Over 2 Million Hits

Over 2 Million Hits! Never in my wildest dreams did I think this blog would develop this much interest over the many years of it's existence. 

Thanks to all who have put in the effort, in their busy lives to take a peek, read an article or generally just browse.

Apologies for the AI image. I simply couldn't think of anything to post!

AD Miniatures, 3rd Century Romans now Available from Footsore Miniatures

Hi, just a quick note to let folk know that Adam Smith's AD Miniatures collaboration with Footsore Miniatures has now seen the first pre releases of the Third Century Romans range.

They can be seen and are available from HERE!

There are currently seven packs in the range and i know that there is much more to come by way of Legionaries/Auxiliaries and Cavalry etc.

Cheers for now.

Clubbing it! Cruel Seas- Channel Dash

Last Thursday at the club saw me, with my usual coterie of friends, playing another game of Cruel Seas by Warlord Games. This is actually my third game so one would think I would have digested the rules by now, but not so! The game was another learning experience and I was largely playing follow my leader with fellow Kriegsmarine kameraden Matt. I do really enjoy this game, which came as a the first time I played as, having played a veritable prethora of Naval wargames in the past at SESWC organised by Naval historian Angus Konstam; despite the elite company at the time they were not games that really hit home with me. 

So, the scenario..... the Germans were to get their tankers across the playing area and to safety whilst the Royal Navy would be doing all they could to stop them from doing so!

The Tankers Set Out

Immediately the British Vospers spring an ambush and start to swarm the Germans.

The German Tankers lumber forward protected by the S100's in the centre and the S38's  to their left.

Another view of the German S100 Protecting the Tankers.

The RN Vopsers swarm, moving into position to spring their ambush and set their torpedoes away.

A view of the game from above

Torpedoes away! The British Boats release their load. The British had clearly learned from pervious encounters with the more heavily armed German S38's and S100's. By releasing their torpedoes as soon as they were within effective range and settling on a tactic of letting the Germans try to manoeuvre out of their deadly predicament.

British torpedo bombers screams in and drops their payload. Luckily, neither of the tankers take a hit as the torpedoes fail to go off. 

Normally I don't go in for lazers in wargaming (reminds me too much of DBA PTSD) but Neil's toy came in very handy when trying to trace the movement of the torpedoes! They seemed to move every time we looked at the table top!

The Brits Vospers fill The Channel with torpedoes!

All we can do is manoeuvre the Tankers, hoping for the best and plenty of dud torpedoes whilst blasting away with out superior firepower. As for blasting away? We did minimal damage due to some quite crappy dice rolls. This enabled all the British vessels to release at least two torpedoes a piece!

By the time it came to hit the pub; turn three I think(?); I think it had to be called a marginal win for the Brits as the game still leaned heavily on the German Tankers being able to avoid being hit. It would have been interesting to play another turn or two and to have reached a conclusion. I expect we will next week. 

Other Club Games....

Another Naval Game- WWII

Bloody Big Battles

Chain of Command; Cold War

Gaslands

Lion Rampant; Crusades

Cheers for now

Valour & Fortitude, 4th Edition

This is just a very quick post to say that the final draught of the Perry Miniatures/Jarvis Johnson Valour & Fortitude, 4th Edition rules is now up on the Perry miniatures website.

The link to the rules, the Army sheets and the Scenarios is HERE!

Army of Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordoba (1453–1515), El Gran Capitan (The Great Captain)- None AI Slop!

For regular readers of my blog, here's the original image of the Spanish Sword and Buckler unit I had painted for the army of Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordoba in the original photograph.

I have the same sane misgivings about AI as many and just wanted to show I haven't lost my mind and to reassure people that the blog will continue in it's normal format- none AI!

Cheers for now..

It's Time for The Great Wargaming Survey, 2026

 

It's that time of the year again. time for The  Great Wargaming Survey, 2026. you can fill it in HERE!

Experiment.....

I'm unsure about this; it seems more otherworldly than a match to a Renaissance Tapestry..... 

What do you guys think?

Do not worry, I will not be doing many- I was just interested in what was possible.

Battle of ???, Society of Ancients, Battle Day in the North Run Through #2

We fought another run through of a game we have planned for the Society of Ancients, Battle Day in the North last week in an attempt to balance out the game as the WAB V.2 rules are they stand, almost certainly result in a very swift, if not immediate, victory for the Scots We wanted to have a more balanced game so a bit of tinkering was in order, still very much leaning in the favour of the Scots.

Basically, we reduced the effectiveness of the Scottish Schiltron rules when attacked by Cavalry, not completely, but just little, and hey presto- it worked! The game, won by the Scots over a period of many turns was a very satisfying. 

In the interests of not giving the battle away (if you know, please keep stum!) I'm not going to describe the ups and downs of the game but simply leave you with these images to mark the event "sorted" for later in the year.