Gorram's 2026 Log

Surprise! I got distracted again!

I was interested in Blood on the Sands when it was on KS but knowing that it would be hard to get to the table, it was too rich for my blood. I haven’t really thought about it much since then.

This morning my new copy of Wargames Illustrated came through the door. With a sprue for making two gladiators and a quick start version of the rules. Normally these freebies get put into a box and largely forgotten about. I’m poorly today though and so have nothing better to do with my weekend than build a quick table between coughing fits.

First step was to build the models. The sprue is designed with a beginner’s game in mind – you get bits to make a Murmillo and a Thraex plus two civilian characters. The “quick start” book is 30 pages long so I haven’t read it but I went with what matched the pictures. They were put onto 25mm round bases and primed.

At this point I was watching the playthroughs on OTT and saw they have tokens for braziers. I could make some of those I thought.

Four old 25mm round bases with the sloped sides were turned upside down to make the burning vessel. I used bits of the sprue for three legs for each one and glued them onto 25mm flat round bases. For the fuel, I used a healthy layer of thick super glue and added in some pebbles I’ve had in the stash for the best part of 15 years now. Then some bird sand to fill the gaps. A quick prime with black.

Next up I needed an arena. I don’t have a printer at home to print off the one on the website but I do have is foamcore and a Battletech base. Drawn on with pen, each line was then cut with a hobby knife and then the pen run back over all the lines to give them good definition even after texturing.

At this point I copied three quarters of the arena footprint onto some thick card to work on the stands. Why only three quarters? I don’t really know it was an active decision; that was what was in the booklet and my brain isn’t doing a whole lot of thinking today.

The arena then got a coat watered down white glue and bird sand and off it went to dry. For the walls of the arena I cut some foamcore to a height of 6cm and gently folded it over the edge of my desk so I could work a curve into it. Using white glue and pins through the top sheet of foamcore and the bottom sheet of cardboard, I got the main shape of the arena made up.

Now was the time for good old trusty coffee stirrers, balsa wood, textured eva foam and more cardboard and foamcore. There isn’t really a lot to explain here other than I cut things to size and worked until I was happy with it. The door was just to add a bit of interest to the far wall and isn’t functional.

There is going to be a little more work tomorrow before painting begins to make the middle bit raised and covered suitably for a higher class patron of the arena. The surface itself is a bit warped so I’ve put a layer of watered down pva on the backside of it to see if I can warp it back. Guess we’ll find out tomorrow if it works…