Adventures on the Wargames Table

I think battlefields always look better with plenty of trees - assuming we are talking about temperate zones, otherwise please insert your preferred local flora. So I recently ordered some more K&M trees. I chose these as the Woodland Scenics "realistic" trees I have are rather too fragile, although they do look superb. For ease of play I prefer to have trees either individually based, or perhaps in small groups, rather than a whole forest. At some of the recent shows people have been kind enough to comment that they liked the way I based my trees and asked how I did them. So, this post is a short step-by-step on how I base my trees. Since the trees are K&M I also use the appropriate plastic tree bases - make sure you get the right size for the trees!. These are glued on to small, irregularly shaped pieces of 3mm MDF. Take care to chamfer the edges. To these I add a few rocks, some coarse grit and a layer of sand, all held on with PVA glue. This is the result. ...

Here's some more figures from the GB casualties & killers range. These are technically Early Saxon vignettes, but they could just as easily be Viking Raiders. I may add some discarded weapons to this base. Another particularly gruesome set of figures! Again, a broken spear or dropped shield would be a good addition. These sort of figures are great for adding an extra bit of drama or atmosphere to the table, or they can be used as markers for things such as Fatigue (SAGA) or Push & Shove (War & Conquest), etc.

Every Saxon village needs ... some villagers! So here's a group of Saxon women and children. That old biddy in the centre looks to be a fearsome old battleaxe! The figures are a mix of GB villagers and Perry pilgrims. Whilst they do not actively take part in the game, so to speak, I do like to have civilians and casualty vignettes to add some extra detail to the table.

The tale of how the fearsome Danish Warlord, Snorri Ragnarsson, arrives with several ships full of hairy Danes... Leofric of Glastonbury, The Book of Days, Spring 1068 "Deliver us, O Lord, from the fury of the Northmen!" wrote the blessed monks of Holy Lindisfarne, and yet more than two centuries later they still plague our shores! Only a few days ago did several of their longships draw up on the coast of northern Somerset to spill forth the pagans. The first of our villages to feel their wrath was Swyneford; the only survivors were those carried back to ships. Every other man, woman and beast were butchered and their corpses defiled. Other villages suffered a similar fate, but forewarned by the columns of smoke from burning thatch, many of our people were able to flee to safety - thank the Lord! Be it known that those who carry good Saxon spears and swords were not slow to come to the defence of our borders. The faithful Ealdorman, Aethelwold of Byrnsege, battle brot...

At Salute 2011, Wayland Games were giving away this figure with each purchase. It's the Weland the Smith figure. Quite enjoyed painting this, plus it makes a lovely addition to my collection of villager figures. More soon.

For the second year running, we teamed up with Scarab Miniatures to put on a demo game at Exmouth Imperials "Legionary" show. We took basically the same game as we put on at "Crusade" in January, the Battle of Ashingdon 1016 (so apologies if you've seen similar pics from that battle!). I also took some pics of another game that looked very interesting. Here are King Edmund's Saxons facing off Cnut's Danes. The Danish lines. These poor Saxons didn't quite get away from the raiders in time. The Saxon lines. Let battle commence! As before, the Vikings had a slight advantage in terms of troops, but the Saxons had a good defensive position around the hill. Interestingly it took Rob and I the entire day to play the game (which Rob won rather convincingly!); this was because so many gamers came up to chat with us about War & Conquest, the battle itself, plus a host of other topics. This is what makes these days such fun. So a big...