Rhinos, Hippos, and Apes, oh my!

    Beware the hungry, hungry hippo lurking in the rivers of my tabletop...

I have always enjoyed painting animals, whether in 28mm or 15mm. I think that even if they're used just for scenery, they always seem to make a good table look even better. So, when I finished my Southeast Asian temples awhile back, I thought I should raid my unpainted lead drawer and see what animals I have that would fit the locale. I have a decent-sized stock, and there were bound to be some in there that I could use in my games.

    A 28mm Iron Wind (Ral Partha) Rhino. This is probably my second favorite, after the hippo, of this batch of animals

What's more, Pulp Alley -- the rules I'm using for these games -- has a concept called "Perilous Areas." This is meant to be that generic dangerous part of the miniature tabletop. It could because of treacherous footing, a creaky old rope bridge, or even savage animals that might ambush the player. In the game, opponents can play a Fortune Card on a rival player when he enters one of those areas. These are "challenges" that they must pass using a designated character's statistic -- such as Cunning, Might, Dodge, etc. I envisioned these animals I painted up as perfect "markers" for perilous areas. You want to cross that jungle stream? Well, see that hippo in the water, that means it is a perilous area...will one get territorial and attack you, or will you pass the test?

    A nasty, ill-tempered denizen of my jungles are these over-sized porkers

So, when I hunted through my unpainted lead drawer (okay, rolling set of drawers!), I found a hippo. I also found a rhino, gorilla, wild board, cobra, and two water buffaloes. Yes, yes, I know. Not all of these animals are necessarily Southeast Asian, but it is close enough. These are Pulp games after all. Once you accept that you are being attacked by Pygmy Cannibals of the South Seas, you're not going to quibble about whether the type of rhino I painted up is native to the jungles of Southeast Asia!

    "Out of bananas again...? Why I oughta take the head offa the first dope who comes along...say, who's that over there?"

    I painted this up as an Egyptian banded cobra because I loved the yellow and black pattern

I believe all of these except for the water buffalo are from Iron Wind Metals. The descendants of Ral Partha, this company is a regular at the conventions I attend. I love sorting through their loose lead bin, and have a hard time coming away without my hands silvery and a brown paper bag full of animals that you-just-never-know if I'll need one day. After all, look at these beauties! Who knew that I'd be needing them to mark out perilous areas on a 28mm Pulp game? But there they are! Anyway, I highly, highly recommend hitting up Iron Wind at conventions. You'd be hard-pressed to find a better assortment of animals, dinosaurs, and various other loose metal bits that what they carry. They charge by the pound, too, so you can mix and match to your heart's desire.

    Two water buffalo posing by the second, smaller jungle hut I built in less than a week leading up to my second game of Dakota Smith's Oriental Adventures. Notice the improvised staircase of crates. Clever, aren't I? Ha, ha!

When I finished running the second installment of Dakota Smith's Oriental Adventures at my buddy Keith's the other night, one of my friends found these three Easter Island moai on his table. I snatched them up and told him I'd touch them up and flock them. I knew they'd be perfect for the next game. Yes, yes, I know Easter Island is nowhere near Southeast Asia! But these could fill the bill as primitive stone idols. I mean, last time I checked, Easter Island has never copyrighted the concept of a giant stone head. And if they did, their copyright expired with their civilization! Seriously, all I did to these guys was dry brush a lighter shade on exposed areas, give them a nice dark ink wash, and put flocking on the bases. It'll be a shame to give them back to Keith...I've always loved that otherworldly look of the moai. And yes, I have been to Easter Island in my travels. Here's a couple of my favorite photos from that trip to close out this post.

    I have no idea where these came from -- well, other than my friend's basement! I just had to snag them, touch them up, and get them ready for my next game.

What's up next? A small project and a really big one, size-wise...more to come soon!

    Iconic shot from Ranu Raruku -- the quarry on Easter Island

    One of my all-time favorite sunset shots I've ever taken

Welcome to the Jungle

    28mm Senegalese askaris creep through the jungle pieces I created

Since my 28mm Pulp games are set in Southeast Asia, there's bound to be a scenario or two set in a jungle. I decided I needed to make some dedicated-looking jungle pieces for my games, rather than just plop down my normal trees. I have some palm trees that I use for my 20mm modern Africa games, but I wanted something looking more overgrown and wild.

My thought was that -- rather than put one tree on a base -- I would make the bases larger and have them contain a variety of plants. Many years ago, I'd done this for terrain for my 15mm southeast Asian ancient armies. I dug them up and wasn't that impressed. The plastic plants I'd used were very glossy, and the flocking I'd put on the base was shedding off every time you touched them. Step one would be to touch these up.

    My old jungle pieces touched up with a dark green wash and light green dry brush

I also wasn't particularly impressed with the lurid greens of the plastic plants. So, I mixed up a 50/50 batch of water and Ceramcoat English Yew Green. This is a duller, darker green color that I thought would tone them down well. I didn't try to cover every inch of the plants, but splash it across the majority of the surface. It took less time than I thought it would. Originally, I'd intended that to be it (other than fixing the balding flocking). After they dried, though, I thought to myself: "These are just crying out for a light green dry brush." So, I did, and was a LOT more happy with how they looked. I applied a 50/50 batch of white glue and water to the flocking to fix it down. After it was dry (and warped -- can you believe I used balsa wood way back then?), I sprayed them and was happy. Not the greatest pieces, but they will look good in bulk.

    Cheap plastic trees won in a raffle - no paint, no touch-up

Now, for my new jungle pieces. Awhile back, I'd won a batch of cheap-looking, plastic trees in a raffle. I decided to make one of those the centerpiece of each jungle base. Next, I went to Michaels craft store and perused their plastic plant aisles. I found three likely looking types -- one a fern, another with round leaves, and a third that was very sparse and "stemmy" (technical term). I wanted a variety in looks.

    Plastic plants from craft store ("rounded," "stemmy," and "fern")

I decided to use some 45mm across hexagonal plywood bases I'd bought from Litko for another project that was several back burners behind this one. I could always order more if I got around to it. I Tacky glued one of the plastic trees to each one, generally in the center or slightly off-center. The double-trunk tree pieces would be the largest plant on the base, so it made sense to have them in the middle. Then, I decided to fix the "cheap" look of it. I painted the trunk dark brown and let it dry. Then I dry brushed it a medium brown, followed by a khaki. Once this was done, I gave the same treatment to the palm-like fronds that I had to my previously-made jungle pieces. The dark yew green and water mixture was followed up by a light green dry brush when they were dry. I was impressed by how just a quick application of a few colors really made the trees look ten times better.

    Cheap plastic tree painted with 3 colors on trunk and 2 on fronds

Next, I grabbed the plastic plants from Michaels and trimmed up a bunch of pieces to apply to the bases. I varied the heights -- making the ferns taller on some, the rounded leaf one on others, and the stemmy one on still others. I took a small bit of blue tack (sometimes called poster putty) and wrapped the bottom of each plant in it and used it to affix it to the base. I molded the blue tack into a roughly pyramidal shape so that it would blend into the base once the flocking was done. Next, I painted the blue tack with Tacky glue to seal it, making sure to slop some paint up onto the plant and also onto the base around it. I'd hoped this would lock it in, and it did a nice job.

    The plant pieces attached to the hexagonal bases with blue tack, or "poster putty"

The Tacky glue seal would be aided by the multi-layer ground flock method I've been using for awhile now. The first step is to mix a bit of my reddish-brown ground color with white glue and paint the base completely (also covering the Tacky-glued plant bases). Then I dipped it in medium ballast, covering the surface thoroughly.

    The jungle bases after the Tacky glue seal and the medium ballast layer has been put down

Once it dried, I remixed the white glue, base color, and added about 50% water. This was painted over the ballast. Then I poured sand across it, which adheres and gives a more ground-like appearance. Incidentally, this is how I flock my miniatures, too. Then I take straight white glue and paint it on the base, covering at least 3/4's of it. I sprinkled Woodland Scenics blended green turf across it. The final step is to add a few pieces of Woodland Scenics clump foliage of various colors. Darker colors were placed towards the shadowed center, and brighter ones towards the edges. A spray of Testors Dullcoate was next (the only clear coat I use anymore). Once dry, I put a final 50/50 mix of white glue and water on the flocking to seal it in. These multiple layers serve to seal the plants to the base fairly well, it seems. I really like how they turned out, too.

    The jungle bases complete with flocking

Dakota Smith's Oriental Adventure, Part 2 - Missing at the Mission

Western Archeologist Briefing
Near the Ta-bo Mountains, French Indochina
November 30, 1930

    Despite the failure to get your hands on Brother Virigi’s journal, you came away from the Portuguese monastery on Macau with solid information. The monk had left a few weeks ago for the monastery’s mission on the mainland in French Indochina. The brother monks had set up an outpost in the foothills of the Ta-bo Mountains to preach to the primitive tribes living there. Villagers you speak to along the way there always spit when saying the name of the mountains, so you suspect an evil story lurks in this area’s history.
    It takes about a week to trek through jungle and cultivated plain before you begin to climb into the foothills. Once or twice, you see signs that the other archeological teams you encountered at the monastery may be on the same trail. Villages and hamlets are becoming more and more scarce, though. What’s more, in your last several days of travel, all the villages you pass through are deserted. Chickens and goats wander untended, making you suspect the villagers left in a hurry. There is a smell of smoke in the air as you finally come to the mission station. A grayish haze hangs over the area, as if a fire has been smoldering for days...

    The second scenario saw Dakota Smith and his rivals discovering Brother Virigi's mission station on the mainland raided, smoking, and with no signs of life...

So, after our first game of Pulp Alley, I was trying some changes to adapt the game to the large number of players. Once again, we had five players and myself for our Sunday evening game. This time, though, each player had only 3 characters under his control -- a leader, sidekick, and ally. That is, except for the Order of the Fire Coral, who had sidekicks for all three characters. I shrank the board to 4'x4', and placed the 4 minor plot points 12" from each edge. The major plot point was in the center of the table. The major plot point was a badly-wounded survivor of the raid that had apparently wiped out Brother Virigi's mission station. The minor ones were clues to the the identity of the attackers, including inscriptions on the walls of a ruined temple, the boxes of supplies looted by the attackers, a muddy patch with lots of footprints, and Brother Virigi's new journal.

    A map showing the board as I initially planned it -- some changes were made when I set it up

This game saw a new archeological faction take the field. Mike S had created his own Irish archeological team, and switched over to playing them. Allen, who'd been absent our first game, took over capably in playing Dakota Smith. The French player was absent, so they were obviously held up by bureaucratic duties, while the other Europeans skirted those. Each team made a beeline for the plot point nearest where they'd set up. Dakota Smith, accompanied by Dolly Flanders and Harold Fortwine, hoofed it up the hill to the ruined temple to examine it. Harold stumbled a couple times in the perilous footing -- with vegetation concealing pits and crumbling floors. His arch-nemesis, Von Jaeger, came in on the opposite side of the board and headed for the muddy patch of ground that promised to show good footprints of (and possibly identify) the attackers. The Irish came in not far from them, and advanced cautiously towards the looted supplies, hoping to gain a clue as to who the attackers were by what they took and what they left behind. Harris McLeod and the British hurried towards the swampy patch of ground where the raid's lone survivor lay hidden. And finally, Opay, Tat-Ko, and Jaz Minh infiltrated through the mission huts. Tat-ko searched the monk's quarters, while the other two stealthily closed in on the Europeans.

    Dakota Smith passes up on checking out the village to instead examine the temple ruins at the top of the scrubby hill, hoping to get some clues about the history of the area

    The steely-eyed Von Jaeger notices something odd left by the footprints in the mud

    The mystery of the raided mission station distracts Lady Shannon -- always ready for adventure -- from her hunt for a Buddhist tomb

    The British come upon a grisly discovery in the marshy patch in the center of the table. They are stunned to find the horribly stabbed Chinese man still alive, but even more astonished by the stunted, misshapen body of what wounded him...!

    Once again, the mission of Opay and other members of the Order of the Fire Coral is to frustrate that of the westerners, and keep hidden the mystery that Brother Virigi must have stumbled upon...

All leagues except the Fire Coral ran afoul of an occasional perilous area, but no lasting damage was done to any. This time, I put markers on the table for the perilous areas -- venomous snakes in the jungle patches, crocodiles in the river, feral chickens near the huts (just kidding, but there were some angry, neglected water buffalo that the adventurers gave a wide berth to...!). To be honest, this is probably an area all the players need to improve upon. We still need to learn how how to best play Fortune cards to the maximum effect against their opponents -- especially when characters enter perilous areas. Last game, Tom was particularly effective doing this. However, everyone struggled this game to make much offensive use of them against their rival leagues.

    The perilous areas on the board slowed down the occasional character, and even temporarily downed Fraulein Blucher (German ally). However, she recovered quickly. All hands were available at the bullets began to fly, shortly...

By turn three, all five plot points were in the hands of the characters. There was a humorous moment when the players turned to me and asked, "Is the scenario over?" Once I explained that you could take away plot points from other characters, and that they were worth more experience, they quickly caught on that their next objective was each other!

    Dakota was a bit miffed that Dolly sauntered in and finished off his deciphering of the minor plot point. This didn't prevent him from taking a quick pencil and paper rubbing of the temple inscriptions...

Now, the bullets began to fly (there had actually been a "Parley" card played on Turn 3). Predictably, the bloodthirsty Von Jaeger and his Nazi thugs started it. Otto Tulmann wounded Harris McLeod, who managed to dodge the follow up gunfire of Von Jaeger himself. The next turn, Otto poured more fire into Harris, wounding him further. Steve played a "Stay Down" card to keep Harris from recovering. The portly hunter quickly shuffled away, leaving Major Speke-Eastman and his niece Clara to deal with the vicious Nazis.

    Guns blazing, the Germans chase after the British and the major plot point

Lady Shannon's Irish also showed a tendency to shoot first and ask questions later. Her sidekick Ryan and her cowboy ally, Tex, whooped as they blazed away at Jaz Minh and Opay. Meanwhile, inside the hut, Tat-Ko located Brother Virigi's new journal and hid it inside his robe.

    Ryan O'Shea and Tex open fire on the Order of the Fire Coral

    Inside the jungle huts which composed the Portuguese mission (and newly-constructed for this scenario), Tat-Ko discovers the missing Brother Virigi's new journal and swipes it

Drawn by the desire to capture the wounded Chinese survivor of the raid, all the teams except the Irish closed in on the center. Fraulein Blucher boldly charged up the hill, fists flying, at an astonished Dakota Smith, who had seized the opportunity to open fire at the hated Nazis. Harold Fortwine, an ex-boxer in his undergrad days, waded in and belted the stout, gray-haired matron to the ground, though. Harris McLeod recovered his nerve enough to turn and let loose a fusilade at Von Jaeger, who returned fire. Both were wounded. Major Speke-Eastman also fired off a flurry of shots, further wounding the German. Jaz Minh and Opay avoided crocodiles to dash across the river. As the Irish continued to take pot shots at the martial artists, Jaz Minh skipped back across the river and kicked Ryan O'Shea's gun from his hand. 

    The melee in the center is furious, and the Germans are in the thick of it. All teams are eventually drawn into the brawl, though.

A couple of the players had the foresight to send their plot points off towards the board edge, in the hands of one of their characters, though. Dakota handed the temple wall rubbing off to Dolly. The socialite needed little encouragement to dash off down the hill and away from the gunfire. Tat-Ko sprinted for the edge of the board, but his movement drew the attention of Tex. As his companion Ryan knocked down Jaz Minh, Tex drew a bead on the fleeing martial artist. His shot rang true and Tat-Ko fell to the ground, the journal flung free of his robes.

    Bullets and fists fly as the characters all compete to drag off the howling, wounded survivor of the raid. They know he had key information on how to track down the attackers, and hopefully, rescue Brother Virigi.

The sixth turn drew to a close with the major plot point having been wrested from the British, but under no one's control. The grisly tug-of-war with the horribly wounded survivor saw Clara McLeod dig her heels into the ground and prevent Von Jaeger from carrying the man off. It ended the game under no one's control. The Fire Coral also lost possession of the journal to a long-range shot which put Tat-Ko down and out. The Americans, Germans, and Irish all retained possession of one minor plot point, so came out on top.

As the leagues retreated from the bloody fray to bandage their wounds and take stock of the situation, they knew they all had one piece of information. The monks of the Portuguese mission station had been kidnapped by a tribe of savage pygmies known as the Ta-bo. The wounded survivor's words still echoed in their ears, "Save the brothers, please, masters! The Ta-bo are cannibals...!" If they were ever going to find the location of the lost city from Brother Virigi, they'd first have to rescue him from pygmy cannibals of the South Seas...!

Everyone seemed to enjoy the game, and got into the fact that they were bitter rivals eventually. Pulp Alley is still a new rules set for our group, so we are still learning tactics and strategy. I am still learning at how to incorporate the perilous areas into the game, and keep the storyline of them coherent, pulpy, and well, as believable as a rousing pulpy yarn should be...! I'm sure I'll get better at the storytelling aspect of the game as we play more. The guys are helping out, though, and suggesting reasons for outcomes that make good "B movie" sense. It'll probably be January before I run Scenario 3 (The Search for Skull Cave), as our Sunday night schedule is filling up. That's fine, though, as I have lots of jungle pieces to create. Plus, I have a hankering to make a rope bridge, and what can be more "Indiana Jones"-like than that...?

Jungle Hut -- Southeast Asian building, Part 3

    The jungle hut completed...and overrun by a collection of surly, 28mm Pulp characters. The platform is permanently attached to the base with stilts. The roof comes off, though, of course.

I left off in the last post with the jungle hut all painted and washed, and the roof complete. All that was really left was to create the stilt base. I cut another rectangle of black styrene to the appropriate size. Things were getting trickier here than you'd think, though. I wanted the stairs to slide right under the platform so the heights of the two had to be just right. I measured and double-checked. It looked like it would be a perfect fit.

    I figured these flat-headed wooden pins would be perfect for the stilts of my jungle hut. The rounded flat part at the top would be hidden by the platform, but would be wide enough to give a good grip and hold tight.

I Tacky glued 6 wooden flat-heated pins that I bought in a bag at Hobby Lobby to the styrene base. Although they have a flat surface on the top and bottom, I thought I might need to use some blue tack to hold them upright. As it turned out, Tacky glue is thick enough that this wasn't necessary. Next, I flocked the base completely. I did not want to have to be reaching my brush underneath the platform once it was glued on. Okay, I lied. I glued the platform on top of the pins before I put my final layer of 50/50 white glue and water on it. I got impatient and really wanted to see how it would look all put together! 

    A close up of the front of the jungle hut. This will doubtless be the scene of many Pulp encounters in the jungles of southeast Asia!

Although you can't see them in the picture, I put a lot of clump foliage on the base to represent undergrowth sprouting up beneath the platform. It looks nicely, and as you can see, I did measure correctly (or get lucky), and the stairs slide neatly underneath the platform.

All in all, I am incredibly happy with how this turned out. To me, it really looks like a building you'd find in a jungle clearing.

Jungle Hut -- Southeast Asian building, Part 2

    The hut after a Raw Siena base coat and Khaki dry brush. This is before the Dun highlight and the black ink wash.

Stage two of the Jungle Hut build began with paint...lots of it! As I mentioned in the first article, I made a mistake when I did not paint the paper mache box my base color before I glued on the burlap. I paid the price for it during this stage, and it actually took two coats before I was satisfied you couldn't see bare cardboard inside the tiny squares inside the weave of the burlap. My base color was a new one I'd purchased for it called "Raw Siena," a cheap craft paint from Ceramcoat. I would say 80% of the paints I use are from Ceramcoat. I just don't see the point of paying hobby paint prices. A few specialty paints -- like Steel and Bronze metallic -- are from Iron Wind. Most of my "dry brush" colors are Howard Hues, because they are thicker. My "rank and file" paints, though, are Ceramcoat that I buy at Hobby Lobby or Michaels.

For some reason, I took fewer pictures as the building progressed. I didn't take any of it with just its base coat. It wasn't until after I'd done the Khaki dry brush that I took the next shot. At that point, I was wondering if I should do a further highlight using Iron Wind Metals "Dun" -- a nice dull yellow color that dry brushes well. I decided what the heck, and went ahead and put it in the areas that would be sunlit. I liked how it looked. Then I debated whether to do a black ink wash over it. The hut looked pretty good as it was. If the ink wash messed it up, I might be a bit peeved. What's more, I might even lose my temper and do something rash. Which reminds me of my favorite story of a gamer losing his temper after a painting disaster. A friend of mine had constructed a very fiddly 1/72 scale biplane model, lovingly painted it with interesting patterns, and then spray sealed it. Yep. The sealant fogged the paint job, and none of the normal remedies fixed it. Well, that plane went on its first and only flight, at a rapid pace, into the nearest wall...!

I'm happy to say the Jungle Hut did not become a Jungle Hut ruin. I really like how the ink wash made it look more realistic and three dimensional. The burlap looked less like fabric glued down and more like an actual hut made out of woven material. So, it was a success. And I really liked how the ink wash made the bamboo platform look.

    The printed image of wicker flooring and walls turned out very nice...so nice my friends asked me why do I even bother texturing the walls. I should just print the whole thing. "Thanks, guys..."

Next up (not really, I'm a bit out of order now) was the interior. Once again, I went to the CG Textures website and found high quality images that would work for the interior. I picked out a few woven patterns and resized them in photoshop. I even found a door and resized and colored it and placed it on one of the wicker walls images. I printed them out on my color laser printer and said, "Wow!" The patterns looked really sharp -- even better than my 3D burlap prior to the ink wash! To size them up right, I took a sheet of printer paper and trimmed it to the size of the interior walls (including spacing the windows) -- one each for the long and short walls. I then trimmed the printed patterns to the right size with an Xacto knife. I had previously painted the interior the same Raw Siena when I'd base-coated the outside. Now, I used an old brush to paint the surface where the printed image would go with white glue and positioned the image over it. I did each of the four walls, and then the floor. Once again, I let out another "Wow!" I am really liking this technique of using printed images for the interiors!

    The multiple layers of the roof: black styrene base, foam core eaves (here covered by the burlap already), cardstock roof base, and Teddy Bear fur.

Now it was time for the roof. I cut a piece of black styrene so that it would overlap the roof by about 1/2" on all sides. I cut the triangular-shaped eaves out of black foamcore and glued them upright with Tacky glue. To keep them straight, a giant 28mm ape held them so they were perpendicular. Thanks, Kong! I measured the length of the eaves and cut a stiff piece of cardstock for the roof base, sizing it to overlap by about 1/2" all the way around. I folded it and then tacky glued it to the eaves, turning it upside down and putting a weight on it so that it pressed it firmly against the eaves.

    I was very proud of myself when I remembered to paint the triangular eaves BEFORE I glued on the burlap...proving no matter how old the dog, tedious work covering up for a mistake can teach him a lesson...!

For the thatch material I'd decided to go with "Teddy Bear fur" -- which you can get in a roll from Hobby Lobby. Note: No actual Teddy Bears were harmed in the making of this Jungle Hut. This was synthetic fur. I've been told that synthetic Teddy Bears feel no pain. Anyway, I measured and cut the chocolate brown fur so it would overlap the roof base. I used Tacky glue to affix it to the roof. Once it was dry, I mixed up a batch of white glue and water 50/50. I painted the fur with this mixture, then combed it from the apex of the roof to the ends, which gave it a nice "rowed" looked. After waiting a couple hours for it to dry, it became apparent there wasn't enough glue to stiffen the fur. So, I painted on pretty much straight white glue, which mixed naturally with the soaked fibers. I combed it again, and then let it sit overnight.

    The fur before dry brushing but after it has been painted with white glue. You can see the vertical pattern made by combing...well, *I* can (he says, justifying do the work).

The thatch was indeed hardened, and took two coats of dry brushing easily. I used the same Raw Siena for my first coat and followed it up sparingly with Khaki. I really like how the thatch turned out. The Teddy Bear fur was a definite success. One of my friends said it is the best model thatch he's ever seen. I am not sure if I would got that far, but it is the best model thatch I've done, in my opinion. I cut a rectangle of black foamcore to glue to the underside so it would fit securely inside the walls of the hut and not slide off.

At this stage, all that is left is the flocking and the stilt base! I'll finish that off in part three.

A Sinking Tribute to PT 109 and JFK

    Some would say we're getting a little old for crawling around on the floor doing WW II Naval miniatures! Here Mike S closes with the Japanese flotillas, while Allen, Joel, Keith and Steve look on.

So, Allen had been wanting to run a World War II General Quarters game with American PT boats against Japanese destroyers. Mike S, Joel, and I were all volunteered to follow in John F. Kennedy's shoes and face down a night convoy of Japanese destroyers and barges. Each of us was given a force of 4 PT boats and we waited in the dark waters for the Japanese fleet to sail by us, when we would attack.

We'd never played theses rules for such a small action, though. General Quarters is more designed for fleet actions with the bigger ships. How would it work for such small scale engagements? Well, according to us would-be JFKs, not very well! The rules' move/countermove system allowed the Japanese destroyers to ram us easily and at will, slicing through 1-2 boats every turn we were close enough. Our torpedoes had a range of only 12" and they had a movement of 13", which meant they could virtually outrun our torpedoes. Never mind the fact that I have always stunk at this aspect of the rules. With GQ, you guess whether your torpedo target will maintain course, go to port, starboard, or reverse course. To get within range of them to launch torpedoes, we had to weather the storm of their gunnery (and more dangerous) their ramming.

    Our target: A Japanese supply convoy headed towards Guadalcanal (1/2400 scale miniatures)

The game ended with all three American flotillas destroyed or fleeing off table, and not causing a single point of damage to the Japanese or their barges. Needless to say, we need a little re-working on this scenario before it is tried again! I pointed out the worst part is the PT boats are sitting ducks under the move/countermove system. Either the turn they close with the destroyers or the turn following, they will move first. That means the Japanese can slice them in two fairly easily.

    Tsuro: The Game of the Path is a quick, fun 15-minute board game

Since the game ended so quickly, we broke out the boardgame Tsuro. This tile-laying path game is always a fun, quick play. Keith and Steve V (who had played the Japanese in the naval miniatures game), ruled at this game as well. It was a night to be Asian, we decided! Steve won the first game and then he and Keith tied in the second game.

Next week, we will do the second scenario of my Pulp skirmish games. I'm busy finishing up the terrain for this game, as you can see on my post about my Jungle Hut.

Jungle Hut -- Southeast Asian building, Part 1

The inspiration -- a too-smail piece of 1/72 scale terrain

I've had an Airfix 1/72 scale plastic "Jungle Outpost" for a number of years, and been tempted several times to build it. Every time I pull it out, I look at it and think, "Too small." Then a year goes by and I pull it out again, hoping it has grown, I guess. No matter how long I store it away in the closet, though, it never comes out big enough to use for 28mm figures. Maybe I should sit out where it can get some sunlight...

Seriously, I've been telling myself that as soon as I find a likely material to simulate the wicker walls I'll just go ahead and scratch-build a version of it. I love the way it is on stilts and has a platform, thatch roof, and so on. It is intended for the Vietnam War, but is a fairly timeless style of building. I was at Michaels Craft store the other day, picking up plastic plants to use a jungle pieces. So, I decided to cruise the aisles hoping for inspiration. I spotted a roll of burlap and immediately went into "Hmmm..." mode. The weave was too wide, so I kept looking until I found some with a tighter weave. I picked it up, and then swung by the paper mache boxes that I used for the Southeast Asian temples. They had a pack of 3 of different sizes for less than $2 each, so I grabbed them, too. 

    The bamboo platform, made from bamboo skewers cut to length quickly with a wire cutter

Once home, I began to pull out different materials I'd need from my storage. I had three packs of bamboo skewers that I knew would come in handy. I mean, what better material for a jungle hut than bamboo? In particular, it would make a great platform for the hut to sit on. So, that was the first step. I decided to be smart and build just one hut on the first go-around so I could see what works and what doesn't. I measured the middle sized building, 5"x7". I wanted at least an inch of platform space as a balcony. So, I grabbed a pack of bamboo skewers, the wire cutters, and began trimming them up to size. Actually, there was a strange, blackish powder all over the skewers, so I had to wash them first and let the dry.

Once I had the right amount, I bunched them tightly together and drew four lines of Tacky glue onto them. I placed another bamboo piece across them atop each Tacky glue line to bind them together. I was surprised they didn't shift much. Step one, the platform, was a snap to create. I left it on the desk in the spare bedroom to dry. 

    The framework for the building -- a paper mache box from Michaels with holes cut out for the windows

Next, I grabbed the box and a ruler and measured out where I wanted the windows. I know it'd be easier to make if I made them closed. Then all I would have to do would be to glue the wicker shutter onto the wall. But this is southeast Asia! It is too stinking hot to close the windows...plus Airfix's "Jungle Outpost" showed propped open window shutters on the box's picture. I wanted propped open shutters, too! So, once I'd measured each 1"x3/4" window, I cut it out of the paper mache box with an Xacto knife. If I was smart, I'd have grabbed a fresh, sharp blade...but see the above comment about the windows and draw your own conclusion! Before long, I had two windows on each of the long sides, and one each on the short side. 

    The box covered with burlap from Michaels craft store (white glue works fine to attach it to the paper mache)

The next step was to see if my burlap inspiration was a good one or not. I plopped the box down on the burlap, traced the outline in felt tip marker, and then trimmed out each side. I smeared the surface of the box with white glue and pressed the burlap onto it.  Yes, I know what you're thinking. "Hey, dimwit! You just covered up the windows!" Ha, ha...I fooled you. I did that on purpose! I figured it would be easier, once the burlap was dry, to simply use an Xacto knife again and trim off the burlap covering the window opening. Not to gloat, but I was right (see...teach you to question me...). Later, I was to find out that I had just made my life a lot more difficult. I should have painted the hut walls my base color first, before gluing on the burlap. It was quite the pain to get the base coat inside the weave of the fibers and fully cover the hut...!

    The building affixed to the platform with Tacky glue. Note the extra bamboo pieces at the base of the building and at each corner.

Here is a picture of the building Tacky glued down to the platform. Those weird circles are actually part of the pattern that was on the burlap, so I glued them "face down" so I had the weave as the texture. As you can see, I glued down a piece of bamboo along the base of each side of the building, as well as on each corner wall. This gives it a nice framed appearance.

    The shutters -- probably the most "fiddly" part of the build. I trimmed a "mini-dowel" to be the prop. Then I used tacky glue to attach the shutter to the wall, and the prop to the shutter and wall. It was left upright so gravity would keep it in place while the glue dried.

Next up was the most fiddly part of the build -- the shutters. I trimmed a piece of thin styrene to the window size. I then cut two squares of burlap to that size, gluing one to the front side and the other to the back. Next, I cut some "mini-dowels" from the craft store to be props, holding the shutters open. I put a thick line of Tacky glue at the top of the window. I put a blob of glue on both ends of the prop. Then I placed the shutter against the line of glue, and wedged the prop between it and the window. I set it upright so gravity would hold it in place against the prop while the Tacky glue dried. I was really dreading this part, thinking my fumble fingers would make a mess of it. However, it worked like a charm, and after about 20-30 minutes drying time for each face of the building, I had six windows propped open just like in the Airfix building!

    A top view of the stairs before painting

Since the building was going to be sitting up on a platform, I would need stairs to lead up to it. I decided to use bamboo skewer pieces again. Rather than make a complicated framework, I decided to go with piled bamboo logs for the framework. I decided each level of the stairs would be 3 pieces tall. So, I made a pile of 3, 6, 9, and 12. They were attached by a simple bamboo "stake" or vertical piece Tacky glued onto them, as you can see in the picture above.

    Side view of the "stacked logs" framework of the stairway.

The next step was to assemble them into a stairway. I cut a piece of thin styrene for their base, and then simply Tacky glued each piece upright. Some needed propped by blue tack or other methods to stay upright, other stood on their own fairly well. As you can see in the side view photo above, the pieces alternated going inside then outside of the other. Once the framework was dry, I simply glued six more bamboo skewer pieces across the framework. Once done and painted it is a functional (if not architecturally beautiful) set of stairs. Since it is a jungle village piece, I figured the more crude the better -- and this stairway fits that description!

    The hut, platform and stairs, assembled and waiting for paint. I was to find out that I should have painted the hut BEFORE gluing on the burlap for the wall texture...

Here's a shot of the building and stairway at this stage. I designed the end of the stairway to be slid under the platform...so hopefully I don't screw up the measurements! As you can see, I also made a door with bamboo pieces and glued it straight to the wall. The crossbar is another bamboo piece, with a hole drilled in it to insert a straight pin as the knob.

I have to say, I'm pretty happy with how it looks at this stage...!