Now that I have thankfully got the hang of attaching photos, here are some more of our game at Salute last month, using our new rules.
We're getting close to releasing the first volume in the Crush the Kaiser series of fast play brigade level wargames rules for the Great War - Where the Poppies Grow (Western Front 1916-1918) should be out at least in the UK shortly.
If any of you are at the War and Peace show at the Hop Farm in Kent in July, do stop by and say hello - we'll be putting the game on in the modelling tent.
I met you last year at War and Peace with your Canadian [ahem British] infantry. Glad to see it all came together well after what seemed like a pretty daunting task. You convinced me to start preparing a WW1 early French army, thanks all the way from Ireland.
Glad to see your plan came together so well from when I met you last at War and Peace 2010. Keep up the very good work. Oh I might post some pics of my French poilu's if I figure out how and get around to actually finishing them. [really have to stop getting distracted].
Thanks for the kind words! We've come a long way since War & Peace last year - the basic scenery you saw there - and kindly posted photos of! - has now been done and we use it in some club games, but the Salute set (which is the one in my photos and that we'll have at War and Peace this year) was completely scratchbuilt in about 6-8 weeks in Feb-March this year. It's basically a show game, but we may add to it (if I can persuade the guys...) over time as I would like to build a redoubt as in Manchester Hill for March 1918. And if I can complete it in time we should have the observation balloon for War & Peace too.
War and Peace 2010 was also the genesis of our new rules for fast play WW1. Our working title then was "Oh What a Lovely War" but we later settled on "Crush the Kaiser" for the series title, and "Where the Poppies Grow" for the first in that series which will cover the Western Front 1916-1918. The plan is that this will be published and available by the time War and Peace comes along in a few weeks .
Will we see you there again this year? Hope so! Looking forward to some pics of your Poilus too!
Cheers
Paul B
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The sands of time are eroded by the river of constant change
I hope you get the baloon finished in time, I'm sure it will look well. Sadly I wont be attending War and Peace this year even though i would have given anything to go. Although I'll be away my spies will definitely be there taking pictures(hopefully all in the model marquee).
I would like to wargame WW1 and was wondering do you have a rule set for the early war period?(1914-15). Or can "Where the poppies grow" accomodate early war with tweaking? Sorry if I seem obsessed its just I'm more interested in early war. (cavalry, red trousers, Pickelhaube, whats not to like?)
Having said this I was wondering about a few figures you used for your game. Were all your Germans Revell? Were all your British Hat Canadian infantry? Whats the size difference like and how did you get around the smudged faces on the Canadians? Although I have mostly early war models theres no harm in expanding a little(or a lot probably) into the later period.
Thank you in advance. Sorry if I'm asking too many questions.
Sorry that we won't see you this year! If your spies make themselves known (do we need a password?!!) then I'm sure we can help them take some good pictures!
The plan is that the Crush the Kaiser series will eventually cover the whole of the Great War on land, plus a supplement for the war in the air, and probably an expansion supplement for the Russian Civil War. After Where the Poppies Grow we have a supplement with detailed organisations for 16-18 in draft, and the next supplement after that will cover the first half of the war on the Western Front from August 1914 to the end of 1915. So plenty of chance then for Les Pantalons Rouge to take their place on the wargames table! After that we'll hopefully have a Mesapotamia/Palestine supplement, and perhaps then the Italian Front.
My German figures are a mixture of Revell, Emhar and HaT, and the British are mainly HaT Canadians with a few Emhar. I've also been using quite a few of the excellent IT Minatures range, now produced by Tim and Maureen at Frontline Minatures. They are very slightly smaller than 1/72 plastic, but with a fine piece of card underneath the figure when based they come up the same size and fit in perfectly. They do some lovely "specials" such as a Minenwerfer team moving and LMGs and MMGs designed to go on a trench parapet. Take a look at their range, it's well worth it. I paint the faces on my figures in the same way each time, a red-brown undercoat and then pick out the nose, cheeks and mouth in flesh. It works, even with "those with no faces" like the Hat Canadian grenade thrower.
Happy to chat further on crushthekaiser[at]yahoo.co.uk
Cheers
Paul
PS - have started the balloon. Wishing I hadn't, it's a swine.....
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The sands of time are eroded by the river of constant change
Last reply before I post my French I promise. Thank you for pointing out IT miniatures, I think they'll be very good at filling the gaps in my ranks(mg's, nurses, wounded etc). Will definitely pick up a few, they even do early war! Once again you've pointed out another miniatures range that I'm completely oblivious to(Hat and now IT). Thank you for being so helpful again. Oh and good idea with the card underneath the figure.
Thanks. I've got some of the IT Minatures nurses and doctors (I'll keep it clean before we get into a Carry-On movie...) and they also do some great casualties to lay outside a CCS - there's one on our set with a few ambulances and stretcher bearers. I had a problem with the figure on the stretcher so replaced him with a figure from the old Airfix WW2 British Infantry set. For the German set you could use figures from the Airfix WW1 Germans and in fact their stretcher bearer set is OK.
I picked up the "card under the base" trick when using some old Matchbox 1/76 figures for some of my WW2 stuff. It just lifts the figure up a mm or two and fools the eye into thinking they are the same height as other figures. Once on the table, you don't notice them.
IT Minatures early war range is very good, although they don't do dismounted British cavalry in hats (they are only in helmets). I have mentioned this to Tim and hopefully we'll see some new figures coming out! Personally I'd like to see some late war Portuguese with the "corrugated" helmet they had and some late war Belgians.
Cheers
Paul
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The sands of time are eroded by the river of constant change
