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The Board Turn'd Upside Down

@theboardturned.bsky.social

160 followers 260 following 160 posts

An American's adventures in historical miniature wargaming: English Civil War, Victorian wars, early 20th century and beyond. Card-carrying True Leveller 🚩 Main acct: @redpgh.com

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The Board Turn'd Upside Down @theboardturned.bsky.social · 11d

I just painted all these exact same minis for Burma! Mine look uhhh somewhat less good

The Board Turn'd Upside Down @theboardturned.bsky.social · 12d

Anyone who has used Chain of Command rules for Very British Civil War settings (I assume you're out there!): Are there army lists published somewhere, officially or otherwise? I've seen folks play CoC in all sorts of cool settings, but haven't found references for most. #wargaming #spreadthelard

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The Board Turn'd Upside Down @theboardturned.bsky.social · 14d

It took a long time because we introduced a lot of new (to us) rules: tanks, mortar barrages, fortifications etc. But still a good narrative and it'll only be quicker in the future!

The Board Turn'd Upside Down @theboardturned.bsky.social · 14d

Second game of Chain of Command with @buckyizzy.bsky.social! 🇲🇲 1945: The bloody British assault on the Kyat Phud Kan monastery peters out amid stubborn Japanese defense, but a mortar barrage and a Sherman of Probyn's Horse threaten to break the deadlock! Battle inconclusive due to lunch.

Three 15mm British soldiers very close to a concealed bunker with a firing slit

Japanese infantry advance across a plain to a jungle area

A Sherman tank crossing a stream and approaching a Japanese position alongside a golden pagoda

Clumps of Japanese troops covered in cotton smoke clumps and some alarming red "pinned" markers

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The Board Turn'd Upside Down @theboardturned.bsky.social · 25d

Further Burma progress for Chain of Command: A couple platoons' worth of British and Gurkhas, and the medieval Buddhist holy site of Kyat Phūd Kan (cat food can) #wargaming

Note: US pennies seemed like a good idea for bases at the time. They were decidedly not!

A selection of 15mm miniatures depicting British and Gurkha soldiers from World War II, all in jungle green uniforms

A golden Southeast Asian-style stupa glued cheaply atop a metal cat food tin

The Board Turn'd Upside Down @theboardturned.bsky.social · Sep 17

(I believe I saw @desmondo.bsky.social's Burma setup with multiple figures to a base, but I'm sure others do the same!)

The Board Turn'd Upside Down @theboardturned.bsky.social · Sep 17

Seeking more wisdom from the #spreadthelard community as I start CoC2. What modifications do players make to use multi-based minis in, say 15mm? Do any rules (line of sight, teams, etc.) have to be changed? If so, has anyone written a guide?

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The Board Turn'd Upside Down @theboardturned.bsky.social · Sep 16

Poor man's Burma continues to expand: A table's worth of jungle and bamboo, plus some foamcore-and-varnish rice paddies. Elmer's glue and green sand doing a great deal of work here! #wargaming

Rice paddies made of foam core rectangles painted green and brown and slathered in varnish

A bin full of jungle terrain made of florist foam, cheap plastic palm trees and hardened green sand

More jungle terrain, this set with lots of bamboo trees

The Board Turn'd Upside Down @theboardturned.bsky.social · Sep 4

Foam-and-paper Nagaland continues to grow! #wargaming

6 x 4-foot gaming table with gray-green cloth and a ton of green foam terrain bits with palm trees and bamboo sticking out, with a little village and river among them

The Board Turn'd Upside Down @theboardturned.bsky.social · Sep 2

I wonder whether there was a transition point at which wargaming moved from floor to tabletop. Was it once they no longer involved flinging objects (like in Wells' "Little Wars")?

iain @iain2411.bsky.social · Jan 16

Yes, Henry Cavill is a great ambassador for the hobby, however, Peter Cushing would be my personal choice for 'Warmaster of Wargaming.'

If I'm not wrong, I believe he has a copy of HG Wells' 'Little Wars' in the last photograph too. 👍

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The Board Turn'd Upside Down @theboardturned.bsky.social · Aug 31

Florist foam + cheap plastic trees + old Axis & Allies minis = extremely cheap Burma setting (in progress) for learning Chain of Command!

M3 Lee tank and some British infantry on a jungle copse made of green florist foam

Lots of blocks of florist foam with little palm trees

The Board Turn'd Upside Down @theboardturned.bsky.social · Aug 26

Loving all this inspiration as someone working on a (much less attractive!) Burma setting to try out CoC for the first time

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The Board Turn'd Upside Down @theboardturned.bsky.social · Aug 19

Can any #spreadthelard folk advise on US-friendly sources for Chain of Command markers and tokens (even printable PDFs one can cut out)? I refuse to let my fascist government kill my interest in a new system before I've even tried it!

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The Board Turn'd Upside Down @theboardturned.bsky.social · Aug 11

Beach vacation reading list a pretty good cross-section of my obsessions

The Many-Headed Hydra by Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker, Hammer and Hoe by Robin DG Kelley and Burma, the Forgotten War by Jon Latimer

Reposted by The Board Turn'd Upside Down

derinselaffe.bsky.social @derinselaffe.bsky.social · Aug 6

Ambush on the North West Frontier! An Imperial column is about to be attacked by Waziris. Bring up the Lewis. #wargaming #upthekhyber #nerdlings

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The Board Turn'd Upside Down @theboardturned.bsky.social · Jul 29

Very British Civil War inspo

RG Poulussen @rgpoulussen.bsky.social · Jul 29

#OTD in 1940, Littlestone-on-Sea. Pretty special. A 4-inch and a 12-pounder gun, made mobile. #WW2 #HISTORY

The Board Turn'd Upside Down @theboardturned.bsky.social · Jul 28

I only know of it because my dad lived in Arundel for a brief time; in the process of designing a Siege of Arundel Castle campaign to play with him, I had to learn about all the tiny engagements surrounding the siege.

The Board Turn'd Upside Down @theboardturned.bsky.social · Jul 27

Whoops, River Adur! Pardon my local English geographical knowledge from several thousand miles away

The Board Turn'd Upside Down @theboardturned.bsky.social · Jul 27

Taught a friend Pikeman's Lament today. His Royalists walloped my Parliamentarians at a loosely recreated Battle of Bramber Bridge (1643). The River Arun is lost! #wargaming

Two 28mm armies face off across a stream and a bridge. A ruined tower stands in the distance.

Red-coated pikeman guard a river crossing

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The Board Turn'd Upside Down @theboardturned.bsky.social · Jul 27

Thanks!

The Board Turn'd Upside Down @theboardturned.bsky.social · Jul 26

Asking the #spreadthelard folks: We're thinking of trying Chain of Command to use some already-owned 15mm minis.

If I want to play e.g. Burma scenarios, can I use the new rules edition? Or is Far East only doable under the older rules until more army lists are released? Never tried either!

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The Board Turn'd Upside Down @theboardturned.bsky.social · Jul 26

First run of Fistful of Lead: Horse and Musket was a success! A skirmish on the streets of Paris ended with Ethos of the King's Harquebusiers rescuing two spies from a band of mercenaries.

The mercenary leader was left badly wounded after finding himself on the wrong end of a pike. #wargaming

A sword-armed 28mm musketeer with a lusty woman in tow

A man with two pistols faces off against a musketeer

A man with a musket watches over a street from a balcony

A miniature street fight with wounded markers galore

Reposted by The Board Turn'd Upside Down

Debbie Cameron @debsadelight.bsky.social · Jul 24

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The Board Turn'd Upside Down @theboardturned.bsky.social · Jul 14

My aspirations are small -- I mean a single barricade or alley, maybe a half-dozen Communards against the same number of soldiers!

The Board Turn'd Upside Down @theboardturned.bsky.social · Jul 14

(Should stress that I am not the artist in the image above -- purely aspirational!)