Quick MDF Update

As I've mentioned in previous blogs, I have been aiming too magnetise my collection of MDF buildings so I can keep them flat packed until required. Well after drilling I dread to think how many little holes I've finished! !!

Sorry about bad picture but the magnets are only 3mm across!!

The lines you can see at to help me know what piece matches with another so putting together is quicker. As you can see the magnets are tiny (3mm x 3mm I think) but not are they strong. The buildings hold together nicely, I mean they won't hold up against heavy handedness but you can now take roofs off and different floors off the buildings without the sides falling off!

Some MDF factory and outbuildings all held together with magnets

I have a great (hopefully) idea for a bolt action scenario using all my MDF terrain to create a small town. This should result in some heavy urban fighting ☺.
Other things on the horizon are back to painting my Test of Honour force and brain storming ideas for a 3d dungeon as I was asked by a friend who plays Dungeons and Dragons. (Knew I'd find a use for the rest of that blue foam!!)

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Terrain is the word this time around (and a sneaky game of bolt action)

My focus has shifted a bit this week  from painting my test of honour stuff to terrain. Now I have lots of terrain but I felt I needed some cheap and easy road sections so I can use my MDF buildings more effectively. I decided this while pulling an old shed down and decided that the roof felt would potentially do the job.
I cut several road shapes out of card board and cut the roof felt to match

Sat out in the garden cutting the strips

A straight section

One type of corner section

Once the felt had been cut to match I glued it to the card board templates.

Emptied kitchen cupboards to weigh everything down

After an night being weighed down they are done. They look quite rough and ready but I'm hoping they do the job, I'll be able to tell more when they go together with my MDF buildings.

My Cromwell on one of the straight road sections

Next up I needed something for my MDF bridge to cross. I have a river on my game board but that board is only 3x3 which is a bit small for large bolt action games. (And untill I get a bigger house the board is not getting bigger). For the same of space I went down the ultra simple approach (I had seen this on the table top battle YouTube channel) I just cut some sections and painted them blue. I'll give them a few games and see how I feel about them

Ultra simple river sections

Last Sunday I also managed to go to the Infamous Wargamong club in West Bromwich and get a game of Bolt Action in. I met my opponent Steve (a great and super knowledgeable guy) and we battled Russians vs my Brits.

My 500pt force plus a tank for the day.

We decided to do a simple kill every thing battle. We set up (there were a lot of Russians!!) and started.

The battle field.

A horde of Russians attacked my right flank and a tank went for my left flank.

The Russians swarm over the hill towards my lines

One squad of infantry and a PIAT team hold the flank against the tank (not very well)

My PIAT team spent a lot of time hiding in a wood as the tank understandably wanted them out of the way but the plucky Brits survived (one think I learnt was I need more anti tank weapons / tactics).  A sniper was pickongm off my machine gun  team and having no mortar I dispatched the squad on my left to flush the sniper out. Mean while on the right the Russians charged my trenches but luckily (for me not Steve) their charge fell short by one inch so my infantry brought them down.

The Russian charges fall short

There was another squad following the Russians that charged but they stayed more cautious and wiped out my paratroop section.
Back on the left the Russian tank has manouvered behind my lines which is never good. I moved my tank along the line to help counter the threat. 

There be a tank in my rear!!

While all this was happening on the  flanks the centre was mostly just long range shooting. My mmg and a regular squad (that had forced the sniper to retreat) had a mini battle with another Russian squad where they gained the upper hand.
We were nearing the end of the game and I thought my PIAT team can't hide much longer! They stepped out into the open and tried a long shot at the tank. They struck a glancing hit which caused no damage but stunned the crew and caused them to go down taking them out of that turn. Then very luckily my dice was pulled out of the bag so my tank tried a shot at the opposing tank.  With some great rolls the shot struck penetrated and detroyed the tank!

The Cromwell scores a kill

After that the battle was over with my Brits winning.  (If I missed details apologies I'm trying to remember how the battle went).
This week (and a for a few more!) I've been trying to crack on with magnetising my MDF buildings (so I can keep them flat packed for easy storage). This is a relatively simple job but so fiddly!!! (Mainly became I'm ham fisted and keep putting the magnets the wrong way round so they repel!! ) almost finished the one house only several more to go 😢

Magnets doing a good job!

Hopefully the more I do the easy it will get. Have a great day folks!

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Bits and bobs

While I've been doing my Regular British bolt action troops I have also been working on a church from Amera plastics (blog incoming when it's finished), bought an MDF house (see blog here  ) and thanks to some ebay sales I also purchased another building as these are great value. This time round I bought a shop

The Windows are little squares cut out but I might cut these away with a craft knife to have a fully open window. I also got a little out building which was a nice bonus. I am just waiting on another eBay payment and I aim to get a bridge and possibly one more building. With that I should have enough buildings for a small village.
For the MDF buildings I really just want simple terrain so gonna look at printing pictures of brick off and sticking them to building just to see what they look like. Also had a reccomendation at some stick on sheets of roof tiles .
To go with the church and houses I have used the terrain tutors video about making stone walls which can be found here . For this I ordered some under floor insulation. It's like polystyrene but strong, less mess when cutting and you can paint on it quite well. Found some on eBay for £3 I didn't check how big it was!

Almost 5ft!!

So now I  am making a load of walls

Cut and then carved using a biro

A selection of different walls I've done

And yes still a load of insulation left ☺. I'll keep  ya posted on how it all goes !

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MDF House

I spotted in eBay a few weeks back after a search for laser cut MDF houses I found what appeared to be some quite cheap ones (£7.50 for a semi detached house where as all other houses I could see were around £12 - £15) . I thought I would try one just to see what the quality was like. I also wanted to see if potentially I could keep the house flat packed and control slot it together at game time. The purchase also had free delivery on and the seller also has a Facebook page which is  JBWDFWargames. It looks like a one man operation.
The product arrived really quickly  and securely wrapped.
The MDF was nicely cut I had to pop out some little cubes of wood for the  windows but that was it.
Didn't come with instructions but I had it assembled in 5 or so minutes as it was relatively simple.

Each floor can be separated to allow models on both floors

The assembled semi detached house!

In the pic of the assembled house I have not used anything to stick it together as it slots together nicely so this is great news for my flat pack idea! The side walls were the only real loose bits so I reckon come game time a bit of blue tac will hold it all togther!! (My wife is exceptionally happy about the flat pack idea )
Now just to give it a basic paint and it's ready for the battlefield.

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Terrain Kickstarter

Spotted on Facebook this kickstarter. It's for laser cut MDF terrain with moving parts and lights! They look really cool, I've gone for a power station with lights. The pledges are reasonably priced and there are lots of choices from objective markers to large scale buildings. Go check it out and have a butchers :-)