Something I found intriguing when I first started collecting my 15mm models for Flames of War in the Wayback Times of 1st edition was that you could just take enemy vehicles in your army, and call them “captured”, and it was alright to do so. This intrigued me after playing so much 3rd Edition 40k around those days that I decided to take the most game-breaking, overpowered, cheaty thing possible for my Afrika Korps army. The British Universal Carrier. I swapped out the crew, puttied on some “flags” to act as vehicle recognition drapes (rather important on the captured vehicles) and got to painting!
And then, like every other part of that army, bought and started so long ago, they were never finished. I did a fair bit of the work on them originally, but in completing them recently, I did need to go over every part of both models in some way or another, and gave them a new upper level of highlighting and lower level of shade. As a pair of completed Mechanical devices, they also qualify for Mechanismo May – which is good as my stuff for the month’s challenge was looking a little shy once again.
Azazel's Bitz Box. 
I have friends who play Bolt Action. The models are much larger, I think. I’m a huge history buff, but never actually played a mini game based in a historical period. What’s the draw, if you already know the “ending”?
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The “ending”? You mean when the sun expands and boils away the oceans and atmosphere before consuming the entire Earth? I think that’s how big parts of 40k and Star Trek both end, too!
Yeah, BA is 28mm. I have some of those as well. As for the attraction, it can be anything from a “what if?” if you were to play a game based on a specific, real battle – to the very same attraction that playing with green, tan, brown, red and grey army men had as kids – which is the same one that you’d have playing Battlefield 1942 through to Call of Duty or Steel Panthers.
We know how Star Wars Republic and Galactic Empire periods end, too. Game of Thrones/ASOFAI? Yep. Lord of the Rings? Ahyup.
Taken to a logical point – why do we play any wargame rather than just abstract boardgames (including wargames) or computer games? I think it’s much the same whether the game is Battlefleet Gothic, Micro Armour, Warhammer 40,000, Age of Sigmar, What a Tanker or any other ruleset: The visual aesthetic appeal of many nicely painted toy soldiers on a lovely tabletop, along with the kinaesthetic elements – and the socially interactive appeal of it being a shared experience in the form of a wargame – as opposed to a diorama. The setting is ultimately more of an aesthetic choice, whether it be visual, the appeal of a certain time period or faction, etc.
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Such an interesting topic for discussion…why play mini games at all!? Immersion, perhaps. Control for things we can envision as actually real, maybe.
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Multiple reasons, and within those, variations for each individual. Aside from the ones above, there are people who are more interested in painting the models (again, for a variety of reasons) who also like to be able to “use” them for something aside from display and the act of painting them.
I don’t personally find deep immersion in minis games, though I can certainly enjoy a narrative scenario. I find my VR setup to be much more immersive, and even there it’s not hard to remember that I’m not a spaceman or an eagle or whatever. Control for things I can envision as real isn’t one for me, either. Maybe as a child, but I no longer have that ability to fantasise about my little toy tanks rumbling across the desert, regardless of how beautiful those tanks or the battlefield is. Not that people who do either of those are “wrong”.
Like many things in life, the various reasons are a spectrum and encompass people who are close to old-school wargamers with their chits and hex-maps through to role-playing enthusiasts who play their D&D with minis to help visualise the spatial situations that their characters find themselves in. Two archetypes of “gamers” that are often considered to be at opposite ends of the “gaming spectrum”. Though of course, some people are into either.
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Lovely job mate, good use of the flags to show they are captured!
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Thanks Alex. The Germans used them on their own vehicles as well quite often, but I’ll just keep it to the captured ones.
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A nice variation on bren carriers – they do look good with German crews and the air recognition flags! Very nicely done! And before anyone picks me up on it, I call all carriers “bren gun carriers” ’cause that’s what it said on the Airfix kit label back in the 60s and it was imprinted on me from a very young age!
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Thanks mate – I think of them as “Bren Carriers” as well, but went with the “Universal” moniker instead as these ones don’t actually have any Bren Guns on them!
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I saw The Tank Museum’s Video about these Universal Carriers, cool little vehicles!
Great work with the flags!
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That video sounds cool – as does, frankly everything I’ve heard about Bovington! – and thanks!
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They look great- captured vehicles always add character to any army.
Cheers,
Pete.
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That they do. How ironic though, that the first fully-completed vehicles in this German Army are British!
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You know I love a captured vehicle – ESPECIALLY in North Africa. How did you do the flags?
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Thin(ish) little squares of greenstuff. I let them cure on the table for a bit, then added them to the vehicles and smushed them down to give them a “creased & folded cloth” texture.
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Clearly very effective
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I remember stolen vehicles being more of a thing in 40k as well! From what I know, it happened a lot in various wars so to make it for Flames of War is very clever. The flags really look cool and nice job sculpting them! Posts like this make me want to check out historical games more but Sauron has a firm grip on me for now anyway 🙂
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Yep, it was always much more of a thing for Orks as I recall, though these days I’m pretty sure you just use the Ork Vehicle stats even with your own creations based on a Russ or whatever – I think they got a Land Raider variant in one of the Chapter Approved books recently.
You could always start with Vikings or Saxons, as their minis fit in perfectly with (and as) SBG Dunlendings! 🙂
That’s genuinely why I first bought my own collection of both.
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Those custom vehicles always looked cool in my opinion so GW was wise to bring it back.
I suppose you’re right! That isn’t the historical era I would pick first to play in but getting multiple uses out of any mini is very wise. Thanks for the suggestion! 🙂
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I initially bought a LOT of my historicals for SBG and ME armies in Kings of War, and even now that it’s less of a frontline concern for me, it’s still in the back of my head. If you’re doing skirmish scale, you’ve got a lot of nice options in the historical kits that can work for ME and other games as well.
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Sounds like I better do some online shopping to look further into this. Cheers! 😀
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No worries. Be sure and check out the stuff from Warlord, Perry, Gripping Beast, Fireforge and Conquest. If there aree any particular armies you’re looking to fill out, let me know and I’ll offer any suggestions.
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I’ve perused Perry miniatures before and like their work for GW. I appreciate the other suggestions as well! If only I had more time to paint and play all the cool looking wargames out there 🙂
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The universal dilemma for wargamers!
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