"'Over the Top' game" Topic

Thought you might like to see the photo-report on the Two Fat Lardies' 'Over the Top' game, which was played using their new rules, 'To the Green Fields Beyond'

Cheers

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gotta log on

ming31,

Not now, fixed it: you can see them all direct.
Hope you like them.

:-0

The game looked good but I hate seeing all those signs, flags and name tags littering the board. Shame to spoil the look of it with all that clutter.

The flags seem quite nice and discreet to me, and as this was fairly obviously a demonstration game, they are helpful in communicating the game to onlookers and "drop-in" participants.

I have seen much worse examples of game table clutter in certain game tournaments; but I suspect avidgamer would not appreciate me linking to them.

At least the terrain looks like something that can be recognized as a WWI battlefield; again, I shall refrain from linking to pictures of some examples that do not.

This thread might be a little over-exuberantly cross-posted, though.

Allen

The rule book it's from, 'Through the Mud and the Blood' is made for large skirmishes and the leaders have certain characters. So the flags and so on were to help new gamers identify with the 'men' and get into it quickly: but they don't have to be obvious if you'd prefer not to see them.

Well I understand the need for graphic playing aids for new players but… I feel sad when I see them anyway. The terrain and figures were superb so that stuff distracts from the look. When taking pics of the demo games I run I *try* to remove that stuff for the pics but often get lazy in the heat of the moment. Looking back I often wish I had taken the time to remove it along with the extra dice, soda/beer bottles, charts, books, coffee cups, backpacks, figure cases, napkins etc etc etc… *sigh*

Allen,

In the tournament settings there is just no use in trying to remove that sort of thing. There is too much of it. Oh well… in a perfect world perhaps. :)

Well I reckon its a pretty good looking game. At least the organisers have provided very good scenery and even if there are tags or flags, they are neatly done.

Oh, I thought this was going to be about arm wrestling… hmmm.

This thread might be a little over-exuberantly cross-posted, though.

It might perhaps be said that the original poster went slightly over the top with the cross-posting.

Griefbringer

Very well done.

For those who like to play more then look at the scenery, this game looks fantastic. Scenery still looks great even with the flags…
Nice!

I love the terrain. A small blog on how it was made would be very usefull for those of us who are in need of help.

Hi there wrgmr1. I was the mug who was out of the room at the TooFatLardies club house when a volunteer was called for to build some trenches for the Salute game to launch "Through the Mud & the Blood". Serves me right for making a cup of tea at the wrong time!

I've put together a long-ish article about how we built the Salute trench terrain in the latest TooFatLardies "2009 Summer Special", which should be out some time this week. The article goes into loads of details about how we decided to build the terrain in the way we did, how we addressed possible inflexibilities with a modular terrain system, how we tried to make the boards as strong as possible, as well as a DIY guide and photos to how to build your own set up.

That being said, you can only put so much in an article in a magazine. I'm hoping to set up a blog about the terrain boards and possibly some other World War One and Inter-war terrain which we're hoping to make for "Through the Mud & the Blood". I'm hoping to post the link in a couple of weeks or so.

I think the layout is beautiful! I'm not a fan of markers, be they flags, dice or whatever, but considering why they are being used (a demo game) I think they are very well handled and I'm sure, very useful. Excellent job!
Peter

As this was posted to the Australian board I thought it was something to do with an Angels gig. 'This is it folks … over the top!'

Battlefield Accessories do a modular trench system. It looks a little too regular for me, but quicker than scratchbuilding.
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Any one going to recommend a WW1 game that does not use cards?

I've seen you terrain before and wondered who had done it. It truely is an amazing work of art!!

Thanks Sidney, that would be great!!

Yes, the same sort of thing happens here. When I found out we were doing the Wagram project I ((volunteered)) to paint some figures. 10 Months and 450+ 25mm figures later…..
I used a lot of white paint.

I like the battlefield accessories system, but it needs a bit more colour.

Here's my scratch built effort.

picture

The Battlefield Accessories trench terrain does looks excellent. I saw this on a post a while back and thought it was perfect for large skirmish games. While I love building terrain, thehawk, you're right that trenches like the Battlefield Accessories ones would get you to the point of starting a game quicker than building yourself.

Stefanpanzer – have you tried Chris Peers' "To the Last Man" WWI skirmish/ large skirmish rules? As I recall, they don't use cards, are very well laid out and easy to play. You can also have a very good fun game with Warhammer Great War, and the rules are beautiful to look at – again, there's no cards in the rules governing movement and actions. They should be even better when (if..please Lord) the "Over The Top" supplement for WGW finally arrives.

wrgmr1 – thanks. Bravo for scratchbuilding – it looks like an excellent set-up. I love the barbed wire defences as well….amazing what you can do with wire car mesh, isn't it?

"Any one going to recommend a WW1 game that does not use cards?"

Most of the them don't use cards. I'm rather partial to Great War Spearhead and Square Bashing, but it depends what level of game you are interested in.

Thanks Sidney. My real problem is storage space. All of that fits into two plastic storage tubs. The Storage thing drives my wife nuts. I really like to build terrain as well, but am no where near where you are in skill level.
The wire mesh was fun and pretty easy to make. It just catches on everything. A couple of years back the owner of OG who was attending Enfilade, saw my game and really liked it. He offer me two free bags of figures and the Boxer project started from there.

The Ruleset we are using is a version of "Battles for Empire" by Chris Leach. Fortunately he is a member of our club. He also wrote "Fields of Glory" and co-wrote "Shako 2".

Tonight we are setting up a 36ft table to play Wagram on a 25mm battalion level tomorrow. Gaming is alive and well on the west coast of Canada.

Goodness. Hope you put photos up, wrgmr1

looks great!

WHEW! I thought you were gunna game the Sly Stallone movie…
YouTube link

I like the photo of the strings of rats. That would make for a fun bit of trench dressing.

I rather like the flags. Marks out the big men and gives a nice summary of the battlefield.

Nice table wants some tips :), How was the grass recreated?
I hate to buy lots of flock…

greets wargamemaniac, belgium

Hi Wargamemaniac. I put together a long-ish article about how we built the Salute trench terrain in the TooFatLardies "2009 Summer Special". That goes into a load of details about building the terrain. However, as you asked about the "grass", here goes……

What I was looking for was a hard wearing surface. I didn't want to flock the ground, as that can sometimes lead to it wearing thin after a lot of games. I also didn't want to use teddy bear fur….for no better reason than this had been tried before (very successfully) and I wanted to try something different.

I came across an idea of Dave Andrews (thanks Dave!!) for towelling terrain and decided to give this a go. Basically, you need to dye a white towel dark green. Just normal DYLON fabric dye will do just fine. Cut the towelling, when dry, to the surface to be "grassed". Then, simply coat the surface with a 50/50 mixture of polyfilla and PVA glue, mixed to a consistency of porridge. You can paste the mix onto the surface with an old brush. Then, "glue" the towelling onto the paste-covered surface. The paste will dry rock hard, and soak into the towelling. Bascially, once glued on, the towelling is never coming off.

Then, mix up some greenish paint and add more PVA. Paint the towelling, essentially wet-brushing the towelling surface and letting the paint soak in. Leave for at least 48 hours. This painting stage adds more PVA into the towelling, so that when dry the "grass" will be rigid. Then, finally when dry, dry-brush to taste.

I accept that the method is not for everyone, but if you want a very durable and hard surface for many games, it's worth giving a go at the extra time-cost investment. It's also worth mentioning that this method doesn't just work for very "green" or verdant grass. I'm experimenting with a less "green" grass (in fact, light ochre dead grass) on some of the newer bases for the Over The Top game, two of which are set in an autumn wood which has been shelled. I think the effect is quite good, and makes the basic towelling terrain more flexibile. Hopefully, these wooded bases, and a couple of bases for a fortified village modelled on Beaumont Hamel on the Somme, will be ready for the Crisis Show this autumn.

So you are coming to crisis 2009 antwerp?

So I will be able to see your work from close :p But thanks for the tips and instructions

great regards the wargame maniac

wargameterrain.blogspot.com

for another way of creating WW1 terrain boards …..you may be interested in the trench insert pieces by
TIMELINE-MINIATURES.CO.UK

Just a thought as I would quite like to sell some more
thanks

Barry…..Timeline

Good morning everyone,

I mentioned in the postings above that I was building some new terrain boards for the "Through the Mud and the Blood" game which was displayed at Crisis 2009 in Antwerp last weekend. The new boards featured a ruined village, complete with inter-connecting cellars, basements and church crypt (modelled on the German underground defensive system at Beaumont Hamel).

I've posted some photos of the action at my Flickr site. I apologise in advance for the lighting in the photos, which was very bright and directly overhead at the conference centre where Crisis 2009 was held, casting quite sharp shadows. When I get time, probably Christmas, I'll have a photo session at home and post some better ones:

link

Listening to the comments made by a few people at the various shows we went to this year and also from posters on forums like this, we also removed the information markers denoting where certain troops were positioned on the board. Personally speaking, I think this looked "cleaner", although after a day of participation gaming it did get a bit of a challenge remembering where each section was positioned on the boards!

Although the ruined buildings in the village were very enjoyable to scratch build, I seriously under-estimated the time this would take. These were the first fully ruined buildings I had attempted, and most people smiled knowingly when I mentioned how much longer they take than intact buildings. Consequently, I wasn't able to finish the two additional boards featuring a shelled wood (based on High Wood on the Somme) which I had originally planned. We're hoping to attend the Great War Gaming Day on the 6 December 2009 presented by Scarab Miniatures Ltd and Gripping Beast at Evesham, where the final wooded boards should get a run out. If people are interested, I'd be happy to post photographs when these are finished.

Sidney

Good work it appears. I will be making my modular trench board finally in the new year. I'm scratch building the trenches for the most part, but I'm not above using some resin bits for looks and time saving. I'll be blogging it, I'm making it generic, but with a strong WWI hopelessness to it. 28mm scale, 6*4 to start with plans for extra tiles, all 1*1.

Wish me luck.

Thanks for posting the new picture Sidney. Very inspiring!!

Really nice looking table. I understand about making ruined buildings. Lots of little things to get done.

Thanks,

John

Very nice! I won't ask about grass growing in no-man's land. It's amazing!