Hi All,

As you can guess from the username and the subject line, I'm an Expat Brit, living these days in Miami, Florida.

I game all sorts of scales and eras, WW2 in 6mm and 20mm, Medieval in 28mm, and I've picked up the 10mm Pendraken stuff for WW1 gaming, buying via Dark Horse Hobbies in the USA.

Rules wise, I'm leaning more and more to the Lardie sets of rules, so the WW1 project will be using 'Through the Mud and Blood'.

Blessed with a very active scene in South Florida, with a local club running stuff most weekend, and the local HMGS chapter running two excellent conventions in April and September.

Cheers,

John

Welcome on board John .

Welcome to the Forum!

Arternoon....

Welcome, John. 

Welcome John

We've got a lot of enjoyment out of Too Faty Lardies 'If the Lord Spares Us' for both early western front and the Middle East

I'll be interested to hear how 'Through the Mud and Blood' goes

Quote from: paulr on 06 June 2023, 07:45:59 AMWelcome John

We've got a lot of enjoyment out of Too Faty Lardies 'If the Lord Spares Us' for both early western front and the Middle East

I'll be interested to hear how 'Through the Mud and Blood' goes

Cheers! I've been dragged this way after watching Storm of Steel's vids on 'Mud and Blood' on YouTube. Certainly leaning more to Lardie games these days.

Hello.

Which bit of WWI are you looking at?

Welcome onboard!

We've used If the Lord Spares Us for lots of WWI gaming - 1914 Western Front and 1917+ Western Front, and plan to give it a spin for Eastern Front too. In fact most fronts apart from what it is aimed at!

It gives a much bigger scale game than Through the Mud and Blood - but being a Lardie game shares a fair few basic concepts. I think TtMaB felt more skirmish level and I wasn't sure how well it would play with multi-based 10mm figures with trenches (and single 10mm figures felt a bit fiddly). But if you could get the terrain and figure basing to work visually it should be cool in 10mm. 

Hello and welcome

Welcome! I've plans to do some gaming with Through the Mud and Blood myself though I'm slightly more tempted by their Chain of Command variant Cocking Up Through the Mud and the Blood which updates it a bit with some newer rules, mostly around the activation system from what I can see. Hope you share your progress! 

Quote from: fsn on 06 June 2023, 04:22:15 PMHello.

Which bit of WWI are you looking at?

Western Front, 1916 onwards.

Quote from: fred. on 06 June 2023, 04:50:30 PMWelcome onboard!

We've used If the Lord Spares Us for lots of WWI gaming - 1914 Western Front and 1917+ Western Front, and plan to give it a spin for Eastern Front too. In fact most fronts apart from what it is aimed at!

It gives a much bigger scale game than Through the Mud and Blood - but being a Lardie game shares a fair few basic concepts. I think TtMaB felt more skirmish level and I wasn't sure how well it would play with multi-based 10mm figures with trenches (and single 10mm figures felt a bit fiddly). But if you could get the terrain and figure basing to work visually it should be cool in 10mm.

I'm embracing the fiddly! There's going to be a mix of double and single based figures, so I can take off single, for ease of removing casualties.

It's something I can play on a small table, I've got too many big table games!

Quote from: mmcv on 06 June 2023, 08:51:06 PMWelcome! I've plans to do some gaming with Through the Mud and Blood myself though I'm slightly more tempted by their Chain of Command variant Cocking Up Through the Mud and the Blood which updates it a bit with some newer rules, mostly around the activation system from what I can see. Hope you share your progress!

I've not tried CoC yet, though I will be later this year on a trip back to the UK. Ideally, I'll be able to do both with the same figures.

We've played CoC with 10mm figures - gives a great feel of the empty battlefield, and really good to be able to make a game table that looks like photos in history books!

CoC is a good game - quite detailed in a lot of its resolution mechanisms. 

We played with mostly double based figures to make it a bit easier to move figures around, leaders were single based. 

Will be very interested in seeing what you come up with terrain wise for WWI

QuoteWill be very interested in seeing what you come up with terrain wise for WWI

So, I picked up this lot from a firm in the US - TableTop Terrain, as a custom job scaled down from 15mm.  It's not exactly right for WW1 Trenches, but it's not bad, and being modular, it can go together in all sorts of ways. The narrowest trench sections are 16mm width in the trench, and I'm using 15mm bases. The wider sections should allow me to scratch build some dugout entrances to pop onto the trench sides, and some of the closed off bays I'm planning on scratch building some bunkers to fit inside, if needed.

The houses at the back are also 3d prints from the same firm, again scaled down to 10 mm.

https://leadastray.files.wordpress.com/2023/06/pxl_20230309_203255733.jpg

Quote from: TheLimey on 07 June 2023, 01:10:31 PMWestern Front, 1916 onwards.

I'd be interested in some photos of your work. 

I have some East African WWI (Pendraken released some giraffes, so what's a chap to do?) and have pondered the colourful bit (1914), or the Eastern Front (Austrians and Russians) or the Mespot, or indeed the Italian front if I can find a flat bit ... but the terrain of the Western front does tend to put me off somewhat, so I'd be interested in your solutions.

QuoteSo, I picked up this lot from a firm in the US - TableTop Terrain, as a custom job scaled down from 15mm.  It's not exactly right for WW1 Trenches, but it's not bad, and being modular, it can go together in all sorts of ways. The narrowest trench sections are 16mm width in the trench, and I'm using 15mm bases. The wider sections should allow me to scratch build some dugout entrances to pop onto the trench sides, and some of the closed off bays I'm planning on scratch building some bunkers to fit inside, if needed.

The houses at the back are also 3d prints from the same firm, again scaled down to 10 mm.

https://leadastray.files.wordpress.com/2023/06/pxl_20230309_203255733.jpg

Will be good to see these with some figures. The huge problem with trenches on a gaming table is that all the practical modular versions have to sit on the table - so they are more revetments and breastworks rather than trenches. 


I went with some scratch built ones with deliberately wide and shallow fronts to them, and left the backs open as I'm playing with 30mm deep bases were each represents a platoon. But it's not ideal. 

I have toyed with making some terrain tiles with the trenches inset into them - but feel they would be impractical in 10mm due to fiddilness of trying to get figures in and out. And worry that you would end up playing the same game repeatedly!

QuoteI have toyed with making some terrain tiles with the trenches inset into them - but feel they would be impractical in 10mm due to fiddilness of trying to get figures in and out. And worry that you would end up playing the same game repeatedly!

Wasn't that General Melchett's plan?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox6MScSWp28

Cheers,

Pete

Quote from: fred. on 07 June 2023, 07:41:01 PMWill be good to see these with some figures. The huge problem with trenches on a gaming table is that all the practical modular versions have to sit on the table - so they are more revetments and breastworks rather than trenches.

Which is OK for the areas around Ypres, where the water table meant trenches were nigh on impossible to construct.

I'd love to work out ideas for modular boards with dug in trenches, but it's going to be a lot of work to get them right.

Cheers,

John