Just a quick post to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!
In 2016 I will be playing much Dragon Rampant (finishing my High Elf war band at the moment and about to get stuck back into my Wood Elves plus my Mythical Greek and Egyptian Undead war bands.) I will also be playing more The Men Who Would Be Kings, plus rebooting the stalled Dux Britaniarum campaign with Mike 'Trouble at t' Mill" Whitaker. Add to that more War & Conquest (watch for news of another all dayer for that at Peterborough Wargames Club) and putting on another demo/participation game at the second Hereward wargame show, plus writing more W&C army lists and doing an article for Wargames Illustrated magazine and I'll be a very busy wargamer in 2016!!!
I do hope that you'll join me on my journey through my various projects in 2016 as I hope to blog more of it next year than I have in 2015, all being well!
Whatever you are doing over the festive season, enjoy yourselves...
Wednesday, 23 December 2015
Sunday, 29 November 2015
British Fort for the NW Frontier
I picked up a superb little model fort from Colonel Bill's at the Hereward Wargame Show! I'd been looking for one for a while, kinda a bit like these...only smaller, obviously.
Luckily, Colonel Bill had one of the Unfeasibly French Foreign Legion desert forts left when I took a break from my demo game at the show and it was PERFECT for the job!!
Anyway, I've painted it up and aim to use it tomorrow in a TMWWBK participation game at the club.
Here's a few pics of the finished model, defended by The Guides Infantry...
Monday, 16 November 2015
The Men Who Would Be Kings at Peterborough's Hereward Wargame Show
Please forgive the lateness of this post - it's been a fortnight since the show!!
Here are some pictures from the demo/participation game that Andy MacTaggart and I put on at the first ever Hereward Wargame Show in Peterborough on 1st November.
The scenario involved a standard 24pt field force of British infantry having just burned a rebellious Jalfrezi Pathan tribal village (sorry...very carry On Up The Khyber, I know!!), withdrawing back to their camp while being assailed by a 24pt Pathan force, supported by about 20 pts of reinforcements that entered the table in random places. To help the British, a 20pt relief force left the camp as soon as firing broke out or the 'hills came alive' with tribesmen. We played the game twice on the day with one British and one Pathan victory.
We took great care over the table set up, using new gaming mats from Deep Cut Studios, as sold by Bigredbat Simon Miller in his online store. We were very pleased with both the layout and the scenario and most of the players who joined us on the day were full of praise for the rules and indeed seemed to thoroughly enjoy the games.
Anyway, on to the pictures...
Am just putting some paint on a lovely desert fort I bought at the show for my NW Frontier games. It's meant to be a French Foreign Legion fort, but it'll be great for my games! After that, it's more painting for Dragon Rampant...
Here are some pictures from the demo/participation game that Andy MacTaggart and I put on at the first ever Hereward Wargame Show in Peterborough on 1st November.
The scenario involved a standard 24pt field force of British infantry having just burned a rebellious Jalfrezi Pathan tribal village (sorry...very carry On Up The Khyber, I know!!), withdrawing back to their camp while being assailed by a 24pt Pathan force, supported by about 20 pts of reinforcements that entered the table in random places. To help the British, a 20pt relief force left the camp as soon as firing broke out or the 'hills came alive' with tribesmen. We played the game twice on the day with one British and one Pathan victory.
We took great care over the table set up, using new gaming mats from Deep Cut Studios, as sold by Bigredbat Simon Miller in his online store. We were very pleased with both the layout and the scenario and most of the players who joined us on the day were full of praise for the rules and indeed seemed to thoroughly enjoy the games.
Anyway, on to the pictures...
Am just putting some paint on a lovely desert fort I bought at the show for my NW Frontier games. It's meant to be a French Foreign Legion fort, but it'll be great for my games! After that, it's more painting for Dragon Rampant...
Monday, 26 October 2015
Hereward Wargame Show, Sunday 1st November at The Cresset in Peterborough, UK
Just a final reminder that Hereward Wargame show is at the Cresset in Peterborough, UK on Sunday 1st November and that Andy MacTaggart and I will be putting on a demo-participation game of The Men Who Would Be Kings. We'll run at least two games on the day and can take 4 players each time for derring-do on the Northwest Frontier. We still hope that author Dan Mersey may be able to join us and we hope that Osprey will send us a few pics of the official cover. What you'll definitely see is over a hundred and twenty Pathan and about 60 Anglo-Indian models (including a mountain gun and Bengal Lancers...oh yes!!) and some cool looking scenery (including the lovely Pathan watchtower that James from Oshiro Model Terrain made for me) in a challenging and fun scenario loosely based on an incident from the relief of Chitral.
We [i]really[/i] hope to see some of you there! If you are a follower of this blog, do make yourself known to us if you pop over to play or to watch... :D
We [i]really[/i] hope to see some of you there! If you are a follower of this blog, do make yourself known to us if you pop over to play or to watch... :D
Tuesday, 20 October 2015
The Men Who Would Be Kings at Hereward Wargame Show, 1.11.15
Peterborough Wargames Club are pleased to announce that we will be running a demo/participation game of the upcoming Osprey Publications Colonial Ruleset 'The Men Who Would be Kings', by Dan Mersey at the first ever Hereward Wargame Show at The Cresset in Peterborough on Sunday 1st November.
This game is fully endorsed by Osprey and as far as we know is the first public outing for the rules anywhere. We are also very much hoping that author Dan Mersey will join us for the day!
The game is set on the NW Frontier and pits and Anglo-Indian field force against a large Pathan force. It's a tricky scenario for both sides!
We will be able to accommodate up to 6 players on the day and people are welcome to pop in and out of the games as they want, so there's no commitment to playing the game all the way to conclusion if you don't want to.
We very much hope that some of the readers of this blog will be able to pop over and see us. Andy MacTaggart and I will be running the game and we can promise a good game! We ran our first play test tonight at my house and will be running another at the club on Monday. The first test game went really well, which is a good omen!
Here's a pic to whet the appetite... Apologies for poor lighting and for some unfinished models, but we are still finishing a few bits and pieces off!!
This game is fully endorsed by Osprey and as far as we know is the first public outing for the rules anywhere. We are also very much hoping that author Dan Mersey will join us for the day!
The game is set on the NW Frontier and pits and Anglo-Indian field force against a large Pathan force. It's a tricky scenario for both sides!
We will be able to accommodate up to 6 players on the day and people are welcome to pop in and out of the games as they want, so there's no commitment to playing the game all the way to conclusion if you don't want to.
We very much hope that some of the readers of this blog will be able to pop over and see us. Andy MacTaggart and I will be running the game and we can promise a good game! We ran our first play test tonight at my house and will be running another at the club on Monday. The first test game went really well, which is a good omen!
Here's a pic to whet the appetite... Apologies for poor lighting and for some unfinished models, but we are still finishing a few bits and pieces off!!
Wednesday, 12 August 2015
Early Dark Ages War & Conquest Gaming Day in Peterborough (UK) on Sunday 13th September
Just a quick message to publicise a small War and Conquest event that Rob Broom (author of rules and ex-WAB head honcho) and I are running on Sunday 13th September.
It's a very low-key (i.e. not overly competitive) type of day and we are hoping to use it to showcase some new army lists for the very late Roman/Arthurian period that I have been working on with Rob, although I believe there will be options for Classical era games if people don't have Late Roman/Arthurian/late Barbarian armies.
It'll be held at our regular venue which is the St John's Ambulance HQ in the town centre. Dedicated free parking and central city location so loads of food vendors nearby, plus space for up to 24 players on 6x4 tables.
We are hoping that we can encourage experienced and newbie War and Conquest players to come along and enjoy a relaxed day of gaming.
For further details of armies, event costs, etc, please reply to this thread or drop me an email if you have my address.
Hope to see some of you there!
It's a very low-key (i.e. not overly competitive) type of day and we are hoping to use it to showcase some new army lists for the very late Roman/Arthurian period that I have been working on with Rob, although I believe there will be options for Classical era games if people don't have Late Roman/Arthurian/late Barbarian armies.
It'll be held at our regular venue which is the St John's Ambulance HQ in the town centre. Dedicated free parking and central city location so loads of food vendors nearby, plus space for up to 24 players on 6x4 tables.
We are hoping that we can encourage experienced and newbie War and Conquest players to come along and enjoy a relaxed day of gaming.
For further details of armies, event costs, etc, please reply to this thread or drop me an email if you have my address.
Hope to see some of you there!
Wednesday, 1 July 2015
More for Dragon Rampant - Elite Wood Elf Foot...
Here's a unit of 'Elite Foot' for my Dragon Rampant Wood Elves. The unit was painted differently to the knights, as I undercoated white. The mail was then painted black and dry brushed with whatever GW currently call the old Boltgun Metal and Chainmail. I then base coated everything else with mid-tone colours before brushing on Army Painter Strong Tone dip. I left this 48 hours before dullcoting the models. I then highlighted up using the base coat colour plus an extra lighter highlight on everything. This is slightly different to my usual dip and highlight approach, which base coats with the lightest shade and only highlights once with that same shade. However, I think this new method looks closer to my old Dallimore-esque technique - not quite as good, but much closer! The shields were layer painted - never use dip on shields!!
The models have mostly been converted with wire spear shafts and spearheads from the current High Elf spearmen, or similar...I got them from one of the online 'bits' people... I bought a couple of the spearmen damaged off EBAY with knackered swords so decided to buy and convert...
The models have mostly been converted with wire spear shafts and spearheads from the current High Elf spearmen, or similar...I got them from one of the online 'bits' people... I bought a couple of the spearmen damaged off EBAY with knackered swords so decided to buy and convert...
In game terms they function just like Foot Men-at-Arms in Lion Rampant and can be used to represent a prince and his bodyguard, either as a unit of 6 like this or as a unit of 3 with each counting as having 2 wounds. I think I'll field them in a unit of 6 as they look better that way.
Friday, 19 June 2015
Oldhammer Elves for Osprey's Upcoming Dragon Rampant Rules
As you all know, I have been busily play testing Dan Mersey's upcoming Colonial rules and was absolutely delighted when an email popped into my inbox the other week with a pre-publication draft of his Dragon Rampant fantasy rules attached as a 'thank you' for my involvement in play testing! As you know, I like a bit of fantasy gaming so this was some result!
Anyway, the rules encourage players to conform to fantasy stereotypes when building forces, (although you can really do whatever you like, as it's so flexible) so, in fit of excitement and, being desperate to paint something other than Colonial native types for a while, I dragged out my Oldhammer Elves and began to design ideas for war bands. It soon became apparent that, as most of my unpainted 80s models are Wood Elf in nature, that I should go with that.
Accordingly, I dragged out the general model I painted as a High Elf months and months ago and, having rebased him on a large base, refreshed his colour scheme to become more Wood Elf. I then set about the armoured lancers on metal armoured horses that I had originally intended to paint as High Elf Siver Helms. I had begun these in the 3-layer Dallimore style about 18 months ago but got no further than painting the mail and horse armour. Despite this and my failing eyesight, I bit the bullet and set about layering a couple up and here is the result.
I can field the general as a 'single model unit' or as a 'reduced model unit' with the two knights added and either way, they function like a unit of 6 knights in Lion Rampant, so I have options. I also intend to paint another 4 knights so I can actually field a full strength unit of lancers if need be. I also have a unit of elite foot and one of 3 units of archers on the painting table although they are being done in dip and highlights style, as layering just takes me too long these days... Don't get me wrong, the layering looks brilliant on these cavalry, but the thought of painting about 100 Elves in full layered style is too daunting (yes..I have enough models for about 60 points in Dragon Rampant...and I just bought an old Treeman model off EBAY!!!!)
Anyway, the pics...
Enjoy...
Anyway, the rules encourage players to conform to fantasy stereotypes when building forces, (although you can really do whatever you like, as it's so flexible) so, in fit of excitement and, being desperate to paint something other than Colonial native types for a while, I dragged out my Oldhammer Elves and began to design ideas for war bands. It soon became apparent that, as most of my unpainted 80s models are Wood Elf in nature, that I should go with that.
Accordingly, I dragged out the general model I painted as a High Elf months and months ago and, having rebased him on a large base, refreshed his colour scheme to become more Wood Elf. I then set about the armoured lancers on metal armoured horses that I had originally intended to paint as High Elf Siver Helms. I had begun these in the 3-layer Dallimore style about 18 months ago but got no further than painting the mail and horse armour. Despite this and my failing eyesight, I bit the bullet and set about layering a couple up and here is the result.
I can field the general as a 'single model unit' or as a 'reduced model unit' with the two knights added and either way, they function like a unit of 6 knights in Lion Rampant, so I have options. I also intend to paint another 4 knights so I can actually field a full strength unit of lancers if need be. I also have a unit of elite foot and one of 3 units of archers on the painting table although they are being done in dip and highlights style, as layering just takes me too long these days... Don't get me wrong, the layering looks brilliant on these cavalry, but the thought of painting about 100 Elves in full layered style is too daunting (yes..I have enough models for about 60 points in Dragon Rampant...and I just bought an old Treeman model off EBAY!!!!)
Anyway, the pics...
Enjoy...
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