]

Great mountains Richard!

How many more are you thinking of doing? It’s kinda leaving you with an odd number of boards at the mo.

[ork56]

Great work Capn.

One thing, you say that the ABS rock face sheets are approx £20-does that include delivery? I can't work their website and to send an 8'x4' sheet seems remarkable value!

Otoh I don't have space for a full set of boards at home, so could do without starting them....