It was back in January 2024 that I landed upon Hammer’s Slammers: The Crucible (Pireme Publishing, 2010) as my “favorite” set of wargame rules for the Hammer’s Slammers setting. The Crucible is both, “Technical Handbook and Tabletop Gaming rules” (Crucible, p.1). As a set of miniatures rules, the “default” scale was 28mm though a conversion table was provided for both 15mm and 6mm scale. That said, the game focused on 28mm scale first. A few years back, designers/authors John Treadaway and John Lambshead published Hammer’s Slammers: The Digital Crucible (2023). As the tagline reads, “Just the rules with a few extras: optimised for 15mm” (Digital Crucible, cover). Let’s explore!
First digit(al) – rules
The question of what “digital” means is addressed on page two of The Digital Crucible:
It has been over ten years since the original The Crucible set of rules was published and around twenty years since the first volume and several things have happened in those intervening decades. Firstly, the world has changed in the way that people consume wargame rules: more people want a digital version of the rule set to read on a portable device.
The Digital Crucible, p. 2
[While I personally prefer deadtree editions og wargames I understand the sentiment of many “modern” grognards. A look at my DriveThruRPG or WargameVault library will tell you I am well into the digital rules age.]
Treadaway continues:
Secondly, more people play in different scales (including me!). I started playing these games in 28mm in the last millennium and since then I have drifted smaller and smaller. I now play all games in either 15mm (1/100th) or 6mm (using the 15mm play sheets) and – in consequence – the game system (and the play sheets) is no longer updated in any scale other than 15mm.
The Digital Crucible, p. 2
Treadaway lists what is in The Digital Crucible:
There’s the basic rules; the First Appendix (with the Alien Autochtons); the Second Appendix with Elite Skills and Personnel; the Third Appendix with Tank Names for the Slammers; plus the Timeline…Finally, many of the measurements include have been adjusted to favour 15mm models rather than the 28mm ones in the original hard-copy rule set.
The Digital Crucible, p. 2
The Crucible hardback book is 202 pages; The Digital Crucible is a mere 54 pages. Treadaway explains what was cut out:
There’s no introduction from David Drake [RIP]; no background about the Slammers or all of the other forces listed in the original. In fact, most of the first 100 pages are missing. There’s also no painting guide (it was aimed squarely at 28mm vehicles after all); and many of the illustrations of 28mm vehicles have been replaced by 15mm ones, mostly from the manufacturer that we have been hand in glove with moving this project forward: Brigade Models.
With this rule set – plus the five supplements and play sheets from the website – you are ready to play Hammer’s Slammers.
The Digital Crucible, p. 2
Second digit(al) – minis
I am still messing about with the 3D printer the RockyMountainNavy Boys got me for Christmas. As I looked at the rules for The Digital Crucible I wondered if there were STL files for Hammer’s Slammers blower tanks.
Of course there are!
So I tried printing a 15mm Hammer’s Slammers blower tank.
Now remember, I am still in many ways a novice 3D print adapter. I am still at that stage where I am not doing much more than taking an existing file and printing it on my machine. Engineer RMN Jr. keeps telling me about CAD program this or CAD program that but, well, I ain’t ready for all that yet!
The first issue I ran into printing this one was the need to add supports to the turret. Done.
Print time was ~25 minutes. Waiting.
The result? Well, I needed to carefully break away the supports for the turret and the turret ring is a very snug fit; could use some filing. Good thing RMN T has an extensive model building tools collection.
It needs to be cleaned up and painted (use acrylics, says RMN Jr.) but will this work? I think so…
[Update Late 3 July: I found a supposed 6mm model and tried that one too. Though I am a bit suspect on the scaling, the smaller turret was printable but took much more effort to remove the support. Still, printed in half the time and at half the cost in materials. Now I am wondering about printing 15mm or 6mm infantry. Another weekend project awaits…]
Feature image courtesy RMN
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