Wargaming on a Budget

Gaming Constrained by Money or Space

Iain Dickie

• Publisher: Pen & Sword Military
• Year: 2010
• ISBN:
  9781844689453
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: History Reference
• Index: History

Wargaming can be a very expensive hobby, but it needn't be. Iain Dickie, one of the best-known names in the hobby shares dozens of hints and tips on how to cut the cost of your gaming and get 'more bang for your buck'. He offers sound practical advice on buying and building your armies (should you opt for metal, plastic, or even card, and in which scale?), gaming tables, terrain, buildings and even storage solutions. As well as purely financial constraints, Iain Dickie also recognizes the fact that available space is another major restriction for many gamers and tackles this issue too. Now you've got no excuse not to get wargaming!

Chapter 1

Resources

Space, Finance, and Materials

Space

The first resource and the one you probably can’t do anything to alter is the space you have available. What you can do is make sure the table will fit within that space and ensure it is small enough for you to reach the middle. To stand or sit at a table you need a space at least one metre wide; your opponent will also need a metre. If someone will frequently pass by that distance needs to increase to 1.6 metres or you will be forever getting nudged, possibly nudging the table in turn and risking disaster should figures spill onto the floor. To comfortably reach the middle of the table it needs to be no more than 1.8 metres wide, though the UK standard width of sheet wood is 1.2 metres, which may be more economical. More of the table later.

Although most of us place a short end of the table up against a wall, you and your opponent will need to get around the other end; that’s another metre. If that part of the room is also the passage between two doors you probably need to increase that space to 1.6 metres. All of these distances need to be inside any furniture that might already be in the room. So, now you can measure the room and deduct the widths above and allow for any furniture. That gives you the maximum size table you can play on in comfort. It may well be there is already a table or bed in the room which could be used as the base for your table. That’s fine and we’ll look at construction alternatives later.

Finance

The second resource, but one which you can do something about, is finance. The first rule of juggling your finances is to get all of the information together. Since this book is a holistic approach to the subject of ‘Wargaming on a Budget’ I am going to briefly cover that here.

The modern way is to draw up a spreadsheet on your computer. Start on the first, left hand, column. On the second line enter ‘brought fwd’. On the third line enter the word ‘income’. If you might get money from more than one source enter ‘income (2)’ on the next line and repeat so you get a separate line for each source. The next line needs to be ‘total in’. Skip a line and enter all the things you have to spend money on; rent/mortgage, gas, electric, council tax, food, going out, reserve, wargaming, so you get a new line for each sort of expenditure. The final expenditure line should be ‘total out’. Now, across the top line in the second column enter the month, April or whatever, and continue with the months of the year right across the page, until you have a full year.

Now you can start keying in the actual sums. From your last bank statement enter the balance at the end of the previous month in the first ‘brought fwd’ box. Be honest with yourself. The ‘reserve’ or savings box should aim for about 10 per cent of the ‘total in’ and this sum should be stowed away in a savings account for your emergency use only. Don’t forget to include the one-off annual things like car tax or TV licence. Use the formula facility on the program to add the income figures into the ‘total in’ box and the expenditure figures into the ‘total out’. Use the formula facility again to deduct the ‘total out’ from the ‘total in’ box and enter the answer in the ‘brought fwd’ box in the following column. These formulae repeat for each column. Enter the figures for a whole year ahead. If the ‘brought fwd’ box becomes a negative figure that means you have gone into the red and are either spending too much or earning too little. It happens to all of us so don’t panic. But, you do need to do something, preferably before your predictions become a reality. Getting used to doing spreadsheets will also stand you in good stead if you ever start a business. But running a business will eat into your gaming time, so best not to bother.

The hardest thing with this sort of plan or budget is to stick to the plan, so the following idea might help or it could stand alone as another way of budgeting. When I was a lad, before personal computers, credit cards and pocket calculators, my parents used to keep a collection of empty jam jars (clean ones!), each with a label showing a particular form of expenditure. Gas, electric, rates etc. On pay-day my mother would pop a certain sum into each jam jar sufficient to last until the next pay-day. It works but you need strong willpower not to borrow from one jar when another runs low. It also can’t predict future problems so the reserve jar needs to be bigger than all the others and you still need to stow away 10 per cent of all income. See, there is always an alternative to using an expensive computer!

The next resource is something of a life-style issue. In my experience there are two sorts of job. You can aim for promotion, get a higher salary plus the stress, aggravation and the ever-longer working hours that go with it – or stick to something you can do easily. Accept the salary you get but use the quiet safe moments at work to think your own thoughts, plan the next battle or campaign move. Spend the shorter working hours getting the best bargains possible and making the things you can’t afford to buy. The first option can afford to buy what he wants but won’t necessarily have the time to enjoy them. The second option may not be able to buy the latest figures or top-of-the-range computer but he will have the time to paint and play with the ones he does have. The worst sort of job is long hours and low pay. Don’t do it. Leave. Change your life so you can work less or earn more, perhaps even by getting some form of training. It is not necessarily so nowadays that the ‘best’ form of job is white collar management. One of my richest friends is a plumber and one of the most contented has been a milkman, dustbin-man, road sweeper and car washer. Changing jobs is more daunting than difficult. There are the conventional routes of watching for job adverts and going to employment agencies, and there are the unconventional routes. Talk to the people you come across at the club, or socially, or taking the kids to school – this worked for me – or at work, though you perhaps ought to be careful who you speak to here. Make it plain you are looking for something better paid or shorter hours. Eventually someone might make an offer.

In normal domestic expenditure cars represent an enormous drain. They lose a fortune in depreciation, cost a lot to maintain and tax, and then even more when you actually try to use them. Make all car expenses, including depreciation (the amount by which a thing loses its value year by year), a distinct group on your spreadsheet and add it up in a separate sum. Now make a list of all the journeys you use the car for. Knock off all those you could walk or cycle and compare the cost of making the remaining ones by public transport (bus, train or taxi) to the total cost of your car expenses. Even renting a car for an odd weekend may become an economic alternative. Examine every area of expenditure to make sure you are getting good value and cut out those where you are not. So, if you are renting Sky Sport but only watching the biggest matches cut it out and watch them at a friend’s house or the pub.

Materials

So, let me assume you have your work/life/finances in balance and get back to wargaming on your budget. The materials you are going to need for the various projects that follow will come from a wide variety of sources. It is going to be a good idea to start seeking those out sooner rather than later. Some will be established outlets like DIY stores or timber suppliers. Others will be more transitory or less orthodox – building sites or skips. Gardens can also be a useful source of raw material. Either way you will have to keep your eyes open and eventually go and ask someone, whether it is for a discount on damaged goods or to cadge a cast-off item from a skip. However redundant the item you want may appear, never take without asking first; that would be stealing.

Asking for something is an art form just like street theatre. Don’t try doing it in a smart suit and a posh voice. First you have to look the part. You should try to appear poorer than the person you’re asking. Assuming you are a chap approaching another chap, old coat, trousers and shoes are a good start, slightly tousled hair and just a little stubble help. Don’t stand too erect, stoop a little. Ask for the ‘boss’. That confirms your slightly subservient position, and anyway it’s no good talking to an underling; always seek out the one who can give you the decision. Apologize for troubling him. Explain just a little of what you’re doing in fairly simple terms, but be brief. You don’t want to give him the impression you’re cleverer than he is:

I’m trying to build a model battlefield on a shoestring, could you give me a discount on this damaged board?

or:

I’m trying to build a model battlefield on the cheap and I spotted that insulation in your skip. It would make a great hill if you don’t need it?

If he gets the impression you’re doing it for the kids so much the better. If you haven’t got any kids, good for you; nasty, smelly, expensive things. Don’t smile too much or make prolonged eye contact in case he gets the wrong idea. If you are under sixteen always get your Mum or girlfriend to go with you. Never take a mate. More than one boy is nearly a gang and you’ll probably get told to bugger off. If you are asking a woman you can afford to be slightly less scruffy. Do make eye contact and smile a little but don’t look at her boobs or legs.

Chapter 2

Basic DIY

Measuring, Cutting, Joints, Drilling, Screwing, Nailing, Planing, Knots, Sanding down, and Painting

Because I can’t engage you in conversation I can’t find out what you know or what you can do so I have to assume, forgive me, that you know nothing. Much of what follows will involve you in making stuff. Some large pieces and some tiny ones. So, this section will try to cover things to help you build them successfully, and perhaps help with non-gaming things too.

Measuring

Always use the same unit of measurement. Jumping from feet and inches to centimetres and millimetres is a recipe for getting things wrong. You may not like the metric system but it is easier to add 13mm to 17mm than to add 3/16 inches to ⅝ inches and therefore you are more likely to get the right answer. It is also a truism that it is better to measure something twice than to measure once and have to remake once. The core of this notion is to take your time and do everything carefully. For example, if you have to cut a piece to match another piece, such as cutting the under-supports for a table surface, place the support on the surface, line one end up with the table surface and mark the other end directly onto the piece to cut. This will avoid measuring and therefore eliminate one source of possible error.

Cutting

There are different sorts of saws for different sorts of jobs. The key difference is the number of teeth per centimetre (it used to be per inch but now goodness knows). The more teeth per centimetre the finer the cut. A ‘tenon’ saw (that’s the one with a reinforcing spine along the top edge of the blade) will be good for cutting most joints. For long straight cuts a 50cm hand-saw should be used. Hold it at a low angle to the piece being cut which will make it easier to cut a straight line and just take it steady. A sharp saw won’t need to be forced down onto the wood to cut it. If you do need to force it down then get it sharpened. It is true that you can use an electric jig saw for most things but they are expensive to buy and it is harder to make a long straight cut than using a handsaw. Cut thin material with a sharp knife. There are plastic-handled knives available with disposable blades but the handles rarely hold the blade rigid so the cut can wobble about. Better to spend a little more and use a metal-handled Stanley knife. Always place some spare backing material under the piece you are cutting. Gouging grooves in the family dining table is not going to earn you any brownie points. Whether you are using a saw or a knife make sure your spare hand is off to one side in a place where the blade cannot slip to. When you have to cut several pieces the same size mark out one piece and clamp the others, carefully aligned, to that piece. Use a larger saw to cut through them all at the same time.

Joints

I mention ‘halving’ joints later on. These are used to join two pieces of wood together often, though not always, at a right angle to one another. The idea is to cut a notch or slot in each piece of wood so the other piece fits into the cut-out. Thus each piece is cut half through and the two end up flush with each other. Use a tenon saw to cut each side of the notch and then a chisel and hammer to knock out the piece between the cuts. Place the point of the chisel with one end on the bottom of the cut and the chamfer of the chisel uppermost. A light tap with a hammer should knock out the tongue between the cuts. You can use the chisel to smooth off any protrusions working across the rising, as opposed to falling grain of the wood. This will prevent any splits going down into the wood you want to keep. These halving joints are often completed with a screw. If they are a good fit and there is no tension pulling the joint apart a single screw will be sufficient.

Figure 1. A halving joint.

Drilling

The thing that actually makes the holes is known as the ‘drill bit’ and the thing that turns the ‘bit’ is the drill. Before cheap electric drills became available there were three tools for doing the job. An awl is like a screwdriver with a point and only suitable for making a shallow hole to get a screw started. You don’t need to buy an awl. You can file or grind the broken blade of an old screwdriver or use a small nail and just tap it with a hammer to make the indentation. A hand drill has a grip at the end and a rotating handle with gear wheels to turn the chuck into which the drill bit actually fits. This gadget is suitable for holes up to about 5mm diameter. The trick is to hold the grip steady without pushing or leaning too hard and turn the handle gently. Avoid trying to force the bit through too quickly. For larger holes you will need a brace. This has a palm-sized handle loosely attached to the serif of a horizontal ‘U’ shape. The base of the ‘U’ also has a loose grip and the ‘bit’ goes in a chuck on the other serif of the ‘U’. One hand holds the palm grip and the other rotates the handle at the bottom of the ‘U’ shape thus turning the chuck and drill ‘bit’. This is designed to really tear out large holes. You can really lean onto the palm grip to get the bit to bite deeply into the wood. The bits usually have sharp cutting edges on the outside edges of the shaft and either a point in the centre or a screw thread to draw the bit into the work piece. You should come across these tools in the discount or second-hand shops fairly cheaply. They will last much longer than an electric drill whose wiring burns out or bearings wear out. They also don’t need electricity so can be used remote from power sources.

Although it is unlikely in the course of making stuff for war-gaming, it is worth mentioning that these hand tools are unsuitable for making holes in brick walls, but they are OK for plasterboard partitions. If you need to fix something to a wall at a later date, expose some of the brickwork beneath the plaster and locate the mortar joint between bricks. Excavate a hole in the mortar about 40mm deep and 40mm wide. Cut a wedge-shaped piece of wood to hammer tightly into this space and pack a plaster-type filler around the edge to make sure it is secure. The grain of the wooden wedge should run along the wall, not into it. Use a wood screw to fix into the wooden wedge. This is more long-winded than using an electric drill and plastic wall-plug but think of the money you are saving! If you feel able to buy an electric drill I suggest you go for the following features: variable speed, hammer effect and at least 15mm chuck capacity and the largest wattage motor you can afford. You need high speed for small holes and slow speed for large holes. The hammer effect is required for drilling into masonry and using the countersink drill. The 15mm chuck diameter will handle just about every hole size you are likely to need and the high wattage motor will be less likely to burn out.

For all of these devices the use is similar. Make sure the bit is tightened in the chuck and running true: i.e. the end doesn’t wobble about when the drill is operated. If you want to make a blind hole, one that doesn’t go all the way through, reduce the amount of bit protruding from the chuck so it can’t go all the way through or dab some Tippex or similar onto the shaft of the bit to indicate when you should stop drilling. Place the end of the drill-bit adjacent and at a shallow angle to the spot to be drilled and make absolutely certain the point of the bit, usually a small straight edge rather than a genuine point, is going to be in the right place when you bring the drill into the upright position. Before you start the bit turning give the drill a little push into the work piece to make an indentation and check you are holding the drill at right angles to the work piece from two different directions. If you have the facility, start the drill going slowly before going to full speed. When the hole is complete you have to withdraw the bit. This may be easier by running the drill slowly or in reverse if you have that facility. Don’t twist the body of the drill this way and that to try and extract the bit or it may break off in the hole, causing even more problems.

Screwing

There are three significant parts to a screw: the thread, which actually screws into the fabric of the back piece; the shank which is finished plain with no thread and passes through the front piece; and, lastly, the head. As the screw is tightened the head is drawn into contact with the front piece and clamps it to the back piece. The threaded part needs a narrow ‘pilot’ hole about the same width as the core around which the thread of the screw is formed. The shank needs a slightly larger ‘clearance’ hole since making it a tight fit may cause the thread to lock up if the front and back pieces have a small gap between them when you start and a tight fit will make it harder to tighten the screw. The head comes in several forms: countersunk which will fit flush in the front piece, mushroom and round heads which sit proud of the front piece. They can also be slot or cross-headed requiring different screw drivers. In some modern screws a very sharp point is formed which draws the screw into the piece and requires no pilot hole. These get a very firm grip. However, they still need a clearance hole in the front piece for the screw to fulf...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1. Resources
• 2. Basic DIY
• 3. Making a Table
• 4. The Playing Surface
• 5. Figures
• 6. Terrain
• 7. Man-Made Features
• 8. Ships and Planes
• 9. Storage and Transportation
• 10. The Game
• Back Cover