Community: TabletopBattle ‘A Worthy Cause’

Table Top Battles patron Tim introduces us to their War Veterans Project:

In late 2014 I found Bolt Action. After playing another miniature war game for some 20 years and in tournaments for 10 years I was ready for a sea change! I haven’t looked back since. I play casually for the most part these days and organise small tournaments down under. I was never one to go after the top awards – instead I put more effort into winning Players Choice or Best Painted, what could be defined as the best looking army at the tournament.

The local tournament scene pushed me to learn new and exciting techniques and skills to paint armies to a higher standard! Ideally I like to have well presented armies that are still practical at heart in contrast to the perfect miniatures of painting competitions. These days I not only paint for myself but for others too, in addition to my day job and my duties as a husband and father. It’s a lot to juggle but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love the hobby.

About this time last year I stumbled across Tabletopbattle, a few guys in Norway learning the ropes of Bolt Action and sharing their battles on YouTube. Playing historical recreation games of Bolt Action in a casual and humorous way this was something I could identify with. After watching their videos in the long hours of the morning in a maternity ward with a newborn baby to keep me sane, the least I could do was to become a Patron.

Since becoming a patron I’ve been able to chat to other like-minded gamers around the world that a normal forum or Facebook group can’t put you in touch with. I’m proud to call some of them my friends and I aim to meet up with them in the not too distant future when I can afford an airfare to Europe!

In 2015 Damon and Svein launched the War Veterans Project through Tabletopbattle. Simple in concept, a really cool painted miniature tank was put up for Auction. Members in the Group were able to bid on the miniatures. The tanks of various nations in WW2 were painted by Silje, Damon’s wife and a commission painter. The person that won the auction would then donate the winning amount to a veteran’s charity of their choice!

As a boy growing up in the sunny suburbs of Brisbane, Australia, amongst the venomous snakes, lethal spiders and hungry sharks, my neighbour was a generous man, however he was also a veteran of Vietnam Conflict. He had many scars both physical and mental. Reintegrating into civilian life must have been one of the single hardest fights of his life. As a Patron I have also had the fortune to have many chats on facebook with new friends that are also returned servicemen. People like Andy Bryant, a British tank trooper who fought in Kosovo and Paul Hathorn, a veteran of the Falkland War. It was with these inspirational people in mind, that when Damon asked me to paint up two starter armies, the German Grenadiers and United States Army D-Day Force, I jumped at the chance to help out!

I won’t go into the gory step by step details of how I painted the miniatures, suffice to say I used the Vallejo paints recommended by the Warlord Games website and made good use of my trusty Army Painter Strong Tone! (I purchased 3 dropper bottles of strong tone from my local store, the store person asked sardonically if I had enough, I’ve used close to two of the bottles!). I painted the German Grenadiers in traditional late war battle dress with camouflage! The Yanks however were divided into the 29th Infantry division, the regular infantry, and the Rangers, the veteran’s of the army. While I’ve painted the infantry of these two armies, Silje and Damon are building and painting the armoured support! The United States Army will feature an M4 Sherman and the new M8 Greyhound. The German Grenadiers on the other hand will utilise the might Panzer IV and the Puma heavy armoured car.

I’d like to end by thanking Damon, Svein, Anders and Joachim for giving me the opportunity to build and paint these fantastic miniatures. A massive thank you must go to the wonderful team at Warlord Games who provided Tabletopbattle and the War Veterans Project with the miniatures to auction off. It was surreal seeing all these cool miniatures show up on my account at no charge. I can’t wait to see these armies featured in the upcoming videos of Tabletopbattle and also raise money for a very worthy cause!

About Tim – Tim, a patron of Tabletopbattle, lives in Australia and is a long time miniature war gamer, playing a variety of games. He spends a great amount of his free time painting either his own miniatures or someone else’s much to the chagrin of his long suffering wife. He is presently saving for a trip to Norway to visit the TabletopBattle team in person!