Wargamer, 2017

Hello again.

B62 8PJ.

I do not usually start with code and, to those who might be a tad confused, I have not done this time either. Well, not quite.

B62 8PJ is the post code for the venue of this weekend's Wargamer Show, to be held at the Leasowes Leisure Centre, Kent Road, Halesowen, Birmingham, UK, B62 8PJ.

The Wyrley Retinue normally debuts it's following year demo game outing at this show, but we cannot appear this year unfortunately. However, there will be a number of traders and gamers at the show, the former category including such luminaries as Warlord Games, Ainsty, Dave Lanchester, Eagle Figures and many others, the latter category including Alumwell, Kinver, Martin Hackett and the Border Warlords (great name for a folk rock band methinks!) and, again, many others.

Drop along if you can. Any purchases you make can always be passed off as Christmas presents to yourself on the grounds that no one knows what you want so you chose for them!!!

G

Santa's been!!!

Hello again.

As 2016 wends its way towards conclusion, I thought it time to recap on what this month of gifts and goodies has brought me, starting with my purchases at "Wargamer" back on 4th and working my way through to the destruction of various sheets of coloured paper as I eagerly unveiled my presents on 25th!

For a small show, I managed to spend WAAAAAYYYY too much at "Wargamer". I bought myself a copy of "Escape from Colditz", now published by Osprey, and backed that up on the gaming front with a Fantasy Flight Games offering called "Age of War", which is a dice game and a sort of cross between Yahtzee, Risk and Happy Families. It is set in the classic age of the samurai and the object is to win control of various cards, representing castles, by rolling appropriate combinations of dice, each of which has various icons which may or may not be of use. The castles can form a set, which grants more points to their holder and the person with the most points wins. That person has so far mainly been daughter Eleanor...

I bought some stuff from Ainsty, who are carrying the SAGA ranges from Gripping Beast nowadays, so my fledgling Anglo-Saxons/ Anglo-Danes acquired Harold, Gyrth and Leofwine Godwinson, some huscarls, Hereward the Wake, some "Sons of Death" to add to my Irish excursion and William the (insert your epithet of choice) to add to my Normans, who are eagerly awaiting their turn on the painting table, along with Saracen and Military Orders forces for "The Crescent and The Cross". I also bought some Highlander reinforcements and a starter set of Compagnies Franches de la Marine for my "Sharp Practice 2/ Muskets & Tomahawks" foray into the French and Indian Wars.

Dave Lanchester furnished me with a copy of Neil Thomas' "Wargaming 19th Century Europe, 1815 to 1878", which I have read with gusto, and, last but not least, Tiger Miniatures very kindly sold me some of their Renaissance figures, including artillery, some arquebusiers and some cavalry, who have joined the ranks of my proposed French Wars of Religion project. Daughter Eleanor conned me into buying her her own set of dice (soft touch that I am) and I think that is about it.

Just before Christmas, I took delivery of some basing sheets from the ever-helpful Coritani/ Magnetic Displays (fantastic service as usual and highly recommended to all who would buy from them - Trevor even sent me a nice Christmas good wishes message, which only goes to show how good their service is!). To that I added a package from Pendraken consisting of some reinforcements/ alternatives for both my proposed 10mm American Civil War project and my "Warband" fantasy project that I spent most of last spring working on. They too deserve a lot of credit for their service quality, as I missed the posting deadline for Christmas quoted on the website but still got my order well before Christmas. Many thanks!

Christmas itself saw the opening of a parcel from Caliver Books containing a copy of "The Italian Campaign of 1859", edited by Dr. Stephen Summerfield, which I have again eagerly devoured. I also got a turntable, so I can play my old, vinyl records, many of which I do not have on CD, which has nothing to do with wargaming or the blog as a whole but just shows how much my lady wife loves me!!! I still wait with anticipation for the latest "Wargaming in History" offering on Koniggraetz, but Dave Ryan has my order and warned me it was unlikely to arrive pre-Christmas as it has not been published yet!

After all that, it is again time to decide on where my focus lies for 2017.

1. I still have a passion for anything involving the Austrians, so 1859 and 1866 feature a lot in my thoughts.
2. I want to get some ACW actions going to take advantage of all those readily-available battle reports and orbats, in my chosen 10mm scale.
3. I want to fill out my Dark Ages pretensions and have now built an entire Anglo-Saxon/ Anglo-Danish force for SAGA which I need to paint.
4. I want to add the extras to my 10mm "Warband" fantasy forces.
5. I want to thresh out my FIW stuff and get some games of "Sharp Practice 2" and "Muskets & Tomahawks" in.
6. I eagerly await Nephew Nick's commitment to the Marlburian Wars so I can kick-start my 1690 project and take him on! It will be just the excuse I need to add some more French and Irish units to my existing stock...
7. I am torn between Germans vs Hottentots in what is now Namibia, Maori Wars or Sudan Wars for "The Men Who Would Be Kings", but seriously want to get something up and running soon for that era and rules set.

And then there is the large scale WW2 skirmish figures I bought last year, the Arthurians that have been lying around for ages, a large Macedonian army I have had for upwards of ten years that I still have stowed away, the Peninsular War stuff I bought back in July for "SP2", 15mm WW2 Ostfront c. Kursk, Bolsheviks to take on my WW1 Russians/ "Whites" and, of course, the French Wars of Religion project I want to get off the ground, ideally for 2019 and the 450th anniversary of the likes of Moncontour and Jarnac. I suppose I could stretch out that last option to 2022 and the 450th anniversary of the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre, but I prefer battles to massacres...

The good news is that my interest in this massively absorbing hobby has not waned one iota and I do not have a project to focus on specifically for 2017, as 2018's show game is decided upon already and I have the armies already too! (I could always rustle up an extra unit or two though, or perhaps a terrain piece or feature piece or...)

I love this hobby of ours!

G

Shout it loud!!!

Hello again.

THE "WARGAMER" SHOW IS NEXT SUNDAY, 4TH DECEMBER, 2016, AT THE LEASOWES LEISURE CONTRE, KENT ROAD, HALESOWEN, B62 8PJ.

That is very near Birmingham, England, NOT Birmingham, Alabama. This Birmingham has probably never had a Governor, and, if they ever did, he was probably never robbed and we certainly never "did what we had to do", unlike Lynyrd Skynyrd with their Birmingham as celebrated in "Sweet Home Alabama".

So, you have the date, you have the address and, having picked up "MINIATURE WARGAMES" issue 404 for December, you have an advert for the show courtesy of that journal's "DIARY DATES" column on page 7!!!

I even joined Facebook this evening to add a comment to say the "Wyrley Retinue" will be there with our Dark Age Ireland game, "Storri's Trek 2: The Rath of Cahan".

This is a decent, little show and deserves support, but does seem to suffer from the simple fact that most people (in my small circle at any rate) do not even know it is on, because it is not generally well advertised.

The blurb on Facebook and on the web (wargamer.tripod. something or other) lists some eclectic traders and a fair number of clubs attending from the local area. Traders are set to include (according to the aforementioned blurb):

Warlord Games
Magic Geek
Black Pyramid
Ainsty
Tiger Miniatures
Dave Lanchester
Commission Figurines
PE2 Collectables
and numerous others to whom I can only apologise for my declining memory or they would have got a mention too!

The website and Facebook also have directions to the show, but typing the postcode into your satnav is probably a lot easier. You really have no reason not to be there!

So folks, let's see you there!

G

The Rath of Cahan

Hello again.

Apart from a few Dark Age Hibernian des res roundhouses, the forthcoming "Wyrley Retinue" demo game for 2017 required something a bit more substantial - a Rath, or Irish ring fort.

I first encountered one of these in an article on building one in "Wargames World" magazine, issue 5, about 30 years ago. That was also when I made a mental note to forego Ellendun, Ashdown and Maldon if I ever got into Dark Ages wargaming and head west instead to the Emerald Isle. An even better model than my original inspiration turned up in the "Shieldwall" (glimpses) and "Age of Arthur" (full on PHWOAR!!!) supplements for Warhammer Ancient Battles. So, with our theme decided earlier this year, we were heading off to Ireland in the 9th Century (-ish) and we were having a Rath.

Step 1 - take a piece of 3mm MDF and add concentric rings of polystyrene to achieve the desired height. Four rings in my case. Leave space for a gateway to access your primitive fortification.
Step 2 - take lengths of bamboo skewer, twig, cocktail stick, thin dowel and similar wooden materials and glue them into your ring of polystyrene using PVA glue or similar stuff that won't melt your rings of gleaming whiteness! A palisade may be a bit of artistic licence in this era, but I like it. The Ancient British stopped using palisades in their hillforts before the Romans arrived according to archaeology.
Step 3 - use wood filler to cover all the polystyrene.
Step 4 - build your gatehouse.
Step 5 - paint everything to taste.
Step 6 - remember to either build in some steps up to the ramparts and gatehouse platform for your figures to access them. Alternatively, build ladders afterwards like I did!
Step 7 - add scenic materials to blend it into your normal terrain boards/ cloth/ whatever.
Step 8 - remember to take it to the "Wargamer" show on 4th December for its first outing!!!

The very basic structure as in Step 1. The octagonal base is intentional to try and prevent warping. A circle would also suffice, but Nephew Nick wants to sink the base into his boards to make it all more seamless so the octagon is easier in this regard. The whole thing is about twelve inches across.

Not wishing to bore you unduly with yet more constructional photos, I have jumped straight to Step 6. I was keen not to have it all look like Sir Christopher Wren designed and built it, so the uneven and jagged palisade is intentional. I have tried to paint the woodwork as aged, weathered timber. This involved taking the basic wood colour and staining it with paint washes of grey and brown, followed by drybrushing with lighter greys and browns.

I have painted the whole thing largely to represent earth banks, but patches of rock are also visible for some variety in the finished article.

The gates are made from two 50x25mm plastic cavalry bases, heavily scored to represent wood and painted. The hinges are made from lengths of wire and a plastic sleeve from a ballpoint pen inner. After adding the sleeve, bend the wire ends and mark your holes in the dowel uprights. Drill small holes with a pin vice and do this BEFORE you build the gatehouse. The whole thing is stuck down piece by piece with my hot glue gun. More filler was then worked around the area to blend it all in. I added the hut for effect. It will be glued in later and blended in with more filler and paint. The gates even open and shut without breaking them IF you don't get paint in the mechanism!!!

Access ladders were made from matchsticks with artists' card runners glued on.

For scale, I have added one of my newly-painted reinforcements for my Dark ages collection, complete with suitable grisly trophy. The battlements are pieces of coffee stirrer and the base on which the figure stands is a 60x40mm MDF figure base.

I will glue in the most fancy of the three roundhouses and cover off some basic scenic work in the largely inaccessible bit behind the roundhouse and then hand the whole thing over to Nephew Nick to blend in to the boards he is making for the game, covering off Step 7. Finally, as in Step 8, I trust he will actually turn up at Wargamer with it!

G.

Riddle-me-ri

Hello again.

What do you get if you cross a cardboard tube, some fake fur and a pot of cheap wood filler?

 

 

 

Some Iron or Dark Age roundhouses, of course!

 

I am a rare builder of terrain at best, preferring to spend my time acquiring and painting figures, but every now and then, the urge takes me or I am forced into it. This is a mix of both urge and coercion.

 

Sunday 4th December, marks the next "Wargamer" Show at the Leasowes Leisure Centre in Halesowen, near Birmingham, England, and the "Wyrley Retinue" will be there as usual with the first outing for our next demo game. This year's offering (i.e. 2017's) is a large-scale skirmish affair set in Dark Age Ireland, an idea borne of our collecting for and playing of "SAGA". All three founder members of the Retinue started with a Viking force, so we have figures already, and I took the plunge to branch out into something different to the usual Saxons/ Anglo-Danes by collecting Irish, amassing quite a few, to which I have busily been adding reinforcements over the past few weeks. Nephew Nick is building some bespoke boards for our outing and I, apart from figures, agreed to do some other items, a couple of which you can see here.

 

The other major item I have built for this project will be posted later, so watch this space. (CLUE: I have wanted one ever since I saw an article on building one in "Wargames World" magazine issue 5 about 30 years ago! And it is very Dark Age Irish!!!)

 

G

 

 



This is the four bed detached executive residence, complete with cardboard porch clad in coffee stirrer. I got to use my limited knowledge of Pi to work out circumferences and heights of cones and the like to do the roof, which is covered in a layer of the fur. I also added some air-drying clay to the card roof former for this one to bulk it up a little, but it was not really necessary. A skim of wood filler on the tube, after the tube had been scored, and a paint job and "job done". The fur is dirtied up with a gloop of PVA glue, dark green paint (a few drops only) and some black and brown wash.

I also made two of these smaller huts. Actually, they are only smaller because: a) I did not bulk out the roves with clay prior to adding the fur and b) I did not add a porch. All three huts are made from a section of tube surmounted by a cone of card and some fur. They are deliberately basic in their execution as I wanted a grungy look rather than something rather more civilised.

 

 

The Last At Last!!!

After almost eight months of trying to paint as many Swiss and Burgundian troops for the forthcoming "Wargamer" show game on 6th December at Halesowen, near Birmingham England, I finally managed to complete the paintjob on the last unit I had planned to complete.

So, here they are, the much-vaunted (???) Flemish pikemen, sporting banners from the fair City of Ghent.

I have settled on a minimum unit size of 24 figures for pikes for this era, using the Warlord Games' "Pike & Shotte" rules, so this will be a "standard-sized" unit.

The figures are almost all Perry plastics, which I would heartily recommend to anyone contemplating an army from this period. The two exceptions to the Perry count are a couple of Foundry figures on the foremost command element. The flags are from Freezywater Publications, available from the Lance & Longbow Society stand at shows and always worth a look.

Since finishing this unit, I  have managed to varnish all the new figures, texture all the figure bases for the extra units and have started the detailing phase. I have a week to go to the show, where the "Wyrley Retinue" will be demo-ing its 2016 game.

We always change things between games, so what you see at "Wargamer" will be different in some respect from what you see later on in the year, but if you are in Halesowen next Sunday, come and say "Hello!". As yet, we do not have a scenario and we are not yet sure exactly how the forces balance out. Nephew Nick has painted some troops up as Italians, however. Whether they remain Italian mercenaries in the Burgundian army or masquerade as Lorrainers in the Swiss army remains to be seen!

It will all be sorted out in the next week. So, "Wargamer", Sunday 6th December, Halesowen.

G

Probably about as menacing as the Flemish got at this point in their history...



A better view of the flags. Very reasonably priced, take your time to cut them out and fold then round the pole neatly and they work well. Apply Bostik or similar on one inner face and glue the halves together, then paint out any white edging carefully. They can also be detailed with shading, etc. Quick and easy!

More Maltese Marinelife

Several years ago at the Derby Show, having spent what I wanted and just checking around to see that I had not missed anything, I happened across a small stall with a few ship models set out on a largely bare tabletop. I have no recollection whatsoever who this trader was and do not recall seeing them since...A few minutes later, I had left the show to drive home, the proud owner of a resin "ship", with masts and cannon, the intention being to add this model to my then newly-painted pirates. This could not have been that long after the release of "Legends of the High Seas", my buccaneering rules set of choice at that time.

Fast forward those several years to me concerning myself with extras for the Wyrley Retinue's forthcoming "Mayhem in the Med., c.1565" game and I unearthed the ship model once more. Nephew Nick had promised to paint his Ainsty Man-'o'-War for the game, but I knew this to be a HUGE model and it was unclear whether Nick would indeed manage this, so I decided I finally had to get my little offering ready and able. A couple of days before the show, I set to with brush in hand and hereby present the sum total of a day or so's graft, the lovely "Maria".

"Why Maria?" I hear you all cry.

Well, as I said at the top of this piece, the ship was bought to provide transport for my pirates and I wanted a name that could be universal in terms of its origin and, therefore, that of its crew. "Santissima Trinidad"? Too Spanish. "Temeraire"? Too French (and famous). "Bismarck"? Too...

You get the picture.

So, "Maria" it became, able to be Spanish, French, Italian, English (if a tad exotic, but plain, old "Mary" would be too much of a giveaway).

I give you "Maria".

G

She is quite a plain creature at the moment, but I may well add some rigging from netting material and perhaps an Ainsty ship's wheel. I could not find her cannons when I took these shots, but rest assured there are six of them. Sails are again from calico tied up with "rope" from Gale Force 9.

I have no idea what colour such ships would have been in reality, but yellow seems to have featured quite a lot in sailing ships at different times, so I went with that.

One thing I have noted on ships of this era especially is decoration around the poop deck. This is my attempt to tart her up a little...

Ample room in her ten or so inches of hull length for some derring-do and buckling of swashes!

And I finally found her cannons!

Row, row, row your boat...

Another special built for the "Malta" game is lean, green and, with luck, mean.

How could anyone have pretensions to stage a game on an island in the Med in the 16th Century without having at least one galley in evidence?

So a galley had to be there somewhere.

The hull was carved from Styrofoam, the deck is 3mm MDF, most of the superstructure card, the oars are cocktail sticks, the sea white filler with the blue blended in whilst the filler was still wet, the base is more MDF. The single, centreline cannon is just a length of plastic tube.

This as yet unnamed craft is 15 inches long and the same high, the mast detachable so she can be packed away as flat as possible. Believe it or not, 15 inches is a little short for such a craft against 28mm figures! The furled sail is a triangle of calico, the same material I use for a lot of my flags.

She is not a scale model, just a representation of such craft, but I hope she looks the part. I was going to add rowers from Perry plastic Mahdists and other suitable figures, but decided not to on the grounds of time. I might just be able to squeeze some in at some point. I could also go to town on banners, lanterns, rigging, etc.

On her inaugural voyage at the Wargamer Show, she sat proudly outside the harbour boom whilst the Turks and North Africans tried to take the boom towers, lower the boom and let her into the harbour. With this task eventually accomplished, she rowed her way into port, taking pot shots at one of the sailing ships in the harbour, which she subsequently rammed, delivering her crew of North African marines onto the harbour side, but too late to affect the fight at the nearby wall. I would love the time to make a sister ship...

G

A gull's eye view. She looks like she has ventured into the North Sea rather than the Med...

The cannon. True to form, I could not hit a barn door with this at the Wargamer show...

Close up of some of the hand painted decoration. I just went with a few Arab/ Moorish-type images.

The stern, with the large canopy so prominent on the real ships made from a rectangle of calico draped over a frame made from matchsticks. It is surprisingly strong.

Just to show the symmetry of the two sides.

And another gull's eye view. She will hold twenty or so 28mm figures on her deck, so she has a punch in more ways than one.

Son of Frances

As I posted some time ago, I had planned to do a few more specialist pieces for the Wyrley Retinue "Malta" game, which began with the ladder bearers.

Well, ladders are all well and good for getting over a wall, but what could be better than a whole contraption to do the same, but bigger, with more men, better protection and less arduous climbing whilst someone is trying to drop a large rock on your head?

Cue, the "Son of Frances".

I built a cardboard core and then spent more than a few days' modelling time cladding it with coffee stirrers from sundry establishments...

The wheels are made from the green tokens Asda supermarkets give away when you have paid for your shopping. You are supposed to drop them in a box to say what local organisation you want the store to support (local football team, dieting club, etc), but I saw them and just thought "Wheels!"

The working drawbridge is a simple bamboo skewer into plastic tube affair and works very well with its "Gale Force 9" rope supports. A wash with some dirty brownish paint and voila.

I decided against cladding it in skins or whatever for Malta. Although the defenders had all manner of incendiary options, I felt the traditional flaming arrows were a thing of the past and dousing the wood in water as they drew near the walls would serve the same purpose. In the real siege, the towers were built perhaps more out of desperation to take the twin towns of Birgu and Senglea after numerous difficulties the Turks had faced up to that point. They were blown apart as they approached the walls by cannon cunningly concealed behind the lower stones at the base of the wall to be attacked. That was the end of that. So, my example is a quick-build, desperate gamble sort of affair too. I can always add to it later if I wish.

I can also buy him a Tardis to fly him between times, genres and worlds and use him to assault Crusader/ Saracen castles, French castles, Swiss-held castles, Scottish and Welsh castles, Minas Tirith...it all depends on which toys I want to play with next!

G

P.S. What else could I call a smaller tower after revealing Frances herself to the world all those posts ago?

He's a big lad at seven inches tall...
He is also big enough to hold a fair number of figures both on the top archery deck and in the "hold".

And ever eager for a feed, just like any baby. his mouth is often open...

Ladders from the same source as those carried by my ladder bearers, namely an old pirate ship toy rigging cut to size.

The "ingenious" drawbridge mechanism - insert one length of bamboo barbecue skewer into a couple of sections of suitable diameter plastic tube, add some "rope" from 0.8mm cable courtesy of "Gale Force 9" and away you go.

A musical interlude

Another of the vignettes I did for the "Mayhem in the Med., c.1565" game for the Wargamer Show was a group of musicians to bolster Turkish morale. Music was a big part of their armed forces, with crashing cymbals, banging drums, horns, pipes, "jingling johnnies" and other such paraphernalia all present, the ensuing cacophony designed to both embolden the Turks and demoralise their enemies.

So here is my little Mehterhane group, made up of Old Glory musicians from their Ottoman spearmen and archers packs (you get six assorted command in these packs along with 24 spearmen or archers, or at least, I did!) plus a Gripping Beast Arab.

In the game, they were going to give a morale re-roll or similar to troops within a certain range, but we were so keen to get the combat troops into action that we left the band at the back!

G

Old Glory drummer figure

The imposter in the group is this Gripping Beast Arab.

And another Old Glory figure, this time with bugle/ trumpet/ similar. I imagine the trio as a sort of jazz combo.

Turkish Command

I have painted numerous command figures for the Turkish/ North African alliance, covering officers, standard bearers and musicians. I decided, however, that I wanted something a little more than battalion/ orta/ mob leaders, so created this mini-vignette to show someone a bit higher up the chain of command.

The figures are all Old Glory, from different packs I cannot now be certain of identifying accurately, with the addition of a flag from one of the "By Fire & Sword" 15mm Ottoman sets (Feudal Spahis I think) and a plastic shield from the Gripping Beast Arab plastic boxed set.

Together, they represent my attempt at a Janissary Aga and a Bey of some sort or other. I hope you like the little group.

In the actual game, I see them making everything within 6" unbreakable or something, or giving a morale re-roll. We will see.

G

Cheering on the boys. (I have no idea what the writing on the banner means).

One thing I realised is that I did not really know what Muslim shields of this (or any!!!) era were likely to appear like. This example is based on a pattern from a tile!

I wonder if they are feeling confident of success...

Hero

"Hero" is surely one of the most over-used terms in the English language. I guess the problem is that it means different things to different people.

Scoring the winner in a major final? Saving a child from danger? Charging the guns at a crucial point in a battle? This is just the tip of the iceberg.

But one character I would proffer as a true "Hero" is the guy I have depicted here, painted specifically for the "Mayhem in the Med., c.1565" game we Wyrley Retinuers are taking around a few shows this year, Jean Parisot de la Valette.

Finished just a couple of days before last Sunday's Wargamer show (photos to follow of that event when I can download them!), this small piece of metal alloy is a miniature version of the Grand Master of the Order of the Knights of St John of Jerusalem, who led the Christian defence of Malta when the Turkish attack came. That a chap in his seventies could lead a Military Order was one thing, but he was no shrinking violet or desk-jockey during the siege and assaults, being wounded in combat at one point. This was an old fella with the fire of youth still burning strongly in his bones! When the besieged towns of Birgu and Senglea were rebuilt after the successful defence of the island against the Turks and North Africans, they were renamed Valetta in his honour, and that is the name they still bear to this day, a lasting testimony. He inspired respect in his contemporaries, awe in his enemies and his judgement during the siege was spot on.

And if that is not enough, when his "mini-me" got into combat last Sunday, he took all before him and promptly threw the assault back single-handedly. But that is a story for another time...

G

An Old Glory figure from their "Wars of Religion" range, his shield is my interpretation of a drawing in George Gush's "Renaissance Armies" book, published by PSL.

This is the drawing from page 31 of Gush's book that is the inspiration for Valette's shield. I have coloured it how I think, so my interpretation is a little conjectural.



His base is a 40mm Gale Force 9 magnetic one. As he is destined to feature probably solely in the "Malta" game, I am not concerned with him having such a large and non-generic base. The other troops I have for the game are almost all based on 20mm squares, so I can place them together within a movement tray for more conventional games.

 

 

Wargamer Show, 30th November

Hello again.

I have been busy,busy,busy with the finishing touches for the inaugural outing of our Siege of Malta-inspired game ready for the Wargamer Show to be held at Leasowes Sports Centre, Leasowes High School, Halesowen, B62 8PJ. Note the change of venue!

I still have loads to do - I am part way through building a Renaissance galley, have only undercoated the two boats I want to finish, have only undercoated the sailing ship I want to finish, still have the ladders to paint and stick on my siege tower, etc, but their is nothing like a deadline to focus the mind!!!

I have painted all the figures I wanted to do (except Jean Parisot de a Valette, who is, yes, you've guessed it, undercoated!), have varnished them and textured the bases, and am half way through the base dark wash and then set to move onto the drybrushing and grass/ tuft/ foliage application. That is well over 300 figures "done" in about nine months, not to mention an Ottoman army for "By Fire & Sword", so I am quite pleased with that.

Anyway, we have not played the game yet, I have not seen the terrain (being built by Nephews Nick and Paul - it had better be up to scratch fellas, not to mention finished...) and we do not have an official title for our outing, but I am going with "Mayhem in the Med., c.1565" until something better presents itself.......

........who said we are courting trouble?

Anyway, it you are anywhere near Central England, specifcally Halesowen, on 30th November, do come along, spend some money, enjoy a few hours of wargaming atmosphere and banter and, above all, say "Hello!" to our little band. We will be the stressed-looking ones trying to work out why we did not work any of the issues out earlier!

G

Kirkburn Bridge c1314 - Wargamer Show, 01/12/13

Hi all.

Some very yellow pictures for you of last weekend's inaugural outing for Kirkburn Bridge - the lighting is terrible at the venue unfortunately. It was often an afterthought to take a picture or two, so busy were we fielding comments, questions and actually playing the game!!! Thanks to all those who took the time to come and see our little offering. We hope you enjoyed what you saw and heard and that we will see you again soon at another show.

The photos at least show that I do occasionally finish figure bases and I even steered away from my usual protective gloss varnish, to good effect I feel. Now, I must invest in another pot of Basetex, some more tufts and static grass before the next scenic session...

G

Terrible photo, with The Last Valley's sundry boxes in the background, but this was the only shot I got of the sole Scots cavalry unit, Douglas/ Keith.

Quite why Paul deployed them like Napoleonic cavalry is beyond me, but these Scottish spearmen do look good en masse.

The first of the Hairies (with dog). The Sean Pertwee film "Dog Soldiers" is set in Scotland, but the mastiff in this unit is entirely coincidental.

Robert the Bruce chivvying along some peasants.

Gloucester's command ford one of the rivers, headed by his Welsh archers and skirmishers.

But his knights, frustrated by the congestion ahead, turn right along the river bank to find room for some devastating lance action. 

Shropshire spearmen and Hereford.

A very jaundiced view of Hereford's attempt to get his knights across the other river.

The Islesmen and Cressingham's clash, victory going to the Hebrideans after a stern fight. However, subsequently pinned to their flank by the Welsh skirmishers, they fell prey to a shattering charge from Clifford's cavalry who were bringing up the rear of Gloucester's column.

The Highlanders smash into Gloucester's Welsh archers, whose arrows fail to stop them. The results were predictable and the Welsh fled the field. The Scottish centre is in the background as it moves forward to confront Hereford's command.

Clifford' retinue, fresh from slaughtering Islesmen, charges headlong into some Ettrick archers and promptly smashes them too.

De Monthermer's knights from Gloucester's command finally come to blows, but the Highlanders hold.

The Scots centre is in trouble, with open flanks and roaming English knights.

Edward Bruce tries to shore up the Scottish centre and launch the Mar/ Fife spearmen back into the fray......

.....where Hereford's fresh units of foot and cavalry await.

Pembroke's command formed the right of the English forces, trying also to cross the river to confront Moray's command.

Moray's command lie in wait on the Scottish left. (I am not sure if that crack is an earthquake caused by the thundering English knights, a ditch dug for their own protection by the Scots or someone leaning on the boards...)