Todd's Workshop/Tobias Capwell- Arrows vs Armour 2 - THE HELMET (fundraiser)

A very worthy cause for anyone interested in Late Medieval warfare, how just effective armours were against the English warbow and at a decent "average" draw weight; and perhaps more importantly, a draw weight which could be repeated .

Please follow the link for all the details on how you can support the project. At the time of typing it is fully funded but the more cash they have access to the more they can investigate this regularly debated topic.

LINK TO THE KICKSTARTED HERE!

Yes! Swordpoint Hundred Years War Supplement is Upon Us!

Very excited about this! Just published, the new Swordpoint supplement The Hundred Years War.

With the heavy emphasis on the "Line of Battle" will work very well for the HYW. I have heard rumours that English archery has been given a special rule too! 

Apparently I was the first to order a copy! 

Available from Gripping Beast HERE!

I simply cannot wait to get my grubby mitts on it. The 72 hour quarantine on my shoe rack is going to be hell!

Tod's Workshop with Tobias Capwell; Arrows vs Armour - Medieval Myth Busting

This is a must see for anyone interested in the series of dynastic struggles we now call the Hundred Years War. It clearly shows that the English archers was on the battlefield not as the "machine gun of the Middle Ages" but as a weapon designed to disrupt a charge causing maximum confusion and sapping the impetus out of said charge.

Longbow:

160lbs (73KG) mountain yew English longbow based on those found on the Mary Rose , which sank in 1545. The bow was loosing 80g arrows at 55ma, or 180feet per seconds, giving a 123Joules at 25 meters.

Distance:    10 metres/25 metres

                   11yards/27yards

Speed:        55 meters per second/52 meters per second

                   181 feet per second/170 feet per second

Energy:       123 Joules/109 Joules

                    91 foot-pound force/80 foot-pound force

Arrows:

The fist arrow type we used was MR80A764/158. The diameter at the shoulder was 12.7mm (1/2") tapering to a nock of 8.5mm. A total length of 30.5"

The second arrow type was MR2A1892/9. The diameter at the shoulder was 12.9 mm (1/2") and the nock was 7.5mm. A total length of 30.5"

The shafts were black Poplar (Populus Nigra) and Ask (Fraxinus Excelsior).

Fletchings were swan bound with silk into beasewax, kidney fat and copper verdigris compound

Heads were wrought iron, copied from MoL Type 9 7568

Arrows weighed 80g/2.8 ounces

Breastplate:

Based on Churburg 14 piece. The reproduction is made from Carbom Steel and is air cooled and is of variable thickness. The front and centre is 2.5mm/3/32" thick and it tapers down to 1.5mm1/16" at teh sides and edges. 

Partizan on the Ground when I Was Not on the Ground!

What follows is almost certainly one of the oddest of all my posts in the nearly two decade of my blogging activity! That of the Partizan show last weekend, which I could not make! Definitely up there for one of the most offbeat, even bizarre posts!

These pictures were sent to me from a friend, Steve Maher, who knowing that it was impossible for me to make it down to Partizan due to Covid kindly offered to take some pictures of the Bodkin's Crecy game. The Bodkins, who consist of David Imrie, Dave Andrews, Matthew Bickley and Simon Chick are renown for putting on Late Medieval games of a very high standard. Anyone who regularly frequents Partizan will almost certainly be familiar with their superbly painted and presented games. 

The game was played using David Imrie's up and coming Claymore Castings Hundred Years War rules. The more I have gleaned about the rules the more they are looking like the golden rules for the Hundred Years War which I have been seeking out for the last two decades! I have over the years, tried many rulesets and they all seemed to have something fundamental missing when it came to the effect of "English" archery. If I had to pick one outstanding wargaming passion of mine it the Hundred Years War would be number one so it was a little painful not to be able to travel down and see the game for myself but, hey, I had to put my health first!

I have asked David to write a few words about the game before presenting the pictures to you.

Photo Above by Steve Maher

Photo Above by Steve Maher

Photo Above by Steve Maher

Photo Above by Steve Maher

Photo Above by Steve Maher

Photo Above by Steve Maher

Photo Above by Steve Maher

Photo Above by Steve Maher

Photo Above by Steve Maher

Photo Above by Steve Maher

Photo Above by Steve Maher

Photo Above by Steve Maher

Photo Above by Steve Maher

If anyone has any pictures they would like me to share of the game here on my blog, please leave a comment or contact me via the Contact Form on my Blog on the right hand sidebar. any contributions will be credited and very much appreciated.

And thanks to Dave Andrews, David Imrie, Simon Chick and Matthew Bickley for presenting such a beautiful game! One full of beautifully painted miniatures and in such abundance.

More Battle of Verneuil Salute 2011 Pictures (From La Journee Blog)

Credit for these pics and the former must go to Joe Dever, Phil Steele and Ray. without the generosity of these gents I wouldn't have anything to show for our efforts and this blog would be a less happy place. Lesson learnt- always check your camera for the battery before you leave for a show!

Thanks again guys- hugely appreciated given that I forgot the battery for my camera on the day lol

Salute 2011 and The Battle of Verneuil Demo Game (From La Journee Blog)

From La Journey Blog 2011.

At the risk of blowing my own trumpet (well Simon Chick's really as most of the mini's and all of the terrain were his) I think in many ways the Verneuil game Simon and I put on way back in 2011 set the tone for the requisite quality of massed battle Late Medieval games. It even made it into the Wargames Illustrated "Great Wargames" Special. An honour.

OK, picture the scene; terrain all set up- check. Mini's all set out- check. Sets tripod up and get's camera out of case- check. Fixes camera to tripod and switches on- check. Nothing happens!! Takes camera off tripod and thinks "this feels a little light"! Remembers! Battery is recharging in Durham!! The lack of photo's to post being the reason that this battle report covering our demo game at Salute is so late.

It was all a bit of a coup really as all the organising was done via the internet and one Skype conference call! Madness? Maybe, but we pulled it off in the end :O)

The decision was made in the early stages of the games' metamorphosis our version of the battle would be based on Mike Jones' academic paper, Michael K Jones essay The Battle of Verneuil (17th August 1424): Towards a History of Courage. The Lombard and French mounted men at arms were to form a line at the fore of the French battles instead of the starting on the flanks thus launching their attack as soon as the opening shots of the battle started and head straight at the English centre- see earlier post here details.

We had four players, Simon Chick took Salisbury's battle, Nigel Cook Bedfords, whilst the Franco-Scottish were played by George Moriatis as the French and Lombard mounted men at arms and the French Left and Nick Palmer the Scots.

As hostilities opened the Lombards and their French comrades came charging across the battlefield surprising the English and hitting them hard in the centre. The English centre looked hard pressed as the Lombards heavily harnessed mounts ploughed into the English men at arms and archers. For a moment or two it looked for all intents and purposes that the tabletop reenactment was about to take the same turn as the battle proper! However, following some fluky dice rolling the English were saved- or Bedford rallied the English troops exorting his men to fight on! As the game wore on the French and Scottish missile troops made their ponderous way forward followed by the bulk of their dismounted melee troops. It was at this point with things beginning to look very grim for the English- the table we had been given was not wide enough for us to deploy all of our terrain tiles and there was to be no room for the English reserves to make an appearance around a flank! Something we will certainly remedy when we show the game again! All things considered, in a turn or two poor Bedford was going to lose more than his worldly possessions.....

And the rest of Salute? OK, as for buys, well, I continued my quest for Ancient/Medieval rules and bought Hail Ceasar from Warlord Games and was kindly given a copy of Clash of Empires by Stuart of Great Escape Games for some of my painted mini's that feature in the book. Thus far I haven't found the time to do anything except look at the pretty pictures but as soon as I'm able to give them a read I'll report back to you. Then a short trip to Dave Thomas' stall where I procured three packs of  Perry Miniatures Scourers which will be converted into Mounted Crossbowmen for my Swiss army (more on this later) and a couple of packs of Helmeted Halberdiers/Pikemen, Swiss Heads and Swiss Halberdiers Marching. All these models will have some minor conversion work done so I have as much variation as is possible in my phalanx. This task will be made a lot easier by the purchase of a box of the Perry Continental Mercenaries which provide no end of conversion possibilities. It also ties in nicely with my promise to myself to teach myself to sculpt this year- and probably into the next! :O)

Oh, I actually nearly forgot to mention that we won Best Demo/Dusplay Game which came as a really big surprise!! None of use were expecting this and it wasn't a part of our agenda for the day.  A lovely bonus. After Simon and I collected the award from Jason Salkey that played Rifleman Harris in Sharpe (a bit of a surreal moment I can tell you!!) it seemed only right that Simon should take home the trophy as all the scenery was his and I think it was that won the day for us in the eyes of the judges.

My thanks to Nick, George and Nigel for helping play the battle through to it's (almost) conclusion. Thanks to Dave Lanchester for organising the space amongst other things and special thanks to Simon (Painterman) for supplying most of the miniatures as well as the outstanding scenery and terrain.

A fantastic day of wargaming combined with meeting folk that share the same passion for Late Medieval warfare as me.... what more could you want? OK, some dice might have been an idea :O)