December 2020 part 2: Our works

Another post to report all the activities my friends are making to continue with our hobby

First of all ... some pics of SAGA units prepared by one of our best friends: Santi

It seems that fantasy is popular in this period ... I painted some old Warhammer Miniatures ...

Riccardo is preparing new supports for his German army in 28mm and ... 

While Ezio is dedicating his energies on 20mm English troops

World Word II ... Is 20mm (1/72) a good scale?

My club is close in this period for Covid-19 emergency so I decided to write this post using some old photos

Sometimes I received messages from other wargame lover about the scale to use to play WWII… 15mm, 20mm or 28mm? Thanks to rules set as Bolt Action, Cross fire and so on … the most used scales is the 28 mm. This scale allows you to create great miniatures with high details level ... but also a 20mm miniature is not to discard.

In your opinion, what scale are the miniatures in these photos?

Obviously they are all 20mm

My idea in this post is to try to create a kind of guide for those who approach 20mm (1/72) for the first time.

Let's start with a list of advances:
They have a low cost (generally 9 - 15 euro per box)
They are easily to find (amazon, ebay are just some of the commercial sites ... in addition to the manufacturers’ ones  ... where you can find them)
They are faster to paint than a classic 28mm
You can re-create large scenarios (in particular if yuo want to use tanks, jeeps and so on)

… But there are also some disadvantages:

Poor level of detail
They are difficult to modify
The poses are sometimes a bit "absurd" ... many of the molds still used are a bit "old style"

In our association we play with many World War II rule sets: Bolt Action, Cross Fire, Rapid Fire… … for all these systems we use both 28mm and 20mm without problems.

One of the first problems to start playing with 20mm is: but what are 20mm miniatures like?One of the sites I use is: http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/PeriodList.aspx?period=1

It allows you to have a quick review of most of the 1/72 miniature boxes on the market. The site is not designed only for the Second World War but, thanks to the menu, it is possible to view the boxes of this period.

The second problem is… are we sure that the scale of the various manufacturers is "correct"?
This is also a problem for the 28mm but, to try and answer, I took this photo

It allows you to view the miniatures of five of the manufacturers that I usually paint. The miniatures are both in plastic (Caesar, Zvezda) and in lead (AB) and as you can see the scales are compatible. At least among these manufacturers.

I must admit that, the same manufacturer, sometimes builts sets that have not the perfect "dimensions" ... but the beauty of the miniatures overcomes this problem

For example, the Italeri winter Germans (miniature in the center) are a bit larger than the Zvezda miniatures or other Italeri sprues but can easily be combined

Third aspect to consider… they have few details and can hardly be changed.
This is not exactly the truth
This is the original image of a Zvezda frame

As you can see, with a few modifications, you can modify the pose

Without considering the awesome conversions of my friend Maurizio

A lot of wargamers tell me that 20mm miniatures have few details. As an amateur painter I admit that I prefer 28mm for painting but also 20mm… with the right scenario are not bad. The same miniatures out of the table...

And in action

I hope to help someone with this post

December 2020: Our works

We were forced to close again our club to respect the new Covid-19 rules in the region but our love for this hobby cannot be stopped so ... waiting best times ... we continues to paint. 

In this post and in other ones I'll insert some pics of our latest works

Ivano is working on his new army for SAGA Age of Hannibal ... His Repubblic army is growing

Luca continues with his German army in 20mm

Flavio made some new ruined buildings to increase our scenario's "store"

Aurelian continues to paint and show his amazing miniatures

Aurelian's Punic Army - SAGA

 SAGA - Age of Hannibal is just published by Studio Tomahawk and our club is prepared.

Considering the good result of the dark age version in my club ... a group of my club mates are preparing miniatures for the future battles. But this time I have to admit that our news herald is Aurelian.

He prepared many miniatures and is still working on ... unfortunately the new Covid measures forced us to close again the club. Below there some pics I took before the temporary closing of our activities.

He painted two war elephants. This is one of them ... on the battle field

He prepared also some Punic troops and ...

... and the command group

Test scenario: Italo-German forces vs English troops - Bolt Action October 24, 2020

In October, before Covid forced us to close again the club, we hosted some people who wanted to play a trial game using Bolt Action rules.

Antonio prepared for them a table and easy scenario ... the target was easy ... to take the control of San Antonio's statue

Antonio used his British troops helped by Stefano ... below some of their men and ...

... the artillery observer.

Danilo and Dario with their Italians and Germans were on the other side

A funny game that we hope to repeat at soon as we will open again the club and that saw a UK victory ... 

Bilbo’s birthday Oct 10, 2020, Lord of the Rings

Before Covid forced us to close again the club, my  mates organized a game to celebrate Bilbo's birthday. Giancarlo arranged the event preparing the table adapting an original scenario from the rule book: Assault to Esgaroth. They used Lord of the rings rules.

The protagonists for the Good are: Bard the archer, Bilbo Baggins, Thorin and his 12 friends. For the Evil: Goblins and the Orcs with a special character (Smaug the Dragon).

Our dwarfs are host in the city of Esgaroth and they ignore that Smaug is flying on them after Bilbo’s attempt to steal his treasury. Unfortunately, the same night, Dol Guldor Orcs and Goblins decide to raid the city.

To simulate Smaug’s force … every turn he launches a ball of flame in a random direction (decided using a directional dice). Every heroes hit by the fire must use on of his Fate point to save himself. Every turn Bard, with his ballista, tries to hit the Dragon.

The Evil wins if Bilbo and Thorin die. The Good wins if Smaug dies or if Bilbo and Thorin survive after 20 turns. Draw if at the end Thorin or Bilbo has left us and Smaug returned unharmed to his lair.

The game took to my mates all the morning. The Evil does not adequately use the surprise factor ... the dwarves come out from the houses and organize themselves in powerful lines that block the access to Bilbo's home. Thorin, under siege, defends himself in a great way  risking something. ..The Dragon flies over the city without creating great damages ...

At the end of the game ... despite Bard wounded Smaug ... he manages to set fire to Bilbo's residence. But Bilbo is a lucky hobbit and he  goes out without roasting. 

It was a very hard game ... uncertain till the end ... but after 20 turns the Good wins. Both Bilbo and Thorin survive to the Evil's attack.

But we are Italians and we cannot close a so important date celebration as Bilbo's birthday without our cakes