Adventures on the Wargames Table

Wargames Table chum Dave Toone is organising a get together for fans of Warhammer Ancient Battles. Details here on Facebook. D o you miss playing historical mass battles? Do you enjoy exciting, brutal wargaming? Have you got a painted army gathering dust? Then why not reignite your passion for Mass Battle Wargames! Put aside your warbands and gather the entire might of your army for the epic conflicts that lay ahead. Let your mighty heroes stand once more at the head of their troops before they slip into distant memory. Bring hundreds instead of dozens of warriors to fight epic battles, then tell the exaggerated tales of those battles to any fool that will listen! Now is the time to put aside your fear, banish all doubts and book your place in the Warhammer Ancient battles, Shieldwall event. Saturday 12th & Sunday 13th August 2017 The theme for both days will be: The Dark Ages in the British Isles. Using the WAB 1.5 rulebook and the SHIELDWALL su...

Later today we're off to take part in a big Dark Ages battle with chums Steve and Dave. To add some extra interest I've played with history a little (Sweyn II's invasion of northern England) to create this scenario. It is early October of the year 1069 and the weather is turning cold. The trees are clad in their red and gold Autumnal hues. King Sweyn II of Denmark has invaded Northumbria to claim the throne of England. William has assembled his army, along with those Saxons who have accepted the Conqueror’s rule, and marched North. The Saxon Eorls in the North have carefully gathered their strength, raising the fyrd and safeguarding their winter stores. They knew that William was on his way to deal with the invader – but perhaps Sweyn would be victorious? Whichever side won would be weakened, so the Eorls bade their time. Sweyn had been quick to establish a firm grip on his new lands. His men roamed far and wide, raiding and looting, crushing any resistance. Every day...

Yes, dear blog reader I couldn’t resist all those packs lining the walls of the Foundry shop! After seeing some of the lovely figures at the recent W&C National Tournament I just had to make a 'proper' start on another Dark Ages army. To be fair I have (a) got a decent sized Saxon force done, (b) already made a tentative step towards a Norman force when I purchased some plastics to do Saga force, so it's not entirely a new army. Really. If you think about it. ;o) Plus I already have a few packs of Normans from Crusader Miniatures in the lead mountain. Then there's the old GW Bretonnians that have a few re-usable figures. So, actually, it made perfect sense to get some Normans from Foundry! It's not a project that I'll start immediately - I really have to get my CoC Late War Germans done first (otherwise Phil is going to get really cross!). After that I'd be keen to paint a few Normans!

Keen to get things going, Dave and I played a second game of SAGA. This time I led my Bret... ahem... Normans against his Welsh. But things did not quite go according to plan. A letter from Guillame de Reblochon to his cousin Baron Alain de Chavignol in Winchester "Dearest Cousin, I have bribed one of my guards to bring you this letter. Please ensure that he is amply rewarded as he could prove to be a valuable spy; ever have the Welsh been ready to turn their coats for gold. As you know I set forth with the intention of teaching the Saxon pigs a lesson after they were almost caught poaching deer in my woodlands. But we then heard tales of Welsh raiders led by the vagabond Caradoc ap Theoden who had crossed the Saefern and ambushed Hrothgar Godwinson. (Remember him? One day I shall cut out his chitterlings!). We heard the Welsh were so laden with gold that they had been forced to leave some of it hidden in a nearby deserted village - another Saxon pig-sty by all accounts. ...

At last, some more painting! These are part of the batch of Dark Age figures that I want to complete before starting on a new project. They're from the Perry's Crusader range and I think they make ideal generic Dark Age bow armed warriors. Painted like all the other Saxon/Viking figures - block colours, dip and some quick highlighting. I can use them as levy for either my Norman or Anglo-Danish SAGA forces, or as a skirmisher unit to support my Saxons in War & Conquest. Still on the table awaiting paint are some villagers and a few casualty dioramas.

Following on from my workbench post, here's the first of what I hope will be a series of newly painted units for my Dark Ages (or "Early Medieval" if you prefer) collection. First four and Next four and These are Gripping Beast figures and they've been painted in my now familiar method of white undercoat*, block colours**, wash with AP, matt varnish then highlights. This is effectively the first 'point' for my SAGA Norman warband, but will also be useful as mercenaries for my Saxon army. Perhaps they're even the start of my Norman army!? Well, I do have a box of Conquest Games knights. * armour and weapons are undercoated black ** some areas get a highlight before being washed e.g. armour/weapons are drybrushed with chainmail, flesh gets a quick highlight of Foundry Base Sand light. Right, back to the Saxons!

As you can hopefully see in pic below, I've got quite a lot on the go! They're mostly Saxons from GB's plastic Thegns set with a few Musketeer figures. There's also a small group of GB Normans and some Vikings too. Plus some scenery, casualty markers, etc. In the short term I'll be creating my War & Conquest 'Viking-era' Saxon force, but using some of the Musketeer Early Saxon figures (i.e. Duguth & Gedriht) in order to give the army a more 'wild' and less 'Bayeux Tapestry' look. OK, there's the odd late-Roman style helmet mixed in but really, so what? This has the added bonus that the figures will be perfect for using with TooFatLardie's Dux Britanniarum rules. Although I still need to paint some more Romano-British in order to play. Hopefully an Arthurian supplement for SAGA is not too far off! Being Early Saxons they'll also make an ideal start for my War & Conquest Arthur...