Weekender XLBS: HUGE Hobby Update & Justin Vs Lloyd At Rorke’s Drift
October 15, 2017 by warzan
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![Warcradle Studios Reveal TINY New 10mm Festive Marker! [Updated]](https://images.beastsofwar.com/2025/11/christmas-kyle-main-600-338.jpg)
To quote the Muppets Movie:” “Jack not name, Jack job!”
LOL
Good luck on the induction. Hopefully it will go differently than when I was inducted into the army.
I imagine there will be a similar amount of swearing 😉
If this is to be the last you best make use of middle names to get Leroy and Jethro in somewhere…
Good plan 😉
Jack Jethro Johnston, or JJJ
Junior
Best of luck this week, to you and yours, @warzan. 😀
I guess the curries, the long walks and the (ahem!) conjugals have all been given a try?
All the best to Andrea and the new one , and you just hang on in there buddie!
Thanks @oriskany!
And I hadn’t heard about the curry trick @coxjul
Good Luck @warzan all the best!
Wow that takes miniatures to a whole new level. @warzan you have a skirmish level game already to go, are you planning on going for a mass battle army? 🙂 congrats
Oh and where on the dark web do we have to go to get the original cut, with this being a special john week and all was there just too much for the system to handle? With the John month being promised , now is the time to stress test that equipment, he could be too hot for the internet.
To get technical, the recorder crashes and we end up with an MP4 file that hasn’t been closed off correctly. We need some reliable tool to reprocess and close of the file to recover it 🙂
For the volcano, I think that building it in quarters and layers would be beneficial. That would allow easier storage as it will break down into smaller pieces. By building up in quarters, you could do things like break up the volcano into four quarter volcanoes, one at each corner of the table., each with a different warlord trying to take over the other volcanoes. You could play with two half volcanoes, one on each side of the board, and suspend several bridges between the two and a model rocket (think Saturn V) in between the two. Or, if you pull the quarters apart like pie pieces and put the rocket in the middle, you could have strike teams that are trying to infiltrate the volcano base and stop the launch. Also, by building in quarters, you could build a couple extra quarters to swap out, if budget allows, to include things like giant military bases with helipads or air strips, a great dwarven king’s hall, an asteroid settlement (doesn’t have to always be a “volcano”, it could be part of a rock drifting in the void) where you can play out a huge game of Space Hulk, a temple to Cthulhu where your pulp action heroes are dodging traps and cultists, or the Doctor and co. fighting off a hoard of Daleks and/or Cybermen.
Also, quarters will allow you to place a quarter per table on game days. Bring your elephants as you make your way through the alps expanding the Empire, or drive your tanks out of your secret Cobra base. Pump up the Ride of the Valkyries as you fly your Team Yankee choppers around the cliff edges or call down elven lightning to strike the bones of the besieging undead army. Before you go home for the day, grab a couple of character sheets and dungeon crawl your way to the top to fight the fabled fire drake and partake of the treasures hidden below.
Brilliant ideas! Quarters is a great plan
Crooked Dice have some great items for a really pulpy secret base – check out the base mdf scenery:
http://www.crooked-dice.co.uk/wp/product-category/secret-base/
They have a secret base starter set in mdf which could sit between foam layers:
http://www.crooked-dice.co.uk/wp/product/secret-base-starter-set/
Along with a range of minions:
http://www.crooked-dice.co.uk/wp/product/starter-set-minions/
http://www.crooked-dice.co.uk/wp/product/female-minions/
http://www.crooked-dice.co.uk/wp/product/minion-dog-handler-grenadier/
http://www.crooked-dice.co.uk/wp/product/minion-commander-administrator/
Bond, Blowfelt & Henchment
http://www.crooked-dice.co.uk/wp/product/best-of-enemies/
http://www.crooked-dice.co.uk/wp/product/henchmen/
Classic villains, scientists, cameranmen (yes I did say that (!))
http://www.crooked-dice.co.uk/wp/product/the-guru/
http://www.crooked-dice.co.uk/wp/product/villains-2/
http://www.crooked-dice.co.uk/wp/product/scientists/
http://www.crooked-dice.co.uk/wp/product/production-team-cameraman/
They also have a game – 7VT – I haven’t played it, so can’t comment beyond pointing out that exists, but info can be found on the website.
Happy Sunday!!
Rorkes Drift again? Ever get the impression someone’s obsessed about a single moment in history?
This one has sat in the queue for a little while 🙂
I am, but weirdly not this one.
Which moment captures your imagination?
I first heard about the Spartans and the thermoplayae stand when I was a kid.
I first saw the film in the mid 70’s it was one of those films that increased my interest in history
300 Spartans is one of my absolute favourites, even if the phalanx attacks seem to have roughly 10 meters per row between them
Jack Jedi and Savannah Sith?
My own little piece of the dark side mate 😉
Glad the cassowary made an impression Warzan , the lady who was digging up fossils that I mentioned last week raised a point when we were chatting. Dinosaurs are always shown as brown, gray or maybe green, we have no idea what colour their skin was, maybe blue like their close relative which is pictured ….maybe and here’s the weird bit, the males had coloured wattles dangling of their neck like the cassowary. Now imagine your big carnivourous dinosaur with a blue face and a red wattle a few black proto feathers down it’s crown ….. wierd but it adds something I think .
As to Rourkes Drift, love that, every club needs a Jerry. Result was a forgone conclusion as ” Lloyd always wins”
Oh and happy Induction day (damn I meant to put that in). Life’s richest blessings to young Jack and his family
cheers mate, everytime I break it out it gets a little more finished.
I would like to point out, Grand Master @lloyd wiped out every force he was in charge off 😉 😉 Gary and Clive played blinders and I rolled like CRAP!!! but it was a crackin game, it was long but we had a blast and the rest of the lads were great to play against
When I heard JJ all I could think of was “Cannonball.. Cannonball ” and Burt Reynolds character from the Cannonball Run movies, so I hope everything goes well with Jack, @warzan.
As for the volcano, sounds like a great centerpiece for a 7TV bootcamp (hint!). How about Indiana Jones, Allan Quartermain in Darkest Africa pulp game, spy-fi or an Evil Genius style game but with Warren’s recent dinosaur obsession I’ sort of surprised he didn’t mention the Lost World or a dinosaur game with Neanderthals,
I could imagine Warren being Captain Chaos
For ideas about the volcano I shall just mention the name Doug McClure
This week’s crypto-subject from Warren … Crypto Geography where among other things somehow Australia (7.7m km^2) is bigger than Russia (17m km^2)
Lol yeah I was thinking about this video
Worth it for the battle report alone.
Cheers 😉
Vinegar Volcanoes, crossing generations and boarders alike.
The people suffering from Spider bites is increasing in the UK, a friend of mine was bitten last year on the foot and ended up in hospital for 4 days.
I think Liverpool is the only hospital/university with a tropical bites facility for anti venom etc
Games for the volcano?
Mark some zones on it and use the MB:P models on it in a mass battle. The volcano could be erupting, dropping the omphalos randomly about the board.
Oathsworn Miniatures are lovely miniatures to paint love painting them ,
@warzan were we watching the same Deep Space nine?
*A faction of Starfleet endeavoured to commit targeted genocide against the Founders of the Dominion, something Starfleet Command would have allowed to continue if not for Bashir & O’Brien.
*Sisko was actively complicit in a scheme to bring the Romulans into the war on the side of the Federation & Klingons that was directly responsible for the deaths of two people (one an sitting Romulan senator).
*During the siege of a crucial groundstation Starfleet ground troops were shown keeping the ketrecel white ampules of Jem’Hadar soldiers as trophies.
*
Now, I will say I’ve been enjoying Discovery so far, but I do think they have hamstrung themselves by setting it prior to the original series. Given the story they are telling it would have worked perfectly well as a progression of the TNG “prime” timeline as TNG was to TOS.
As it is there is going to have to be something that happens to explain why we have neverheard of the Discover or any of the technology it’s carrying before to avoid the whole thing crashing into TOS…
True I’m hoping the nastiness is more systemic this time
And we haven’t heard of it, because everyone is going to die 🙂
We are heading into Spider season here in QLD too .. (as it gets warmer)
Up to 15cm leg-span
Dark to light brown, sometimes grey
@thisisazrael
Finally working wifi!
Thanks for the van offer yesterday, if it was my wedding then we’d be sold but as you say the wider family might not be up for it!
Im loving Discovery, I thought it was set in the changed time line as per the latest movies and that could well explain some alterations in star trek history. But my big hope is they will show the incident (that Worf said Klingons dont talk about) that altered their appearance in the future eg hair. lol
That was dealt with in the Enterprise series. Not that anyone watched it lol.
The first season of True Detective is aaaaa-maaaa-zing. Might be the best telly since the fourth season of The Wire.
indeed, shame the second series went no where. Maybe the third will be back on track though. Have you watched Generation Kill @redben? I would guess you have, but if it’s passed you by it’s well worth it
Generation Kill is excellent, the book is a great read as well, mad stuff. Especially as one of the original marines actually plays himself in the tv show – Fruity Rudy rocks!!!! Definitely worth a watch
first thoughts when it came to a volcano would be an Iwo Jima type game, either normal bolt action, or, Konflikt 47 style would be awesome with the Nazi’s in the submarine base smuggling tech into Japan, the allies landing in force to scour the island hehee be great! Jungle fighting, trenches, bunkers, all conventional until you get to the volcano itself
Or 7tv with a mad scientist
@avernos the singing was epic mate.
@warzan i’m holding you responsible for that KD Fade not getting a golden button.
cheers matey, it’s probably for the best they didn’t get my “perfect” seeth afreekan impression of Ardendorf on film ^^
Happy Sunday. Possibly the best XLBS I have seen. Warren, best wishes to all with to all with the new-born, don’t forget to post some baby pictures.
Woohoo! Go Ben! As a fan of Next Generation I cannot stand the new series and rather spend my time on the Expanse. Worst of all, it is behind a pay lock which sucks. I am not a fan either and have quit after the 4th episode and I will stop paying at the end of the month. I disagree @warzan I HATE the new Klingon look. I do not like the plot nor the new characters.
At this point I rather find 6 friends and take out a copy of the board game “Captain is Dead” and get my Star Trek fix.
I am surprised that @warzan is who loves many things myth and lore is not watching the Amazon Prime Series “Lore” that is based upon the podcast of the same name.
I just hadn’t heard of LORE thanks for the tip off mate 🙂
Great show and what a battle report, that looked like a load of fun. For the volcano you could have some tunnels throughout for a game of blood and plunder, maybe some treasure has been hidden in there and you have to get it before the thing blows, or maybe with the new frostgrave book, Ghost Archipelago, some tropical island with a volcano to run around in.
Forgot to say good luck tomorrow to you and your family @warzan
Hahahahaha loved this episode.
I’ve been sitting at my desk many times and had a Bluetounge lizard curled up near my feet (they like to bite and lock their jaw). Right now the Magpies are swooping, snakes are waking up, sharks are coming closer and everythings having kids and getting very aggressive.
This video basically sums up how casual we are about a snake that would kill dozens of people with one bite.
https://youtu.be/myeXMuGJAB8
What an awesome old dude lol
#legend
I think it depends where you live. I lived in Melbourne for 6 years and saw a couple of huntsmen,a few redbacks a few white tails and a Tiger snake
I love the @warzan rambles, I’m all about the rambles man!
You could set up a mic and record the audio as a backup for us to download in case of future video recording fails. 😀
Happy Sunday everybody.. Sorry to be ‘that guy’ but didn’t the British army use actual rifle bullets at Rorkes drift? That looks like a musket ball..
Again, sorry to be ‘that guy’ it’s like an illness – can’t switch it off..
Yes they used bullets 🙂
Congrats Warren!!! Best of luck to you and the family. 😀 Glad to hear Justin made it over here in the states and not Guantanamo. 😮
Really loving Discovery, but as i`m a big Star Trek fan it`s a win win for me.
Now John`s going full-on Historical, hope he`s been videoing what he`s been up to. I always thought the “Bren (Universal) Carrier” was a funny little vehicle. I still do, but it does have it`s uses. John your dad`s gonna love it, no matter what you do with it.
Doing thing`s with your kids is some of the most relaxing time`s you`ll ever have, and helping with school project`s like making “Volcano`s” is one of those time`s. Now wanting to make one as big as you want to, that there is a challenge and a half……………..good luck Warren. As to what type of game to use it for, why not go with this……………….At the bottom of the volcano there is an entrance to a world where time stood still. Where man and dinosaur coexist, then one day the top dwellers find there way there and from that moment on it`s war. Man with Dinosaurs V`s Man with Vehicles. There are lot`s of other thing`s, but i think you would want Dinosaurs…………….I know i would.
congratulations @warzan hope all goes well, great choice of name 😉
that was a great game and a great day, long and brutal but a great laugh. Great group of lads. Thanks to all for a great day.
always glad to have you back up. Maybe Clontarf next time, I’ve got all the Irish now 😉
Well on for that, need more Vikings, lots more Vikings, or maybe Pagan Rus..
I’ll unfriend you if I see Pagan Rus o.O
LOL
Personally i think there should be a compulsory dose of zulu each week. Doesn’t have to be rorke’s drift each week it could be any time during the few months of the war.
I’ve looked forward to sitting down and watching this all day. I was not disappointed. The game looked great Quite how the British won this encounter I’m not sure. Lloyd’s tactic of wearing the Zulu’s out until they were desperate to get down the pub seems to have been better plan than I thought.
to let you in on a secret mate, 12 turn game, at the end of turn 9 knowing they had 3 turns left and it looked unwinnable the Zulu players asked each other “we need some kind of a plan” I feel that may have been 9 turns too late. There are a few moments that beggar belief and made me scratch my head. But as impartial GM I didn’t give any tips until the last turn when it looked like they were close to throwing in the towel.
Remember folks, Prior Preparation and Planning, Prevents Piss Poor Performances 😉
No worries I can keep a secret 😉
So King Justawayo didn’t let anyone know the Battle plan before the game or there was no plan ?
I don’t think there was a plan, in fact I don’t think there is one to this day 😉
I have some plans for further tweaking, but if I play it again I want to actually play it. I’ve never got a chance to since I’ve always been running it for others. The fact you have to run it out on a 8×6 board means it’s not something that can be thrown down at the drop of a hat.
The fact you have never played it yourself but put it on for your friends says a lot about you.
Such an iconic game deserves to be played again. I don’t think there can be many gamers who wouldn’t want to see how they would fair.
Best wishes to you and your growing family @warzan
I think Ben is losing it guys warren is talking away as he is nocking back a pint of vodka in the background.?
a great show the details on the Bren carrier was tremendous the Zulu battle was a great surprise.
For PVAs – the only difference is how much watered down they are – I wouldn’t bother with any of the “hobby” PVA glues – buy it from a trade shop – and get the ‘raw’ unwatered down stuff – much much cheaper and then you can water it down to whatever level you need for a particular job.
Learned all this from Mel The Terrain Tutor so can’t take credit! 🙂
I’m googling “cal’s thick white paste” and wishing I hadn’t.
His full name is Houses of Parliament Lovecraft. Like the sauce.
seems legit
You need to play some kind of pulp era game with the volcano. You have to save the “Justin” before he gets sacrificed to the volcano god. If he gets sacrificed the volcano god is angry and chucks him back out.
Great weekender! Loved the Zule game – congratulations @avernos on producing something so epic.
Best wishes with the expanding family @warzan !
As for the volcano, I think you should go foam, mainly for ease of making, use and storage. But also flexibility. Remember that volcanoes don’t explode all the time, so no reason why most of the volcano can’t be covered with the normal cliff / rock, grass and flock. Indeed, burnt grass around the mouth of the volcano would look pretty cool. You don’t need to try to get the whole surface to look like barren rock.
As for games, as well as some of the other great ideas, if you build a dungeon into it then you could use it as a dungeon saga / DnD dungeon and use or not use the volcano itself. The Adeptus Mechanicus on Mars I think have a habbit of building bases into volcanoes – so that’s another angle you could take.
Great battle report on Rorke’s Drift – always feels good to see historical on Beasts of War. 😀 Great table and amazing miniatures.
thanks matey, next time I play it I hope to have finished detailing it all. on the footage you can see only the mealie bags on the redoubt have the stripes applied, so have to add them to all the other walls, and finish my ovens of course ^^
I remember you said you had some more Rorke’s Drift material ready for us, and hoped it would see the light of day. Very glad it did! Seriously, this is exactly the kind of wargaming I go in for. Even if it’s not a war or battle I know very much about, the “design and gaming methodology” is spot on.
1) Choose a subject.
2) Research the ever-living **** out of it.
3) Build the game that replicates the research as best you can.
4) Take your hands off the game and let it run.
5) Run the same game several times, each time making small adjustments to the game to enhance the balance between playability and historical fidelity.
This is the kind of thing I try to do all the time, but because I’m 4300 miles away I can’t really help do it in the studio. 😐 So we’re relying on you, Gerry! 😀 😀
cheers Jim, every time I go back it gets a little tighter and a bit more interesting…it also grows, up to 80 defenders now so I started at 1:2 models per defender in real life. But I’m getting closer to 1:1, at which point everyone gets a name.
the only question is once I’m 100% happy with the Drift which encounter to go for next?
@avernos Clearly your next project has to be Isandlwana at 1:1. Clearly.
If I ever did that it would either be 6mm or a hex map game. Isandlwana was about failure of supply lines and you couldn’t make an interesting game in 28mm reflecting that. But no I think something else may be on the cards… maybe the first time a spartan force surrendered… not sure yet….of course there is a lovely napoleonic farm sitting there 😉
So, at the time this video was made, what has John done so far painting-wise with that Bren Gun Carrier and 6-pounder model? Has he started the shading process using black/grey/white primers? Or is the black/grey/white a basecoat over primer? If I knew what’s steps he’s planning on taking after this, I might have a better idea of what process he’s using. Any answers to this? They look *fantastic* btw!!!
that is primed and shaded using black and white primers from badger’s airbrush range Stynlrez (spellings probably off a shade there) There is a video this week where he shows me how to do some zenithing and talks about them in there
@warzan I agree that TVdrama has become better than film. I’ve been watching Chinese and Korean drama on the app Viki. Some of the shows being made out in Asia are really good, couple that with the stuff coming out of the US, and the sprinkling of UK, I would say we’re seeing a sort of golden age in TV drama.
Funny Warren should mention our nasty Australian wild life as i was just in the backyard before watching XLBS and discovered our 4th dead snake in the last 2 weeks . All fell victim to our trusty Staffordshire bull terrier aptley named Piper ( hunter ) . Really do dread the day her luck runs out though . Greetings from Port Macquarie
As far a thick PVA, here is my prefered:
https://www.amazon.com/Aleenes-36116-Original-Tacky-Glue/dp/B01EK7LGH4/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1508170173&sr=8-4&keywords=tacky+glue
Great show fellas, loved the Rorke’s Drift segment.
Great battle report of Rorke’s Drift, very inspirational. I am working on a few hundred Zulus to run a similar type of game at our club. I had a few questions (apologies if i missed the answers in the video or notes).
– The rules looked like TMWWBK ?
– How many Zulus did you use and how often were they recycled?
– How many British did you use?
– Have you written the scenario and house rules up and are they available ?
– the rules are 99.9% TMWWBKs the changes I made was to include a special rule for each of the heroes of Rorke’s Drift
– British was originally 6 squads of 10 men with a shoot value of 4+ but for the game in the bat rep I expanded that to 8 squads and reduced their shoot to 5+ as they could cover more of the perimeter I felt they didn’t need the advantage as much.
– Zulus, each of the four Impis was made from two 16 man regiments. There was a fifth regiment of iNdluyengwe being used as the Oskerberg Snipers. For the larger game I added another two pairs of regiments.
– Each unit activates on a card being drawn which leaves the Zulus one activation behind the British, to address this I added a Joker. The Joker card can be played on any Zulu regiment to allow it to activate, even if it has already acted that turn.
Also the regiments within an Impi act independently, so when the card is drawn the Zulu player can activate either of the two regiments, or if they are within 3″ of each other they can be group moved but this can not be used to charge.
– Zulu regiments can be recycled at will by playing their card. This means if a unit is decimated in the field you can play the card to remove them and next turn on their card they come back on from the board edge. Combining that with the Joker means you could remove them and return them at full strength in the same turn.
– I’ve not written them down completely, if it sounds like something you want I can. I also have the pdf’s for the unit cards for both sides done by a very clever chap at our club that I can send you. All you need then is a deck of cards and your copy of TMWWBK
Hope that helps
That is really helpful, thank you very much! I like the recycling mechanic and the figure count is not too crazy! I would love to get the pdf of the cards , they look great. Thanks again for the detailed reply.
PM me your email and I’ll fire you the PDFs
Brilliant episode!
What a touching and amazing gift, John! I love the idea of the sleeping soldiers as well. Good luck on the gun permit 🙂
Great way to round off the show with a battle report. Looked like lots of fun.
Well done all!
Regarding the Volcano, polystyrene is the way forward. Plaster will be way too heavy and I don’t think foam will hold its shape sufficiently.
You can buy polystyrene in blocks of almost any size. If for example, you wanted it to be four feet high and four feet across, you could get four 1 foot high sections. If you pin the sections together you could then get your basic shape with a hit wire cutter (a proper one, not one of the little GW hand helds
You can then shape it with wire brushes.
I’ve worked with very large poly blocks in this way (ten foot blocks). It’s really messy and it takes two to operate the wire cutter properly but it’s pretty quick and effective.
You’ll then need to coat the surface with something to stop it chipping. PVA would probably work, especially if mixed with sand to strengthen it.
If you actually do this I’ll come out and help you!
Bexley reapers had this nailed at salute a few years ago