What is A Very British Civil War (VBCW)?

Not to be confused with the English Civil War, this is setting for a wargaming, utilising an alternative history in which Britain descends into civil war during the interwar period (ie 1938).


The idea was the brainchild of Dr Rob Jones, Steve Mortimer an Simon Douglas, of Solway Crafts and Publication. The premise is that King Edward refused to abdicate in 1936, triggering a constitutional crisis in which Sir Oswald Moseley, Leader of the British Union of Fascists, managed to seize power. The country is torn apart in the aftermath, leading to a bitter and protracted civil war.

What makes VBCW unique is that it is not a game, as such, but rather an idea. The background is laid out in a series of books produced by Solway, but they don't provide rule. That is left up to the individual gaming groups to choose which system they wish to use. Furthermore, as the fans of VBCW have an active web presence of the Lead Adventure Forum and the Gentleman's Wargame Parlor, the background of the world Solway created has become an organically evolving thing. Players are encouraged to build forces that represent their own area, and to report the results of their battles, and in this way the face of the VBCW country is constantly changing.

What appealed to me most about the VBCW was that is is a work of fiction. By which I mean that it is an alternative history, only loosely based on real historic events. I have always wanted to do historic wargaming, and have often pondered doing a WW2 force, or perhaps Napoleonic. I dallied briefly with colonial wargaming a few years ago, but never really got into it. The problem for me is that I dislike the idea of having to stick to historically accurate uniforms, weaponry etc. I can't stand the idea that another wargamer might look down his nose at my beautifully painted army and snidely comment that 'those epaulets should be sky blue' or whatever. But that is where VBCW is different: as it is an alternative history, anything goes. I can paint my army any colour I choose, and no one can tell me it's wrong! Freedom to engage in historic wargaming with out giving a chance for some beardy rivet-counting know-it-all to show off!

The guys on the forums I mentioned earlier are fantastic. They are very friendly, are always open to new ideas, and love to debate their alternatives history. I spend far to long reading their forum (sometimes more than I spend painting!)

My first VBCW army (because I plan to do some more too) is a force of Communist from Liverpool. Coming from Merseyside myself, it seemed natural to do some scousers. I am using mostly Musketeer Miniatures, with a few Artizan Designs thrown in to the mix, and a pack or two from Empress Miniatures Spanish Civil War range and Eurekas Russian Civil War range. I have used Lledo die cast cars, repainted in suitable colours, for their precious motor vehicles.
I also plan to make some suitable scenary, starting with a rural village, and then progressing onto a built up urban board, with rows of Victorian terrace housing and some docks to represent Liverpool itself.

Queen Victoria visits Deadhorse

My son Charlie has been doing about the Victorians for a school project. What better way for him to be educated, informed and entertained at the same time than to paint a 28mm scale miniature of Her Majesty. OK, it's probably not that educational, but it was fun, and I think he has made a really good job of it. He already paints better than me,and he's only ten!

This miniature is one of the Eureka range. They are an Australian company, but they are available in the UK from Fighting 15.

Too long has passed since I have blogged, but I have been busy with work, writing, going to the Download festival, and painting an army for a Very British Civil War (more on that later). I thought it was about time I got on with posting some of what I have been up to.

This week Leon and I managed to link up for a few more games of the excellent Pulp City. For the uninitiated Pulp City is a 28mm skirmish game using superheroes and villains- very much my cup of tea. Leon, aka Pulp Citizen, is a Pulp City fanatic, who has some wonderful scenery, and has nearly the entire collection of Pulp City figures already painted in his cabinet. Needless to say, we used his figures and gaming board.

The first game was a relatively small affair. I took the villain team, comprising of Supreme Zed (a zombie supervillian), Sangine (a Vampire) and his evil chiwawa Draku, Mourne (a supernatural ghost-creature) and Francis Gaitor (a swamp dwelling half-man/half croc). I also took some minions, in this case a 'horde' of three zombies, and Stongarm, some sort of undead construct from the netherplane. Minions can be purchased like equipment, and are weak compared to the heroes, but can be useful if used tactically, or with good fortune on your side.

We were facing the hero Solar (sun powered superman type), Kitty Cheshire (and invisible teleporter), Ace of Wraiths (supernatural gunslinger) and Vector (a living computer program). They also brought a couple of vigilante sidekicks (minions).

The plot of the game was that a mysterious and evil artifact has been unearthed by grave-diggers in one of Pulp City's churchyards. Sangine has assembled a force of evil entities to try to capture it, while the heroic Solar and his team try to prevent them. In our game whoever has the artifact at the end of six turns is the winner. Simples.

In the first turn my two flyers, Supreme Zed and Mourne rushed forwards towards the artifact. Solar levitated over the church to try to prevent them removing it. Vector, only barley in this dimension at all, moves through the seemingly solid church as if it wasn't there. blasts are exchanged and Mourne is badly wounded. Gaitor tosses a postbox at Vector, damaging him quite badly.

In round two Mourne grabbed the artifact and made a dash for safety behind the wall of zombies, but Solar caught up with him and hammered him into the ground, incapacitating him with his blazing fists.

Francis Giator and Strongarm rush the already damaged Vector, and tear him apart. His body dissolves in a shower of pixels. Buoyed up by their success they races towards Ace of Wraiths, and injure him too. Then Gaitor finds out why it's a bad idea to make Ace of Wraiths angry, as he unleashes the 'Queen of Blood', and in a blaze of supernatural gun fire shoots Gaitor, and injures Strongarm. Then, being as slippery as an eel, manages to escape from combat and put some distance between himself and Strongarm. Meanwhile Supreme Zed sweeps down and captures the artifact before Solar can pick it up.

In round three Solar unleashes the power of the sun against Supreme Zed and Sangiune, but the villains prove quite durable. Zed blasts Solar with his Death ray, before moving off with the artifact, taking cover in the graveyard. Ace of Wraiths blast away at the Zombie horde. Three shots- three kills! That thinned out my side considerably. Strongarm continues to chase the slippery Ace, but can't pin him down.

Ace then blazed away as Supreme Zed, injuring him, but a long way of killing him. Zed regenerates the damage at the end of the turn. Sangine and his bloodthirsty pet chiwawa Draku tear into the injured Solar, and bring the hero down.

In turn four Sangine actives his blood lust, then he and Draku clash with the vigilantes, tearing them apart in short order, feasting wantonly on their blood. Ace of Wraiths tries to gun Sangine down, but Sanuine's reflexes are too finely tuned for the gunslinger, and he easily dodges the bullets. Draku launches himself at Ace but fails to damage him.

In turn five Draku savages Ace's leg. Ace released the supernatural power in his revolvers, injuring Strongarm and Sangine. Sangine retaliates by sinking his fangs into Ace, incapacitating the hero.

In turn six, all fired up, and with a taste for blood, Sangine charges Kitty Cheshire before she can turn invisible, and takes her down with a savage blow. With the hero's defeated, and Supreme Zed in possession of the Artifact the games is well an truly over.

Supreme Zed, Sangine, Draku and Strong arm make off with the evil artifact, dragging the unconscious body of Francis Gaitor with them. The day belongs to the villains.

Two new folks from the frontier town of Deadhorse (LotOW campaign). The one of the left is Albert Wiessen, a journalist of sorts, who followers notorious characters around, publishing tales of their infamous exploits in the penny papers so popular back East, while the other is Danny 'Card shark' Malone, gambler, drunkard and hell-raiser newly recruited into the posse of Sheriff Fray of the Deadhorse Lawmen.

Big Howdie to Doctor Warlock, fellow fan of Pulp City and stuff. I hope you find what you like here. Don't worry, there will be more super-stuff soon. This is just a blip.

I have been working on some more scenery for the Legends of the Old West town, Deadhorse. Added to the town are two new shops, the Eastern and Smyth Gun Makers, where cowboys and gunslingers alike are sure to want to come to purchase their custom made firearms, and for the fairer sex Miss Rosie has just opened up her Haberdashery and Dress making emporium, selling a wide selection of fashionable dresses, hats and even shoes.

I have also been painting up a few of the bits of resin scenery I purchased, in this case some piles of crates. Wooden crates like this are excellent, because they will work well in a wide range of settings, from Conan to Modern. These crates could be found in the docks of Hyboria, on the Deadhorse railroad station platform, on the quayside of war torn Liverpool, or in the warehouse patrolled by a certain caped crusader. A very versatile piece of scenery.

News time.
Me old mucka Pulp Citizen is having a competition, with a chance to get your hands on a rare Pulp City 28mm figure. The idea of the competition is to write a brief description of a location of character from the Pulp City world. Sounds fun; I will be entering for sure. Follow this link to Pulp Citizen, one of the best super-blogs going (after this one, of course!) for more details.

More News. A while ago I blogged about a podcast I have been enjoying, featuring SciFi audio stories called Starship Sofa. While I am still loving my regular fix of SciFi goodness form the sofa, I have also recently discovered a new (well new to me at least) podcast called Secret World Chronicles, by Mercedes Lackey and Steve Libbey. Unlike Starship sofa, which features the works of different writers each episode, Secret World Chronicles is an ongoing story, with each episode building up the world and advancing the plot. The world Mercedes and Steve have created is one in which super humans have existed since Wold War Two, but which has, in the twenty first century, been invaded by aliens. Nazi aliens at that.
The writing is gripping, fast paced and fun, and the narration is excellent. I can't stop listening to it- in the car, cooking, even in bed. I can't recommend it enough to fans of the superhero genre.
Both Starship Sofa and Secret World Chronicles can be down loaded free of charge from Itunes. What are you waiting for?

I am aware I haven't posted as many pictures of my minis as normal in the last few weeks. This is, in part, because of painting fatigue following the Lead Painters League competition for the Lead Adventure Forum, where I was required to paint a grueling 5 figures a week for ten weeks. Incidentally I did rather well in the competition, coming in the top 50% (22 out of 46). Also, as the painting project I am working on currently is not directly connected with my Four Colour Super project, I thought I would not post them as work progressed, but might still feature them in a later post, for the benefit of anyone who's interested.

The net result is that I thought I might as well quickly paint up something to post here, and so here it is...

The Supreme Theonarg of the Warstar.

He is the high commander of the Grey battle fleet, as well a it's

spiritual head.

Commander Nargette.

Second in command of the Warstar,

a ruthless warrior in her own right.

Chief Secnarg Gunerg,

Wielder of the Twin Ear-cannons

and head of security.

Lord Probenarg, Guardian of the Emerald Probe,

respected science officer

Master Psynarg of the Thrid Rite

Elite Sensi of the School of Psyonics

These figures are made by Black Cat Bases. I painted them in slightly silly four colour uniforms, and gave them silly names because I thought it suited their character. I also based the on the same Fenris Games resin bases I used for my Scifi game, giving them some cross over use. The might not be the best sculpted or best cast minis, but I really like them, and think they're a lot of fun. Hope you like them. There might be more on their way soon (an invasion?)

Here's a pic of my latest silly purchase. It is a computer from a Primeval action figure. I bought it from Tescos in a sale for £1.95. It came with an action figure which, as it's unlikely to ever be collectible, I chucked in the bin, and a set of five walkie talkies, which I kept for in my Bitz Box. It was the computer screens I was really after. Three for under £2, and with nice computer displays of global satellite images- too good an offer to miss. Imagine them gracing a mad scientists lab or the control hub of a super hero head-quarters. For now they will end up in my growing pile of 'will do that one day', but may be some day soon they will be dug out, receive a quick paint job, a new base, and be ready to grace my gaming table.

Fire Dragon is a member of Team Metro, London's premier super team. Many in his native Wales felt aggrieved when their most potent superhero swapped the valleys of his homeland for the bright lights of London, and the celebrity lifestyle associated with being a member of Team Metro. The Cardiff lad seems to have settle in well to his new environment, and is a great hit with the ladies. He has been romantically linked to a number of famous women, if resent tabloid stories are to be believed.



This mini is another Reaper one for the defunct Silver Age Sentinels role playing game -This chap is Officer Prometheus. All I had to do was sand of the police shield badge on his chest. Painting the flames was more good luck that skill. I wasn't very happy with them when I did them, but I think it photographs rather well.

Last week I finally got round to tidying up my garage.

After we moved house lots of stuff got dumped in there, as people often do- boxes of yet to be unpacked ornaments, pictures, books etc. Some we will, I am sure, get round to using again, others will be forever stashed in the loft for sentimental reasons, while yet more will be destined for the old car boot sale. On top of all that stuff was dumped yet more junk- unwanted furniture waiting for recycling, badly stowed garden tools inherited from my father-in-laws house, the Halloween decorations that never quite made it into the loft and so on. You can see that it was quite a daunting task to tackle, and one that I have been procrastinate about of late.- "I am too busy with work/allotment/writing/blogging/on forums/painting for the lead painters leagues" (delete where applicable).

Last week I finally ran out of excuses, and plowed on into the garage. After a fair few hours work, I have converted the household dump into a fully functioning gaming room, complete with designer red velvet sofa and permanent gaming table!

It might not be the poshest gaming room in the world (I have seen pictures of the Perry Twins gaming room- sweet gaming paradise!) but it's a good start. Next payday I am off to Argos to buy a kettle, tea bag storage jars and some mugs etc. What else could we possibly need?

By the way, yes, my gaming table is made of two Homebase wallpaper tables clamped together. I covered the surface in sand and stippled on various shades of brown with a brush. Clamped together, its not too wobbly. It's a very inexpensive way to make a board, and easy to transport too, should the situation warrant it. The whole thing cost about £30. It measures 3 foot 11, by 5 foot 11, so it's almost regulation size.