Fountain Pens

Wow! I’m really enjoying fountain pens lately. They really do make a big difference. There are many benefits and advantages to using them. This is a good video on some of the basics:

This guy really likes the Montblanc Meisterstuck 149:

That is a bit too pricey for me. I’ve been getting very good results with customized Watermans.

Do check out the Goulet Pen Company! They have many great videos to learn more. They have many lower and medium priced pens to try it out.

They also have lots of cool custom inks and notebooks / paper. I really love these ones:

Very handy for jotting down notes, thoughts, To Do lists, game design ideas, etc. They come with page numbers and a Table of Contents so you can easily find stuff later!! I can’t recommend them enough.

No, this is not an advertisement. We are not getting paid in anyway to talk about these guys. I just really like this stuff and thought you guys might enjoy it too.

Pub Battles Miniature Scales

The Pub Battles rules make an excellent system for miniature games.  They are:

  • Fast  (complete an entire battle in 1-2 hours)
  • Accurate, and
  • Easily accommodate multiple players

These scales will help you to setup and play miniature battles with Pub Battles rules.


Time scale

1 turn = 1.5 hours.

Map scale

1 mile = 3.75 inches.

Movement Rates

1 Mounted move = 7.5 inches. 1/3 Mounted move = 2.5 inches.

1 Foot move = 5.25 inches. 1/3 Foot move = 1.75 inches.

Unit Scales

Blocks are:  1 7/8 x 3/8 inch.

HQs:  3/8 x 3/8 inch.

For large armies, units typically represent Divisions.  2,500-5,000 men.

For smaller engagements, they can represent Brigades.  750-2,000 men.

We assume that units of this size have a smattering of guns attached to them.  Artillery pieces represent a larger concentration of a Corps reserve artillery.

Most often, organize Commands into  Corps.  Depending on the size of forces involved, you may want to group these together into Wings.  Typically 3-6 Commands per side works best. 

Miniature Scale

2mm miniatures work really well.  You don’t even need basing.  Just line up 3 stands for each Unit.

You can even use Kriegsspiel blocks for the units. 

Scale Conversion

Pub Battles is made to fit an entire battle on a small table.  For miniatures, you may want to scale it down to a bigger size. 

For example, you may want to double a 2 x 2 foot Pub Battles map into a 4 x 4 foot big table.  Scales would now be double as follows:

Double Scale:


1 mile = 7.5 inches.

Movement Rates

1 Mounted move = 15 inches. 1/3 Mounted move = 5 inches.

1 Foot move = 10.5 inches. 1/3 Foot move = 3.5 inches.

Blocks are:  1 3/4 x 3/4 inch.

HQs:  3/4 x 3/4 inch.

Feather Pens

What do Quill pens have to do with wargaming? I’m not completely sure but I really like this video. There is a good chance you guys will like it too.

It was very cool to find out what red ink is for. I never knew that!! I’m going to start writing out ‘chore lists’ for all our teenagers in red now. lol….

Check out this site. He’s got a lot of really cool stuff here:

Writing Accessories