Building up the armies, and some works in progress

Well in the Northern Hemisphere its spring cleaning time, which means for me... buying time. I am currently going through what I need and what I would like. For the main part I am focussing on the Soviets! Oronegro is going to have loads! lots and lots of them. Why? Because I can and they look cool, US soldiers look professional and deadly as do most European ones but Russians look cool!

this is one of my favourite tanks, after the Leopard 2, the challenger 2

Well then what am I planning to get? 3 things currently

1. I am purchasing some second hand goods from an old friend Emmett, better known as Winttrix, he's downsizing his war-gaming collection after his big move so I am paying for the postage of a nice collection of models. :-D This I shall pay for shortly
2. I am saving up for this deal! A Dutch member of the Wargaming Guild is selling off lots of kits, I hope to buy some T-80BV's, because they look cool! and also some BM-21 Grands because my first kit was the BM-24 so it seems appropriate for some reason. I'll save up and get those.
3. another Friend also from the Netherlands, has offered to by me the Orion Chechens and their modern Russians. I got him some figures to its basically present giving! He has already given me some things but he said that he was more than willing to get the figures as well, despite my insistence that he didn't have to. ah well, I should not turn down such a kind offer, I am getting him some more figs for his Birthday anyway, also something to save up for.

 Also I will be nice and show you the Two kits my Dutch Friend sent me already, ones on the work bench (which is now actually my workbench and not the dinning room table) that is the LKW 7t. mil gl (6x6 Truck)

I needed some transport and now with this I have some :-D

The truck is proving to be a complex kit! But I shall soldier on just as the Truck itself would in the boggy muddy ground on jungle roads of Oronegro! I am also adding something not included in the kit... Crew, conversions of the Esci NATO ground crew they shall be designed to show either a sense of ease or at watch. so far only the driver is in place. I might even put a gunner in. Using the DShK included in the T-90A disaster kit as a mounted weapon, that is if the gun is not bent to buggery like the rest of the kit... we'll see. This tanks crew is looking pretty generic, which is good as the truck itself shall be also.

There is also another kit... a Tank... My Favourite tank :-D... its already named in this post... The Leopard 2 A6, what a beautiful tanks. sinister looks and a deadly armament this tank means business.

its mine... my own... my precious.

well I think this tank shall be used by the Germans but like some of the others I may paint it up without to many or any decals so it can be used by anyone. Why can't Oronegro use my favourite tank? it uses my second favourite. This shall be made once I get the truck done, but I think they shall be presented together.

well Oronegro is set to grow, with more baddies in the mix with all those lovely soviets, who of course will do good things, this is Oronegro both sides shall do good and bad, no innocence in war. And with the Good force almost complete except for some AFV's and APC's its going to get ugly once the soviets are ready for battle. Once again feel free to contact me at GJDitchburn@Gmail.com if you have any offers of second hand moderns, although I am going to make these purchases, they are basically going to be all the spending I shall make this year.

now onto the new follower... I have not had a new follower on one of my blogs for a while... greetings to Alfons Cànovas from miniaturas militares por alfons canovas welcome to this blog.

and once more have a great time guys.

Rule making progress report.

Well I have typed up my rules and they are ready to print and test. anyway I have here an option for you. I can upload the files! yes even though I have yet to test them. the fact is I don't have much time to test my rules out what with school and all. SO Here is my proposal if you wish I can upload my Ground combat or my naval combat rule sets or both for you to try if you so wish... If I do so I'll make a big thing about it here and they'll get their own post, once you've tried the rules come back here and tell me how you found them... any constructive criticism you may have or ideas, then once I alter the rules I'll delete the old copy from on-line (to save space in my google docs) and hen post the new version both here and on my blog, if people like them well we'll see what I can do next with them.

This will be my first game... a raid upon a small stock house. A second time for the unhappy Alfred Hale who has retreated here after losing a battle to the bandits the previous day now with the remainder of his soldiers he not only has to fight for his own life but for members of the Castillo family as well who were transporting goods between San Fran and La Fortuna.

I have started using my camera again, batteries might not last long but I hope the image quality is better

the bandits, their actually my pirates and sailors but fit the role well

not many men left can Alfred hold out?

well there you go lets see what I can do for you. if you even have the slightest desire to try the rules don't be shy I need to see if they are half decent also.

greetings to Michael Peterson feel free to comment at any time on the blog I hope you enjoy watching my mad ideas progress or as is usually the case not progress.

the begginings of a story

the year is 1735
on a balcony of the Mayoral Palace in La Ley stands a man richly dressed, though for all his noble attributes his wig is still in on its stand and his clothes are not properly put on. the must be in his early 20's but stands up on the balcony like an elder whose wisdom encompasses the knowledge of several generations. He is shaken his skin is pale although his complexion is usually a few shades darker than most of his fellow aristocrats. Eduardo Martínez is his name and he is Mayor of La Ley and the constitutional monarch of Oronegro. in his hands he holds a piece of parchment, scribbled with many signatures, a paragraph at the top being the only substantial bit of writing on it. But why would it need to be longer? Why should it contain more paragraphs? more words? For this is a declaration of War!...

there a sneak peak into a world of conflict. Be careful my friends for now Oronegro is at war the battles will soon come. 1735 is when this war starts though 1740 is when my story will really take place 5 years in and the war will have just gone through a small lull in the fighting.
I am showing you this so that you can begin to picture what Oronegro will be, a nation already worn down by a war many thought would never happen again, a nation which knows its oldest foe is about to re enter the fray, a nation which must now rely on its own leaders to take the field.

Eduardo Martínez remember this name! Born on the 17 March 1712 he has travelled great distances and seen many great things. His character shall be explained more once I have a fig for him ;-) but the basics must be covered... At age 16 he was elected, as is customary by the family of Juan Carlos the founder of Oronegro, to become La Ley's 9th Mayor. Incredibly young but also a genius whose social skills, good humour and military intellect are rivalled by very few and none are a match when it comes to their excellence in all points! He shall lead the armies of Oronegro in this war a war that had seen and would see Oronegro's highest and lowest points.

if I sound very proud of my little Eddie here I am, the character is named after my current Spanish teacher who is a very funny man, though I could never see him leading an army, or a country he is still a friend and I thought why not include him in my story... after all he is Spanish. (actually his father in Argentine and his mother in Anglo-Irish, it gets even more confusing but lets leave it at that... I my self am English, 1/4 sctoish, 1/8 Australian and distantly French, and I am descended from a Norman knight)

the story above will later become part of another chapter in my Oronegro blog but for now let it rest here... I have many things to get done, several armies of figs to paint (perhaps I can organise something at school, a war gaming club get some year nines to help paint the armies, its a possibility) I also have 3 boats to make; the Willow, the Laurence and the San Miguel... and let us nor forget its term time and that means homework.

SO my projects slowly venture on and my story becomes more complex. I hope your enjoying this slow but interesting story (I hope you find it interesting) and that Oronegro can one day bear witness to a miniature campaign that attracts the attention of many war gaming enthusiasts from around the world... well that is the dream I guess, whether it can be achieved is another thing entirely.

Characters; you choose who goes into the story

Now I am sitting here with my new laptop thinking about my new year of school, recovering my voice from Fridays shouting, waiting for steam to hurry up and finish downloading Napoleon Total War onto this computer (the disk installation appears to have issues with the new PC) and guess what I am once more thinking who can be added into the Oronegrean story???

As you can imagine this is not the best time to be thinking of characters but still I am mad, spontaneous and watching a download claim its got hours remaining is not so fun (using the internet is not helping but I am beyond caring, especially when the download accelerator can't speed up steam). Now onto more important matters than using up broadband, characters for Oronegro!

As you are all aware, hopefully, I have recently made some characters, Sir Alfred Hale and Rosa and her father. Now these are some nice characters that I hope will liven up Oronegro is the months to come, but a nation cannot be made up of these people alone, even once the rest of the Castillo family are ready there will still need to be more. Why is this? well one of the things I love is to have multiple characters, even in my moderns I had such figures as James.ep3, Bean Castrae Ted, Karri .C. Tuf, and Fixed. and although I painted more right before I swapped era's I still had plenty in the pipeline to be introduced.

The thing is with the 18th century I want to do more, I want to have not only characters that add to the story and the battles, Like Alfred, but also those who can tell stories in their own way, like young Rosa. Yet most of all I want to involve you my followers, I want to repay your kindness in following my somewhat erratic blogging, in honours! For those who gave models I built ships (almost wrote shops, though I did in the moderns) and although I still have many to build (finding the energy and time is hard during term time) but for people who just like to see what I do I though what about a character... They don't have to be named after you, they don't even have to have a personality like yours, you don't even need to tell me what they should be like, I will allow all of that but if you don't want to go that far I have no problems with that either.

SO what should these characters be like... Well there are a few things I would like to do; create some elite guards for Eduardo Martínez, each would be armoured in plate like the conquistadors or knights of old, each one would be a hero in his own right being the best of the best; create some aristocrats, men and women who light up the land with either their stories of noble deeds or shame it with tales of intrigue, perhaps more women to make up for all the men you have with this hobby; foreigners, merchants, explorers and travellers, people who are all moving around the nation each with their own stories and perhaps ending up in the wrong place at the wrong time; a bandit leader, a pirate leader or a master criminal, perhaps someone who for half their time decided to live it big with the high and mighty and yet when the sun goes down or the palatial doors of his mansion close to guests he becomes a man of little morality; Eduardo Martínez himself perhaps more than one fig to represent the mayor in his palace and with his people and the mayor with his soldiers at the front.

So there you have it lots of possibles but very few certainties and don't think that your restricted to these options you can always add your own characters with their own stories. YOU CAN EVEN ADD SOME ENEMY LEADERS!!!!!! I have not come up with the identity of the Kaxad emperor, the governor of Nouveau Paris, the lord of New Dunedin, the leader of the Oroblanco liberation front and even others.

So yes plenty for you to choose from, plenty you can come up with. Perhaps by reading the Colonisation and Expansion stories on the Oronegro blog you can find even more groups that could be represented by some characters. Now I cannot promise that every character you put forwards will be created, nor can I promise that those stated above will fit in with the story, I am not looking for 1000 characters even though it seems I have that many in my head... really all I can say is put forwards an idea and I'll see what I can do ;-D

Making Rules for 1/72 scale ship combat

Well I was going to do this myself but I am struggling. Making rules is something I can do... when I have an outline to expand on but from scratch is hard. I have started making some rules for what I can small scale land combat, for which I am utilizing a heavily altered version of the modern combat rules I have. I have also requested a copy of Ion's (Archduke Piccolo) rules, he says he has a machine copy :-). But for naval combat I am not even going to bother looking for rules in 1/72 scale but create my own, with help. Wind, currents and weather all play a HUGE part in naval combat and so far I have avoided them. I have come up with a formulae for the turning circle though...

A Ship's tightest possible turning circle has a radius (in normal circumstances) of half its length. however of coarse that's not the main problem the problem is the formulae which of coarse is 0.5(2π x o.25L). L= length there are of coarse several modifiers that affect the distance.

• damaged rudder x1.8
• damaged hull x1.6
• damaged rigging/sails x1.7 (unless ore/steam powered)
• streamline hull x0.7
• bulky x1.2
• over loaded x1.2
• travelling at high speed x1.5
• travelling at reasonable speed x1.2
• travelling at a slow speed x0.9
• deep draft x1.5
• shallow draft x0.8
• contrary currents x1.9
• contrary wind direction x1.8
• Wind aids turn x0.7
• current aids turn x0.8
• Ship is using ores x0.5

Note that when more than one factor is effecting the ship that the decimals are added with the factors below 1.0 having the difference between the number and 1 used (i.e 0.9 becomes -o.1). So when a ship with a normal turning circle of 50cm is affected by contrary winds but is travelling at slow speeds turns as tightly as possible the turning circle is multiplied by 1.7 so the equation to find the distance it will cover becomes o.5(2π x(50 x 1.7)) the end result is that it will cover a distance of 267 cm! this of coarse is taken off the distance the ship can cover in that turn.
But the distance covered by a ship during a turn also depends of the weather, the amount of sails and their size the ship has, and also the speed of the ship the previous turn.
Now you may be wondering what I mean by reasonable speed, high speed and slow speed... High speed is the speed a ship travels when its at full sail and the winds are favouring it. Reasonable speed is when its using more than 1/2 its possible sail power and the winds are in its favour or the ship is using full sail but the winds are not giving it full power. Normal speed is when its either using around 1/2 its sail power and the winds are favourable or when its using a greater amount of sail but the winds are not favouring it. slow speed is when the ship is either using below 1/2 its sail power or the winds are contrary. The actual speeds them selves are determined by eye, how many sails and how big they are and the shape of the ship... if its wide then its slower and if its got lots of sails and their huge its very fast :-) nice and simple.
As for ore power, well I think that the number of ores must determine its speed. what that speed is I have no idea.

But there is still so much to figure out! and of coarse there is the factor of gun on the ship. BUT all crew and guns will be affected by complementary land rules... the other ones I am making.

whats on my workbench

so what is on the dinning room table workbench then? well its a scruffy disorganised chaos that somehow I manage to work in and regularly tidy away to allow for dinner, though because its summer I can leave the stuff out longer, :-). the following pictures may disturb some viewers who hate chaos and others who find the use of a dinning table for anything other than dinner a crime.

this is just part of the mess, projects I am working on

One Oronegrean supply house, you find these along the nations roads, this is a small one that is also designed to act as fortification if needed, hence the many windows on the ground floor providing 360 degree views, and the roof. which is removable.

this here is an collection of figures some Oronegrean soldiers the others are civilians

this here is the Willow a nice little cutter that will be either a transport or cargo ship

once again a look at the figs, this camera angle and lighting does not do them any favours, nor does their current stage in basing and painting, more on that later on.

and this scribbled and disorganised mess of words is an attempt to get on paper exactly how many people guns, wagons and horses are in an Oronegrean legion. the answer is 5000 humans, 50 guns, 500 wagons and 5000 horses. I will explain more once I sort out the mess into a nice chart. give me a few years, hours, months, days or weeks.

 And Now onto a little fun explanation on basing my figs... my new figs unlike my moderns will all have nice rectangular bases so that they can all be squashed together to form those rigid battle lines of the time... why I am also doing this for the civilians is beyond me. BUT whats so special is the materials I am using!!!!

I AM USING BLACK SAND AND PVA TO BASE MY FIGS!!!!

along this coast of New Zealand the beaches are made of black sand which makes them a feet frying strip of magnetic pain. (trust me it does burn your feet badly during the summer). this sand is very fine and like I said magnetic... SO the other day I went to the beach and got a bag full, then I had to dump half the sand and then put the bag inside 2 others because the load of sand was incredibly heavy. so I based my figs with the mixture of sand and PVA only to find the sand was so magnetic that even when done and flock applied a good magnet can still pull those figs around! I am now think how funny if would be to move my army from underneath the table by using a large magnet... I wonder if I could move them without my opponent noticing???

a bit of black sand on a pen which has a magnetic strip so it can live on the fridge.

OK cheating in a game aside and losing all my figs every time we go past a scrap yard I hope you are all having a great time... and one last important thing I forgot to attend to last post. My new Follower...

Hello to Abdul666 from emperor vs elector and MCristo by LaceW. welcome to the blog I know you have been unofficially here for quite some time and its really nice to officially welcome you here.

As Promised

Well, well here I go again... I have my first company of infantry on the painting desk along with a small group of civilians but I now really feel obliged to complete the two ships I planned to do in gratitude to those who gifted me figs before... namely Blue Willow (Matt) and Laurence Strong (Larry) to these men I owe these ships. The Willow and the Laurence, these two will either be naval ships or civilian. The Laurence has to be big as the Haul I received from Canada more than tripled my whole 18th century force!!!!! though I do not wish to make each ship comparative to the size of the gift Such generosity must be compensated with something BIG although not as big as the Abigail as I cannot fit another HUGE ship in my room.

SO WHAT TO BUILD????

One ship type I liked but was too large was the Batavia.

nice lines but way too big

Of coarse if I want to make a small version of this ship I will need to make some rather large alterations because naturally a smaller version would not have the same number of masts or same sail pattern... on the other hand perhaps there is a similar type of boat that can fit the role and look similar. My only problem now is what about the Willow, she will be smaller though smaller does not mean inferior or that she will be in anyway weaker than the larger Laurence.

the name Willow strikes me as a more passive one so I think the Willow should be a civilian/commercial vessel. This might be a good thing as then I can have some poor souls as a target for the Pirate sloop Abigail or perhaps even something to be defended by the naval ships.

WHAT SHIPS DO YOU LIKE??? is there a special type of boat you like or do you think that you would like another small ship... of coarse I can't build to many ships but a few more would be good some traders, passenger vessels, fishing boats and more pirates are all needed to represent a good maritime environment and I am always willing to take down ideas :-D