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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

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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

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Issue one is here and I’m incredibly excited to share some fantastic articles with the world. However, be-

fore 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

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.

Jeff’s 6mm Ancient Goth Infantry Jeff’s 6mm Ancient Goth Cavalry Command

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Scott’s Navy and Armour Showcase

I started collecting naval minia-

tures 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 as-

sembling 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

other for the biggest fleets. We

would carry these in fishing tackle

boxes all over the world. Some-

times gaming in the historical spot

of their real representations. For

example, the hunt for the Bis-

marck actually being gamed in the

North Atlantic, or the Battle for

Midway, as we would sail past

Midway Island. We had some

great battles back then, having 6 to

8 sailor's war gaming on the deck

of a US warship. Fun times. Alas,

I grew older and then started to

raise a family. I had placed my

fleets in mothballs in the back of

my closet. 30 some years later, I

have once again taken up the hob-

by of building and refurbishing

my fleets.

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.

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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.

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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/

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

A medieval battle in full swing, all plastic 28mm figures.

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space would you have to lay out a battlefield, and to store the models and terrain? Will you have an oppo-

nent 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 gi-

ants 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 add-

ed to each tiny figure, will be lost at a standard view-

ing 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.

15mm and 28mm are arguably the two most popular

scales at the moment, with the latter, probably slight-

ly 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

be added, and it can of course still be seen at the nor-

mal viewing distance. The spectacle of two beauty-

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fully painted 28mm armies at a club event, is a sight

to behold and enough to inspire anyone into the hob-

by.

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, plas-

tic is certainly cheaper. For around £20 - £22, at cur-

rent 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

each, is pretty much all you would need. Many fig-

ure suppliers will offer starter armies, giving a mix-

ture 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 im-

portant when first starting, as we tend to select the

more glamorous or famous units, at the expense of

the more numerous, but common troops.

Next up is assembling and painting. Many metal fig-

ures tend to be produced as a single casting, even

horse and rider are often a single cast. Plastics tend

to be multi-part, and this allows for a degree of pos-

es 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

to build, and a little care and patience will be re-

warded with an excellent looking unit of troops.

Painting is either a joy or a chore, for many it is a

necessary evil, to be completed as quickly as possi-

ble 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 paint-

ing, 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.

With your troops painted, they will need basing, usu-

ally for a particular set of rules, but lately, rules writ-

ers 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.

Scale, metal versus plastic, painting, basing and rule

sets, are all topics worthy of their own articles.

Which hopefully will all appear in forthcoming is-

sues of the magazine.

Metal 6mm Union and Confederate forces about to engage. The small scale allows for really large battles on a much smaller table.

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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 dis-

play 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.

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