Sign of the Times

One of the necessary evils of wargaming is the use of markers to denote the status of the units and figures on the tabletop. Such markers can range from bits of stone or card to spare dice or commercially produced tokens and can be quite intrusive.

I thought I’d do something different – something that blended in(ish) with the tabletop scenery whilst retaining the character of VBCW, and came up with the idea of using road signs.

These markers (made for use with the ‘Went the Day Well?’ rules) were inspired by the road signs of the period. They are quite simple to make – the signs were printed on a sheet of adhesive A4 and stuck to some thin plastic. They were then cut out and glued to plastic cotton ear-bud sticks (with added black stripe for authenticity). I have currently based them on hexagonal drawing pins, painted black, but the resultant marker is a little top-heavy, so I may have to rethink the bases.

Still, not bad I think! Here are some examples of how they can be used:-

After a spot of off-roading, this chap has got bogged down. He is also in the vicinity of a routing friendly unit, and must take a nerve test in the morale phase.



This HMG crew have taken casualties and are down to 2 men. Unfortunately their weapon has also jammed – bad timing…

This untrained LDV unit have come under mortar fire and have failed a nerve test, thus becoming jumpy.

These old timers are drawing sustained fire from their opponents and have failed a second nerve test, making them suppressed.

After taking casualties, the cowardly Whateleys have had enough and are making a run for it!