Stranger things

[martin goddard]

I think things are strange if they are outside of what I usually encounter.
Therfore  the use of "strange" means unexpected rather than a superhero or unattractive.

Whilst re counting a story to Ben and Dave (as they gently dozed off) I thought, "why not share with all" (great?).

So how about we share strange stories of wargaming that we have experienced over the yeras.

To get the talk going, here are four stranger things.

1. Washing of the spears
This chap I know washes his figures in warm soapy water. It did  clear the dust off I suppose. Anyone else do this?

2. Just put your hand down and grab them
This man first put down a 1" foam blanket. Over this he put the game cloth and scenery pieces.
This allowed players to press their grip into the foam and thus only ever pick up figures by their bases.
The figures were never varnished. Although varnish would have helped prevent fading as well as wear?

3This little piggie
Saw this at Historicon
A table with about 200+ figures on it. The figures looked as if they were in units. Colonial I think.   However each figure was on an individual base. The players were moving the units figure by figure about 6" at a time.

4 A big big man
Units of Greek hoplites type army (25mm). Each unit with a leader figure in a larger 40mm(?) size.

[Martin Smith]

With reference to #4- A big, big man. I have a fantasy/sci-fi "defenders of the earth army"  (for use against alien invaders at a Hordes of the Things tournament a couple of years ago) in which the majority of the force are US army 10mm (infantry, tanks, jeeps) but I used  'out of scale'  15mm models for the Mulder and Scully heroes. Made them stand out from the crowd. Plus the support aircraft were 1/300 up on clear plastic rods....gave them a 'detached' look.

[Radar]

#4 perhaps the big fellas were Greek heroes/god's/demigods etc

[Colonel Kilgore]

I always wash my figures in detergent before painting.  I believe (?) it gets rid of grease as well as lead fillings from the clean-up process. And they come out looking shiny. Sorry...

[martin goddard]

The washing was of painted and based figures on a yearly "clean up"  basis

[Radar]

The washing was of painted and based figures on a yearly "clean up"  basis

Slightly strange. But he isn't bothering anybody I suppose

[Colonel Kilgore]

The washing was of painted and based figures on a yearly "clean up"  basis

Ah - that certainly is weird   

[pbeccas (Paul)]

After I clean the mould lines off my figures I religiously throw then in a bucket of soapy water. 

[Sean Clark]

1. An ex club member of some advanced years now, has spent 99% of his gaming life playing ACW in 10, 15 and 28mm. Improbably, his name is Jeff Davis.
2. When I played ACW with him at the club, there would be 8-10 of us playing the game which he umpired and we used a set of computer rules that ran on a Spectrum 128K. Games would last several weeks!

[martin goddard]

Was the spectrum the one with the extra memory pack that would collapse if nudged?

[martin goddard]

Peter Laing spearmen would come with a long pin. It made them quite painful to mishandle. Strange, but a good  deterrent.

Minitanks with their little wheels underneath. When deployed on a sloping road my Stug would roll down when not watched.

[Sean Clark]

Martin

It was the Living Daylights James Bond limited edition. Some bloke off the local market was selling them off in 1990 and we all bought one.

Here's the strange bit....the rules actually worked really well for multi player large games. There was a Napoleonic and Ancient set too.....SoTa was the company.

[Lluis of Minairons]

The washing was of painted and based figures on a yearly "clean up"  basis

Ah - that certainly is weird   

Before priming and starting to paint every new batch of figures, I use to wash them in soapy water too - and besides I thoroughly clean them up with the help of an old teeth brush! That uses to provoke all kind of jokes from my wife, about taking my little men to shower 

I also use to wash again already painted figures, in those particular cases I'm going to refurbish or retouch these somehow - it's something happening more often than usual lately, due to having got accustomed to 2nd hand collections purchase or exchange; such 2nd hand figures get washed in most cases, due to rebasing, customizing or even repainting them.

But... washing one's collection from time to time? Uhm, it doesn't sound too eccentric to me (just a bit  ). Perhaps I would adhere to it too, if my wooden bases and basing stuff would tolerate that!

[Lluis of Minairons]

4 A big big man
Units of Greek hoplites type army (25mm). Each unit with a leader figure in a larger 40mm(?) size.

A gaming mate used to accompany his 15mm Gaul army with a small diorama depicting Asterix and Obelix 

As for me, yes I've fallen into this (vicious?) practice once: I have a 20mm goddess Athena figure to inspire and lead my 15mm Greek hoplite army. But no giant Gen. Lee in my CSA army, or huge Big Brother leading my WWII Soviets - I promise!!

[shedman]

3 This little piggie

Sounds like The Sword And The Flame

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