The Encounter at Fiddler's Rise October 1469

Another thin month at the Tantobie Warfare and Tactical Society with only three memeber available for this month's game. Nil Desperandum however the three of us amnaged a fine little 40mm Wars of the Roses punch up with my collection of models in that scale and period.
 It had been a while since these last saw the light of day though I had managed to add a couple of extra figures to the collection.

The battlefield, Fiddlers Rise top right Yorkists on the right of the picture 

Lancastrian troops 

Some of the Yorkists

 Most of these are from my own Romanoff Miniatures range of late medievals - including a good few conversions the cavalry are mostly Irregular and the guns - two are Hinchliffe /.Foremost the so called Heavy Culverin in the Landsknecht range and the large bombard a scratchbuilt item. The few cavalry were Irregular with a single "Mindstslker" model on a Sash and Saber horse that I picked up secondhand and rebased  a few weeks ago.

More of the Yorkists on Fiddler's Rise. 

 Rules used were basically Anthony Clipsom's set "Foray" with  some local amendments to add in gunpowder and changing his metric measurements back to inches simply because I don't see Medieval games in millimetres as that system had not yet been invented !  The rules are simple D6 based but have enough flavour to make them interesting. Simple mechanisms and none of the  farting about seemingly so desired by many "games players"  so decisions are left to the players rather than the rule set. For this kind of large skirmish - small battle they work very well especially as they leave room for the Umpire to fiddle about and make the players think a bit. The table was a bit smaller than our usual being only five feet or so square and terrain was as simple as possible - wooden blocks under the cloth with my venerable collection of Britain's trees for the woods on top of Fiddlers Rise.

Lancastrians.

The cavalry charge. 

So to the action. The Yorkist faction was take by Mechanical Shaun and the Lancastrians by Andrew the Tekkie. I allowed both sides free deployment - simply to see what each would do  and at first both sides played it defensively, Andrew scoring an early success with a flukey double to destroy the Yorkist gun. This caused Shaun to advance and arrows  flew  but without major damage to either side, though the Lancastrian artillery did  cause a few casualties. Then the Yorkist cavalry charged  a unit of Lancastrian archers- in Percy livery but under Oxford.s banner(see what happens when you give free deployment!)  Andrews dice rolling was to say the least awful - several hist but not a single kill and the horse crashed into the archers who then failed their post melee morale and broke and fled . The horse pursued and overan the lighter Lancastrian guns and disappeared off the table.

A melee- the growling began next turn. 

 In other parts of the field honours were more or less even. A Lancastrian charge was held- just- and , though neither side broke the Lancastrians retired both sides then growled at each other, In the centre Shaun had kept his heavily armoured men at arms together and these advance upon the Lancastrian centre which looked decidedly unnerved and began to pull back.. However the Yorkists - who were slightly outnumbered overall- did not fancy assaulting  up hill  especially without cavalry support and something of a shortage of archers. As I went to the bar to get them in the fighting died down amid mild slurping of fine ale as neither side had the numbers or morale to finish the job.

As usual our thanks to Landlady Jean for excellent Beef Butties and fine pints of Consett Brewery Pale Ale.  Now off to paint some more of these for another game next year. The next meeting of our group will be  sometime in November. Don't know what period yet - therein lies the interest!

The Battle of Brassicthorpe 10 June 1467- the Durham show.

So yes it was all done and dusted and all went well. No more Wars of the Roses for a while.
 What AM I moaning on about?
 The Durham Wargames Group Open Day of course.
 We had a full turnout of T.W.A.T.S for the game a total of 7 members and a couple of visitors..
 The table provided by the DWG was splendid giving us 10 feet by 6 of playing space plus a 2 feet by 6 space at one end for all the bits and pieces that accrue on a game  that must not be on the playing space.

General view of the table early in the day- Yorkists at the top  behind the hedge line

Despite the fact that the game was to use 40mm figures the actual building were all "28mm"- though technically those I had scratch built- around half of those on the table -were to 1/50th scale. Tobe honest this was a bit of a stopgap as I'd simply not had the time to built a medieval town in 1/43rd scale which would have been accurate as to scaling but , very possibly, would not have looked half as good as the result we had on the day. The rest of the buildings were old Hudson and Allen foam models- almost unobtainable today but still looking miles better than many of those lazer cut flatpack things that you see about the place.
Models were mostly my own- the ex Brook Miniatures 40mm range now available from Old Glory UK
http://www.oldgloryuk.com/wars-of-the-roses-and-late-medieval/43/178/443/455

Others were by Irregular Miniatures and the wagon by Doug Miller.
 Painting was either by me or James Main.

The Earl of Oxford's Lancastrian - arrive late but begin their advance. 

Rules were a slightly adapted  version of Tony Clipsom's set "Foray"  which gave us far more flexibility that Lion Rampant- which it was suggested on another blog  was what we were using..

The game itself was a close affair with the advantage swinging first one way then the other. First the Lancastirans- defending the town had a hard time for Yorkist archery. Then as more Lancatrian troops arrived the balance swung a little. Lancastrian artillery then broke a Yorkist unit- which refused to rally for some time- some truly Bum dice there Jim. It was so rough for the Yorkists that they had no choice but to charge the Lancastrian battle line but in the ensuing melee they were vindicated - 2 Lancastian banners falling and the units breaking immediately. Some Truly Bum dice there too Liam.
 At this point with their battle line in tatters the Lancastrians conceded.

The Lancastrian artillery lie in wait. 

 There were just over 170 40mm figures on the table so it was not huge. Nevertheless there was enough interest for a total of 8 players of and on throughout the day- which of course was the point.

Yorkist Men -at Arms failing to rally. Fuzzy hand of God possibly swearing !! 

As for the show itself it was as you would expect for a small event. Friendly - sometimes a little crowded and good fun.
 I actually spent some cash! I bought some more 40mm Medivals from Irregular which will go to add to the Wars of the Roses forces Pavisiers and cavalry which my range does not have. They blend in pretty well in terms of size.
 And Guess what? I bought a book !  An account of Benedict Arnold's invasion of Canada at the beginning of the AWI. Published in 1901 and only a tenner- why would I not.

So as always a good day had by all. Assuming we are invited we will be back to the Durham show next year- and yes it does very much look as if it will be the only event in the North-East I attend- of which more in a later post- but nevertheless I do enjoy this event. We will have to start thinking about next year's game.

Well done Durham Wargames Group.

Now a break form painting Wars of the Roses.........

In the home stretch.

Well here we are in the last few days before the Durham Wargames Group Open Day  next Saturday. The last few figures need to be finished but all the clever stuff has been done and the scenario is almost devised. Needless to say silly phrases(in the context of a show demo game) like "quick and easy" and "fun to play(especially if you have the mental capacity of a backward haddock)" are not a major part of the lexicon here. Having said that however Tony Clipsom's set Foray are not exactly mentally stretching either, they are simple  enough but do have a good bit of flavour, repay period tactics and yet despite all of that should qualify to be "fun"  without that dreaded epithet meaning  "intellectually vacant" as so often seems to be the case these days.
 Now some of you may feel that I'm attaching and unwonted importance to the Durham Wargames Group Open Day . After all it is a pretty small show as shows go and I'm not even *officially" trading there.

Banners and Standards. All of these will appear in the game. Most are hand painted except the 2 superb cloth printed one by John Hutchinson.  Standard bearers are mostly conversions  from basic figures requiring head and arm swaps.

 There are two sets of reasons for this
 Group  1/.
 It is a fun  show which I and the rest of the T.W.A,T.S enjoy.
We have been invited to do games there for around 10 years or a bit less now so always try to  put on a decent effort. See previous post. The D.W.G. always make us feel welcome.
 It is the only show we do as a group.
 (Though we did once put on a Naval game at the Border Reivers  show at very short notice. I'm still unsure if any of the current "committee" noticed)
 For those of our group who work the Old Glory stand it is a sort of pressure off "busmans holiday" where we can wear our punters hats for a day.

The wagon is a Doug Miller piece and is a bugger to put together. The 3 Courrour cavalry are by Irregular and are rather nice. 

Group 2/.
It is quite possible that Durham Wargames Group Open Day will be the ONLY event  I do in the North-East this year.
I am no longer the sponsor of the Border Reivers event.  Earlier this year I received a somewhat brusque letter from the new committee telling me they had "terminated the relationship".This has been on the cards for a while but the letter was still an unpleasant surprise as my efforts to talk to them(at the Derby show and others) had met with stonewalling despite their accusation that I no longer gave  any input .... Hmmm still trying to work that one out. .
 However I don't mind the fact of no longer being the sponsor  that is their decision,though the matter could have been handled better
 So far this year I have not received an invitation to the event and I have NEVER in 26 years gone to any show I don't receive and invitation to- in other words I don't ask to be invited , never have never will. It is not  appropriate.
Now if they choose not to invite me fine- they tell me in said letter I can have a free stand- if the show goes ahead- for "past services"  However last year was hardly worth getting a van for even as sponsor so if I am invited I will have to take a view on it but if I'm not well that's £250.00  Van Hire Diesel and crew wages I don't have to shell out. So either way I shan't lose any sleep.

Close up of one of the Irregular cavalry figures. Whilst a bit rough in the casting they do repay careful painting . This particular figure comes with some head variation and is very useful indeed. So much so I've ordered some more to be collected at the show. 

Now none of this matters in the bigger picture of our hobby except to say that I'll continue to go to the Durham Wagames Group Open Day as long as the continue to invite us.
 If it is the only show we do in the North East that's fine too. We will still enjoy it.
 Maybe the rest are not worth the effort.

Blue Pigs on my Fingers !!

 Having to put the various badges on the liveried retainers has made me realise why I hate decals!
 Now of the contingents I've chosen for this game 4 of the 6 I happen to have decals for which I aquired when I  bought up the Brooks Miniatures 40mm Wars of the Roses range so I have
 Ragged staffs for Warwick
 Red Griffins for Clifford
 White Lions for Mowbray
 and
 Blue Boars for Oxford-
 What a bloody fiddle and faff to get them in the right place in the right order. The dammed things stick to everything - especially fingers-  but the place you want 'em. But it is done- all but 4 blue pigs for Oxford- how many of them will end up on my fingers.....again.
 Still it will be worth it. Looking forward to seeing this lot all laid out  on the 10 feet by 6 table on Saturday.
 Come along and see us- and the other games etc at the Durham Wargames Group Open day Vane tempest Gilesgate Durham.
 It will be a good day.

Contingent upon being finished in time

My next gig so to speak is the Durham show on June 10th. Now Old Glory UK don't trade there as there simply isn't any space and frankly the show - whilst very enjoyable is just too small. So as we have done for the past several years we- that is the Tantobie Warfare and Tactical Society- will be running a demo game.
 Unlike many other demo crews around the country we will be running a different game from last year. if you recall last year Jim the Builder ran a 10mm Seven years War battle with over 2000 little 10mm dudes on the table.
 Indeed as I try to recall the games we have run at this show in the past I get quite a list of different periods and sixes.
 Off the top of my head I recall
 40mm American Civil War-possibly twice 2 different games including one where I deliberately changed the rules every few moves and made the players change sides.
28mm English Civil War
10mm Seven Years War- twice 2 different games
1/600th Russo- Japanese War naval.
28mm War of Austrian Succession.
15mm Modern- "not the Gulf War at all".
 and this year
40mm Wars of the Roses
Many but possibly not all of the games are recorded somewhere on this blog - which is now longer than Ben Hur and War and Peace put together- now THAT is a truly scary thought!

The Earl of Oxford's standard and badge banner.

Not bad for a group that currently only has half-a dozen members and has never reached double figures-well not for very long . If pressed we could probably add 15mm WW2- in at least 2 different theatres and maybe 20mm Cold War goes hot and 15mm Ancients- though this last might take more work just sorting out how many Greeks Shaun and Jim have between them!
 Now no mention is made of rules or "games" here as we would tend to tailor the rules we used to the period and scenario- especially if we are doing a public demo. At least one of the crew would be a dedicated talking head- usually me but all of the crew are capable of, and will talk to interested parties - unlike so many demos I see at shows where you are often ignored and- extremely -shouldered out of the way (that would be a pillock in a flying helmet at Derby a year or so back- tosser... I let him live.)

The Liveried contingent of the Earl of Oxford.

Equally there will always be someone at the table unlike more than one game I saw at Partizan last weekend, though to be fair most of the games were manned all the time and of course, being Partixan I saw none of those "introverts R us " board/card/boutique/skirmish/usually sci-fant games that are sometimes a feature of smaller show(not so far at Durham though) seemingly put on by clubs who just want to play the same game in a different room from their usual club night. Not really appropriate for a show that punters- however few or many- pay to get into. If that kind of crap gets to be the majority game type at shows, then goodbye shows. I don't care if they are "fun to play" ,  A bunch of mumbling unwashed around a 2 foot square board littered with cards is hardly impressive or inspiring and maybe a little hard on the olfactory organs as at York. So we don't do that because it is self centred and pathetic  and if that is being judgemental then I am JUDGE DREDD! .
(I was going to say Judge Jeffries but you have to have read a book or two to know who he was)

Oxford and Northumberland with artillery support

 Nevertheless I am quite proud of our little group and what we can do with just a little effort. So as always I am quite looking forward to the Durham show.
 As for the game my personal target was 120 finished singly  based 40mm figures plus a couple of guns. I have exceeded that by a little with a fortnight to go and some blokes still on the painting table. Jim the Builder will add around 30-40 more figures. Rules will be deliberately simple - but hopefully not simplistic and the table action should actually resemble a 15th century encounter. (so not rampant then) Basically the rules will be an altered version of Tony Clipsom's set Foray but with Imperial measurement instead of metric- somehow it does not seem right for medieval England to be in Millimetres !
Now as inn previous years you can order stuff for me to bring to the show- pay on the day or previously  your choice- though I won't have card facilities on the day as I'm not trading.
 Contact me on info@oldgloryuk.com

See you at the show.

The Next few weeks ......

After a pretty successful Carronade in Falkirk last weekend (I do like that show) you might think I'd be due a bit of time off. No chance We are at Partizan in Newark- that's Notts in the UK  in case Transatlantic readers were wondering if they had missed something in New Jersey !
After that, a bare 2 weeks later comes the Durham Wargames Group Open Day on June 10th.
 I'm not really trading there -though anyone who wants stuff bringing can email me on info@oldgloryuk.com - save yourself a bit of postage and possibly take advantage of the "6 for5" deal.

Troops from the retinue of John Mowbray Duke of Norfolk. Mostly a Yorkist.

 The main thrust of the day for me will however, be the 40mm Wars of the Roses game Jim the Builder and I are putting together  It will be in the smaller of the 2 min rooms at the show and is growing nicely. The photos show the latest figures I've painted and Jim reckons to have around 40 figures finished by the time of the show which should bring the forces (they are not large enough to be "armies")  to a little under a hundred a side ... maybe.

A couple of individual armigerious gentlemen wearing their coats of arms. Just because I fancied painting them.

Of course one of the madder asides with the Wars of the Roses in that splendid baordgame Kingmaker which manages to capture the feel of the period without being too pedantic. It is the only boardgame I own and is a speldid basis for a campaign. However you can bet that during a wargame of the WOTR someone will begin to utter phrases such as "Mowbray to Framlingham" or Percy to Alnwick" in the same way that some chaps utter lines from Zulu during a Zulu war game.... sad isn't it?

So the plan is for a colourful game at the show- come along it is a small show but worth a look. Details in the picture above.

Why waste time and money on this dross?

Now on to an entirely different matter. I have read the various reviews of the Perry's Travel Battle on TMP and on a couple of the blogs I follow and I still can't see the point other than to make God's Anointed Perry's  some more shekels.  The whole thing is so insipid and brain free. It might be great if you are eight- I recall having a game  called Battle of the Little Big Horn or something that was on a squared board with roughly 40mm plastic US cavalry and Indians. As I recall the figures were even coloured in so already it looked better than this latest effort. I doubt the box it came in was much bigger either but I might be wrong there. The Perry thing look a dammed sight more unattractive with it little Monopoly houses and 2 legged horses.  If you want easy to move about and ready to play there are shedloads of more attractive boardgames out there- and I speak as a non- boardgamer, I've seen interesting looking games with very very pretty counters and maps that beat the shyte out of a couple of gridded plastic squares with a few monopoly houses on - sometimes for  far less money and with more options too.
 If you like  model soldiers in your wargames then TB is pretty much the antithesis of what you are about. for rules dudes the rules seem simplistic to the point of childishness- again great if your are eight(or perhaps if you are 38 and missing being 8) but not really for grown ups.
All this nonsense about  being able to travel with it- see the raised eyebrows of those pert and efficient   girls behind reception in hotels I use as you grasp your Travel Battle box with your luggage (Too mean to watch the porn channel like everyone else is what she is thinking !!!!)  Nah leave me with some shreds of credibility......

But joking apart I really can't see the point. There are far better ways of  having a travelling wargame-though why you need to I still can't fathom-  than this collection of plastikrap.. I wonder which bunch of fanboys will be the first to try to pass it off as a demo at a show- that will be yet another nadir

Villainous Saltpetre

So the 40mm Wars of the Roses project marches on.  Figures are actually coming off the painting table at a pace slightly faster than glacial. Not only that but a second "comedy bombard"  and crew are now finished so there will be one for each side and perhaps, if time permits, more than one as I have parts for 2 more including a double barrelled "cart of war" which should be amusing ...assuming I get it finished.

The first "comedy bombard"  made from an Old Glory OXTG1  Super-heavy gun- with scratch built  carriage and mantlet.

 2 of the guns are identical- being the Hincliffe 25mm  Landsknecht Siege gun- in the foremost range. Now frankly nice model though it is it is not what it says on the tin- being on a 15th century "burgundian" type carriage which had largely been superseded  by guns with trunnions by the 1520's  or so . Nevertheless it makes a cracking 15th century "medium" gun for 40mm,
 The crew- like the Bombard are all minor conversions from  my 40mm Wars of the Roses range- the ex- Brooks Miniatures range which I now own and have added to. There are now roughly 30 different figures in the range.

The other completed gun. That Hinchliffe piece looks just right for 40mm

Now if I'd been a boring "samey-gamey" type I could have done Wars of the Roses in 25/28mm just the same old same old, after all it is easy there are plenty of good ranges about including the Old
Glory one and I used to have some 15mm Essex WOTR  but then doing things the expected way has never had any appeal for me - at least not since I packed in competitive gaming in the early 80s.
 No the point here is to present something a little differently. After all boredom is an ever present threat when all you do is play  pillock Rampant or whatever skirmish game is flavour ofthe week this week.

More Roses- More Thorns.

Since the last post in the "Battles" department I've been  bashing out more 40mm Wars of the Roses gear and will be doing so for at least another month.
 So it seemed appropriate that our April game should be another go at this period to get our heads round it for the Durham Show at the beginning of June.
 Thus it was that 4 T.W.A.T.S. gathered at our usual pub  for the game last Saturday..
 We toyed with the idea of Lion Rampant- but you know my views on that and after looking through the book Andrew the Tekkiie joined in my disdain as did Shaun and Jeff - the others present.
 So it was back to Tony Clipsom's set Foray which we had used last time and quite liked- though it had the odd problem- this time we'd test a little more deeply.

I thought I'd do an atmospheric black and white shot of the table laid out before the action began. Very featherstone . Actually the only shaft of sunlight that day caught me at the wrong moment. Yorkists at the far end. 

So , after a bit of dice rolling Floating Jeff and Mechanical Shaun took the Yorkist forces and decided to defend. They were outnumbered but did have the advantage of villainous saltpetre in the form of my almost scratch built  comedy bombard and converted crew. Andrew the Tekkie took the more numerous  Lancastrians.
 He had to attack  over the town ditch which would impede progress and was declared to be "verie muche filled with  the noisome shytte and rubbishe of ye towne" . Or he could take the bridge and keep out of the poo!.
 Longbowmen immediately searched for targets- at a range of a meter in these rules and arrows flew tick and fast.

The Yorkist position showing the come dy bombard and rubber rivers that don't lie down! 

 The "comedy Bombard" ended up being pretty effective - despite all the obstacles I could put in its way. Shaun deftly avoided throwing any doubles so did not explode and managed to actually fire two rather effective shots removing a total of 4 casualties from the Earl of Oxfords retinue which halted their advance for some time. In the Lancastrian centre Lord Clifford company continued its advance and on the left The earl of Northumberland showered Warwick with arrows and caused him to retire into the town- the way was clear to cross. Would Northumerland's men deliberately put feet into the  unwholesome semi- solids of the town ditch?

Yorkist archers on the brigde- not getting their boots covered in poo!
Warwick's company on the far side.

 As it happened they never got the chance Warwick rallied his men with much shouting began to return to the ditch. However that was not the worst for the House of Lancaster. Clifford's company in the centre came under fire again and this time it was too much after a truly bum die roll-  yes a 1- they broke and with his centre gone Andrew conceded.

Warwick.s men rallying in the town.

Archery  became the dominant feature of the game very quickly. Longbows are deadly . Too deadly we felt, so after a bit of discussion we changed firing from D6 base to D10 and Longbows immediately became useless ! . On a D6 base shooting was, or at least seemed, for more effective than in the previous game- even at long range with only a 6 needed for a hit- and plate armoured men needing 2 hits.
 After more discussion we decided to put armour based saving throws into the next game- though not for hits caused by gunpowder weapons. Ranges seem about right though somehow the metric distances don't "feel" right. This is daft I know but a medieval game should have medieval measurement so I'm going to convert the rules to inches. I'll also make a few other modifications but I don't want to change the basic simplicity of the system.. In many ways I'd rather roll more D6 so it should average out rather than fewer but different dice at the behest  of a more complex set of mechanisms..
 Any how that is the theory.......

Clifford's company moves up with Northumberland in support.

The same place in the following turn - BUMMER shouts Andrew as Cliffords men break and  he has nothing left but empty space.

The next outing for these lads will be the Durham Wargames Group open day on June 10th. The game will be bigger with roughly half as many troops again as were on this table and also more villainous saltpetre- yes I have more  comedy bombards .
 Old Glory don't have a trade stand there but as always anybody who wants to avoid paying postage - and collect gear at the show should contact me  at info@oldgloryuk.com.
 Mind you I've gt 2 shows I'm trading at in the coming month Carronade -Falkirk on May 13th and Partizan on May 21st - so a crowded month with no time for any games .
C'est la guerre!

Roses with Thorns.

Well that is  the hundred up. One hundred finished 40mm Wars of the Roses figure  finished and based. I've organised these in 6 "retinues" to wit Edward IV Warwick the Kingmaker, The Earl of Suffolk for the Yorkists and The Earl of Northumberland, Lord Clifford and the Earl of Oxford for the Lancastrians. Each retinue has a core of men in livery coats to which armoured men -at -arms and unliveried billmen and archers can be added as the scenario dictates.
 More are of course on the painting table- including conversion for a couple of gun crews.
 I'm enjoying this little aside- which by June and the Durham show will be a good bit larger. I quite like producing unique models- even though I'm no sculptor.

The Earl of Oxford's "Star with Streams"- though the precise appearance is somewhat conjectural.

There are now a fair number of conversions and chop jobs within the collection..

The first few of Suffolk's liveried men. Archer on the painting table.

Being in metal the parts are a good bit less fragile that plastic- larger too being 40mm . Makes life easier- very little hunting about on the floor for bits you have pinged off when cutting them from the sprue.

A small skirmish over a palisade with a mantlet. I built the latter for a still under construction gun. The palisades are by Irregular-supposedly for 40mm but a bit small. I may have to make some taller ones. 

So the project marches on. I've a 40mm waggon to build. That promises to be a challenge.

Small action between York and Lancaster

Yesyerday saw the gathering of the T.W.A.T.S. for the March meeting at our usual haunt and watering hole. As I mentioned in the previous post the game was to be a 40mm Wars of the Roses encounter.
 I decided to use Tony Clipsom's "Foray" ruleset for the reasons outlined in the previous post.
 I've concluded that  my biggest bitch with the whole rampant system - the 2 versions I have being Lion Rampant and Pikmans Lament- is organisational  rather than the actual "game mechanisms". But having said that I realise as I type that in those 2 sets the silly non-historical  organisations are PART of the game mechanism  which for me makes a total non- starter when those organisations are as ridiculous (in historical terms) as the "Rampant" ones are. Obviously medieval small unit organisation - laregly decimal . The English for example had under officers called Vintenars (leader of 20) and cantanars (leaders of 100) and of course there were companies of 20 or 50 in other armies as well as the smaller "organisations" of lower retinues- so the base everything around 6 and 12 whilst saying almost in the same breath that one  model soldier is one man is of course total cobblers. The same basic premise holds for lament and no 17th century organisations were NOT based on 6 and 12  though it holds slightly better here than in the medieval period since quite often  in the ECW a "file" was actually 6 men- though sometimes it was 8 or 10 men to the file. Of course that did not always obtain in other armies.

Shaun site behind his Yorkist forces drawn up on their hill. 

So putting away various forms of Rampant we move on to Foray which  is far more flexible organisationally speaking and yet overall is about the same complexity level  having quite a retro feel to it.
 Present for the game were 4 members Myself, as Umpire. Theatrical Steve , Mechanical Shaun and Andrew the Tekkie. Table set up was two roughly parallel ridges running more or less diagonally across the table separated by a valley with a road running through it down to a river which as it happened never featured in the game.  The Yorkists under Shaun drew up in one body on the larger and higher of the two ridges.. The Lancastrians were in 2 bodies of roughly equal size one commanded by Steve and the other by Andrew- Andrews force was drawn up on the smaller ridge and Steve's in the grounds of the small manor house.

Part of the Lancastrian array under Steve. 

Along Archery dual  ensued after it bacame clear that Shaun was nailed to his ridge. He concentrated on Steve's troops . This allowed Anrew to shoot him up a bit without relpy and in the end some truly bum dice meant that he lost about half of his archers with comparatively small loss to the Lnacastrians.

The other Lancastrian wing under Andrew.

The Hand of Shaun - descends from the Heavens to advance for the crunch. 

Now the Lancastrians advanced and having little choice the Yorkists moved towards  Steve's contingent.. A fierce melee in the centre resulted in Shaun's leader taking a hit but refusing to yeild. However morale results fored a halt on the Lancastrians so Shaun broke contact as  his right retreted andAndrew came up to outflank him. With only his left wing more or less intact - but a little outflanked Shaun conceded the game.

Headless theatrical Steve ponders as the Yorkists advance. 

 The outflanking move goes in - Job done for the Lancastrians. 

Now this was a pretty short game by our standards lasting a little over 2 hours of actual play- with breaks for hot Pork Butties and chips- and beer and an overlong set up time simply because I was winging it and had prepared nothing as I expected to be playing in an AWI game. However Jim had been called to work at the last minute I was suddenly in the chair.
 Despite this all want well and with a bit of tweaking these rules could be really tasty. Indeed there may be other versions about by now as I got these from a  Yahoo group some few years ago and the file says "test version 1.1 "
 Nevertheless I'm much encouraged by this game and want another bash with more troops.
 This will happen at the Durham show on June 11th this year for certain- but maybe we'll get another game in before then.

Rampant Foray?

 I've been dropped in it at very close to the last minute so instead of being 15mm AWI the next T.W.A.T.S  game will be 40mm Wars of the Roses  That will be tomorrow. First time out for my 40mm collection in this period and a good chance to test 2 alternative sets of rules. Even if I do have to wing it a bit.
 Tony Clipsom's "Foray" and- though I hate to say it "Lion Rampant."
 Now on reading my preference is for Foray as it actually assumes you are an adult and has at least some flavour of small scale medieval warfare. They are simple but not simplistic and very open ended. Unit sizes are elastic and there is no straitjacket of a points system. Almost the very opposite of Rampant. They may actually take some thought.

The first of Lord Clifford's retinue.

 I've been adding figures to this collection on and off for a while so that now I'm just a few short of 100 finished models with more on the painting table.

Edward IV retinue- well the first batch anyway. More to do of these.

I'm pretty chuffed with how they are coming out. iI have the Earl of Suffolk's men on the go too. Not having to stick to a hidebound set of rules means I can do whatever size units and groups I like rather than the 6 or 12 of Lion Rampant. Flexibility is the key.

These chaps will of course be added to each retinue as needed as leaders or characters.

So we will see what tomorrow brings.  I'll let you know of course.

Close up of the various Knights and Men-At Arms. 

Brushes finally moving- well a little anyway ...

It has been a thin time for getting figures painted recently-.Work has seen to that . Busy busy and YES gentle reader  after a day filling orders and casting and sundry other toy soldier related jobs you get sick of the little lead gits so often do not feel like picking up a paintbrush to finish off some of your own gear.
 However here are a few pics of some recently finished- and some re based- 40mm Wars of the Roses. Eagle eyed readers may note that  I recently added 6 new figures to this range. 2 Archers and 4 more Men- at Arms- the latter fully plated up so to speak so that the range now has around 30 different figures in it.

the beginnings of the Percy contingent..

I now have around 70 of the models finished with more to come- but around half still need re- basing on those natty wooden bases from Warbases- the ones he does not call "Flames of War" bases at all no indeed. I don't use 'em for that popular but patronising rule set anyhow so don't care.

More men under the Percy banner,

As usual I don't make armies- or even smaller forces to fit rule sets as this narrows and limits possibilities within a given period. Period being far far more important than the opinions of a rule writer- unless on those rare occasions when he knows his period. So I'm looking at Tony Clipsom's set "Foray"  here though the easy option of Lion Rampart- medieval free medievals  may get used for a quick simple and  possibly brain free starting point.

A couple of lost blokes  in FdwardIV 's  livery find their way into the Earl of Northumberland contingent. 

As for other happenings - well Salute beckons so I doubt I'll get much more painting done soon.. Ah well  if you can't take a joke ......

Some Fine Painting.

As you may have worked out I like wellpainted figures- of whatever size. I've never quite grasped the idea that figure painting is a chore that gets in the way of the dice rolling. - If that is the case then why use miniatures in the first place? After all there are easier ways to make gaming counters- bit of wood or cardboard- maybe plastic if its a "boutique game" of limited scope that  you are playing.
 So when a chaps send me photos of his stuff of the quality of these then I'm going to notice .
The Gentleman is question is Ardi van der Heijden of the Netherlands and No he doesn't paint to commission - I asked him - he reckons he's a bit on the slow siide !
 Here are some pictures of his  Livonian Teutonic Kinights army of the 15th century. Using Old Glory with some foundry and Perry intermixed

Bohemian  mercenary Knights mostly from the Dracula and the Turkish Fronitier range.

Order Infantry- mostly Old Glory Wars of the Roses  or Dracula an the Turkish Frontier ranges- with some conversions.

Close up - Fine work indeed.

More of Ardi's work is on the OGUK website in the Battle Gallery.
 As it happens he is also involved with a Dutch miniatures company - currently producing Fantasy- not my thing but see the quality for yourself
  http://www.imaginativeminiatures.com/ 

 Maybe they could do some historicals one day !

More 40mm Wars of the Roses.

It's been a good while since I blogged last- whatwith assorted shows and other fol-de -rol. Work as ever gets in the way. What !I hear you shout" but you LIVE in the Sweetie shop" "Pecisely !" I reply "sometimes you get sick of the little lead gits". "Man " as I have opined previously "shall not live by Wargaming alone" Nevertheless I have been slowly adding to my 40mm Wars of the Roses collection. Making new figures which - assuming I iron out the bugs -will in the fullness appear as catings added to the range. To be fair I'm really only converting existing figures but those few I've done look fine so I'll do them again as masters for future release. So here is a picture of a small punch up somwhere in Northern England in the 1450s between the Percies and their rivals the Nevilles

and this one a close up of the Hurly- burly

The 2 long flags- standards in heraldic parlance are of course by John "the Flag" Hutchibson and are printed cloth. I'm a great fan of John's flags for my money they are the best you can get. I had to make 2 figures especially to carry these spendid standard.