Vimy Project Update

Vimy Project Update

5 Feb 2007

This is an update on the status of The Vimy Project. Things are chugging along. Thought I'd put up this post to let you all know where things are at.

Figures

Germans are starting to roll off the production line. I made moulds for the first four Thursday and Friday of last week and cast the first lot later Friday evening. Here is what they look like (click on the pictures below for a bigger version):


The new Germans, front.


The new Germans, back.

There’s another four Germans needing one or two little details then they too will be moving on to having moulds made. I have two more regular Canadian infantrymen in the works a man chucking a bomb (very nearly done) and a lewis-gunner (chugging along...). I’ve also started a bunch of Canadian Highlanders as well as Canadian and German Staff officers. I had hoped to be able to make some HMGs and trench mortars and crews for both sides… we’ll see if I have time or if I really even need them – depending on how some of he play-testing of the scenario goes.

Here’s the state of my worktable:



Terrain

I have finished up the wire I need (see other posts on this blog; 36 miles of barbed wire Part 1 and Part 2). Big thanks to Curtis and Darrin for all their hard work – Darrin especially, who tells me he still has glue on his fingernails…!

Last week I did a lot of sketching and scratching out and destroying brain cells trying to figure out how to make the terrain boards. I was having a hard time deciding how tall the contour intervals should be and how big the steps should be. It’s all, more or less, sorted out now.

I have cut the four boards I need and drawn on them where the various trenches will be as well as the basic contour intervals. Hopefully construction will begin on these in the next week or so.

Scenario

Having painted the better part of one of the brigades involved and having roughly one battalion of older German figures I decided to start play testing last Friday evening. Gary and Mr. Miller came by to help out. I just wanted to see how the first couple of turns would play out, so we set up the figures on the rather bare terrain boards with just pencil lines to show where most of the trenched were. I was mostly interested in seeing how the creeping barrage would work and how well it would destroy the wire… It raised a lot of useful questions. Big thanks to Gary and Tim M. for helping me out with that.

Here are some pictures from our play-test: