Adventures on the Wargames Table

Good mate Dave at The Miniature Company has just released the first pics of some forthcoming figures for his Dark Ages Welsh range.  I think they're so good that I just had to do a little blog article on them. They're 28mm - obviously there'll be shields and spears too.  I've no idea if Dave will be selling these items with the figures although I guess at least the shields will be included. I think these are so characterful and full of detail that will be a joy to paint.  Just look at the faces and that splendidly hirsute moustache!  Really looking forward to seeing this range expand.  Oh and please do check TMC out on Facebook and perhaps like his page :o)

Sunday and our final game of the weekend. George and I would be travelling back almost 1400 years to the hills and valleys north-east of Bath , for a War & Conquest game of The Battle of Deorham 577AD ... and it was a real belter of a game! Game 4 - The Battle Deorham 577AD The Romano-British army (let's call them the good guys ;o)) were comprised of three smaller armies - from Bath, Gloucester and Cirencester - each led by their King.  The Saxons were led by King Ceawilin and the Atheling, Cuthwine.  Naturally, since I live in the South-West, I took command of the Romano-British army trying to preserve the fading light of Rome and hold back the hairy Saxon horde! Here's the field of battle.  That ridge line would be where my brave men would make their stand. Here are the two large armies arrayed for battle!  George has done a grand job on these armies, plenty of flags and banners, shield decals, big units... Stunning stuff :o) Two beautiful armies!...

A while back I ordered a heap of bases from Warbases in order to get a little further along the way to being able to play Dux Bellorum. However, my inner gaming butterfly soon flitted elsewhere and they were consigned to a storage box. But ... now that I'm in the process of applying magentic basing I've been sorting out my Saxon forces and realised that I had more than a few Early Saxons (from the superb Musketeer range, sold by Gripping Beast) mixed in with my 9-11th century fellows. So, here they are on their as-yet-to-be-sanded-and-painted movement trays. That's 1 x Companions, 2 x Noble Warriors, 3 x Ordinary Warriors and 2 x Skirmishers, giving a total of 26pts! All I need to do is paint a couple more Gedriht and 5 javelin armed Geoguth and that's an army ready to go! OK, I may also go through them and replace a few of the larger shields with bucklers as that's how I see them being equipped in the 5-6th centuries. However, it's a slightly different ...

Wow! These figures are sublime ... wonderful ... superb! King Arthur, his banner bearer and two packs of his knights. Ok, we all know that "King" Arthur never really existed and perhaps the source of his legend is really the combined exploits of several powerful warriors in 5th century Britain, but we also know that it would be jolly good fun to include the Big Man in our games. Can't wait to get some of these figures! :o)

Crumbs! It's been a bit slow on the gaming/painting front recently due to things like work, being poorly, etc. But here at last are my first ever Age of Arthur Late Romans. These are from Musketeer and are (IMHO) some of the nicest figures I've had the pleasure of painting. Shields are from LBMS naturally. These are my entry for the Heroic Group bonus round for the Painting Challenge ... and about time too as I'm rather slipping behind schedule! They will also form the command group for my Foot Companions in my Romano-British army for Dux Bellorum ... more on that subject in later posts. I painted them in a similar style to the Saxons/Vikings I've done before, i.e. block colours and dip/wash, but I added some highlights before applying the wash, however they've rather been lost. Depending upon how the unit looks when complete I may go back and add some extra highlights - but they'll do for now.

Crumbs, but these new Viking figures from GB's new Shieldwall range have really caught my interest! In particular, the two central figures could make a splendid diorama if I can source a few similarly dynamic Saxons. I can see the bare-chested fellow fending off one opponent with his shield whilst he despatches another with his sword! Anyway... You may have noticed that the old Wargames Table has been a bit quiet recently...? Well, I've been feeling a bit 'low' with regard to gaming for a while now if I'm honest. To be honest the Roman Fort posts were a bit of a filler in that I couldn't find the motivation to do anything else. Every time I've tried to arrange a game or a show (or even a proper painting session) something has intervened, whether it's work :o(, broken teeth (no joke!), illness, weather or DIY, etc. Whatever; it has led to a total collapse of enthusiasm - in fact for a while I wondered if I should just pack it all up and flog every...