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Miniature Gaming Magazine (September 2017) Issue 1 Copyright 2017 Editor: Jeff A. Harbrow Published by Jeff A. Harbrow Australia All articles and images are copyright of the authors All other content remains the copyright of Miniature Gaming Magazine 2
Contents Message from the Editor By Jeff A. Harbrow Scott s Naval and Armour Showcase By Scott Price Miniature Wargaming, how do I begin? By Ian Long Miniatures at a WWII Re-enactment By Scott Price 4 5 7 10 3
A message from the editor Jeff A. Harbrow is the founder and editor of MGM, he is an Australian writer and miniature gamer. Jeff plays, paints and collects miniatures from a variety of genres and scales, but enjoys ancient and fantasy gaming the most. Issue one is here and I m incredibly excited to share some fantastic articles with the world. However, before we get into the articles I wanted to take the time to write a few words about the magazine. Miniature Gaming Magazine (MGM) was an idea I had back in May and to see it come to the stage of publication is fantastic. The magazine has had a lot of great support from the community and I wanted to thank everyone that s checked out the magazine, offered words of support, submitted articles and come along for this journey. As expected the first issue isn t big, but it s got some excellent writing and fantastic information within it. MGM aims to celebrate the hobby of miniature gaming, painting and collecting across all genres and all scales. As the publication grows I hope that it brings opportunities for writers, painters, collectors and gamers to share their work, their information, their stories, their techniques and most importantly, their hobby. I hope that readers and contributors alike find a place where they can learn something and have a bit of fun. Thank you for supporting the magazine and I hope you enjoy this issue as much as I have. Jeff A. Harbrow Founder & Editor Jeff s 6mm Ancient Goth Infantry Jeff s 6mm Ancient Goth Cavalry Command 4
Scott s Navy and Armour Showcase BY SCOTT PRICE Scott is a US wargamer from Berwick, PA. He spent 10 years in the military crew Chief Ingram H53 Sea Stallions. Scott has a collection of 1:2400 scale WW2 naval figures and 1:285 armour. Originally gaming in the 70s and 80s he s returned to the hobby after 30 years. I started collecting naval miniatures back in the late 70s, early 80s. I did this while serving in the US Navy. A couple of buddies and I started our own arms race of assembling and painting as many of the great WW2 naval ships and fleets as possible. We did this at a fever pace trying to out-build each marck actually being gamed in the I grew older and then started to other for the biggest fleets. We North Atlantic, or the Battle for would carry these in fishing tackle Midway, as we would sail past boxes all over the world. Some- Midway Island. We had some raise a family. I had placed my fleets in mothballs in the back of my closet. 30 some years later, I times gaming in the historical spot great battles back then, having 6 to have once again taken up the hobof their real representations. For 8 sailor's war gaming on the deck by of building and refurbishing example, the hunt for the Bis- of a US warship. Fun times. Alas, my fleets. 5
A long-lost love re-found. I have all the major ships from the 5 big navies of WW2. Recently I have built my own gaming table in my garage and I have also started an extensive WW2 1:285 scale US & German armour collection. We have a small group that wargames and a small group on Facebook where we share photos, ideas and comments about our hobby. 6
Miniature Wargaming, how do I begin? BY IAN LONG A grumpy, 63-year-old git from East Yorkshire, England. Purely a historical gamer with armies from the Imperial Roman era through to the American Civil War. Known on FB as Jack Diomede, a founding member of Tabletop Commanders. Ian also author s a regularly updated blog: http://thediomedef16.blogspot.co.uk/ A medieval battle in full swing, all plastic 28mm figures. Possibly you are drawn into the hobby after visiting a show, and seeing cool minis on a table filled with hills, roads and trees. Or you watched Gettysburg, Waterloo or dare I say '300' and thought I would love to recreate a scene or two from that movie. Perhaps you have lingering memories of owning Airfix plastic soldiers in 1/72 scale, a veritable army in a box for pocket money prices. Like any hobby, you will have to devote time and money to it. Let us take the first commodity, time. With busy lives, both socially and professionally, we have a finite amount of time to spend on our hobby, or should that be hobbies? You may well have several. So, before you rush out and buy some figures and a bunch of paints, let us use a little of that time, the next few minutes could save you many hours, not to mention expense, further down the road. There are a number of questions you need to ask yourself, before you spend a single penny. What period of history, or even the far future, really interests you? Is it historical, futuristic or possibly fantasy? How much 7
space would you have to lay out a battlefield, and to store the models and terrain? Will you have an opponent to pit your armies against, or will you play solo? Do you want epic sized battles with many units sweeping across the table, or just a skirmish type engagement, involving no more than a dozen figures? The above questions are not an exhaustive list, but we can look a little at each in detail. Many in the hobby collect miniature armies for a number of periods and indeed, in multiple scales. But when first starting out I would recommend selecting just one time period, you may, if playing solo, have to collect both sides of the conflict. Which period really inspires you, is it mounted knights in armour, banners waving, lines of French troops advancing under the command of Napoleon or even squads of futuristic warriors, battling against aliens on a far distant planet? With time period chosen, comes the bewildering choice of scale. From diminutive 2mm right up to the giants of 54mm and beyond. Each scale has its own advantages and disadvantages. In 2mm, 6mm and even 10mm, the chance to recreate At the rear, plastic 28mm foot battalion. Front left, metal 10mm French Imperial Guard. Front right, metal 6mm American Civil War Union regiment. This gives a good comparison of just how much space each would be needed on a tabletop. All three represent a single Huge battle from history, on a reasonably sized table is possible. However, the figures are painted for the mass effect of the unit, not the individual, as all the fine detail work, that may well be painstakingly added to each tiny figure, will be lost at a standard viewing distance of three feet (one metre). Being smaller they are also much easier to store. Other popular scales are 15mm, 20mm (which roughly equates to 1/72, the size of Airfix figures). On through 25mm, 28mm, 40mm and eventually 54mm. scales at the moment, with the latter, probably slightly ahead. With armies in either of these two scales, you are likely to find an opponent much more easily. The latter too has the advantage of being widely available in plastic as well as metal, something to be considered to keep costs down. However, you are going to need a much larger playing area, depending on the choice of scenario and rule set, and of course, storing the larger figures is more problematic. The huge of advantage of this scale, is the detail that can 15mm and 28mm are arguably the two most popular be added, and it can of course still be seen at the normal viewing distance. The spectacle of two beauty- 8
fully painted 28mm armies at a club event, is a sight to build, and a little care and patience will be rewarded with an excellent looking unit of troops. to behold and enough to inspire anyone into the hobby. Painting is either a joy or a chore, for many it is a So, with era and scale, fully researched and settled on, next comes the choice of the figure manufacturer and indeed the material used to mould the figures, be it metal, plastic or resin. Cost will no doubt play a part in your decision, and as mentioned earlier, plastic is certainly cheaper. For around 20-22, at current GBP prices, boxes of around 40 foot or 12 mounted figures in 28mm are readily available, and for some skirmish rule sets, a couple of boxes of necessary evil, to be completed as quickly as possible to allow the troops to be placed on the tabletop. For others, it is just as, if not more enjoyable, than actually wargaming. Personally, I do enjoy the painting, though I am far from being an accomplished painter. My models are tactfully described as war gaming standard, which means they are at the lower level of acceptable. But no matter, if the figures look good to you, the owner, then they will do the job, as it is only yourself who has to be happy with them. each, is pretty much all you would need. Many figure suppliers will offer starter armies, giving a mixture of the most common units fielded. This offers a cheaper way into the hobby, as well as providing you with a sensible and balanced force. Very important when first starting, as we tend to select the With your troops painted, they will need basing, usually for a particular set of rules, but lately, rules writers have realised that we don't want to rebase our figures each time, so allow any basing system, so long as both armies are based identically. more glamorous or famous units, at the expense of the more numerous, but common troops. Scale, metal versus plastic, painting, basing and rule sets, are all topics worthy of their own articles. Next up is assembling and painting. Many metal figures tend to be produced as a single casting, even Which hopefully will all appear in forthcoming issues of the magazine. horse and rider are often a single cast. Plastics tend to be multi-part, and this allows for a degree of poses and weapon choices, as well as heads to be easily swapped and changed. The assembly can be fiddly on some models, but overall, they are simple enough Metal 6mm Union and Confederate forces about to engage. The small scale allows for really large battles on a much smaller table. 9
Miniatures at a WWII Re-enactment BY SCOTT PRICE Scott is a US wargamer from Berwick, PA. He spent 10 years in the military crew Chief Ingram H53 Sea Stallions. Scott has a collection of 1:2400 scale WW2 naval figures and 1:285 armour. Originally gaming in the 70s and 80s he s returned to the hobby after 30 years. I recently attended a local WWII re-enactment weekend in Berwick Pa. It was the first time we put a display on with our miniatures. We presented both Naval & Amour set up's. It was a great success. We were invited to four additional events next year due to the interest in our display this year. Also we talked with two WWII navy veterans who served on destroyers. We presented them with replica miniatures of their ships that they served on. They left in tears of joy. Happy to have a little piece of their history. We were very happy and honoured by their presence. 10
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