Carronade Wargame Show, Falkirk, 2025- Part 1

It's been well over ten years since I last visited Carronade wargames show at Falkirk of which I have many fond memories including winning a painting comp or two. Or at least getting prizes, as I say, it's been a while. It was my mate who suggested that we go, make a weekend of it and see how things are nowadays- we were not to be disappointed.

In an era, post pandemic, it is seemingly the small and middle shows who seem to have suffered the most. People are less likely to make the trip to a show post SARS CoV 2, a fact we can't ignore, but I think there is more to it and I will touch on that in the following article/stream of wargaming consciousness! 

As a wee note, please forgive me but I cannot names all the games and clubs responsible for putting them on. This is just not as easy as it used to be back in the day when my energy levels were bursting through my skin! Where I could I have taken the time to take a picture of the name of the club so I could cross reference it with the list of games on the Carronade website. any mistakes or omissions are entirely my own fault and do not reflect on the clubs who put these great games together. Rather, look at it as the beginning of my dodderiness! 

NB. All the images are clickable, simply right click then "Open in New tab" and you will get them full file. They have been edited down, mostly to 1600 pixels wide or high, just to keep things from getting silly with loading times etc. 

Years ago I was lucky enough to witness Colin's highly creative "imaginations" wargames at SESWC (Edinburgh Wargames Club). Very "Boys Own" in style with the same fun ethos of the comics. Overall, quite quirky and "out there". This game was no different and was a real treat as well as a being wee burst of nostalgia. I believe Colin, Dave, Andrew and Bill (plus others) now game on their own away from SESWC under the banner of the Gothenburg Gamers. I'll leave out the part where my backpack took out the artists easel displaying the game info! Embarrassing, it was! 

Gothenburg Gamers:

Victorian Undersea Adventure 28mm PP Game

Tyneside Wargames Club:

1st Battle of Polotsk 1812, Russians v Franco Bavarian 15mm Demo Game.

Supreme Littleness Designs:

I did have a rather long conversation with Michael regarding his designs and business, bought  his Desert For Ruins kit for £15 which I am still waiting to appear in the hands of the postman. more on that when I get the model.

Claymore Castings:

Hands down the best Early Hundred Years War miniatures by a royal mile. David and co are also working on expanding their ranges which is fantastic news for me- for so many years I wrote letters, then emails begging my favourite sculptors to produce such and such a Late Medieval range, always to be disappointed. Not so now! I'm going to be working on some Italians or Poles (Bohemians) very soon- I cannot quite make up my mind as to what exactly as I feel spoiled for choice and that is quite rare in Late Medieval wargaming!

Battle of Tewkesbury, The Immortals:

As you might have gleaned form my last words this game was a huge hit for me. It was not just the size, (which was huge!) but the attention to detail, the scope of trying to define the battle etc and, of course, there is the fun of playing in such a beautiful game! One day! "A York! A York!"

Glasgow Games Group

Just seeing the banner let loose a lot of emotion on my part. My very sadly departed mate, Spencer, had a great influence on the G3 Group of gamers. He will always be missed and always in my heart. 

The Grumpy Goblin Wargames Club

What a Wastelander Post Apocolyptic PP Game

Aberdeen Wargames Club:

Sengoku Jidai! What is not to like. I feel Warlord's Hail Caesar's supplements are getting very popular. They stand a good chance of getting more folk into the hobby, so as much as I have a love/hate relationship with Warlord, it's great to see the company influencing folk to try new things. not that for one moment I'm saying Aberdeen Wargames Club are new to the hobby! Far from it!

The Alamo

Targe, Kirriemuie Wargames show, Saturday 1st November:

28mm Samurai Demo Game

When living in Edinburgh, I used to visit this show religiously. It was always great and always a very social event. Yep, I really miss this one too. 

Glasgow and District Wargames Society:

Russo Ottoman War 1768, 28mm PP Game

I did not have time to take pictures of all the games, sorry guys, it's hard to do so and catch up with folk after not seeing some for over a decade!

And finally, one humungous apology to my good friend Colin Spiers who I walked past a few times, didn't recognise him. In the words of Shakespeare, "Shame, shame, and unperdable shame!". I hope you can forgive me Colin, there is nothing i would have liked more than to catch up! If it ever happens again, please poke me in the ribs!

Early Byzantine Isaurian Light Infantry?

I'm trying to figure out what miniatures to use for Isaurian Light Infantry for my Early Byzantine army; insofar as I can see, things are hazy to say the least. According to my WAB V.2 AoA V.2 army lists (yeah, I know!) they were Light Infantry but this is seemingly not the case not so when consulting The Strategikon though there are hints. This is obviously problem. 

So where did the Isaurian soldiery originate from? Well, as wargames folk law would have us believe the Isaurians were depending on what you read were in some way related to The Daylamites who inhabited the mountainous region of Daylamān (modern-day Gilan, Iran). Rather, it would appear they came from the Isaurian Mountains in Anatolia (modern-day Turkey). Obviously, with any human population we would expect gene flow between the two populations given their close-ish regional geographic locations, but, as this is not going to stand out on the wargames table I am (warily) unconcerned in terms of appearance.

Daylamite Warrior (In Sassanian service):

I still remain in a wee bit of a pickle as the only visual representation (unless I missed it in WRG, Armies of the Dark Ages, Heath) is from the very good Justinian's Wars, Belisarius, Narses and the Reconquest of the West,Roy BossMontvert Publications (see blow):

Isaurian Warrior:

The Montvert book describes the Isaurian Warrior as follows:

"Isaurians are distinguished from regular units and perhaps served as distinct units. This man is based on the figure at the foot of the cross in the Rabbula Gospels and has patterned oriental trousers and light shoes. He carries an issue sword and an Isaurian javelin, which could be used for throwing or thrusting. He could carry lead weighted darts in his belt, as specified by The Strategikon. It is likely that some Isaurians had bows (slings in my list!) and that the leaders could have worn mail shirts. Isaurians were valued fighters, but were quite likely to betray their post if unpaid (as they did at Rome). Persian armies possessed similar units of Daylamites, the later Dailamis." (again, more possible confusion between the two distinct warrior cultures!)

So, the fun part. what to use for miniatures in 28mm? It may be possible to buy plastics, convert from various kits etc then have them snap on me so not going to happen! Instead I'm going to look for metal alternatives, maybe even do the old school conversion thing.

I've have found what I consider to be the closest models to the speculative image of the Isaurian above and irony piled upon irony, they come from the Footsore Miniatures Daylami Infantry from their Armies of the Caliphates range. These miniatures are, at the very least, from a century later and two of the miniatures have solid one piece/single piece helmets which are anachronistic. I may have to paint them in a lather dyed caps (of which I have zero evidence for!).

Footsore Daylami Infantry:

After all of that, I got to thinking; maybe I'm overthinking this? Maybe the Isaurians were just regular units capable of performing light infantry roles on the battlefield or in skirmishing? This is probably the most likely explanation. The Footsore Byzantine Spearmen and Byzantine Javelinmen jumped out at me! These miniatures would do very nicely as either regular Byzantine Spearmen and Byzantine Javelinmen or Psiloi with throwing spears and javelins.

Footsore Early Byzantine Javelinmen:

Footsore Early Byzantine Spearmen:

Not being able to make up my mind about the appearance of the typical Isaurian soldier in the armies of Belisarius and Narses the only thing to do was to do both! I will put together a formed Isaurian Light Infantry unit based on the Footsore Daylami miniatures and a couple of Psiloi type units based on the Footsore Late Roman/Early Byzantine range.

Inconclusion, a pedantic look at future additions to the army or an abject lesson in how to talk oneself "back to the drawing board." LOL. I'll leave it for you to decide! 

Next, probably Lombard Heavy Cavalry in Early Byzantine service or the even more confusing/controversial The Heruli.