The kids are on the street!

Youth sub-culture in late seventies and early eighties Britain was, as you might expect, as mixed and varied as the music of the time - so let's use that as our starting point.

Disco was top of the pops in early 1979. The year began with YMCA from the Village People but disco was a spent force, giving way to New Wave, 2-Tone, Ska and Punk-Mod revival as the year progressed. New Romantics made an early appearance with Adam & the Ants releasing their debut album. Punk suffered a serious blow with the death of Sid Vicious in Feb 1979 from which it wouldn't recover, but would stagger on for a few more years.

Olivers' Army appeared on Elvis Costello's Armed Forces album. Blondie released Heart of Glass, The Boomtown Rats gamed a degree of notoriety with I Don't Like Mondays.

The Jam released Eton Rifles in November followed by The Clash with London Calling in December. Both overshadowed by Pink Floyd's rock-opera protest song "Another Brick in The Wall (Part II)", which struck a cord with youth expressing their rage against the establishment and would sit at No.1 in the UK for 5 weeks. It was a fitting musical finale for the 1970's.

For Winter of '79 I have tentative plans at this stage to concentrate on three of the most distinctive urban tribes, each readily identifiable by their music and dress; making them easily transferable into miniature and bringing character to our tabletop.

Skinheads / "Skins"

 Punks

 Mods: "Mod-Revivalists"

What was the music of my life in 1979, where I came of age in an irish community in red brick suburbia...... Tom Robinson Band, Siouxsie and the Banshee's, Penetration, Rezillos, Boomtown Rats, The Jam, Clash, Elvis Costello.... and to a lesser degree Blondie. I read NME, bought coloured vinyl, EPs and imports such as The Cramps.

More on the Mods later in the week, as I think they'll be the easiest to get into 20mm and aim to have a go at some conversions using Platoon 20 Argentinians in parkas.

Cheers
Mark

Some Thoughts On Professional Terrain

THE PROFESSIONALS have been playing every day on one of the free digi channels, so it would have been remiss of me not to settle back with a beer to undertake some some vital research!

After a fortnight of dedicated research, I came to the conclusion that my entire strategy for collecting buildings and terrain specially for Winter of '79 was completely wrong.

Instead, I should have invested in one big hoos' in the country (probably Barnet or Walthamstow), a disused and ramshackle ex-army transit camp or aerodrome, and finally the interior of a shabby insurance company office Hammersmith or Wembley. LOL!
     
The big Hoos' seems to be instrumental in every third plot. It's either the lair of a Bond villainesque rich industrialist-banker, crime boss made good, arms dealer, cabinet minister, foreign diplomat OR it's the target location of the attractive 30 something female witness, rich industrialist-banker (and family)/cabinet minister/foreign diplomat to be kidnapped, rich industrialist/turned crime boss/cabinet minister/foreign diplomat (revolutionary leader) to be assassinated.

Of course, if there's some kind of deal, shipment, exchange, kidnapping - that will take place in the disused and ramshackle ex-army transit camp or aerodrome, whilst any investigation, break-in, goods/information theft will take place at the shabby insurance office.

Wherever the final action scene takes place, there has to be a pile of empty cardboard boxes suitable for ploughing a Ford Capri into. Why oh why does no-one make these in OO-1/76th scale? LOL!

Back to the drawing board.........

Cheers
Mark

Battlefield Evolution: Combat Dissected

What's the appeal of Battlefield Evolution: Modern Combat; even at 99p, beyond that car crash, rubber necking element. Was it worth all the hype and subsequent hoo-haa when the pre-painted plastics went down in flames?

I mean, BevoComMod represents combat ripped from our TV screens, 24 hours a day. High-Tech weaponry vs low-tech tactics in urbanised terrain. Balanced force compositions (by point value) for variety of cutting edge militaries and insurgent factions. Surely a winner?

And it could have been. having had a chance to look through the game, I feel that it wasn't just oversold but wrongly marketed and that Stalingradlike denial turned it into a mockery. But that's all water under Mongoose's bridge.

As a dyed in the wool, "I want to be down in the trenches and bleeding with my miniatures" type of  C20th gamer - Battlefield Evolution should be the complete antithesis of what makes me tick. But what I have found is a slick' game system with just enough chrome in the right amounts that could have given Mongoose, Warhammer Moderns on a plate.....could have.

So, what I am saying is that Battlefield Evolution is a very useful addition to your gaming arsenal. It's easy to learn, relatively slick to use and encourages play. For instance, movement is unfettered by short, described elsewhere as "retardedly short", weapon ranges. All too often other games, including those I've personally sat in, become bogged down by long range fire, or rather, the fear of long range fire. This encourages a 'Panzerbush' mentality with clumps of figures hiding behind hills and trees, maybe taking the odd potshot trying to get that lucky hit. The effect is similar to the scene in THE HURT LOCKER, where the IED team come across an SAS patrol and both have to take cover in a wadi where a long drawn out sniper dual takes place. Realistic - possibly yes, an enjoyable game on the tabletop after a hard day at work - no.

Maff and I were discussing a new (for us) gaming concept recently. Instead of spending hours maneuvering across a table, we started the action at the crucial point of decision and then moved straight to the next point of decision - we called it 'pizza base' gaming. More anon if you are interested. Battlefield Evolution has you moving fast across the table in order bring you into face to to face combat and thus create decision points quickly.

There's no morale. Now be honest. Have you NEVER played a game where you've dropped the morale rules to speed up the game - or perhaps made decisions about morale based on your experience of what is likely to have been the outcome? Battlefield Evolution is about playing and having fun in a way that reminds me strikingly of playing Ghost Recon, GRAW and Call or Duty: Modern Warfare on the XBox. It's the adrenalin rush, the action. Are these console games any less enjoyable because there's no morale check?

There's an inherent honesty about Battlefield Evolution as a game system that promotes play. It's not for everybody. It's not for every gaming situation. Does it have a place in Winter of '79? It doesn't fit my vision as such, but I'm prepared to give it a go, especially for larger urban games.

Cheers
Mark

Battlefield Evolution Modern Combat

Bought Battlefield Evolution Modern Combat on Ebay at the beginning of the month and it finally arrived on Thursday.

Why Bevo ModCom? Well, it was 99p! Yes, just 99p and I noticed last night that it's on the  ebing sold on the Mongoose Publishing website for £2.99.

Pushing past the publisher's excited hyperbole that prevented me from purchasing Bevo ModCom on release, it does appear to produce a fast paced 'fun' small scale modern combat game in less than two hours.

I've only had a short space of time to look at it this week but I am liking what I see already. No, really! Bevo ModCom is a breath of fresh air in many respects - allowing gamers to fight a wargame with tanks and a'hin 'Airfix style' but with a certain Warhammer twist. Morale? What morale? Your figures are on the table to fight, soldier! And fight they shall!

Is this modern combat? Is it bollocks. If however, you want to get a couple of squads of infantry backed by a handful of tanks onto a tabletop and play the arse out of them with a nod to the 'Airfix games of your youth, yet retain a level of modern gaming sophistication and a little bit of character, Battlefield Evolution Modern Combat might well be worth a go, especially at a knockdown price.

Cheers
Mark

Fastest 'Arvester in the West (Country)

Picked up two useful toy tractor sets today from a discount store in Aberdeen for £1.99 each.

The red tractor with mechanical farming gazzubins will become cover on the farm or maybe a roadblock in a country lane. Who knows, might even be a game objective in it's own right. The green tractor, will become an improvised armoured vehicle with the aid of plastikard, similar to those found in former Yugoslavia.

 PanzerkampfWurzel

Hoped to have made a start on this fun little project this evening, but I'm exhausted to be homest due to extra early starts and intense days in the office this week. Anyhoo...the bales were a find on Ebay for a couple of pence and waiting for me when I got home. Notionally they are Britains 1/32nd scale Farmyard products. Hay bales can be large and these don't look too out of scale for the overall effect I'm trying to achieve. Eg, a pile of farm clutter and cover. Conversely OO scale ones can look too small. Incidentally, the figure is a kneeling 20mm 'Charlie G' No.1 from Tony at Platoon 20.

Cheers
Mark

Argyll's Radioman

"Sunray, this is Foxtrox. CONTACT! Out....."

Ex-Hotspur (Combat Miniatures) radioman. The original beret head had the earphones over both ears. I've modelled this one with the earphone above the right ear so he can still hear what's going on. I'm biased, but my favourite figure of the bunch.

That's the Argyll foot patrol complete. Still need a GPMG gunner for a full section, but as it stands, they are ready to do battle as is. As soon as I get a suitable model I'll add  it to the squad. In the meantime I'll work on a dedicated section leader figure.

I've had one of those road to Kathryn Jenkins moments recently. I used to be a real pain in the butt about accuracy - but you know, these days it's more about - does it look right. Yes! Move on! With that in mind, I've decided not to bother with sculpting cap badges or ribbons onto the Glengarry. The badge can be painted and the ribbons won't be noticeable on the table.

Cheers
Mark

More Urban WIP

Figure on the left represents a slight change to my planned snatch squad. This guy represents a 'hero' who has had his helmet/Glengarry knocked off in a scuffle.

Figure on the right is 'Brian' Footie supporter, plus it's winter remember and a little chilly- hence the footie scarf. Had to rebuild his left hand completely. As he is an urban meltdown civvie type - he doesn't know how to hold the SLR correctly.  Has probably forgotten to take the safety off too! And I bet the gas regulator set higher than 3!

The head came from the (RH Models) Aussie NAM SAS. They have a very seventies look about them and this gutsy fella looks like Gareth Hunt. Not too shabby eh?

Cheers
Mark