“This week I has been mostly thinking about ephemera.”
You know, those pieces which play no active part in a game but are often the only thing we can recall about the game at a later date. Here are a few I've cobbled together here in GHQ over the years grouped under the general theme of Medical, Spiritual and Material ~
The Perry Miniatures RAMC set from the Sudan War. This kind of vignette treatment helps create interest in the quiet sections of a table as battle rages elsewhere.
A FRW period French band from Trent Miniatures. A splendid sight leading the columns towards the action.
A Warlord Games Puritan Minister exhorts the men to do the Lord's work! The men from Perry Miniatures of course.
An army marches on its stomach! Well, these Casting Rooms miniatures from Foundry will enhance any SYW French camp. The spit is from Irregular Miniatures.
A Warlord Games Chindit medic for WWII in Burma. These kinds of figures I think lend themselves to Morale markers?
A mishmash mule ambulance set for 1920's Rhanslistan. Figures from Redoubt, Pulp Figures and Copplestone Castings. Mules I'm struggling to recall, but from the USA via Dave P I'm sure.
A FRW baggage vignette. Mule from Foundry and spare figure from Eureka Miniatures.
A WWII German Field Hospital. Tent by Ian Weekly, figures from AB Miniatures, Ambulance I'm unsure of I've had it so long.
Eureka Miniatures FRW French cantiniere set painted by Phil for me.
Front Rank civilians gathered round the pump. We neglect civilians mostly in our games but should remember they are the collateral damage in any conflict as well as mysterious 5th Columnists or loyal partisans.
Casting Room Miniatures from Foundry for the early C19th games.
Foundry SYW Civilian figures and a Grand Manner Command Tent make a useful and busy looking HQ.
Finally, it's almost Opening Time. Empress Miniatures VBCW Civilians waiting outside an Oshira public house made from their kit range.
Well, I hope you made it through to the end! Who knows, you may have seen something you can adapt for your own table top battlefields, though I'd expect you'd probably make a better job than me...
Lot of ideas there and you have a knack of scattering such interesting pieces on a battlefield.
ReplyDeleteThank you George. I do my best to make GHQ games look interesting.
DeleteNifty and diverse assortment of vignettes, David.
ReplyDeleteMuch appreciated Jonathan, thank you.
DeleteA great collection of ephemera there David. I have quite a few civilians for my 10mm games as and when I get chance to base and paint them. I think they add a nice visual element to the game and of course can become part of the narrative if so required.
ReplyDeleteOnly the tip of the iceberg really. I find them more enjoyable to work on usually than units of fighting chaps.
DeleteSomething I always look out for on display games, has you say they tend to be the things that stuck in mind afterwards.
ReplyDeleteI guessed you'd like the Stuff angle.
DeleteThese make really great points on the game table and add loads of character
ReplyDeleteThey also break the monotony of painting yet more figures for a project I've found.
DeleteA beautiful collection of pieces there Dave, as you say, really enhances the look of the game! If it's that old, Maybe the ambulance was matchbox?
ReplyDeleteNot a plastic kit, a metal one. MMS seems to come to mind now I've had time to think about it.
DeleteHello David, first of all, nice topic on something near and dear to me in incorporating some extra detail in gaming though vignettes that tell a story on their own. As Phil says: you remember these imagines after the event.
ReplyDeleteI was off line for two weeks without power or internet as we were flooded in. Our front paddocks were inundated and the brooks rose 1 metre above the causeway. Lucky we had gravity feed water tanks, generator an a well stocked larder.
Well done on all your other blogs to date. They all look great.
Cheers,
Helen
Glad to hear you were not washed away, the floods looked awful. We saw some earlier one in South Australia at Moonta, a place we knew well and just couldn't square with flooding. Oh, thanks for kind comments too.
DeleteThank you.
DeleteKeep safe, and dry!
DeleteVery nice indeed David…
ReplyDeleteAnd inspiring… you have reminded me that I haven’t do any little vignettes for a while…
All the best. Aly
Thank you, and glad to have been useful...I look forward to seeing what you will do now.
DeleteGreat work!
ReplyDeleteMost kind John!
DeleteWhat a lovely eclectic bunch
ReplyDeleteMany thanks Rupert!
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